November 13th 2009
After talking to my dad's friend Bob, (I like to call him a mechanical genius) I decided to look for a early S-10 truck chassis for several reasons; front disc brakes, a narrow frame that will allow the wheels to turn with out rubbing the fenders, it has strait frame rails allowing for easy modification and they are relatively cheap. After months of looking I discovered I have been walking by one everyday. It was a block and a half from my school. To add to the irony, the guy I bought it from has power mechanics at the same time I do. With help of my power mech teacher, we dragged it to the school on a Sunday afternoon. The truck is a 1984 Chevrolet s-10 2WD Regular cab with a long box and about the only place it hasn't rusted is the roof. You wouldn't believe the amount of tinfoil and bondo! Which really isn't a issue as I really only want the frame (thankfully). The wheelbase on the other hand is a issue, the trucks wheelbase is 118 inches while the 47' is 116 inches. With the strait frame rails it should be a simple chop and weld with the help of the schools welding department.
I have spent the last few weeks stripping the truck down to the frame, salvaging what ever I can with the help of my power mech class. I plan to use the steering column and the seat among other things. Another twist however boring it might be; I actually sold the door handles back to PJ, he needs them for his Trans-Am he's building. The 2.8 litre motor and tranny have been removed along with all the front end sheet metal, and the interior. Tomorrow I plan to get started on taking that cab and box off.
Back to the 47'; we drove out once more to Vava Voom Garage the day after dragging my truck to school in hopes of throwing some 6 bolt Datsun truck wheels on the car. Another Bob idea, he just happened to have 4 that I could borrow, they even had winter tread on them! You know, just in case the trailer was icy. Believe it or not they fit, and it rolled on up Paul's 17 foot flat deck trailer just fine. Under the watchful eye of Muffie the dog and Marylin Mason the cat... but that is another story. Anyways I spent all day waiting for something to go wrong, I guess I was bit paranoid after a year of setbacks but the car made it safe and sound to school.
While out at Vava Voom Bill and I tried to fit a regular sedan trunk lid on the the car, while they may look identical they are just a tiny bit different. Along with a trunk lid I've been looking out for a pair of aerosedan doors as the ones on the car have rusted completely away from the base of the door up to the window cranks.
While surfing Kijiji I found a add selling a pair of 1942 Chevrolet Aerosedan doors and a trunk lid for a very reasonable price. After a quick call to Uncle Bill to confirm they would fit, my dad and I set out to meet John and we made the deal. The doors are miles ahead of the ones on the car glass and trim included. While talking to him and having a look at his many projects including a 56' 4dr Buick and a Triumph Tr6 he mentioned that he had Turbo 400 he was looking to sell. A week later we returned with money and bought the tranny. The guy John bought it from said it was all rebuilt but he suggested we go through it just in case.
As for a motor, I've got a 500 cubic inch Cadillac motor all line up, from... You guessed it, Bob. It needs a rebuild and with the #20 series camshaft from Maximum Torque Specialties with assorted valve springs and such it should make a claimed 500 horsepower and 650 foot pounds of torque with out blowing up when I step on it.
That is it for now, updates will depend on progress!
Beginning: June 27, 2009
My First car and project at 17 is going to be a 1947 Chevy Areosedan. It's coming home sometime this week after being picked out from Vava Voom Garage. In December 08' my dad took me to check the car out. The car was under a couple of feet of snow. It started out as a Canadian Pontiac but Bill Harrison of Vava Voom didn't have the one year hood so he attached a Chevy front clip for me. You should check out his website:
http://www.vavavoomgarage.com. Down the road I plan to take a 80's GM - G body chassis and floor pan and do my best to mount the body around it, lowering the cars stance. Once I have something that rolls and and goes around corners I'm going to build myself pre-emission regulations 500ci Cadillac motor. I haven't decided whether to build it up naturally asiprated or to supercharge it but I aim to make about 550 horsepower at the flywheel. The 500's going to be hooked up to a 6 speed standard of some description and for a rear end it will likely end up with a Ford 9 inch with somewhere between 3.55:1 and 3.73:1 gears. I plan to keep the interior classic looking but probably not original. As for paint something close to corvette yellow will cover the body and the block. I'm also looking at making it push button start, with the start button hidden in the shifter. If anyone has any ideas, comments, or parts I'd love to hear from them!
Fun Facts:
- We paid the car off the day they closed down the Pontiac Division at general motors... Spooky!
- My dad slipped, fell and hurt his ankle real bad while we were inspecting the car. He walked on it for another 6 weeks before it got x-rayed and declared broken