55 Chevy Updates

[55chevyman]

So far we have pulled the front end off, took the motor,tranny and driveshaft out. We gutted all of the interior other than the carpet which will come out this week. we have a 355 built with eagle crank and rods. Edelbrock performer rpm heads and airgap intake. 750 demon carb.
future plans are a 5 or 6 speed. all new poly bushings. maybe tubular uppers.coilover, 1 inch swaybar. maybe bigger if i could find any bigger. disc brakes in the front. we have a 9 inch laying around we might put in with some type of rear suspension update. i might go with a set of new gto seats.
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my grandpa

[55chevyman]

pics continued

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[55chevyman]

anyone have any suggestions on what i should

[Smock67]

damn thats clean already. What do u plan on doing with the car when its done?

[55chevyman]

going to shows, cruising and just enjoying it

[55chevyman]

So it is finally time for some updates! My car was away from home for 6 months at Elmer James body shop getting 4 floor pans, toe boards, both rockers, most of both door skins, frame horns, a section of the fire wall, and the rear quarter lips. After that he put it on the frame machine and straightened it out. Once back home we tore the front end out from under it.

List of new parts:
Tubular uppers (added caster)
2 inch dropped coils
energy poly upper and lower bushings
all new ball joints and tie rod ends, etc.
disc brake upgrade (single piston, drill and slotted rotors)
master cylinder and booster
front brake lines
cpp 500 power steering box (14:1)
ps pump

We have assembled the new uppers and sandblasted the new lowers. I have already painted one lower and will paint the other when i get back from the beach. When we finish painting and assembling the a-arms we will sand and paint the fire wall, front of the frame, and inner fenders.

This is what we have got completed in the past month or so and will have updates in pretty close intervals from here on out!

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[55chevyman]

cont.

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[55chevyman]

cont.

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a set of 15x8.5 americans with push in style caps we bought.

[Motown 454]

Everything looks great , perfect choice on the wheels.
Wayne

[Young Gun]

looks good! whats next?

[wicked67]

nice, makes me miss my 55

[BossaNova]

Wow. You have got to be stoked!

[PRO 48 Fleetline]

nice project i have a 56 2-10 aswell love the tri-fives

[55chevyman]

Thanks for the comment guys! Being 15 years old this is a great project for me and i have learned a ton from my dad and my grandpa. The wheels may or may not go on the car, well at least not right away. The plan right now is to finish my a-arms up, then paint the firewall, then the front of the frame. Once we assemble the front suspension and get it back on the ground we are going to put the motor and tanny back in the car. We are trying to get it back drivable and then go through the rear suspension, interior and paint. I will have some pics of the completed uppers and the painted and sandblasted lowers tomorrow.

[55chevyman]

Here are the pics of the a-arms that i promised. My dad knows a thing or two about paint and body so he wanted me to shoot the lowers. The uppers were painted when purchased but we sandblasted the lowers then primed and i shot them with some left over black enamel. I still have to do the other lower but i think it came out pretty good for my 1st time ever picking up a paint gun.

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sand blasted lower

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my painted lower (dusty from sitting in the shop)

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assembled upper (sorry it is really dirty)

[wblanton]

Take time to enjoy the build and the people you are building it with. The memories of that will mean more to you than the car one day. I couldnt imagine getting to work on a project like this at 15...

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

The 55' is looking great. Really nice work you are doing. Thanks for sharing the build with us.

[55chevyman]

thanks guys, got the other a-arm and cross shaft painted along with the spindles. so once they are assembled, on to the front of the frame and firewall.

[55chevyman]

Well, finally time for another update. After a bunch of scraping and then sanding we finally got the front end primed and painted! I did all the priming but i left the paint to my Dad. The black was some old single stage we had left over and the red is imron. I think they both came out great.

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Once we tried to reassemble the front suspension we learned that my new tubular upper a-arms dont fit for crap. So after being jacked around with the company i bought them from, since thanksgiving, I finally got my old arms traded back for some new CPP tubular uppers earlier tonight. We have already put my booster and master cylinder on along with my new gearbox and the lower a-arms.
For christmas i got an ididit column and a complete wiring harness.
Sorry for being long winded and not having many pics. I need to take some recent ones.

[Motown 454]

Everything looks great! Don't worry about being long winded it only means your as excited as we are about our cars. With the work you've done you earned it ..

[BossaNova]

Right On!
Looks great. Gotta get that car done by spring.

[55chevyman]

Thanks for the comments guys!
Well today we made some progress building the front suspension. Still have to buy shocks and a sway bar. I also have to get my old pitman arm off my old steering box. Need to finish running the brake lines to the rear of the car along with the new fuel lines.
Dont mind how messy the shop is! lol

Specs:
CPP tubular uppers
stock lowers with poly bushings
2 inch dropped coils
stock spindles
new balljoints
new tie rod ends
CPP 500 gearbox (14:1)
CPP master cylinder and booster
new brake lines
CPP disk brake kit (single piston calipers, drilled and slotted roters)

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[1971CHEVELLE]

Coming along nicely awesome car kepp posting pice

[55chevyman]

We put the engine in the car about 3 weekends ago. Then yesterday we put the tranny in and began hooking up the clutch linkage. Also i bought shocks for the front, nothing special, just some cheap gas shocks. Here are some pics (before the tranny went it).

Side note: i would recommend CPP to anybody looking for tubular control arms! great quality parts and fitment

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[jy211]

coming along nicely!

[NOPANTS-68]

engine looks great in there.

[55chevyman]

thanks for the comments guys!

[55chevyman]

I figured its time for a little update! We have been moving slow but finally cranked the car last weekend. Thes pics are before i run the gas line or put on my core support and radiator and a few other odds and ends. I will take some of that today. We sat the car on the ground for the first time in 2 years. Its pretty low, front crossmember is 7inches off the ground and the headers are 5". The engine sounded great. We had a small gas leak and it was out of time a little bit. But small fixes and got it running! It was loud with open headers. The cam hits pretty hard. My friend sat a cup of tea on my dads truck and it shook it off!
All in all i was very excited and happy with the way things turned out! (remember im only 16)

And Happy Fathers Day to everyone!

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