Termites and Bowties- Early Chevy Group

From my 40+ years of working on 33/34/35 Chevy cars the gas tank apron is the hardest piece to find in good condition and as Mike says it has a lot of different angles to it, I think this is why it was never re-popped.

 

Your right Chuck. Looks simple enough until you start running your hands over it feeling all the different shapes to the metal, not just cut and dried.
The restoration shop I go too Fawcetts here in Whitby wanted to make one for me instead of the repair they did. That cost me $1600 plus cost of the used panel $600. At what point do you throw your hands in the air and say , cannot do it, getting insane, only so many bucks in piggy jar.

Funny thing was a couple of weeks after this was repaired, a guy have sold parts to called me and said getting divorced am I still interested in his extra panel from his early 34 coach...........oh ya, never pass up an opportunty to add quality parts. Bought a few things......grill mesh paintable grade and a few other items. Turns out my newly purchased 35 touring car has a glass rear cover on it. Now I have one for it.

Unfortunately the cost of the tooling die to stamp out a gas tank cover panel for 33--35 standards and how many you would have orders for ?? would make the cost insane. Heck a glass one is $300.

Next step is to take the can of that red paint with formula on it to Hibernia NJ and get a couple gallons of red for repairs. Will take a door off tub and have them do the mix and spray out sample. Nice 12 hour drive one way.

That truck looks great Chuck, you never sent me pictures of it .

mike

 

Will try and do better on the pix, it is a driver 39 1/2 Ton, with 106k miles on it, lots of nicks, road rash and it is showing signs of needing a total redo but it is a great driver.

 

Chuck not looking for nics and road rash, I just like the way it sits, I think its a cool look and kinda menacing.
We ever get together over those fenders , will see it first hand.

mike

 

found these sway bar milled aluminum nascar team brackets with inserts on ebay last year. Made up the brackets to hold them out of 6061 T6 aluminum. Drilled a bunch of small holes for visual effect. Got a 1" aluminum rod to go thru them and made brackets to attach it behind the rear end. The sway bar is a 35.5" long SCHROEDER .850 thick with 48 splined ends and 9" long sway bar arms.

I put one of these on my 35 coupe and boy did it take the body roll out of the car. Now when I go around corners the tires do not rub on the inside quarter panels...........they sit 3/4" away to get the wheel tire combo right under the fender. I really do not want to mount it behind the rear end as I did on the coupe but in front but the pinion is right in the way for a bar going across. Cannot shorten the sway bar to fit in front so another solution has to be found to go that way.

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to get a sway bar to fit across the front of the pinion area I needed a much shorter sway bar 28" to fit in the tighter space. As luck would have it I found exactly what I needed from a nascar used parts seller in Carolina on ebay. Asking what certain measurements were across that the sway bar arms would hook up to, got lucky, exactly what I needed, except bar is .950 . When you first get in a car with this type of sway bar system, ride is very choppy, but you soon get used to it and now I only notice it when I first start driving.

Last picture shows another set was on ebay with 3 diff sway bar sizes plus some special brackets to mount to rear end

mike

mike lynch

 

Did the 34 Master 5 window coupes use a different gas tank apron from the sedans? The original apron from my coupe does not have the raised area. However, I found a nice steel one from a Master 2 door sedan. This one does have the raised area.

 

I might have joined this group, but so many years has passed since I bought my bowtie way back in '95. '31 Chevy hot rods were VERY few and FAR between, so owning a Chevy coupe was the rage for me! I am getting ready to tear my coupe down AGAIN to the original frame rails which will be step boxed and rebuild her using a FORD I-beam dropped and drilled axle kit that is completely chromed, with early Ford '37 to '41 round spindles. Purchased the So-Cal polished aluminum Buick drum disc brake kit to add to the front end's beauty. Also purchased a Winters Unpolished Quick Change Rear (polishing the center carrier will happen eventually) and the So-Cal polished Buick drum covers the 11" Curry rear brake drum kit. An all chromed rear suspension kit with hairpin radius rods will mount my rear. Much anticipation for me besides all the neat parts going in will be my '58 Chrysler 392 HEMI that will be mounted within the frame rails! I've decided to run an overdrive transmission, to help manage the 4:12 ratio posi rear - 700R4 should work nicely behind the elephant power plant. Still have some new parts to purchase, so I'll start a neat thread when the time comes! Enjoy the pics on my project bowtie!

 

I'm in !!


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Hey Joseph - tell us about your project!

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HEY LOOK , THERE ARE OTHERS BUILDING CHEVYS AND TALKING ABOUT THEM !!!!!


Too the best of my knowledge only the 1933 Chevrolet master series CA had the stamped in raised area across the panel . If you look at the gas tank " cap location" , the 33 master is much lower down.

The 34 master series DA the panel was plain and gas tank cap location was about 1" from the top.

The 1933-35 chevrolet standard series rear panel is plain and the gas cap location was about 1/2" from the top.

I did have a factory drawing that showed the rear bumper braces attaching castings , center to center measurements for the various years.
At one time in 70's I had acquired a 33 master cover and discovered it was too wide. I talked to a body shop about narrowing it, the cost was prohibitive at that time. Looking back I should have had it narrowed and spent the $$$$ involved

mike lynch building shazzbott 35 chev roadste

 

Building a 1935 Chevy standard coupe, and having fun doing it.! Mustang 2 front installed, now trying to figure out the rear end, I'm not chopping it, and all the wood is perfect..., all steel except for one running board. No dents. I have 1957 Buick 364 nailhead and a 400 short shaft to put in her. Ant tip or help greatly appreciated [emoji106]


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the 35 coupe , your lucky to have great floors not rusted out. Why does the trunk floor have an opening too small for a battery. I love all the factory bracing on the floor panels. I took the bracing of mine off, welded all the spot welds up , and on the moldings and put them back on after the panel was refinished using 10/32 buttom head allen heads.

My original trunk floor was rusted and wrecked on my coupe and the roadster. I went for a long drive to knoxville Tenn to pick up one in like new condition last December. Finding stuff like this is pure gold.
mike lynch

 

Nice [emoji106] the hole was for the gas tank lid, I took it out,and patched the hole, do I will most likely pit the tank in the trunk...


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JOE.........you have an excellent start on the 35, that frame has 186 ....3/8" rivets holding it together, more than strong enough for the big buick. Mine had a 422" of 57 Olds v8 bored and stroked and no problems.

Rear end........9" ford about 56" wide is about the correct width to be able to run wheels with 3 1/2" back spacing. Depending on how you drive the car S10 rears are fairly narrow. You can run stock chevy parallel leafs with about 4 removed per side. Other choice is coil overs on tri-angulated rear set up.

My self , all my cars 35 coupe..........35 phaeton and under construction 35 roadster have jaguar rear ends. Expensive but with the DANA 44 center section its fairly bullet proof. If you wanted to go that way you need to find the S series 1962--70 rear end. The S series was a small sedan, very difficult to find, the MARK X was big sedan and 62" wide. Actually had one given to me last winter, only used lower control arms and the forged half shafts.
You should not need power steering rack. Car is light enough.

mike lynch

 

TANKS INC make a perfect reproduction 8 gallon tank in metal $300 ? plus straps and rubbers. They also make a 10 gallon unit . By the time you put a gas tank back there in trunk, your not going to have hardly any room back there to carry folding seats, lunch pail, maybe battery. Other than having a chrome plated rear end for people to look at, no reason to trunk the tank.

mike lynch

 

I think I'm having a brain overload , this is my first build .


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10 gallons enough [emoji15]


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JOE..........we all have brain overload, eating, drinking, thinking, dreaming all nite about our chevies. I bought my coupe in 1970 and I have been doing all that every year..........its non stop, worse when your building a new one.

Its a drug and a disease

I think the ford 9" rear with coil overs is easiest to control height of car.

mike lynch

 

Ok , a bit pricey but worth it [emoji106], I'll look into the gas tanks , thanks .


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I figure out of my stock 8 gallon tank I could go 110--125 miles highway before having to fill up. Basically every 2nd gas station on the interstates with the 422 olds. The 350 ZZ4 pushing 430 hp with overdrive 700R4 and 3.54 gears doesn't get any better mileage. The touring with 305 TPI camero motor gets worse mileage with 3.54 gears or maybe the same haven't really run it far on a trip yet. I guess the 10 gallon tank I got sitting in the box still will come in handy.

Just remember the price we pay for parts for our old cars, $300 tank., cheap. Figure what it would cost to buy a tank for lets say a one year old GM 1/2 ton. Don't even want to ask !

mike lynch

 

Yes I looked up the tank you turned me on to , i will be ordered it, I think it holds 15 gallons. Should. BE plenty I hope , for the duel 4 barrels I plan on .


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TORK WRENCH.........all 1934 Chevrolet master series DA used the plain "gas tank cover panel" .
The cover with the raised area is a 1933 Chevrolet master CA "gas tank cover panel ".

What I do not know is the width of the two covers plus the length side to side, I do know that the frame width for the cast bumper mounting castings is different . But the 33 cover seems to fit on the 34 okay so must be real close.
Only problem I can see is the filler neck location with the 33 being much lower. This would cause a problem with mounting the tank to sit properly inside the rear frame cross member and filler neck exit in the right location. .

mike lynch..................

 

heres a shot of a 33 mercury series fuel tank location.

 

Is mine in the right place, being in the truck, in the 35 standard


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Interesting, a rarely seen 1933 Chevrolet STANDARD SERIES CC 3 window coupe. These were available with a rumble seat and roll down rear window and without. The other model was a 2 door sedan/coach. Not a lot of these cars were made as the 33 master series easily outsold the standard 10 to 1 or more .

Yes sir your 33 standard 3 w coupe has the right gas tank cover with correct distance filler opening.

Studying the pictured car, it has : a 1934 Chevrolet eagle radiator ornament, you have 1934-35 Chevrolet standard running board rubber on the running boards. The 33 rubber was actually 6 inches shorter. I and I repo never reproduced it nor did Jim McConville who made the early molds.

But just this last year a guy in Arizona named JOE IACINNO produced maybe 20 sets ??? of the 33 std rubber. Not sure if he still has any left. I can supply email if needed. Or you can post in the online VCCA CHAT 1933--1936 section and he will pop up.

Want to get his attention........tell him you have a 1933 Chevrolet MERCURY.........there has never been any advertising anywhere on this planet saying the STANDARD series CC is a Mercury. Some people can be sooooooooooooooooo touchy.
Glen Rarick in LaFargeville NY also has a 33 standard, dark blue with a 4.3 V6 I believe.

NICE CAR.............

mike

 

JOE............. if your gas tank is in the trunk, its wrong. It fits under the rear frame cross member which has a saddle pattern to it. You want to run one there, no harm no foul but sure would take up a lot of room in the trunk.

Its held in with metal straps towards rear end that use T bolts thru the strapping and bolt goes thru the frame cross member and a nut and washer used to secure it. On the other end of the frame cross member the strapping is doubled up and bent more than 90 degrees. This goes in first, then T nut is used to tighten it snug.

They also produce a rubber strap that goes between the tank and the strapping for a no scratch install.

Make sure you add a ground strap from the gas tank sender unit to ground to the frame !!!

mike lynch

 

Thank you, and the filler neck Go's into the trunk .one more maybe silly question [emoji51]would a 81 corvette rear end fit on this car, and maybe other parts. I have the option of buying one for parts??


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yes a corvette independent rear suspension will fit into your 34-35 Chevrolet. Its all about what year of vette rear you want to use 1963--1967 would probably be the narrowest. But those vette rears come with a multitude of problems to install.
They use a big leaf multi spring across the rear as suspension, later ones use a single mono leaf. Also the brake rotors and calipers are mounted on the ends of the axles for a lot of un-sprung weight.

I had a vette rear and a jag IRS and after a lot of research it was determined that the jag was far superior to a vette rear. The brakes are mounted on the center section, no un-sprung weight hanging on the ends. The hub carriers on the ends are aluminum and take 4 3/4" chevy bolt pattern with 1/2" studs. Instead of trying to get a stock multileaf spring shortened to fit, Jag has 4 coil over shocks. That aftermarket ones come with different spring rates and can be adjusted to lower or raise the car. 220 pound spring rate would be good for your coupe at 2500--27-00 pounds

The center section is a DANA 44 and if its a 3.54 should have a thorton power lock posi unit. Dana 44 is used in Chryslers and jeeps, pretty built proof.
Only problem I had was when I went to get the stub axles out of the center section rebuilt, the axles were turned/twisted 1 1/2 turns.
The lower control wishbone arms can be shortened , I have the article on how to build the jig to do it.
The 1/2 shafts are a special problem......IF they are the slim forged ones look like dog bone, you cannot cut and weld them, that's plain unsafe and dangerous.

The early XKE units had TUBULAR half shafts like drive shafts usually less than 54 wide rear. These can be cut and welded to width you need to match the lower control arms. A 1962----1972 S series jag small sedan has 13 1/2" wide C to C forged half shafts. The big jags XJ series , mark X and large sedans had a wide rear at 62" .

One thing nobody talks about is the vet rear really isn't 100% fully independent. If you had a vet rear on a bench and picked up the axle assy and raised and lowered it, you would see the disc rotor ARC INWARDS ON THE LIFT UPWARDS . You can also see it on vets that get lowered or the adjustment rod is not adjusted properly.

The Jaguar on the other hand does not change up or down , that hub carrier face is always level.
snow white chassis company google them, located in California does a lot of them .

mike lynch...............35 coupe roadster and phaeton

Personally the best choice is what 90% of guys are using 9" ford on either leaf springs or coil overs.