Still workin on it. Ended up going from 3 inch blocks in the rear to 2 inch blocks, rear end is bolted together and installed in the car. Still have to run brake lines, order e brake cables, and I'll have to have a custom driveshaft built for the car.
got the center console rebuilt and powdercoated as well as new rear wheels powdercoated. Hoping to get rear brake lines run this weekend and start figuring out the lokar e brake cables I bought.
Change the Cad tail lights for 54 Olds, they'd look much better, Olds's glue in over the 53's trim to fit. Great looking 53.
well... she's back! Got my new driveshaft from dennys driveshafts yesterday, brakes bled, and Its back to daily driver duties. Next step is to fix the trans crossmember, have the trans rebuilt and then put it in a shop to hopefully have the rockers replaced and have it rewired.
2 days In the driveway to replace the angle iron someone welded in for a crossmember to a factory crossmember that I modified to work. Next stop is the exhaust shop and the transmission shop!
Too funny, our 53 had angle iron crossmember welded in with torched holes for mounts haha period correct driveway mods!
figured since there's not a whole lot of updates at the moment, some adventures from late summer time last year and the new T bucket project. Next step is making car seat anchors for the rear of the 53, redoing the braking system on Albert's 65 f250, and putting a T5 behind the flathead of my buddy's 50 merc monterey so we can make more afternoon burger cruises!
Found this little tidbit on here that helped me get the headlight rings back in the car after a year of trying to figure it out off and on. 5/8 heater hose does the trick! Also got the blower motor and heater core all hooked up, ordered a stock style headlight switch and ignition switch for the car as well. Getting closer to having this thing buttoned up more than ever! I need to look into replacing the inner and outer rockers at some point in the near future. Thanks to Newstranger and kistomkat for the tip 18 years later! The power of the hamb! Lol
Got the dash just about all squared away. Tracked down as much NOS stuff as I could with the bezels and retainers and such, got a new stock style ignition switch in, New headlight switch thanks to Shoeboxcentral and all the holes plugged. The radio has a Bluetooth unit installed in it hooked up to the factory volume knob from a piece I got on Etsy, the heater and blower motor is all replaced and new with a new heater core, gaskets, hoses, etc (other than the diverter valve) and she's good to go! Next step is building car seat anchors for the back seat cuz we got a hot rod kid due in August! And then ill deal with the wiper situation this summer.
Do you have any pictures of your radio upgrade or the parts you used? That looks like a great idea for my 53! Thanks
I bought this bluetooth amp from Etsy, gutted the stock radio and you'll have to take the stock volume knob/shaft unit, cut it off as long as possible and epoxy it to the end of the volume knob shaft on the bluetooth amp. I think I have a couple more I'm going to do, and I'll do a write up on it. For the speaker I went with one from retro auto sounds or someone similar, and some good quality speaker wire. The bluetooth amp clicks on and off with the volume knob, and I just cleaned up the face plate and painted the needle. It's fairly straightforward once you get into it and do it, and the sound is equal or better than the stock radio. However you'll ONLY have bluetooth.
You could also rig up one of those bluetooth amps using the same concept to the choke knob if you go to a carb with electric choke, or a small tab under the dash if that would make it easier. But like I said I'll have to try to do a detailed write up on the next one I do, as it would be easy to do to basically any radio. I'm even contemplating doing the same concept to my off topic 74 power wagon I'm getting started on soon.
I did the same upgrade to my mom's 56 ford wagon not too long ago with the upgraded speaker and it worked well, I just had to epoxy 2 small pieces of aluminum angle iron to form a channel to hold the unit steady.
Another way to do the radio is with Retrosound parts. Here is how I did my Buick Radio, but it should work with any pushbutton radio. And the pushbuttons still work! https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/retrosound-in-my-49-buick-radio.1313541/
I suppose since it's a 4 day weekend I ought to straighten out this rocker panel. I bought a new pair through EMS a couple years ago, so I just have to fit this new section. I suspect the car was T boned at some point, as there's over an inch of filler in a couple areas.. Wish me luck!
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