Hot Rods 1957 Chevy 150 Gasser Build "Midnight Special"

Love it!
So is there anything you would do with the car differently?

 

Hmm I had to think about that a little. There are some improvements I would like to make, but those have been limited due to budgetary reasons. I would love to have a motor that would run in the 10's consistently and I would really love to have a blower. The other thing would be interior, I would like original type door panels and seat covers. I have been extremely happy with the car and have had so much fun with it so far.

 

So you like the front suspension & rear traction?
I have all the inside door panel stainless for a 150 plus a bunch of parts laying all over the place that I could make another '57 150 again, I just don't know if I should start another project at my age!

 

Well I’ll probly be running with you at mokan as I got the willys running again I’m sure I’ll be a busy bee that weekend running 3 cars at that event but make sure you come by and say hi I’m planning on running the willys pickup the dragster and the poison ivey dodge afx at that event can’t wait to see your car run


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Yes I am happy with the suspension front and rear, It always hooks good. I am sure if I ever get a chance to step up the performance I will have to make some adjustments, but for now they are working great. As far building a car that is a tough decision. my Dad and I do everything together and I have been watching him the last few years it is definitely been getting harder on him. I don't think he could keep it up without me. If you do decide to build one, start a build thread and let me know I want to follow along!

Great I look forward to finally meeting you! I will definitely look you up.

 

I've always had a weakness for those '57 150s, yours is a sweet piece of machinery!

 

Well this is a post that I have been waiting to make for a long time! But also I honestly didn't think it would almost be May before I would get to make it. At the end of the season last year the 477 starting producing some metal in the oil. Not what I needed after what I went through last year. I stewed on it most of the fall and decided that I was going to pull it out figure out what was going on, fix it, give it a quick freshen and get it back going for 2020. After Christmas I was finally able to get the car in the shop and get the motor apart. I expected to find bearings coming apart, but I didn't expect what I found. When I assembled it I did not check for camshaft clearance fore and aft. I got by with this on the 496, but I wasn't so lucky on the 477. The timing chain cover was too tight on this block and caused the cam gear to wear into the block. Then I found one piston with some detonation damage. My guess is that the cam play allowed the distributor to advance and caused this, because I am sure that the carb and timing was dialed in.
I spent most on January contemplating my options and budgeting various builds. The 477 is fixable, but I wasn't sure I wanted to sink a bunch of money into it again. I got a hold of a guy that had posted a motor for sale that was advertised as a 489 ci 900HP Prostock/Progas engine that was built and dynoed and then stored for 20 years. I made an offer and he accepted it, and set up a tentatively that I would come the following weekend to purchase it (10 hour drive one way for me). We didn't discuss any down payment, but we made a verbal agreement. This person is well regarded in the vintage drag racing community, as well as on this forum so I had no reason to question him. I contacted him in the middle of the week to confirm for the weekend and get his address and he didn't respond until the next day at noon with "Someone looked at the engine last night and put $100 down on it supposed to pick it up this weekend, I will let you know if it falls through" . I was pissed, but there wasn't anything I could do. I pressed him on our verbal commitment, but the other guy was local and he paid $1500 more that what we had agreed on. I can honestly say that I have been in that situation, and I played it the other way and honored my verbal contract, but every man has his own code.

Nothing I could do but move forward. I decided to take the chunk of change I had rounded up to buy that motor, and build the 489/496 I should have built last summer. I contacted my machinist and started a plan in motion. I found another GM four bolt block with a stock bore that cleaned up at .030, Mahle 12.7:1 pistons, Manley H beam rods this time with ARP 2000 series bolts, to avoid what happened to my last 496! The only thing reused from my original 496 are the balancer, crank (turned 10/10) and flexplate. I opted to have someone else assemble the shortblock this time to avoid any minor assembly errors that turn into catastrophic engine failures. I also decided to go with Chris Straub for a custom camshaft and valvetrain this time.


Unfortunately my build got caught in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic and the poor car started to suffer from the effects. The cam and lifters were delayed 3 weeks, which of course delayed shortblock assembly. And the 320cc aluminum heads custom built by Straub were delayed 6 weeks. Finally started to get some relief last weekend though, I picked up my completed shortblock and it is so nice!

Also I just got word from Straub that the heads are done and shipped out today! I will be able to get this thing up and going just in time because the racetracks are starting to open back up! Looking forward to getting back on the track, finally get my 10 second time slip and yanking the wheels!

 

Never seen that one! What does your dizzy and cam gear look like!? Your one of our build hero's so keep spending money and plugging away!

 

Wow that is crazy the only good things is you caught it when you were not running at 120 MPH

 

Thank you that is high praise! I am hoping that the money flow can slow down a little now though! The distributor gear was Composite (plastic) and it was chewed up real bad. I have a bronze one to replace it with this time.

 

Last Friday night Wyatt lost his fight with childhood brain cancer. The first time I met this kid in 2018, a year before he was diagnosed, he blew me away with his knowledge of tri-five Chevy's. I was talking with an 11 year old kid like I would with any of you knowledgeable Hot-rodders. The newspaper article described him as an "old soul" which was incredibly true. His family and the local community did everything they could to make his last 14 months on this Earth amazing. I am glad I got to be a part of it, but I was really hoping he would recover, finish his car and line up with me at the track when he turned 16 and beat me, but that wasn't God's plan. He leaves behind a devastated Father, Mother, and little brother, so please keep them in your prayers for comfort and healing during this time.
https://www.fultonsun.com/news/news/story/2020/apr/28/wyatt-salmons-dipg-warrior-remembered/825713/

 

Sorry to hear this, prayers for Wyatt's family and friends.

 

So sorry to hear about Wyatt's passing. It's bad enough when this happens to anyone but when it's someone this young, well, it's just such a terrible thing. Very, very sorry.

 

Prayers for Wyatt, his family, and all who cared about him....

Bill

 

All maybe already know this but here goes again, Distributor/Cam Gear Lubrication from some of the cam manufactures. SB & BBC distributor/cam gear gets it's oil from "oil splash" inside the engine. To help out lubrication on cold starts and under loads you can help by indexing the dizzy to running, timed position, make a little mark (felt pen)where you think dizzy gear and cam gear engage, pull dizzy, take a hack saw blade and make a "cut" like in pic. Pic stolen off a dirt track forum!

 

A bit bigger, easier to see for us old eyes guys.

 

Been making progress. Still waiting on a few parts before it is ready to go in, but getting real close.
Block is painted, bought some new cheap finned valve covers that look pretty good. Measured for pushrod length and piston to valve clearance.

Also it is official that I will be able to race on May 29 and 30 at the Funny Car Chaos event at Eddyville, IA. No fans in the stands, but the event will be livestreamed on Bangshift for $9.99 per day. Should be a great show, and I am excited because it will almost be like we are professional drag racers!

https://bangshift.com/bangshift1320...-live-stream-funny-car-racing-is-coming-soon/

 

It is coming together. Of course now that I have all of the parts I am back to work full time, but I still plan to get it fired up one evening this week. I am liking the new look.

 

Well I got the new motor in the car and running! Still need to do some tuning to get it right where I want it. I think I am going to try to take it to a chassis dyno and tune it there before the race at the end of the month. I did take it out for a street dyno session last night and found the newest weak link.





Cheap axle broke when I was just doing a burnout. I have already been in contact with @BCCHOPIT at WAC Customs and will be getting one of his chrome moly axles asap. I was very lucky that this happened on my "closed course' right by my shop and didn't happen at the track or farther down my closed course at a high speed. I was able to get a jack under it and get it pulled into the drive and wheeled the welder out and welded it back on so I could get it back in the shop. Also lucky the only damage is the axle, tie rod, and one brake hose.

I guess the spending money and plugging away will have to continue!

 

That's nuts glad you are ok! Oh Roo, Roo. Shades of Winged Express!! Lippy

 

You dodged a bullet, buy a lotto ticket...……………………..

 

Well I got it back together! New .312 wall chrome moly axle and chrome moly tie rod showed up last Wednesday and I finished getting it in about 11 o'clock that night. I also got some new front tires to mount on my Ansen 15x4 wheels so I don't have to borrow my Dad's anymore.

Thursday after work I buttoned up a couple of things, ran it down my closed course real quick to make sure nothing else was amiss and loaded it in the trailer. Friday morning Dad and I headed for Eddyville, Iowa to race with the Nostalgia Gassers at the Funny Car Chaos event. No spectators allowed but "crew" members were unlimited and they were livestreaming the show so I was hoping to put on something good for them. I was pretty nervous because of the new engine and other changes so I decided to make a test pass before we went up for the show. It was the best pass of my life! As soon as I launched it I felt the front end go up higher than it ever has, hit my shifts just right and crossed the finish line and seen 6.32 light up on the board! I was so excited I was bouncing around inside the car and whooping and hollering!

That is three tenths faster than the best pass it ever made with the 496 and 5 tenths faster than what the 496 and 477 usually ran. A lot more MPH too! I am not real sure, but I don't think I had ever broke 100 in the 1/8 mile and I did almost 106! That says a lot about compression, but also my custom ground roller cam and high flow aluminum heads. This thing is making a lot more horsepower!

Ran my good friend Bill on our first pass as a group. He made some changes over the winter too and was hoping to see a significant improvement as well. I unfortunately for multiple reason wasn't able to have success replicating my first pass for the rest of the weekend. I started having a few issues that gave me issues. The shifter was acting up and shifting into third when I pulled second. Also I started having wonky idle like it had a vacuum leak but we couldn't find any externally. I am thinking we might have sucked in the intake gasket, or it is leaking through a couple of rocker studs that go into the intake ports. We got the shifter fixed, but the idle plagued us all weekend. Also the newfound horsepower is really testing the rear suspension and it looks like I am going to have to start learning something about that. I made five other passes that were in the 6.50-6.60 range at 102-103 with 1.39-1.41 60'. Nothing to sneeze at for sure and still faster than my old motors, but I got that taste of 6.30s and I sure thought I was going to break into the .20s this weekend.


Overall I had a great weekend and I can't wait to do it again. I am going to track down this idle issue, fix a few other things and try to get back out to a 1/4 mile track and pass over my longtime goal of having a 10 second car and put this old girl right in 9s!

 

Man I can't believe I let this thread lapse almost 11 months! We all know 2020 was different year, but I was still able to get quite a bit a racing in and it turned out to be a great year for the Midnight Special Team. As I said in my last post I was hoping to put my old girl right into the nines. I was unable to do that in 2020, however I was able to accomplish a goal I had set 10 years ago to have a car in the 10's and I did it in a big way! The way the cards fell in 2020 I only attended one race that was running 1/4 mile and it was in the heat and humidity of summer and I feel like that affected my ETs

Here is my best 1/4 mile pass I have ever made at Cordova, IL Aug 29th. Ten years of trying to get in the 10's and I finally did it with a 10.37! But somehow it was not good enough, because look at that 60' and 1/8 mile ET, I can do so much better than that!

In comparison check out this pass three weeks later at Havana, IL in good air. Best 60' ever and .0100 off my best 1/8 mile in May at Eddyville. If I can get it to run those numbers on a 1/4 mile track I will have a 9 second car! Ohh the trials and tribulations of Drag Racing.
A decent shot of me trying to hang the hoops over the guardrail in May at Eddyville.

A shot Havana, IL in September on the 6.33 pass with the 1.32 60'. It sat the tires back down right at the 60' clocks. This one would be a good ad for WAC axles if I would have took the time to paint it and stick his decal on.

Looking forward I am hoping to make it to quite a few races this year:
May 7-8 World Wide Technology Raceway "Mother Road Rendezvous"
May 22 Ozark Raceway Park 660 Armdrop No Prep Race
June 4-5 Eddyville, IA Funny Car Chaos
June 11-12 Arkansas City, KS Midway Drags
June 18-19 Havana, IL Spring Nostalgia Race
July 16-19 Byron, IL Glory Days
Aug 12-15 Beech Bend, KY Trifive Nationals
Sept 3-4 Sikeston, MO Bootheel Fuel and Gas Drags
Sept 17-18 Havana, IL Fall Nostalgia

I have been working on a OT Nova recently and haven't even thought about the race car, but it is about time to start getting it prepped for the season. No big changes planned for this year, just hoping to keep it in one piece and hopefully set some more personal bests! I hope to see some of you out and about this year!

 

I will see you in ark city for sure maybe at ozark too see how things go


Chrome don’t get ya home

 

Looking forward to seeing you!

One other thing I forgot to post yesterday, and I thought it might be fun to make a game out of it. I finally weighed the car last year. How about some guesses on the weight with me in it and to make it easy I will tell you that I weigh 175. Car is 100% Steel, Aluminum headed BBC, 400 turbo, nine inch.

 

My wife got me a new helmet for Christmas and for my Birthday in Jan she told me she wanted me to get it customized. Well I procrastinated on it, but finally took it took the guy who lettered the car for me a couple a weeks ago and he got it finished just in time for me to have it for my first race at Ozark Raceway Park this weekend. It turned out really good! This will be my first ever new helmet and customized to boot! I have been working on the car the last couple of evenings and have it ready to race. The only big change I made for this season is swapped out the fuel pump for a bigger badder one and some fuel line plumbing changes. Did all the usual maintenance as well; oil change, plug swap, ran the valves, checked the timing, went over the chassis and nuts and bolts. We are ready to go!

 

Been a bit since I have updated this thread. I have still been racing it albeit not as much as I was back in 2020 and 2021. I have scaled back my racing program quite a bit over the last few years both in number of races and distance traveled. I only made it to three races in 2023 and two this year. When I do get it out though the car has been doing great and is still doing gasser things. Just wrapped up the 2024 season at the Midstate Dragway Havana, IL fall nostalgia race.


Look how far I am out past the 60' clock box before it come down. That pass was a 1.34 60' and it was definitely on the back tires.

This is the fifth year of racing that the 489 has been together and I thought I blew it up on the last pass at Havana. Luckily it turned out to just been a broken exhaust rocker stud! Whew. I'm planning on pulling it out this winter and going through the engine and trans and sending the torque convertor out to be checked for good measure.

I ended up saving the old 496 that was in the car the first year. Had to put a sleeve in it, but it is all together now and in my O/T Chevelle. I'm hoping to run a drag n drive event with that car next year.

 

Nice pass. What was reaction time, looks pretty good