Here are a couple of crappy shots of my '57 more-door hardtop. I have some Lancer caps on the way from PakRat 32. I want to lower it front and back. I'm also torn about paint, the factory Carib Coral and Kenya Ivory are kinda cool, in an Elvis way. The jambs and inner trunk, underhood are really nice, still. But I had a vision today of it nosed, decked, and door handles shaved, covered in Pagan Gold with Abalone flake over white on the roof and inside spear. Two tones of candy blue would also be cool, instead. Should I defile this innocent creature? Or just lower it and repaint it? Aw, hell, you get the point. I definitely want to keep it MILD, though, as it is the family cruiser, so no chopped top, etc... Thanks, Jake
That's pretty cool, 'tats. I'm definitely lowering this baby, after seeing the visual. Chopped top is cool, but what a ton o' work! This is my driver, so I want to take baby steps. Anybody else? Jake
this may help some. they just did mine this week for me http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52937
Looks good, Chandler. Yours is sweet in red and white. BTW, how's that engine comin' along? It's weird to know there's another guy out there with a '57 Chieftain that also practices pinstriping on a piece of glass. Viva la HAMB! These Ponchos really just need a lowering and nice paint, I think. Or maybe I just don't have the stones to weld up the trim holes and shave the handles. She's barely broken in, with 55,000 miles on the odometer. Jake
Hey Jake, Thats a cool looking poncho! I dig tri-5 pontiac's.. Around here there dosn't seem to be all that many to check out.. The cap's are gonna look tit's!
well close, mines a Star Cheif. Motor is sitting in garage. I still havent taken block to machine shop. Scored a 4 barell intake for it though. Had only a 2. Im down from knee surgery for 7 more weeks so its got to sit for awhile.-
Thanks PakRat! I can't wait to pop those bad boys on. She's gettin' lowered tommorrow. My buddy has the spring compressor and sawzall ready. Then, I'm throwing some 2" or 3" blocks out back. Chandler, Starchief two-door hardtop. Damn, I'm jealous. Rest that knee so you can get back into it soon. Take care, man. Jake
Here are three quick ones.Maybe this helps.Don't know how to handle the rear door/roof area though(chop)... No matter what your plans are for the car,I would keep the stock side trim just like in the pics above and the two tone color theme as well.The white goes well with the whitewalls too.
Frenz, you rule! I was hoping you would give this the treatment. Looks like I'm ordering some skirts, now! Thanks for the link, Chandler. Looks great. Thanks! Jake
Which ones you ordering? Ill let you be the guinne pig. Notice there was 2 kinds. Im leaning toward the bigger ones. There the ones that are $150. What about you?
I've had 4, 57 Ponchos, 3 chieftains and a super chief. I like the mild custom treatment on them best. I realize the corral paint on your 57 is stock but I just don't think I could bring myself to drive a pink car...I'd have to change the color, myself. I like your first idea to paint it something in the bronze color range. They look killer in bronze or copper with an off-white top and spear, IMHO..... I always cut 2 loops off the front coils and trim down the rubber bump-stops to about 1/2 inch high. 3 inch [or even 4" if the rear springs aren't sagging] blocks work ok and .... Chandler.......it looks like somebody may have put Star chief trim on your Cheiftain......I could be wrong [it's hard to tell from the photos] but the 3 stars on the side of your car say it's a 122 inch chieftain or Super Chief. The star chiefs had 126 inch WB, 4 stars on the side and usually had the center part of the side spear covered in a hunk-a-stainless. They generally had a chrome plated vent intake grille at the base of the windshield and usually came with a 4 barrrel, dual exhaust motor. Super chiefs came with the 4 barrel engine too but mine came with single exhaust. Weird... The super chief was a step up from the chieftain in the interior dept too. Mine came with the star Chief interior...
I missing a star on one side. here is some more pics of it if you want to check it out. maybe you can educate me some. http://jchandler1.photosite.com/Album3/ there ya go.
Chandler, if I get the 'skirts, I'm getting the Foxcraft style with the flush bottom and flared lip. Rocky, thanks for the info. I just cut one loop out of each front coil yesterday and it still sits a little high for me. So you're right on with going two. It does take some courage to roll this car in pink... I mean CORAL. My interior is gray and white, so just about any exterior color will look good. Jake
Im running red ad black inside. So im keeping red and black out. Paint isnt as good as it looks in the pic. Its low on my list right now. Iam intrested in ways to lower it. I found a set of spindles for the front.$200. A little steep. How are you going to do yours, front and back?
Instead of starting a new post ill try here since we are already talking about the Hammy's car and mine. Can anybody reccomend a good carb for me to get. Running a 4 barell intake. The only thing Im doing to the motor is putting a very mild cam in it. Thanks guys.
Chandler, if you want to lower it on a budget, I'd recommend cutting the front coils and putting lowering blocks out back. That's what I'm doing. I cut one coil and it dropped the front on mine 3/4" to 1". I might leave it this way, as it may soon become my wife's cruiser ('54 Bel Air two door on the horizon for me). Rocky is "da man" as far as any further advice. If you have a stock 4v intake, you would have to run an adapter plate for a Holley or any modern "square bore" carb. They work o.k. If I go this route, I might buck up for an aluminum, dual plane (Offenhauser 360). Jake
I got a competition series AFB for my '60, 389 intake and I think I'm gonna have to run a spacer or hog out the intake carb bores to clear the butterflies. A smaller AFB or a 500 Edelbrock should be a bolt-on. Like I said earlier.......I cut 2 loops off the front coils and cut the bump stops down..... any more trimming on the springs means contact between the bottom of the frame and tops of the lower control arms... $200 for dropped spindle supports? I can't remember is Fatman gets $189 or $289 for them but I think it's $289, new. $200 doesn't sound bad. You could use them and cut 1 loop to get down & dirty. Also, I used 14 inch tires on the front of mine......here's a photo of my old 56 with 2 loops cut off and 3" blocks out back.............
Oh yeah...........you're gonna waste your money renting a front coil spring compressor. I always jack the car way up and put stands under the frame rails about 2 feet behind the front wheels: remove the front shocks, disconnect the stabilizer bar links, take off the wheels and tires and roll a floor jack under the lower control arm shaft where it bolts to the crossmember... keep tension on the control arm shaft with the jack but leave yourself enough room to get at the nuts and bolts...remove all the nuts carefully and slowly let the jack down. Now, keep in mind this all works best if you roll the jack under the car from the side so when you let the jack down, it can roll a little bit backward.... Even if the spring should leap off it's seat, it will go away from you. I've never had this happen but if you didn't jack the car far enough up in the air, you may have to "persuade" the coil to come out with a pry bar....stay behind the path and you'll be fine. I have no reservations about using a torch to cut coils as the heat is so localized, it won't affect the rest of the spring. The spring will eventually sag no matter what cutting method is used because there are now fewer loops in that short coil to do the same job as the looooooong coil usta do.....it will slowly sag but you'll get several years out of it first... Reassemble [making sure the spring fits properly in it's pocket] and you may want to use a rust-buster kinda product to loosen the eccentric adjuster at the top of the spindle support to reset your camber. I'm very scientific about it. I adjust the camber all the way out at the top and bolt everything back up including the wheels and tires you're gonna run......let the car back down and run it back and forth a little in the driveway......you ARE working in the damn driveway like I do, aincha? ok, bounce the car up and down a little and go grab your carpenter square. Lean it up against the sidewall of that front tire [with the bottom leg of it sticking straight out from the tire] and see what kinda gap you have at the bottom of the square. I like to get about an 1/8th to a 1/4 inch gap. This means the top of the tire is leaned out a smidgen...a smidgen is the exact amount you need. Make sure all the bolts and eccentric jamb nuts are tight and the lock-bolt in the adjuster is tight......you're done. DOH! YOu forgot to take a common hacksaw to the rubber snubbers and trim off all but about 1/2 to 3/4 inch......ok, now you're done. DOH! You may be one of those guys that absolutely has to have the car aligned at the shop. These adjustmenta will get you to the alignment shop safely....and double check your front brake hoses are long enough to reach ok now. Mine always have been but I got a buddy who put a 409 in a 60 chevy pickup and cranked the torsion bars alllll the way down.....blew both hoses on his maiden voyage....
I suppose if it was me, Brandy.....I'd check my bank account before I did anything. The bags are gonna cost you....prolly 1500 to 2000 for everything but it's a nice way to go alright. Replacing the springs will cost you the price of the springs. Depending on where you buy springs, you'll be able to get by for about $500 if you buy repop springs [Eaton comes to mind] or whatever you gotta pay for used ones. All this is assuming you do the work yourself....it's up to you.
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