61 Bel Air

[lnirenberg]

The starting point is a very clean stock appearing red (duh, what else) ‘61 Bel Air bubble top that was body off restored 5 yrs and 5000 miles ago. Its powered by a rebuilt 10:1 409 w/’65 block, ’63 large port heads and dual edelbrocks. Mods when restored were a 5 spd Tremec, boxed rear suspension, 12 bolt rear w/ 4:10 posi, front brake locks (switch on shifter), custom long tube headers and Cragar wheels.


I am going for pro-touring with an old school look—

Interior:

• Flaming River painted tilt column
• New Glide engineering front seat with fold down center armrest (I went crazy trying to figure out how to have cupholders—sorry but I need my morning caffeine fix—and I found a new & perfectly sized Jaguar armrest with 2 built in cupholders on eBay), custom contoured foams w/custom red & black leather covers in a period correct Impala pattern. Rears contoured and covered to match. Retains 6 passenger capacity.
• Billet Specialties black pedals
• Custom aluminum lower dash trim for 4 new classic instrument gauges
• Auto meter column mounted tach
• 3 point belts outboard front w/ lap belts for other 4 positions
• Vintage air
• New audio 6 speaker with IPod hookup, trunk mounted amp and sub

Mechanical/Drivetrain:

• 4 wheel SSBC brakes
• Global West model specific front suspension kit (lowers front 1 ½”)
• Billet Specialties new 348/409 serpentine system
• QTP electric exhaust cutouts
• Aluminum radiator & dual electric fans (brand/spec to be determined when we start engine work)
• Custom grind Comp cam hydraulic roller setup
• Ported and polished Edelbrock aluminum heads
• Custom Mass-Flo EFI system (this is a story in itself as to date the required single plane intake has never been available for the W-head motors)

Exterior:

• Roof painted black w/black out in the side trim
• New wheels/tires

Car currently has 15” Cragars with 225/70-15 front and 255/70-15 rears. I don’t want to go bigger than 17” wheels as the look I’m after requires some sidewall. New tires will be Goodyear F1 GS-D3s 225/50-17 front 255/45-17 rears. Herein lies the rub—figuring out the wheels that work with the build. I have spent more time on this than any other aspect of the build (is it just me or is this one of the hardest things to figure out for a project?) looking at pictures on the web until my eyes glaze over. With goal being to keep an old school look, a lot of wheels on the forum threads that look great on Camaros and other “newer” cars won’t work for me. By process of elimination I am down to these—
CENTERLINE CUSTOM BILLET SERIES -SOFT TAIL or Billet Specialties Fast Lane(see attached pics)
17X7 fronts
17X8 rears


Comments, opinions, suggestions welcome.



A somewhat complete non-seguitor, but this is the 1st forum I've been a member of that allows large format pictures to be uploaded, excellent.



profile new2c.JPGTN_12517softtail.jpghttps://www.pro-touring.com/forum/at...1&d=1246189672

[Motown 454]

Hi from another Ma. resident. I'm from the SE part of Ma . Which part are you from? Sounds like a sweet ride and a great project.

[lnirenberg]

Right outside Boston with too many toys and not enough garage space.

[hdesign]

Welcome to the party! Nice to see some more MA cars here. Great project! I think the wheels you picked work pretty well. A classic 5 spoke configuration will look great and as long as they don't get too spindly, they'll look balanced with the mass of that car. I think I like the soft tail wheel the best.