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

[fatguyzinc]

alright, heres a 31x10.5 truck tire on the 15x10.
that looks a lot better...... now gots to do the other
side plus 'lip' the cut edge to finish off....

[SuperBuickGuy]

nice

[fatguyzinc]

though i didnt turn a wrench on the 55 yesterday,
i DID load the original 259cid polyspherical hemi
and cast iron air cooled powerflite onto the trailer
and did an 80 mile round trip to a friends 'junkyard'
to drop it off.

at least its out of the way and gone! i also dumped
4 old military hummer 37" wrangler tires. next is
move the 55 so i can reach to cut the other fender
(theres a garage pillar in the way and the old motor
was in the way of me moving the car...)

hopefully some sort of progress anyway.

[DanStokes]

I need to dump the nailhead soon. Nobody seems to want it so off to the metal yard.

Dan

[fatguyzinc]

I need to dump the nailhead soon. Nobody seems to want it so off to the metal yard.

Dan

sad aint it? i couldnt give that polyhemi away free
even with delivery!

anyway, went to move the car today so i could
cut the other fender to match, and it wouldnt
budge. jacked up front and neither front tire
would spin by hand. here we go..............

ended up wasting the day stripping both frozen
brake assemblies out. it does roll now, but i
hate 'double work'--im pulling all the front
suspension for a straight axle (after i get the
rear done.) but NOOOOOOOOO i had to
reassemble the front drums/wheelbearings etc
to get it to roll.

and then ill have to rip em all apart again shortly.
oh well, such is life! hopefully i'll get to that
fender tomorrow.

paz also hosed it down because "it looked like
it needed a bath".

[DanStokes]

So good that at least you're working on it.

In an unrelated topic, any word on the 'Vette? Thieves just suck.

Dan

[fatguyzinc]

So good that at least you're working on it.

In an unrelated topic, any word on the 'Vette? Thieves just suck.

Dan

nothing. havent heard anything from insurance either,
apparently my case worker "went on vacation, so.....
sorry. cant help. you just have to wait."


you are correct in your statement about thieves sucking.
i hate em. its one thing to steal a loaf of bread cause your
kids are starving. but taking something that aint yours just
because you want it or the parts/money from it is really
really scummy.

long live tighty whitey, she may be gone but she wont
be forgotten.

[DanStokes]

nothing. havent heard anything from insurance either,
apparently my case worker "went on vacation, so.....
sorry. cant help. you just have to wait."


you are correct in your statement about thieves sucking.
i hate em. its one thing to steal a loaf of bread cause your
kids are starving. but taking something that aint yours just
because you want it or the parts/money from it is really
really scummy.

long live tighty whitey, she may be gone but she wont
be forgotten.

Fingers crossed for you.

Dan

[fatguyzinc]

paz got a wild hair up her @ss yesterday and taped off the roof,
rattle canned it red to match the stripe like its supposed to. i actually
like it, though i may redo it better than rattle can eventually i think
it should stay as it looks correct.

now, about that cutting second fender......

[fatguyzinc]

my backs been flirting with going out for 4 days, but i finally
got the drvers fender cut to match. still trying to figure out
how to 'lip' the fender openings to finish them off..........
shes starting to look good though! paz cleaned/painted
the core support & inner fenderwellls while i wa measuring & cutting.

[fatguyzinc]

so brother bobby schooled me on the fine skill of being a retired machinist...
i took him these 7"x1/8" aluminum discs, told him i needed to drill a 5x4.75"
chevy pattern to use them as centercaps/block-off plates for the rear slot mags,
but didnt know how to get it right the first try. so in a nutshell...

he said 7" minus the 4.75" pattern is 2-1/4"--but i needed half as it was the
diameter vs the radius, so 1-1/8" from edge establishes the centerline of hole.

then since i have 5 lugs, i need 360 degrees divided by 5 lugs--so mark the
1st one anywhere on the 1-1/8" from edge line, then measure 72 degrees
(360 divided by 5 is 72.....) and make the next mark, (again at 1-1/8" from edge...)
then 72 more degrees to 3rd mark, and so on -always at the 1-1/8" from edge line-
for all 5. then centerpunch and drill.

took him all of 10 minutes to measure, mark and drill at his house,while teaching me
how and why. i drove home and (of course....) they were perfect fit bolt ons............
thanks again, bobby--youre amazing.

p.s.--speedway sells premade ones for $70+shipping, these pieces were
$8 each from metalremnants.com........but without bobbys know-how i woulda
had to shell out the $70+.....

[fatguyzinc]

paz got out of work early, so we rolled under the 55 and got out the tape measure...
the forward ladder mounts are now tacked (heavily, hah hah...) in place so the ladder
bars are hung. still got some finish welding to do, but theyre in. YAY!!! that took awhile
to get too, been planning on it for 6 months or more but life kinda gets in the way.

i'll try to get some pics tomorrow, its 9pm here and we just finished so its dark...

[fatguyzinc]

well i got f@cked by the fickle fingers of fate yet again.

spent hours sanding, hi temp VHT priming and then VHT
painting the fendewell headers, then another hour with
a propane torch up the collector into each pipe to "bake"
or cure the paint.

waited another half hour for them to cool before moving them,
touching pulled off handfulls of paint. son of a b@tch. for whatever
reason, it didnt take. same brand/type of paint, the VHT flameproof
stuff.

now i get to strip it all down, spend even more $, and do it AGAIN.
i am just hating life with a passion right now.

[SuperBuickGuy]

outside of a propane roofing torch, I'm not sure you'll get enough heat to bake the coating on..... my 'trick' is to paint them, put them on, touch them up (the inevitable rub and scratch marks), then light it off...

[langleylad]

I was reading a label on a can of VHT header paint yesterday. It had instructions on how to cure the paint in your oven , who has an oven large enough for a header to fit in also how many ovens can go up to 600 degrees ? ours only reaches 500