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

So while I was straightening the other lowering block I realized the perch plates were slightly rubbing the tires. Not much but I didn't like it. So I grabbed these as a temporary bandaid to keep from blowing a tire in my yard till I swap rear ends lol.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/GNuJc5OU0U8?si=Rq8N-OlInceO6zQx

Fixed the popping grinding noise lol

 

I still gotta double check that I have the right one. But assuming yes another piece of the puzzle lol. Conversion u joint to allow me to run my current drive shaft with the 58 Impala rear end. I'm eventually going to buy a 100% new drive shaft built to order but I didn't feel like coming up with $400 for one right now lol

 

Odd way to sell valve stem dice lol. Got them in and wondered why there were only two. Went to the site and despite the pics showing sets of four they're sold in pairs. Lol. Oh well guess I'll order another pair lol

 

They do look killer though

 

And the u joint ended up being the wrong one. So I returned it and picked up stuff to start welding and peaking my hood. Ended up getting 5/16" rod because I want a pretty prominent peak since this hood isn't louvered

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/PV9fRN6Kaw4?si=WWEZw4mNaofQYEQO

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/kyiD4l_GIcg?si=v-gBa9Aj-FQdbUOk

Lil walk-around

 

Looks good man !

 

Was glad to finally be able to rinse it off lol

 

Fixed the hokey throttle cable and got rid of the funky stainless steel braid wrap off cable at same time

 

So was measuring for an eventual driveshaft for my eventual rear end swap and found this. Just barely kissing the floorboard under hard throttle. Had already thought about going from 3" to 2" lowering blocks. Going up an inch in the rear along with hammering the tunnel a bit(it's under the seat) should solve the issue. Had been trying to find someone that sold a 56" long driveshaft with 2.5" tubing with 1310 ends but at that length I'm only finding 3" tube. 2.5" would have gained a bit more clearance

 

So I'm thinking about making my own 1.75" lowering blocks. Use 1/8"-1/4" 1.75" square steel tube. Drill center pin all the way through to insert appropriate size rod through to be axle locating pin on top. Weld both ends. Drill the spring side hole before welding in end caps. Possibly some tabs on the sides to help keep straight on the spring. Then save the 3" blocks for the 54

 

So my wife surprised me with carpet for this thing......sort of lol. She did actually get me carpet. And I don't think she meant for me to know till the day it came in. But apparently stock interiors has a thing on stitched carpet like on a 53 Chevy where it can take up to 15 business days just to get it shipped due to made to order status of the business. And she was a bit flustered and didn't know when it was going to ship as they also said around 3 days on molded carpet and she had no clue what my car uses. She did show me what she ordered and I verified she ordered right. Also noticed she put down a "shop" name that I had joked about in the past. Guess I might actually need to start calling my side "business" that lol. Anyway cleetus is finally getting carpet lol

 

So update. I guess the company classifies 53 Chevy carpet as molded as it's already shipped. Supposed to have it Monday. So less than a week for made to order carpet isn't bad

 

Finally finished this mess up. Definitely has a face for radio(no pun intended....ok maybe a little pun intended lol). But I think it'll work. I'll have to run more speaker wire as I only ran for one speaker in the dash. Going to try to do it tomorrow as carpet is supposed to be in Monday lol

 

I think I saw that guy in a Pixar movie

 

Luckily it'll be hidden behind a speaker grill lol

 

And got a wild hair and reupholstered this piece tonight. Still gotta clean it, dig up the chrome trim for it, and poke holes for the mounting screws and seat adjustment lever. And get around to doing the other side lol

 

And front carpet mostly in place. Going to let it sit a couple days with strategic weight before final trimming and cutting a hole for the dimmer switch. And finally got to throw in my temporary shift boot(waiting till the carpet relaxes to screw down) and the fresh shift knob Karen I've been hoarding till I got carpet. Starting to feel like a complete car lol. Still gotta source decent sill plates and not sure when I'll get to the rear carpet

 

And in case anyone wonders why I don't just reuse the original sills lol

 

Sounds silly but carpet does make it feel more like a car. Good upgrade

 

Passenger side may never fit exactly right. Passenger floor board is literally just a dodge caravan door skin hammered into shape lol

 

You’d be surprise what a summer of sunshine will do to carpet kits!

 

Well I discovered why people take the whole seat at least loose when doing carpet tonight. Went to bolt the front of the seat down and stripped a bolt trying to get it to grab. Luckily I have a really nice tap and die set I bought of the snap on guy a few years ago so I'll just tap them to 3/8"-16 and be done with it. Also if I can manage to clean the back of the car out I may try to get the rear carpet section in in the next couple days

 

Busy night without a lot of progress that would be noticable to the average viewer. Started cleaning out the back seat for carpet and found the missing shiny piece to my seat garnish(is that what it's called? Lol) and stuck it in place for now. While the back still looks a mess I literally filled a trash can with stuff that'd accumulated over the last two years lol. I'll finish cleaning it tomorrow and get the rear seat bottom out in anticipation of rear carpet. Also after getting the redone seat garnish (?) in place I decided just a Mexican blanket isn't going to cut it. Thinking I'll snag a cheap seat cover and stretch and hog ring it in place under said garnish so it fits more like actual upholstery. Then put the Mexican blanket back on lol. Will look better than shredded foam and shredded rotten cloth hanging out the edges of the Mexican blanket

 

@Tim see the brown vinyl on the rear seat I was telling you about that I bought thinking it was black? Lol

 

lol that’s hillarious

 

And got the rear carpet in and the seat bolted back down. was about like six monkeys trying to hump the same muddy football in the rain at the same time lol. Fitment wasn't perfect but honestly far better than I expected. And I did actually end up with one usable rear sills plate. I figure I'll clean it up and fog it silver and see if I have a passable passenger side to do the same to and call it good enough for the rear. Found some high polish front sills actually for a 53/54 sedan delivery Im going to try to pick up for the front. When out and about the rear doors will rarely be opened. Now I just need to find a factory style rubber trunk mat. I had a small piece of the original and liked the look but only had like 20% of it on top of the fact it was like a rock lol