57 Chevy BelAir Gasser Build

I had the T-Shirt. The looks were priceless!

 

Don't make me read all 19 pages, from one Wa. guy to anther which post shows how you measured & hopefully dropped a plumb bob down to find front axle centerline? Trying to kill 2 birds here with one stone as the body will be at body shop and frame here in shop. Thanks!

 

Bottom half of page 17 has some front frame section info. I did make reference marks on the floor but there's a lot of ways you can make notes and use reference points on the existing frame. You'll have to pull measurement from the rear axle forward and use a little triangulation to square it back up to itself, not to big a deal.

 

Big deal if your just starting with a bare seamless frame, no rear axle, no front suspension! Was hoping to get a measurement from front '57 frame horn back to front centerline. I all else fails I will have to mock up front sheetmetal. Anyone have a frame shop blow up pic of a '57 frame?

 

The measurement from the front of the frame horn back to front axle centerline will be different between builds depending on what springs you select and how you want it to fit the car. Everyone likes something a touch different in that regard If you're just talking about squaring it up is the approach I was thinking about. I have my front frame section only mocked up in place and won't have a "from the front back to axle centerline" figured until I get my WAC setup and get it all mocked in place and looking right. The main thing though is that the car tracks straight once things are in place and drives properly with a true and square drive train and steering. I plan to play with my front end and move things around based on my reference points I established before cutting and then pull all the measurements from around the car and from the rear axle to get the right alignment throughout the new setup. I'll have to mockup my weighted engine, trans and some additional component simulated weight before final welding front end mounts and such into final position.

 

Not trying to be combative but stock center line is written in stone, it's a necessary starting point, no matter what springs or suspension for that matter is used. I do agree that final "tweeking" after the body and front sheet metal is installed and a side view of wheel placement fore & aft would be in order especially if raised as most straight axle car are. Thanks 4 your input, hope to see your project in action!

 

Yea I'm hearing ya. My axle placement is not going to be factory spec, in relation to how the front wheel spindles were located with the coil/A-arm setup, now that it's going to be straight axle/leaf sprung. That part didn't matter much to me in my application. I do have some frame spec drawings in the shop that I can look into that give factory Chevrolet dims, which are available all around the web also. Would that piece of information be the only thing you're after, front wheel/spindle centerline in relation to length of frame out front?

 

I got the drive snout installed on the blower. Filled the gear case with Royal Purple MaxGear synthetic 75W-90. My idler bracket is .045" smaller ID than the OD of the drive housing. I tried to flex it open at the tension bolt break, but that's proven to be not the solution. Might be looking into a new idler setup to get it mounted. Getting closer to a first-round mockup on the engine to get my 8mm blower drive and V-pulley configuration sorted out. I'm going to run the balancer for now with the add-on double V-pulley, but when I tear back into the motor, I might switch to a crank hub type drive setup.

 

I have a blown 396 BBC with a 2" belt drive, to pussy looking so would buy any 3", gears, idlers, etc. that you might have left over.

 

Good Vibrations Racing has an assortment of brackets in different sizes
https://www.goodvibesracing.com/Idler_Brackets.html#Idler_Snout

 

Before ordering another snout mount bracket make sure it'll work without the balancer, like you may run later, it might not slide back enough.

 

"Filled the gear case with Royal Purple MaxGear synthetic 75W-90." You look like the type that does your homework but when I built my BDS 671 (30 years ago) they said no synthetic just old school 80-90 gear lube, still run it today. Have they changed their tune?

 

Considering this swing arm bracket for the idler:
Speedmaster® Supercharger Mounting Bracket PCE154.1010 | Buy Direct with Fast Shipping (speedmaster79.com)
The spec of the ID on this product is 3.412"

I read this bit of info on one of the supplier sites I was reviewing:

3.412" ID Fits Blower Shop Snout

OD = 3.412" won't fit Dyer or BDS Snouts

fits all Blower Shop and others

Makes sense since the idler swing arm I have is a BDS brand product, so now I know why it doesn't fit. I didn';t realize there were slightly different specifications out there. I might trade Rick or a buddy that has some on hand, otherwise the $82 that Speedmaster wants for theirs isn't too bad. What I don't know is how far the ID will pinch down when installed, but I don't have too much room to make up at that dimension.

 

I'm really not sure what the justification for "no synthetic" would be. Pretty much any high quality gear lube will work. Places like the blower shop are running Pennzoil 7590 and it looks at a glance like it is a widely recommended grade. But conventional 8090 is also perfectly good in a blower gear housing application. One of the bits of research that came out of the blower shop is from some Dyno testing, heat sensing and race application studies between only changing from conventional to synthetic. So there are some pretty interesting reads and videos from that outlet that explains some of the differences. Really no faults though on the synthetic side as far as I can tell. I did switch from cast to steel gears in mine as the cast gears were a bit pitted.

There are a countless amount of companies in the synthetic market these days Amsoil being one of the frontrunners and they have a synthetic conversion for almost every application, sometimes with modifiers and additives to fit the same grade that the conventional oils hit.

A lot of specs out there also do not call for a full quart of oil to be added to the small gear case, but at the advice of my blower builder and some other resources I went ahead and filled it up at a quart. We opened up the gear case side of the sealed bearing to get lubricant to that side and installed a sight glass and pressure vent in the housing cover.

 

There's lots of complaints about Speedmaster parts, the company itself is a cheap Chinese knock off dealer, Summit recently stopped selling their parts and I believe Jegs did the same.
So even though it says it'll fit it might not once it arrives.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/summit-pulls-speedmaster-produ/267256/page1/

 

What about a bracket that bolts to the blower front cover?

 

I've heard that too. It'll fit, it's about the only part they make that's decent. Rick out there uses their swing arm and I had one in hand it's pretty nice and does fit but I thought the one I have already would fit before I knew there were these differences.

 

I was looking at those today at my friend's place where I bought the blower, he's got a couple on the shelf setup like that. If I can't get this bracket to work like I want I might consider just building a bracket using the idler pulley off this one.

 

I picked up this set of vintage 427 M/T covers for the car today. Drippers still in tact. If I convert to roller later when I move ahead on the second engine build I'll have to trim those down. I think they'll clean up pretty nice.

 

Nice ! I have a couple sets of 427's, one set on the J

 

Nice!

 

That looks awesome! I am in the hunt for that style of breathers. Do you know the proper name for those? I know a guy with a set but actively looking. Do you know the original source or application those were from or just aftermarket option?

 

There popular, these were plated..........................

 

That looks killer! Beautiful machine...

 

Thought of using these as they look to big on a SB. No balls yet to start drilling a BBC V/C.

 

They are pricey when they do come up for sale, just called M/T breathers, there's large and small.

I may know someone willing to part with a pair but expect to pay 3-4 hundred for them.

 

I usually don't like all the advertising in the engine compartment, Eddy, Holley, M/T, etc. BUT these M/T VC, & breathers look great together!

 

Sometimes you can find a similar breather for cheaper, these are identical to the M/T other than not being M/T

 

Kinda cheezy unless your a Corvette yuppy! Sorry Morarity!

 

I was going to use them as arm rests in my 41 pickup