Projects Mild Kustom 53 Chevy build.

Willing to sell those front fender and front door moldings from the part car?

 

Your project is looking good. I like the color! Tell me a little about your valve covers, I always thought the script covers were all the early staggered bolt pattern. I see that you’ve got em bolted to late model heads. Modified covers, adapters or?
Thanks

 

Thanks man... Finally starting to get her on the road and its nice to finally do so..

Valve covers I believe are the 60-68? 283 covers, I know the early stuff pre 59 was staggered, the later ones were straight from my knowledge.. Funny thing is this motor has the small balancer on it, almost looks like a 327 at a glance... I had thought about putting the breather tube on the intake at one point, but decided against it. But there are no adapters there at all...To my best understanding these are not reproductions, but I have been wrong on occasion.

Here she is sitting out in front of the pizza joint on the way home from my buddies shop...

 

Sold the car 3 days to the hour after buying it and getting what I needed off. I am probably going to try to see what I have extra when I take the zip ties off my bundle of trim that is probably incomplete on some things and duplicates of others, let you know if I have spares, I know I may have door spares at this point... Guess I need to get the masking tape out and see where it all goes.....

 

https://www.southeastchevyparts.com/1957-Chevy-OEM-Bumper-Jack-Set--Restored_p_67.html

 

Well... no photo updates yet, painted the window trim satin black, needed to ditch the red everywhere...

Driving it, got a pinion bearing howl when off the gas, so going to do that this Friday probably.... Need to clearance those dang hydraulic ball mounts off the rear axle, they are banging the exhaust on bumps, but all in all, car goes straight down the road, no wander, steering feels good, brakes ok, gas pedal real good... I think all in all once pinion bearing is done, mechanically this car will be golden, then on to aesthetics... Thats when the fun comes and I know yall getting bored of the dumb updates and want the real "Kustom" stuff...

Big plans, roof will be getting endless lines, lace, panels, and all that jazz... Dash probably getting same treatment at the same time. So stay tuned folks... 10 months, from a pile of parts to a running driving gal again...

Hope everyone had a great new year... WELCOME back to the 20s.......

 

Update pictures... Finally getting some road time in for sure... All in all pretty solid lil car, has to get some rework on exhaust, rear suspension settled making it hit the rear axle, but no complaints for sure. Rear end has a whine up about 30 to 65 then goes away at 70 so I am thinking I need to get it rebuilt now to get it right, pinion nut still tight, no pinion movement etc... So all good there, steering goes straight down the road, seats are nice and comfy...











Installed some swawn mirrors on the doors the other day, all measured out and fit up good...

 

You have done well, I'm subscribed!

 

Thank you sir... Enjoying having a 50s car again after a few model A's,

 

Not a whole lot to update on... Got some push through center caps for a little more finishing look, Body worked a few dents out of the roof. Got a nice guide coat on the roof for now till finishing time comes... Been driving her some, still waiting to get axle rebuilt, few things got moved in front of that project... Getting ready to road trip her to roundup this year....

Hammer and Dolly 99% of the dents out....

Skim coat of bondo just over the tool marks basically... guide coat laid down...



Here are the centercaps I got Saturday installed...



Another reason for the slower progress is I have been helping a buddy on the weekends on his hemi, nice lil 354 hemi for a gasser...



Played around yesterday with the paintbrushes. First time ever trying to letter, looks 50s period for sure with my lack of experience and no transfer paper design etc... Not quite sold on this yet for the car, May sand it off when I pull the trunk lid to sand and paint the inside of the lid. Don't bust my balls too bad...

 

Need to try and get that hemi for your car LOL

 

That factory steering box in these cars probably would be right in the way with that big sucker... I have to say I know why chrysler lost money on every one produced, they were engineered damn good for sure...

 

Its been a while. Figured yall were in for update for sure.
Need to rebuild that center link, got a support to take up slack still not enough but helped it out for sure. suspension getting broken in well, riding alot better all around.

Did some more work on the roof, did a little bare metal fake job for the time being to make people wonder. Installed a radio in the glove box.

Base coat of flat black.

Then the metal treatment.


Driving it every weekend mainly. Motor is running real good just a bit of smoke off idle so probably needs some stem seals soon.


Not a bad view at all...

Installed the hood springs, used the stacked washer method, worked great and took the butt pucker factor out.
Washers used and I highly recommend..

installed, only had to use a brake spring tool for the last 1/4" of stretch. alot better.

Hood open with no more broom stick.

So bottom of the drivers door was rusted and I had a spare door laying around, bel air trim swap takes a decent amount of time and disassembly for sure but got it swapped and took me about 6 hrs to swap it all over and make it right. Didnt get detail photos of that but you get the picture, pain in the ass.

Was sucking a bit of oil through the pcv being in the valve cover, then put on of those cheap ones with the breather built in, was crap so made my own out of a old breather I had laying around, this works and baffles the oil for sure.

When I pull the intake to reseal and paint I will drill and tap one in the valley pan for sure. till then this works fine.

End of the day, good cruiser car for sure. Few little things still to do, but I had it ready and road worthy to make the trip to roundup but that's postponed for a few months. Hope everyone is staying safe.

OH yeah, more drop will be coming for sure, stepped control arms and 2" blocks to put this thing real low. On a 3/4 drop right now, shooting for 5/6 is the goal, may take a while but we will get there.

Missing having a hotrod for sure these days, may start hoarding parts for another model a but this one will be very traditional, already have a 283 for one so we are on the way for sure.

 

So been driving it alot lately. Noticed at stop lights the temp would creep up, going down the road it would go back down. Well after building a shroud out of a trash can, it helped the swings slow down, upon further looking I found out the pulleys I had were 1 to 1 ratio, so ordered some stock ratio pulleys and a better fan, and then I couldnt stop there and decided since I was there I would just go ahead and add the ac compressor to the bill.

30 gallon trash can fit the bill for a fan shroud.



Few brackets later and were at this point.



Then tear it all back apart to add and modify.



Between a now 6 blade 18" steel fan and shroud and getting water pump and fan spinning at correct speed this should put the cooling system back in to happy on these 90 degree days.

 

Nice low buck shroud!

 

Ingenious solution

 

Been a little while, few health issues later here I am posting some updates for anyone who cares,

So if you ever get heat stroke, its a bitch... plain and simple, take care of yourself is my best advice. Drink water, cool down when you can. Got over the heatstroke some, thought I was good, decided to work outside again and bam, anxiety and stress issues now, allergies that make no sense etc, never had these issues before ever. SO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

So my garage is air conditioned, in this devils armpit called Texas of heat and humidity I have been working on things left and right. 74 degrees in here all the time.

Old rusty chrome grill is changed up, sanded the chrome down and polished the copper. Made myself pinstripe the front and rear to keep my mind going, work on hand eye coordination again etc. I am not a stripe god or anything more than an amateur with some brushes and some 1 shot.
These three are from my drive in the rain yesterday after getting ac working etc.



Close ups of the areas done,



I got tired of the old chalky red on the dash, so Massey Ferguson Grey to match the color I put on the steering wheel a while back. Mark 4 Underdash installed. New Window seals for the doors. Alot of fun that crap is...



Then my signature cup holders out of 1 piece of copper tubing...



So here we are, Rebuilt Center link for the steering to take the slop out, a bunch of functional stuff done, still searching for the side trim to install on the rear quarter panels, but all in all its taking shape real nice, its been something to tinker on when I have the energy and ability. Yesterday was the first time in over a month for me to drive her, so it was nice, and it of course rained on me in the ride but no stress with ac and window seals that work.

The urge for another Model A hits me all the time, Have found a few I really like, kinda miss the whole banger game, but who knows what the future holds with health etc for me. End of the day this car is comfortable, drives great, and has a killer AC in it now, but that true vintage old man in me wants early iron more and more these days for some dumb reason.

Hopefully everyone is doing good, and take care of yourself. Thanks for taking the time to look at my crap and read about my dumb health problems. Hope everyone is having a good week.

 

She's lookin' good, Stubbs! Sorry to hear that that old sun kicked yer butt, it can get real mean! I used to live in Phoenix and it got me back in the 80's. From now on you have to be very careful about being out in it, it'll be easier to get now that you've had it.
Did you get the a/c from Vintage Air? I'm about to pull the trigger and get one for the Olds.
Stay cool...

 

Bought the Mark 4 under dash Vintage air from Summit, since they get things to my house in 2 days after I order it... Compressor is a Climaparts along with condensor, Brackets are RPC since the local speed shop has them in stock. Buddy had the hose crimper and was my first time doing lines etc.. Wasnt bad, all in all the under dash is bad ass for output, reminds me of the way the old ones used to work, but that R12 could hang meat, this 134 junk just dont get as cold.

Thanks bud, yeah I know it will be easier to get now since I popped the cherry, got to be more cautious for sure, but we will rise above hopefully and get back to somewhat normal... Just missing car shows and cruises so much lately. Funny how the world is upside down.

 

Great build. Love the progress and look of your car. Question on your shifter, is that a lokar? What are the specs on it? Would also love to learn about that cup holder. It’s awesome.


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Well boys... This car went to a couple here in town, I sold it for wanting to be back in a Model A... Funny how things go round sometimes. If I had the room I would still have her for sure. But Just tapped out on room here right now. This car got all the trim put on her, few rust spots fixed and was driven until he had to move and sold the car for a steal.

Glad to know this car is still rolling and was great to me for sure.