Our barn find

[davischevy]

On that car, I think painted steel wheels with wide whites and dog dish hubcaps would look killer.

I had to laugh at the wheel thing. I like the gray spoke wheels with a polished lip, and my wife wants bling. If it ain't chrome she don't want anything to do with it. When I put the painted rallys back on my 72, she said yuk.

[Advanced Design]

Wayne, the LS swap will be very nice for the wagon. Then you get into fuel tank, gauges, wiring, radiator and as long as we are in it may as well throw in air. So many nice parts are available for the 55's.

I too did drop spindles with stock height springs up front and 2 inch drop springs in the back.

Wife is all up for a road trip. If you scheduled a build week end, schedule permitting, we are in. That is how great memories are made.

[Daddy'O]

Originally Posted by davischevy

On that car, I think painted steel wheels with wide whites and dog dish hubcaps would look killer.

I had to laugh at the wheel thing. I like the gray spoke wheels with a polished lip, and my wife wants bling. If it ain't chrome she don't want anything to do with it. When I put the painted rallys back on my 72, she said yuk.

That’s is funny. Sounds like our wives might be long lost sisters.

We will probably go with the steel wheels as a compromise.

[Daddy'O]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Wayne, the LS swap will be very nice for the wagon. Then you get into fuel tank, gauges, wiring, radiator and as long as we are in it may as well throw in air. So many nice parts are available for the 55's.

I too did drop spindles with stock height springs up front and 2 inch drop springs in the back.

Wife is all up for a road trip. If you scheduled a build week end, schedule permitting, we are in. That is how great memories are made.

Yep….All that extra stuff = original budget dead squared.

We may have to throw a build party. Dee and I think it would be fun. Kind of like a meet and greet. Maybe late spring?

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by Daddy'O

Yep….All that extra stuff = original budget dead squared.

We may have to throw a build party. Dee and I think it would be fun. Kind of like a meet and greet. Maybe late spring?

Late spring is good. Count us in.

[Daddy'O]

We are still mulling over wheel/tire combo for the wagon. We like these combos. Which would you choose?

AR Torque Thrust

Cragar SS

Steelies with dog dish cap (black wall)

Steelies with dog dish cap (wide whites)

Steelies with full wheel cover and white wall – (what I have now)

[flashed]

You dont make easy choices do you ?
I like the Torque Thrust a lot
Crager SS look timeless on anything and I love them
And doggy dishes look killer too

On my wife's 72 Malibu convertible She wanted Crager Chrome wheels ,not the SS and they do look good .I bought a set of the old Chevelle/Camaro style mags to put on it later on and she let me know pretty quick they would not be put on HER car so I finally sold them to a friend to get them out of my way .

Whatever you choose will look good .

[Advanced Design]

They all look good. My vote is steelies, caps and black walls. Of course, pick the ones you enjoy looking at that matches the theme of the car. Our '56 has white letters because it reminds me of my high school hot rod days in the 1970's.

[davischevy]

Get somebody to photoshop it with the wheels and stance.

[davischevy]

It's amazing what just little things in wheel tire combo do for the look. When I traded for the 55 it had 15" polished TT's with 60 series tires. I changed to 17" chrome TT's with 50 series tires. In this picture it has 17x8's on the back. I have 17X9's ordered. The lights played tricks on the camera. The car is turquois.

[Daddy'O]

Jeeze Larry!

Your not helping! You're right, when you've got side by side photos, it is amazing. Wow! you have a great looking '55 and the 17's look great.

OMG! Now when Dee looks at this I'm going to have a whole new quagmire on my hands!

Thanks!

[davischevy]

This is probably not relevant, but I just took the TT's off my 72 Super. The 72 is all original except for the 2/4 drop, and being a long bed, I just thought the rally's looked more at home.

[Daddy'O]

Nope, not relevant at all. Unless your goal is to make wheel/tire combo decisions more difficult. If so, you have succeeded.

[davischevy]

It's going to look like I'm on Dee's side now. Our blazer with rally's and then with TT's

[Daddy'O]

You're killing me.

[davischevy]

My wife rolls her eyes a lot.

[Daddy'O]

Better than the stink eye.

[Daddy'O]

BTW - Dee loved the Blazer.

[davischevy]

Thanks. The kids actually lay claim to the blazer. That is the grand kid hauler.

[davischevy]

Wayne I've been thinking about this 55 wagon barn find project and I've got a thought or two, which is very dangerous. Feel free to ignore me, and I would like for Advance Design or anyone else to chime in but my thoughts are based on my many experiences building cars.

You have a running, driving car, and you are going to leave the body basically like it is.

If you tear into the suspension, and then the engine swap, the car is going to be down awhile.

Now at my place the "while' depends on two things. Money and time. My projects always take longer than I intended and its easy to get frustrated when you don't have anything to drive and all you do is work on it. I have been there.

Now to my point; Have you considered finding another frame, do the suspension mods, and install the LS engine and tranny and get it all set up and just set the body over on the pretty new frame. You have the lift and transferring a complete body is apiece of cake with a two post lift. We did this very thing with the El Camino. I also included a not so good pic of my 65 Chevelle convertible body on the lift.

Like I said, I'm sorry if I stuck my nose in where it wasn't wanted and feel free to ignore me.

Larry

[Advanced Design]

Very interesting idea you have Larry. I like the concept and of course we all understand only Wayne can advise on all the variables and what is right for them.

My 56 upgrades actually took two years due to a job assignment 8 hours away. Then most of the work was completed in the last 5 months as I had a hard goal of getting it done and I had some good help. That was a long two years and there were times we didn't have a toy to take to local cruise ins or car shows.

[Daddy'O]

Larry, I'm always open for suggestions so no problems.

We think the build will move pretty fast. We've committed to a 2004 5.3 out of a Tahoe ( 98K miles) and a 4L60E rebuild. Should have all that in the shop in the next 2 weeks. So things are moving quick. Plus we have the 71 super to have fun in.

If we could just figure out a wheel tire combo.......

[davischevy]

Good deal, carry on.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by davischevy

It's amazing what just little things in wheel tire combo do for the look. When I traded for the 55 it had 15" polished TT's with 60 series tires. I changed to 17" chrome TT's with 50 series tires. In this picture it has 17x8's on the back. I have 17X9's ordered. The lights played tricks on the camera. The car is turquois.

Larry, what tires do you have on this one? Friends are talking me out of the 1979 vibe I have going with my 56. Thanks!

Wayne, great powetrain choice!

[davischevy]

Much to the demise (stinkeye, Wayne) of my better half, I pulled these off her 65 Chevelle convertible to determine fitment. In that picture the wheels are

205/50 17 on 7" wheel with maximum backspacing on the front
245/45 17 on 8" wheel with 4 1/4 backspacing in rear.

I am putting 225/50 17 on 7" wheel with 4 1/4" backspacing on front
and 275/45 17 on 9" wheel with 5 1/8" BS on rear