Projects Not Your Average Coupe Build: 37’ Chevy Unearthed

I'm curious how they'll sound too. I love the look of the Smithys but don't know anyone who runs them

 

I hoped they were actually hammer tone paint like they claim, but it’s really just painted that color.

With any luck, I’ll be able to hear them this summer

 

Nothing too exciting today. Bled the master cylinder, finished some welds on the exhaust.

Then painted and installed the MOOG steering components. Picked up a manual steering box off a fellow H.A.M.B.er.




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I promise the end is near for pictures of just the frame lol. I mounted up some fresh H78 15 white walls. I was going to get the 4” wide whites, but these match the G78 front white walls ive already got



Also got a nice set of 53 olds caps



One of my kids came out and helped me bleed the brakes today. Getting functional brakes and steering are pretty big milestones, I’m glad to finally be crossing some of this mechanical stuff off the list



Also dropped the trans and pinion yoke off at the local(ish) driveshaft shop this afternoon. Should have new driveshaft on Monday.


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Driveshaft’s done!



Picking up engine from machine shop tomorrow


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Finally got the 283 back and ordered all the goods.

Highlights are block is 0.060” over. Powerpack heads have hardened valve seats and new guides installed. Went with the 0.435” lift Isky 262 Supercam after a few days of deliberation.

Should be a good low-midrange cam for the now 292.









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A few years later, got around to welding the underside of the floor and painting it.

If anyone is curious, I discovered why people buy/ make rotisserie’s! Next time I guess?




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Just discovered your build, and went through the eleven pages today! Great work on the coupe! It made me feel better about doing my rotted out '39 Chev coupe, as I thought mine was too far gone, yet it had less rot than yours had! Mine is ready for paint this spring I hope.
Looking forward to watching this build now, and seeing the progress.

 

Thanks 1971! There’s always that one guy out there that’s just a little crazier lol. Glad to hear you saved one and put it back on the road. Hope I can take mine for a burn around the neighborhood by end of summer

 

It’s getting crowded! Had to shuffle everything to help a buddy replace the front diff in his Sierra.

This weekend might be dedicated to just cleaning up the shop.



one cool observation was taking note of the before and after ride height. The tire is bigger, but between channeling the floor and lowering the suspension, I got the 4 to 5” of drop I was looking for

Before:


After:

 

If your coupe has the stock rear spring pack, they sit extremely high! I changed mine out to use '55-'59 Chevy pickup front leaf set, and still added a 1" lowering block to get it exactly where I wanted it.

 

Good to know on the truck leaf springs! I made the leaf spring mounts and shackle hangers to accommodate 2.5” wide super glide springs from speedway, which dropped the suspension a decent amount and I also did 2” lowering blocks.

 

The truck front springs are 1.75" like original early Chevy springs, but flatter. So yours being wider now wont be an option anymore. I kept the stock main leaf, and made up my set from the pickup springs I took off my donor front axle when I put new shorter springs up front.

 

Sits real nice now! Bet it looks just right with the fenders on.

 

I hope so!

 

Another ride height before and after

 

Christmas in March!

 

Spot on!

 

Got distracted again with spring house projects etc. but finally got time to start assembling the 292

Hope to button everything up this weekend and paint it

 

One of the kids wanted to jump in and help finish the engine today. She was a big help!


And what do you know, it’s another small block Chevy lol

 

Wire brushed and painted factory oil pan and timing cover today

Once I get these bolted up, I’ll be moving on to my first automatic transmission rebuild.

Will be making a holding fixture for the TH350

 

Late to the party here. You may have covered this but on the '37 coupe I built for a friend we found that the rear tire was not centered in the rear opening after we started assembly. Had to move the rear back 3/4 of an inch. IIRC we used Nova springs with hardware from Chassis Engineering. Have you checked this or covered it already?

 

I moved the rear axle back 1.5" on my '39 to center it.

 

Vtwhead/ 1971BB427,

Thanks for the info! Unfortunately I think it’s something I’ll have to do. I used the 2.5” drop springs from speedway but never measured from the eye to the pin to confirm.

I will be running skirts so I’m not too concerned about the aesthetics, but once I do the rust repair on the inner fender so I can bolt the fenders on, it will bother me and I’ll have to fix it lol

 

You can redrill the hole in the main leaf only, and then reassemble the stack of leaves. Sometimes the shift of the rest of the set requires on to be trimmed on one end, but a bandsaw or portaband does that easily. I've done this often using a carbide drill bit, and they drill easily. No reason to drill the whole stack, just shift the others once the main is drilled.

 

Nice!

 

Motor is done!

Welded on the oil pump pickup



Installed pump (almost forgot the drive!), timing cover, and oil pan.



Now I can roll it in the corner for the rest of the summer (sometimes I wonder why I do the things I do)

View attachment 5118415

Next, I’ve got to pull the block and trans out of the coupe, so I can make a trans holder and rebuild the th350

 

Made the transmission holding fixture today.

Used the same 1” threaded bosses I used on the floor











Might end up throwing some extra stiffeners on the tube frame, because the gauge steel tubing I used was pretty thin.

 

Another summer has come and gone, and I’m starting to make progress on the coupe again.

Today I made a column drop out of a crusty original one and some scrap metal to accommodate the updated 2” steering column

tacked the 1” flat stock to a 2” OD tube, and used the oxy acetylene to make the bends a little easier and more uniform





was originally going to buy pipe hanger clamps to save some time, but the hardware store didn’t have them in stock



The original column drop was pretty banged up, in addition to being too small of a diameter, so I used it as a donor







Not the prettiest but it does the job for the right price! And looks original-ish