Projects My new 53 chevy 4dr daily driver!

Alright! My day off voyage to work went well, no snags. Was able to cruise 60 at 2500 no probs. Motor was purrin! Oil pressure at 45 PSI at all times, idle, accelerate, cruise. Temp stayed just below the half way mark, just like before. Took it on the freeway for about 15 minutes, kept up just fine with room for acceleration. I have driven 55 before with the car, but today was the first day since Ive owned it to actually drive on the freeway! Once I merged on and was going 55 I shouted out loud "YEEAAAAAAA!!" haha!

Things I noticed. Throttle return spring is WAY too stiff. Also, it seems like its suckin a lot of gas. I wont know the MPG until I run a few tanks through it. Also, I took the front door panels off tonight and put on the wing window rollers to get some more air circulation in the cab.

Heres a pic in the park out where I work. Beautiful day!

 

Sounds good.
Your gas mileage should inprove as the motor limbers up and everything seats.
Glad its back in your hands and all is well.
I run 2 throttle springs one inside the other, for safety, but even with 2 it isnt hard to push.

My engine set for 5 years, it didnt want to spin up, now with a few hundred miles (regular driving) it revs faster and the gas mileage has inproved ( alittle )
Godspeed
MrC.

 

Cool. Glad to see it back up and running!

 

Kinda looking for a 53. Love what you have done. i hope that all continues well with this engine rebuild. My first two cars were 4-doors, a 48 and a 55 Chevy. Kinda special to me.
Later,
Dick

 

Looks sweeet! Nice job!

 

Looks killer. Bet you had a smile on your face all the way to work and back.

 

Good to see other 4 doors out there on the road!

 

Well, Ive been driving it for around 3 weeks now back and forth to work doing an average of 55 MPH. Seems to hold a 45 PSI oil pressure all the time, never over heats and has the power youd expect from a 235 inline.
Its weird, Im still getting varied MPG readings. Some times itll come out as 8 MPG and other times its been as good as 16 MPG. But as far as how long a full tank of gas lasts me compaired to my souped up V8 350 full size '79 chevy P/U truck with RV cam... same. WTF? Both will go about 4 days on a tank. Round trip is 50 miles, the tank is a 16 gallon.

Just this past friday however, I was on my way home driving on the highway and heard a high pitched squeel/squeek coming from the tranny hump area. I was trying all kinds of stuff like putting the clutch in, reving the motor and so on. My best guess at this point is that the clutch started slipping. The thought of having it up on jacks again, and monkeying under my car more in this heat just didnt sound fun.

Im aware its much hotter in other parts of the US. Its even hotter in other parts of this state. But when youre a fair skinned red head, and a native to a rainy climate, this 90+ weather is too much for me to even think of wrenchin on my car.

So instead, in the mean time, I swapped out the clear reverse lenses on the 53 tail light cluster and put in red lenses with blue dots and wired them to run as well. I also removed my front grill bar and teeth and have some fun ideas on a totally custom front grill idea.

Also, Ive been doing some fun things with water slide decals. I found a company that makes the paper and so far so good!

 

Looks cool... nothing beats that 'back on the road' feeling from lying on the floor in the garage!

 

First things I would check is the timing, then carb running rich then vacume lines. 8-16mpg is a huge sweep, are you running vacume advance? if not hook it up.something dosent sound right if your driving style and route is pretty consistant. Check the color of all your plugs, you may have a bad one, Im just thinking of things that would screw up your mpg.

I personally have never HEARD a clutch slip but I have felt several slip just before they go out, but anything is possible. It maybe something simple, something rubbing the drive shaft or something else under the car

Glad its back on the road
Godspeed
MrC.

 

I adjusted the clutch. I dont think it was allowing the clutch to fully disengage. Plus the shop hadnt fully tightened it up. Good thing I checked it all out today! I also re-routed my speedo cable so that the brake pedal wasnt smacking into it.

So I thought I would have some fun with the car today. A little paint work instead of wrench work. All this will get sanded off later, so why not? Scallops, pinstripes, lettering and spiderwebs!

Plus check out all the red taillights!











Heres my rear view mirror mascot. The Bride of Frankenstein skull. After lookin at this and my horn button I made, I knew what my car should be named. So behold, The Bride!

 

lookin good dude, i like the scallops, paint and webs

 

Damn u have come a long way with this car. Looking good!

Any chance those teeth might be for sale?

 

Thanks bro! Next is a custom fabbed grill. Its a secret!

 

Chris, I may trade you for a pair of 56 chevy front bumper guards

 

If anyone has a pair of 56 chevy front bumper guards, at a HAMBer price, Im interested. They dont have to be pretty. Im throwing around ideas for a custom front grill for the 53 and Im messing around with ideas. Thanks

 

Cool give me some time and see what I can come up with.

 

Hi Monster,

Great read, but I must have done something wrong, as I can't find any of your photos you keep talking about.

The guys say Great..... or cool .... & I missed the pics.

Would love to see them.

 

ALSO, did you post a new video of your new motor sounds ??? Maybe I missed that too.

Would live to see the pinstriping you're talking about.... in action.

Thanks

 

A few pics of The Bride! Ive been driving it daily for over a month to work. Half hour trip each way out into the country side, and about 20 miles each way. The best MPG Ive gotten is 11.
Soon Im going to redo the exhaust and open it all up to 2". I feel maybe the 1.5" is not allowing it to exhale properly. Im also thinking of running 15" wheels instead of 14's and go with a radial to check the MPG. Its tuned as perfectly as I can get it and it has pertronix.
If you can suggest ideas to improve MPG to what some have claimed, Id be happy to listen!

 

Holley Economaster 1 bbl carb. Designed for 1970's and earlier sixes, I have one on the '58. No gas mileage figures from me yet, but I reckon a new carb would do wonders.

 

Heres a video of what I just completed on the 53. I removed the cable/drum wiper assembly and designed a "strong arm" assembly. Ill have a full step by step on how I did it soon for a tech tip!

 

Very nice Monster, I have to keep an eye out on that tech, I have avoided fixing my wipers, cause I dont want to mess with the cables and vacumme motor.

Is there away to move the motor and firewall assembly under the dash and clean up the firewall?
I have been thinking about a rear glass SUV wiper motor and the solid arms like you have there. just a thought.
Godspeed
MrC.

 

You could easily move everything under the dash. When I did the motor conversion from vacuum to 12v motor, it was easier at that time to use the exsisting cable/drum system. Since that was set up before doing the arm conversion, I left it there. I actually like seeing the moving arm on the firewall and it pulls at curiosities and starts conversations!
Ill be working on that TECH article right now and Ill tie in the previous 12v motor conversion TECH as well.

 

hey hey , drive the crap outta that thing man....

 

So heres a link to the conversion tech article I just did on the strong arm wipers system!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=752593

 

Awesome old cruiser, cool to know its a daily driver too, you livin' the dream, old cars rule!

 

drivin it every day now that the wipers are fixed! It was raining cats and dogs the other day. Tried them out for the first time and worked like a champ for 45 minute commute in a down pour. Now I need to get a heater in there with defrost! haha!

 

Who would want a green four-door? ME! Cool car. I'd love to have one like it.

 

Sweet Ride, thanks for all of the up-dates !!!