51 Chevy coupe-Sled to Gasser

thats a lot of hard work ,looks great.

 

The steering's legit. Ive been haulin ass all over town. Stabbin the pedal everywhere, even windy roads and the highway! The steering is SOLID

 

Go back to page 1 and R E A D S L O W L Y. Maybe that'll help

 

HA-HA Jake!

Chris, nice job! I never would have thought that this body style would look so good up in the air! Love it!

 

i love it ! ! ! !

 

no doubt you have been, and i believe that if feels solid. maybe a little bumpsteer, but that ain't too bad.

the bigger problem is the bump steer correcting stud used to connect the pitman arm to the draglink. not a great setup for the street because that long stud sees more leverage than a normal tie rod end. which in itself wouldn't be that bad. add in some extra spacers and it gets a bit more sketchy. but the real biggie, which i don't blame you or the builder for, but is directly related to the long stud, is the fact that the pitman arm appears to be an aftermarket CAST piece. i could certainly be wrong, but it sure does not look to be forged from the pics. again, in most applications, the cast arm would probably be fine, though IIRC there is a thread here about broken pitman arms. but with the increased leverage putting an increased load on that pitman arm, you are flirting with a sudden failure of the cast arm. i would try to improve the angle of the draglink(maybe by lowering the whole car about 6") so the circle track bumpsteer stud can be swapped out. or swap the pitman arm for a forged unit.

i'm done being a safety nazi now. i am glad you're enjoying your eclectic street freak.

 

Love your car. Just became a member today. Have looked on this forum before, but had to join to tell you how much I want to do this to my car. I built my Fleetline about 10yrs ago, added airbags, big block etc. Then the car took a complete frame off resto 4 yrs ago. Everythying is brand new, including the 468ci procharged motor. During the time the body was out on a rotisserie. I bought a 50 Chevy Business coupe shell and built a Rat/gasser out of all my spare parts. When I was done I was more into the gasser then my Fleetline. I eventually sold the coupe to fund the Fleetline. I have seen it since then resold a couple of times on ebay. I had such the gasser "bug" that I built a 49 business coupe gasser for my Dad last year. I want to turn my Fleetline into a 60's gasser soooo bad. But cant get past the issue of all the time spent to build a lowrider. I have a pair of whitewall slicks and a pair of gumdipped Firestones for the front. I have played with the idea of switching everything around. Glad to see you took the jump, it was well worth it. Here are two videos of my car and the one I built for Dad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wjEPBJEefY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCRuVFCFwWs

 

adt51, the red gasser is BADASS. Although a few guys on here wont think so because its wheel wells are not cut, or some other reasons but I think its fuckin cool.

 

I didn't think I was going to like this but I was wrong. I liked your car the way it sat and thought this was going to be a train wreck, but you pulled it off nicely. I am eating my words, you did a good job!

 

i like it. dont know if i'd enjoy driving it, but im glad you do.
i know someone with a 52 chevy coupe thats a gasser too, 383 as well.

 

Even though it's not my style .. I think it's badass! I'm glad you stuck with it even though so many people were negative about it. Good work!

 

Thanks guys. Its a blast to drive. Doesnt feel crazy or squirrely. Just feels like an old car, and Im cool with that.

 

your pic posting is working and im keen to see more. what are you going to power it with Chris?

 

Good point on the pitman arm and adding to Ray's post..The Vega box is too light [ah you did get the cheapest one] for the car but most important is the rod end at the pitman arm and at the spindle arm are maxed out angle-wise, I'm surprised they haven't failed already with you jumping on it and the twisty's but I'd guess the springs don't extend/compress much ..If you add a spindle arm at the top of the right spindle to level out [run over spring] drag link, rod end angle should end up pretty small, if any and it doesn't look close to oil pan or frame..I know, it handles fine for you and tons of cars have used the Vega box..I'd hate for you to relate a problem like having parked IN your Tatoo Shop rather than INFRONT of it...

 

that car is so sweet! so much character!
I love the painting on the back. totally outrageous!

 

The heims at the ends of the drag link are not maxed out angle-wise. Not even close. If you unbolt the spindle end, the link drops almost to the ground before its maxed out. It looks that way in the second pic of the steering stuff because the heim at the pitman arm end is is cocked backward in the picture. Pictures can be decieving guys. The pitman arm is steel, no worries. The box is the same Ive seen on a few gassers. We mocked up the steering every which way before deciding on how its set up. This was the best way. Over the leaf would have put the drag link a half inch away from the spring. Too close. What else you guys got?

 

Oh, and no bumpsteer to speak of. If there is its so minimal I dont notice it.

 

WOW..this is the first time I've seen this thread. I like your car alot better as a gasser, have fun with it. I've been thinking for a while of putting mine back up in the air a little and this thread might be the motivator to get off my ass and do it..

 

Another cool pic. Its gettin ready to go to body and paint and I just ordred all new flat glass

 

How wide of a front axle did you end up using?

 

48"

 

Thank You, I'm dropping mine off to get widened tomorrow.

Another question if you don't mind. In the picture above, I noticed the U-bolts do not clamp the tube to the springs. Instead, they clamp the springs to the perch. I never thought of doing it that way out of fear of ripping the perches off and losing the axle, but I may be too overcautious.

Update: I just did some looking around and others have done the same, guess I am being crazy.

 

There's an old gasser 32 Chevy roadster I've seen that is up in the air, makes me torn with my Chevy roadster between East Coast lowboy and West Coast gasser.

 

This car is dope.

 

I like it! I seen the car when it was 4 sale and thought the same...nose up!

 

Yeah, I just used the hardware and set it up the way the speedway kit said to. So far so good.

 

Haven't looked closely enough at your front end pics, but is there room to relocate the steering arms above centre line, bringing the tie rod & drag link more in line & allowing you to get rid of that stud? Glad to hear you're havin a blast, looks mean as hell!

 

Get rid of what stud?