History FOUND- Nick Arias Jr.'s '37 Chevy Coupe

I got my bronze gear from Summit, for a 230-292, to fit my 270. Your gear might be an OE item for a steel cam.

 

Next up is the steering box. Stupid me got water in the box after all the cleaning I did, and it made a MESS inside the box and seized the sector shaft. I just purchased an NOS sector shaft on Ebay and ordered a rebuild kit from the Filling Station for new bearings, bushings, seals, etc. I am trying hard to keep the paint on all these parts so there's a lot of elbow grease put into these components and their hardware.

Like a lot of others Im following your build too for my 38 coupe upgrades. Im stuck on the steering box but like you picked up a new sector shaft. Your worm gear must have been good, I think mine is shot. do you have any idea where to get a now one? Was yours still good?

 

Any idea of what that column drop /Mount is for as I have one just like it?

 

The worm gear is in good shape thankfully. I will be reusing it. I have no idea where to get a new one other than having to buy a whole new column and risk it being bad, too.

 

That is stock for '38 Chevy. The aluminum plate is a spacer someone made, and I'm trying to determine whether it went on the inside or outside of the dash. Either way, the u-bolt underneath the bezel was extended to accommodate the spacer. No detail was missed on this entire car... it's just so cool.

 

Cool thread I also know the feeling of finding and buying back my late brother's g***er fairlane built in the early 60's and he owned it in the 70s, was gone for 40 years . I also know what it's like to go through the work of putting it back to the way it was nice job.

 

More cleaning and finally started to start reinstalling the interior! Lots of time into cleaning these little parts, but it is all coming together. The seats and belts all mount to wood, so I very carefully cleaned the wood to make sure not to remove the original scribe lines still there after 70 years. I am missing the hardware for those unfortunately, so I will hunt down some correct looking bolts so nothing stands out.

Anyone have history on the "Sinners" CC out of the Long Beach/Downey area? The ashtray that came with the car has two tiny little water slide decals on it, almost out of a model car kit.

Justin

 

A few before photos for reference. This thing was pretty gross when I got it.

 

I also started messing with 2 of the 5 Strombergs after they were all seized and rusted shut. Liking them so far. Evaporust works wonders, but is tricky to use sometimes. I don't have a blast cabinet at home but prefer not to use one for parts like these. I doubt they were common in the 50s, either. Elbow grease it is!

 

What a great tribute to History. Thanks for keeping it real Justin . Knowing when to say ;"When."

 

I have lots of extra Stromberg parts, P.M. me if you need anything.

 

Looks great Justin! But the clock only goes up to 10.

 

The steering box is all rebuilt with mostly NOS parts and was pin fitted to the new sector shaft. It turns like ****er, and I am stoked! The steering shaft bearing races were a bear to get out- one was ground out with a 3/16 carbide burr and lots of patience, and the other was hammered out after I managed to get something to stick to the hardened surface using the welder. Not an easy task without altering the original paint, but I got it done. Everything inside the box looked like it was a part to the ***anic, but it luckily cleaned up very nicely and didn't cause any rot. It was nearly frozen when I started.

I adapted a zerk fitting into the 3/8" npt pipe plug into the fill port, which allowed me to pump in the John Deere Corn Head grease into the box. It's a 00 rated grease which is able to flow when it is warm but isn't solid enough to get trapped in the box away from the bearings, gears, etc. It's great, and I would recommend it to anyone for gear boxes, torque tubes, u-joints, etc. May be old news to some, but I just discovered it.

Hope you enjoy the (slow) progress. No detail is spared on this car...

One more thing off the list!










































2023:





2026:

 

Next time, just run a bead of weld around the bearing cup, let it cool, and it will just about fall out.

 

Good to know! Thank you for the tip.

 

Looks great, with Mickey Thompson spray lube, a tenth faster !

 

I got a whole case from Fritz Voigt's grandson. It's the best rust inhibitor I have ever used on bare steel aside painting it. It's thick, doesn't dry out and works great on bare steel hardware, brackets, etc. It'll probably give me cancer, but that just means it's the good stuff.

 

YES......great details and write up on efforts to keep the old original steering box. This can be a real task as many of us know. AND......welcome to the John Deere Corn Head grease club. I use it in the gearbox of my bush hog mower and it has eliminated leakage while stored and there is less gear noise and vibration. It is also working great in the
Ross steering box in my 1953 Willys Jeep CJ3B. I need to fabricate a fill adapter with the grease zerk like you did.
Please keep us updated on all your efforts and progress. Thanks

 

Looks Great! I'm one of the guys that likes seeing the original paint saved.

Bob

 

Excellent
Dan

 

One of the best stories on the HAMB ever.
It's an honor that you are showing it here for us to enjoy.

 

My neighbor has a 1940 (if I remember correctly) Plymouth pickup truck that he is finally finishing a restoration on 50+ years after he bought it. He was telling me about the cornhead grease because the steering boxes on those vehicles leaked even when they were new; he had never heard of it until the person who rebuilt his steering box recommended using it.

 

Thank you all for the nice words. I plan on keeping the progress steady. I have also contemplated filming a lot of it for do***entation purposes, but also to share to anyone who may be interested as well. I'm just not that good with a video camera.

 

Mocked up the rear quarter gl*** to show off the killer decals still intact. The p***enger side has the same Isky decal but a Schiefer instead of the Mallory. I'd hate replace the rubber with yellow overspray on it, but they are so old and crusty, it may have to happen.

 

Take close up pictures of those decals with a measuring tape in the frame, so if worse comes to worst, you have a chance to reproduce them.