Projects 56 Chevy 210 Hardtop Build

Big blocks should have a rearward tilt, with the carb pad level as you stated. She's listing to the port side captain!

 

Okay, I'll get out my angle finder tomorrow and give it a test.

 

So it's looking like the Carb pad is sitting at about a 4 to 5 degree rearward slope based on the idea that the body is sitting sitting on the frame and the frame is level. I couldn't find a good place on the frame to determine the level, so that's why I chose the cowl vent. I'll probably take the front engine mounts loose tonight and drop the motor until the carb pad sits level and see how that looks.

 

Be sure the chassis level or at whatever stance you'll run it. Also - my big block is where the sbc was, in other words, the bellhousing remained stationary. Had to recess the firewall so the Mickey Thompson's would clear.

 

Well I ended up just pocketing the firewall with a hammer to fit the heads and valve covers. Luckily the M/T valve covers clear the crane gold roller rockers by just enough with the gasket. I've got enough room to get my fingers behind everything, so it is very easy to get the VCs on and off. I can't believe some guys go to the extent they do to avoid beating on the firewall. I was able to pocket everything very nicely and kept things looking like factory all while keeping everything in the stock location, which even allows me to be able to use a stock oil pan.

 

I will be pulling the engine and trans one last time today before the permanent install, I'll take some pictures of the firewall once it's out and post them later.

 

An update to this thread is long overdue. So much has been done to the car since my last post that I could spend the rest of the week typing this out. I'll spare the small details and go with the important bits. I now have a running car that moves under it's own power, and have had it that way for a few months now. Towards the end of 2018 I spent a lot of time working out a lot of mechanical troubles. Leaking rear main seal, clutch issues, shifter issues, headers that didn't fit, and etc. All that kept the car off the streets during our last little bit of decent weather. So that leaves me waiting for that early spring that our little groundhog buddy Phil promised us. So for a brief explanation of the progress that's been made I'm just going to post some pictures with captions. Easier on me, easier on you.

 

Another HAMB user identified my car in yet another magazine.


Pictures were taken by Bob Hegge. Here you can more easily see the hood scoop

 

Patriot Big Block Tri-5 headers, that did not fit. This picture was the first time I had both headers fitted to the car after modification and painted with a fresh coat of white vht. The 235/70/15 tires rub the drivers side header at full lock and contact the header on full compression of the suspension. The headers on this car are a nightmare to work around. I'd like to build my own set from scratch someday. Note I also had to switch to my moroso valvecovers because the M/T valve cover didnt offer enough clearance with the crane gold roller rockers. They won't stick around long.

 

September 22nd 2018. This was the first night I had driven my car since December of 2015. Talk about a morale boost, even if it was just up and down the driveway.


Here it is after fitting the fenders and the shorter cragars. Not exactly excited about having to run the cragars, (although I love them, they weren't there in the magazine) but at least they're an early set of 15x4 that aren't uni-lug. I decided to fit the outer fenders/grill to the car for now because the fiberglass nose I got from Butch/56sedandelivery needs a lot of work and reshaping before it will be ready to go on the car. I've been making progress on that also too here and there when I can.

 

Right after I installed the holley fuel pressure regulator. I've never owned a car with one, as this is my first car with an edelbrock carb, and first real performance oriented car. Still need to get around to picking up an actual pressure gauge for it.



A little something I gifted to myself for Christmas this year. Picked up the Weiand Tunnel Ram for $300 and made a new friend also. Got the 600 Vac secondary Holley carbs, setup for a dual quad big block chevy for another $150, all on local CL within 20 minutes of home. Gives me something to look foward to, but going to concentrate on getting it dialed in and driveable with the single 4bbl first.

 

Glad it coming together for you. Fun factor goes way up.

 

kool thread! im a 56 fan also, street to strip. I have had a few. glad to see your staying at it!

 

I love to see all this progress! Keep it up


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Wow! I really am pretty good at managing to entirely abandon this thread for a year or more. Good news though, I haven't abandoned the car like I have this thread. I managed to get it back on the road around May of 2019, so roughly a year ago. I took me quite a while to figure out the single 4bbl Edelbrock carburetor I had on the engine wasn't feeding it all the fuel it wanted. I thought to myself, "I can either try and learn to tune this single 4 which might take me awhile, or I can jump straight off the deep end and go straight into putting the tunnel ram and dual quads on." The tunnel ram prevailed. When I bought the 600cfm vacuum secondary carburetors from a local guy off craigslist, he told me that a mutual friend of ours who had recently passed was the last guy to tune them. That friend of ours, Emerson, was actually a big influence in my childhood. He was one of my grandpa's best friends, totally restored my Dad's 57 Chevy in the 80s, and taught me a lot about the old Harley Davidsons my Dad and I currently race. So that added some sentiment to the carbs. They were set up for a 396 BBC that was in a 33 Willys Coupe, so when I put it all together they were nearly spot on. I'll eventually get around to installing an AFR gauge and fine tuning them.

It wasn't until later in the year that I got it running well enough to risk leaving my small town and heading for the city of Springfield. It took some fiddling to figure out why the car was dying at every stop sign. Turns out my idle air mixture screws just weren't rich enough and I'd been chasing it for awhile. It just also happened to be the night of the RT66 Mother Road Festival cruise. So, I called my best friend and asked him if he'd follow me into town with his pickup truck and a tow rope, he obliged and the car made it there with no issues. When I got there I mistakenly pulled into line with the rest of the cars going in the cruise and was quickly boxed in as the cars began to show up. There were hundreds. It was around an hour until the cruise started to make it's way towards the downtown area where the show is held, so I invited my girlfriend and a couple more friends to meet me there. We walked around for awhile, talking to folks, and soaking up the beautiful scenery. Then the lead group of cars started to fire up, and that's when it hit me. "Shit! I'm in line for this thing and there's no way out. I guess we're doing the thing." Taking part in the cruise was something I hadn't planned on doing. With a stock 56 Chevy radiator and a big block Chevy, I predicted definite overheating issues. The fan was a stock 4 fixed steel blade unit with no shroud or electric fans to support it. However, I had the advantage of having no hood or inner fenders that night, and I think that's all that kept it from constantly overheating. It was a warm night too. I managed to make it a little over 3/4 of the 5mi route in a bumper to bumper traffic crawl before I decided that I'd pull over to let it cool down a little bit as it was starting to creeping up past 220*. We finally made our way downtown and were welcomed by hoards of people sitting downtown enjoying the arrival of the cruise entrants. After finding ourselves a spot and finding a nice place to sit down for dinner we spent the night hanging out and enjoying the atmosphere. Things started to wrap up around 11PM or so with most people returning to their hotel, motels, or homes for the night, only for most to return in the morning for judging and a 2 day long show. This is when things took a turn for the worse. The mighty unstoppable force of Mother Nature, who cares not if your hot rod is running velocity stacks and no hood. As soon as it started to drizzle I began headed towards home, dropping my girlfriend off at her house, I realized I was lucky it's on my way. It began to pour down like a garden hose as soon as I left there. Armed with nothing but an old sweater, I drove along sticking my left arm out the window wiping away at the windscreen. I had removed the wiper motor to fit the tunnel ram. To my surprise the old gal chugged along right through the rain, never missing a beat. But, I'm not sure I'd want to try that again.

Right after that weekend the weather turned for worse and I garaged the car for the winter. Now, it is May 8th and the weather in central Illinois is still miserable and unpredictable as usual. I think I may go fire the thing up for the first time this year later tonight. Hope it starts.

 

Glad to see the update. I have checked the thread a few times to see if there was anything new. Keep us informed!

 

Here's a link to a short video of the car running with open headers. It's before I had the tunnel ram on there, throttle response off idle is a lot snappier now.

 

Now we want a vid of you doing a massive burnout!

 

Ha! I wish, gotta change the rear end before that. It has worse odds than a snowball in hell.

 

When I put my 56', 150 Utility Sedan (Business Coupe) together as a street car, it had a 360 HP 396 that had a "little" work done to it. I "massaged" the firewall for cylinder head clearance, and smoothed everything with bondo. At the time, no one had any true roller rockers in stock, and I wound up using Boss 302 Ford rockers. Stock valve covers, Jardine chassis outlet headers, stock position bell-housing and Muncie 4 speed. Car had a 3.70 open rear end in it, that for some reason, did't last very long (???). I found a 5.38 Positraction 3rd member (it was 1972 and gas had't got that expensive yet and with 5.38 gears, it did't get very good mileage), and some slapper type traction bars. That rear end held up fine, and it was challenged frequently. I paid $80.00 for the car less engine/trans, and after I sold it, it had been owned by 3 more guys. The last guy turned it into a full on, Pro Street car, an 8 second car on the track. He had it for sale on E-Bay a few years ago for $56,000.00. An $80.00 car turned into a $56,000.00 car! He wanted to know if I wanted to buy it back. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Sounds like quite the fun car! I wonder what it is that makes some of those stock rear ends last longer than others. I recall you saying it maybe had something to do with certain gear sets having a thicker ring gear. I'm kind of torn on what's in there right now. I thought when I pulled that pumpkin out of my 54 I counted it and it was a 3.55, I didn't ever recheck it at all and now it's in the car. Doing a mathematical equation to figure out the final drive gearing says it's 4.11s based on tire height, rpm, and gps checked speed. They lasted the whole two years I had my 54 Chevy hardtop and I was pretty rough on them. However that was a 350 Chevy/200 4r combo with the only changes being an aluminum intake, 305 heads, and ram horn exhausts. It probably made just over 200 horse if I had to guess. That's quite a difference from the 450-550 horse Big block that's powering that rear end now.

 

Factory 3.70 and 4.11 ring gears are really narrow. The 3.55 ring gears are thicker. Aftermarket gears are sometimes marketed as narrow or thick, mostly so a 3 series carrier can be used with low gears, but the tick ring gear is just an added benefit. There's more "deflection" with a narrow ring gear. Guys used to weld a bolt/nut affair to the third member, with the bolt having a brass tip, that kept some pre-load against the carrier or ring gear. The other issue is traction bars; anything to curb wheel hop, the rapid loading and unloading of the rear axle will help a rear end "
live". My Delivery has the "stock" rear end, with some modifications, such as billet caps (really hard to find these days), thicker gears, traction bars, Yukon axles, and most importantly, crossed fingers. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

My 210s got some old traction bars, and the posi unit is an eaton with richmond gears. I'm sure it's possible that's why I haven't had a problem.

 

I seem to be running into a bit of a dilemma regarding my front wheels on the car. The US Indy slots don't fit without hitting the fender well headers when getting near full lock on the drivers side. When the suspension compresses down fully they also rub. My quick and easy solution was to use the 15x4 Cragar S/S wheels I had left over from my dad's car. Only problem was the tires were old, unbalanced, and felt like they had a broken belt. Gave the car a death wobble at anything over 40. So I pulled the wheels out today and broke the tires off of them. This is when I realized that the chrome on these things is pretty bad up close. They look okay in photos, but inside 5ft they look gross. Typical rust forming around the outer ring. The chrome has peeled and it's coming up rough, so not possible to polish it out.

I want an outside opinion on painted Cragars. Is it too tacky to paint them? I always did like the color of old magnesium wheels. I'd prefer chrome, but these babies aren't new and I'd much rather have the period correct round spokes than the new flat ones. I know the car is in primer now, but I'd like to keep those wheels after paint also.

 

There is now some powder coating that actually looks like chrome; you might look into that. granted, you won't see your reflection in it, but it is shiny. In the later 60's/early 70's there WERE painted wheels; 5 spoke E.T.'s come to mind, but they only came in white. I think it was because some of the Jr. Stock Class racers were painting their wheels white, and they cashed in on the trend. You probably need some heavier springs on the from end to handle the extra weight of a BBC. Put some A/C spacers (rubber rings about and inch thick) under the front springs to see how much it raises it up, and if it's enough, before spending money on HD springs. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I'll have to check that out Butch! Sounds like the best option. I do think I have found a temporary fix I can live with. Also, luckily my car came to me with Big Block springs already installed. It may look a little more nose down than it used to, but the tire height on the Cragars is quite a bit shorter than the tall ones on the slots and the airshocks were pumped up.

 

Hope those air shocks aren't mounted to the trunk floor.

 

They sure are. I know some people fab up a shock support bar, but I suppose I've never asked why. I'd assume it tears up the trunk floor? They've been that way since the 70s and I've never noticed any cracks.

 

Keep a lot of air in the air shocks and sooner or later they will crack the trunk floor. Also you have the shocks mounted to the body instead of the frame which may cause cracks in the body seam under your trunk lid. I've had my '55 since 1970 and I've seen several cracked floors and seams thru the years. Did the frame mount on mine in the mid 70's before anything got hurt.

 

Good looking out. I'll try and come up with a frame mount. Needs new shocks anyways as one bleeds down. I dont think they sell airshocks that will fit a stock 55-57 anymore anyways.