Projects The 56 Chevy Continued Adventure Build

Love to see a close up of that gauge panel!

 

back up

 

Was big into drag racing back in the day and still am but that panel was a bit of race car touch. It will likely go away in the rebuild but one never knows...

 

Looks cool to me!

 

thanks man. If you note the holes at the bottom of the panel, we used to have an all aluminum console "box" that was attached where you could store stuff. Forgot about that until I looked close at the pic myself. Funny how you forget stuff over the years.

 

The gauge panel is cool, definitely a period type add-on thing and it's part of the car's history. If this were my car I'd definitely keep that.

 

so much peer pressure...
On another note I have found a set of mint original 2 door doors. Super stoked to be able to use originals instead of spending stupid money on repops that won't fit.

 

Some more history pics of the car. Dad bought it in 1970. She's seen a few variations over the years as these cars do. I had a set of gold Moroso valve covers and air cleaner on the car when I drove it. Still love the old Moroso stuff! Pic of the doors now waiting safely at my buddies place to get shipped out to me. He says they are perfect. Can't wait to get them hung and start the process!

 

Those doors look really nice. Having those to start with is a huge deal, and looks like the doors came with at least one of the 210 upper door moldings which in itself is a good, hard to find piece.

Does it still have the tilt front, or was that a totally different front clip? Interesting how it was cut to line up with the body moldings, very clean that way.

I'm not a big fan of the gold Moroso stuff typically, but in this case I think it could be cool to use them. I also like the dog dish caps on steel wheels and blackwalls look.

 

Ya stoked about the doors. No tilt front end anymore. Dad designed and fabbed his own system with the original sheet metal. Everything was put back to stock before the car was given to me. Totally agree on the steel wheels and caps. Nothing better for that sleeper look and that's what I want.

 

How are the floor braces? My floor was really quite solid, but most of the braces and inner rockers were toast. Ended up cheaper and more available to get a whole floor. Probably less work too.

 

I haven't had a chance to look at the braces real close yet. I am telling myself they will be reasonably solid given the history of the car... pray for me

 

Replaced the old tires with some cheapo rollers last week and while the car was up in the air got a chance to look close at the floor braces etc. Two braces on each side will need to be replaced. Both braces where the body mounts are solid so it's just the rear dog leg braces and then the middle ones that have to go. Easy enough and I'll tackle that when I'm whacking the rockers. Frame looks very solid and pretty sure at this point I'm going to stick with the original frame. Once I separate from the body I will have it sandblasted so if I find any surprises then I can deal with from there. I'll either do the spring re locator in the back or possibly a 4 link but I'm more inclined to stick with the leaf springs for the look. I am going to add a K member no matter what and I'll just fab my own. Want to include pass through exhaust in the K member so i can have the exhaust tucked up nice and tight. Going will be slow until I get access to my Uncle's shop. I'll keep gathering parts in the meantime.

 

That's not bad at all, inner rockers look very intact all the way back. Way better than my '57 looked to start, that's for sure.

 

Yes I agree, like I said she lived a pretty soft life considering we're in the great white north!

 

My 56 was the same colors as yours under a gray repaint. It was a pretty solid car when I started but had to do floor braces and some floor and trunk floor work. Stock frame with rebuilt front end with disk brakes and new stock leafs with a 9" ford rear. It is not a conversion. Got lucky and found it in a field 16 years ago.

 

After some successful interwebs searching I scored this original 2 door front bench. Got it as a package deal with the rear seat and door cards as well. Really only need the front seat but price was great compared to what it costs for a repop frame etc and I always prefer original stuff if I can find it. This will get stored until I am ready for that stage of the build.

 

That seat is a good score, as is a 2 door sedan back seat frame (2 door hardtop is different). The back of a 4 door seat fits the 2 door sedan but the bottom is different. Don't know what you had to pay but they bring really big dollars around here. I spent a very large amount of time to fix the one that went into my '57, had to strip the springs and pieces out of 2 different 4 door front seats to make it work again. To start with a decent one would have been huge.

 

Got the two seats and door cards for $550. Guy i bought them from is all hot for buckets so to him the bench was no value and he just wanted it out of his shop. Win for me! Front seat is in great condition, springs seam good, back tilts forward no problem. I will of course redo them with new foam and upholstery.

 

Anything else you need I have lots of original tryfive parts!

 

That was cheap, I've seen the front seat bare frame alone bring more than that, pretty regularly. I think I had about 40 hours fixing the rotted front seat frame I used.

 

Good to know. I'm sure I will be needing some stuff at some point. How's life in Washington these days?

 

Just waiting for the shit to hit the fan!

 

My doors arrived today safe and sound in perfect condition. Super happy with them as they are perfect. The one door has full glass and trim too. Some pitting on the chrome but no complaints otherwise. Will be starting the project in a few weeks barring any other life stuff getting in the way. Will be some good hot rod therapy that is much needed.

 

That’s going to be a great car James!

 

Rolled the old girl into my Uncle's shop as he has headed down to Arizona for the winter. Likely start next weekend as I'll have to haul some of my tools over. My Uncle's shop is twice the size of mine so there will be lots of room for the tear down. Will get the car up on my big car blocks I made when I did the motor and tranny swap on my Camaro. Nice and tall so i can get under the car easy and safe. Have the floor pans and floor braces on route from Real Deal Steel. Guessing they are a couple more weeks out but we can get started on other things while I'm waiting. I'd love to start ordering lots of goodies but I'm gonna force myself to deal with the sheet metal work before any of the fun stuff.

 

I love this, will be watching.

 

Recieved my "new to me" 2 door garnish mouldings for the doors. I assumed you could buy these new but unless I'm blind they are not repopped so was lucky to track down a full set. They are in good shape with just a few little dings I can knock out. Will blast them and them paint em up.

 

Ready to watch you "go-ta-wack'in on it"!
6sally6

 

@Fitnessguy , please post your fit and progress on the floorpan. Hope to receive mine and start on it, before Christmas.