At least a little bit. Had this car for a few months...but had a baby at the end of the year and haven't had much chance to work on it. Bought it from a guy in Michigan and it was driveable when I got it...but needed so much more. So it's been parked and I have done a few things to it. Rewired entire car. 12V Tore out interior, headliner, flaky old insulation Gutted everything from behind the dash. AM radio. Electric Wipers Dual Intake with Carter/Webers And am just starting open driveline swap. T5 and Monte Carlo rear end. Also throwing on 3" blocks. Shocks, bushings and shackles are on the way, using current leaf springs for now. All new backing plate and brake parts. Had to swap out the ring and pinion from the stock 2.29 gears to some 3.42. Used for $20. Did the carrier with spacer, but still need to pull old pinion and install new. Bought new S10 clutch, but waiting to cut out existing crossmember and fab up new one for trans. The T5 is huge compared to the stock 3 speed. Enjoy.
Here are a couple from tonight. Put the trans, new clutch and pressure plate, and the wrong throwout bearing. Gotta tear it apart and put the right one on there. Getting too late tonight.
As far as i know the 53's and prior had it the tunnel cover and then the 54's didn't, they just hat a cover 3inches wide just so you could get to the engine back bolts, yes i know thats stupid! i have a 53 and a 54. Also to the builder- (if your going to swap the whole axel) you may have to swap the springs because of the way that the axel holders are setup- the axel centre bolt isn't in the centre of the spring- so if you take the axel out and bang any other axel in it wont line up in the wheel wells unless you change the springs or use the old springs and mounts and weld them on. I'f you look at it for a while you'll see what i mean. cheers, cool car mate
Keep up the good work! It's hard sometimes when life gets in the way, but just keep choppin' wood. Even if you're just doing a little research on the webz, do a little something every day. Before you know it, you'll be drivin' around just a hollerin'.
He can redrill the lowering blocks to reposition the axle. Whats the proper offset is the question????
Know about the offset pics on the springs. Has anyone heard that you can flop the springs front to back and it will locate the pins in the right spot? Someone mentioned that, but I still have some measuring to do. Could it be that easy?
I wondered, cause i kind of had trouble getting the trans situated when I put the drive train back in. I was hoping I didn't just "miss" that panel. how close is that rearend on width? I run skirts and I have to run stock width wheels.
The rear end is a 1984 Monte Carlo. 58" width. Want to run skirts and think it should tuck the wheels in just enough. For my trans, I just set the angle and centered the tail housing on the car. Looks good from underneith. Still need to hook the Ebrake back up. But waiting to get rear end in. Will keep updating pics as they come.
Okay, so I got some more done today. The throwout bearing was incorrect, so I had to get a new one. I used a 9" clutch for a 94 S10, since that's the trans I have. But the replacement throwout bearing didn't match the clutch fork. It was too thin. The original 50's bearing was thicker and just what I needed. So I bought a new one, pulled the tran, and put it all back together. Pain in the ass. So I got it back together and adjusted the clutch. Cleaned up the floor panel and cut a hole for the shifter. Cut it a little too big. Will have to redo it. Had a questions about the shifter. As stock the arm bends back towards the seat. Would like to flip it 180 so it points towards the dash. The top of the shifter has a pressed on plate that I'm sure I would have to remove. Never tore into one before. What's inside? Want to make a spacer and raise up pin on shift arm to make a short throw. Just need to get inside that top cover. Also pulled the pinion gear. Need to get a new shim, crush washer, bearing. Already put ring gear on carrier. Next is brakes. Cut the E-brake out when fitting trans. Need to come up with something better. And had to hack brake line to get out of the way, so need to run new lines. Including all new lines on the rear end. Saw a post about adding a Dual Master Cylinder. Will look into that while I'm going at it. Also waiting on new shocks, shackles and spring perchs to show up and then will mount rear end and set pinion angle. Weld up perchs. Paint. Install gears and brakes. Still a lot more work. Pictures. The throwout bearing on the left is the old one from 3 speed. New one on the right for the S10. The difference in thickness was far to much for me to adjust out with the ball stud. Should have known better. The pinion on the left is the old 21 tooth. Thing has 2.29 gears. New one on the right is 12 tooth from a 3.42 set. Should be more friendly. Empty rear housing. And steering wheel with no more 3 speed shift linkage. The pic of the shifter shows the pressed on cover at top of mechanism. That's where I need to get into, correct?
So, I did some more. Got pinion gear installed. Installed carrier with shims, new bearings. Put on new backing plates, and did left side brakes. Realized that I forgot the emergency hook. But need to clean up an old one and throw on some paint. Will do that tomorrow. Need to do the right side brake and run brake lines.
Well, it's been a really busy 4 months for me. The little kid is 8 months old now. Works gotten busier, and I just haven't had the time to do anything on the car. So it's just been sitting in the garage, taking up space. But my buddy Ted just bought a Plymouth that looks a hell of a lot better than mine, and it got me motivated to jump back in. No pics yet...but tomorrow I'll put some up. Too late tonight. ---Progress--- Ordered a new Hurst shifter for the T-5. Hopefully I measured correctly. Ordered a set of new front floor pans. Gotta cut out and replace. Also picked up a dual mastercylinder, so I can upgrade from the single when I have the floor ripped open. And need to beef up new crossmemeber for T5. Finished up the brakes on both sides of the Monte Carlo rear end. Bought new drums, painted gold. Axles back in, but still need to finish up diff cover gasket and fluid. Want to do a quick test to check it out before closing up. Lowering blocks are in, and U-bolts tightened down. Scrub line issues, so I need to do a different bottom plate set up. Ideas? Put tires back on and lowered car off of jack stands. Sitting on its own now, and quite a bit lower. Also put skirts on. Looks better, but could be LOWER. Pics tomorrow.
So, I finally have a couple pics. Car is looking a little better. ---Progress--- Installed Hurst shifter, and it's nice. Fits my hand nicely. Recieved floor pans in the mail. Going to cut out old ones tomorrow. Have new Master Cylinder, and need to get working while floor is cut out. Here are a few pics.
So, I ordered some parts for the Chevy. Got some new bias plys and rims. Mounted and balanced, they look super good. Gonna look sweet on the car. Also ordered a taildragger kit from Gambino's. C notch, bag brackets, bags and 4 link. Started yesterday morning, draining fuel tank and removing, cutting out trunk, and cleaning up the frame. Nice to brush off 58 years of road dirt. Welded up the notches, installed and cut out frame. Still need to do inside piece on each side. Also did a little work on Wednesday night cutting out front floor pans. Going to upgrade mastercylinder, so we haven't put the pans back in, yet. Today, we are going to finish the notches and get working on the 4 link. Looks like we have a lot more metal to cut out of the way. Plus take the tunnel out. Will post more pics later.
Well, it's been a while since I have gotten anything done. Was out in the garage last night and worked a bit more on my rear end. We had the top links all jacked up. Cut those off. Double checked that I had the car blocked up level in all directions. Can someone tell me what the wheel base should be? So far, I'm just centering it in the wheelwells. I'll do a search shortly. I also cut out some of the tunnel, and reinstalled my new driveshaft. Still need to cut out the top of the wheelwells to get the full drop. But she's getting a little closer. Oh, also took all the old upholstery off the front bench seat. What a damn mess. Although i can't sit on it without getting all hooked up in the springs...she looks a lot better. Anyone have a crazy idea for the most simple, basic, cheap way to make it usable? I know on my chopper, I just riveted a piece of leather to the seat pan. Not the most cozy, but it works.
Spent a few hours in the garage tonight. Got the top links mounted, no binding, cut out some tunnel, cut out inner rear fenderwells, bags are hooked up. The 52 lays out in the back. Just need to finish weld the mounts and make them look pretty. But it works.
The Jalopy Journal
