Projects 53 Chevy Bel Air "Cleetus" mild custom daily driver

I can do all the mounting myself. So I wouldn't have to worry about that expense. Also were I to put them on and not like them I can remove them myself. So I have that advantage over many wanting to try them lol

 

Plenty of hambers in the Joplin area maybe someone can take delivery of it and stash it til
You can come fetch it?

 

I mean that'd work for me. I'll go to Arkansas or Springfield at some point and Joplin isn't far out of my way when I do that

 

Learned something I did not know today. O'Reilly keeps flux core wire in stock on the shelf. It's high as hell but handy if I run out mid job

 

And the speaker grills im planning for the rear. Rear deck on this car is pretty tame so I didn't want to run the pipe organ grills. And according to ecklars this is the style factory rear speaker option 53s had

 

I'm planning on running Portawalls on a couple of my cars as well. I've got some new ones sitting around waiting. Blackwall tires are just so much cheaper, I can't justify shelling out for Coker--especially in the 13" size.

Certain OT Land Rover owner's manuals have some neat ideas about discrete towing hitches. And yes, this is a real owner's manual excerpt. Maybe a mechanism like that could be replicated, or harvested from a junkyard.

 

So I've been noticing in the meantime if not being ready to swing carpet the under carpet insulation I put down is starting to show wear. Thinking I'll go ahead and pick up some cheap floor mats today. I'll need them after I do carpet anyway

 

Also going to try to figure out something different where the throttle cable hooks to the bracket. Been noticing the pedal has been getting harder and harder to push. Thinking I'll try putting the same kinda thread in metal fitting as on the firewall. That should also give me some adjustment on top of fixing the issue

 

What’s your pedal situation?

 

S10 pedal assembly and Mr gasket universal throttle cable. And a Mr gasket throttle bracket

 

Honestly worked nicely till the cheap plastic piece started falling apart. It's a cut to fit cable

 

I’d check for slop and flex in that end. That’s exactly what it would act like

 

Eh when I wiggled it to put the clamp on it made a spring sound and tension on the cable relaxed. Definitely on the carb end. And the rub noise it makes comes from under hood. I'm not too mad about having to take the cable apart. Always meant to cover the cable housing in heat shrink to hide the gaudy braided metal case lol

 

Not bad for a super cheap parts store universal fit mat

 

Thinking when the snow thaws I'm going to redo most of my fuel line. It's had a minor fuel leak i haven't been able to chase down yet. On top of that I think my Edelbrock pump is slowly taking a dump. It's been taking a lot longer to prime. Up till a few months ago I'd turn the key on a second, hit the pedal once and crank and run. Been having to let the pump run a lot and hit the pedal a good bit to start recently. And when it ran out of gas Wednesday I figured out the leak got worse lol. On top of that even though I did mockup on the 283 with the same carb and intake it didn't fit the 350 right. Figure I'll replace from just behind firewall back. Along with new pump. Been wanting to add more inline fuel filters anyway

 

If you had a leak between the tank and the pump the pump would suck some air and take longer to prime the system.

 

I'm honestly wondering if the pump itself isn't leaking. Considering the amount of fuel lost there is no fuel odor.....and I have a super sensitive nose.

 

At some point I need to buy another sending unit. The new one I bought before I got the new tank ended up being junk. As a result of no gauge I've run it out of gas a good number of times lol. I also have a heat wrap shield to put around the pump

 

If it’s a mechanical pump make sure it isn’t leaking into your oil. Seen quite a few engines wash out the bearings from rupturing the fuel pump diafram and leaking gas into the oil. If the engine gets hot enough it will burn it off to some degree.

 

I had to run a block off plate and electric pump because of the Hurst copycat front mount from speedway. Some guys modify them to clear an electric pump but as I'm running mine backwards to aid in radiator hose clearance it's take some serious butchery lol. I'm just running an Edelbrock electric pusher pump just in front of the tank

 

Idea of the mount situation

 

doesn't putting it in front just inflate the tank!??

 

Naw actually a good spot for a gravity fed pusher pump like what I have

 

At a point in the build that's less fun lol. Sure there's fun stuff left like getting proper speaker grills and welding and peaking the hood but most of what I'm coming up on is stuff I've been putting off like the mentioned fuel system and replacing the windshield. I figure since once it warms up me and @The Creature will be doing my hood that'd be a good time to go ahead and strip it down for the windshield. With the belt line trim off I can paint the section between windshield and hood better. Not buying it yet but I put a Steele brand windshield gasket in my ebay cart. Hoping to find a new windshield without the polarized strip at the top. Always preferred the without look. Just like I'm avoiding tinted side glass despite my 53 having factory green tint

 

So I just learned of a vintage car junkyard I need to check out thirty minutes from me. Lorenz in cordor. Might save some hunting on a couple of my projects depending on their prices

 

This cold crap needs to stop lol. I'm ready to start back into this thing. Too cold with too much white stuff to even install my new stereo stuff lol

 

Junkyard in Corder used to have a bunch of stuff. The owner died. His son took over and I heard he was high on prices. I've been meaning to go find out myself.

 

So I discovered the source of the strange popping and grinding I kept hearing going in and out of gear. Turns out the crappy u bolts Pol supplied with the lowering blocks are stretching. It was allowing the rear end to shift. Finally jacked the car up and pulled a wheel and saw the lowering blocks were crooked. And due to u bolt crappiness no matter how much I crank them the blocks still don't quite mount flat. Guess the rear end swap will come sooner than expected along with proper u bolts

 

Most European towbars work like that. I’ve got one on my daily. The towball and its mounting bolt on to the strengthening beam at the back of the car.