Some help on some parts on 53 chevy build

SO ON MY 53 chevy HARDTOP BUILD I NEED a couple question on my parts list 1..first am gonna switch the front sheet metal to a 54 ..are all the parts defernt fender inner ..i was told the hood would work ..i have 53 stuff if a
anybody looking
2 i have a mustang front end disc brakes..am going run 15 inch wheels with whitwalls caddy caps radials tires ,,what rim, size and style rims would work best
3 has anybody used the 3 core champion al radtoirs they sell on e bay ..info
big thanks 4 any leads or tip 220

 

You don't need to change the clip is all your after is a 54 grill, just swap the grill. 53-54 are damn near the Sam car except for trim and grill changes. My 54 has a 53 hood and left fender and a 54 core support and grill. Also the champion radiators are fine, the one I have has a couple of blemishes in the welds, but is overall a nice piece. Good luck with the build.

 

I have M2 front & 4" blocks in the rear, run 15x6 Americans on the front and 15x7 on the rear.

 

your 54 does not have a 53 fender unless is is heavily modified with the parts from a 54 fender.

 

Should give a side shot
One is with the Americans, and one is the Americans with adapters to run disks!

 

I can only answer #2:

With steel wheels and hubcaps you'll want 15x5 or 15x6 wheels, and get them as deep as you can without going to reverse rims. That will give you almost exactly the same front track width as the original wheels on the original suspension. (You CAN use reverse rims, but it requires pulling the wheels covers off to check the air pressure in the tires because the stems point toward the center of the wheel instead of outward.)

In my avatar photo I am running 15x6 STOCK offset wheels with 205-75-15 radial tires and they are tucked in an inch or two too far on each side. I'm adding 1.25" spacers as soon as I get a chance.

Your best bet is to order a set of "smoothie" rims with an inch or two less backspacing than stock offset.
Smoothies look exactly like stock wheels once you put your hubcaps on there.

What year Cadillac hubcaps do you want to run?
The deeper-offset wheel will also allow most years enough clearance to mount. Most Caddy hubcaps won't go on stock-offset 15x6 wheels - they hit the rim and/or hub. But they work fine with deep offset wheels.
Cragar Deluxe wheels are cheaper than smoothies, but I don't know if you can get them in custom backspacing AND I don't know if the shape of the centers would clear Caddy hubcaps.

For wheels, lots of people swear by Rally America (Wheelkid). I got a pair from Early Wheel about 10 years ago and they were fine too.

 

big thanks

 

Scratch that, turns out I don't have any idea what I'm talking about.

 

54 front, the fenders, apron, bumper, grille and pretty much entire front is different... you can modify 53 fenders and hood.. But it's a lot of messing around just to change to a 54 front

 

Got 54 fender

 

About to install a Champion Radiator in my 53. I can let you know how it goes if you haven't already figured something out.

 

54 front clip is different than a 53. They look the same, but the areas where the grill goes are different, the headlight bezels are different, the splash pan is different and the front bumpers are different. Underneath the 53/54 grill area is ribbed to follow the contour of the grills. Look at my build thread and you can see that a 53 grill will not fit directly on a 54 front end. The front end is all apart showing what I am talking about.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=642257

 

The only thing that works sheetmetal wise from going 53 to 54 without modification is the hood. Everything else is different. Well, you can use the headlight bezels.

 

cool