Well as my first dip into cars I got a 1953 Bel Air to play with. Nothing fancy planned for the build as I want to drive the tires off this thing. The start: 53 Bel Air 4 door lowered 4" rear and 3" front. 1968 Camaro 12bt rear and front. Chevy 350 crate engine and T400 tranny. 90's somedamn thing interior. before: Day 1: Strip interior, pressure wash, air dry, minor surface rust removal. Pressure wash, air dry, heat dry. Pull out shitty 2x4 steel blocks welded together for lowering. Clean axle housing and weld in new perches, make new U-bold plates and bring back to stock w/new U-bolts. after: very suprised at almost no rust on this car. Day 2: Go to motorcyle races and piss and moan about not working on 53. 2 new rear tires and mass parts ordering. Day 3: Drop gas tank and pressurewash after work. Drying for 48 hours before applying sealant. Then I have to wait 96hours before installing sending units. I did get 4 boxes from UPS today. Wiring kit, wiper kit, sending units, new dash gauges and plates. Thats it for now will update when I work on it again.
Thank you. I have a wireing kit, electric wiper kit, dash , and gauges sitting in my living room now for this weekend. I bought 2gallons of Rust Stop and hardener to spray the entire inside "hopefuly" tomorrow unless the OT gods frown on me. All new window felts and seals too. Then upholstery, carpet, door pannels, and headliner. It has new double to single 2.5" exhaust that is a bit restrictive. Thinking good duel exhaust is needed. I want to put better motor mounts and maybe raise the engine a solid 1.5" Maybe replace the front coils, but I'm pulling them first to see if they are stock or cut/cooked down. Past that just drive the shit out of it.
If it comes up about an inch the angle will be a bit better. But actualy thats on a long term idea and may never happen. It was just one of those things that caught my eye. New updats after I wash the paint off my hands so I can use the camera.
This is how not to lower your ride: Day 4: Tank cleaned and acid bathed, ready for sealant. Inside painted to include door jams, roof, and inside pannels. All wiring ripped out and new dash ready to go in. If the paint is cured enough I will try and get the carpet insulating mats in today. If not I have all day tomorrow.
Wow great start, both the rust free condition of the car and how much you are doing! Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the comments. I should be done by now but we lost some folks at work so its manditory OT for everybody. I'm actualy posting this before going back in to work a surgical suite So I wired it up, installed new gauges, and fuel, water temp, oil pressure sending units. Painted the dash and installed new headlight, ignition, wiper switches and a new cigarette lighter. The new electric wipers need some modification but the motor is in and wired. I'm deciding if I want to change the electric fan out or not before looming the front wiring and the two loops on the firewall are unused that I may hook up. I installed carpet with heavy duty insulation on the floor and the trunk. Here are the pics:
Hopefuly tomorrow I can get to work on it and have the seats and belts in w/new hardware, and work on the windows. I found out one of my windows was acrylic when I did some overspray clean up with acetone . O well I want new glass anyways. I should be able to take this in and register it this week. I did lose the starter that was making noise the input shaft between the flywheen and solenoid snapped. Going to replace it with a mini starter for some header room.
Well after the Honey-Do's I had time to yank the starter and install a new pulse generator so no more speedo cable. Then I had to clean up and start BBQ'n Hopefuly this week I can get a cou ple nights to finish it up and register it. Then I can mount the carseat and my son and I can go fart around a bit this weekend!
Great start. Keep up the good work. I like the look of the gauges. Was that an of the shelf template or something you made?
Off the shelf backing that I bought with the gauges from E-gay. The seller is EZ wiring but they go by oldschoolparts or something. Great to buy from and I saved like 15% buying dash insert/gauges/wiring kit/wiper kit combo. The dash insert isnt perfect and you do have to cut the dash. I had to mill about .20 off the insert to make it fit and still keep the OEM mounting locations. I was going to make my own but I had more money then time at that point. I cleaned the inside of all the wiring bits and wired in my fan the other night. Now I don't have either LOL hopefuly this weekend I'll mount my seats and belts, install window channels, door seals and be rolling.
O yeah put in a PowerMAXX starter the other night since the OEM ate the teeth. nice light starter and cranks nice but quiet.
Took it out for a test drive to the next town. It was 100F outside and I did start to overheat. While at idle it was slowly raising and on the highway if I kept it in 3rd and lower RPM it held at 190F. When I was getting gas after going into town it was at about 215F and rising. I yanked the radiator and I'm going to either replace or clean the water pump. Replace the cap, mount a shroud and get a new fan. Deciding between a new electric or move the radiator forward and go to mechanical. Got on GEICO for an agreed value of 12K for $900/year while I shop for insurance. Searching the info overload here on that subject. American Collectors quoted me $240/year. I yanked the stainless trim and painted the white strip on the rear green to match the dash since I had left over paint. I think it looks good but its like a clean spot on a dirty carpet...now I have to paint the outside
i got a 53 and im trying to put a 327 in it but i cannot find out what rear axle will fit which do you have in that one?
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