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

'62 -63 Impala wheels have a similar situation.
'63 has a half hoop. '62 does not and lacks the notches in the wheel body for the '63 ring.

 

Unfortunately I had to strip the steering wheel and start over again. When I went to spray the clear, it had a bad reaction with the basecoat and got all cloudy. Maybe this'll be the final time I learn my lesson to stick with Rustoleum if I'm using spray cans. Every time I try something different I end up with issues...

Been driving the car everywhere around town I need to go, and it's been going great! Been playing with the mixture a bit still. Every once in a while I get a small backfire pop especially if I downshift and don't rev match, but I avoid that and it's fine. I ended up changing out the primary springs for stiffer ones because there was a bit of a flat spot if I mashed the gas while already moving. That improved it, so I may still go one spring stiffer still, but it's better already.

Seems to still be running rich, so I just leaned out the idle mixture a bit more this morning so at least it's not leaving soot marks everywhere it idles. I wasn't ever getting backfires and idle anyway, so it could probably go even leaner if I wanted, but I'm pulling about 18 inches of mercury at idle right now and if I lean it out it drops vacuum, so don't want to lean it out too much more.

I took the car out of town the other night for the first time, mostly just testing the waters on reliability since I'd like to be able to trust it enough to go on longer trips when the weather cools down. It did totally fine! I drove it for about 45 minutes continuously and had no issues which is great!

 

One thing I've noticed, and I guess it could be a couple things...
If the engine is warmed up, and I park it to go inside a store for a few minutes, then I come back out and start it up again, I have to hold the throttle open with the pedal otherwise it starts really slowly and sort of takes a few seconds for the engine to get up to idle speed, sometimes I even have to feather the pedal for 5-10 seconds before I can let of and it'll idle normally again.

My first though it that maybe the choke is cooling down faster than the engine, so when I start it up again, the choke is closed but the engine is hot so it's not getting enough air, but then when I hold down the pedal, it's able to **** in more air and start up. Does that make sense?

I did set my choke by turning it so that it's just barely closed when the engine is "cold", though it was like, 75 degrees outside when I did...

 

Sorry about the steering wheel! Spray paint isn't cheap anymore. Not that i ever thought it really was, but twelve to fifteen bucks per can is out of this world!
You're closer to being road trip ready.

 

I missed it by a couple of days, but I bought the car 9 years ago this week!

 

Had your car longer than I've had mine. Only had mine 6 years.

 

I'd probably have caught up to you if I hadn't left for college for 4 years lol

 

Seems like only yesterday

 

Oh honestly in many ways you're ahead of me

 

Securing an education while you're young was a very good move. It never gets easier!

 

So while bored the other day an idea for your engine situation popped in my head. Had heard of guys boring 1956 265s to stock 283 bore to get a cheap 283 in the late 50s. Had also heard of guys taking mid 60s 283s to a 4" bore. And that due to factory clearancing for cast cranks can accept a 327 crank.... especially if forged. So knowing your eventual 327 plans. Could have your 265 sonic checked to see if it'll take a 3.86" bore. And likewise on the 283 a 4". And can't fart without stumbling across a savable 327 crank

 

I’ve had the same thoughts. I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing, but after ripping apart the 327 I bought and seeing how bad the bores are, it may only be able to donate its crank. The pistons all have hammer marks from someone trying to hammer them out so I wouldn’t use those either. It did donate its oil separator to the 265 though, so its been handy already! Unfortunately the heads and intake are low compression low HP truck kit, so they’ll probably end up in the s**** pile.

I’ve always liked old school hot rodded small blocks with funky displacements. A 301 would be cool to make out of the 283, and I’ve heard of making a 272(?) with a 30 over 265. I always have my eyes peeled for cheap motors and transmissions on marketplace so eventually I’ll end up with enough old junk to build something worthwhile!

 

Yeah one thing nice is 265s and 283s tend to be cheap on marketplace ***uming not from a Corvette guy

 

But, but.. They're ALL Corvette engines!

 

....Of course.

 

Doesn't matter if Corvette engine anymore with early Corvette guys. Tried to buy a 61 283 with 461 heads from a Corvette guy on marketplace near Independence. When he heard I wasn't going to put the "date coded" flint block in a Corvette he not only didn't have the guts to actually refuse to sell to me he sold it without saying a word while I was setting up a time to meet to pick it up. Iirc it was originally a 2 barrel out of a truck

 

I celebrated the 9 year anniversary of my officially buying the car by scrubbing the whitewalls and popping on a set of baby moons. Now the Moon stickers actually cary some credence

My favorite look is still the steelies. It just looks tough and ready for action that way!

 

Another vote for the steel wheels, no caps.

 

They stayed on all of a half-hour

 

I actually like it with the caps. And the weird paint gashes on the p***enger side remind me of airplane nose art for some reason.

 

Some nose art there might be a good way to clean it up a bit

 

I like the caps too...it gives it a more-finished cruiser look.

 

Yep, the raw, unfinished look is the way i like it. As though all the money is going into the engine. Hmm, like this car!

 

I've been gathering parts for the 4 speed swap which will be a project for when it cools down outside! I ended up with 2 Hurst comp plus shifters both with trifive bench seat handles on them, so I've got an extra now too. I finally bit the bullet and bought a Hurst install kit after not being able to scrounge up anything used that would fit the Saginaw. It's insane how much Hurst charges for a couple of threaded rods and a stamped piece of sheet metal! I'll keep looking for a stronger 4 speed as well, you can never have enough parts to keep an old pile on the road!

Today is also a special day for the car. On August 16th, 1957, she rolled off the ***embly line at the St Louis Chevrolet plant, destined for her first owner; The great grandmother of the guy I bought her from! I'm still driving the 57 as my daily when I don't have access to my finacee's car, and besides it being hotter than hell in there on a sunny day, I've had no real issues. Of course the car has plenty of quirks, lots of rattles and a bit of looseness in the linkages, but I've yet to break down since figuring out my fueling issue!

 

Ok thats funny. Our cars were even built at the same plant lol

 

Anyone know what’s going on with replacement parts right now?

When I was installing the hurst shifter on the 4 speed, I ended up getting one of the bolts cross threaded and stripping out the U-bolt. Ordered a replacement from Jeg’s who were the only ones to have it “in stock” and now I got an email telling me it’s backordered until december!

I’ve also been chasing the bugs out of the carb, one of which is that when I’m at cruising speed and I go WOT to p***, I get a flat spot when the secondaries open. I traced it back to the step up springs being too weak and the pistons not coming up all the time, only part of the time. I ended up having to stretch the step up springs because even the stiffest ones Edelbrock offers are not stiff enough. I also was wanting to play with the squirter size because some guys say that helps with the flat spot issue too. I cannot find any oversized squirters ANYWHERE! Not from Edelbrock, and not from any parts supplier. I ended up ordered the only stock size squirters I could find from an online carb shop and will be experimenting with drilling them larger. I’ve never had issues finding parts like this before. Probably has something to do with the global trade environment we have going on…

 

U bolt for 4 speed shifter?

 

Ok looked it up. You must have a tail housing wrap around mount set up. Wouldn’t a trip to the muffler shop…

 

I ended up finding another bracket that eliminates the need for a u-bolt which I’m going to try using instead. Not a fan of the u-bolt mounted shifters. Seems like more room for looseness.