So i just got a 1956 Chevy car. Have a few ????'s

So i got a 1956 chevy car. Yes its a 4 door. But its very nice and pretty. Rebuilt very well. Traded a friend some stuff for it. But anyway. Have a few Q's about it.

-The brakes work but the pedal is extremely hard to press. Is this normal? It stops fine its ust a very stiff pedal.

-The actual pedals themself are very high. Is there a way to lower them closer to the floor?

-Exhaust. It has a freshly rebuilt 256. I just called the muffler shop and they said that it doesnt have enough Cubic Inces to get any kind of sound. I would like it to purr at idle, but when reved to growl some. Any recomendadtions on exhaust?

-Rim/tire combo. It has ralleys with normal black tires. I would like to go Wide whites. But i dont know what rims or hubcaps to get. So does anyone have a pic with a tri year with wide whites?

Thanks for your fuys help once again.
-Andrew

 

Are they power or manual brakes. I had a wrong kit put in the manual brakes on one of my 57's once and it was really hard. The relief valve wasn't releasing pressure. Check that out quickly if they are manual brakes. I don't think you can adjust the pedals. Buy a set of plain moons for the rallys and just run blackwalls. They look okay like that. My $.02......

 

I have a stock set of 56 wheels if you decide to go back to steelies.
Your brakes will never compare to a late models feel so get used to that!
The pedals are a set length and cannot be lengthened without fouling up pedal ratio.[sounds like a stuck wheel cyl on one wheel].
Dual exhaust on a 265 would sound great-that muffler guy probaly never heard of or saw a real one of those or he would know better!

 

Congrats to your new car! I´ve a 56 too and mine came with manual brakes. Of course you need to press harder than with a late model or one with power brakes. I changed to disc brakes +power brakes +dropped spindles. Works way better.

That´s me and my 56. I also need to change wheels...

 

thanks for all yoru help. What did you do to lower yours Baumi. that looks great. Does anyone have a reocmendation on which muffler setup to use? Also is it worth it to get headers? I would like a deep rumble. As for the brakes i drive a 49 gmc truck and it is alot easier to press the pedal. What is the rerasoning that the pedal would be harder?
-Andrew

 

Why use a muffler? I´d try to run it with a straight pipe. If it´s too loud I´d try a smithy´s muffler.

About lowering...

At first I went with 2" drooped spindles in the front and 3" lowering blocks in the back. The problem was after that there was only about 2" clearence left between the tarmac and the headers, with NO p***enger sitting in the car.There was no way to drive with two or three p***engers .

So I chopped the headers 9" and installed air bags, along with a 62 Impala rear suspension. Ride height now is about 1,5" lower than before but that´s only because my headers need to be chopped once again... I can only deflate the front bags to 60 psi before the headers hit the ground.
Here is a pic of it at ride height on smooth roads.


Feel free o ask me any question. It´s not that often that I can help someone. Mostly I´m the one who´s learning.

Chris

 

With mine it just has manafolds. Do you think that i will have that problem?

 

Dual exhaust with gl***packs will sound bad*** man. If they are manual brakes, they will be harder for sure. If they are power....I don't know what the prob would be. I will try and find some pics for you. Grats on your new tri-5!

Greg

 

Heres one pic, ill try to scrounge up some others....this is a wagon but you get the picture.... Pic came from somebody on here from VLV I believe...sorry I do not know who to give credit to.

 

They are manuel brakes. Thanks for the pics. So then the exhaust guy is just a *****, because i have a straight 6 in my 49 chevy truck and the straight pipe is bad ***. I just wanted to make sure that it would make some noise. Is there different brands of gl*** packs that i should look into.

Its really funny thouhg. I have always known of these cars and i NEVER in my life thought i would own one. And after getting it and driving it i love it. Its such a nice car. I really see now why people restore these and restore old cars in general. All the old cars i have had have been rods or rats. And its really nice to have a shinny pretty car that is very reliable and fun to drive.

Do you guys have any other suggestions for rims and tires. Also are there skirts for these? Im basically looking for something unique/different.

Thanks again all,
-Andrew

 

Muffler shop guy is full of ****. The car will sound great w/ headers and 2.5 inch pipe running into Flowmasters. Some people don't like Flowmasters, but w/ a SBC, I think they'll give you the "growl" you want more so than Smitty's or other gl***packs.

I'm kind of fond of wide whites w/ Caddy sombreros. You'll need to lower it to get the right look though. You could also go Astros w/ skinny whites and a good slam. A little more 60's, but cool.

 

you can get stock skirts for about a c-note...any chevy resto catalog has them, so do modt aftermarket places like nightprowlers and others.most cruiser skirts will work, but they will have to be split and further modified since it is a 4 dr...if you want skirts, use the stock ones, they look better with the least amount of work(none!)let me know if you need any trim parts, i have a 56 belair being converted from 4 dr to two...

 

Astro's skinny whites,20" gl***packs. dark blue,with silver or gold metalflaked top.Black TJ T+R Slammed,no bags,squeek and s****e.Nice rap from pencil tips.K-ool man! Glenn

 

Con-grats on the new toy......

 

Hey bud,I got a '57 4-door for the ol' lady.235-6,power slide trans..I can show ya's how to do some prettyneat chit!What you got for wheels and tires??I traded a partial bike for this one too!

 

I just put a pair of gl*** packs (RedHots by Flowtech) from Summit Racing 17.95 each, 2" in and out, 18" body length 24" total length on my 57 Ford. Mounted them where the factory exhaust would be. I love them they sound great! Just a suggestion.

 

Congrats on the new ride.
Here's one I found on carnuts web site. Lots of 2 drs on there but not too many 4 drs. Check it out anyway, might give you some ideas.
carnuts web page

 

i got mine down with spindles and cut coils in front.3" blocks and mother nature in the rear,its really low,with no bags,i drive it that low all the time,in fact,i rode to a local car show last weekend and couldnt get in the front cuz my crossmember was to low,haha,had to go in the back way.

as for exhaust,im runing stock rams horn exmanifolds with duals and gl***packs, sounds great,but not too loud.

 

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With mine it just has manafolds. Do you think that i will have that problem?

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No, you´d be just fine. There´s only a problem if you use some large headers which are going lower than the framerails.
If you use the stock manifolds and watch for ground clearence you´ll be ok with 2" dropped spindles and 3" lowering blocks in the rear.The only thing I hit the ground with were the super large ****** Super Comp headers. I tried block huggers too, but they wouldn´t clear the steering box.
As far as I know, you need to convert to disc brakes in the front when using the dropped spindles. If you preferred keeping the stock front brakes,I´d just cut the springs . 1-1/2 coils should do the job. There are complete disc brake/ dropped spindle kits availible. I got mine from www.harmons.com , but I´m sure there are other sources ,too.

 

As of the rim / tire combo, I´m looking for some old and rusty 15"or 16" crager ss rims. My plan is to sandblast them and paint the center and the spokes in a dark green metalflake with a silver metalflake rim. Skinny whites should do the rest. I ´ve already done something like that on my 62 Impala.

I guess it´s a lot easier and cheaper to find a set of old crager ss´s around you than over here.

 

Wow i didnt realize youw ere from out of the country. Thanks for all the help. I was going to get the disc fronts and the drop spindles. I was also looking at a kit though speedway for lowering leafs. But you all think that just blocks will do the trick? Is there a company that makes shirter coils? Or is cutting htem the only way?

Also why do so many people run the skinny whites and not the wide ones?

-Andrew

 

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I was also looking at a kit though speedway for lowering leafs. But you all think that just blocks will do the trick?

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thats usually a matter of preference,i prefered spending 20 bucks on blocks as opossed to 200.00 on rear springs.

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Is there a company that makes shirter coils? Or is cutting them the only way?

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yes,in 1" and 2" drops(and i think 3") and they aren't too bad,around 100 bucks ,,but if your going to run dropped spindles you might want to install the spindles first and the wheels and tires your gonna run,so you wont run into clearance issues. call an order a Harmons catalog,they have most everything your gonna need. the good thing about owning a trifive is that their is a very strong aftermarket and restoration market for these cars ,which means that if you need it someone probably makes it or has probably done it,.do a lil research pic up a few *gasp* super chevy magazines and look at the advertisers.

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Also why do so many people run the skinny whites and not the wide ones?

-Andrew

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actually most people DONT run skinny whites on their 56 chevys. most everyone either runs big billet wheels,torque thrust,wide whitewalls or *yawn* rally wheels.
i actually prefer the white walls,ive been thinking of getting a set to run on mine with some cool hubcaps.maybe so sombreros like someone mentioned.

here's a good website that has plenty of helpful info for 55-57 chevys. alot of billet cars their,but great resource for info.
www.chevytalk.com

 

I wish you could hear my 265, it sounds sweet with gl*** packs. My new exhaust however does not, so I may not be happy and may go find some gl***packs, but it's stainless. The pipes on mine now are steel and are rusting away (only 3 years old)

 

bjustice,
the wagon you posted belongs to my friend and fellow Howler Igor from Va beach. that pic i believe came from the blood sweat and gears show in raliegh this may. he fell on that car and put his chopped 54 to the side to do a quick build on it and it turned out great. i don't know who to give credit to for the photo either but many of the guys from the vendetta's club that put that show on are on here. just giving what info i can where i can...ken....

 

and one of my favs. bob rice's chevy more door...

 

Congrats on the '56. There are plenty of places that sell the stuff you are looking for...Danchuk, Cl***ic Chevy International, 56chevy.com, Case's Cl***ic Chevy Parts, etc. Good luck with getting the look and sound you want, and thanks for all the tri five pics.

-jeremy