Hot Rods the Hand Grenade 55 chevy- engine, chassis, trans, interior

So since my dad took all last week off of work and I'm on break waiting for school to start back up, we decided to spend the time off going through his 55 chevy "Hartman's Hand Grenade". I figured I would share the progress with everybody.

the car is an original bel air but has a 64 corvette 327 destroked to a 301. Edelbrock dual carb intake with AFBs. transmission is an m20 muncie. Rearend is a moser 9in.

Earlier this year (or last year) we rebuilt the motor after he broke a push rod at the rust revival. He had a set of '70 LT1 double hump heads built for it but they both cracked shortly after the rebuild and were leaking anifreeze into 3 cylinders. Nothing went together right when we put the motor in after the rebuild. The car didn't like that motor.


this time we built the head castings that were originally on the motor I built for my henry j. '68 chevelle 325 hp double humps 291 castings

the motor has forged pistons, 10.25 -1 compression, a choppy solid cam, balanced, Hooker headers, etc.

the stars aligned this time and shit went together right.





Oh yeah, decided this would be a good time to swap out the lakewood scattershield for an Ansen NHRA app. one.


clearanced the ball joint spacers from the frame to give it 1 1/2 in. more travel. The A arms hit the bumpers now instead of the frame


It has 90/10 shocks, with no motor the suspension is pretty maxed.

 

Stance and details are spot on. Nice choice in build details to.

 

very nice build

 

Heres a picture of me getting the scattershield on. Gettin ready to drop it in the car



And under the car after it was dropped in. Check out how easy it is to do clutch work. A guy can swap a clutch and flywheel without pulling the motor


And with the bottom of the scattershield on.


Pop in the muncie, we actually added a rear crossmember too so the engine/ trans is supported in 3 locations. It's just not in the pic


Getting it all hooked up, I painted the headers with white VHT paint then clear coated them with VHT clear, they clean up this way. Otherwise just the white paint is too porous and soaks up any oil, grease, and dirt and stains.



Check the old voltage regulator. It all works too

 

Yeah, it looks pretty cool sitting up like that, but with the motor in it sets a lot lower. We don't mind though. We just want it to lift like hell in the nose when we dump the clutch. The actual stance is raked forward. I'll post pics of it like that later

 

i like it ! good work, nice headers !

 

Here's a lousy shot of the interior. The lever on the column that looks like a shifter is actually a drag brake I made. It allows the driver to easlily operate all 3 pedals at the same time. No more rolling on the line at the track. I casted the metal flake knob too. I'll have better shot later. We put the roll bar in it tonight but I don't have pictures yet.



We did fire it. And with open headers too. this car runs awesome and really thumps. The Ansen scattershield aligned the drive train better than the lakewood. The shifter, clutch, dist, everything wasn't quite right before. The Ansen one lined everything up where it is suppose to.

 

Very cool project! Looking forward to hearing about the first test run.

 

I can't wait to take it out too, but it will be a couple months. There is all kinds of snow, ice, salt, and below freezin weather goin on here in northern IL. The best we can do is piss off the neighbors with our open pipes.

 

Man I love it ,

nice of you to help out your Pop with the work,

I can't get my boys in the shop to help with anything!

I am Loving it ...

 

Excellent write up and pics! Looking forward to seeing pics of it all done. So who races it you or your Dad?

 

My dad I guess. He's never made it down a drag strip. The one time he tried racing it, he blew up 1st gear. Made it 60 ft.

That should all change this summer. I hope to get my Henry J fixed at hit the tracks again and drag his ass with me.

The Henry J in the background is my car that he and I built. You can just see the rear wheel and lettering. I've posted threads on here about it.

that is next after the 55. I hydrauliced the motor in a freak accident and bent #8 rod. It needs other stuff too. I'll document that build like this one.

 

Metalflake steering wheel, Standard Motor parts regulator, Corvette valve covers, generator and twin AFB's. Absolutely bad ass!

That old Ansen bellhousing with the side mounts is enough to bring a tear to a glass eye.

Keep postin' as you go along. Very cool kid.

 

I can't say anything, lorodz said it all

 

Cool deal. If the car wasnt so shiny you would look just like James Taylor in TLBT, you guys could be twins.

 

love the drag brake...... and would love to see more pics.....
heres a pic of one i tried to get off ebay...

 

The drag brake is something I plan to be more than just a one-off. I got the idea out of the old hot rod magazines, but I redesigned it. I'm going to do a little more work and make some more to see if I can make a universal fit one.
I'd like to produce them and sell them under my "Faster Than Speed Products" name.
It looks like the Ansen setup uses direct linkage and pulls the lever when the pedal is depressed. The lever on mine has one way linkage and only moves when it is pulled, so the brake pedal can be operated with your foot without moving the lever.


I've talked to Dashman here on the HAMB and I believe I'm going to see if he can manufacture the traction bar design I fabricated for the car. I'll have pics of those too.

 

I like the blue theme on the engine, steering wheel, interior and helmet. That blue engine with white headers is a nice change from Chevy Orange or red--or black engines.

 

I remember seeing a couple hot cars on the 4th of july week two years ago in Byron,one was a henry j.Henry j and 55 chevys are my favorite cars.I live in Rockford and used to race at Byron Dragway.Good job on the 55.NICE. Arnie

 

Wonderful car, I've got a soft spot for tri-5's. I'm curious, though, why destroke the motor? Are you planning on forced induction in the future, or is it maybe because of a displacement limitation in for a drag class?

 

That's exactly what I thought also.

 

My dad always wanted to have a 301. They are serious screamers. The car happened to already have this motor in it when we bought it. However, when we first picked it up it was every bit of a hilbilly hot rod. I'm talkin empty catalytic converters for mufflers. Since, we have rebuilt everything twice and now I think it is officially mechanically sound.

This is just a high winding motor, it should be good for well over 7k rpm, though we probably won't run it quite that high. We want it to hold together for a summer.

Ask Falfasnightmare here on the HAMB. He runs a 301 4 speed in his steel 55 and turns solid 11s in the quarter. This car here probably wont hold a candle to that. This car will probably be 13s, being a street car with a 3.89 gear.

 

i plan on building one for my 55.... i was thinking about copying the ansen one, using a hurst handle... but after seeing yours i might change it a bit... what is yours attached to??? please post a closer pic.... and id like to see those traction bars....

 

What a step back in time! Late 60's to early 70's, and you've nailed it pretty well. I'm impressed. Keep it up. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

nice look's great.......

 

I'm digging your build.I like the blue theme you have going on.Keep the photos coming.FALFA

 

So went out today and took some more pictures. Here is where it is at right now.



Motor is in and running. The radiator is the one out of my Henry J. We are waiting for the original brass top radiator to come back from being boiled out.



Home built progressive linkage that a friend made us.




The leafing I did on the trunk.


Superior wheel

The drag brake

Shrunken head I casted from resin hangin from the mirror

 

Vey cool!

 

Fitted the roll bar yesterday
It's just a 4 point and is mostly for looks. But we tried installing it so that in case something did go wrong, it would provide some protection.


We made it all removable
It has stubs welded at the hoop so the rear bar are slid on and pinned.
The hoop and rear bars bolt to the floor.

Try not to judge my welds. They aren't the pretty ones seen on most cages, but they are burned in pretty well, despite being done with a mig.

This is the plate that is under the car. It sandwiches the floor

Haven't pinned it yet. But the rear bars are fish mouthed and slid onto the stubs.

Haven't gotten to finish the cage much where it bolts in the trunk


Battery, battery shut-off, and fuze panel are in the trunk. Cleans it up under the dash and makes it easy to replace fuzes

 

Nice job, I really like the attention to detail to keep it period correct. Nice clean craftsmanship.