Hey everyone, I'm working on a 55 chevy, and wanted to document some of the build. The plan is a car that has a 60's gasser look, that I can take the family on road trips, drive daily to work and still take to the drag strip occasionally. (I know not much to ask for..) With my model A, I waited to do a build thread after I was all done. I wasn't confident enough that I had the ability to actually finish it, or knew if I really wanted to put my work out there for people to see lol. With this one I'm gonna try updating as I go, I've got a bit done to it already and will update over the next while. I'll start at the start. I had just finished my model A (seen here.. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/frys-model-a-coupe-build-recap.1128346/ ) and the wife and I took it to Deuce days on a trip across Canada ( https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/deuce-days-road-trip-review.1158864/ ). It was amazing, the whole time we kept saying how awesome it would be to do this with the kids before they are too cool to spend time with us "old" people. So I started looking for a driver car, something to make road trip ready, something fairly decent, like "working man nice" and mostly done. I looked at a few car over the next few months and nothing made sense, too many redos to suit my tastes, too much money, wrong paint, engines, etc. I realized I'm better off with a mild project, older resto, something that didn't need paint or a body off, or maybe just one major item like paint, or drivetain, or suspension, etc, but not multiple majors. In comes the 55, Scrolling through facebook one sunday morning this wicked 55 comes up for sale. Instantly I call and talk to the guy, turns out hes a pretty cool dude, had owned the car longer than I've been alive, certified welded, did the frame work, and the car was a driver up until torn down for paint and ultimately sat for a number of years. 55s have been on my bucket list since I was a kid and NEVER come up for sale around here, plus fiberglass front end, new torq thrusts, decent body, speedway straight axle, built up 10 bolt, etc. To hell with a small project, I just had to have it! Shown below are the pictures before I bought it, how could I not be in love. The owner used to street race it all the time in its glory days, said the few times he took it to the track it ran in the 10s, had more fiberglass and a bunch of different engines.. it was almost starting to sound like the plot to two lane blacktop Not sure how this all turns out, stick around to find out.
It was a bit of an anxious wait for our schedules to work out, the car was a mere 6 hour drive one way. It had been a few weeks and either I was working or he was, so he offered to drive down and deliver it free of charge, this was sounding too good to be true. Making friends in the garage. At this point I'm wondering how I'm going to tackle this in my suddenly rather small garage. First things first, getting this stance right. The 275s are too small and have to go, will be great for rollers while building, but don't look right on any serious 55. I'm actually really happy with the front end's height but the rear needs to come down. I have always been a fan of the lower, not over the top gassers. Tires are F560s on 4.5" wide TTs and will stay, I think they look great. I'm a little worried about the spring rate of the speedway leafs, I may remove one and add some height to the spring mounting points when I get to that point. 400lbs springs seems way too high and feels pretty darn stiff. I don't want it flopping around but from what I'm calculating and guessing, 300 lb springs would probably be ideal, but I'll cross that bridge down the line. The radius fenders were done in the repaint 30 years ago, in the fashion of the day with fiberglass, filler and a little metal screwed in for good luck. I cut them out wider, to remove the rot and crappy work and to make room for the 29.5x10 slicks I had laying in the garage. I'm planning on ending up around that size, maybe 29.5x12 for a little more beef. General plan right now is to have someone with more talent than I shape a nice wheel well opening, after lower quarters and rockers are replaced.
Good on you, it will be exciting to watch it come along. Sounds like you've got a good handle on things.
I will disappoint you all now, I came across a great deal on a non-hamb friendly engine that checked every box, also picked up a TKO600 for it. I promise no talking about the engine, hope you guys can too. If you look past it, I'm sure you'll enjoy the rest of the car... or whatever... So I built some motor mounts..
With driveline angles figured its time to build a 4 link and do the rest of the frame work. Figuring out how to roll the frame out in my garage by myself. Body braced and supported. I build a rotisserie and used it to support the rear, and mid way just used some scrap wood I had laying around. I ran straps down to body mount holes and ran a brace underneath welded across the braces as some were rotten. Pretty old school stuff, square tube ladder bars, that have zero articulation. Square tube crossmembers.
Figuring out cross member layout. I use a JD2 model 32 for my tube bending. 1.75" .120 wall dom tubing I had left over in my stash. Center crossmember is a support I recycled that was on the original frame, not sure if thats shown early, I don't think so.. it held up the old ladder bars as it had no suspension. The loop is the recycled original one from the ladder bar mount.
I checked out the 10 bolt, has 4.11 which will work well with the OD, C-clip eliminators, and a limited slip of some kind. I had originally wanted a 9" but these are plenty strong and will save me some much needed cash. I bought a 4 link kit from welder series. Modified the brackets to give me some more adjustment. I want to run it parallel on the street, and tuned for anti squat when I take it to the track. After plotting graphs and calculators and research this is what I came up with.. I started researching driveshafts and found that I need a 3" driveshaft, so mocking up my loop is too small when running through full articulation, so I had to make a new one. Will finish the bottom portion when I put the frame on the rotisserie. Also, I originally planned on the cross member being a little further back but the bar mounting points were further ahead of the diff and I had measured to the c/l, so ended up too long. I really didn't want to cut them down so I notched the top to still accept body mount hardware. It's tight but do able, will probably use studs on the final assembly. Its still has the same amount of surface connection on the frame, well more actually. Rear coil over mounts and track bar in place. Tube crossmembers welded in. Later a guy mentioned that they may interfere with the floor pans, after some measuring it was close, so I had to cut off the welds and move the whole thing down, pretty annoying lol.
Last post for a bit, I wasn't super happy with the trac bar, thought it'd give me lots of exhaust clearance but did not as the suspension articulated. Current plan is fender well headers and side dumps anyway but if too annoying I'd like to run a full 3" exhaust all the way out the back. So I came up with some different mounts for the trac bar.
you’re making me blush lol. Sometimes they are ok, sometimes they are mediocre. I only have a few short welds holding the brackets on currently.. but that is the plan, figure out some way to jig it and hold it straight. Also would like to weld tubes to the housing, I’d be better off getting a shop to do it, but there isn’t anything around here for 2 or 300 miles that’d be up to the task. lots of guys don’t worry about it, but I did have a 9” that I welded brackets to that tried to cock off sideways, so really like to avoid that.
This can be done with patience. Kid that works out of my shop on his OT sand toys completely boxed the rear end in his pickup. Never even took the wheels off. It's fully welded, front, back, top, and bottom, from flange to flange. When he told me what he had planned I mentioned to watch out for warping. Took him about two weeks to get it done if I recall. He did a lot of skipping, stitching, and walking away. It must have worked, because he's not gentle with his stuff. That locked 5:88 set up sees plenty of 20ft jumps, and has held up to a blown SBC that's controlled by a 200lb right foot.
I cut this trans mount out of 1/8" plate with the plasma I really wanted something professionally done, laser cut, maybe a logo in the middle. But couldn't come up with a logo that wasn't stupid lol. Heating an bending around the tube. Using these "trick tabs" from TMR to mount it to the tubing. Don't look close the welding is garbage on the tabs. I settles just to dimple it and call it good. If I had more room with the driveshaft I would have ran it down the whole length of the tubing. My thought process is this, most frame are virtually designed as two rails, held together at the front and back. Usually a tiny 1/4" strap holding them together in the middle rear and a small trans crossmember at the front with usually doesn't add much for tying the two rails together, basically a big square box, not the strongest shape in the world. I wanted something that held the two rails together a little more. I think it accomplishes what I wanted. I'm adding a driveshaft loop at the rear after floor is mounted and clearance figured. Below shows the support I added for around the trans. Its 3/16 plate, boxed with a bottom 3/16 plate as well. As shown above I had to heat and bend it with a small propane torch (I don't have an Oxy/act setup in the garage.) Actually turned out ok and gave it a bit more finished look. Its ok, definitely amateur level still but I think it will do. It'll be mounted with some nice bolts and maybe painted a contrast color, not sure yet. Needs a little finishing on smoothing out the sides but all takes time..
Added some extra dimple gussets for looks Rear cross member was bent, funny thing is, when it was bent everything was straight and parallel. Only when I pushed it out straight, it pushed one frame rail up. So I had some messing around to get them level and parallel after. I like to recycle, so I used a piece of the old ladder bar setup and cut the side off, trying to keep a slight C-channel. Added some dimples as well. I thought about cutting an extra sheet and making big dimples and making it out of three pieces, but sometimes less is more. I think these look right for size and spacing, not that anyone will see it anyway.
A few more thoughts on the four link, and why I did what I did. I feel I breezed over that part to deflect from the engine so here is a bit more wordy justification of my rear setup. As per usual, I over analyze everything and need to know as much as I can before making a decision, so heres some thought process. Ladder bars vs 4 link vs leaf springs vs whatever else. Now I have no thoughts that this will be a G machine or anything like that, just because it has a straight axle doesn't mean it needs to drive like crap. So for me I'd like when it turns the tires stay on the ground as best they can, the suspension has as much travel as I can give it, and is somewhat cushioned, not jarring or terribly harsh. I'm sure we all know radiused fenderwells and suspension travel don't go together... err.. well they can but look like crap. Like all things hot rodding that is a compromise, so all i'm planning on is around 2" max, probably 1.5" to bumpstops. Most on the hamb will recommend wild amounts of suspension travel but realistically a 12" or 14" coilover that fit hot rod spaces have all of 4 or 5 TOTAL travel. So I figure I will start out with 2" compression and 2" rebound, and lower it down till its uncomfortable, then back it up a little. I think that will be fine, I lowered my wifes Denali and its got maybe an inch and feels fine. I believe a supple set of bumpstops will be the secret to making it not noticable. So back to diff locating.. Ladder bars just don't articulate, and don't offer adjustment, not a great option for my plans. I know the previous setup was a bit different that traditional hair pin ladder bars but it still hold true that ladder bars lift both tires over bumps. If I jacked up the diff previously as far outboard as possibly it just lifted everything evenly up, there was zero articulation. Leaf springs would have been super easy, set and forget. I'm only planning on 500-600 rear wheel horsepower, leaf springs would get me down the track to reach my 11.5 "non-roll bar" goal and ride and handle fine. Problem was, there were no mounts on the frame. Previously the guy had springs mounted inboard but for some reason took them off and welded the pockets back up. So to do inboard springs/mounts/shocks/etc, leafs were just too much money, especially for no adjust-ability and having to add a caltrac or something to control wrap. Also with a link suspension I get to use coil overs, which is like the easy button, car looks a little low the crank up a tad. Adding some weight for a cross country trip add some preload. Sitting too high for drag racing turn them down. I did a triangulated 4 link on my model A, that thing is awesome, it rides great, handles great, launches pretty decent. So I really do like that setup. The other alternative nowaday that seems to be pretty popular when researching was 3 links. Reasons I decided against a triangulated 4 link or a 3 link, mainly the cast center section limits the options, and the triangulated setup would also make exhaust harder to build down the road. I also know 4 links will limit articulation unless ran parallel. So I setup the brackets and plotting on graph paper my IC and antisquat to have it so I can run the bars parallel 98% of the time and swap it and tune it for better launches when planning on going to the track. During final assembly I'm planning on adjusting the bars and finding what I can run for angles before it limits articulation and starts trying to twist the diff. I haven't messed with that yet, but I think there has to be a bit of angle allowed before its detrimental. Currently the parallel articulates like no tomorrow. That would be the bonus with a 3 link or tri, getting to set your instant center and not limiting articulation, set and forget, kinda.. With the rear locating figured, next was to decide Heim joints vs Polyurethane vs Rubber, etc. Poly gets a bad rap in some circles and is hailed as the best thing ever in others. I really didn't want to go poly, but my end goal is the car to be the best driver it can possibly be. I'd like it quiet and a little comfortable. I drove my bare bones A across canada, I'm good with noisy, dirty, no interior, stinky hotrods, setting valves/timing/carbs/etc... is all good here. But I'm building this for kids to enjoy as much as me. So back on track, I'd like to tame as much NVH as possible. So Heim joints kept looking worse and worse for my application. Poly likes to squeak, I'm going to be adding grease zerks through the middle with passages in hopes they won't squeak. I really wanted the ridetech R-Joints but they are just too much for me right now, so maybe later on, or during final assembly I'll add them. I know Herb Adams isn't a fan of poly and took that into consideration, though times do change and you look at a lot of the modern cars and a lot of what was gospel 10 years ago is proven wrong with radial slicks, turbos and "pro touring". When I started looking for bars/4 links/etc I found that the "welder series" pro street 4 link was the best deal out there. I priced bars and bungs and hand cutting brackets but their kit was cheaper. Keep in mind I don't have a tig welder so chromoly is out of reach for me currently, which kill some DIY kits. This is the one I went with, and being Canadian its nice to shop in Country if I can. https://welderseries.com/Four-Link-Kit-Pro-Street-p51448855
The floor braces were pretty well junk. The floor itself wasn't bad really. I priced out all the braces and came to the conclusion that it was cheaper and quicker to just order a complete floor with braces installed. I really want to get the bottom end done and solid, try to get it running and see where it takes me.. I made a rotisserie from an old engine stand, I actually used this on my model A but had cut it all apart and it wouldn't have worked here anyway. New floor shipped up from Classic industries, what a shit show that was. Of Course to get the correct 4 link angles I had to cut out part of the floor. And since the bars ended up further than I wanted I had to notch into the brace with some 1/4" pipe I had laying around. Wish I would have went shorter bars at this point lol. Not the prettiest work ever shown on the hamb, but I'm not metal shaping guy thats for sure.
You do great work, fab skills are awesome. I put a triangulated 4 link in a the A sedan I built, it handled great and repeated that on my 33 plymouth sedan. I'm going to switch it out for a set of Rjays ladder bars this winter. I can't stand the lower bar hanging down and that is as high as I can get it and I used the frame I got with the body and it has some questionable work in some places and it bothers me. On the rod ends, I'd use good CM Heim joints, I put 3/4 ones on my A, DOM tubing and I had them on my upper bars in a chevelle I built. Never had any noise, the ride was fine and I didn't have to worry about breakage.
Good to know, always so much conflicting info. You are right about the four link hanging low, with the proper separation at the axle your lower bars hang down so much. not much of an issue with this car, as the lower bar doesn’t sit much below frame, and it’s a big body/factory frame setup so kinda ugly below the skirt anyway. Thought I’m trying to keep everything tucked up as much as possible. But was a real consideration on the A. I really didn’t want to have anything below frame, but function over form said I had to. In the end I don’t mind, you see some cars where it wasn’t even a consideration...
Nice work! On your 4 link, once the rod end jam nuts are tight, you won't get the articulation you have shown. You will only get the amount of deflection available in the bushings. If you articulate or force past that, the rod end jam nuts will slowly but surely loosen themselves to allow additional roll. Since you aren't rock crawling, no biggie.
Chopping out the old floor. Look at those beautiful rockers lol I decided to install the entire floor, some times guys will cut and install to the seat or where ever it is solid. I mostly had to due to the 4 link notches, which were way easier to build with bolting it on the frame by itself. Also, once all the spot welds were ground in the rear I found a good section of it was a bit rusty. So good time to fix all that. This pic is virtually the same but shows the dust, rust, bondo, fiberglass, dirt, etc that was in the air during this procedure. It isn't for the faint of heart because it is dirty as hell. I really don't watch TV but I've seen the odd show where high end guys are fabricating and building cars in designer jeans and clean shirts. I find this hilarious, being a mechanic for most my life. I'm out here in full insulated carharts, respirators, safety glasses, steel toed boots and generally I just look like a god damn mess of a human being by the time I go in for the night lol.
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