Projects 53 Business Coupe Build

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I love to see a body off project. Thats a serious commitment! Keep up the good work.

 

Keep it up

 

Nice work. looks killer. keep the posts coming.

 

AHHH the good ol days, nothing like staring at a bare frame.

MrC.

 

Got time to take my subframe and top a-arms to the U Blast yesterday and they came out great. Also cut out the remaining crossmembers and bits iI will not need. Today i got a lot of work done, got the rest of the notch fabricated up and tacked into place. Notched out the front subframe for my airbags. I am going to add major gussets to the front end to support it as there is not much left anymore.

I also cut the front of my frame off and raised it 1.5" just behind the steering box mount. This will raise the motor up as i wanted it clear of the ground and also allowed me to use the stock uprights without having to use fatmans dropped uprights. (on a budget) On holidays now till next week.

 

'53 Was the last Chev coupe. Only 2-door sedans in '54.

 

So decided to update the front end instead of trying to salvage the stock front suspension. Going to put a mustang II front clip in now. Wondering if anybody has a measurement for the spindle center should be? Trying to figure it out without having to put the body back on and fenders mocked up to center it in the wheel well. Any information would be great, thanks!

 

53 coupe great car

 

yep, i've got one. fit is great no problems, i got mine from Dick larrow he has an add on the inliners international site, he's in portland or. they use to send a tool with it so you could get the dowel pin holes correct. you'll need 370 or so gears depending on your tire size. your gona really like the 700r4 with th
the 235

 

More pics!

 

So its been a busy month and I havent had a lot of time to post on here the progress of my car. My girlfriend got me a ChassisTech triangulated 4-link for christmas, so lucky. I got the 4 link mounted and installed. Remounted the body so i could start fabricating the Mustang II front suspension and continue with the rest of the fabrication. I am using Welder Series top hats, with tubular control arms I bought off my friend.

 

More pics

 

lookin good! pretty cool that you are using the stock front end!!!

 

cool project. thats gonna be a rad car.

 

He was using the stock front end, but is now using a Mustang II, but it is still really cool! I dropped by and saw it today.

 

LOOKIN sweeet man! I wish i would have used my stock chassis and modified it like you are doing, i would have been crusin a long time ago! Are you trying to get the front on the ground also?

 

Front end will be on the ground as well. I z'd and raised my front clip 1.5" to raise my drivetrain and get the oil pan away from the ground. Will have to build a new transmission/driveshaft tunnel.

 

Got the remainder of my suspension parts this week. New upper tubular control arms, Mustang II Chevy Brake kit from speedway. I will post tomorrow in greater depth when I finish installing the front airbags.

 

great thread... just curious why did you abandon the stock front end idea? subscribed.. john

 

Im curious too, those lower control arm you had made looked pretty cool. What did you do with em?

 

thanks for all the pics man great build. subscribed!

 

Look sweet keep it up

 

Subscribed! It's looking good.

 

Kool build...
<SUBSCRIBED>

 

Sorry I never went into much depth about the fact that i abandoned the stock front end I originally wanted to use. After building the new lower control arms, i started notching and attempting to fit my front bags into the subframe. With how low i was going with my car i was going to have to cut a load out of the upper towers and was running out of material. I was going to have to do serious reinforcing and gussets in order to strengthen it back up. I looked into purchasing dropped uprights for my car and after adding up the price of dropped uprights, steering arms, rebuild kit for my front end/steering and a possible disc brake swap, it was going to cost me as much as doing a mustang II swap. Then my friend rob had a new mustang II setup sitting in a nova project that he never finished on his farm. It had never been driven and was sitting outside for a year collecting rust. Bought tubular arms, drop spindles and rack and pinion off his for $300. Ended up fabricating my own lower crossmember and the rest i bought. Cost me around $1000 to do the mustang II.

I would have loved to use the original front end but as I am on a budget, this was the easiest and affordable option for me and enjoyable building it all myself.

 

They are sitting attached to my hacked up subframe in the corner of my garage right now...

 

cool car!!

 

Been busy on the car the last month. Got the front end finished.



Shortened my steering column and added a bracket that used the existing holes in the firewall.


Steering linkage complete. Had to modify my engine mount to allow the steering shaft to go through the backside it.


Most of the front floor pans were rusted out.


Cut out everything as i need to make room for the 700r4 transmission.


Motor and transmission went in without a hitch.


Transmission mounted to new crossmember.


Driverside floor pan installed.


Passenger side pan installed.


Picked up a 1981 F Body driveshaft that fit. Front floor is ready for transmission/driveshaft tunnel.


Rolled the car outside this weekend after taking the glass out. Nice to be able to step back and see the stance from a distance.


Made a temporary rack to sit my windshield and rear window in. Put them safely tucked away in my basement.


Installed a new support across the floor where the bracing used to be.


Close up of rear support.


This week gotta get the driveshaft tunnel rolled and fold up some more pieces then start on the rear wheel tubs.

 

Bought this old Edelbrock dual carb intake with Carter YF carbs off of Schaefer on here. Gonna strip it all down and get the intake polished and the carbs rebuilt.