Projects My 1950 Chevy Styleline Build

I purchased my 1950 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe 2-door Sedan in September 2015 from an 83 year-old retiree that restored it about 10+ years ago. I was looking for something solid, and this was the best one I found for the price (and I looked at quite a few) -- original/solid floorboards, trunk pan, good body mounts, TOTALLY redone interior (seats, door panels, headliner, carpet, windshield, door seals, fuzzies, etc), running/driving car.

IMG_4109 by krbarnes posted Sep 29, 2015 at 10:03 AM

IMG_4113 by krbarnes posted Sep 29, 2015 at 10:03 AM

IMG_4089 by krbarnes posted Sep 29, 2015 at 10:03 AM

My biggest complaint was that the original 216 I-6/3-speed gave the car a top speed of 55-60mph (low rear-end gears didn't help), which doesn't make it too 'highway friendly'. After enjoying a few local weekend cruise-ins with her, I decided it was in need of some 'upgrades', with a final goal of building a dependable cruiser I could feel comfortable driving anywhere. As the Michigan winter began to set in, she took her spot in the garage. Craigslist became my best friend as I started searching Detroit and the surrounding areas for parts:
A 10-bolt rear end

IMG_4320 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:17 AM

A complete 305 small block (don't need a hot rod - at least not yet!)

IMG_0306 by krbarnes posted Dec 1, 2015 at 2:58 PM

Edelbrock intake and carb:

IMG_4456 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:17 AM

I'll be installing a recently rebuilt 700R4 from a '90 IROC Camaro (my son is doing an LS/6-speed upgrade in his car and 'donating' his old trans to me)

The engine was torn down to a short block, heads taken in for a valve job, then reassembled. Christmas presents from my dad and my sons provided the air cleaner, valve covers, water pump, fuel pump, and other chrome goodies.

IMG_4458 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:17 AM

IMG_4481 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:14 AM

My brother convinced me I needed to paint the engine 'a different color'.

Engine by krbarnes posted Jan 6, 2016 at 10:01 AM

Now it was time to get down to the real dirty work. While my son was home from college over Christmas break, I took advantage of the extra muscle to start the major tear-down.

IMG_4532 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:14 AM

The following weekend the 'big pieces' started coming off

IMG_4534 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:14 AM

IMG_4537 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:14 AM

IMG_4555 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:14 AM

IMG_4558 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:14 AM

Chassis Engineering provided the rear-end install/leaf spring kit, and the new bolt-in front crossmember. Mustange II front suspension is in the plans, along with a power brake upgrade. A new transmission crossmember from Walton Fabrication is on it's way too.

IMG_4545 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:14 AM

IMG_4584 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:17 AM

The work now begins to start grinding rivets to remove all the original rear suspension mounts and transmission crossmember, along with lots of cleaning and painting.
More to come!

 

wow, nice plan, beautiful Chevy

 

I am enjoying your build, keep the pictures coming!!

 

Nice looking car, Your plan is solid, keep it up.

Jim

 

Looking Good

 

You'll love the result!

 

Another productive Saturday in the garage. After lots of grinding, cutting, drilling, hammering and prying, I was able to remove all the original rear leaf spring mounts, which were riveted to the frame.

IMG_4589 by krbarnes posted Jan 24, 2016 at 7:10 PM

Installing the new Chassis Engineering mounts only required drilling a few holes, and the mounts and springs went on fairly easily.

IMG_4590 by krbarnes posted Jan 24, 2016 at 7:10 PM

IMG_4594 by krbarnes posted Jan 24, 2016 at 7:10 PM

Now I need to cut the old leaf-spring perches off the 10-bolt and weld on the new ones -- then the rear will be ready to go in.

..... to be continued....

 

Moose over on the Photoshop thread put this together for me - dropped, painted wheels. Kinda the look I'm going for -- maybe even a bit lower:

IMG_4475 by krbarnes posted Jan 22, 2016 at 9:19 AM

Not looking for anything drastic. Just a fun, drivable car.

 

Another visit from the UPS man today. Walton Fabrication transmission crossmember.
YAY !! More rivets to grind!!

IMG_4596 by krbarnes posted Jan 25, 2016 at 7:32 PM

 

Took advantage of our unseasonably-warmer weather here in Michigan (mid 40's) and got to spend all day Saturday in the garage. It started with cutting the old spring perches off of the rear-end, and welding on the new ones. Not a real difficult task, just time consuming, and double/triple/quadruple checking measurements and angles. Shot some paint on it, and will hopefully get it in next weekend.

IMG_4601 by krbarnes posted Feb 1, 2016 at 12:50 PM

Then came the joy of removing the original transmission crossmember. The Walton Fab unit bolts to the frame in the original location, but also bolts to the original K-members, which means that 18 rivets had to be removed, trying not to damage the remaining mounting areas. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I finally had to cut the old crossmember into pieces just to be able to get to some of the rivets. Evidently Chevrolet never intended these things to come apart, but eventually I won the battle!

IMG_4602 by krbarnes posted Feb 1, 2016 at 12:50 PM

Stay tuned for more!

 

Nice car, you're making good progress and I'll follow along.

 

Nice!

 

The fun started on Thursday with another delivery from UPS. This time it was the rest of my front suspension parts. - tubular control arms, 2" drop spindles, manual rack & pinion, rotors, calipers, springs & shocks, etc).

IMG_4613 by krbarnes posted Feb 8, 2016 at 7:22 AM

Then another 'mild' weekend in SE Michigan (mid 40's) afforded me a lot of garage time. I was able to get the rear-end and transmission crossmember bolted in, and everything pretty much fell right into place with no surprises (thanks CE and Walton!!)

IMG_4620 by krbarnes posted Feb 8, 2016 at 7:19 AM

IMG_4622 by krbarnes posted Feb 8, 2016 at 7:19 AM

Next, I turned my attention to the firewall area. I trimmed some of the vertical supports to make way for the small-block, then kept on 'cleaning'. A fresh coat semi-gloss black made everything pretty.

IMG_4627 by krbarnes posted Feb 8, 2016 at 7:19 AM

IMG_4628 by krbarnes posted Feb 8, 2016 at 7:19 AM

I then started the install of the Chassis Engineering front crossmember. Other than having to drill a bunch of holes, it was pretty much uneventful.

IMG_4630 by krbarnes posted Feb 8, 2016 at 7:19 AM

Next on the agenda is to get the rest of the front-end parts painted and installed (then master cylinder & booster, brake lines, exhaust, wiring... etc, etc, etc, money, money, money......)

(ps - have I mentioned what a wonderful, understanding wife I have?? )

 

Nothing much happened this weekend - it was too cold to work in an un-heated garage (don't think it broke 20 all weekend). I was able to take all my front suspension parts (control arms, spindles, caliper brackets, etc) into the basement and get them painted. Next weekend is looking warmer, so maybe....

IMG_4656 by krbarnes posted Feb 15, 2016 at 4:53 PM

 

looks good. even better in person.

 

you will love how that thing rides with the Chassis Engineering leaf kit in the back. Best thing I could have done on my 51. Next for mine is the same front suspension you are doing.

 

Got in a little garage time this weekend. I'm waiting for some brake parts to come in (new pedal assembly, booster, master cylinder, adjustable proportioning valve), but was able to get most of the front suspension put together. Took the day off Sunday to watch the Daytona 500 (what a finish!!!)

IMG_4673 by krbarnes posted Feb 22, 2016 at 10:42 AM

IMG_4674 by krbarnes posted Feb 22, 2016 at 10:42 AM

 

My UPS guy braved a Michigan blizzard to deliver the rest of my brake parts today! I may get some time to work on the car this weekend, but so far it's not looking too good (plans with my wife, work, Detroit Autorama!)

Brakes by krbarnes posted Feb 25, 2016 at 11:33 AM

 

Hope yours works better than the one I had..looked just like that. after a week of screwing with it I yanked it out and ordered a firewall pedal assembly from Walton Fab. worked flawlessly.

 

The pedal assembly bolted right in with no problems! I did have to grind he head off of one rivet, but everything fit fine. Will also need to drill a new hole in the floorboard for the pedal (it moves it over between the original clutch and brake), but that's not a big deal. Next will be bending & flaring brake lines.

FullSizeRender by krbarnes posted Feb 27, 2016 at 2:20 PM

 

Darn you! I just sold my 51 Chevrolet Business Coupe, and reading about your build just makes me regret selling it even more. I just had too many projects going on, not enough room, and ya'll know the rest. It was built in a Street Gasser theme, lifted up, big and little Cragar SS wheels/tires, V-8/automatic/56-4.88 Positraction rear end, etc, etc, etc. The new owner has already dropped it down, and put some ugly 20 inch rims/tires on it. At least I get my wheels/tires back; it was part of the deal. Keep the updates coming! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Mine fit fine and appeared to be just right. But it was like the pedal ratio was way off. No air in the lines and just had tons of travel in the pedal to get it to stop. Used the same booster and master on the Walton Fab set up and no more excessive travel In The pedal to stop.

 

Thanks for the input Jason. I appreciate that. I hope that I can make this work to my satisfaction, because I REALLY wanted to keep the booster/mc on the frame. I'd like to keep the engine bay looking more 'original' (except for the V8 sitting in there).

 

Spent the past couple of weekends working on the brakes. Got the pedal/booster/MC mounted, bent/flared/installed all new brake lines, and now have working brakes!
ps - I can't say enough GOOD things about the copper-nickel alloy brake tubing -- it bends and flares easily, and seals great!

IMG_4718 by krbarnes posted Mar 16, 2016 at 1:07 PM

IMG_4722 by krbarnes posted Mar 16, 2016 at 1:07 PM

IMG_4724 by krbarnes posted Mar 16, 2016 at 1:07 PM

Now I've started working on the steering. Ordered u-joints and D-D shaft yesterday, and will hopefully have everything connected by this weekend. After cutting off the steering column & shaft, I needed additional support for the column tube, so I fabricated this support plate and used the existing holes in the firewall to fasten it.

IMG_4731 by krbarnes posted Mar 16, 2016 at 1:07 PM

 

Wow you're flying on this! You're doing a great job, it's looking really good. Keep going!

 

I was really undecided about whether to try to keep the original steering wheel and column, or replace with an aftermarket tilt-column and wheel. Several pros & cons to both, but decided to go with the original setup.
Spent the weekend working on the the steering linkage. Got the original steering shaft cut down and ground/filed a D-D on the end to connect to the first U-joint, and used a CPP Column Saver on the end of the original steering column tube for bearing support (that worked great!). After several hours of trial & error, I think I finally have a configuration that will work. Trying to get the linkage & u-joints in the right place so as not to have any binding in the u-joints (can only bend about 30 degrees) was a lot tougher that I thought it would be (forgot to take a picture of the final assembly).

IMG_4752 by krbarnes posted Mar 21, 2016 at 9:17 AM

 

Nice build

 

Got around to taking some pictures of the completed steering linkage.

IMG_4761 by krbarnes posted Mar 28, 2016 at 8:56 AM

IMG_4756 by krbarnes posted Mar 28, 2016 at 8:56 AM

IMG_4768 by krbarnes posted Mar 28, 2016 at 8:56 AM

IMG_4757 by krbarnes posted Mar 28, 2016 at 8:56 AM

IMG_4769 by krbarnes posted Mar 28, 2016 at 8:56 AM

Front End 1 by krbarnes posted Apr 5, 2016 at 9:56 AM

Next up -- getting the transmission 'ready' (700R4). I have to modify it to control the torque converter lockup, and also convert the speedometer output from electronic to mechanical (trying to keep as many of the stock gauges as I can). Have some parts on order, and when those are installed, I think I'll be ready to drop the engine/trans into the car!

 

Looks great, keep up the posts.

 

Engine & transmission installed, and got it fired for the first time! Sweet music to my ears!! (but the wife thought it was too loud!)

IMG_4852 by krbarnes posted Apr 26, 2016 at 12:30 PM

IMG_4853 by krbarnes posted Apr 26, 2016 at 12:30 PM

IMG_4855 by krbarnes posted Apr 26, 2016 at 12:30 PM

IMG_4856 by krbarnes posted Apr 26, 2016 at 12:30 PM

and my block-hugger headers cleared the steering linkage with room to spare!

IMG_4854 by krbarnes posted Apr 26, 2016 at 12:30 PM