Projects 1957 CHEVY SOUTHEAST GASSERS BUILD

All weekend it's been cold and snowy, so we've been working on the motor. Got my bearings and gaskets, dad started porting the heads and intake, and dropped the rotating assembly off to get balanced. Once we get crank back we can stick the short block together. Hope to get the motor done soon.

 

Just missed you guys at S & G friday. Picked up my heads. Time to get busy.

 

Today I picked my crank up from the machine shop, it's balanced and ready, also dad got the heads and intake ported. Gotta get the heads surfaced, block decked and honed, and the motor will be ready to assemble. Also my hood scoop came in today. I got an offenhauser alluminum scoop, because it should be just big enough to clear my carbs, I thought about making a tlb scoop, but they're pretty tall and I'm sitting low in the car, (seat bolted directly to the floor without a slider) that it'd be hard to see over.

 

Dad took me by Willard Gott's Southeastern Speed Shop that was built in the early '60s. Where my dad was first bit by the drag racing bug. My dad moved out the street from it when he was 10 years old. Late one night a top fueler "front engine" drove down the street on a check out pass. Next day dad was down there to check it out. It was Willard's cousin Connie Kalitta and his Bounty Hunter. Also Jack Chrisman was there with his Kendall Gt1 funny car. Southeastern Speed shop, located in Blountville Tn was where a lot of nitro cars went to work on them ahead of the Spring Nationals at Bristol. It was open until probably the mid '80s. It's where my dad learned how to build engines, port heads, and learned things like total advance timing, and other speed related information. Here's a picture of Willard Gott and Ronnie Cox, owner and driver of white lightening top fuelers at Roanoke Dragway. Willard is the one in the hat on the right, the el Camino push car was his.

 

I love hearing stories from the old days. The earliest I can remember is '72 or '73 when my dad was racing. I was born a decade too late. Good luck on the '57. I'm watching.

 

Is this the finished steering? My one negative post..Right idea but drag link should go to RH spindle...

 

Your right it will have less involuntary steering if the tie rod was longer. If your not going to have much front end travel it will be OK, but the wheels will turn a little when the front end goes up and down.

 

Ideally Seb yes. But where my engine is low in the car, with an 8qt pan, the tie rod would have to either be pieced, or the pitman arm would have to be pieced in order to clear the pan, weakening it. This does multiply the movement where it's shorter, I guess, but it's still a longer shaft than would be in push pull steering. We measured bump steer on the lift, and from off the ground to fully compressed it had a 1/16 of an inch of bump steer, so it should work. Front steer is also better but we worked with what we had.

 

And the bump steer was pulling to the left 1/16th of an inch so that's against the torque steer that would send it to the right.

 

I was in Indianapolis for a school, we had one girl in the class. She was from Amron, Alaska. When she found out I lived in Blountville, she asked if I knew Willard Gott! Says she used to hang out at the speed shop years ago. I guess it really is a small world.

 

Well over the weekend we got the inner rocker panels in, and the floor pans in. Took a lot longer than anticipated but we didn't cut the old out, it was done before I got the car, and there were a few things that they had cut too far, not far enough, and had already put the outter rockers in so it kinda went together backward but it's done.

 

My fiberglass finally arrived today. Overall seems decent quality, just wish it was mounted already. Lol. The way things are moving along right now, I don't think we'll have the car painted by the season opener at Greer, but we should be there unless we have a major setback.

 

Who did you wind up gettin' the 'glass parts from? That'll be nice.

 

Zak,
Is that picture you posted of the building in the trees the old Speed Shop?
Do you have any other photos?
Love our Hot Rod History.......

 

Yeah that's the old speedshop still standing. It's just grown up and I don't know who owns it but they live right beside it so it's the only picture I could get.

 

Thanks 3dnsouth. I got my parts from unlimited fiberglass out of California. I just didn't have the extra cash for Scottrods 'glass.

 

Shipping is the killer for Unlimited. I had read that their quality was really lacking, but you can read 'bout whatever you wanna read on the net. So yours was OK? I'll have to check it out at Greer. Hang with it man, y'all are comin' along!

 

Yeah shipping was pretty pricey. Haven't tried to for it up yet, but their website says they have new door molds for tri fives, and they look about as slick as I've seen. The front end isn't as nice though. But it's all hand laid glass, and really thin and light. I got race weight though.

 

I put Unlimited on the Pale Rider and it was OK, far from perfect and they lied big time about delivery time.
I wish the glass company's would leave a little extra on the edges Like Harry Glass and the big companies that makes parts for the pro cars do. Then you can trim it to perfection. Once you use something from Harry Glass like I did for almost 40 years it's hard to use anything else, but it's hard to afford it for a gasser.

 

Dad thought the glass was gonna have a little extra around the edges to trim to fit, we were a little disappointed that it didn't. And yeah, I ordered my glass around the 23rd of December and they said it'd be here late January. It came about a month late and they didn't even tell me they shipped it so I could be there to inspect it when it came in, luckily dad was at the shop to unload it and inspect it.

 

I got a hood from them for my 67Nova in the 90's, the top side was not pretty, the underside was NASTY.
Passed it on to some poor schmuck that thought he could "make it work".

 

I had to add to Shannon's in several places, and the nose was not square with the fenders. I just don't know how they get by and they are not the only company like that.. Like I said earlier I guess I got spoiled dealing with Harry Glass back in the day.

 

Yup, all of that stuff mentioned are the issues I had read in some other forums when I was checkin' 'em out. Dang man, hate that.

 

I had some of their stuff for a Dart I built. Wound up giving it away. To this day, I still feel like I screwed the guy by giving it to him for free!

 

Zak, the way fiberglass parts fit my '57 compelled me to buy steel fenders, hood and trunk.
There's an oil pan with a notch cut out for a tri 5 BBC. Moroso, IIRC. Great progress on your car!

 

I've used VFN fiberglass parts in the past and always felt the parts were good.

 

If I was building a street car or a show car I wouldn't even have fooled with fiberglass. The only reason I did was weight savings. That and tilting a steel clip is kind of a pain. And thanks man, I hope it stops fighting us eventually.

 

You mopar people are real particular anyway! Most Chevy people don't mind running junk haha.

 

I can't believe you said that! My engines are so worn out, you can turn them off, get out of the car, walk around and raise the hood in time to see it quit turning. My stuff was never new!

 

Dont stress to much over the glass Zak, I am sure you can work with it. I purchased a glass front for my 69 nova in high school, back in the late 70s from JC WHITNEY, now that front clip was horrifying !