57 Chevy BelAir Gasser Build

Yep. That's badass, no doubt about it!!!

That your car?

 

Nope, that's Project X, a very, very famous '57. Please watch Hollywood Knights with Tony Danza & Michelle Pfiffe(sp). X is a star car in the movie.
This is my heap. I cut the wheelwells like X has .

 

You bet! I'm going to make that a priority. I don't watch much TV so I'm not very cultured with the movies....

 

"George Klass Remembers" is a great reference for actual gas-class racers from way back when.
Nor just a bunch of keyboard warriors' opinions.
Hope this helps.
http://georgeklass.net/gassers.html

 

That is one outstanding looking 57 Chevy!! You did a great job with the lip on those cut rear wheel openings!! I love that.... Clean! Digging the blower too. Dang, I like that. All of it. Solid work!

You have the process on the metal work captured on here?

 

Roger that! I'll check it out!

 

Project X in the beginning.

 

Another friend of mine cut his up to the trim too

 

How tall are your slicks?

Relocated my 56 rear axle 1 inch back during the in-frame spring pocket installation to gain a little clearance between the front of tire and the quarter panel edge.
The 29.5 tall slicks I have looked pretty close before, waiting for warmer weather to put the slicks on and see the results.
Best picture I got before the axle relocation

 

Yea man, nice that looks good too.

 

That's interesting, are you pretty happy with the 1" extra clearance after moving the pocket back? Good thinking ahead.

 

Get the cut-off-wheel fired up and get to work ....

 

Haha yea I've seen that one, that's definitely a hole!

 

I like ol shake rattle & run..... Such a cool car.

 

Here's a video I took of Roger's car, with radiused openings, this has been a race car since the early 60's and what looks like primer is actually faded candy apple red paint.

 

@Tickety Boo - Radir 10.00x15 street tires, they are 30'' tall. Track slicks are Hoosier 29 x 10.00.
Kruck - I did those wheelwells long before I had a digital camera..

 

I absolutely love this car. Just too cool!!!

 

I'm digging the wheel comsbo on this car. Makes me think that set of Halibrand Sprints in that anthracite finish would look pretty alright on the black car. Cool video!

 

@chevy57dude Still keep looking at your car. What I really like is that you kept similar flowing lines to your wheel opening, and worked in a nice flared lip (or whatever that's called) around the edge of the opening. Lots of cool ways to go about it, but maybe you guys are changing my mind on getting the cutting tools out. I need to get a set of wheels and tires figured out and sizing so I can mock it up. It's tough to go blind and make the changes without having the wheels/tires on hand to stage in place. Halibrands and pie crusts I think is what I like best so far. I'm hoping I can find a Dana 60 or Ford 9" tomorrow at the meet so we'll see. Once I get that figured, I'll get wheels and tires coming and some front axle parts so I can get everything looking right in mock-up.

@chevy57dude what's your source for the cast blower housing? I want to run a raw finish setup like that too. I was talking to The Blower Shop over in Idaho about their 6V-71 setup with the reduced 12" vs 15" rotors that's a good matchup for one of my small blocks. I'm not looking to go crazy so I thought that might be a good option for a fairly mild engine build and wouldn't have to be underdriven. I have a 4-bolt 350 block that I believe has never been bored that I thought I would use to start with. I thought I had the 010/020 "high nickel" block, but after reading up over on Tri-Five here: https://www.trifive.com/threads/high-nickel-small-block-cylinder-blocks.146895/

........I don't think that's what I have, but simply a standard iron alloy 4-bolt common block. Anyone have different knowledge of special application block alloy composition and correlating markings surrounding nickel content in GM small blocks?

 

That high nickel legend my draw some fire!
Dyers Blowers, Gary Dyers was there in the day. Although there has been a reported 8-71 shortage. Small block, you would likely be looking at a 6-71. Find one from a diesel and they can convert it.
Thank you for the many compliments on my car! A lifetime of obsession.

 

I wonder what the availability is on both side of the fence on finding one off a diesel vs buying one ready to go and pricing that goes with each. I'll look them up and see what's to know. I've never built a blown anything before which is my attraction to doing it. If I had a big block around I would probably go that route but I have a few small blocks kicking around I can use for the project.

 

Read on the HAMB some Tri-five guys running tall tires were moving the axle back 1 inch to more center the tire for appearance in stock wheel openings , we had 1/2 inch clearance when it was mocked up on the picture, was worried about the tire growing and cutting at speed
If you plan on running with the southeast gassers, they have rules on how far you can move an axle. I think its 1 inch

 

Gotcha......interesting. Thanks for that info!

 

In my opinion I would not look at the "V" style blowers, especially starting from scratch, they require a special intake that's usually just a converted regular 4 barrel intake and have those 4 ugly angled bolts holding it on, it's just not appealing.
Spend your money on a regular 6-71, it's a much stronger design with 8 bolts holding it on, easier to find intakes which are better flowing and is a great platform to work off of since aftermarket parts availability are common.



Get yourself a book like Pat Ganal's it'll help you understand blowers and blower engines

 

I ordered that book this morning used of Amazon! Thanks...

 

1” back screws up weight transfer in the wrong way. With 29” tires went 1” forward with the rear end and had the front wheel open moved forward.

 

Beautiful job on moving your wheel opening forward, I'm not a body man so that option would not have went well for me.
The engine/transmission package going in this car had a best 1.399 60 foot time in my old drag car with a 4 link suspension.
This one is with ladder bars and leaf spring sliders, so we will find out if it will still hook moved 1 inch rearward

 

Car looks good...

 

Picked up another 55-59 3100 Chevy truck axle today, but this one's complete. Good for mocking up, just need to get 5x4.75 hubs.