55 E/G – New old ride

Made a short summary of this adventure, the re-creation of an old dream.

12/13/11 Picked up the 55 Chevy in NC
12/14/11 Started disassembly
12/27/11 Cut the wheel well (Like Casey’s)
02/28/12 Engine and trans installed for fit
01/17/12 Car taken to Media blast and stripped
01/31/12 Etch prime the body
02/02/12 New front brakes and front suspension
02/07/12 Sheet metal panels made for floor & firewalls
02/15/12 Rear end housing removed for clean, paint and new center section
02/21/12 Rear end complete & ready to install
02/24/12 Rear end and rear suspension installed
03/13/12 Trunk about complete and painted
04/24/12 Start to weld floor and wirewall panels in place
04/28/12 Headers welded
05/03/12 New coated headers installed
05/10/12 Got the fiberglass front end
05/09/12 Water pump, front distributor and alternator installed
05/14/12 Fuel system in place
05/19/12 Engine and trans removed to complete work on both
05/31/12 Engine and trans installed to stay
06/07/12 Fitting front end and hood – wiring started
06/13/12 Car taken to fab shop for hanging doors & extending front fenders
06/23/12 Car back home and starting to fit doors
06/30/12 Radiator installed
07/01/12 First paint added to the body
07/10/12 Rear bumper added and painted
07/13/12 Basic body painted
07/15/12 Start to install windows
07/17/12 First graphic added to the car & all the windows are in
07/20/12 Hood and front end are painted
07/21/12 Al the graphics are added and the front bumper painted
07/24/12 New fuel pump installed
07/29/12 The car is ready to load on trailer for the trip north
08/08/12 Finish assembling the car in Connecticut at my son Ronny’s place
08/10/12 Arrive at Lebanon Valley NY
08/11/12 First two times the car goes down any dragstrip
08/12/12 Made several adjustments & make six more runs on the track
08/14/12 Picture same spot as it was picked up 8 months & 1 day later

Pete……Thanks for the comments. Met lots of guys and gals at the track that stopped by to say they were following along as the postings were added. I got to say it was postings and PM’s like yours that sure helped me get the 55 to Lebanon Valley. It was a lot of work but it was fun for me to get there at all.
Thinking back several miracles happened to even get the project started. Mary found the car in New York to start with, Cheryl’s daily shop visits and picture taking, the help along the way, like Bobby coming to do the welding, Keith making the graphics, Mary sealing the inside and making the carpet, Rich helping get some of the parts, the inspiration from many of the ODF’s on the site, Dino and Brian for the pictures and the site, Pat sending decals and several parts and my son Ronny driving me to make sure he had me to race for the fourth time in our history. Seems like the list goes on and on.
I have been asked if I built the car myself. As you can see from the list above, it would not have been done at all if it wasn’t for friends and family. Thank you everyone above and anyone I may not have included by name on the list.

Things slowed down since the race is over but not stopped. We have started back working on the 55. Changed the rear end gears, changed the rear coil springs to a heaver set. Working on increasing the rear ride height to fit the slicks on the back and modify the crossbar to make the car more stable.
Than we are going to make the car street legal. That means all the street wiring for headlights, tail lights, signals, horn etc. Exhaust, have the tubing but it needs to be fitted and cut. The exhaust will be 4″ from the headers to the rear bumper.

Got the 4″ exhaust under the 55. Have temporary clamps holding the exhaust system in place while I fabricate some perminate clamping. Started it up with the straight pipes, the sound is the same as with open headers except the noise comes out the back of the car. Than I tried the old super comp mufflers at the end of the pipes. Still loud but sounds like a couple of 60’s steel pac mufflers. This is going to be a fun street car. 😀

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Couple of pictures of the almost completed 4″ exhaust system on the 55.
The slicks are mounted and almost ready to test the car soon.

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