That's what I was afraid of hellbilly and Mr.Jean, mid sixties full size, Ill look into it. I'm suprised that there aren't more companies poping lowback racing seats like back in the day. If someone has a lead on some or a company please chime in.Just wait Paul (herdez) till you see it next, thanks for comming out last Saturday. Really cool oldschool videos.
Graham, the car looks great... Try limeworks for some cool 'cheap' seats... http://www.limeworkspeedshop.com/store_hotrodparts_interior_bucketraceseats.html
Ok so I measeured the front axle and it's 53 inches king pin to king pin. My front wheels stick out a bit further than I would like. Does anyone have any sugestions as far as how to suck the wheels in a bit. From what I'm told and looks like the axle is a 47-54 chevy truck I beam axle. It has brackets home made for the disc conversion. Chevy spindles and brakes. I just purchased some fenton gyro 3.5 wheels to mount but I don't think they are going to tuck into the fender wells the way I would like. I've heard people running ford spindles and discs with chevy bolt patern. Is this true? I realy don't want to have to swap this axle out and redo the front end assmbly.
here are some pics. Is this a chevy truck axle? What is the measurement king pin to king pin on a chevy 47-54 truck axle.Man i hope it is...
Damn man I'll bet the old lady had a box of Depends in the back for when she was out terriorizing you guys up in Austin! What a great find mi amigo if you get tired of it give me a shout and I'll come get it. Good luck.
Ha ha, thanks for the kind words Aman. 55 chevy gassers are my favorite cars of all time and can't beleive I own this car. It has Huge potential. I'm building it to run high 9"s low 10"s but we will see what happens. Right now I'm focusing on Tunnel Ram, wheels getting sucked in a bit, better cage, and Olds/Pontiac rear end with 35 spline, 456"s, full spool. Go fast time!
Very interesting find. Love to know more history on it. Like when did it race? Them rear wheels and tire that were on it don`t look that old.
vette engine...yeah right.....where are all the Corvettes that have their engines taken from them? Don't get me wrong, I like the car.. I like it alot, BBC engine and all , but I'd bet it aint no Corvette engine. Think about it, a mid year vette with a big block...that car is worth way to much for someone to sell the engine...even if it where wrapped around a tree . Numbers matching ....anyway I like that car!
I would start looking in more back yards but around here they are 100 acres or more !!!! LOL Great score. Tom (Tired Old Man)
Great find you lucky b.....d!! I am with you that the engine is a Corvette. When that car was built no one cared about numbers matching and the value of the Vette....
yeah right, the guys at American Corvette will argue that point http://www.americancorvette.com/main.html
Well only chevroletes, the numbers are 3504351 casting number. It came out of a 67 vette. It has a 12 bolt and power brake assembly out of a 67 chevelle. The carb that is on it is a holly 800. It has dome pistons and the heads are open chamber. Beleive me I've done my homework. I didn't think it was a vette motor either and freaked when I looked up the numbers then found out what it was then come to find out The bare block alone is worth a starting price of 7,000.00 look up the numbers and them check out e-bay. I'm no b.s.er sir. But anyways 54 truck axle. Thank you butch, what spindles do u have and brakes etc? Thanks again guys for the compliments. Ill post some pics of the motor with fenderwells in a bit.
the heads are open chamber casting number 6272292 206 172 valves.1970-78. I dont know why these heads are on here either. This motor has a huge cam and sounds wicked. I would raise the front up a bit but the shackle mounts for the springs measure 28 inches eye to eye. Very short in my opinion. They look like they came off a trailer.
I know where there is a vette 427 sitting right now that was pulled out of a 68 convert rambler of all things. The guy that owned the car had used the same motor in a roundy round car, 14.5 compression and all. A few vette guys have came to look at the engine and snubb the fact that it doesn't have the correct heads, although the heads are aluminum snowflake rectangular ports.
well, ive thought about selling it but why, it runs and from what im told by guys around town it used to pull the wheels off the ground. But the heads i dont understand. maybe someone on here with motor knowledge could chime in on this combo. it would help. if not they are coming off and putting aluminum heads on it.
For those of you that have a 55 gasser running a streight axle, what axle, spindles, and brakes are you using? my axle is out of a 49-54 chevy truck supposidly and king pin width is 53 inches center to center. I think its out of an econoline van. It seems too wide to me and im loosing my mind trying to figure it out what it is. Somebody send me demensions on your whole front end build Please. I cant move foreward on this car without fixing the goofy things wrong on it first. thanks for your help.
THANK YOU ROTTENRODS! So my next question is what spindles is anyone running on their 55 gasser set up with this axle? Ford, Chevy, what year? Now just as a reminder this car will be a 10 second car so strong and reliable parts are what im looking for. Ive never built one of these so I appreciate everyones input.
53 inch pin to pin sounds more like a 55-59 chevy truck axle i think the pre 55 axles were closer to 50 or 51 pin to pin. run a speedway brake set up they have a kit for truck spindels if it is GM, I think you can also run early 50s chevy car spindles on the GM truck axle. if its a ford axle they have a brake kit for that too.
i was thinking on running the 55-59 axle cause the pads line up good with the frame rails but they are a bit wide, they look alot like the earlier (narrower) 49-54 truck axles which is the axle of choice for tri fives. if you check out my pic album the 55-59 axle is the one shown.
Since your asking... Rebuild it how YOU want it. To me a car with true "history" is either: A. built by someone who is important to the hobby or B. A well known race car with important racing history I find too many people will just find something old and drive it as is, just because it was from back in the day. And alot of those cars arent very safe. Along with that people have a hard on for "survivors" and patina which I sort of understand because it shows that it survived and has another life, but to me your just preserving the abuse and neglect the car endured over years of not being used for what it was intended for. to me if I found a "survivor" I would want to restore with quality and pride like the guy who built it originally intended...but hey thats just me.
The Jalopy Journal
