Projects Cutting my Hotrod Teeth (57 Chevy Budget build/revival)

Maybe. Better when cool and worse in warm weather at operating temp?

 

Hmm, maybe? For what it’s worth, the car has just been sitting in the garage the past few hours and when I was checking the accelerator pump just now, I noticed the float bowls were empty. I know ethanol evaporates quick, but that quick?

 

I had that thought too, but when I checked, it looked brand new.

 

I also took the metering rods out, sprayed carb cleaner over them and into the jets and then blew it all out and made sure the rods were clean and straight. Took the mixture screws out and did the same thing. I’ve noticed that if the engine is warm, I can move the choke cam on the drivers side so that its all the way closed, and then the engine has a better chance of starting. Correct me if I’m wrong but that to me says it’s too lean, and having the choke completely closed richens it enough to allow the motor to start and idle.

I’m going to have to call it quits for the day since it’s dark and I’ve already used up most of my goodwill with the neighborhood trying to get the car actually drivable instead of just idling in my driveway.

It was a good day for other parts of the car too though. The rear springs are pretty roached, and I think one or 2 of the leaves are even broken, so the back is super bouncy and sits way too low for my liking. It also has the stock 3 leaves in each side. I picked up a set of “wagon” 5 leaf springs from a guy on marketplace. They’re aftermarket with a “3 inch lift”. I doubt it’ll sit higher than stock but it’ll at least be an improvement over my roached out broken ones. I won’t be tearing the back end apart until I have it back from exhaust, just because I don’t trust myself to get everything put back together and working in 2 weeks… but when the time comes, I have the parts already. I’ve always wanted it to sit high in the back, but I like the front ride height. Kinda like the car below:

 

Oh, and one more small milestone today; I have officially driven the car 10 miles! I sure get a kick out of watching the odometer roll over, even my first car was all digital gauges. I’m glad I took the time to take the speedo out and lube it properly, it works perfectly!

 

For what it’s worth and not saying this is your issue but I went thru a streak of stock style replacement fuel pump (like this) that would not keep up with fuel delivery, Our red 56 would just flat line on long drives and this gal would have a bad flat spot on acceleration and flat line as well. Bottom line both vehicle’s suffered low fuel level’s in the bowls. Carter M6900 fuel pumps solved all the issues however for you or anyone that Carter pump hasn’t been available thru Summit Racing for some time.

Do check the fuel filter first as @Moriarity mentioned.

 

@RaginPin3Appl3 Do these cars have the sock filter in the tank? Been so long since you were there I forget if you did anything with the gas tank.

 

Yeah, the new carter pumps are absolute junk too. I tried 2 of them on this engine and neither was built correctly. The actuator arms on both had so much side to side slop, they would slip right off the pump rod and not pump at all. The pump I have on there now is a cheapie from either Jegs or Speedway. I’m half tempted to take the carb off and see if the floats are out of wack. It’s a bit daunting for me, but might be worth checking.

I do also have the carb tuning kit from Edelbrock with the various metering rods/springs/jets, so I’m tempted to try a thinner rod and its corresponding jet to let more fuel through.

 

They use one of those wire mesh “socks” on the sending units. I swapped out the sending unit several months ago and the sock on the old one was totally clean. The tank was also replaced shortly after I bought the car with a brand new one, so I don’t think it’s a blockage issue.

 

You need fuel to tune correctly. Understand?

 

do you have some exhaust restriction ? something bad/plugged?

 

No exhaust at all on the car right now besides the manifolds, so no there!

 

Yep, sounds like next step is making sure there’s actually fuel in the bowls to pull from

 

What!? No exhaust.

 

AI even knows better…
“Open exhaust (no mufflers/cats) maximizes flow for top-end power but requires significant fueling adjustments (often, a rich tune) to prevent damage, while full exhaust systems with mufflers offer tuned backpressure for better streetable torque, cleaner sound, and easier, more efficient tuning.”

 

Oh I thought I was clear about there not being anything but manifolds. I didn’t think it made that much of a difference…

 

Go easy on me guys, nobody ever taught me any of this stuff so I’m teaching myself here

 

It’s like this. Basic’s before meticulous.

 

The general idea is to drive this car the mile and a half to the shop that’s doing the exhaust. I just want it to run good enough to make it there is all

 

They handle so much nicer with the 5 leaf spring pack, you'll notice the difference. One of the best changes I made to my car, along with a front sway bar.

 

Been leaving the whole carb tuning thing alone until after my exhaust is on, though I did take the top off the car just to have a look since it did sit for about 6 years. I’m glad I did because there was some crud in the float bowls. The floats looked good though so now I have piece of mind about that.

I can’t help picking at scabs…

There’s not a whole lot of original paint left on the fenders/hood and the front drivers door. It appears to have been wrecked sometime in the 70s or so and at that point, they sprayed the doors and front fender with SILVER paint, instead of color matching the factory color which at that point may have been faded out anyway. The point being, I just can’t stand the ****ty bodywork and cracked bondo, not to mention most of the silver paint has flaked off anyway, so I’m going to just take the entire side of the car back down to whatever is left of the factory paint and go from there. The fender is a lost cause, and it’s quite badly bent from the crash, but I would much rather ****ty 1957 paint than ****ty 70s repaint.

Here I’ve stripped back most of the 70s paint job from above the trim molding on the front door. The rear door and bottom half of the front are mostly still the 70s paint, though you can see some dusk pearl peaking out in some spots on the bottom of the rear door.

Sorry if it’s boring, but to me nothing beats original survivor paint, even if it’s in bad shape! It gives the car some mojo. And considering the amount of body work this car would need to be worth doing a decent paint job, at that point I would do a 2 door conversion instead of spending a couple hundred hours on the rusty 4 door doors and doglegs. The car may have rust, but it’s solid where it counts!

 

Your car is solid where it counts! Glad to see that you're far enough along that appearance matters! ''Driver quality'' is a magical zone where you aren't ashamed to drive the car but it isn't paranoia inducing pretty new paint. You are doing it the right way, almost roadworthy now!

 

Id personally do the body flat black and roof white. Then do bodywork as you feel like it lol

 

I just can’t bring myself to paint over the rotted out fender bottoms and holes in the doors.

 

I hope not, though I’m not really going to do any more fiddling with it for now. I did run it long enough to drive it out and back into the garage so I’ll check in a couple hours if there’s any fuel in them still.

 

You’d think so since I live in the biggest town south of Springfield in IL, and the biggest Illinois side suburb of St Louis, AND close to the Kaskaskia river which has a fairly large boating scene, but unfortunately the nearest ethanol free gas to me is about 45 minutes from my house, in a direction I almost never go.

And I’ve even checked the site out there for finding ethanol free gas. There’s absolutely no closer options.

 

Hell, even Madison, IL which is just under a half hour from my house which has a drag strip doesn’t even have an ethanol free station. I truly live in a dead zone for it.