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Projects Possible Gasser? Challenge accepted! 1956 Austin A50

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by A-Wall, Sep 19, 2011.

  1. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

  2. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    That would be the way to do it.

    I like the idea of it being "different" Way too many guys on here can't think outside the box and end up thinking on the line that all cars have to look alike. It ought to honk pretty good with a mild engine that is dead nuts reliable too. At least run as fast as a guy with any degree of sanity would want to drive it.

    But even though you have the body or I guess you do it may not be as inexpensive to build when you have to start hunting and buying narrow axles or have a rear end narrowed to fit right.
     
  3. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    Ya, I've since found out that these were only exported to Canada. I'll definafely have the only one around. I already have a front axle, it's just the rear I have to figure out. I found a 9" that has been narrowed to 47", it comes complete minus brakes. Even has brand new ladder bars.
     
  4. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    Latest edition.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. 1971BB427
    Joined: Mar 6, 2010
    Posts: 8,717

    1971BB427
    Member
    from Oregon

    Outside the box for sure, and that will make it even better! Shave the rear door handles and I bet most people wont even notice it's a 4dr. People rarely notice my Austin has 4 doors until I reach inside and pull the inside door handle.
     
  6. gasolinescream
    Joined: Sep 7, 2010
    Posts: 614

    gasolinescream
    Member

    Lots of options and they all look good, even got a factory hood scoop!!Maybe if your fitting lexan to it you could replace the glass in the rear doors and keep the quarter window, shave the handles (as just mentioned) and make the front a one piece. Only issue there is that the rubbers etc may be rooted and won't refit once taken out. If just left alone and keeping the glass just do the fronts in glass or lexan in a 1 piece. Quite easy to do and keep stock looking if you take your time. Makes the door look a lot longer, especially on an old Brit car, done it on a few cars myself and makes a huge difference. Other trim can be found to make up a felt runner for the glass and it just a matter of making a good template for the glass/lexan and relocating the front down channel further forward so it runs up and down and has support on the front of the glass. You could probably use the original with a few brackets welded to it, again done that a few times. Just throwing ideas but have pics i can pm if you want to get an idea and happily talk you through the one piece mod. Get your rubber out (not that rubber!) and see what it looks like on your drawing.
    Just make sure you do a build thread as love to this car done as your hoping. Langy's saying but its good to be different but different isn't always good. In this case i'd say different is good and from what others are saying do it!!!
    Certainly stand out in a crowd and look great belting down the track. Good on you for doing something away from the norm.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2011
  7. round head
    Joined: Feb 5, 2012
    Posts: 99

    round head
    Member

    i like the idea go for it who care what any body thinks
     
  8. koolkemp
    Joined: May 7, 2004
    Posts: 6,005

    koolkemp
    Member

    I think this will be a really cool project! Congrats!!
     
  9. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 18,828

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    cool little car. while the gasser would be bad ass, I always thought it would be cool to have an odd little commuter built from something like that. I'd go with a Datsun motor with a 5-speed. I'm a sucker for wierd little cars.
     
  10. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    Well I FINALLY started to work on this thing. It's future was a little rocky but now I've got some things in life (kinda) figured out so I started digging in. I've only got a couple pics, I'm going to start taking pics with my real camera soon.

    Sooo, as per my drawing, it scaled up that the rear fenders needed to be cut this much, to fit a 29" tall tire with some clearance at the stance I was shooting for. Friends and family thought that this looked ridiculous and couldn't see what I was seeing....
    [​IMG]


    Until I did this... This tire is 31" tall and I just used it for reference. I lower the back till the rear end was on the ground equaling about an 8" drop giving me 8" of rear ground clearance. My tape line makes sense now! I love the shape of the little fins with the big tires.

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    Next my friend lent me some skinnies, 15x4", 25" tall for a mockup on the straight axle. I got too excited and just took a stock wheel off and put a pro-star in it's place. This thing is gonna look killer IMO.

    [​IMG]

    Then I pulled the Chevette drivetrain someone had crudely installed, their shitty work made for easy removal. The whole front suspension is held in with 4 bolts, got those loose, with a little persuasion with a air chisel and a sledge hammer and she dropped out. I called it a night on friday.

    [​IMG]


    Yesterday I got the spindles and brakes mounted on my drop I-beam axle with the wheels bolted up and stuck it under the car. It's a little wide looking, especially head on from the front. Looking from the rear, down the side of the car, it doesn't look to bad... I might looking into wheels with more backspacing if there even is anything out there in a 15x4 with the vintage look I plan on going for.

    I'll just get some opinions from you guys to see what ya think, once I get some more pictures up.

    So the project has begun!
     
  11. blackanglia
    Joined: Oct 6, 2008
    Posts: 92

    blackanglia
    Member

    I had this car a few years ago, never even thought about turning it into a Gasser. [​IMG]
     
  12. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    An A56! That's awesome to see! That one looks like it was in pretty good shape.
     
  13. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    If these car had been exported to the United States and not just to Canada in the 50's, I bet they would been have been a commonly used platform for drag racing like the Anglia's, Prefect's and A40's..
     
  14. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    Ok so here's some pics of the old crap I removed and the I-beam mocked up under the car. There isn't anything I can really do about width other then wheel offset unless I drastically change my suspension plans....

    Let me know what you think.

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  15. ALLISON
    Joined: Oct 26, 2004
    Posts: 616

    ALLISON
    Member

    very cool... just a thought... I noticed in some of your drawings you had thought about making it into a 2 door.. but I assume lengthening the doors was the deterant to that?? why not simply weld up the rear doors and, move the rear wheels a few inches forward (not much though).. with a car that obscure no one knows what its supposed to look like anyway and wheels moved would give it a sense of altered wheelbase drag car as a bonus... you might even move the fronts forwad a tad too.... anyway, just an idea... looks like its going to be a neat little car:)
     
  16. Cool idea. Not sure it matters too much if its a four door or a two door, as the whole thing is so oddball that anything that looks quirky on it will probably fit right in.
     
  17. ALLISON
    Joined: Oct 26, 2004
    Posts: 616

    ALLISON
    Member

    my only thought was centered around the door handle being gone... with the handle gone and the seem welded up a nice panel is created, a panel to paint a drag car name on.... "Bionic" perhaps???
     
  18. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    The wheelbase currently works out to about 97", not sure if i'd really like to go any shorter.

    For now, I've got enough on my plate with it, so it will stay a 4dr unless I really get bored in the future after it's a driving car.

    I just can't wait to see it sitting there shaking with a lumpy V8!
     
  19. vintagetinman
    Joined: Oct 22, 2007
    Posts: 157

    vintagetinman
    Member

    if you want to go with the odd factor . i would use a mazda rx7 rotory . they are small, light, and if you add a turbo they can be really fast . i have wanted to put a rotory into a track t for years . and yes i know its not traditonal but i still think it would be cool
     
  20. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    Ah ic, well for now even the handle is staying lol. The name I was thinking is "Serious Business" but since I'm on a lot of internet forums and my friends are all internet nerds I was thinking the short form "SRS BSNS" would be appropriate and funny.


    A bridge-ported rotary sounds like a lumpy V8 and in a T, it would have a lot of people scratching their heads lol.
     
  21. BCCHOPIT
    Joined: Aug 10, 2008
    Posts: 2,601

    BCCHOPIT
    Member

    Saw this little thing last night and I thought of your build.
     
  22. BCCHOPIT
    Joined: Aug 10, 2008
    Posts: 2,601

    BCCHOPIT
    Member

    Oops pics would help
     

    Attached Files:

  23. bbc 1957 gasser
    Joined: Aug 3, 2007
    Posts: 683

    bbc 1957 gasser
    Member

    id put that nose up higher ..
     
  24. poprodder
    Joined: Jul 17, 2002
    Posts: 232

    poprodder
    Member
    from uk

    hi,
    looking forward to following this,
    i'm building a 4dr gasser here in uk, bit of an oddball motor as well!!!

    [​IMG]

    cheers chris.
     
  25. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    That looks awesome! Do you have a build thread I can follow of your project?
     
  26. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member


    That is one CRAZY looking ride!
     
  27. Although I think it may be an Willys, check out the green car in the middle.

    [​IMG]
     
  28. skot71
    Joined: Oct 30, 2010
    Posts: 180

    skot71
    Member

    Call it "Austin POWERs"!
     
  29. A-Wall
    Joined: Aug 6, 2008
    Posts: 488

    A-Wall
    Member

    Well I got some more done to the car this week. I totally gutted the interior and any remaining brackets on the firewall.

    I think the plans are to support the body with bracing, remove the front fenders and cut everything off at the fire wall. Then I plan to make a new sub-frame from front to back out of 2x3 tubing, and make a whole new floor, possibly with a 1" boxed tubing structure and an aluminum skin. Very little of the original floor will be left, well there already isn't much of the original floor left LOL but you know what I mean.

    I'll have nice and square frame rails up front for engine and suspension mounting and I'm make my own tubular rad cradle.

    The Drivetrain isn't H.A.M.B. friendly but I'm using a 2005 iron 5.3 LS, converted to carb'd with a lumpy cam, custom fenderwell exit headers, I'm going to try and make it look as vintage as possible hiding the coils inside the car, making some head scratching valve covers out of I don't know what yet, hiding any wiring as best as I can and doing something simple and custom with the accessories (it would be amazing if I could somehow run a v-belt). The trans will either be a 4L80 converted to full manual (zero electronics) or a T56 manual 6-speed, I REALLY want overdrive, I plan on making this car more of a driver now with some occasional track use.

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    Pretty much the only thing I will be using out of this pile is the dash lol.

    [​IMG]

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    Since someone had already crudely torched a Chevette bolt pattern in 2 of the stock rims, I decided to add a 5x4 1/2" bolt pattern to one of them to see how the offset would work out on the front. IT'S NEARLY PERFECT BUT! I discovered that a 15" rim wont clear my Wilwood brakes at all at this offset.... Maybe 16x4.5" are in my future?

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    Even tho it's not H.A.M.B friendly, it should make this light car haul ass and I'll have about 400-450hp with about $1800 invested in the engine total. Plus if I blow it up for some reason, they are a dime-a-dozen now at $200-$500 for a complete engine.

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    The mess...

    [​IMG]
     
  30. Late model 5.3 in a gasser? How about trading that for a vintage correct engine? 394 Olds, early Hemi, early small chevy - if those are too expensive.. I you use that 5.3 or whatever it is - make it look old..
     

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