My 53 chevy

Thanks guys..........

 

Lookin good!! Keep us updated!

 

I have made some recent progress on the chevy..Firewall is painted, engine and trans is mounted..I will be changing the rearend next...

 

lookin good!

 

Are you shortending the steering shaft since your going to chop it? I didn't chop mine and still shortened it by 4 inches. Now my hand won't be in the middle of the windshield when I drive it...

 

Looking good, keep the updates coming!

 

Somehow I have missed this thread until now. Your '53 looks great! I agree with ditching the 6 banger.

I have a real soft spot for '53 Chevy's - certainly my favorite 50's Chevy product (other than corvette i guess). I wouldn't mind having a '53 myself. I even looked seriously at dropping a '53 Chevy body on my 1994 Impala SS chassis. But, the way you are going about 'upgrading' is much better.

Mike

 

I'm diggin it! Even tho I'm in the six banger camp. - What color is that, looks great!!

~ Carl

 

Thanks guys for the response and good words...I havent decided anything about shortening the steering shaft..This is my first build of a 53, and Im making adjustments as I come to them..

The color is something I picked out of one of our color decks.. It has a ton of pearls in it.. Its changes from a dark orange to light gold depending on the lighting..It is similar to House of kolor cinnimon..

I have more pics and updates coming..I have the leaf springs in place and im getting the rearend lined up and pinion angle set and all welded in this weekend...

 

I cut the original spring perches off the rearend to weld to the new rearend,to use all of the Jamco parts. Mainly the extended u bolts and lowering blocks..It a little more work to use these instead of just straping on a set of aftermarket u bolts,but it will add more inches to the lowering of the car....Notice I cut the tube along with the perch to make it easier to mount to the new rearend..Also there is a divot in the original tube to allow for the mount to ride in..

 

I removed the spring perches off the new rearend..

 

These are Jamco 4 inch drop leafs with reversed eyes compared to originals..

 

Lookin good. I'm in the middle of a 350/700r4, s10 rear myself. Using the CE mounts too.
I am using a Jag front end, Stock just didn't have a good feel for going fast. I did have disc upgrades, which helped stop. but when it got sideways the steering was too slow to react.

What did you do for a trans mount?

 

Looks great man! I just finished a complete overhaul of my drivetrain in my 52. I'll say that whenever you get around to doing the MII the Chassis Engineering set-up is GREAT. We're about to start a 54 chevy drivetrain, I'll take a few pics and post them. Keep up the good work buddy. Cheers, Sam Navarro

 

Almost forgot about the trans mount...I cut the center out of the xmember.12 inches I think..I cut up an old f 350 overload spring ,bent the side mounts at a 90 degree and welded them to the xmember. Then I cut the center of the overload spring out and placed in the middle..I will take pics of it it with the trans sitting on them later today. I havent bolted them together yet,but it is in place...

 

In this pic,I have the blocks, u bolts and perches in place and ready to jack up the rearend, set my pinion angle, tack weld,and check everything before fully welding perches on the rearend..Stay tuned............

 

Just a note for anyone who is planning on using an s10 or blazer rearend...Do not use the disc brake rearend..The calipers will hit the frame ..I found this out the hard way and had to get the drum assembly from another 4x4 rearend....The s10 4x4 rearend is the same width as the original..59 inches..It works perfect,if you reuse the original spring perches like I did..If you want to use u bolts that wrap around the tubes,DONT use s10 . there are many other rearends that will be the easier to use....

 

Nice work man...some how I have missed this thread, One suggestion, make your tranny mount removable..it looks like you welded it in solid like I did, then had to cut it out when the tranny needed to be removed! Also I left my collum at stock setting so it whould not hit my leg as Im runnin the stock wheel and it works fine even with the 4" chop. Either way Keep up the posts..great thread!

 

Thanks chev.. Actually the center mount on the xmember is removeable..I havent drilled the bolt holes yet to bolt it in place..In the pic it is just setting in place.. Is that your black 54 in your avatar????

 

Thats cool man sorry for the scare it just looked welded in! Yes its my Chev..there build pics in My albums if u wanna check her out!

 

Subscribed. Looking good. Real clean looking in the engine bay. I'll be watching your build.