Projects My first 33 Chevy 5 window build

This will be my first hotrod build, all of my previous builds have been 60's muscle. I'm going to be learning a lot on this one. I bought this jewel back in July 2021 and have enough done to start a build post. Still on the trailer when deciding to either go in the garage or the shop. The garage won till I get the shop ready. The 33 body is complete with fenders and running boards, but no interior, it's a blank canvas on the inside...I mean nothing, no steering column, peddles, or wiring.

 

Nice start to a 33 ,is it on a ford frame??
Good to have the fenders ,they are a hard item to find .

 

It does have a 32 Ford front axle, but the frame is a custom 2 x 4 square tubing.
Nice 3 window

 

Is all the wood removed from the body ??

 

Yes it is

 

I really like these early 5 window Chevy coupes, look forward to seeing what you do here

 

I like that a lot.

 

Great start!

 

Looking forward to watching the progress!

 

The 33's have plenty of room inside compared to a Ford but their trunk is a little smaller. If the body is still sitting on the wood rails, the vin tag is mounted by the pass. seat.

 

All of the wood has been removed and replaced with steel.
1) New fire wall
2) Steel floor from fire wall to trunk
3) Top of cab has been capped off with steel
4) Next is the doors reenforced with steel.

 

Welcome, looking forward to the fun. Good foundation.

 

Do you have the trunk lid ?? 33 and 34 will fit but not much else .33s are like a one year only car and only 33 parts will fit.

 

I do....

 

That's a good thing ,to have the lid .

 

Looks like a small Chevy and automatic in there, care to elaborate?

 

68 327 with camel hump heads and a TH350. The diff is an 8" ford

 

Now it's time to see what's underneath the outside shell.

Time to remove the body from the frame.


It took awhile to figure out how to lift it high enough to clear for the chassis to roll out from underneath the body


Now to revile the 2 x 4 custom frame. Right now the goal is get the frame stripped and see how square and plum the frame is and to check the welds.



Ford 8" diff. I'll be going thru the internals to see if there is any hidden problems, and removing the rust and repaint. The front axle is just as rusty, but appears to only be surface rust.

 

I finally got the front axle removed and clean all of the rust off and painted black with a few coats of clear.
I also discovered a lot of parts were missing, no big deal... defiantly a good learning experience.

Front axle parts in a crate waiting to be assembled. It came with front disk brake conversion.


8" Ford diff on the hook waiting to be painted. I had a big surprise when I opened up the diff, everything is brand new, it still had the pinion and ring gear mesh paint, new axle bearings, and never had gear lube installed. So a new diff....score...3.55 ratio


I was able to go over the frame and found some issues. nothing that can't be fixed, will post pics on that.

 

needs parallel leaf springs up front so it won't be mistaken for a damn Ford...

 

I'm going to get license plates that says "33 chevy" maybe that will help

 

I have the same 33 chevy

 

Nice work on the front and rear axles! Keep it up!

 

The frame although thought out pretty good, it appears that a framing square wasn't totally used on the whole frame.
I had plans to use a spreader bar on the front of the frame, but the front sides were not parallel to each other.
So that meant that the whole front of the frame would need to be dismantled and built all new.

I stripped both sides down to what you see on the drivers side frame. I used a lazor to get the passenger side end parallel to the center line of the frame, then built a fixture to simulate the position of the spreader bar. Also added cross bracing to keep the driver side in the same dimensions as the passenger side. This picture is a before and.....


Here is the after drivers side of the out side of then frame

Now to fill in the frame insides, but first I had to weld in hidden nuts to the inside of the frame before the side goes on.


Here's a view of the fixture I made for the spreader bar


Fast forward to the finished sides, the hex bolts will be replaced with allen head button bolts.


Front view


The next area to fix is the "U" shape on the cross member in the last picture will need to be modified for more clearance for the drive line. This is going to take a little more time...Oh Well.

 

Your spreader bar setup much like the one in my avatar.

 

Very nice. My avatar is a 31 Chevy. Lots of work replacing the wood.

 

Do this...for a win RIP Xderelict

 

That one looks like big time .