57 Chevy Cruizer

[Dave Severson]

Figured I might as well start a build thread on the old beast, I'm really finding it difficult to keep my hands off the project!!!!! Got a lot of old friends calling and coming by, maybe it's time for a South Dakota chapter of the Over the Hill Gang?????

Anyway, I'm going to repost the pics of the day it came home, then just keep adding on and asking a ton of questions--gotta remember, I'm not a Chebbie guy but IMO this car deserves to be put back together with the same intent as the original build back sometime in the mid-60's; small block, straight axle, 4 speed, tilt front, minimal accessories and creature comforts....

I certainly appreciate all the help and ecouragement I've already recieved and with your help I hope to be able to pull this build off correctly and have an authentic looking '57 Chevy Gasser!!!!

So, here we go!!!! Here's to wheels up and bangin' gears!!!!!

[Dave Severson]

I made Thanksgiving Day my day in the shop and spent the time taking the front clip apart. The fenders are surprisingly good, both will require a small patch panel in the bottom rear of the fender, but that's about it. I also removed all the brackets, braces, inner fenderwells, vent ducts, and dissassembled the grille. The bar on the grille where the directional lights go is in three pieces and made of pot metal, I have a plan to glue the thing back together and use it for a plug to make a fiberglass mold... The front bumper is structurally sound and straight, but the chrome is toast....Probably going to replace it with a home built 'glass piece, too.

[Mike P]

Great Dave, it will be real interesting to see how everything comes together. I've been following the other threads on this and having it all in one place will be nice to folllow along.
I'm really looking forward to seeing the fiberglassing.

[Dave Severson]

Thanks Mike, figured it would be easier to keep everything in one place then having stuff spread around in mutiple threads...Please excuse the repetitions, just thought it best to start at the beginning....

Seeing as how I was out in the shop today working on the Plymouth, I spent a bit of time on the front bumper for the '57. I'm going to use it as a plug for a 'glass mold, and thought for looks I'd make the bumper guards part of the plug. As you can see, a lot of the chrome on the bumper was removed by mother nature. I did some grinding with a fine cut stone, then a 24 grit disc to remove the chrome and the nickel. Once I got to the copper coat it was ready to fit and tack one of the bumper guards into place. Still have to touch up my welds (welding by Braille isn't easy!), make a cap for the end of the bumper guard to resemble the shape of the original rubber pieces, some more grinding, remove a bit more of the chrome, then a couple coats of Epoxy primer.

[HOTRODPAINT]

Are you looking for some ideas related to the appearance? ...or do you think you will be able to find history on the car, if in fact it was raced, and do a resto?

Of course appearance is of special interest to me, so I would love to toss a few unusual ideas at you, from the era. :-)

[NTFDAY]

If that front bumper is a true one piece, I wouldn't trash it. It's my understanding that they were only available in California.

[Dave Severson]

Are you looking for some ideas related to the appearance? ...or do you think you will be able to find history on the car, if in fact it was raced, and do a resto?

Of course appearance is of special interest to me, so I would love to toss a few unusual ideas at you, from the era. :-)

No real history on the car as of yet, still searching. A bit of scratching thru the primer shows the car to originally be white... Only plans so far are to fill all the trim holes and maybe a two tone split like the 150 sedans were done. Richard suggested the scheme---no ideas on color yet. But yeah!!! Always open to paint ideas from a pro---but caution, I'm certainly no artist and totally incapable of doing any kind of graphics!!!!!!

[J. Robinson]

Ah, Dave, you're a man after my own heart. I love gassers, especially tri-five Chevys. Back in the 60's they were my favorite cars at the drags. I think half of the gassers at the local track (Indianapolis Raceway Park) were tri-five Chevys. My all-time favorite was Gene Moody's gold '55 Hoosier Hustler. Three or four time NHRA Nats winner and class record holder... Anyway, as I recall, gassers didn't run front bumpers; they weren't required by the rules and bumpers add weight, so - no bumper, no weight... Regardless of bumper or not, I'm gonna enjoy this thread.

[Dave Severson]

If that front bumper is a true one piece, I wouldn't trash it. It's my understanding that they were only available in California.

Ooops. too late...already started welding the bumper guards on! I'll do the bumper with metal finishing and no filler so that it could go out for rechroming if someone wanted it....


Yuppers, it is the one piece bumper!

[Dave Severson]

Ah, Dave, you're a man after my own heart. I love gassers, especially tri-five Chevys. Back in the 60's they were my favorite cars at the drags. I think half of the gassers at the local track (Indianapolis Raceway Park) were tri-five Chevys. My all-time favorite was Gene Moody's gold '55 Hoosier Hustler. Three or four time NHRA Nats winner and class record holder... Anyway, as I recall, gassers didn't run front bumpers; they weren't required by the rules and bumpers add weight, so - no bumper, no weight... Regardless of bumper or not, I'm gonna enjoy this thread.

Yeah, same thing around here....but I gotta be able to take it out on the street to play with the guys, so even a 'glass bumper will meet the criteria for the law here in South Dakota.... It'll be light, for sure!! The original one weighs a ton!!!!

[HOTRODPAINT]

Actually I was going to start by asking things like:

...what kind of intake you want to use... and maybe a scoop idea or two.

...things like a Moon tank out front, like many early sixties gassers ran. Nowdays they use it as a radiator overflow tank... but it looks good out there.

...and other things that will come back to me. :-)

As far as graphics, a few things that were popular on gassers then would be pretty simple to do. A color from that era, plus a great name to give it personality.... and you would be "Rockin'!

[Dave Severson]

Actually I was going to start by asking things like:

...what kind of intake you want to use... and maybe a scoop idea or two.

...things like a Moon tank out front, like many early sixties gassers ran. Nowdays they use it as a radiator overflow tank... but it looks good out there.

...and other things that will come back to me. :-)

Got to be either a tunnel ram or a set of Hilborn's!!!! and definitely the cute little Moon tank, and of course fenderwell headers!!! Couldn't be a gasser without them!

I would like to do something mild to the hood....Any thoughts on what the guys did to the two little humps on the hood???? I doubt they left the chrome thingies on there?????

[J. Robinson]

Gasser rules in the 60s allowed for a 10% engine setback. If memory serves me correctly, '57 Chevy has a 115 inch wheelbase, so you can shove the engine back up to 11.5 inches if you want. That's measured from the centerline of the front spindles to the # 1 sparkplug. The engine being shoved back into a recessed firewall was part of the reason for using a one-piece tilt front end - easier engine access.

[HOTRODPAINT]

Probably the most common thing on '57s was to fill the front holes with a bullet shaped cap welded in.

As far as scoops... if your injector stacks aren't going to be tall enought to come through the hood... which I don't think the smallblocks ever did... one great scoop would be the aluminum ribbed scoop from the big Ford trucks. It had a little grill on the front, and was used on the Pontiac factory F/X cars from the early sixities. They often showed up on many other racers. Cal Custom made a similar scoop, but without the grill of course. (I'll see if I can find pictures.)

Fiberglass scoops that I recall were generally a half round shape, a little taller and wider in the front. Sometimes they were molded in... but more often just flanged and bolted on.

The early tunnel ram style scoops, with the concave sides would be neat...but didn't come until later in the sixties. I don't think I saw many on 55-57s, since they did not need that much height.

Another approach might be to use a wide early blower scoop... like on the Hawaiian... bolted to the top of your injectors... but only if they were tall enough to put it through the hood.

Of course you could create your own design... but might lose that nostalgic look.

I'll give that color choice some thought, and offer up some ideas. (I love the "design" phase of a project!) :-)~

[Dave Severson]

Gasser rules in the 60s allowed for a 10% engine setback. If memory serves me correctly, '57 Chevy has a 115 inch wheelbase, so you can shove the engine back up to 11.5 inches if you want. That's measured from the centerline of the front spindles to the # 1 sparkplug. The engine being shoved back into a recessed firewall was part of the reason for using a one-piece tilt front end - easier engine access.

Thanks Jim!!!! couldn't remember what the rule said, but 10% works great with my initial measurements!!! I think another rule was that the centerline of the crankshaft could be no more then 24" from the ground?????

I know the Class was determined by weight to cubic inch, 9.5 pounds per cube I think would be a D/Gas car by the old rules??? So, at 3200 pounds a 327 would have been the engine, and a 301 for the lighter cars......