The need to drive it.

Need, want, desire, call it what you will, it’s a well documented GUY THING that when you buy a vehicle, new or old the priority is to drive it ASAP and if it’s a vehicle you’ve always wanted and the motor runs, it’s even more urgent. Legal or not and I’m not admitting to anything here but how else are you going to find out what the vehicle needs to make it run and stop right and to make it legal to drive on the street without taking it for a drive? Not to mention the fact that you just have to drive it at least once. For all you know, I may have had it towed to an appropriate venue to undertake this requirement / urge. Anyway let’s move on.

The first thing I did to make it legal to drive whenever I felt like it was to ask mates who had been here before and to get on the internet and find out what was required to make this thing safe and legal.

In order of importance to make it legal to drive on Qld roads, you require a Modification Plate for any modifications undertaken to improve the safety of the vehicle, including fitting of seat belts etc a Safety Certificate / Roadworthy Certificate from a registered inspector and a copy of the Import Approval paperwork to present to Qld Transport to obtain Registration.

Here is a list of what I did to the car to make this happen:

1. Change the front seats from swivel buckets to original split bench seat(made a good deal on a front seat and complete new repro interior kit) Obtained an original back seat frame and powder coated it and had it covered with the kit cover.
2. Bought and installed new approved seat belts both front and back.
3. Changed and updated wheels and tyres.
4. Installed a new exhaust system.
5. Installed new local made headlights.
6. Installed new front shock absorbers.
7. Adjusted the hand brake.
8. Fitted a new alternator (reliability).
9. Fitted a new radiator (reliability).

Well that was about all that was required to get it to the stage where I could now present the car for the above inspections and ultimately Qld Registration.

Yippee I was now able to drive EMP 56 legally on the road.

• The guys from Race Car Performance. (parts & advice)
• The Dept. of Infrastructure. (advice)
• The Dept. of Transport Qld. ( Help in Registration)
• The guys from Eagle Performance. (parts & advice)
• Phil from Chevy Thunder Down Under. (back seat frame)
• Shaun from AJ’s Towing. (er towing)
• Rod from Carman Upholstery. ( figure it out)
• Randall from AVCS for Mod Plating. ( and again)
• John from Gasolene Alley Restorations. (seat belts)
• Dan from Autobarn Slacks Creek. (parts & advice)
• Matt from Mr Plastics for help & advice.
• Matt & from Bayside Powder Coating (powder coating & sand blasting)
• Men @ Work Exhaust Capalaba.
• And of course Nathan and all those other Chevy nuts who put their 10c worth in.
• Once again that’s all for this week, back again with chapter 3 next week where we meet Darren the wonder Kiwi.

The Stripper.

That would be Nathan’s mate Darren from the land of the long white cloud and the city of gale force winds(Wellington, NZ).
Darren is one of those guys who is a man of many talents as far as all things auto, mechanical and gadgetry is concerned.
He did his apprenticeship as a mechanic in a small suburban garage, you know the one’s where you are expected to do a bit of any and everything.

Originally I was going to have the Chevy paneled and painted, by a couple of very talented young Brisbane guys. These guys are trying to make a name for themselves in the area for their bodywork skills, however they were booked up until early 2013 before they could start on my project.
It just so happened that Darren was between jobs as a fabricator/operator of camera mobile vehicles for the NZ film industry and was looking for a change.
I was very impressed with what I had seen of his work on vehicle restoration he has undertaken, including panel and paint. Considering I had set a goal to have the Chevy completed, and to make it’s debut at the Street Rod Nationals on the Gold Coast at Easter. I decided that Darren was the man for the job if I was going to make this goal.

Yeah I know you have been patient up till now but I can hear more and more of you chanting, WHAT ABOUT THE STRIPPER? Ok, well some of you will be disappointed but most of you, like myself would love to have a guy like Darren doing the STRIPPING of the car while you carry on with your day to day existence.
From the undoing of the first bolt on the Chevy, right up until there was nothing more to undo on the car to get all the body parts and chassis to media blasting.
Then to ascertain what needed to be replaced or just refurbished and kept to go back onto the car during the rebuild, Darren has been invaluable.

Darren is not only carrying out the bodywork on the Chevy, he is also carrying out most of the mechanical rebuild as well, already seeing his work so far, I am sure I have made the right decision in hiring him. Anyway that’s where we’re at as far as Darren getting stuck into the Chevy and the progress so far. Next week I will cover the ideas, plans and just how far we are going to update EMP 56.

How far do we go?

The age old question when you decide to ‘do up’ the old bomb is, how far do we go? I think a lot of the decision making comes down to a number of factors like:

• What you have to start with.
• What style of car you want to end up with.
• Whether you want to restore or modify the car.
• How long you want to spend on the rebuild.
• How much time on a regular basis (say weekly) can you devote to it without it interfering with your normal / family life?
• How much you want to spend and, how much you can afford to spend on the rebuild without it ruining you.

Above all, you have to keep in the back of your mind that this bomb you are about to do up is ultimately for your enjoyment.
It’s a hobby, so it’s not a matter of life or death if you don’t have it completed in the initial timeframe you set yourself.
Having said all that, I have set myself some goals and ideas as to when I want the car to be completed and what I want the car to look like and drive like.

At this stage Darren is ploughing along full-time on the Chevy and it would be nice to have it back on the road in time for the Street Rod Nationals at Easter.
But hey, if this doesn’t happen for one reason or another, so be it. We know the river doesn’t always flow smoothly and that we will be held up waiting for parts etc. at some stage. There’s no need to beat yourself or anyone else up about it. Ultimately, the stress isn’t worth it and you may well have less time to enjoy it when you finally finish it if you ever get that far. (stress kills).

OK, so what am I going to do to get the Chevy to look and drive how I imagine it will? Firstly because the car was already modified, (non original motor and box) I’ve decided to go RESTO MOD style.
The body will stay as near to original as possible, except for the colour, it will change to dark gun metal gray on the bottom and a medium silver on the top.
This should look good with all the bright work either rechromed, repolished or renewed. The running gear is being left pretty much as is with just a few additions to the motor such as:

• a new 650 Holley carby,
• a new Edelbrock Air Gap manifold,
• a new timing chain and,
• a new oil pump, as there were no serious issues with the motor when tested(why fix it if it ain’t broken?)

The rest is mostly just dress up.
The other major change to the running gear is to replace the Muncie 4 speed with a Turbo 400 auto, this is just preference as the Chevy is going to be a cruiser not a racer.
The diff, although in good nick is still to be decided on.
I’m also adding power steering, power brakes and disks on the front with a new booster and master cylinder and brake lines etc..

Well that’s the basic idea of where I am headed and progressing with project 56 at this stage.
As we are now heading into the silly season and there will be chaos in the shed(work) as well as supply houses being either closed or unable to ship parts, I’ve decided to leave the next chapter until the first week in the new year.
Hope you all have a happy, safe and fun Xmas with your lot, from my lot, Trudi, Nathan, daughters Krysia and Lisa, Darren the wonder Kiwi and me. CHEERS.

Repairs, replacement and rebuilding.

Ok so I’ve been a bit slack for the start of 2013 in getting this chapter of the rebuild down on paper so to speak, but the work on the Chevy is still progressing steadily.
Darren has been very busy completing the panelbeating on the right side of the car and before tackling the left side he has also painted the chassis after it arrived back from the sandblasters.
Although not badly damaged Darren has had to give the chassis a bit of a tweak here and there to get it back to scratch after a couple of accidents the car suffered way back when.
I’m still amazed at how rust free the chassis is after all these years.
The front and rear suspension has also been installed after receiving all new bushes etc, and a good coat of black chassis paint.
The new power steering box and reconditioned arms etc have also been installed.

I have the rebuilt Turbo Hydro 400 automatic back from the Gearbox Shop down the road and Nathan cleaned it up before Darren painted it.
I have sorted out conversion parts to mount it in the chassis behind the 400 cu smallblock to replace the Muncie 4 speed.
I’ve also ordered the Lockar shifter and it should be here any day now. As well as installing the running gear over the next week or two, the next job on the agenda is to install the rest of the new front disk brake conversion and the brake and fuel lines.

Darren has been out of town for the last couple of weeks due to other work commitments but should be back this week to get back into the rest of the panelbeating etc.
All is looking better that I imagined considering the tightish budget and timeline we have set to get this project completed.
The idea from the outset wasn’t to skimp or cut corners in the rebuild, but to get the Chevy looking and performing as well as we could without going overboard and making it unpractical as a regular driver.

Well once again that’s about it for this week and apologies for being a bit late with this chapter.
Thanks must go this week to those who have helped out this year so far including but not limited to;

• The Gearbox Shop Slacks Creek.
• Joe’s Automotive Slacks Creek.
• All About Suspension Slacks Creek.
• Bob Otto,( Gage recalibration ).
• Harts Paint Supply Slacks Creek.
• Fulcrum Suspension Fairfield.
• Classic Chev Parts in Melbourne.
• Ian from Real Steel Chev Parts in Newcastle.

A special thanks must go to Madleine who sent me an email with great feedback regarding these blogs on the web about Project 56.
At least I now know someone else is keeping up with it and it’s not just me keeping a record of the rebuild for myself.
CHEERS.

Repairs, replacement and rebuilding.

Man it’s good each time you reach another milestone on the road to completion. We now have a chassis with all the running gear installed and attached to one another (engine, gearbox & diff). Because we changed gearboxes from manual to auto we had to play around with mounts for both the engine and the gearbox. Although the mounts are in place and everything lines up ok they still need final strengthening & fixing in place. We also had to obtain a new driveshaft yolk to match the Turbo 400 auto gearbox. Speaking of the gearbox, spot the new "Lokar shifter", what a thing of beauty, as well as the old skool look it’s also nicely mounted and will be very comfortable to use.

The other thing that has been installed is the power steering pump. Now we need to run the hoses between the pump and the new steering box.
As the rear brakes had been redone with new shoes and cylinders just before I bought the Chevy, the only thing that needed replacing in the rear end was the handbrake cable (which has also been redone now).
So apart from the plumbing, for which I picked up some nice Stainless Steel clips for the brake and fuel lines at the Toowoomba Swap Meet and a few minor fittings for the gearbox and engine, the chassis is all but good to go. Darren is right back into the body work now, and how good is that looking, but that’s another chapter, so I should have more to report next chapter on progress in that area.

Thanks this chapter must go to, besides Darren and Nathan, the following;

• Performance Wholesale Slacks Creek.
• Driveline Services Archerfield.
• Specifix Fasteners Slacks Creek
• Eagle Performance Slacks Creek

And remember to always try to support your local businesses where possible, oh and I can’t get over how many people who see the chassis for the first time from all sorts of backgrounds and ages know it’s a Tri Five Chevy, amazing! And the little five year old who saw the chassis as it sits the other day and commented to his Mum “ what a neat invisible car”, You gotta love them. Till next time.
Cheers.