Well, I haven't updated in over a year. I have the car all together and ready to go. I thought today would be the day, but my Dad and I spent all day trying to get it running and it still won't fire. I ended up having to just walk away from it I was so frustrated. If I can figure it out and get it running, all I need to do is get it aligned and I'm on the road. I have another daughter coming in September, so if I don't finish it this summer, I never will.
Sometimes walking away for a bit is the best plan! Car is looking great Jeff! When you work on it again you'll find the problem to be stupid simple!
Sometimes it takes walking away for a day or two to clear your mind and then come back at it and approach it with a clear train of thought. I'm sure it's something easy and when you figure it out you'll go "that was easy" . By this time next week you'll be looking for an alignment shop! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Love the 53/54 wagons! Ill have one some day ove had a total of five 53/54 chevy's my self. Got my first one that was a 54 four door bel-air when I was 20 also wanted a 53 cuz I love the body style so i found a 53 four door bel-air as well had those two for a little while and decided I wanted some two doors. I sold the two and found a pair of two doors that's was more that I could handdle at the time so ended up selling both to buy a decent 54 two door project and have been working on it when I can I have a busy schedule. Love what you have done with yours I'm hoping I can get mine as fare as your sooner than later it killing me to drive it! Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
I have a 51 that I will be starting in sept even same color! And I am a teacher as well we will have I talk!
Here are some pictures of some of what I've been up to. First a couple of the engine; hopefully, I've got everything worked out and she'll start tomorrow. The silver circle you see on the firewall is the insulation inside: I put an A/C bulkhead in the factory heater delete plate and the paint was drying when I took the pictures: I mounted an A/C-heat/defrost unit behind the dash and hooked up the heater. I'll run the lines inside for A/C for now and once I work the bugs out, I'll mount the compressor, dryer, and condensor and hook up the lines. I mounted the switches in the factory radio delete plate: I also used fatmat to line the inside of all four doors. I want this thing to be cool and quiet: The wing windows were delaminating, so I had Chris Blattie make me a new set. I replaced all of the weatherstripping while I had them apart: Installed new wipers using an old tech article written by Boones; went smooth as silk getting the transmissions mounted, now I just need to mount the motor in the kick panel and hook everything up: I installed a Chassis Engineering rear shock crossmember and modified some air shocks made for a mid 70's mopar to fit. I don't have much travel in the rear suspension and I wanted to be able to beef it up when hauling people or stuff. I mounted the valve in the spare tire well, so it's invisible and I can easily get to it. I didn't snap any pictures, but I built a hidden stereo system for it that runs off an MP3 player or my phone. I even have a bluetooth reciever coming for it so I shouldn't have to hook up any wires. Used two amps under the rear seat; one for the speakers and one for a 10" subwoofer I mounted in an old trunk that will sit in the back. I mounted two 4.5" inch speakers behind the stock grille in the dash and 6.5" speakers are going in all four doors. It should work out pretty well. Once I get it going, I need to build some door panels and I have all new carpet for both the passenger area and the rear cargo area. With a little luck, it should be a pretty decent car to travel in this summer.
Well, I got it running and driving. I drove the wagon around the block today. I still have a soft pedal to work out and several small things before I can drive it everyday, but at least it moves. I've been working by myself, so when I run into a problem, I have to work through it. I'm supposed to drive it halfway across the state in three weeks; we'll see if I make it!
Congratulations! It will be nice to have another Chevy wagon on the road. You have tackled some big obstacles along your quest of getting your wagon roadworthy and now you have something you can be proud of.
Hey, well done on getting it up and running. Good luck on the road trip. What could possibly go wrong???? Mart.
I realized that I never updated this thread. It's winter here and I have two little kids, so not much is getting done. I got the car so I could drive it last summer and had an exhaust system put on it. The exhaust guy had it for two days and said the tailpipe routing was the hardest job he'd done in his 30 years in the business. My goal this spring is to get the A/C install finished, touch up the crappy paint job, and drive the wheels off it. I also need to get it tuned a little better, but I'm not that good of a mechanic to get things dialed in perfectly. If anyone in Spokane knows a guy that can tune it, let me know. I know it's not super nice, but it will go down the road all day long and haul my family everywhere we want to go.
One of the most compitent and intelligent builds that I have seen in a long time. Congrats on your perseverance and building a great car.
I love it. The stance is great. Coolest part is being able to load the family up and go. Good luck with the rest of the build.
Great read wayfarer. Looking real sweet! I was shocked to see the chicken wire in the dogleg Hopefully my 51 sedan delivery hasn't got the same style of work in there. Did you get it tuned and the paint touched up?
I haven't done anything with it other than start it and pull it out of the garage every few weeks. It's been cold and snowy here.
An update; I started driving it a little this spring and it ran like crap. Turns out the cam in the 307 went flat. I bought a rebuilt 350 with 305 heads and an RV cam and swapped in a fee weeks ago. I got it running pretty well this week, then had to chase down some tranny fluid leaks. Today, I got all of that worked out and bolted on my hitch. Thursday morning, my daughter and I are headed out camping pulling our tent trailer behind the wagon. This afternoon:
It has a hood, all new rubber, and door panels now. I have the back torn apart to carpet the cargo area. The only thing left inside is the headliner and windlace, which I have. We’ve driven it a lot around the Eastern side of the state.
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