Okay, I left you hanging with the story of getting the car back to Tennessee. So now I have this car... It gets registered... titled....insured and driven around.
The engine was a mostly stock small block Chevrolet 350. It was spectactulary stock (It had a slightly larger than stock cam, but the car clearly deserved a meaner idle). Any car that looks like this needs an idle that commands attention. It should make babies instantly cry and inject primal fear into anyone that scares easily. I can't tell you how many times I have "cammed" and engine just so it sounds right. I have learned over the years to approach the engine as a system, but rest assured it's going to have a cam that is on the extreme side of lift and duration that still allows the car to work. Smooth idles flat out suck. This is easy when you have a manual transmission - they are much more forgiving than the automatics when it comes to cam size. Anyway, let's just say that the engine didn't set me on fire. Sure, it was fast, but I needed to be thrilled when I hit the loud pedal..... 300 horsepower wasn't even close to enough. There's another reason for my next step too. There are tons and tons of street rods out there and I would say that a full 90% of them have the same orange Small Block Chevy 350 powering them. Some go for the old school look and try to hide it under a fake set of "Oldsmobile Rocket" valve covers, while others are buried under a mountain of billet aluminum parts. No judgement here (at this time anyway), but a person doesn't get a car like this to blend in. It's such a yawn-fest to see row after row of the same engine wrapped up by different car bodies. These engines are cheap and easy to make power.....
Only one cure for this.... I neede a bigger engine. It just so happens that I used to have a 1969 Chevelle Malibu that I bought in California. It was the real deal as far as muscle cars go.... Plain steel wheels, 4 speed, the interior was unchanged since 1969... as a matter of fact the only changes the car had seen in 30 years was the drivetrain. The engine was a 6-71 blown aluminum headed 454 that came with a dyno sheet of an honest-to-goodness 1000hp. One thousand horspower on tap is a mind blowing amount of horsepower for a stock chassis car to absorb.... especially considering the lack of handling that these things had to begin with. Wow, this is getting long winded, so I'll summarize. Engine didn't live long, rebuilt it, detuned it to a mere 750 HP (pump gas friendly), still too much power for the car, pulled it and built a 406 cubic inch small block, sold the car (with 58,000 original miles on it), traded the small block engine to my brother who traded it to my father... who let it sit for 8 years.
Whew. I need to get some pictures scanned so I can keep this semi-interesting. There are alot more facets to the story.... but this is about the Coupe..... so I digress....
Let's see... needed a bigger engine... oh yes. It just so happens that my Dad had this 406 inch small block sitting around. Now this engine is a very pump gas friendly aluminum headed 450 horsepower engine. In a car like the coupe there are things that just can't be hidden. It's not an engine that can be disguised as a stocker that surprises someone only after the gas pedal is floored. Nope, this thing advertises it's intentions from the very beginning. Aluminum heads, aluminum water pump, single plane high rise intake, Barry Grant emblems on the carburetor, Fluidamper. Once the engine is started, there are no questions about speed.
After a quick and insanely good deal (My Dad doesn't even own a Chevrolet) I put it in the car - it's a direct swap (external dimensions are identical). To the uninitiated it can still pass as a 350... or 305 if they don't know Chevy motors.
Out came the 350 and it was whisked off by a coworker for very little money. Now the fun began...
What started off as a minor project immediately got a nasty start. A little background: When I first looked at the car (back in AZ) I noticed a few things that were not exactly confidence builders. The rear end was suspended by springs that were bolted on the rear housing with generic aftermarket perches. Now, what this means (to the uninitiated) is that someone put a 12 bolt rear (nice strong piece) in the car and got cheap (and maybe unsafe) with how they did it. There were a few things that were questionable.... funky welds, homemade brackets, etc, but hey, this wasn't a race car or even anything close to show quality. Plus this stuff was well hidden and what did show (as far as the frame and suspension) was top notch.
Now for the nastiness..... the car would shake and the frame would pop and emit strange noises when it was pushed semi-hard. After I pulled the engine out, I saw what I thought was the reason. The crossmember that the engine bolted to was not only homemade, but it was cracked completely through. This can't be good. This piece was shabby looking at best (damn I need to figure out this picture thing). It was a rough piecve of metal that was thankfully hidden by the installed engine. Time to buy a welder. This was the excuse I was looking for to get one! I couldn't expect to have a 74 year old car and not have the capabilities to stick metal back together, could I? Luckily one of my coworkers welded for years and years and I conned him into coming over and welding the crossmember back together under the guise of teaching me. His welding (partially mine too) was by far the best looking part of the crossmember).
Now, when I put the new engine in place, there was an immediately noticeable problem. The engine was crooked. Very crooked. If this was a car with a hood and fenders to hide the engine, I may have been tempted to let it go. But with the sidepipe exhaust and open engine compartment... it was painfully obvious that the crossmember we just repaired had probably been broken on purpose to keep the engine level. I was now on my own to remove a motor mount and fabricate a motor mount that would align the engine correctly. The friend that helped me weld inspired me to go on by telling me that any mistake I made welding could be easily undone with a grinder. I kept repeating this to myself and in the end the mount was another visual improvement. To me anyway. I would proudly point it out to anyone looking at the car and get the same glazed over look back. It was just a motor mount after all.
The engine went in with minimal fuss and after a quick head gasket change (after all it had been sitting for 8 years) it was off and running. I think it was the second or third time I took the car out I realized the error of my ways. The car had a 4 speed automatic and the tires were 15.5 inches wide each. If I dared stomp the gas in 1st gear (and I did dare), I was rewarded with one rear tire screaming in protest as it went up in smoke. Shift to second and I get more of the same with limited forward motion. The sound of the engine was intoxicating, either idling or at full chat. It was all fun and games until it got traction. This car was capable of speeds it could never stop from, and keep in mind that it still shook and rattled it's way down the road. It was seriously over powered and I loved it. This is the form it would stay in for the next couple of years. I had heard about making race cars stiffer, and suddenly I understood why. Until you have felt a chassis flex and twist under the loads an engine like this can generate, well, you just haven't lived.
I pushed the car to over 100 mph once. Now before you get ready to tell me that your Grandma's minivan can do that, let me explain a few things. Harley Davidson riders think their bikes are fast. Why is that? Because the sensation of speed is a lot different. Those bikes shudder and thud their way up to speed and the wind noise, engine noise, and riding position generate a sensation that tells the rider that indeed they are going fast. If it's a Harley, chances are they aren't. I used to have a Suzuki Hayabusa. For those of you that know, enough said. This thing was real world capable of a factory limited (thanks Europe!) 186 mph (Which I did hit - and I did know that I was going very, very fast). Anyway, 110 mph was a cruising speed on this bike. 70 mph felt like I could get off of the motorcycle and walk next to it. Different perspectives of speed. Back to the Coupe....
The sensation of speed was insane in the car. It was loud, lots of wind noise and the feeling of stability just wasn't there. This really lent itself to feeling like you are about to break a world speed record at 60 mph... not to mention that 60 came in around 3 or 4 seconds.... Most cars feel comfortable even when you're a little "out of shape" and lost traction or drift, etc. This car was like an on/off switch when it comes to control. Get it slightly out of shape and you stand a good chance of barrel rolling to an ugly ending. At 95 on a straight section of interstate I knew I was a wind gust, tire pop, idiotic lane change away from ugliness, but I had to get to THE TON (100 mph). Mission accomplished, not to be voluntarily repeated.
Obviously, this had to change. It was fun to have that kind of power on tap, but I'd like to live to tell the tale. I was browsing the internet looking at these old cars and I was sent down a path of inevitable change by a car for sale. Another 1934 Coupe (This time a 3 window Chevy). It was yellow and had a supercharged Big block Chevy motor in it. Former "World's Fastest 1934 Chevy Coupe" according to the owner. It was wicked for sure. I was at a crossroads.... do I sell my car and buy this one? It's exactly what I wanted.... This kind of thing can keep a man awake at night. I need some serious chassis work on my coupe, but we're talking thousands and thousands of dollars and more work that I have ever done to a car before. Sure, I have swapped engines, transmissions, rear ends, etc. I've even tackled manual/automatic conversions. Hmmmmmm, what to do? Well, step 1 was to sell my motorcycle. Not only would this buy me time, but the wallet limits the amount of toys we can have at the same time, right? This process started me down an unexped path once again. The best laid plans of hot rodders NEVER work out the way we expect.
More to come... I am going to try and load some pictures....
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