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

Try the Shifter Doctor. He is local to me and has everything for Hurst Shifters I have ever needed, including the last reverse shift linkage available for a Ford Galaxie T10.
Phone number: (803) 818-1657 Website: www.shifterdoc.com

 

That's actually where I bought the other bracket from. I've been to several hardware stores and looked everywhere online and cannot find a direct replacement unfortunately. I would rather not use the u-bolt anyway so I'll see if i can make what I have work with the new bracket. It should, since the part numbers for the shift rods are exactly the same between my install kit, and the one the bracket I bought is meant for.

 

If he gave you the advice you can trust it. I have used him several times in the past and have always had great success.

 

QUOTE "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." END QUOTE

If it is an original Carter, the stock step-up springs come in the better rebuilding kits.

Jon

 

It’s an Edelbrock but thank you

 

I’m finally making some progress with tuning the carb. After stretching out the pink springs to be about 1.5x their original length out of pure frustration, I’m getting a much more reliable richening with the primaries. Before, with the silver (heaviest) springs in, about half the time if I hit the gas, the springs would either take much too long to pull the rods out, or sometimes they’d never come up and I’d be at WOT with hardly any fuel, making it fall flat on its face! Keep in mind this motor is pulling about 15-16 inches of mercury at idle, so it should be a pretty standard spec for a “cruiser” type carb like the edelbrock is. And I did confirm the vacuum drops off immediately when I open the throttle. I suppose the springs in my kit could have just been duds, dunno.

I also leaned out the choke a whole bunch more from where I had it which has made the slow start condition less bad. Part of the issue I think is that my starter is a little weak. It has never had the typical SBC cranking sound, and always sounds like it’s struggling to get going. I have a couple extra tri-five starters kicking around and I’m now keeping one in the car just in case. One of these days I’ll clean and rebuild one of them.

 

^^^^^^ Always pays to have spares and keep them close by.

 

I took the day off today since it’s my birthday and took the car out this morning. Been meaning to take a photo next to this survivor used car lot. It used to be lit up in neon at night a few years ago but sadly they’ve switched it off seemingly for good and blocked the entrance. I got a chuckle out of “like new” with my ol’ beater in front of it!

My rear suspension seems to have settled a bit now after replacing the springs. In my mind I’d like it just a tad higher but at the same time, it almost looks juuuuust right with just the slightest california rake. If I could find some taller tires with the same width whitewalls for the rear, I’d switch them out too.

 

Needs pair of exhaust cut outs. Hehe

 

It sits fine! Also, happy birthday. Those, I don't get excited about!

 

^^^^X3!

 

I’ve reached the age where they’re less fun and more the existential thoughts that I’m not going to be young forever haha

 

I've been doing more little things here and there but since it's been so hot I've been out in the garage less. I finally changed the rear diff oil, and this weekend did a coolant flush. That means I have finally changed all the fluids! Whatever coolant was in there was in the engine when I bought it, was mixed with some hose water I used to fill the radiator way back when I first put it all together, and a whole lot of rust and ****. Now my coolant is much cleaner, and hopefully much more effective. There's one problem though, it's not really running any cooler...

It's been running at about 200, maybe 205 all the time before the flush. I had hoped that the flush would put me down below 190, but it's still sitting at 200 and sometimes even up to 210 if I'm idling for a while.

Now... Here comes the question I'm asking in hopes to confirm what I think the answer is...

Does it make sense to change the vacuum advance source to full manifold vacuum? I have been reading all kinds of threads and articles on it, and it sounds like switching from ported to manifold will allow the engine to run cooler at idle. And my understanding is that when vacuum drops as the throttle plates open, the vacuum advance will drop with it, and the RPM increase will transition the advance to centrifugal.

It seems like to me that running off ported vacuum for the advance basically nullifies any advantage a vacuum advance provides. When vacuum is high at idle and the can is running off ported vacuum, it can't activate because it's ported. But then, when the throttle plates open and vacuum drops, it's also not going to advance at all because there wouldn't be any vacuum to pull from. Am I crazy, or is everyone saying to run ported vacuum for advance crazy?

 

Changing the differential oil is easy in a '57 compared to the earlier years because it has a drain plug. Good move, no telling how long the old stuff was in there.
I would say the distributor advance needs to see vacuum at part throttle. Someone can weigh in on the best port.

 

Well it’s been a fun little experiment switching from ported to manifold vacuum but I’m going to stick with ported. The car did not run any cooler with the extra timing at idle, and what’s worse is, I couldn’t get it lean enough to feel comfortable driving it. I sat in the drive thru for a coffee for 10 minutes and had a headache from the fumes…

I think I actually liked how it idles with ported vacuum more too. It sounds more choppy and feels to me like it’s burning more of the fuel, whereas with the extra timing and manifold vacuum, it almost had a whispery, spitty exhaust at idle. And the fuel seems to be less burnt. Exhaust was stinky.

Of course actually driving it, there was not really any difference besides a slightly different feel to part throttle which I can’t say was better or worse. I got started on my heater rebuild project the other night and it’s going to be a rough project I think. I ended up mangling the squirrel cage taking apart the blower motor, but it needed to come apart because it was just about seized solid. Then of course as soon as I open the motor up, the copper winding cracked. It’s always something!

 

I know O'Reilly sells a heater motor for 57 Chevy

 

I should clarify I know because I bought one there. My 53 has the heater variant that no one makes parts for. Turns out a 57 Chevy blower fan not only upgrades to 12v but is near bolt in. Used that along with a heater core for a big block 69 Camaro lol

 

Was that same blower motor used up into the 1960's?

 

Good possibility. I didn't check the interchange on it though