Hot Rods the Hand Grenade 55 chevy- engine, chassis, trans, interior

We made some significant modifications to the intake. Here is a picture pulled offline of the intake before modifications.


We had a friend mill out the center, my dad removed the material inhibiting flow with an aluminum die grinder, then I finished it off with a sanding wheel and the some sand paper.

 

My dad found these original Offy 2 inch carb spacers. We had our friend mill out the bottom inch. Then blended them in the same manner as the intake.





The idea, is that it will create a lot better flow and better fuel/air mixture. It should help the engine run cooler. By modifying the spacers and intake this way it will allow it to cross flow below the carb. Sort of a tunnel ram effect.

 

I will post more on the completed engine later, along with the other additions to it.


Here is a start to the interior work we did this year. We had an idea that the the dash painted a blue 2 tone would look and work a lot better than the black.

The top is painted the same lighter metallic blue as the window trim. The bottom is painted a darker metallic blue to match lower upholstery of the seats.
I block sanded the dash, primed it, blocked it again, and just shot it with several good coats of Duplicolor.

 

Time for reassembly.

I did a lot of horse trading with several people last year. I wound up with this chrome windshield trim, which I gave to my pops for Christmas.

don't forget the shrunken head



We got a deal on these original SW gauges at a swap meet. They were already in this housing. I believe it is a heater panel or radio panel out of some 60s car.



I wanted to do something trick with the column. So I stripped and polished the horn housing. The old shifter slot is now where the horn button is.





I have more to show on all this also. Finished dash etc. I will have to show that later.

 

Hell yea man looks great!! 14's is nothing to be ashamed of. Made my first dragstrip passes this year too and mine weren't as fast as I hoped either. Still had fun tho I'm sure you did too haha. Post up your new et's when you get that engine dropped back in and bang the hell out of that 4 speed

 

You look like James Taylor in Two Lane Blacktop..

 

I dig the name of the car. peace

 

Great to see the updates. Just last week I was thinking about this car..it's right on in so many ways. Nice work and the shrunken head is perfect!

 

So the motor is in. It ran the 14s with it set up the way it is in the pics... I'm just bad at keeping this thread updated. We should be able to get this car well into the 13s.

The muncie isn't holding up well to power shifting. Looks like a new M22 super case is going to be in the picture. May also be puting a lower gear in it.

 

Here's video of the car racing at the 2011 Meltdown Drags.

The whole video is good, but my dad makes 1 pass at 6:11 and another at 9:23... The second pass in the video, he misses 2rd gear. The trans is worn from power shifting.



<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/20dfDaChTRc?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/20dfDaChTRc?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>

 

cool video love your 55

 

Your Chevy is Way Cool..............Dig the 301 Cu In..........Paint the engine Chevy Orange to remove the VOODOO on that mill......Blue Chevy is Taboo......My Dad painted one 302 engine green....one launch.....aluminum rods all over the dragstrip at Dragway 42..was the absolute shortest trip to the races I ever experienced.....shovel up the parts and go home.........he swore never to paint an engine green again.....all the others were orange....and ran great.....Ha.....

Also check to see if the intake is sealing, sometimes they will draw oil from the lifter valley. I have had that happen before,ended up using 0.125" thick because I milled the block and heads...........

That exhaust is over the top......awesome...

 

This thread makes me long for a '55 Chevy all over again. Love everything about the car!!!

 

The car has a 3.89 gear in it right now. The 301 doesn't pull until 4,000 rpm. The best pass of the day was when my dad unloaded it at a high enough rpm to spin the tires and keep it in the power band

 

More engine pictures. I picked this old chrome fan at a swap meet for a good price with the intention of puting it on my Henry J. It didn't fit, so it went on the 55. I think it is a nice addition and is much better that the blue and aluminum flex fan that was on it.



We needed a puke tank for the radiator to drag race, and since the beer can we were using was just temporary, I fabbed this one and had a local guy weld it up for us. My dad made an aluminum bracket for it so it could mount to the hood latch support and had the same guy weld it on. I found the little MG breathers at a swap meet. I have no idea what they are off of, but they work perfect for this application. I have the other stashed for something down the road.

 

Here are more pictures of the engine in and everything installed. The motor runs killer with the modifications we made. It has a little less guts off the line, but really kicks ass when it starts to wind.

With the modified intake and spacers, it provided room for some NOS Stelling breathers that my dad scored as part of a poorly listed auction on epay. The NOS radiator cap (1966), chrome oil breather, Mallory coil bracket, and Sun tach transmitter were freebees found in a friends garage.





The Sun transmitter has actually been gutted and rewired to be the fuse-able link for the ignition, etc. A concoction created by my dad and our buddy Dave, who wires all our hot rods.

 

Interior shots of the dash back together.

It's starting to shape up. Once we are able to have the seats reupholstered, we can put carpet in it.. Carpet will make a huge difference with this car.



Kind of weird lighting, but this shows how different the dash colors are


Here is the finished horn button mounted in the original column shifter location. I made a brass cap to mount the button to. The reason why we did it this way, was we wanted to fill the empty hole, along with lose the horn button from the wheel. We like the Superior 500 stamp with the flying wheel man too much.

 

very cool

 

Nice job

 

Bitchin. Subscribed. I'm in the same boat.

 

Way cool build........hope to see your ride 2012.......same place.....I have to redeem my 6500 RPM 3rd gear launch.......did not get my good launch till Cordova....

Byron 3rd Gear........Bog.....at least it did not stall....

 

Now I get it, the "Meltdown Drags", with the nuclear powerplant in the background. That's one way to keep homes from being built near racetracks. Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Jeez, thats nice. Especially with a 302 with dual afb's and camel bumps. Thats the way I remember them, not with faux spindle mounts and moon tanks in the grill.

 

The wheels and dumps make that car too.

 

looks killer .. keep it up

 

Well said. Thats why I like this car so much.

 

Awesome car!

Any chance we could see the clearance on the cage for rear seat entry? I have a 55 post I'm building that I want to put a cage in.

 

I have to agree with everyone else. This is one the coolest 55' chevy's I have ever seen. I think it's because it's not overdone.