Projects BACK AT IT FINALLY!! RE-BUILD OF AN EARLY CHEVY COUPE WITH A HEMI

Thanks Steve - just got internet a few days ago, so now I can post much easier.

Wow, I was not aware of SoCal Speed Shop being in the Phoenix area! Much appreciate the shop and cruise night info Bowtie Coupe!!

 

Not a problem. Glad to help.

 

Add to the fact that the So-Cal AZ shop is LESS than 1/2 hour away!

 

Okay, I finally got the word from my new community that a garage was available to me and moved my '31 and equipment last Sunday morning from Public Storage. There's a set of garages directly to the left of my new apartment and could not be happier... Although my brother and I could not believe some of the bad luck we've experienced with the move to our new home:

My rod took a hellish beating on the trailer, making its way here to Mesa - mostly in Louisiana and Texas, trailer was bouncing violently while cursing my head off to boot... Broke the spot welds on the rear and bent the mounting bracket that were on the ladder bar on the driver side - see my photos. Before I moved the rod to its new home, I had to secure the rear with tow rope, wrapped around the axle tube and secured to the ladder bar on both sides. Did not want to take any chances moving the car on a tow dolly.

Of all things that could happen, the wheels on the engine dolly holding the mighty hemi broke apart in pieces, leaving only one wheel left to roll the engine. Keep in mind that this elephant engine weighs 750 lbs... So I had to keep the hemi lifted in the air on the engine hoist - with my brother Scott's help, rolled her into my garage safely.

As you can see, I have a lot more space to work with, being 10 x 20 AND having an electrical outlet to power my equipment. All in all, all of the trouble getting here will be WORTH IT!!! Gotta get some of the guys I work with to help me lift the body off again to begin the chassis needs.

 

You're bringing back some good memories from me. Congratulations to your new spot. Have fun!

 

Glad there wasn't any more damage than that. I don't think they bother to fix roads anymore. I made 2 trips to Columbus OH with my trailer and the interstate might as well be a gravel road.

 

...X2...yeah...infukstructure makes your blood boil don't it...potholes punching your wheels right through the top of your fender...of course with limited costly recourse if any at all.

Gotta fall before you climb...glad theres some positive coming your way...moving has a way of knocking the wind out of your sails...Go Mike Go...

 

@31chevymike just caught up on your build thread, glad you have a secure place to work out of. Too bad the move was so damn rough on the car and your nerves. Just as a heads up, looks like you go those rear brake backing plates on the wrong side. I'm sure it was just a mock up but just trying to be helpful.

 

Good eye @Bandit Billy...that's a bit more work to change than meets the eye...

 

Just glad that trip from hell is over...

Thanks Steve, Once I get the body off, I'll tend to get prepared with moving forward with my build. Need to get another work bench to start and the needed tools and supplies to start strengthening my frame.

Glad you pointed this out. I'll get this straightened out shortly.​

Yeah, you're right about that.

 

Glad to hear your settled ,the coupe is looking good !

 

Thank you touring20, got the '31 on hold as life has been kicking our asses... Need to re-secure the rear to the frame on the driver's side and do not wish to pull the body off until I find a frame straightener with all the luck in the world... Starting to know a few repair shops from the commercial customers I have been delivering to daily, needing to ask if they may know one to go forward on my build.

 

@31chevymike...wassup...hope all is well your way and hope you're getting some time in on the Beast...

 

Anyone know how Mike's doing...he was making good progress...and yes, moving does have a way of knocking wind out of the sails so to speak...hope all is well...

 

Well Stogy, to answer your question, it took over 4 LONG years to find a hot rod shop or a talented fabricator/welder to help me with chassis setup. Numerous shops, all of them turning me down or bull-shitting me with talk of interest in my build, only to become disappointed after waiting a couple of months for a slot to bring my '31 in to continue my build. One shop gave me an actual shot at the deed, but wanted $8,500 for only 40 hours of paid labor... Surely showing an easy setup with added charges to bill up my build. $185 an hour - not a single chance of being able to afford their cost of labor. I told the owner to use his hourly rate with his upper class, wealthier customers and charge me the middle class hourly rate... Guess I insulted him and gave me back my $3,600 deposit back, before waiting 2 months to bring my hot rod in last November.

So I had to try and run an ad in the Wanted section of the HAMB a few weeks back and wouldn't you know it, a local hot rodder here in Phoenix responded two or three days later and came over to my garage and gratefully accepted to help me with the chassis setup! As a matter of fact, we trailered my '31 with his truck and an auto carrier from U-Haul this morning and finished up before noon today! He wanted me to purchase most of the new parts needed for the chassis build to keep his labor steady for a while.

First and foremost, my firewall needs a new piece of steel where it needs to be (will be flat and smooth from top to bottom), to allow a supercharger to be added when the time comes. I need 9" or so in front of the hemi block for the lower blower pulley to clear my new radiator and the electric fan. This fan is a bit too thick for now, knowing for sure that I will need to replace with a much thinner design in the future. I will post pics soon enough! It's great to be back here with REAL progress, couldn't tell you guys how psyched I'm feeling right now!

 

It's been so long I thought we'd lost you, good to see you are back into working on it.

 

Welcome back! Nice to see this pop up.

 

Tell me about it Mr. Stevens, just a re-cap on current events, I bought new hemi mounts, the style my buddy Dale suggested, new parts to re-do my rear upper and lower coil-over mounts and new rear ladder bars to finally secure the Winters QCR. Bought new boxing plates, front to rear cut specifically for my rails and a square tubed center x-member for a '32 Ford that will be trimmed down for my frame. Also purchased a new aluminum radiator with fan shroud and electric fan. With the mock up hemi plastic block with my new radiator, we'll plan to see where the hemi will mount between them. Acquired an empty 700R4 trans case, so the drivetrain should be measured carefully and installed shortly!

 

It's great to hear from you Mike! With this part of my build completed eventually, including setting up my Vega steering box, DD bars, steering column install, dual master cylinder, brake lines, new front steel floorboards, new wiring kit - I'm hoping I can get this hot rod on the street by my 60th birthday next January...

 

Sound like you have the build well under control Mike. Glad you are well and pushing forward on the hot rod.

 

Yeah Mike, finally moving forward at this very important stage of my build is exciting to say the least... great to hear from you as well! Starting to take pictures again when build tasks are completed will put me on CLOUD NINE!! K.I.T.

 

My friend Dale, who took on the deed to help with my chassis build, just sent me a rough mockup for me to check out! We need 9" in front of the block to allow the room necessary to mount the lower blower pulley when the time comes. Not sure what the measurement is now but will find out this weekend! One of the needed items to check the downward angle of the engine is my dual quad intake for an adequate flat surface on the mockup block.

 

Wow... Here comes the clearance issues installing the massive HEMI. Steering column installation - I'm running a polished Limeworks Speed Shop 36" polished column. Bought new steel toe and floor boards. Any members out there who managed to solve this dilemma - let me hear your thinking on this...

 

I had clearance issues also , but probably not as bad as a hemi. I used a 32” Flaming River tilt column through the steel toeboard and a support bearing with several universals to get to a Vega steering box. My steering wheel has a 5” deep dish, but if you use a flat wheel the total length for the column and wheel is very close to the same.
My manifolds are inside the frame, if you use headers that are outside the frame you may have more room than I do.

 

Yeah brother, your steering setup is REAL TIGHT, more so with your exhaust manifolds inside of your frame rails... Pat yourself on your shoulders for plan & execution sir! My exhaust thankfully will be the opposite, OVER my rails. My mini starter will be mounted on the passenger side, freeing up some much needed space. The hemi block is so big, that it will block the steering column almost directly, going over some of the clearance issues with Dale. Call me crazy, but I thought we can move the engine closer to the passenger rail just a little bit if this can make a difference. Maybe raise the hemi just a bit higher as well if need be. With a mockup block in plastic, these tasks are easily attainable, moving 10 to 15 lbs... Really appreciate your input @31 B'ville!

 

Thanks for the kind words. Moving the engine up and/or over could certainly help. The factories also did this sometimes to gain clearance. Here’s another option. http://www.wizardsteerclear.com/store.html
I explored this idea while sorting out my setup but was able to do without it. Price was a little intimidating.

 

A LITTLE... Excellent concept, would be better for me to mount this on the inside on the floorboard and cover it up with carpeting or vinyl/leather floorboard mats (WHITE PEARL of coarse).

 

You can make your own "steer clear". It is simply two sprocket wheels with DD shafts welded to them and a chain in a metal box with bearings.

 

THIS STEER CLEAR MECHANISM IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN A COMMON HOT ROD COLUMN. I'm trying to locate one very similar for a much more reasonable cost. The guy who invented this was clearly targeting the upper class hot rod builders like Rad Rides by Troy, Kindig It Design, Chip Foose, etc. I'll continue my hunt nevertheless...

 

My friend Dale has been really going at it lately, impressing me more and more with each task at hand! The first day that I came over to his home in Phoenix, he showed me his '34 Ford Tudor Sedan that he built from the ground up, even finishing her up with high end body work and paint - I had no doubt in my mind that he's the guy that I wanted to perform my chassis setup and minor body work needs! Here's the latest photos of where we are at...

The first two photos were taken way back in 1996, when I had Gary ChopIt install my new patch panels on my '31. He also had to relax the body from a 4" gap on each side from when the body spread apart on me when I forgot 2 bolts to remove out of the original 6 when pulling the body off the car for the very first time in my inexperienced years... My '31 at that time, had to share room with that nationally famous chopped, channeled and sectioned custom Model A in his personal garage until there was room in his shop - Gary ChopIt Kustom Cars in Hicksville, Long Island New York. God I loved that hot rod - You should have seen how funny looking it was to see me fold my body enough to get in his hot rod for a small cruise within a cruise night!!!!

The third and fourth photos shows a bunch of hours needed to place my firewall back into the cowl after I cut it out a while back, thinking that the firewall could be re-inserted inside the cowl, moving the firewall back 4 inches or so for more hemi clearance with the lower blower pulley. I was wrong. There was a sizeable gap between the firewall and the cowl all around when I had cut out the cowl band entirely. When he began welding the firewall back on, Dale pulled the body back off and placing it on my body cart helped him bring the gap much tighter and nailing the bottom of the cowl patch repair to my wooden floor. Gary ChopIt Kustom Cars (Deceased a few years ago from his shop) forgot to do this when he installed all of my new patch panels. When I saw this gap last weekend, it had to be at least a 1/2" or more, which is a lot. As you can see, filling in this gap is coming along nicely! Also, take notice of all of the damn holes on the face of the firewall are close to disappearing!

The fifth photo shows that the front and rear suspension was removed to concentrate his best efforts on straightening my frame rails, primarily on the passenger side where it was hit before my ownership. Dale said he spent a few hours performing this task and much relieved that he was able to do it. As you HAMBERS already know, this issue has plagued me for as long as 28 years of owning this bad ass hot rod! Now he's ready to install the boxing plates, which he mentioned that he would start this weekend.