Projects Midnight Special: 1935 Chevy with a Hemi

What a great build. Just spent some time going through it. Awesome job!!!

 

That thing really has the look! Very cool.

 

That's awesome congratulations!! I was one of those neighbor kids at 1 time chasing down the cool kid. Definitely got me.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do***ent your work for those of us that are still putting it together in the mushy matter between the ears. Very nice work.

 

Looking and sounding great!

 

Thank you everyone who followed along and liked or left a comment on my first lil hotrod project, what an adventure it’s been! This will probably be the last build post outside of maybe some longevity updates.

Just as I was trying to enjoy the victory of ‘the first drive’ I soon discovered there was a slow but constant oil drip coming from the back of my motor which was a bit of a gut punch. I was thinking faulty oil galley plug and only then did I realize I should have hooked up a drill to the oil pump and primed everything and checked for leaks BEFORE stabbing the motor in the frame, doh! So out came the motor and trans.


Which honestly was so much easier than I expected, one night of disconnecting a few wires and unbolting a few things and the motor was out the next day. I pulled the dizzy and hooked up my priming shaft and got oil pressure and found my leak straight away. Get ready for a face palm ‍

all I can say is I don’t know what I don’t know, and before that moment, I didn’t know there was supposed to be a plug seal behind the camshaft. Hard to believe in all the hours of reading I’ve done around these motors, not once did this particular plug come up in discussion, but guess what I’ll never make that mistake again. After a good cleaning I installed a freeze plug with a layer of sealant and now I guarantee it won’t leak.

Another positive to pulling the motor was to address my transmission. Had to change out the drive gear on the tail shaft to keep my speedometer from saying I’m going 75mph in 3rd, which was also making my mileage way off. I checked the inside for any obvious reason why it won’t stay in reverse but everything looked and functioned perfectly on the bench (of course) so I’m just going to run it for now and find a unit to rebuild or a low enough mileage one I can swap them out and see if it changes anything.


a week later everything was back together. Which just left me to track down my non working turn signals issues, ended up being a loose connection in the steering column wire connector. I also got it ***led/registered/insured, that was a very VERY happy day!
Lastly I finished off a couple pinstripe lines and used 3m upholstery adhesive (aka yellow death) to glue my Mexican blanket to my bench seat, and a coat of boiled linseed oil to give the body a little sheen.

On that note I am calling this project officially ‘un’finished. I’m nearing the 500mi mark with zero leaks, instant cold starts, and no other real issues outside of it not staying in reverse. But man, what an absolute BLAST this lil truck is to drive! Plenty of power out of my baby hemi, I definitely wouldn’t want to go any faster in this glorified tin can ha!
I will probably make a set of lakester headers with block off plates and route to some mufflers as the zoomies look and sound great but they’re gonna make me go deaf by 45. Here’s the last couple shots I got on my phone, gonna have the wife take some photos with her professional setup that I’ll post as soon as I get em.

Thanks again for following along my wild journey!

 

Nice save/build!
Great to see it running and driving. So many build threads go cold, never to be completed.

 

Thanks for the update. ENJOY!

 

I’m about 500 miles late but hot dawg if you havnt done it! Congrats man! Super cool!

 

Congratulations!! Love the build. Thank you for so much detail and pictures. This will help me a lot. I have collected at least 10 of these trucks over the last 20 years and can only drive one at this point. Hope to make more drivers. Life sometimes gets in the way of doing the fun things.

 

Usually none of the plugs in the back are removed.

 

Thanks! Yea I agree, there was a handful of times during the build I couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, and had to tell myself that if I just do the next task, and then the next one after that, eventually, I’ll run out of things to do.

Thanks, it’s being enjoyed thoroughly!

Thank you Tim! And Thanks for following along and always having something positive to say when I would post updates, much appreciated!

True Story, and my pleasure. Man, I would have loved access to have the parts collection you’ve got lol

No kidding? that would make sense as to why it doesn’t come up that often. I had to go back to the only photo I had showing the back of my motor during dis***embly and sure enough, there it was.

 

Looks like someone used Quaker State....

 

"Thanks! Yea I agree, there was a handful of times during the build I couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, and had to tell myself that if I just do the next task, and then the next one after that, eventually, I’ll run out of things to do."

@Tat2Neil Exactly.
Even if it's just an hour a day, the list will get smaller.

 

And now I can see the tunnel at the end of the light!

 

A little here, a little there, it all adds up.

 

That is true. Too often I let the little bits of time slip away. Once I get started I'm good.

 

And it's not a freight train!

 

Hey guys! Figure it’s been a while so I wanted to drop by and give a little longevity update. A little over 3500mi so far, most of which are from my 20mi round trip to and from work everyday and the monthly ‘cars and coffee’ at RockPoint Church. I’ll tell ya I get a big ‘ol grin every time I hit the key and my hemi fires up, this lil truck is the most fun driving experience out of anything I’ve owned!
I showed it off at GoodGuys Westworld Nov of last year. Which has been a bucket list goal to have my own hotrod to show off since I first went to that show in ‘95. I also joined in the New Years Tortilla Flats cruise put on by Chip Quinn (Got Louvres?) which was a total blast! Definitely making that a yearly tradition.
I also solved my reverse pop-out issue last month, and now I have a whole new understanding and appreciation for ‘preload’. Which I figured out mine was non existent. It’s a long story, but i got some practice rebuilding my transmission (great excuse for me to buy a shop press), and now the issue is fixed and I have a rock solid reverse!
Think that about covers it for now, I’ll leave you with a few updated photos. I did pull my spreader bar off because one day I took a picture and it looked a little too much like my truck was smiling, ha!

 

Thanks for the update .Really cool ride .

 

Thought for a mome4nt that it said "Bates Motel'....

 

Love it

 

Here ya' go...

 

Good to hear you are enjoying it! Really like the Buckhorn. Where is it? Is it still open?

 

that's a nifty lil truck ,...enjoy it.

 

it’s just down the road from where I live in Mesa, unfortunately it closed in 1999, they recently put up a fence around it and I heard there is plans to remodel/reopen, but doesn’t look like anything is happening yet.

 

So very cool