project 55 belvedere gasser--"hell's bel"

[silver_bullet]

i dunno...the implied irony was WHO was saying that.
so basically pot/kettle in that respect....

thinking im in the lead on the way down here, buddy.
shall we take an informal poll to see which of us our
fellow bangsniffers think is more
f*cked in the head? hah hah......

Too close to call...unless you find a purveyor of fake news....

[SuperBuickGuy]

man, i REALLY need to finish the silver vette for her.......just needs
pushrods, rockers, starter, shifter...........

dual quads, and a mechanic.

[Dan Barlow]

..

[fatguyzinc]

dual quads, and a mechanic.

no, no, no...the dual quads were SUPPOSED to go
on my white vette, but are now slated for the 55.

as for the mechanic...broke-chanic is more like it.
i fake it REALLY good, tho........

[fatguyzinc]

well, its official--paz ordered the speedway straight axle kit for me friday.
i am 100% commited towards the gassser build now whether i want to
stay the course or not!

hello, of COURSE i want to go that direction. i mean, i am a truly
manly man after all, despite what some people (who shall go un-named)
have in their minds as a picture of me--grass skirt, manties, coconut bra,
fruit basket on the head with a lucille ball accent....

what a frootloop. but i digress.........

[fatguyzinc]

lucked out again, paz knew an old guy that comes into her store
almost daily and drives a 32-34 roadster, she mentioned we were looking
for a pair of vintage mags in ford pattern and BAM--he has a set of torque thrust II's
in 15x8.5 with ford 5x4.5 pattern for $100....hes bringing them by friday for her.

i think thats a classic gasser look, ansens up front with pizza cutters and
fat bastards in the back with mismatched rims--cragars, torque thrusts,
keystones, reversed chrome steelies, something....

so i will take em to firestone when i get back and toss a 275/60/15 on em
(basically an "L-60" tire for those of us old enough to remember) and that takes
care of the rear setup. (we got the 57 t-bird 9" behind the house already).

the only question in my mind is--
do i leave the 'short' rear fender and lift the car 2ft to clear it,or
do i radius them to fit and weld a 1/4 rod/brake line/similar as a finisher on the cut edge...

period correct would be to radius it. but i do kinda like that weird short fender.
guess the tire fitment (or lack of, har har..) will be the decision maker.
wont know till i get back home, and thats not till the 25th....grrrrrrrrrrrr........

[fatguyzinc]

OUCH--called firestone and the 'primewell'
that i run on the rear of the vette in 275/60/15
and was $98 each 3 months ago is now $168
each ! dangnabbit....

[fatguyzinc]

YESSSSSSS... just got off the phone with the wife , she was digging
through one of our storage sheds (sadly there are a few...) and found
a cosworth vega steering column-- and it HAS a key in it !

coincidentally, i also won the bid @ $89 for a reversed corvair steering
box on fleabay a few days ago, it just came in--and its got a cast-in capitol "S"
on the housing as well as a finned nose. strange engineering! retails for $547
on the strange website.... this one is used, but still..... feels fine.

[fatguyzinc]

D*MMIT..............

well in the ever present '2 steps forward/3 steps back'
whirlwind that seems to run my life (and many of yours
too, im sure !) i just put a stop payment against a
charge for $325 from "moores auto salvage" in rapid
city south dakota.

'marc' assured me he had all the pieces to convert our
55 belvedere from auto to manual trans, pedals and
linkages and such.

he had no problem charging me on the spot for said pieces,
the full $325 amount. (OUCH...) but now, 22 days later...

hes ducking calls. wont return messages. wont answer emails.
he claimed the parts would ship the following mondy. then wednesday.
then friday. then oops it didnt go out friday, monday. oh sorry monday
was a holiday, ill send em out tomorrow and call or email you with
a tracking number.....

then he went off the radar completely. im certain the visa company
will get the money back, what pisses me off is the 22 days i fricken
WASTED waiting for stuff that he either dont have or never intended
to sell me. why do people play stupid games like that?

and why, if theres a legit reason, would he be avoiding me? i mean,
if something LEGIT was the problem why wouldnt he just say hey man, sorry,
had XXXXXXXXXXX happen so its gonna be another day or two.....?

frick, of all my pet peeves perhaps #1 is- "DONT LEAVE ME HANGING".

anyway, let this be a lesson--dont do business with moores auto salvage in SD.

now i gotta find another pedal set IF one exists, or rig up something else.
F*CKER.

[DanStokes]

Desert Valley Auto Parts is worth a shot though my guess is that they are pretty pricey. They have lots of older stuff.

Dan

[fatguyzinc]

Desert Valley Auto Parts is worth a shot though my guess is that they are pretty pricey. They have lots of older stuff.

Dan

OUCH--you aint kidding. they got it, but $500 PLUS shipping !!!!!!!!

must be that limited edition gold plated model or something...
thanks for the tip, but at that price ill adapt something else--either
a"universal" set off fleabay, or maybe i can make a vette setup
work since i decided to leave vette as is and i got the pedal/brake
swingarm set in the closet collecting dust.....

man, this build (like EVERY other one, hah hah...) is going to end
up taking 3 times the money and 5 times longer than i thought !
you'de think since i been here/done that many times before, i woulda
learned by now--but NOOOOOOOOOO..................

anybody wanna buy a crazy 500hp daily driver big block vette cheap?

[SuperBuickGuy]

hydraulic may be your friend....

[Deaf Bob]

Thru the floor or hanging swinging?
Floor models can be had thru street rod folks
Some derby venders sell clutch/brake set-ups but hey take up alotta floor space..

[fatguyzinc]

Thru the floor or hanging swinging?
Floor models can be had thru street rod folks
Some derby venders sell clutch/brake set-ups but hey take up alotta floor space..

i think hanging, as the stock brake pedal is a hanger. looking at this setup right now,
hard to beat the price-AND he said he will ship for free even to hawaii....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/260405719789?ul_noapp=true

[fatguyzinc]

hydraulic may be your friend....

thought about that too, but...ive seen so many people
put hundreds and hundreds of dollars and countless
hours of work trying to convert to hydro, only to finally
rip it all out and go back to a mechanical system.

if i did it, i think id run the external slave cylinder rather
than the actual hydro throw out bearing, as those seem
to be the most problematic AND you gotta drop the trans
to re-adjust em if they arent right..

still undecided. its gonna be awhile yet before im there
so i guess for now i will burn that bridge when i get to it....