Projects ACO Original - 1949 Chevy coupe

Thanks. Honestly I thought I'd be a lot further along than I am. It's been almost 6 months now. Picked up the car December 12th.

 

Haven't touched the car in a bit.

Starting to warm up here so it's been tough to find the motivation ha.

I moved the car into the garage to avoid the sun.


Did some random paint test of lace on the top. The tops going to get laced for sure now.


Painted my valve covers.

 

I'm not as far along as I would like to be either. As long I'm checking little things off it makes me feel better.
I'm going for early 50s on mine but that lace is sick. Gonna look great. Good job.

 

Thanks man. I've been following your build. It's given me some much needed motivation. I wanna drive already.

Yeah I try to jump around and finish small stuff so I don't get overwhelmed. It's tough but slowly is better than not doing anything.

I'll keep following yours, it's coming along awesome.

 

Small update.

Haven't really touched the car as everything seems to be on fire here. 110+ degrees everyday.
On the upside I may be building a new garage/shop so there's that.


Got some stuff in the mail. Got a mustang gas tank and some plug wires I've been looking for for awhile.

I'll have to get pics when I unbox it all.

 

Still working on it.

I kind of burnt myself out with working a ton and feeling like no progress.

Took a small break and well here's where I messed up.

I bought a 51.


It's a lot further along than my coupe so I'm gonna try to knock this out in a month or so.

I won't post pictures of it on this thread unless you guys wanna see it too.

Don't really want to start a build thread on it separately.

 

Dude!!! you need to show some more of that one! 51 Fleetlines are freaking gorgeous. That one looks pretty good too.

 

Damn! Burning the candle at both ends. Haha. That fleet line is badass. Don't get discouraged, your thread inspires me to get off my ass.

 

Yeah man definitely a good looking car!

This one was on it's way to be street rodded. MII set up, power steering, power brake booster, those wheels.

Came with a ton of stuff. Should have most of the stuff to get it back together.

I'm not sure what I signed myself up for but oh well, this one's much further along so maybe it'll light a fire under my ass haha.

 

Took these pics before I brought it home

 

you really need to work on your welding, it looks like you are not welding a bead, but rather a bunch of spot welds. I hope those A-arms do not fail on the first bump.

 

Thanks for the tip.

Here's the another pic. Better I think.

 

there you go. some of those other welds just didn't look right.

 

yeah those A arm welds are as critical as they come and would require testing/certing down here. Might want to think about grinding them back and putting a decent v-groove on the joints before dropping them off to your local fab shop to be welded.

Possibly paranoid (though often a legal requirement) but anytime I'm dealing with joint that could kill or maim me if it failed, I tack it and get it tigged by a pro. I just don't trust my welding that much as a novice and it's always pretty cheap if the parts are clean with a well prepped joint.

The 49 is awesome BTW, reminds me I need to get back on my 51

 

Nice find on the 51, keep after it.

 

My brother came and is staying with us here for a bit and I gotta tell you. Working on cars is so much easier with an extra set of hands. Everything goes much smoother and quicker haha.

49 is on the back burner. Pulled the engine and trans from the 51 to check out linkages and overall shape.



Engine looks great. Trans on the other hand...




Anyone want to buy a Muncie 4 speed? Comes with hurst linkage/shifter.

So I'll be picking up a turbo 350 and slapping that in tonight. Wanted to have this car up and going by the end of the month.

 

@brewty from over on instagram. Found your HAMB build while searching. Do you have a shot of the frame mount master cylinder on your 51? My booster hangs a bit below the frame, and it looks like yours does too. Just wondering about how far down... Trying to decide how much protection I need to put around it.

 

What up man.

I have a half assed pic I took. I'll take a better one tomorrow for you.

 

Just realized its a pretty crappy pic. But yeah it does hang a little past the frame.

 

Thanks! I just relooked at mine yesterday and it's about an inch below the frame but almost even with the transmission support. I think I'll weld up a little rock plate for it.


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Update.

Picked up a steering wheel for the 51 and a 56 Chevy wheel for the 49.



51 is almost a driver. Had to cut the engine mounts and move the whole engine back 3" and up 2". Doing this let me move the radiator back so I could use the stock hood latch.

Ditched the Muncie and slapped in a th350. Cut the transmission mount and made a new one.

Welded in the lower spring perches to the axle and had a driveshaft built for it.

Finished the steering linkage and installed the column.

Lots of work and the car looks exactly like how I started. Don't you love when that happens?

Ive got a leak from where the trans cooler lines come out of the trans so need to get that sorted and wire up the electric fan.

After that I should be able to take it around the block!

 

Let me know if you decide to sell a wheel... I might be in the market...


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Gonna need these both ha!

I did see some tri-5 chevy wheels on ebay for pretty cheap. Definitely one of my favorites. Very space agey, atomicy looking.

 

Had to get a new garage door installed and got hit with a crazy dust storm. All my crap was outside and an hour later it was like nothing happened.

Not a happy camper at the time but hey new door is much better than the old rotting wood one!

Also got a pic of the two cars together.

 

Little update.

Prepped the 51 for a quick solid color paint job. Sprayed it. Came out ok I guess.



Ordered some wheels for it to get rid of those racing wheels.


Already much better.



And before and after. Also dropped it 3" in the rear.

Almost done with this pile.

 

Cool. The car looks pretty decent from here. You flipping it?


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Yeah, I'll probably put it up for sale as son as it's more or less road worthy.

 

Realized some pictures in my first post were missing. Fixed that.

Another update. Nothing on the '49. But I did get the '51 driving and definitely gave me some much needed motivation for the '49.

Bolted the front bumpers on.

Did a quick "upholstery" job on the front seat. Going to do the same for the rear. Also need to make some door panels, probably just black fabric for those.

Going to paint the dash a color. Not sure what to go with. Any ideas?

Ordered a shaved door kit, 1 piece windshield, gauge cluster, and will be ordering a new wiring harness tomorrow. So much for making it quick and easy...


Here's some pics.
My neighbor has a set of these laying around. I had to mock it up of course ha.

 

51 taking longer than I expected. Been working too much I guess.

Small updates.

Painted the dash and got some gauges. Had to mock them up of course.


Also got in a new wiring harness to wire the whole car up.


Got a one piece windshield. Was quoted $100-$150 to install and no responsibility if it breaks. So I said if it's going to break, it'll be because I did it.

Incredibly easy.



Halfway through the wiring. Tested everything and it works. Now just have to clean it all up.

 

Haven't updated this in awhile. Got the 51 basically finished as I'll get it.


New glass installed. Around this point, I wasn't happy with the all black look.


I got new door panels/interior panels and installed them.



I know I'll probably get a lot of hate for this but oh well. Not being happy with the black I decided to "patina" the car. I love it and think it looks great.



I then took the car on its maiden voyage to the good guys show in Scottsdale



Rolling in I found this guy who had the same idea with the paint.




Now that work will start back up on the 49. It's been a year today.