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

Added some foam to make my side tolerable and the passenger side as my wife said softer on her tushie. Definitely feels a lot better. May add an inch of foam to the seat back later on

 

So a bumper sticker I'm thinking about getting.....lol

 

That was more of a pain than I was expecting lol. When I swapped from the original power steering to the manual 51 Chevy steering box and column I just lifted them out and in. This time around the car was much more complete and I had to fight the 51 parts out. 54 column and box went in without too much hassle though. Going to leave the factory turn signal housing off till I strip and repaint it. Kinda feel like the 54 column is a touch shorter but that could just be my hopeful imagination. Lol Still have to adjust the 54 box

 

Got the original turn signal housing stripped. Going to Goober and smooth the hole for the original turn signal lever with jb weld so I don't have a glaring hole

 

And shaped. I'll hit the whole thing with 320 then lay some paint. Not too worried about the two small pits. Wasn't going for perfect and paint will hide most of it anyway.

 

Ok I lied. Lol. I did some Bondo. Was doing bodywork on a truck bed at work and had a little left on my spreader so why not. Definitely look good

 

Revisiting the baffles in my head. Thinking I'll get some pieces of pipe just a hair longer than the baffles and tack weld them in them. And drill four 3/8" holes in the big end for less restriction. Then put in place with band clamps. That'd allow me to swap for plain pipe at will

 

Finally got around to installing my replacement mirror mount. You can see why I was excited. Thinking I'll sand down the old one and paint it blue to match the 54 and use it on that car

 

Got these resprayed and looking decent. Hopefully they stay shiny this time lol. Did strip the bezel to bare metal this time around. Better work as this is the last of the paint. This time I brought them inside after they'd sat about thirty minutes because I didn't trust it not to rain. Should cut down on bugs

 

New sticker.....

 

Painted turn signal housing minus hole and gauge bezel installed. Also finished painting the lil square that goes over where the windshield garnish moulding pieces come together. Looking a whole lot better. Be even better once I get around to carpet lol

 

And how does your wife like your new sticker?

 

She gets a giggle out of it. I figured out with her self esteem issues most soft objectifying her a bit actually perks her up lol.

 

She actually commented that it'd likely result in me getting harassed less by other drivers if I'm driving like an ass if said drivers have a jealous gf or wife in the car. Be afraid she'd think they were responding to my sticker and not my driving lol

 

Stuff like that sticker are part of how I keep my wife onboard lol. And with that sticker she's more likely to wear one of her fun greaser chick outfits. And again it's a self esteem boost for her. She was one of three girls that despite basically looking like a redneck supermodel everyone had her convinced she was the ugly sister..... basically her sisters were easy and she wasn't. Led to her having a lot of issues. While she doesn't still look like she did then she's still out of my league. I know it sounds bizarre that something like that sticker would make her more confident she happens to be a bizarre chick lol

 

Fortunately, my Cabriolet rear window is too small for that sticker...otherwise, I could see me getting hit in the head with a frying pan.

 

I've got nine spares . I ran it by my wife before ordering to be quite honest. She didn't exactly answer in words but I took her giggle as a yes lol

 

Lil fine tune on column install. This set screw (locks turn signal housing to column) didn't wanna tighten correctly for obvious reasons. So for now I used the one for my 54. Gonna end up buying new set screws for both as the one from the 54 tried to distort a bit too. But at least it's no longer wobbly

 

Guess I need to clean my floor boards. Got this super cheap wannabe Dynamat knockoff of Amazon super cheap. Originally was going to just put the carpet over the bare floor but this stuff was cheap and figured a bit of a barrier wouldn't hurt

 

And the beginning of floor insulation install. About to clear the passenger floor and do it next. Not sure if I'll put a couple pieces across the tunnel

 

This side was a lot easier as less stuff to work around. Ran it up higher on the firewall too

 

Oh I picked up a handy tool yesterday considering I've yet to get a properly functioning tachometer despite having bought them new lol. Turns out my idle was about 75 rpm too high. This bad boy was mint in box and nearly free lol

 

Nice!

 

For giggles and turds I checked for approval by affirm on a headliner and carpet. Turns out my credit has recovered enough I can get both no $ down and super cheap monthly payments. Seriously thinking about it

 

So I tried to take advantage of the affirm financing. Worked fine on the headliner. But despite the combined total of both being less than half what they told me I was approved for I was denied on the carpet. In any event I have a headliner on the way I get to monkey into place lol. Anyone deal with Newark auto?

 

Finally got around to digging out my new wiper switch. Still gotta dig out one of my extra original 53/54 Chevy knobs and modify it to fit

 

My wife, last saturday, came home from her morning walk and said "I need to go back on my diet, no one honked today". See, she goes walking for exercise alongside the busy highway near where we live that has a nice jogging trail adjacent. She rates how she looks by the number of car honks she gets. I am not one to honk at pretty girls but evidently, I need to begin. I could be making some gals day!

 

I could send you one of the stickers if you want lol

 

Couple small things today. Finally got the passenger headlight bezel securely attached. And climbed under the car to check the flex plate as I was worried the troubles Ive been having with the starter may have also need a damaged flex plate (still haven't replaced the starter I damaged in a chucklef*ck fit trying to start the car with plug wires backwards lol). Turns out I just really hammered the starter drive lol. Pretty sure a new starter will solve it.