Ryan's 57 4 door Belair Hardtop Project

[hurddawg]

First thing I did on Saturday was tackle the drivetrain....I need to remove the drive shaft & exhaust. Quickest way to remove exhaust...

Mr. Sawzall, please meet Mr. Exhaust....(sorry pic is upside down)


Once that was out of the way, I disconnected the transmission mounts from the powerglide and proceed to remove the motor.
The 283 came out without much fuss, although halfway out, I realized I had forgotten to disconnect the starter motor, which was taken care of easily. Here is the drivetrain...Forklifts & pallets are handy!!



I think its time to put this setup in retirement....its been powering the car for the past 30 years...(from what I understand)

I decided to pull the rear bumper and then I packed it up for the day (It was just before 10:00pm)

This how the car sat on the end of 8/3



Good night!

[hurddawg]

I've been a busy bee. Here is what I did on the 4th...I woke up very early (for me), and started working on the car by 6am.

After the motor was removed, I tackled the steering. I removed the column, that was a new experience. I disconnected the outside clamps (2) and removed the bracing on the inside, removed parts of the brake pedal and finally removed the steering wheel. Most if not all of the top column bearings's bearing popped out. Needed a good yank and then the column slid off as one unit.

Unbolted the steering box, (didnt realize for a while that it was held in by carriage bolts, which had backed out so the bolts we just spinning...the grease had it filled in the depressions on the frame. Once I figured that out out they came) . The steering box arm's castle nut was not tight at all, the cotter pins was all holding it together. Then out she came...!

Lastly I disconnected the treadle vac, which was very straight forward. On to the body bolts...was fairly easy, but 3 bolts had broken. The tail pan bolts I had a hard time with, mostly because what used to be rubber caps became hard plastic...it does that after 56 years....

A rather uneventfully, the body lifted off. The rear lift arms was set up under the last body brace and either side, the front arms with approx 2ft 2x4s on the rockers, up to the pinch seam. No perceived bending & the glass didn't crack, which I was prepared for.

By 9:30 this is where I was at....





Here is a cart that I had made. To be honest, the casters are too small. Took a couple of hours. This was the first revision of the cart in the photo, I later added 2 - 6" deck screws to each area where the 2x4 connect to each 4x4 post. In addition, I added a couple of 2x4s upright as posts to support the rear end of the body better. The posts are to support the shock mount area of the differential depression (the cart looks like it has bunny ears). I also added additional 2x4 support on the front of the cart to better support the front braces.



Here is a photo of the body on the cart..yes the car body wise is fully assembled. I think I like this frame better than the old one. Maybe I should add engine mounts and call it a day! lol



For those looking at this thread, let it be known, I DO NOT recommend this wooden cart. At least in its current form. If I did it again I would have another center support beam and definitely larger castors. Dimensionally it worked great. It is the largest it could be without impeding on the lift arms. Another thought would be to design it in such a fashion so that it can attach to the cart by use of the body bolts/attachments.

Its now stored, not where I wanted but in doors and safe. I'll probably move the cab again at a later date.

I finished the day by cleaning up & putting all removed parts in order and in place they could not be damaged. I called it quits by 18:30...long day...

Next step....stripping down the frame.

[hurddawg]

Hurd,
I got my tank setup from Tanks Inc..
570-CG. 57 chevy gas tank with fuel injection tray and recess $210.00
567-STS. 57 chevy stainless steel mounting straps $29.00
GPA-4. High flow fuel pump module. 255 liters per hour (for up to 600 horsepower) $220.00
TAN-GME. GM fuel tamk sending unit 0-30 ohms. $35.00

So for $556 and change, i have the tank and pump setup. Of course, the custom made frame mounted bracket, stainless hardlines, AN fittings etc. make this total go up, but all in all it seems to be a viable solution to keep the cost minimized in this area of your build.

Thanks for the info, Paul. Only if I knew how to weld. I do have a welder though....

[hurddawg]

Ryan, we just got back from a weekend of elk scouting. I would remove the tank at this point, if you haven't already, because it's going to have to come out anyhow.

I'll e-mail you some info on the tanks.

Hope you had a promising trip. I'll go ahead and remove the tank. I was tired/lazy yesterday to do so. I'll look out for your email.

[hurddawg]

Here's another photo when I was lifting the frame...



I changed how I was lifting at some point. I do not remember when however.
BTW the door is not closed all the way, hence its "popped" out.

[chevynut]

Wow Ryan, that was quick once you got the engine out. IMO I would have put the 2x4 under the body, not on the rocker. I'm amazed it didn't bend it. I would never try that on a 2-door car, because I'll bet the quarter would bend. Looks like you had enough structure there to prevent that.

Nice work!

[hurddawg]

Wow Ryan, that was quick once you got the engine out. IMO I would have put the 2x4 under the body, not on the rocker. I'm amazed it didn't bend it. I would never try that on a 2-door car, because I'll bet the quarter would bend. Looks like you had enough structure there to prevent that.

Nice work!

Thanks!

As far as the 2x4 on the rocker...I felt comfortable with that as I saw a youtube video of a 56 post 4dr lifted that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...sDfPyF24#at=47

Since my car is a hardtop, I guess I was gambling a bit. As you see in the video, they didnt use a 2x4 at all.

I hope to finish the frame off this week. I was still recovering from Sunday's work, so I didnt do anything yesterday.

[hurddawg]

Been lazy most of the week and well I was close to done as far as stripping the frame so I waited until Friday after work.

Didnt stay too long, but enough to remove the rear suspension assembly and the remaining parts of the power steering gear. Had a hell of a time removing the power steering power rod (?) bracket from the frame. So much sludge built up IN the frame that I couldnt get to the bolt heads to undo the nuts. I gave up on that for Friday

This is where I left it as of Friday...

[hurddawg]

Finished off the stripping of the frame....

Got that stupid power steering bracket off without destroying it. Took more time than I would have liked though.
Front suspension, fuel lines, brake lines and exhaust hangers were removed. Scrapped off some of the 1" thick grease on the front...still plenty left.

Noticed that 2 of the "outer" rear body mounts have decayed quite a bit, the bottoms have rotted some pin holes

All done....




ChevyNut, its your turn!

Should I power wash this before giving it to you?

[chevynut]

Ryan, looking good. That was pretty quick, and you got it done a week early.

You mentioned the rear outside body mounts are decayed. Do you have some pics of them? Which ones are they? We can do some repairs on them if you want us to...we can discuss that later.

Power washing would be nice if you can do that just to get rid of the grease and grime for handling it. We will sandblast some areas of the frame where we need to weld on it.