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Thread: 1955 Chevy Bracket Car

  1. #1
    Registered Member chasracer's Avatar
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    1955 Chevy Bracket Car

    Some of you that are on other forums may well have already read some of the information that I share here and also seen the pictures. As an aside, I like to share what I work on with others as I like to see what others are working on. There are a lot of times where a few words or the corner of a picture can give birth to an interesting idea that I might never had thought about.

    And just to set a few things straight - yes I was on the "other" board for quite awhile actually - something in the range of 15 years I think. I wasn't a constant poster on it but I did enjoy seeing and reading about other people's projects. The moderators at that site for whatever reason seem to think that they actually have an important job function to perform and I would say that on occasion that description might be a good fit - but it's also a bit misleading in them believing it is important to be the censorship committee. I am a strong believer in free speech - I might absolutely hate every word coming out of your mouth but I'll also defend your right to say it. Anything less and we're all pissing away one of the greatest experiments of all time - these United States of America. The moderators there like to say that everything is for the good of the forum, but if you don't have the same opinion of things that they hold so dear and true, then you are a problem. What they truly do not understand is the conceptual idea of forum software and databases. The current outfit that purchased automotive sites left and right over the last couple of years put in a forum software that is very limited in abilities simply because that was their intention. They don't care about the ideas of "forums, community or comradery" - they only care about using you to make money. Via an independent tracking source, they provide reports to their customers about usage and number of views - the things that they can say proves that the customer's ads are getting seen. The funny part of it is that every major browser has any number of add-ons that will block ads at a 100% rate - meaning that those customers are probably paying a rather stiff fee for advertising that is not getting seen. Once that information finally filters into someone's head, there will be process to force the ads to the top and it will be interesting to see at that point how many of those forums end up in the digital trashcan.

    So - my '55 - (thought I forgoet about it?) ha - this project is like way too many others I have in that it's been a lot longer in getting anything done on it than I ever imagined. I should already have about 10 years of hits on this thing by now and right now it's nothing but an empty shell taking up space in the garage. A little over a year ago - that one - the "C" one - I don't know yet if I get banned for saying certain words - anyway, I had a lot of time on my hands. So this car had been stored over in the edge of a clearing for a number of years and every so often I would hear "are you ever going to do anything with that old car" and I decided it was time to do something. The car was still sitting on the wheels and tires that had come with it and they still had air in them too. I hooked up my golf cart to the front frame with some chain and proceeded to pull the car down into the backyard and up to the garage. I wasn't quite ready to put in the garage just yet as it had a lot of sheet metal and other items that I had zero use for and all that needed to be gone. Most of the frontend components and front sheet metal was sold, the doors were sold and the car sat in the driveway with a cover over it. My grandson came and stayed with us for about 4-5 months and I put him to work removing all the wiring and other miscellaneous pieces. At this point I decided it was time for it to become my new garage queen and I rolled it into the garage. I would get into how I rolled it but let's just say it wasn't on it's own wheels and tires. With the car in the garage, I now needed to get rid of the frame and rear. I read a lot and asked a bunch of questions about jacking the car up on whatever and unbolting the frame and rolling it out but I decided that a quicker more brutal method would fit my needs. I mean why roll out a frame that you're just going to cut up and cart to the dump when you can just cut it up from the car to begin with? So between a couple of blades in my sawsall and my cheap little chinese Cut-50 plasma torch, I went to town. I have to say the Cut-50 is actually rather impressive. I used to work at a body shop and had the chance to use a top of the line torch there and save for having to make two passes on maybe 1/4" thick steel, the Cut-50 gets the job done and for a heck of a lot less money. So, this is where I am at for the most part sitting on about two months now. I got it to this point and have just started on the driver's side rocker panels (inner and outer). There's always other things to work on around here but I do try to sneak in a bit of time on the '55 when I can.

    55-3.jpg
    55-2.jpg
    IMG_1193 - Copy (2).jpg
    IMG_1196 - Copy (2).jpg
    Remember the "13"


  2. #2
    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with it..

  3. #3
    Registered Member busterwivell's Avatar
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    Me, too!

  4. #4
    Registered Member carls 56 (RIP 11/24/2021)'s Avatar
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    interesting, good luck.
    ARMY NAM VET, very proud!

    56 210 4dr

    drive and enjoy them while you work on them, life is to short.

  5. #5
    Registered Member chasracer's Avatar
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    Thanks everyone! I am hoping that posting it's progress here will actually help generate some progress.
    Remember the "13"


  6. #6
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    I got to do about the same body work to my 56 2dr sadan so the more you post will help me.

  7. #7
    Registered Member chasracer's Avatar
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    Gotcha.

    In thinking about the panel replacement piece, I worry a bit about warpage. While there is some access to place a dolly for planishing the mig welds, it gets tighter as you get closer to the wheel area. I have had some decent luck when cutting a replacement oversize and then slicing through both panels a bit, tack it and continue.

    I know there is a lot of junk replacement panels out there but for what it's worth I scored both of the outer replacement rocker panels from Rock Auto and they were Goodmark pieces. Right now I think they are low on replacement panels but maybe it will improve.
    Remember the "13"


  8. #8
    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chasracer View Post
    Thanks everyone! I am hoping that posting it's progress here will actually help generate some progress.
    It can keep one motivated.. which is the first step towards *progress*...

  9. #9
    Registered Member chasracer's Avatar
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    Just Another Update

    Worked on '55 a bit more today but it's hot and humid around here again which takes a lot out of me. I should have mowed the back grass but just didn't feel like walking around in that sun.

    First I cut out the firewall and foot board area doing most of it with the plasma cutter. I ended up finishing the cut with the sawsall to get through the front bottom floor supports. I have more cutting to do for getting the rockers in but I'll probably try to save as much good metal as I can now so I have something to attach them too.

    Next up was figuring out getting the body up a bit in the back to fix that upright. I thought I was going to have to go get a 4x4 but I had some leftover 2x4 in the shed that I screwed together instead. I lifted the rear of the car until I had an inch under those rear casters, then I cut the previous brace out and replaced it with a longer one to push that upright closer to being straight. I let the car down and moved it around a little bit - seems okay. The last thing was taking that last bit of frame with the shock mount on it and shoving that over the rear end and into the vacant space in front of it. Then I jacked up the rear end, removed the wheels/tires and set the drums back on those roller plates. I should be able now to turn the rear 90* to the car and roll it out the front. I'm saving that for tomorrow as I can only take so much "car metal" to the dump at one time without someone noticing.

    This pic is just the firewall area that I cut out. I decided to cut it out bigger than I planned and just put the engine where I want it then fab a new firewall/trans cover. The frontend piece there is due for a lot of fab work too unless I suddenly come up with the funds for a Mll frontend.IMG_1105 (2).jpg
    IMG_1083.jpg
    Remember the "13"


  10. #10
    Registered Member chasracer's Avatar
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    And Another One

    Did a couple of hours on Project Shoestring ('55 Chevy). Got the last part of the frame out of the way and into the truck, cut the spring u-bolts and tossed the springs, shocks, other pieces in truck. Moved the rear to the side of the garage and posted it on CL - got one bite but not sure if it's a scam - whenever the first thing they want is the address - it bothers me. Most honest people want to know something about the part first.

    Moved the car body forward and back so I could get most of the dirt cleaned up and decided that moving it out for a wash is probably a good idea. Still got a little bit of cutting to do - rear wheel wells need to come out and part of the rear seat brace area will come out with it. After that my next thing is the inner and outer rocker panels.

    I've been a bit surprised at how quickly everything has gone so far. I was hesitant about a few things but so far no issues so just keep on pushing I suppose. I don't want to go much further without getting the rocker stuff done as I feel like even though the inner ones are gone, there is still some stability provided by the outer metal. Getting all of that replaced to me would strengthen the body and I wouldn't mind cutting out some of the other areas that aren't going to be needed.

    The dash is one area that needs some work too. It's apparent that in one of it's last lives someone was interested in keeping tabs on the engine/drivetrain. I have a nice assortment of instrument holes in the dash and I haven't really figured out yet what I am doing as far as instruments. My preference is to always keep everything right in front of me so I am leaning towards reworking one of the instrument clusters to house a tach in the center and then array some smaller gauges around it. Normally oil, water, trans and vacuum are all I need.

    IMG_1103 (2).jpg
    Remember the "13"


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