Hey guys!!! I just purchased two 57 chevys!!!!! One is a 2 door and the other is a 4 door. The 2 door has a bad frame and floors but the 4 door has a good frame and decent floors. The two door is kinda rough but between the two I should be able to make a chicken sandwich out of chicken s%^t. Anyway...... I'm kinda new to tri fives so any tips would be great. Wondering about disk brake swaps, will chevelle parts work? What rear ends are good swaps? Is relocating the rear leafs a pretty straight forward deal? I have heard that newer ford f150 gas tanks are a good fit. Anything else I should know? I am TRYING (I know I know) to do this on the cheap. Thanks guys!!!
The 4 door and 2 door sedan (assuming your 2 door is a "post" car) share the same wheelbase, floors, roof skin, ect. You can put the 2 door sedan doors, door pillars and quarter window surrounds onto the 4 door body to "convert" it. I did one for my dad, took me about 100 hours and it turned out really nice. Depending on how bad your 2 door is, it might be the way to go, sometimes it's easier to swap the pieces over that way than to fix all the rot. A 70-81 Camaro/Firebird 10 bolt is a bolt-in swap if you leave the leaf springs in the stock location. Brand new repop gas tanks are $140 so don't bother trying to swap in a newer pickukp truck tank, not worth it. Even with a modern engine that requires an in-tank pump, they make new options for that. As for brakes, a '68 Chevelle drum/drum non-power master cylinder will bolt in and give you dual chambers for about $20. The stock drums are very good brakes when rebuilt and functioning correctly, if you're on a budget, just swap out your master and fix what is there.
You can buy caliper brackets that allow you to bolt single piston calipers to the stock 57 spindles. That way you can use the A-Body Chevelle rotors and calipers. And you can buy a kit or make the parts yourself to move the rear leaf springs to fit into pockets inside the frame, cut the brackets off a Camaro or Nova 10 bolt axle, then weld on your old leaf spring perches from the 57 axle to match. Or buy new perches from Moroso for 20 bucks saving the hassle of removing them from old axle. Forget the Ford gas tank.
Hey... I never thought of the 70s Camaro rear ends! Most of those are 8.5s with posi's correct? Are they the same width as the 57?
Oh, and is PS a pain in the a$$. what would you rob a steering gear out of? My plan for the car is to have a cool driver. Might not be pretty OR perfect but a driver. Probably gonna use a good running 350 with a lumpy cam, I have a Saginaw 4 speed waiting for something, and I have a line on some used torque thrust wheels. Would like to either rebuild the front and rear suspension and either the stock drums or disks on the front, cut a coil or two on the front with a good sized tire on the rear and drive it!
If you want a bolt in power steering setup nothing but a 55-57 unit will work. Power assist cylinder on the steering linkage and pump on back of generator. Since the original box and shaft is one piece no junkyard stuff will work. If you want power steering cheap you can buy aftermarket 605 power steering box, cut the steering shaft off the old 57 box and use a joint to couple the new box to old steering column assembly.
Unless you're going to really hammer on the car....drag racing, etc.... the original rear axel will be OK, as long as it is in good condition. Just go through it and replace what ever it needs. Rear axel bearings can be a bit pricey, though. If you put new rear springs on, station wagon springs are a good way to raise the rear end. 6 Passenger wagons have 5 leaves, while 9 passenger wagons have 6. The original sedan springs would only have 4 leaves.
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