Projects 1951 Chevrolet Styleline Build Thread

Well ive had my '51 Styleline 4 door sedan for a couple of weeks and have got it in my head where im going with this project, im happy with the look of it (what we call over here Ratlook), not sure what its known as over in the States. shes got dropped front spindles up front, air shocks at the rear which im happy with for the mean time, i will be notching the rear chassis and bagging the rear later on in year but first want to get it up and running. The only way I could afford it was to let the previous owner keep the stock 6 and manual transmission as i want to fit an 8 anyway. Im not bothered about the condition of the body at the moment as just want to install a 350 sbc, turbo 350 and camaro rear axle.

Heres how it was a couple of years ago...





And how i bought it







As you can see it had been vandalised by some little shits but luckily not too badly, I had it transported down to my mates garage where i put it up on ramp and had a good look over it to see what i had got myself into lol...

 

That car has a nice stance, sits just right. Looks cool!

 

I was glad to find that the frame is solid, with only one previous repair patch and only needing a small plate at rear...

The inner sills do need work tho, but nothing to worry about..









So after a good look over it the first purchase is going to be a set of sills/rockers from the USA, and to get a camaro 10 bolt rear fitted which ive located over here.

 

thanks yes i love it too, im going to try and keep it that height when i install the camaro rear

 

nice car..

 

Thanks borracho13, needs a bit of work but will no doubt get there!!!

 

First job i did was to sand the frame down and paint with zinc rich primer to hopefully hold the rust back...





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And the last picture i have for the moment and one that i think looks cool, as i got to say my chev looks very fed up in this one lol...

 

So my list of things to do is as follows....

1) Get a set of rockers/sills sent over from the states as mine are too far gone to repair.
2) get my camaro axle, sbc and turbo 350 installed.
3) install the sills, and repair the body mount points and outriggers as needed.
4) Complete rewire as whats here is not to my liking so really needs redoing to make reliable.
5) get a column and convert it back to left hand drive as at the moment its been converted to right hand drive but the steering box sits on the inside of the frame rails in the engine bay and will hit a sbc as thats wider than the 6 cylinder.



This is a citroen steering wheel and column thats been used to convert it but unfortunely I cant use it because it will hit the engine..

well thats enough for me to be getting on with but im sure new jobs will surface as i go!

 

Cool build project man! Good luck with it, I'll be following along.

 

Thanks, ill keep updating as I go, don't get to work on it as often as I'd like tho

 

Looking good there. The sbc will look at home up front glad your going for that over the charged rover

 

Yes lots of arm twisting from my mates got me to go for a Chevy over the blown rover I have, although it would have sounded right it wouldn't have looked right under right under the hood.

 

Ok spent the day fitting my 2nd gen camaro axle in, had to use original u bolts because camaro axle didnt come with any u bolts, i dont have pics at the mo as left camera at home, but ill take some snaps tomorrow. Ive had a good day at it tho, and very pleased, doesnt sit ever so low with no air in shocks but does sit nicely, tomorrows job is to remove axle and strip it and prime, then remove front fenders and hood ready for engine install after my power rack and pinion comes over from the states, ive managed to get an ididit column and a mopar radiator that was missing. so got a busy few days but ill get some good progress done this week

 

Love your Chevy, great project!~

 

"This is a citroen steering wheel and column thats been used to convert it but unfortunely I cant use it because it will hit the engine.." nitousnutter

Why don't you have a machinist cut down the steering column and use this cool wheel.

CRUISER

 

Ok as I said before ive had a good few days working on my styleline, the mission for the week was to get the camero axle fitted properly and sitting at a good height, then if i get time start doing a few bits of bodywork at the rear and strip the front ready for the steering to be sorted out. Unfortunately i forgot to take my camera so i had to use my iphone to take the pictures hence they arent as good as they could be!!

first job was to push it onto ramp ready for work....

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next i removed the torque tube axle leaving a space that needed filling.....

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with this.....

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to get the ride height i wanted i made lowering blocks from some off cuts of steel, and trial and errored it until i got the height i needed.

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when i was happy with the height I cleaned up all the mounting hardware ready for paint

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after I cleaned these I decided to send the rear axle to a local sandblasters as it was quite rusty and would take hours and hours of cleaning with a wire wheel and angle grinder, so while that was at the blasters I decided to get on with stripping the front end ready for sorting the steering out and installing the engine....

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bit of grot around the bottom of screen/ top of A pillars... but nothing that cant be sorted...

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finally all stripped out and can see what im getting on with....

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my friends '46 fleetmaster is hiding in the background....

this is the reason im going back to left hand drive as the box will hit the chevy v8 im installing...

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A day later and i got the axle back from the sandblasters...

looked good and a much better job than i could have done with a wire brush lol...

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because i did so well and had a couple of days left on the ramp, i decided to start tackling the rear end, as im going to run twin exhausts out the rear i decided to remove the rather rotten spare wheel well, and when i started poking about found a bit of the boot floor needed a bit of fabricating up.....

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This took me a couple of days plus a trip up the hospital when a piece of chevy ended up in my eye lol, but i soldiered on with it, last job was to paint the rear axle and fit it in, as i have to wait until i can get some rear spring shackle bushes sent over from the states i havent done anything to the springs as they have to come out again......

 

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and now down on the deck sitting at a good height..... still have to workout if pinion angle is ok, so may have to wedge the axle either way but can't do this until the engine and box are fitted.....

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Looks great fella and looking like you making some real headway, wish I was making as much progress but work keeps getting in the way. Im hoping to take a month off in april or may to crack on with mine. this pics made me laugh, don't know why just looks well funny. All the best hope to catch you at hayride?

 

Cheers mate yes looks like the front just collapsed off lol, yes hopefully be at hayride probs won't be in the styleline tho got too much to do and not enough time to do it lol

 

Keep us updated, nice ride.

1shot

 

Couldn't you use a jag front end under it?That would solve your steering gear issue and give you decent brakes.I have seen the xj6 frontend under a bunch of 49-54 cars.

 

Yes i could use the Jag front end, but they are rare as in left hand drive over here, as mad as it seems I want to keep the front suspension as i have it, its a learning curve tho, so if it ends up not working out i will go for a Jag IFS.

 

BONITO on rods and sods sourced my LHD jag rack mate. http://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/members/bonito

 

Cheers Baz, ive managed to find a rack that will go on quite easily, thats my mission next week, got an iditit column aswell to go in. Ill get some pics up as i go. hope your projects are coming along better than mine lol

 

Another more door saved, looking forward to more updates.

 

Thanks brerhair, I've been making real progress got my ididit column and Chevy celebrity rack in now, been a bit lazy on the updates tho, I'm having a go at the sills next week have a week off work so hopefully get both sides repaired.

 

ok so its been far far too long since i updated my build thread and i apologise to all who have been following, enthusiasm did wane a bit but i have been getting on as and when i can and things are really starting to turn around with the car.

the next job i did was get my good friends to weld in the repairs to the trunk floor....

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this didnt take too long but was a very important job to get done and was pleased with the result.

 

Next job was to tackle the front end and sort out the steering gear....

as you can see the wheels on the wrong side (although its right for over here lol)

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so i set about it with an angle grinder cleaning and removing the old steering linkages that althought they worked just didnt look like right for the look im going for and also would have fouled the sbc that im fitting.

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i found quite a bit of rot in the firewall but i expected it so it didnt come as a shock...

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I then made the repair plates for it and got those welded in...

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The next job was to mount the steering rack, luckily as i havent mounted the engine yet i can put that where i like and make it fit the steering, anyway i made a cross brace for the rack and got it fitted with measurements from the front of chassis frame to ensure its square.....

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