"55" Project

PROJECT "55" CHEVY BELAIR

Sunday Oct 19

We purchased this 1955 chevy belair one year ago with the idea of turning a quick build. The car was already started and everyhing needed came with the car plus extra pieces. Well, we thought so. "rebuilt" 265 started and would you believe that it had a lower end rattle to it. Nice sound. I don't think the rebuild consisted of taking the engine apart. Perhaps it was an STP rebuild. The Powerglide leaked like it was an oil pipeline. The interior pieces look like someone bought them at a swap meet.

We then changed course and let it set for a year.

July 1, 2008

And begins the saga of the Project "55"

We were in Galesburg at a closing auction. Lo and behold here were a set of doors for a "57" chevy convertable. We wound up paying a huge sum of $120.00 for the doors and two front fenders.

Another person bought the whole rear clip for next to nothing then sold it on
EBay for $$$$$$$

By the way, we still have the two front "57" chevy fenders. Eyebrows are not rusted through. The lower rear is rusted to nothing but the frame of it is there. Name a price.

I acted as a buyer in searching out sources for this build as Derrek is busy on a customer project.

We sat down and started a project sheet of what parts we were going to need and how much it was going to cost. (Simple industrial engineering) Estimate then go way over. Set a budget and bust it. Get estimates then wonder why the vendor didn't meet the estimate.

We figured that we would have 18 to 20K in the build not counting labor. Nice "55" chevys are going for 45 to 120k and this will be a nice 1955 Chevy two door BelAir with Foose wheels, LT1 4L60E engine trans. Beautiful interior Allante Celadon green with Optima leather Titanium inserts, a green carpet and the headliner of the same Celadon light green. The exterior will be totally black "glass slick" two miles deep HOC paint.

How do you decide what you want to do with a car? How does a composer find a song? An artist a vision? A dreamer a dream? It just happens inside your head.

Look what we found on EBAY for $500.00. It's a 9C1with a 4L60E. It's easy to identify a 9C1 because it has lifetime green hoses. Extra coolers, and cast Iron heads. don't buy one that you have to overhaul though. Regular rings and the such won't fit in here and the replacements are pricy. Be sure to get the computer with it. $75.00 extra on this buy. Oops, no maf sensor. Another $35.00. It's programmed different. Shift points, speed limiter, rpm limiter, no disabler. You can take all this out of a computer by getting it flashed but why whe it's already done. Drove 250 miles one way to get it = $150.00

We bought a Painless harness so all this junk comes off. = $600.00

This is an Abbott box that changes the 4L60E speed pulses into a rotation that will drive the stock "55" speedo. We wanted to retain the stock nostalga look. $300.00 smackers.

Since the previous owner had rewired the "55" with some unknown source of wiring, and it looks ok, we deceided not to rewire it. We're Sorry REBEL WIRE

THIS IS A RUNNING TOTAL OF COSTS . IT WILL BE UPDATED AS PARTS ARE ADDED. CAN YOU BUILD A NICE CAR FOR TEN GRAND? IF YOU HAVE TO ASK YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT.

1955 CHEVROLET BUILD
					QUOTES
LINE	ITEM DESCRIPTION	QTY	EST PRICE	ACTUAL PRICE	SOURCE	BRAND	ITEM #	PRICE
1	FAN MOUNTS AND SHIPPING	1	$26.44	$26.44
2	COMPUTER	1	75.00	75.00	THAT 1 GUY
3	MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR	1	32.58	32.58	EBAY
4	VACUMN CAPS & DEGREASER	1	11.71	11.71	ADVANCE AUTO PARTS
5	FRT ENGINE MOUNTS	2	15.04	15.04	ADVANCE AUTO PARTS
6	FRT ENGINE MT KIT	1	51.00	51.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
7	REAR CROSSMEMBER & BRKTS	1	143.70	143.70	EAST COAST CHEVY
8	CHEVROLET 4 DOOR	1	4000.00	4000.00
9	TIRES AND RIMS		2900.00	2900.00
10
11
12	LT1 W 4L60E ENGINE	1	1000.00	500.00	EBAY	CHEVY	LT1	$500.00
13					FRIEND	CHEVY	LT1	#####
14					SALVAGE	CHEVY	LT1	#####
15
16	WIRING HARNESS	1	680.00	342.95	EBAY	PAINLESS		$342.95
17					SUMMIT RACING	PAINLESS	PRF-60502	$679.95
18					DETAIL ZONE	DETAIL ZONE		$725.00
19
20	CABLE-X-8CH		300.00	250.01	ABBOTT INDUSTRIES	ABBOT	01860-0015	$250.01
21						N/A
22						N/A
23	(JAG) forget the Ford 9) REAR END		100.00	23.00	MIKE KITCHEN'S BAR B QUE	UPPER LEVEL NORTH WOODS MALL, PIA
24	Mike Kitchen's fab Bar B Que
25
26
27	DRIVE SHAFT		150.00
28
29
30
31	PAINT AND MATERIALS		1500.00	HA,HA
32
33
34
35	2" SPINDLE KIT		700.00		PIRATE JACK	?	DBK5557-PB-MC-PVK	$599.00
36
37
38
39	FUEL LINE AND MISC		1000.00
40	fuel pump	1		79.85	SUMMIT	SUMMIT	SUM-G3138
41
42
43	AIR CONDITIONER		759.00
44
45
46
47	DOOR SKIN	2	540.00	407.64	EAST COAST CHEVY	DANCHUCK	2960 & 61	$479.90
48					http://www.eastcoastchevy.com/	EAST COAST CHEVY	11-140B & 11-141B	$426.60
49					http://www.carsinc.com/	CARSINC	11127&11128	$478.00
50
51	~~DOOR SEALS~~		~~90.00~~
52
53
54
55	2 DOOR TRIM KIT		514.00
56	FIRST FRT OF DOOR SPEAR	1		29.54	EAST COAST CHEVY
57	SECOND FRT OF DOOR SPEAR		STILL WAITING ON BACK ORDERED PARTS.
58	FIRST QUARTER MLDING	1		102.35	EAST COAST CHEVY
59	SECOND QUARTER MLDING		STILL WAITING ON BACK ORDERED PARTS.
60
61
62	WINDOW WISKERS & CHANNELS	1	65.00	140.25	EAST COAST CHEVY
63
64
65
66	INTERIOR MATERIALS		500.00
67	ACC CARPET			174.04	AUTO CARPET CO
68	KICK PANEL BOARDS	2		9.75	EAST COAST CHEVY
69	REAR QUARTER CARDS	2		31.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
70	PKG TRAY BOARD	1		16.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
71	REAR SEAT TRUNK PANEL	1		16.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
72	REAR C PILLAR BOARDS	2		15.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
73	TACK STRIP KIT	1		38.61	EAST COAST CHEVY
74	INTERIOR TRIM 12PCS	1		183.60	EAST COAST CHEVY
75	MONOFILAMENT SIZE 012 THREAD	1		40.83	THE THREAD EXCHANGE INC
76	CARRARA BLACK MATERIAL	5YD		95.52	BURCH FABRICS GROUP
77	ALLANTE CELADON	15YD		267.68	BURCH FABRICS GROUP
78	SILVER TINSEL WELT	10YD		18.70
79	1/2 INCH SEW FOAM	50'		172.15	PERFECT FIT-McDONALD, INC.
80	DOOR CARDS	2		31.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
81	B POST CARDS	2		15.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
82
83
84	BUMPER GUARDS		340.00				1004&1005	$293.90
85	FRONT	2		164.00	EAST COAST CHEVY		CV208803C&4	$328.00
86	REAR	2		164.00	EAST COAST CHEVY		9827&9728	$326.00
87
88	RADIO AND MISC		110.60	110.60	DBL DESTRIBUTING	DBL		$110.60
89
90
91
92	POWER WINDOW KIT		300.00
93
94
95	EXHAUST SYSTEM
96	MUFFLERS	2	71.90	71.90	SUMMIT	FRC-5202
97	HEADERS	1	469.59	259.95	SUMMIT	BIG-31112FLT
98	H PIPE 2.5"	1		72.11	EAST COAST CHEVY
99	L TAIL PIPE	1		125.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
100	R TAIL PIPE	1		125.00	EAST COAST CHEVY
101
102
103
104
105
106
107	RADIATOR		210.00	219.95	SUMMIT	SUMMIT	sum-381331	$219.95
108					31"wX19"hX2 1/4d
109
110
111	COOLING FAN		70.00	132.80	EBAY	FLEX-A-LITE DUAL	FLX220	$132.80
112					SUMMIT			$215.88
113
114
115	K & N AIR FILTER		32.00
116
117
118
119	FRT SEATS
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130			$16,757.56	$11,441.40	RUNNING TOTALS

OCTOBER 11,2008

Mike gave us a Jag for taking it out of his drive way. Guess what we are going to do with the Jag rear end? Yep it goes in the 55 Chevy. The engine and trans is going to go in the woody Derrek has planned.

we are waiting on backordered parts from a supplier. It's amazing how you manage to drop out of sight. Most of the suppliers that i had worked with in industry really didn't seem to want to sell anything. Usually you had to hound them to get anything. I had one get mad at me because I didn't recognize him as the President of the company. I really didn't care who he was until he got mad at me. He said, "I'm not a used car salesman, I'm the President of this company." Guess what dude, you ain't a supply to this company. Get out of here. Another who we were buying weld wire from, dismissed me in a meeting. he didn't realize wire sales came through me. Ha Ha your mistake for being an idiot. Well it was not a big account we only used about 50k lbs a month. By by. During the steel crunch some of the wire suppliers would actually laugh at you over the phone. My god are they stupid?

Another lesson hard learned was not paying completely for a project contracted until you are totally satisfied. When you pay the vendor for the product, support drops off the grid. A phone call to the vendor is answered by; "Who did you say this was?"

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