Projects 56 Chevy 210 Hardtop Build

Yes I am undoing ! drove like shit with 4ft ladder bars and was never straight axled , hated flare job 3/4 square stock bondo and welded crappy , body was so good going back to stock body with 353 gears and painting white again .has mild cammed 350 barley had small rust in floors , almost went to England 4yrs ago but did not make deal and glad I did not .It also came with a 55 frontclip on it which I hear was common in the day .

 

Too bad...that sucker earned its scars.

 

Now it's gonna end up as another bellybutton lowered,350/350 combo (I know it's got a Muncie now,but give it a few months....first time it's due for a clutch,it's gonna get an automatic).
I'm expecting to see "airbags" and "camaro clip" and "billet alternator bracket" at any second.

With the history that car has,it's a real shame to see it all undone.

If the work was crude,why not fix the previous work properly,instead of erasing everything?It just seems like erasing all of the car's history....And it's hard-earned character.

Scott

 

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over the compression thing....It'll run harder with the compression it wants,but it will still sound tough as hell with lower compression.
Like you mentioned,just talk to your machine shop guy about skimming a bit of material off the heads,and see what he thinks.You should be able to pick up some cheap hp there,and I can appreciate building on a budget,with what you have available.Its the way I've had to work on my car for years
If you've only got $40 in the cam and lifters,and you've already got the motor,try to shop around for a deal on springs that match your cam,make sure you get a little help from your machine shop guy on setting spring height,and you'll be laughing.
Then try to find a local grey beard or racer who will help you dial in your distributor and carb,and you should have one snarly little small block,for less than most people at a Goodguys show pay for their billet radiator cap!

You're doing great.Dont stress over stuff,keep doin' exactly what you're doin',and you are going to be having a ton of fun!


Scott

Ps:Maybe hit the swap meets and online classifieds to see if you can buy/trade for some deeper gears.I would say anything between 4.11-4.55 that is affordable and not tore up is what I would be looking for.
Maybe a 4.88 or a 5.14 if you're planning to build a really angry motor sometime down the road,and don't want to go back and do the gears again.

 

Nice 56 Project.........keep it going.

 

Its been awhile since I've posted, have been busy with school among other things. As you suggest Powershftr, I'm not going to really worry about the compression issue at the moment. Yes, I know this means it will be over cammed, but one day it won't be and its all I've got to work with at the moment. Anyways, I did get the car licensed and was driving it until I started running into some trouble. The old "pencil shifter" for the 3 speed has been giving me the fits mostly, and the Q-Jet on the 350 is acting up horribly, as it has been from the start. Neither of which will be a problem for much longer, 4 speed Muncie and a 600 Holley are ready to go in the car. Upon driving the car I've calculated that the rear gears in the car are 4.11s. The unit is an open unit, but I have a posi unit for it, I also have a 3.55 Eaton posi with Richmond gears. I have a feeling I'll need to hang onto both.

However, I'm pondering on the idea of of pulling the 350 out for this winter and dropping in a stock 283 just to get around on. But, the only thing I have left to purchase before pulling the 350 apart is some valve springs that would handle the .555/.555 lift of the 305h comp cam. I have no idea what springs that cam might need.

So if everything goes as planned the following will be the engine/trans/rear end setup that I'll have put together for this winter:
1972 350ci SBC with stock pistons, rods, and crank- came in the car
Comp Cams 305h .555/.555 lift with 253/253 duration @.50 & 110LSA
Double Hump 462 2.02/1.60 with screw in studs and guide plates
Chromoly push rods with Comp Cams 1.5 roller rockers
Edelbrock Victor Jr. with Offy 2" carb spacer and a 600 Holly carb
Hooker Super Comp Headers with 1 3/4" tubes and 3" collectors

Muncie M20 4 Speed & Hurst competition plus shifter
56 Chevy rear end with 4.11 or 3.55 posi traction unit

My Goal was to build the 350 to produce 300 to 325 horsepower, which seemed reasonable for a college students budget build. Could any of you veteran builders give me an estimation of how much power I'd actually be close to? I'd like to be able to pilot this thing into the low 13s in a quarter if I could.

 

A friend's 56 he ran D/G these pictures are from 1964/65 at Dover Dragstrip NY

Pat

 

Are you looking for this horsepower at the crank or at the rear wheels? Your 600 holley is not going to work well for you. If it is a 1850 list carb they are basically calibrated for a stock 350 and any type of cam that changes the vacuum signal makes them run like crap.
http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/600-cfm-holley-1850-tech-applications/

 

I'm aware the 600 isn't the right carb to use, I'll eventually get ahold of a double pumper. I believe my neighbor has got one for me to use.

 

Forgot to say, I would say probably horsepower at the flywheel. I believe it's about a 17% power loss from there to the wheels, so I could calculate it easily either way.

 

looks like a fun project and not too bad to start with.

 

My 56 came with bigblock springs with a small block in it and it looks somewhat aggressive and it rides great.yruhot

 

Love love LOVE the car!!!! Just got one thing for you to consider. The rear ends in these cars are NOT very strong and wont take much abuse with any sort of sticky tires and a 4 speed. I do know that posi units for these things are worth good money. Maybe youd be better off selling the posi and gears, and putting that money towards a stronger rear end. Hate to see you bust that posi and gears, then they are worth nothing. But, just my opinion. Still love the car either way!!!

 

With time and a little more money I'll have something like a ford 9" rear under the car. However because my dad ran a stock rear end under his 57 for 25 years, we've got parts galore for these rear ends, so I'm not too worried about it at the moment. I definitely don't doubt things will break though.

 

Depending on what the piston to deck clearance is, I'm saying 8.75-9.25:1. I will echo what Powershifter said, that thing will sound cool, but that cam is about 20 degrees of duration too big. At .555 lift, you better be checking piston to valve clearance carefully too. If you have enough P to V clearance, advance the cam 6-8 degrees, it'll make more pumping pressure. Instead of the 600 Holley, keep the 750cfm Q-jet & buy Don Riggles book, & a rebuild/tuning kit & use his #2 Performance recipe, so it'll idle nicely with that long winded cam. The 4.11-4.88 gear will help alot. A pal & I built a 350 similar to yours in high school (35 years ago). It went into a 3750 lb. 71 Monte Carlo with 4.11's 275 x 60 rear tires turbo 350 (2.54 low gear) 11" 2800 rpm converter, 1 5/8 headers with 2 1/2 full exhaust turbo mufflers, and tail pipes. Ran 13.40's/104 mph @ OCIR.

 

there are ways to make the "pumpkin 10 bolts" live well behind a 4 speed and with slicks. in the old days you took the side gears out of a 8.75" mopar posi and used them, then had ford 9" axles resplined to the side gears and the wheel pattern redrilled. The posi unit is a DANA corp. unit in both the Chevy and the mopar. And there is a guy in CANADA making billet steel bearing caps for the 10 bolt. He's racing a big inch 409 in a bubble top chevy, so, lots of pounds and lots of torque, he has found/fixed the weak links.

 

I'm really trying to ditch the quadrajet. How would a 750cfm carter afb perform?

 

I spent some time at the machinist's today talking about this engine setup. I took him the heads so he could see what type of valve springs to order for me. As he was looking over the heads he informs me they have been worked over at some time. Bigger valve springs, some porting, and they have been slightly milled, either from anywhere from 62cc to 58cc. I asked him how these heads would effect my compression and he said that they would bump it up to around 9.25-9.50:1, which is all I really want to run with 1960s iron heads on 93 octane pump gas. We discussed the camshaft as well and how it calls for a 10.5:1 cr. He says this shouldn't effect me, just it might not be as responsive off the bottom end, and as well as to look at the stockers. They're running 8.0:1 compression with camshafts that have got upwards of 270* duration @50 and their motors run strong. I then ask him what kind of power he thinks this engine will make, keep in mind this guy has been building race engines for a living for quite some time, in fact he used to work for Tim Wilkerson, so I trust what he's got to say. He said that with that kind of setup we would be looking at somewhere between 400 & 425 HP. With all the good parts I just had laying around that are going into this motor I have to say I'm quite pleased with those figures. I did some more thinking about the carb and although the QJet is a 750cfm it really needs a little extra work to make it perform how a new 750 double pumper would. In the meantime I have a 750 Carter AFB I might try.

 

Any more updates?

 

He's been too busy with homework to post on the HAMB

 

Loudbang's right, the project has been slow recently due to finals this past week. The temperatures have also been dropping and I can only work on this thing outdoors at the moment. However here in Illinois I believe that it will be a whopping 60° on Christmas. I should be pulling the engine and transmission out soon to swap in the M20 and to work over the engine. I'll be sure to take some pictures as I make changes.

 

Above are a few photos of today's progress. My friends Kevin, Dylan, and Alec are all home on break for Christmas, so we decided to take advantage of that and get the engine out of my car and built. We got the car in the garage, and are ready to pull it completely by tomorrow, get the heads off and see what we're dealing with.

 

that rubber fuel line and plastic filter between the carb and fuel pump are a fire waiting to happen.

 

I've run both of my cars with a similar setup, where would this be an issue? It's far better than the piece of washing machine hose that I had replaced.

 

Good luck, Stay on it and make sure it gets put back together soon.

 

The tech guy at the track won't be diggin' it,but I've put thousands of street miles on similar stuff.
Make sure there's no place it can chafe or wear through against a frame rail or something.

And that is super cool to see your buddies over there helping you out....Nothing's more fun than working on the car with some buddies.
Well....Maybe the first time you and your buddies take it out for a rip,or take it to the track.

Nice job so far.Keep us posted!

Scott

 

http://www.trifive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151407&highlight=fuel+filter

 

Its best if you only have a steel line between the fuel pump and carb. There is fuel under pressure and under hood heat and age and the pulses from the fuel pump can cause leaks. Better to use a metal filter between the fuel tank and the fuel pump. I would just hate to see a car burn when it can be so easily prevented.