Hot Rods 1953 Bel Air I'm on the fence, someone push me over

I bought a 53 Bel Air that has been neglected. It needs front and rear floor pans, trunk pans, rear panel, rockers, and door bottoms. The frame looks ok except the last crossmember parallel to the rear bumper is rotted it has the 235 / powerglide original and never rebuilt. It has sat for years without running and I got it to run with the help of the HAMB. I have run about 2 water bottles of fuel through it and it seems to run ok. It does smoke a lot and the PO said it didn't smoke last time they had it running. It might just need to run more to clean up. I have not tried to put it in gear or try the brakes, the PO said they were sketchy last time they drove it. I would like to get it on the road as soon as possible and I have limited time to work on it. I am Mr Safety when it comes to brakes and I don't want to drive it with a single master cylinder. I would want a dual m/c with disc up front at least. I think with the original drive train I would quickly get board with the 6. Changing the motor would mean motor/tranny/ rear swap. If you were me with limited time would you swap the drive train or find a s-10 or another donor to do a frame swap?


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pics help A LOT....like......is it a hard top..... or what ?

 

no frame swap! your limited time would be better spent repairing what you have.

 

holy crap - run away from this as fast as you can

 

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You don't find these cars where I am (north Florida). They are either rotted to the ground or out of my price range. I don't want to buy turn key, no pride in that. I want to rescue this car but I want to be smart about it. I lwant to make sure I get what I want out of it with the least amount of money spent. I don't want an original car, I want something to play with. Am I better of modifying what I have or just do a swap to something more modern. I ain't young and I would like to have something I could go across the country and be reliable. What would you do?


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My friends 53, for possible inspiration.

 

That's nice! I would love to get to that level some day. That's a beauty!


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Nice project, If it were mine I would get it stopping and running right before upgrading. I would learn the car before changing it. It shouldn't cost much to make everything mechanically sound first. I might lose interest if I had a non op project for too long.


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Limited time, and it's rusty and needs all the mechanicals fixed up...I suggest you sell it, save up some money, and buy a car that is closer to what you really want.

ps. I made it into town and back home again tonight, on a single MC brake system. in a truck that I've been driving for 40 years...

 

You couldn't possibly spend enough money on that car to make it decent again. So much of the underside structure is weakened that it just plain can't be made right. You need another car ...

 

Parts car, maybe. Come to California, or Arizona. You can find far better, for a fair price.

 

You're going about this all wrong, Man! Now, that car can be repaired to better than showroom quality and there are plenty of parts out there to make it happen, but if your time and funds are limited, and you call yourself "Mr. Safety", find a better car or truck.

 

What would I do? As much as I love old chevys, I'd walk away. You may have to travel to the southwest to get something nice but believe me, it's well worth the travel expense to dodge all the long hours of repairing rust. Then there's all the body work where you did your rust repair. More long hours and expense.

 

This coupe is in desperate need of a full resto. There is not an easy or quick fix . If you realize you are not ready for that task ,pass. It will save you from a lot of headaches.....

 

Read between the lines
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money
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pit
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I was originally going to suggest you buy a better car, there are a lot right on your local CL right at this moment. I posted a bunch here in your thread.

But then I remember seeing your posts around, so I went back and read a bunch of them, and deleted my post here, because it was more aimed at a newbie. But you aren't a newbie, you've built a ton of cars, and sounds like they were pretty involved. You know about old cars. So I'm not sure what your hesitance is about. From your posts, you know what's involved in replacing floor pans and sheet metal, and also rebuilding and swapping engines, and upgrading brakes. You should be telling us how much it will cost to get this Chev on the road. Am I wrong?

Disc brakes and dual masters are the least of your problems, right?

Are you asking us if we would dive into fixing up a completely clapped out POS car we really liked?

Then yes, I definitely would.


If your asking if we think you can get that Chevy on the road, safe and street worthy for short money any time soon;

Then fuck no.

Would some A-holes on the internet stop me from trying?

Fuck no.


For the record, I would sell that Chevy and try one of these, available right now in your local area:






(Don't like 4-doors? Don't worry, I have a wee penis too)

 

I'm set on putting this thing together, the rust and shit doesn't bother me, I want a 50's Chevy. I was just thinking would I be ahead to do a frame swap and be much farther ahead of the game.


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That's a LOT OF WORK ahead for you!
I applaud your enthusiasm, but I wouldn't touch that car with a 10' pole.
I'm in to my '49 for $10k already, and there's no rot!

 

Just looking for the path of least resistance. It looks worse than it is, in my eyes anyway. Maybe I should have my eyes checked!


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You need to get that frame rot corrected first and then fix the floors. I wouldn't worry about single master cylinder vs dual until after you have it running and driving safely.

It being a hard top makes it even more desirable.

 

Too much rust for us mortals.

 

You seem to want it both ways.....the body needs major work,,,but you want to drive it.....
YOU need to decide which direction...not both directions that you want to take.
Safety first....replace all of the brakes...however, you talk about an engine+ swap that will necessitate redoing the rear brakes system.......
1. strip the car down and media blast it to get a starting point (which I know you know)
2. patch panel the body
3. source a, frame / engine / trans/ rear end
4. spend a lot of time and money or it won't be safe.
5. now drive it......
2cents
BTW: one of the largest old salvage yards is near you, they have a lot of rebuildable cars..... Rick

 

You knows it's bad if Belair says run.


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Where would that be? I know there was a cool place in Gainesville but I think they have been closed for some time.


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You might want to know that EMS is giving HAMBers a free catalogue. Just sayin' . IF you keep it, get it driving first. At least you can have fun with it before and while you fix the body. If you do all the metal work first, (the hard and expensive stuff), you might run out of "want to" and sell it without ever enjoying it.

 

x2

x2

it should

dump this money /time pit

don't we all

 

I love the 53-54 Belair's I always wanted a 54 Belair hard top or rag top if it was me d do the swap it would save u time and money plus u'd be upgrading ur whole system to disc brakes good steering and room for a motor and tranny upgrade, then ur ready to drive and repair at the same time lol I'm like u no body issues that can't be fixed f u have the time and money to throw at itt and when ur done u gave a cool hotrod that u can take pride in and brag about ur self just keep us posted on how is coming along, hotrod harry


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