Projects 57 Belvedere 4 Door Gone Mad

This is just about the most awsome build I've seen, been following it for months and look forward to the new progress pictures. I was watching the show "My Classic Car" and on this particular one they had a car called the "Atomic Punk" , extremly similar to this '57 based rod. Check out this link,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr38/4727015918/ . Peace,,,moosie

 

This guy likes the Atomic Punk too:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/member.php?u=1025

 

nice , i miss the double stack headlites though ,

 

sounds good, glad to see you are moving forward with the build.

 

Yah good to see you back! Too bad the Imperial lights wont work, What does the linkage rub? Mabee notch the bottom bucket for the draglink.

 

No pics but it is wired now with the exception that I cant get the blinkers to flash properly. Once I get past that I will put the shifter in and get a driveshaft made. It will then be driveable at least. Then there is a lot of welding to finish on the body and get to making it straight! I actually like doing body woky so I cant wait to get on it.

Draglink hits the lower headlight bucket with the double lights on it. Live and learn.....

 

Well I have just spent about an hour skimming through this, very very cool build. I hope everything works out for ya.

 

kinda reminds me of this project i saw on the hamb a couple years ago.....

 

Any progress?? How about some up to date pics??

 

Well its been a long freakin time since I had an update. This still isnt much but its at least progress. Car is all wired and tested. Trans cooler installed under the floor. Finally finished the last 2 brake lines, going to fill the system and bleed it this weekend. Wiring still needs to be put in loom but will do that after it goes back together for the last time. Shifter is installed and hooked up. Shifter is only a 12" tall handle but it still peaks over the top of the dash. Not a fan of tall shifters but it looks pretty good at the height it is so I am gonna leave it as is for now. Gotta change that shift knob for sure. And the body mount bolts will be much larger, the little one are just for properly locating the body right now. Will drill the holes to 1/2" or 5/8" soon.

 

Man......that sure is a nice frame! Someone did a nice job! Be there tomorrow, this thing is going on a test drive this weekend!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

 

And a little more.... Started building the inner fenders for the rear. Rolled some 18 guage, left it extra wide to weld it in. No, I am not building fender flares here! After they were tacked in good I trimmed the excess off. Then I rolled some round rod so the fender opening would have a lip, thought it would look better than just looking obviously cut out. Welded those in. Didnt get a pic of them with the round rod welded on though. Will finish the welds out this weekend hopefully. Also still need to cut the pieces for the inner part and weld those in. It has about an inch and a half clearance all the way around the tire. I think it will need a little more than that above the tire to keep it from rubbing but thats easy enough to address, add one more leaf from the extras laying around after I combined parts of 2 spring packs to make 1 good spring pack.

 

I like it with the flares, I will pick up some mud flaps on the way down tomorrow that say "back off" on them! haha!

 

After looking back thru some pics on my computer I realized I never make a post for my front brake swap. I picked up a set of 56 or 58 T Bird brakes (I cant remember now) at a swap meet. Guy had done a complete rebuild including drums, drove it one and did a disc brake swap. Both sides complete spindle to drum for $50! Figured it was worth a shot at that price.

First I had to make the hole in center larger. I had some 40ish backing plates so after some careful measuring I discovered one bolt hole was already in the correct location. After marking the new bigger hole size I needed I tacked a piece of steel to the backing plate so I could clamp in the drill press vise. Cut out a bigger hole with a hole saw, cleaned it up. Welded up the old holes. Loaded backing plates now installed. I put a set of the disc brakes adapters from Speedway on the spindles. Had a problem though, the T Bird hub sat in to far anf the drum bottomed out against the shoes. Tried some various hubs I had laying around to no avail. Left it alone for at least month. Ended up buying some spacers from Karas Kustoms to space the backing plates away from the spindle. Still not quite exact on the spacing. JRacer gave me a drum brake setup from an old Mustang he had done a disc brake swap on. Well what do you know, the hubs and drums are just what I needed. I now had brakes!

 

A few pics of the brake swap. In hindsight this was such a pain I should have just bought a complete brake kit from someone but figuring stuff out on my own seems to get the best of me.

 

So, after all these pages of building stuff, you actually think of 'stopping' now?

The brakes seem to turn out nicely.

 

Looking good, glad to see you back at it.


Psssst.... Somebody stole your driveshaft..... Gonna need that to go for a drive this weekend.

 

Glad to see you're back at it. Looking forward to the YouTube video of this car hauling ass down the road!

 

Drive shaft has already been cut!

 

Change that to driveshaft is already in it. It feels good to be back at it and Thanks Guys, I appreciate the support!!!

 

Git 'r Done!

Are going to raise the body over the axle when it gets time to drive it? I would want at least 2 inches of clearance from the tire to the body. On the lunar lander I had a 3 inch arch or so over the axle and after time the coil overs softened up allowing more axle travel. The axle would hit the body and I had to raise the body up again so it wouldn't hit....just a thought...

 

I am going to raise it up at least another 1/2" to an 1" Its got a pretty thick spring pack in it now and I am going to add another leaf or two. I would rather have a bit of a stiff ride that alot of tire / fenderwell clearence. Will put bump stops in back if needed.

 

I was pretty sure you would have it figured out but I thought I would mention it just in case. One of those things you learn from, ya know?

 

Plowboy, I appreciate your input, you have been there and done that. Heck, your builds were what got me on this wild roller coaster of a build anyway! I keep waiting for another wild build from you. Is it going to happen again in the near future?

 

Probably not. I only have "normal" projects in the works for now. I do have one more weird roadster project tucked away, but I don't have any plans to work on it in the forseeable future. I am just going to sit back for a while and see what y'all come up with. ha ha

 

Well it would be hard to top the Atomic Punk, that car set the bar pretty darn high. Kind of like the pro ball player that walks away at the top of his game. But if anyone could top it and raise the bar any higher you certainally could. The Vicky is looking good though, for a "normal" project that is. Keep on keepin on!

 

Funny thing, I came across a 57 Belvedere yesterday and had a very similar idea! I guess I've missed this post whenever it came up. This one needs WAY more work as its just a rotted shell.

 

Looking good!! I'll be by tomorrow to help get in your way...hehe.

 

cool car man! good luck with all your personal stuff!