my 51 chevy project *edit-added vintage pics*

I bought the car mid-05 and have since torn it down completely. The car came with a 327w/hurst front and rear motor mount plate, muncie 4spd, single sided ladder bar(axle twist?) 62 corvette leafsprung rearend s/w speedo and tach resessed in the dash along with s/w amp, volt, h2o temp, oil pressure, vette buckets, 52 grille, bosch fuel pump(with 1965 receipt in glove box) and a roof rack.
The roof rack clamps to the drip rails and another rack stuck up from the trailer hitch for carrying a canoe.
It was sitting in a carport for 30 years. the glove box had pictures of old gassers and a sweet truck project(dated 1963) a ticket to san antonio raceway!

 

...wow a hot rod fishin car!! I like the paint ..or lack of..What were the cars in the gasser pics? Are you puttin it back together as it was built?
...I had a model A coupe that had the same boat carrier setup.

 

Actually Im torn between Gasser and low slung custom

 

Go gasser! seems everyone is doing a low slung custom now days. my .02 cents.

 

Here are the pictures I found under the seat

 

Sweet find man. Both the car and the pics. I vote to go gasser to.

 

This would be cool!!
Gemini EFI

 

Those vintage pictures are f-in' cool. The car should be a fun project.

 

personally im not that big on the chrome but id bet it runs nice

 

Check out page 20 in the latest issue of Hot Rod.!

 

This is an old one, so Jared, how's the car lookin'????
Jef

 

I decided to add some updates to bring this thread a little more current. A couple weekends ago I got "out there" and started doing some body work. Its not great but its definately a learning experience. I ve been stripping the paint off the front fenders and hood. I also found some rust out back in the usual places. I found some spare parts that I will not be using and began making some patch panels. They arent pretty but a little finish work and some dollie work they will be just fine. I have no money for high dollar tools right now, especially since Im sittin with my wife in the hospital for a few days, but If you have some suggestions, Im all ears.

 

Any updates?

 

cool man. thats the set up i want in my 49 when the 6 gives up the ghost.

i am goin low slung custom.....but the gasser look is choice two. i would just feel silly with a gasser packin a 216ci/3spd on the column.

looks like a good project and keep the updates comin'.

 

Cool project....you know i gotta say custom....

 

A couple weeks ago I picked up an 8.8 out of an 05 explorer and a month ago I snagged the trailing arms and parts from a 62 chevy truck. This week end I hope to have built a crossmember and hung the differential in place. I may do a tech write up if it turns out well. The 8.8 is strong as hell and parts are cheap. As soon as this gets done I will start the front suspension.

I have an aluminum head 406/700r4 out of an old project to use.
Damn, with all that said, I'll have to get motivated this weekend.

 

Yes, but mild to start with.

 

I'm with the SGT... There just ain't enough gassers around these days!

 

Well as of late I did a truck arm rear suspension (62 chevy), built crossmember, machined some axle tube flanges and trailing arm mounts, picked up an 8.8 and got it all set up. Its low! I started cutting the plates for a notch this last weekend, No Bags, and made some coil spring mounts.

 

Long overdue update...

I purchased an 8.8 out of an 01 explorer with the offset pinion (2.36 inches right)
The offset should not cause a problem with the proper u-joints. A disc conversion is simple on these rear ends, it is all bolt on.
I needed to relocate the leaf spring pads but could not find any available on the weekend , so I made some temporary ones.

Here is how.

The axle tube is 3.25" diameter, so I took a 2x3x.120 length to the shop and cut 3.25" diameter on the HAAS CNC.
Without a CNC I could have marked the radius on the stock and cut it (torch, bandsaw)

Then, I deburred them with a file and split them.

Next, I welded some flat stock to the bottom and drilled a .625" hole(not pictured).


I made some brackets at the shop to hold a pair of trailing arms from a 62 Chevy truck. I wanted this part to be a bolt-in job to aid in any adjustments down the road.


I tacked in a "crossmember" made from 2x3x.120. I cross drilled the holes for the brackets..To get the angle I needed, I added some spacers seen between the brackets and crossmember.
The holes were sleeved with tubing, gussets were added and then trimmed.


I used a tape measure and some twine to locate the rearend. Once located, the u bolts needed to be made. The ones at the local parts house are too small, so Atlas Spring bent some to spec.
To attach the trailing arms to the previously made axle pads, I used some solid steel drops (2"x8"x.5") with 3/4" holes. I needed to match location where the axle u-bolts align and drilled a .625" hole in between. A steel dowel was pressed into the .625 hole which aligns with the axle pads I made previously.


Here is how the assembly looks and the start of the notch on the driver side




Here you can see the offset differential

 

Do you plan on drilling those trailing arms?

 

I had not planned on it but why do you ask?

 

when clark Bates built my T, he drilled the trailing arms. They are visible from the back and side and really do look trick......like this

 

From what I've seen, clark uses I-beams for the trailing arms, so the holes would be ok in that situation. The Chevy truck arms are basically two pieces of sheet metal channel attached back-to-back. They are relatively thin-walled in comparison to the i-beams, so I would be concerned that drilling them would weaken them. Besides, on such a low car like this, they'll be pretty much invisible compared to the T-Coupe.

JROD-- I'll be watching this build. I missed it the first round on the thread, but I've got a 52 fastback in-progress, and I'm in the middle of doing the truck arm thing on my car. But mine won't be as low as yours.

I really like the front mounts you built for the front end of the truck arm bushings.

 

I'm gonna follow along with this build also. I like the idea of the trailing arm rear suspension. I would like to somedal lower my car more than it is with leaf and trailing arm rear suspension is supposed to handle real nicely.

 

I can get you any detailed information you might need. If ya need dimensions on the mounts or whatever...

I actually dont plan to run it as low as it looks however, I do have room to grow.

This is my first trailing arm setup. I too have heard it will/should ride nice. Thats the game plan. There is a ton of info on similar setups here. I will update the details as often as I can.

 

is the driveshaft going to clear that crossmember? how 'bout the exhaust?

 

Planning on using a caprice drive shaft. The crossmember hasn't been cut for either of those. Once the engine has been located, they both get the hack.

 

Good luck on your build, my son and I were just in your town last month.
It had lots of cool old houses on the main drag, We almost stayed in the little hotel downtown but the lady said we'd have to be in by 10:00 so we stayed with my buddy who lives in the new houses on the edge of town.

Dave

 

Great pictures. I like your trailing arm ideas from the 62!