I guess it's as good a time as any to start a thread do***enting my journey with my 36 Chevy 5 window coupe. About the time I told the wife I was too broke, to tired, too busy with my Pharoahs Car Club duties and too broken to take on any more large projects I heard about this old g***er that needed some Love. She brings home stray cats, I rescue old cars. So after 3 trips to the guys house and trying my very best NOT to make a deal on the car a deal was made. I'll begin with what I started with just about exactly 2 years ago. It was a mess but it kept calling to me to save it. Rotten wood, nearly no floor, rotten section of frame. But I knew immediately it had "soul" and a prior history. The seller really didn't know what he had. Over the phone he said it has "one of those Ford type rear ends".. When I looked under the car it was a 57-64 Olds rear. Had an ancient switch under the dash that said Mallory Rev-Pol and some ancient SW guages. This was once someone's hard core drag car. So here what I started with.
The damage to the ch***is was confined to the right side where the front of the home built square tube ladder bars had ripped away and been badly rewelded multiple times. They evidently weren't aware that with a leaf spring car there has to be a pivot point for the traction bars if they're not the same length as the front of the spring. So they kept tearing it out and throwing more and more 1/4" Steel plate at it. When I pulled the rear axle apart I discovered it had welded spiders and 5:36 gears.
Body and all other sheet metal removed to ***ess just what I have to work with. Out with the bad stuff so I have good bones to start with. These old Chevy Standards had a top hat type frame with a bottom plate so they are boxed from the factory and pretty stout when they're not rotten. The prior owner had kept the straight axle in the front and used lift blocks to raise it up and since this will just be a street driven car from now on and mainly to local events I left it. I'm trying to rebuild it but have respect for it's history at the same time.
Good lord what was I thinking ? I'm too old for this stuff ! Rust AND termites. Wood is for building picnic tables not cars.
Now that I have a blank slate to start with with my repaired frame it's time for some upgrades. And of course with the way my luck goes nobody makes a straight up disc brake kit for the 33-36 straight axle Chevys. In steps a great guy who I met through the car club and races vintage g***ers in CA and he says he's got a brand new kit he's not using for a 49-54 Chevy and I can have it for the cost of the postage. Many hours later after a ton of Googling, head scratching and figuring I had a plan. The king pin angle on the 49-54 cars is all wrong but a 55-59 half ton pickup has the same king pin angle as the 36 car. And the bearing sizes are good to go using the adaptor sleeve in the kit to fit the truck spindles. Only issue is the trucks have a slightly larger king pin. Off to Ebay for some Chinese reamers and I have a nice fit. Now the pinch bolt won't fit though with the larger king pin so that needed to be machined. Success I have front disc brakes. Which also solves another issue. 33-36 Chevrolet Standard cars used a wonky 4 1/4" bolt pattern that nobody else uses. The kit usees Camaro rotors and calipers in standard 4 3/4" pattern.
On to the back of the car. This welded up mess needs to go away. And 5:36 gears aren't going to cut it for a road driven car. I live an hour North of the Pigeon Forge Rod Run and it would take me 3 days to get there with those gears. I found a nice used umolested carrier and bought new 4:10 gears from a member here. All back together with new everything. And a funny story about the rear brake drums. The original drums were a weird 2 piece design and we're of course, junk. And no matter where I looked nobody carries rer drums for a 47-64 Olds/Pontiac rear. So I happened to be doing the rear brakes on my 74 C10 pickup and thought what the hell. Perfect fit ! Correct offset, no rubbing, etc. Now we're cooking. I officially have a finished rolling ch***is. Suddenly I'm not thinking quite so much with the "what have I got myself into" thoughts.
I guess the next logical step is to build an engine. The guy who had the car threw in the makings of a .030 over 350 bottom end. In keeping with the mid 60s g***er theme I scrounged up a set of double hump heads and an old Edelbrock dual quad intake. Found another guy who had some finned Corvette valve covers. It's 1965 again ! I probably failed to mention the rear wheels that came on the car are an ancient pair of 15x10 Aluminum slots and the tires were date coded 1970. So now the stuff I really enjoy. Building an engine. Comp Cams roller tip rockers because they fit under the valve covers. A Comp Cams Big Mutha Thumper cam because who needs vaccuum with manual disc brakes. The rest is pretty straight forward stuff. I did want to run a PCV valve but didn't want to start poking holes in those vintage valve covers so I drilled and tapped the intake just in front of the distributor hole into the lifter valley and installed a screw in PCV valve. Made up a tin baffle that's screwed to the underside of the intake to keep oil from getting ****ed up into the PCV valve and used a front oil fill tube with a breather style cap to equalize the pressure.
A buddy donated a T5 from an early S10 with mechanical speedo and a bellhousing so that got bolted on behind the engine. And the whole mess got installed in the ch***is. Now we're getting somewhere !
Next up, pedals and running brake lines. Also dealing with the issue of the traction bars being in bind and fighting against the rear springs. And set the body back on one of several times to work on building a Steel tubing sub-floor. That was originally wood on these also. Floor pans came from EMS Automotive. They make some really nice stuff for early Chevys.
Body back on for what I hope is the final time. Sitting on thick rubber bisquits cut from a big rig musflap. The originals were leather I believe. Started bending some square tubing. I had just enough rotten wood to use it for patterns after gluing and screwing it back together. I was pleased to discover that if I go slow and take small bites I can bend square tubing with my el cheapo Harbor Freight tubing bender. Not sure if I like those giant headlight buckets or not. They were cheap but they belong on a Graham. Next up is doing the wood-b-gone treatment to the doors and making them open and close.
You took on a rough project..nice to see you're getting it done a step at a time. Thanks for sharing your build.
Been building stuff for most of my adult life and I learned early on that it's important to try to do something every day. No matter how small. Otherwise it's easy to lose the spark and start thinking about selling or trading for something else that needs less work when you stop seeing progress.
I take my hat off to you, I would never see the light at the end of the tunnel even if I did something everyday. You're to be commended.
I think what has really hit me the most is the brotherhood from car guys I've never met before. The guy in Cali who gave me a $600 disc brake kit just for the cost of postage. Not naming names but I'd bet many of you know him. Another guy who was following my journey on another forum and told me to meet him at the Pigeon Forge Rod Run and he had an extra radiator I could have. There have been others as well. My car club brothers included. We have somewhere around 140 chapters world wide and we held a good size International show here in my town and meeting guys for the first time face to face but immediately feeling like we've known each other forever is very cool. Forced to take a short break from the car at the moment due to having a cutoff wheel in an angle grinder explode and try to eat my fingers but it's nothing new. And until you bleed on it is it really yours ? lol
I love g***ers in general, and especially 1930's Chevy coupe g***ers! Enjoying your build thread! I agree on those headlamp housings. Not sure they fit the build?
By Buddy had a 36 and I had a 37 for many years and miles . Cool *** looking Hot Rods , great work . We removed all the wood in my Buddy’s 36 , suicided the doors and swapped a 35 grill .
Nice work! I know what you mean about dragging projects home. They’re kind of like pets…they just need some love. I’ll keep an eye on this build. Reminds me of….me.
A little progress. Current project is replacing all the rotten wood in the doors with steel tubing and getting them to hang right. Have I mentioned yet how much I wish it was a 37 (no wood) ?
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