Just pick up my 53 Chevy. Sitting on early model nova rear steer subframe front and rear. Chevy 350, 700r4(Needs rebuilt), and nova 10 bolt rear end(?). Door handles have been shaved. Cant wait to get started on it!
Pictures of my winter projects... 400 horse sbc 383 stroker and an 8.5 posi rear end. If I have enough time I am also putting a 5 speed in there.
Very nice build build, I like the red myself so many AD trucks painted flat black now a days that it getting kind of old add some shine but I dig the door art.
Thanks for the comments! I got all the final welding done on the rear end gear. I tig welded everywhere I could get my torch into and mig welded all the inside corners just for good measure... Id hate to be driving down the road and loose a link. I also cleaned and painted the rear frame rails. Next up is setting up my rear gears with new yukon posi unit and new 3.73 gears. Ive also got a lot of parts on order for the motor... lifters, cam(order tomorrow), gear drive. Here are some pictures. Not my best work, but I am still a beginner on the tig torch. Ive got an old century stick welder with a high freq box and no foot pedal, so I did well under the circumstances.
Some updates on the rear end build... Got the rear end painted and installed.. 4 link painted and shocks mounted. Got another problem now.. My drive shaft is to short. Whaa whaa whaa. I didnt realize it but the 8.5 has a larger hog head then the 8.2.. Oh well I needed a new drive shaft when i install the 5 speed anyway. Here are some pictures!
Very cool. In hindsight I should have done a 4 link set up. Looking good! Hard to tell in those engine pics, but is that block black or something else? **subscribed**
Its a new color they sell at the autoshack. Its called metallic black. You cant tell very well in the pictures but it does have a lot of metallic sparkle. It looks amazing in person! Thanks for the compliments. I am actually subscribed to your build as well. You do some really nice work!
Spent the whole day dialing in the motor. Degreed cam, checked piston to valve clearance, measured for push rods. All I am waiting for now is for the pushrods to come in, button up a few loose ends and I will be ready for the test fire. Dont mind the carb, I plan on purchasing a new one, but I had this little Elderblock laying around for the test run. Heres some pictures.
Ran the engine last night.. all I got to say is wow! That elderblock carb didn't do it justice. The cam is very lopey... and the vacuum secondary kept opening and closing causing a lean surge at idle. I've ran 2 built motors on this engine run stand I built and none of them torque the stand like this motor did. It nearly picked itself up off the ground on throttle blip. I'm very pleased with the outcome and can't wait to get this in the truck! Here is a picture on the stand.. Happy holidays!
Nothing new this week. I had family stuff all weekend, but my ol lady gave me this Saturday and Monday to work on it. I hope to pull the old motor out and get the new motor and transmission in. I bought an s10 t5 for the tail shaft/mechanical speedo, and a friend of mine is selling me a built Camaro t5 the gear box, clutch, pressure plate and flywheel. Ill have some updates this weekend. Thanks for your interest!
Update: Over the weekend I installed the clutch pedals. Got the assembly and master cylinder from a late 80s s10. I have a question for anyone that might know.. my master cylinder is 13/16th bore and the slave for my clutch is a 1 inch bore. Anyone know if this will work? I installed the new manual brake system. New lines ran front and rear. I still need to run the lines to the slave cylinders in the rear drums. Motor was removed and the new one sat in its place with big block motor mounts for clearence of headers and gear box. Looks SUUUHWWEET. I also bought a 650 cfm quick fuel mechanical secondary carb, cant wait to fire it up and tune. I still need to figure out how and where to mount my alternator to avoid the electric water pump. If I cant figure it out I might have to go back to belt driven. I also bought (and got hosed) on a Camaro t5 speed manual trans. I met this guy at work and we have been friends for a few months. He said it was from his 92 camaro.. and it might of been, but the trans was from an 85 Camaro (non world class). Bought it from flywheel to tail shaft for 800... yeah, I am pissed. Should have checked the ID tag before I laid the money down. The only upside is that is freshly rebuilt, new sychros and an B&M shifter. Lesson learned, and a friend lost. Here are a few pictures of the motor out, and the new one in. I will take some more pictures tomorrow of the clutch assembly, master cylinder clutch, and manual brakes... Motor out New motor in
Got the brake lines all ran and hooked up. I bled the system but I still have air in there somewhere. Spongy pedal. I am going to buy a vacuum bleeder next weekend and give it a go. I did however get my flywheel back from the balancer. For those who dont know I built this 383 to be a neutral balanced 1pc rear main seal. Flywheels for late model 350s are actually externally balanced. So, I sent my factory flywheel to the balancer. $125 later, I have the swiss cheese flywheel. The guys at the machine shop assured me it will not effect its integrity. We shall see?? lol.
Finished my s10 tailshaft to camaro gear box. Got an Alan Grove Alternator bracket. Got headers that fit. Mocked up the headers, and they are going to interfere with my hydraulic clutch. So its denting time. Here is some pictures of the trans, alt mock up, and headers... Trans in the press to move speedo pickup location- Speedo pickup installed- Headers! Dont mind that weird cut in the backing plate. It was like that when I bought it from a guy. Here is a picture of my hydraulic slave against the headers. I dont really know how much clearence is necessary but the cylinder is just touching the header, so a couple more smacks with a sledge will probably do the trick. Here is my alternator bracket. Freakin sweet. Only gotta make a small cut out on the inner fender and then Ill have clearance Clarence.
Worked over the weekend pretty hard. I setup the hydraulic clutch, took 5 hours to bleed. Only to push the clutch down the first time and have the pushrod bend into a U shape. Now I a back to square one and I have to figure out what caused it to bind. Today I spend all the day getting the motor to fire. It fired up with a few cranks but after playing around with it I found out my #1 cylinder isnt firing. I now gotta figure out what the hell is going on with that. So all and all, its been a terrible weekend. NOTHING went as planed. Here is a video of the first fireup. http://youtu.be/aauvF2aLQh4
Finally got the motor running solid. Still need to tune it but atleast its running on its own. Here is a video.. http://youtu.be/cnHJLcFcvG0 Upcoming things to do/fix. - Fix brakes, still dont have enough pedal pressure. I am going to try a larger bore master cylinder. - Correct Hydralic clutch linkage geometry, or whatever cause the pushrod to bend like a pretzel. - Measure and get drive shaft cut to length. - Rewire entire truck with a painless or ezwiring setup. - Put it back together - Properly break all parts in - Fix anything that needs attention and then...... Burn the Effing tires off.
The Jalopy Journal
