Customs 1953 210 build thread (josie)

Awesome build. Keep it up!!

 

Sweet ride. I'm subscribed.

 

Glad to see the progress! You have alot of it for sure!

 

Sorry no pics, I was hoping to fire it up this weekend but ran into a few snags, the kick down tab on the new carb hit the stock Caddy intake, so I didnt get a chance to hear it run, but I did throw a battery in and test all the wiring and every thing seems to check out ok. Hopefully this weekend I will make some noise.

 

Close but no cigar, My distributor isn't putting out any spark, so I chasing the problem now.

 

sweet

she ought to do a big smokey burn out when you get her fired up!

 

SHES ALIVE!!

Its a great feeling the first time a project comes to life, I still have alot to do to get her on the road again but Im one step closer. Thanks for all the encourgement, Im hoping to make it to a local car club meeting by the end of the summer.

MrC.

Next up:
wiring turn signals and brake light
rear shocks
Clean tank and reinstall
plumb wipers

 

Sunday!,Sunday!,Sunday! that's right boys and girls, Sunday is the big day, everything is looking go for launch. It will be a short mission just around the yard maybe up the steet.

Here some pics from last night, new wheels and tires. Amazing how wheels and tires changes the look of a car.

MrC.

 

NICE!! I love it! You really sardined that baby in there, good job!

Klaus

 

Looks great!!

 

BITCHEN, Josie looks good bro, nice work!
Chuck

 

Good lookin Chevy

 

Had a great day Sunday, frist drive out of the shop went very well, here are a few pics. Lots to fine tuning like alingment, finish exhaust, patch some holes in trunk. So let me get back to work.

MrC.

 

Thanks for the compliment.

Hey I want to thank Squirrel and Chevy54 and the rest of the HAMB family for all your help, its been a long project, but driving it yesterday made it all worth it.
Thanks again
MrC.

 

Wipe that shit eating grin off your face!!!!! HAHA! Congrats man, that baby sure is turning out nice. Good job!

 

It might be permannt!
Nice new Avatar

 

First drive went great, now the fun stuff begins! I'm going to install a duel compressor setup in a few weeks and hopfully this winter put in the truck arm rear setup.

 

Basic trunk setup, nothing fancy, just straight forward easy to work on install, I will add carpet and side panels later, when I pic a interior color. Right now Im thinking blood red or maybe the mexican blanket type interior.

Since the last update: Hood, bumpers, turn signals, compressors, tank/valves, rear shocks, trunk latch, grill surround repaired, air gauge/ switches up front, Back seat reinstalled,rear brakes and master cylinders, Set toe on front end.

Todo list: start driving it, then ruff interior work ( door panels, side panels, flooring and rear package tray, Im saving the body work for last, theres alot, and I dont wont to rush to paint.

 

Great job!

 

Nice build man! I like that rear bag setup, looks clean without a huge stepnotch. Thinking about doing the same on my Fleetline. How does it work with the leafsprings + bags? Still safe and much lift? Kepp up the good work!

 

I have uses bags/over leafs many times, its a simpler way of doing it, I have never had a problem with this type of setup either, I have a truck arm system I plan to put in this car in the future, but bags and leafs work nice.

A few things I learned, bags ontop of axle requires you to mount the bag higher due to them being ontop of the axle and would require a large hole in the floor, mounting them behind the axle works well but I tend to get alot more wheel hop, the pinion wants to raise or twist up very easy with the weight of the car hanging off the back side of the axle when you accelerate, in this set up I choose to mount the bags on the front side of the axle and should help with pinion angle due to when you accerate the pinion will twist up against the bags or loaded side of the axle. and I could use the stock tank in the stock location. I did cut two access holes in the floor to clear the bag mounts but also to repair them as well.

As for lift I set my systems up by setting the lowest hieght or slammed, then build the mounts for the bags with the bags deflated (stand on the bags and insert a pipe plug they will stay flat when you step off of them) these are 8in bags (over kill) 7s would have been fine. they measure 3.5 inchs deflated, so you would build the bag mounts 3.5 inches apart at total slamed, then you would get the total lift or hieght of the bag in any location forward/ontop/behind the axle in my case i get about 8.5 inchs of lift. Now in a truck arm or cantiliver set up, you can get more lift than the actual bag hieght do to placement of the bag and the leverage. As for ride, they ride well, its not as smooth as a 4-link but its way better than a static drop with no suspension travel due to stronger springs. and yes very safe, I would say there as safe as any OEM leaf setup, due to the axle is still held in place by all the same factory points.

 

Well, sometime's you make a mistake.

Here's mine, Im sharing this incase anyone else ever makes this mistake and how I choose to fix it.


I was unsure what size tire I was going to run and therefore did not set an spindle height when building my mustangII front end. Not untill after I was up and running did I notice that I did not have enough camber adjustment. the max positive camber I could reach was -85 degrees. I found out that I had set the piviot points on the control arms too far apart, causing the upper control arm to be at an angle and not as long as it needed to be to push the top of the tire outward.

So I had two options, raise the crossmember or lower the tophat?
after alot of thought, I opted to lower the top hats, to make the distance between them correct.


after mock up the second time, I had 90 degrees of camber with plenty of adjustment +/-


I want to thank Paul Horton of welderseries and elpolako on the HAMB for all there advice. I hope this helps someone else in the future.

Also after putting this kit together, and dealing with the hassel of mixing and matching brands and parts, I would suggest to anyone buying a complete kit. As for the money saved, after replacing and or rebuilding every stock part I am using, the cost difference is about $150.00.

MrC.

 

looks killer ..... keep up the good work

 

Headed out to the local cruise night tonight!

 

Someone desided CARDBOARD would be good for door panels.
I am in the process of going thru my doors.
First I cleaned them out found alot of broken glass and 3 quarter (years 67,73,77) wire brushed the loose rust off and sprayed with some osfo, then covered the area with some primer sealer.
Greased the tracks and guides and now Im ready for some glass ( on order )
I still havent desided a interior color so Im just going to leave the wood bare untill then. I used 1/8 masonite (pegboard without the holes) 4x8 sheet cost 16 bucks and should be enuff for the whole interior.
I will be building the other panels the same way.
MrC

 

From the factory Chevrolet used a waterproof cardboard.

 

I did not know the factory used cardboard, you can see in the pics it wasnt even a solid piece, it was about 4 pieces duct taped ( black ) together, maybe someone replace the water proof cardboard with pieces of regular cardboard.
Live and learn thanks for the info.

MrC.

 

Nice job...... subscribed!!!

 

Nice job on the door panels. How are they attached?

 

Thanks,
There is a small channel at the bottom of the door that hold the bottom of the panel the door handle hold the middle and the window frame holds the top I have seen screws with caps that you can upholstery but I haven't found any to buy I should need 4 per panel. I'm sure I'm going to loose friends when I put some speakers in the door. Lol
MrC