Survivor rebuild.....31 chevy coupe....gasser...IT NOW RUNS! vid on page 4

Just a little under a year ago a hamber buy the name of Blue Chips contacted me about working on his 31 chevy coupe, he had posted a thread about looking for someone to work on his car in MN, well some fellow hambers/freinds/customers of mine posted and sent him my way. Jason told me a little about that car in that it was his fathers car and he had got it in the late 50s early 60s and had drag raced it and street raced it alot and then started upgrading and never got back to it. the car sat for many years and then unfortunately Jasons father passed away, then the car sat more while Jason thought about what he should do with the car. so then about a year ago he needed to find new storage for it and decide that it may be time to work on it. Jason is no dummy but doesnt have the skills to go this deep in fixing the car so he contacting me about doing the work. As we talked Jason had thoughts of making the car pretty nice etc etc, i told him he should think about leaving it as is, save the history of the car and keep it the way it was when his dad touched it and worked on it. the car isnt perfect but it really isnt bad at all.

So late last fall the car came to my place for storage and we started planning some stuff out. i belive the car had a 283 and a 3 speed, his dad had then switched it out to a 375 327 bought brand new from the dealer (no vin or engine coding stamped in it), drove it that way for a bit then started some more upgrades, a hydro trans and a crossram intake, well thats where the car stopped. so when the car came my way i suggested going back with a stick shift as hydros can be touchy and go with a muncie 4 speed, but we are sticking with the 375hp 327, speaking of sticky, the motor tho very sparsly used was stuck, we werent sure why until Jason pulled it apart, a mouse had made a nest in the intake valley so the lifters had all stuck in place, fortunatly the rotating assembly was in perfect shape and once the cam was removed it still turned over, but there was still a mess in the top of the motor it was dissasembled for cleaning and taping out of the lifters from the bottom side, new bearings and rings, and we are going thru the heads too. we are also of course staying with the cross ram. so really the only major change is the trans which we are basically putting it back to the way it was before the upgrade was started. We will or course be doing all the mechanicals, brakes brake lines, fuel lines and a new set up tires, some radi slicks and stone front runners. There were also some pretty cool parts in the trunk bought for the build but never installed, some nos call custom scoops, a moon gas pedal, an eelco fuel block too, were of cousre gonna put that shit to use! Also his dad had installed brand new stewart warner gauges but they never got hooked up!

Now the fun part, i signed the car up for the Gopher Sate Timing Associations 57th annual rod and custom spectacular about a month ago but have been busy with so many other projects i havent had time to work on it.....till now, so the show is in two weeks, stay tuned for updates, if the car isnt done for the show it will at least look pretty close to being done!

TITUS

 

Oh man, you better get thrashin'!

Best of luck to you.

 

I love it!

 

I'm watching this.

 

Yeah this is gonna be killer!

 

Rad rad rad. That chevy is so clean looking and what a great little stash of parts,I can't wait to see them all together.

 

Wow! Good luck on thrashin to get it done. What a time capsule, very cool!

 

Damn. I might go to GSTA now!

 

Man you have some amazing cars come to you!

 

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That's super cool Titus. You don't see many wood re-enforced body Chevy's.

 

that's a way cool car and an even better history.

 

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DITTO this! ...& bring it to Torquefest!
Titus, you get that jag suspended F-1 done?

 

What a great survivor! I am so glad you talked him into leaving it as is. You are building a rep as a go to guy for this kind of save. What a great job you have!

 

Any chance that you guys could bring that down to the MELTDOWN DRAG this July 20-21 at Byron Dragway. He wouldn't have to run it if he didn't want to, but having a survivor on display would be pretty cool.



"MELTDOWN DRAGS"
July 20, 21 2013 at Byron Dragway Byron Ill.
www.meltdowndrags.com

 

patiently waiting...

 

can't wait...

 

ok, here we go, busted butt on it pretty good today, got it in the garage, on jackstand, all the brakes tore out of it, cleaned all the extra junk cut off stuff from the frame and the old battery cables etc etc, got a bunch of parts ordered for it also, go the motor and trans set into place and started work on motor mounts, i had used up some of my hurst spaces on a freind build and they never got replaced so i decided to just make a set up. tomorrow ill be chasing some more parts down, getting the shoes sent out to be religned and trying to loacate some 50 stude rear wheel cylinders!! yep, it has as studebaker rear end it it, must be a truck, axles are huge, wonder if they are strong. also got the tires all demounted and about ready for the new ones.

JEFF

 

Absolutely PERFECT timing. I'm getting ready to set up my chassis in my 29' Chevy. Are you planning on using a hydraulic clutch or going with a z bar? I'm assuming he is still running the stock steering box? Take plenty of pics... Cool of you to talk him into leaving it as is.

 

Man that is one sweet ride. Cannot wait to see what it looks like all finished.

 

Cool, yep, running a hydrolic slave, were putting one of my repop ansen pedals in the car and running the 60-62 chevy truck master and slave. and yep, stock steering too, i think it was upgraded to 37-40? brakes too.

JEFF

 

Wow, what a great old Chevy. Love your plans for it!

 

Cool build! I'll have to keep an eye on it. Good luck!

 

Sweet. Be sure to take plenty of pics along the way... I'll share this over at the Rusty Bowtie site too.

 

It takes a rare breed of people to work on them old chevys. Good thing he found the right guy, and yes take plenty of pictures of the progress....Very nice work and car...

 

Jason just sent me some pics of a shrit his dad had painted in 1965, pretty bad ass!

I now i know how Jason came up with his hamb name.

jeff

 

That is Awesome! He should display the T-Shirt with the Car at the show. Cool!

 

Yep, first thing i thought of when he sent me a pic!

 

Well, got a bunch more done today, ran a bunch of errands this morning picking up parts, dropped off the brake shoes for religning. picked up brake hoses, some engine parts etc etc.

Then the real work started, we got the frame side motor mounts all fabbed up and installed and started on the trans mounts (funny flatbar things) got the front wheel cylinders in and brake hoses ran to the frame, drilled holes in the frame and clipped em in, ran rear brake hose and rann the front and rear lines, also got to work on hanging the pedal assembly, it had to ford masters in it before and there were a bunch of holes so we put a reinforcment plate on the backside of the firewall and welded all the holes up, then hung the pedals and mounted the master, and also plumbed the lines for that. got the tires mounted up too.

more progress tomorrow.

JEFF