Projects 53 Chevy Bel Air "Cleetus" mild custom daily driver

Meh....it offends people so I dig it

 

I am looking forward to a point when I have actual front seat upholstery. Even if that Mexican blanket was ACTUALLY bought in Mexico lol

 

I'll stop there. Don't want it locked.

 

Car does have good brakes lol

 

And even though it still looks shiny in this pic it's actually thoroughly scuffed lol. I'll start hitting it with degreaser tomorrow to help get it extra clean before final degrease after maskoff

 

First coat of clear on the roof guys weren't kidding about taking more clear than expected. Took a half pint of red to do whole roof. Im on my second pot of clear. Quart of clear I bought is now 3/4 empty lol. Been awhile since I did bc/cc and last time I did I didn't have to watch quantities

 

And after final pass. Fairly happy with out of gun lay out. We'll see how it looks after full dry. May go back later in a few weeks and do another coat or two of clear

 

And after drying 24 hours. Gave it a quick rinse and wipe down. Actually happy now lol

 

That looks great!

 

Im really happy with the results. I'll redo the roof next summer when I actually get the roof smooth. But till then I'm tickled lol

 

Thinking that after I order carpet I'm going to go ahead and order some 2" blocks for this car. I like the look with the 3" but for intended use of this car 2" is better. My 54 will be closer to a show car(not a show car but closer to one lol) that'll mainly see highway use so I can use my current 3" blocks on that when I get around to putting a rear end in it. Also handy that the previous owner of my 54 had already lowered the front before abandoning the project lol

 

So i think this will be my next purchase from speedway. Really want a mooneyes wheel but with my $30 coupon I can get this one for $30 lol. Even after I get a proper mooneyes wheel I'll be able to keep this in my parts stash for future rods.

 

Order for the wheel is officially in. May start back on the door panels tomorrow

 

Another thing I'm thinking is seeing if my wife will take an updated pic of this. Been my FB cover photo since I bought the car four years ago. Since then her, my car, and her wardrobe have gotten hotter. Mebbe have her wear jeans and a red bustier (in public friendly one lol). And honestly even when this pic was taken it was not a good pic of her. She was tired from work all day on top of her monthly "visitor". But.....it would be nice to have an updated cover photo on FB. Mebbe edit it so pics are side by side

 

Proper way to open a steering wheel lol

 

Despite looking pink when I opened it it looks ok installed. Definitely wouldn't use it on a roadster lol. Will definitely work for now but am looking forward to upgrading to a mooneyes wheel

 

And despite not feeling particularly energetic I decided to see why my car had been idling rough and missing in gear. Passenger exhaust was a bit spitty too. First thing I tried was cleaning the plugs as most of the run time on them was at idle. Were a bit fouled but cleaning didn't help a lot. Then noticed vac line for vacuum advance was sitting directly below the nipple. Hooked it back up and bam smooth idle. Still miss in gear though. Turns out I had it over retarded on the distributor. Sounds a bit more hot rod now lol

 

Nice catch!

 

Honestly being tired is how I caught the vac line issue. Leaned on the fender to pant and happened to see it lol

 

No progress today just liked the pic lol. Guess I did adjust the idle to go with the current timing

 

Didn't have the energy or time to hop back on the door panels like I'd hoped. But I did get back to half ass jamming it with rattle can to make it a hair more presentable with doors open. I did more than I took pics of. Only thing left to jam is the top red of the passenger front door. I'm happy how it's turning out. Likely going to buy some more of the nason a6 hot red and sand the interior garnish mouldings down and actually paint those. Goal is to eventually have real paint inside and out. And the mouldings need redone anyway

 

And the last door half-ass jammed.

 

Thinking I may switch steering column and boxes between this and the 54. This car will stay manual steering. Meanwhile the 54 will end up with Thomas Edison steering. 54 had upgraded bearings that will be more of a benefit on manual steering. Meanwhile after I cut up the current 51 Chevy column and box that's in the 53 for the power conversion I likely won't even notice what bearings it has. Would also allow me to get real paint on the column without even tearing this car down first

 

Cool

 

This will do till I get glass cut. Was given a new piece of 1/4" plexiglass big enough to make both from door windows. Not only will this get rid of the splintery driver window it results in the one intact front door glass(passenger) being out and handy for the glass guy to cut from. As I apparently need to replace the strips that connect the glass to the regulator these pieces may stay in longer than anticipated. I always drive windows down so not too worried lol

 

All I did to it today was wash it.....and run out of gas where it's sitting lol. Wife promised to do the updated photo from four years ago tomorrow or Saturday so I was getting it ready.

Side note. Patina nuts are always going on about always having to wash a car with shiny paint. Only been a month or two since this car has had a semi passable paint job. Honestly relaxing to have paint nice enough you squeegee off the water afterwards to prevent water spots. Just one more thing I'll never understand about the apparently undying patina fad lol

 

That’s a good looking car. You’ve done a great job.

 

The pic we ended up taking. She chose the dress that matches the shift knob lol

 

Came to the conclusion that before I put real glass in the doors I'll need to replace or make new versions of these pieces. Figure I can do it with aluminum channel and self tapping screws. Self tappers are how I reattached the missing anchor tab in pic before gluing to bottom of window. For now I just used some cheap windshield adhesive as is just plexiglass

 

Going to try to get the mate to this. Has not bothered to get a good look at the one door handle that came with my 54 until today as it was upside down on the passenger door and I had just assumed it was rough like the rest of my 53/54 handles. Pulled it off to use for test fitting and realized I didn't see any pitting. After giving it a quick rundown with a shop rag and cheap chrome polish I realized it was actually in great shape. Now I just need to find the mate lol