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

So while I was straightening the other lowering block I realized the perch plates were slightly rubbing the tires. Not much but I didn't like it. So I grabbed these as a temporary bandaid to keep from blowing a tire in my yard till I swap rear ends lol.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/GNuJc5OU0U8?si=Rq8N-OlInceO6zQx

Fixed the popping grinding noise lol

 

I still gotta double check that I have the right one. But assuming yes another piece of the puzzle lol. Conversion u joint to allow me to run my current drive shaft with the 58 Impala rear end. I'm eventually going to buy a 100% new drive shaft built to order but I didn't feel like coming up with $400 for one right now lol

 

Odd way to sell valve stem dice lol. Got them in and wondered why there were only two. Went to the site and despite the pics showing sets of four they're sold in pairs. Lol. Oh well guess I'll order another pair lol

 

They do look killer though

 

And the u joint ended up being the wrong one. So I returned it and picked up stuff to start welding and peaking my hood. Ended up getting 5/16" rod because I want a pretty prominent peak since this hood isn't louvered

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/PV9fRN6Kaw4?si=WWEZw4mNaofQYEQO

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/kyiD4l_GIcg?si=v-gBa9Aj-FQdbUOk

Lil walk-around

 

Looks good man !

 

Was glad to finally be able to rinse it off lol

 

Fixed the hokey throttle cable and got rid of the funky stainless steel braid wrap off cable at same time

 

So was measuring for an eventual driveshaft for my eventual rear end swap and found this. Just barely kissing the floorboard under hard throttle. Had already thought about going from 3" to 2" lowering blocks. Going up an inch in the rear along with hammering the tunnel a bit(it's under the seat) should solve the issue. Had been trying to find someone that sold a 56" long driveshaft with 2.5" tubing with 1310 ends but at that length I'm only finding 3" tube. 2.5" would have gained a bit more clearance

 

So I'm thinking about making my own 1.75" lowering blocks. Use 1/8"-1/4" 1.75" square steel tube. Drill center pin all the way through to insert appropriate size rod through to be axle locating pin on top. Weld both ends. Drill the spring side hole before welding in end caps. Possibly some tabs on the sides to help keep straight on the spring. Then save the 3" blocks for the 54

 

So my wife surprised me with carpet for this thing......sort of lol. She did actually get me carpet. And I don't think she meant for me to know till the day it came in. But apparently stock interiors has a thing on stitched carpet like on a 53 Chevy where it can take up to 15 business days just to get it shipped due to made to order status of the business. And she was a bit flustered and didn't know when it was going to ship as they also said around 3 days on molded carpet and she had no clue what my car uses. She did show me what she ordered and I verified she ordered right. Also noticed she put down a "shop" name that I had joked about in the past. Guess I might actually need to start calling my side "business" that lol. Anyway cleetus is finally getting carpet lol

 

So update. I guess the company classifies 53 Chevy carpet as molded as it's already shipped. Supposed to have it Monday. So less than a week for made to order carpet isn't bad

 

Finally finished this mess up. Definitely has a face for radio(no pun intended....ok maybe a little pun intended lol). But I think it'll work. I'll have to run more speaker wire as I only ran for one speaker in the dash. Going to try to do it tomorrow as carpet is supposed to be in Monday lol

 

I think I saw that guy in a Pixar movie

 

Luckily it'll be hidden behind a speaker grill lol

 

And got a wild hair and reupholstered this piece tonight. Still gotta clean it, dig up the chrome trim for it, and poke holes for the mounting screws and seat adjustment lever. And get around to doing the other side lol