1955 Chevrolet Bel Air More Door For A 16 Year Old

[Rusty Nail]

Id run one of those fast enough to make your head spin but I ain't never stepped over one that was for sale.

+wow@770s

 

[78C10BigTen]

Now that the engine and trans are out of the car it sits quite tall in the driveway.
That is around 900 pounds of iron out of the car.
Cast iron Powerglides are monsters.

So he now has the engine and trans separated.
The engine is sitting on a stand and he has been pulling it apart, working on figuring out why it is seized.

He got the heads off and we then started to see that somebody had been in the engine at one time.
The pistons have .030 stamped on them.
So we started to run some of the casting numbers on the various parts.

Intake is stock 265, not a big surprise.
Exhaust manifolds again, stock.
Cylinder heads, 1958 Corvette used in 4BBL, Dual 4BBL, and Fuel Injected V-8 cars.
Wait, what?
We have a real honest set of Corvette fuelie heads in our hands?
Engine block is just a run of the mill 265 as well, we were hoping it was the 283 block as well.

So I quickly did some more google searching and verification of the casting numbers and they sure are. Somebody loved this thing at some point in its life.

They are the correct casting number, date code, and show all the signs that the fancy pants vette guys look for when doing a concours restoration.

They decode to being manufactured on January 3rd and 6th and include the little "X58" casting mark as well.

We may have found some gold in this old rust bucket....

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FOOKIN AWESOME!!!! Thanks for learning me on that cast number, gunna keep my eyes peeled in the scrap job!

 

[Rusty Nail]

No accessory holes.

 

[nabeshin]

So how much will a Corvette fool with too much money pay for those heads? Maybe you can fund the whole engine build with new aluminum heads.

 

[Rusty Nail]

I'm not 100% but you would at least have to switch alternator brackets and ive got no clue what you'd have to do with the PS/AC on the other side...I think they were switched sides back then, the market for those sure would be small but the right guy would pay a ton for the date codes he needed...wouldnt he? Do people even do stuff like that anymore? I dont think so...they're practically worthless by most of today's stanards.

Cool nonetheless but not worth the shelf space anymore.
Too much novelty not enough market

 

[HotRodPC]

If you're not worried about keeping it all OEM, then I'd do away with the 265 and I'd source a 283 or small journal 327 up to 1967. All the small journal engines were forged steel crank. ALL OF THEM, not just trucks or just vettes, ALL OF THEM are forged crank engines. I'd also run the power pack heads or the double humps and sell those vette heads since they'd likely bring good money.

 

[Vbb199]

This is a great project. I like it.

Hoping a day will come maybe 1 of my girls will wanna do stuff with dad.

 

[Catbox]

the market for those sure would be small but the right guy would pay a ton for the date codes he needed...wouldnt he?
I dont think so...they're practically worthless by most of today's stanards.

Cool nonetheless but not worth the shelf space anymore.
Too much novelty not enough market

You are correct.
They aren't worth much to anybody but a feller doing a full stock resto on a '58 Vette.
I have the space to store them until he finds me selling them...

If you're not worried about keeping it all OEM, then I'd do away with the 265 and I'd source a 283 or small journal 327 up to 1967. All the small journal engines were forged steel crank. ALL OF THEM, not just trucks or just vettes, ALL OF THEM are forged crank engines. I'd also run the power pack heads or the double humps and sell those vette heads since they'd likely bring good money.

We have a '66 283 in the garage.
But it needs a full rebuild at this time.
So we are going to buy a fully rebuilt '68 307 / Turbo 400 combo from a friend.
It only has 2500 miles on it as he just LS swapped the truck it was in.
The 307 is not a major powerhouse, but it is plenty for a kid and the price is right for $1000.

So how much will a Corvette fool with too much money pay for those heads? Maybe you can fund the whole engine build with new aluminum heads.

There are just a couple of sets that I could find for sale at this time.
They were all around $1000 to $1300 for the pair.
So when we clean them up and list them, we will be under that to try and swipe a sale from the other sellers.

 

[Catbox]

The other day whilst trolling the net for information on his car, he found a guy that cuts keys for it online.
He sent the number code on the lock cylinder and in a few days he has a set of keys for it finally.
Of course the ignition cylinder has been changed from stock, so we still don't have that one.
I do have a locksmith friend though...

Here is the engine he is going to pick up again.

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[idahovette]

You gonna keep the exhaust manifolds on that? I got a friend building a 63 Nova who's looking for those manifolds. Or give me the GM number on that manifold. I have a set of sbc tri-five headers too if you are interested. What ever you do, that should be a great engine/trans combo for the 55, enough, but not TOO much right now for him!!!

 

[shiftpro]

I don't like this thread, it's giving me ideas that would seriously harm my current life plans...

 

[Rusty Nail]

Yeah like I sure wish I had a 307 crankshaft..to put in a 267 block.

Matter of fact I wish I had a 55 BelAir to build a 250c.i. V8 for...light blue even ... that would be fine.

 

[Catbox]

@Maxwellvis has been hard at it this week on his car.
He has drilled the stock chassis rivets out that are used to locate the new side engine mounts.
As well while he was in there he did some simple cleanup of road crap and what not on the chassis.

Just this morning he got up early and pulled the front clip off.
You can see the truck is playing a roll in this as well, toolbox stand.

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Now the whole front clip is off and in the backyard.
Where he can start cleaning it up and getting the underside of things a fresh coat of paint eventually.

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[Todd449]

Keep it going! Looks awesome!

 

[78C10BigTen]

@Maxwellvis has been hard at it this week on his car.
He has drilled the stock chassis rivets out that are used to locate the new side engine mounts.
As well while he was in there he did some simple cleanup of road crap and what not on the chassis.

Just this morning he got up early and pulled the front clip off.
You can see the truck is playing a roll in this as well, toolbox stand.

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Now the whole front clip is off and in the backyard.
Where he can start cleaning it up and getting the underside of things a fresh coat of paint eventually.

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Now following @Maxwellvis to watch progress. Keep it up!