History FOUND- Nick Arias Jr.'s '37 Chevy Coupe

Wow, pop up pistons is a bit of an understatement! Wonder what the C/R is and what fuel they used.

 

Great find! Look forward to following the rebuild. Bob

 

That’s a 270 H head which hasn’t been milled by looking at the side plate holes. With seeing the top ring witness on the bore it looks like the piston top is in the hole at TDC.
Your grandfather and I spent a lot of hours starting in 1975 discussing the use of the H head and the 302 D head because of the different combustion chambers.. He also kept the rings low because of using fuel. I’m not sure when stainless rings can out.
At this time the 302 D head was really new and all the other GMC’s had the open larger chamber which aftermarket piston manufacturers were familiar.

He made me many sets of forged pistons with a pretty narrow slipper skirt even with more above the pin than below. When I went to a longer rod everything changed.
He also never welded the rocker arms and I didn’t either even tho I now own a set. I did use the aluminum stands that used a different over flow he said it made no difference.
We both used stock rods and they are very very strong and I never hurt or lost one. .. It’s great looking at the photos..

Here’s a competitors piston I had built for my sons 302 with an H head that was also never milled. It’s right at 10-1 and runs great on 91 octane. The H’s I still use are .100” or more milled off and the crown your grandpa made had another 1/8” above this. I believe this is 127cc’s.

 

Found this neat photo on Facebook. You can see my grandfather's coupe in the back behind his GMC pickup. This would have been in 1955.

I know the lakester is still around today... not sure about Don Menard's coupe.

 

The gift keeps on giving... it has an Isky 5 cycle! I just called Ed yesterday and he told me all about its history.. explaining that the fuel Chrysler hemis ran them, like the Cook & Bedwell dragster which was the fastest hot rod in drag racing at one time. I'll be taking the cam over to him soon so he can take a look at it, profile it and make sure it's safe to put back in the Jimmy. Looks like his writing even!

 

Great stuff, thanks for the updates. Bob

 

Wow, seems like all the legends are connected to this car and your family somehow…

 

Definitely reground on a GMC stock steel Military cam. You can check the cam lift with dial or electronic caliper the multiply it times 1.45 which is very close to the actually stock rocker ratio. subtract .012” on the intake and .018” on the exhaust. I’m betting it will be close to .300” at the cam.

To give you an idea what I use the cam lift on my racing stock head flat tappet today is closer .400” and the rocker ratio is over 1.6. My sons 302 uses a reground cast GMC Howard with a .298” cam lift on the street with stock rocker an his street engine and it has a great sound.

It great hearing what you’re finding.

 

Thank you sir. You're right about the cam.. with calculations of 1.5:1, the gross is around .440 or so, and less on the exhaust. Today I'm taking the cam over to Isky to have it checked on the Cam Doctor, as well as straightening and polishing. I need to borrow a mag base dial indicator once the engine is back together for net lift. After everything, it'll probably be in the lower .400" area I'm guessing.

I'll post updates from tonight!

 

Spent a few hours with The Cam Father last week and had a great time as always. Though the cam grind is a "7000T", he instantly recognized the profile numbers being very similar, if not identical to the "Bigelow", named after the late Kenny Bigelow who worked for Isky in the late 40s-early 50s. Kenny was also my grandfather's high school friend who unfortunately passed away after a fatal wreck in the first '37 Chevy at El Mirage on October 21, 1951. The close connections with this car continue to amaze me! The camshaft was in remarkable shape and only needed the typical service- polish lobes and bearings and straighten. If anyone has seen the process of straightening a camshaft, it's pretty amazing...and probably done exact the opposite of how you'd expect.







The next day, I dropped the crank off to Henry Velasco for his "100,00 mile tune-up"- straighten, polish, chamfer oil holes and drill and thread snout. This guy is made of gold.





Got the magneto tuned up by Cirello as well...another one of my heroes. I plan to run the Nash Twin Six ignition eventually, but will run the Vertex at first for simplicity. Plus, though I'm definitely interested in running the correct parts, or what came with it, I'd often rather deal with these guys instead for the memories and experiences.

 

Couple random shots...

 

There are so many cool things about this thread!
Your family history , the car's history , the people along the journey that are still here with us to help confirm the pedigree of the project and the fact that you are so generously allowing us to follow along.
Thank you!

 

Thanks for the nice words! I've always been infatuated with racing history since I was a kid, and this car and the whole experience is exactly what I've always wanted- reviving old history and dealing with the people who were originally there to experience it. This car is an absolute time capsule. I can't wait to see it back on the road and hear what it sounded like 60-70 years ago.

 

Justin, I think most readers feel the same way, finding a family heirloom, and sharing it with the world is very special, Thank you. Bob

 

Justin, when you found this car you may have thought you struck gold, but I'm here to tell 'ya... You came up with Diamond's! The history of this car and people attached to it, that are still with us, is mystifying and damn near unbelievable! It's almost as if you're re-living a small piece of your Grandfather's life... And that, Sir, is the ultimate in Bad Assery!!!

 

Justin ,
You are living the dream. Rare is this wave you are riding. Thank you for sharing on so many levels.

 

Justin, just think the last person to fondle the internals of that engine before you was your grandpa. And a legend!

 

Thank you everyone... much appreciated. Stay tuned!

 

Looks like I hit the cam lift close…010” off …just lucky or looked at hundreds of them.
Did you almost panic when you saw the blunt chisel and the sledge hammer?
You don’t want to watch one of Henry’s guys straighten the crank for sure.
Nice photo of the center main caps. Line boring a GMC with all the mains being different diameter was always a pain. With all the Evan’s machine shop tooling being sold I have no idea who can do it now…

Great that everything is working out…… JD

 

They're still out there.

 

Threads like this are reason that I am on the H.A.M.B. so often.

This one, however, is exceptional! It has everything!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post pics and update the progress.

 

Question for jimmy six….
Should he consider drilling the crank for extra flywheel bolts? I’ve been told even the 302 cranks benefit from more than stock.

 

3/8” solid dowels and SuperDamper…..a converted 292” damper works if your using a stock 3/8-1/2” belt on a stock water pump.

 

Small update... it sure helps to work at a piston shop when you need a set! Turns out these puppies had a dome CC of 118! I need to measure the deck and chamber size, but from what I have here, it's right around 13:1. This thing probably sounded wicked in its day... and will again soon!