'55 Chevy Test Fit

Man. Thank goodness for these go jacks. That's good. Right about there. All right.

Hey, welcome to the horsepower shop and phase three of our super shoe box build up. What we're doing here is building a one of a kind tri five Chevy from the frame up.

Oh, don't sweat it if you've missed any of this project so far.

Here's a quick sketch of our ultimate destination

and a look at where we've been so far.

We started with an Art Morrison new GT sport classic chassis designed with 21st century technology for the shoe box.

The original 55 frame came up way short in the area of torsional stiffness.

Then we added a curry trine rear end,

a strange co over suspension system

will wood brakes with 13 inch rotors and six piston calipers up front.

And for power, we dropped in a G A performance farts, 502 big block backed by a TCI four LAE tranny.

The exhaust is a 2.5 inch blow master system with hush power mufflers.

Then we made it a true roller with nostalgia GT wheels on BFG rubber.

Last time we added a front runner accessory drive that comes with a water pump alternator and mini compressor for the AC

we

fed up our pure choice brake lines and ran them along with our new fuel lines.

Then we dropped the fiberglass body onto the frame

using a special two motor hoist that John Bohannon made just for this kind of heavy lifting.

Today, we're gonna finish mounting the doors which like the body, we're both fabricated at Bohan and concepts. Now, this is the passenger side, inner door skin we're gonna be using.

Now, back in 55 power windows were a pricey option and they added a lot of weight to the car. So this kit we got from specialty Power Windows uses a lighter, more compact motor and regulator

and vintage glass is solid tempered. So it's pretty much shatterproof and it's one piece. So we don't have to use a vent window.

This is a lot easier than it looks first lay the felt strip into place, then determine the length of your runner

and simply glue it into place.

We recommend epoxy or even Bondo.

Next. We can slide the window into place

and bring it down to its lowest point.

Then line the regulator up with the base plate

and mark it just above the window 38 of an inch

with the unit bolted to the door and the window in place, raise it to its highest position before tightening it down.

Of course, the kit does come with the window buttons, but we're not gonna install those until we're ready for our wiring. Now, all we need to do is glue on our outer door skin and cut our hole in our window. All right. Got the last bolt. Yep. It started. Now, installing the door is a lot like installing a hood, first bolt it up loosely for a test fit.

Oh, and here's a tip. Don't forget your shims. I'm installing several in between the hinge and the door to get a precise fit.

Oh, great job, perfect fit.

Now, what do you say? We take care of the missing link to our disc brake set up, which is this master cylinder booster assembly we got from Kugel components

and of course, as always, we're gonna mount it right here on the firewall. Right,

wrong. Check this out.

John Bohannon came up with this removable dash top and well, that's gonna make installation of these components and others a whole lot easier.

The assembly bounces on a couple of brackets located inside the firewall and here on the dash. Well, red it, let's bolt up this windshield wiper motor that we also got from specialty power windows. It bolts up right here on this bracket.

One thing you rarely saw in original 55 was the air conditioning pretty pricey option back in 55

but we're gonna make sure this new version stays cool and comfortable. In fact, it's gonna get one of these super gen two systems from vintage air that cools, heats and the frost. Now, the kit includes among other things, this evaporator blower, sub case

gen two wiring kit,

heater control valve, of course, hoses and up front the condenser,

the box bolts up under the dash here.

The rest of the system gets installed after we finish the interior work,

any time you install one of these aftermarket AC kits, which usually takes about a day or less. You need to decide where you're gonna mount your air vents and your control panel. Now, you'll see where ours get planted on our 55 in a few weeks

while the front clip is still off the car. Now is a good time to install a steering column to work with our A Gr rack and pinion. Now, this one came from Flaming River. It's a 35 inch piece with tilt and check this out for safety.

It's designed to collapse on impact

while sliding the column into place. We can attach it to the steering shaft,

then we can secure the column to the dash

and the firewall mounts.

That was the easy part. Now, of course, we still need to wire it up, but we'll finish that when we take care of our main harness. Now, when we get back from the break, we're gonna show you how our front end bolts up to the super shoe box. Stay tuned.

Well, we are back with more of our 55 ss build up. And I tell you, I'm dying to see the shoe box with the front end bolted up. But, you know, first we need to finish up our fuel delivery system by bolting up the stainless steel tank we got from Classic Chevy.

Now, this one holds 18 gallons of fuel and it's designed for all shoe boxes that have been fitted with late model fuel injection like ours. Of course, it comes with an intake pump and these stainless straps that should make installation pretty easy

with the rear of the car supported on jack stands. We first have to find a good mounting location and make some marks.

Then after drilling four holes,

we can bolt the tank up with the straps.

Finally, we can connect the fuel lines from the tank to the ones on the chassis

with that installed. All we need to do is wire up our internal pump, but we'll take care of that when we install our main harness. Now it's time to put a face on this project and we'll do that with this four piece fiberglass front end from Bohannon concepts. Now, it includes this lightweight fiberglass hood,

inner fender wells and this one piece front clip

and to dress everything up. We got a reproduction grill

and moldings, headlight, bezels and parking lamps from classic Chevy

inside the fenders are these custom headlight housings Bohannon made using an original 55 as a pattern

earlier I showed you the vintage air kit we're gonna use to cool the shoe box down. But in reality,

we ordered ours without that condenser. And here's why we're also gonna use this trick radiator assembly that Matson makes. And as you can see, it comes with a radiator and condenser welded together.

It

also features some prefab lines that run from the condenser up to the compressor. Now, also part of the assembly is this pair of 12 inch electric fans mounted on a shroud. Now to make this assembly all work though, we had to get one more thing and it's this tubular radiator support that classic Chevy offers. We also got ours with a pair of the stainless steel louvered filler panels.

First, we're gonna install the core support on the frame with a rubber gromit and a pair of bolts.

Then the fan assembly gets bolted to the support.

Finally, the radiator attaches to the filler panels on the core support.

Ok? I think the idea is to tilt it a little bit here. Get this frame horns under the front end. Yeah. Watch that fender. Ok. That's tight.

Installing this front end involves a total of 22 mounting locations on the frame and the body.

Well, we've been waiting a long time to see this thing pieced all together,

man. What a bad ass looking shoe box. Yeah. Now that it is all together, guess what?

It's all gotta come apart.

We take the, the body all apart where you can paint all the door jams and all the gems on the car and everything. That's,

that's the only way you can get a really good paint job.

Ok. Here at John

Bohanan's shop, they've got the front end doors and deck lid off the body, the body off the chassis and now they can start that long arduous process of putting paint

to the 55 shoe box.

It's all in the preparation before you paint it.

Anybody can spray the paint just about, it's preparing the vehicle before you spray it.

If that means blocking and priming every inch of the car starting with heavier grit, sandpaper and working down.

Notice how this craftsman uses 45 degree strokes making a cross hatch pattern.

This is the only way to get a smooth even surface.

So this uh deck lid has already been blocked and primed and we're putting a guide code on it now. So where we can block it and see all the high and low places in it,

they look straight till you start blocking and then you can see a lot of places in them.

The blocking and primer process repeats three maybe four times before the door is ready for the paint.

Now, John is using Viper

Red PPG paint for the 55 S SS mixing it with thinner according to PPG specs,

I'm gonna put two cups of paint

and we're gonna put three cups of thinner in

while John gets the paint ready, his son, Barry cleans and tacks, the door's surface,

every surface gets 3 to 4 coats of paint, then 3 to 4 layers of clear coat before they can be considered finished.

Well, nothing's duller than watching paint dry. We'll come back to the paint shop after this little break.

There. It is one Viper Red door that still has to be sanded and buffed before it's as I grab and red as this original Chevy.

Now, while this time and work to create a new version of the old shoe box. Well, if you're a fan of this classic, the only answer is why not?

They didn't call them shoe boxes when they first hit the showroom floors, but they did rightly call the 1955 Chevy something new and excitingly different

in automotive appearance and power.

The 1955 Chevrolet is completely redesigned and re-engineered to a new concept of motoring, pleasure and performance.

This was the car that broke new ground in styling while breaking new records and sales.

It was also the car that first featured a now classic power plant.

The new turbo fire V8 engine, most compact, most advanced power plant in the industry, 162 horsepower with new fire swirl combustion chambers and a full 8 to 1 compression ratio.

No doubt the 1955 through 57 Chevys were cool and highly coveted during those early rock and roll years.

They were the fastest car around and the best looking car

and that's what everybody wanted.

Yeah. And everybody wanted one as fast as the 55 Harrison Ford's character drove in American graffiti.

No.

In more recent years, the mesmerizing machines have been restored for car shows and cruising

where they always attract envious eyes.

Others have been modified for racing

where they always get the crowd's attention

here at Speed World in Orlando. A pair of Nitro

fed 55 square off in a heads up clash of true classics.

And who could forget Tony Christian's main red. 57

a

bad ass bel air that made pro street history and drag strips all around the country.

Yeah. The Chevy Shoebox legend lives on

and with the 55 Ss, the legend leaps into a new chapter of high performance.

Horsepower T V's Quick Tech is brought to you by

Wyotech.

No way to have a cool street rod without a cool paint job. And the paint on both of these cars was applied by Gary Klotz who's now passing on his knowledge to students at Wild Tech. All the latest trends including, well, marbleizing, which is a neat effect. That's a little bit different each time you apply it.

Well, I think a lot of people like that look Gary. But is it because of the paint you use or the way you use it? Well, it's a little of both.

It's a slow drying, intermediate coat applied over a black base and finished up with an intermediate clear

being it is slow drying.

It allows you time to manipulate the look you're trying to get with plastic or sometimes even foil. Ok. What do you have a project you're working on now?

Yeah, we're doing a Harley gas tank with a black insert with marbleize over top. I say we follow him to the paint booth

already applied the yellow base code and intermediate clear to this whole tank.

Now he's laying down a fine tape outline of what will be the marble insert

to prevent any paint overspray. He applies masking tape to the part that stays yellow.

Next, he applies wax and grease remover to get rid of any possible contaminants.

Then after attacking the entire area,

he's ready to spray the black face coat to the insert area.

After about five minutes of flash time, Gary can now lay down the intermediate code of marbleize.

The secret to marbleize is the flash time.

And during the precious window of opportunity, you can apply the plastic sheet,

work it in

peel it off and reveal that unique textured look

after it's fully flashed, he applies another code of intermediate clear to lock down the marble.

Well, next, after laying down a computer generated stencil, he sprays it with white base coat.

Ok? Since our light source is gonna be coming this way,

we'll put a light shadow underneath here

and underneath the top ring of the circle.

Next Gary mixes up a dab of pearl.

It'll really make it jump and dance at you.

Finally, the painstaking task of peeling away the vinyl pieces of the logo

and several hours later,

can you believe that? That's incredible. Gary. Don't you hate to let this thing go?

Well, it's all mine until the customer pays for it. Well, you gotta be proud though. A little marbleizing, a little air brushing and

a

lot of talent.

Here's something for you guys who tow your race car or show car with a diesel powered truck. It's a boost and exhaust temperature gauge from bully dog

that can both mount in this a pillar pod. Now, the boost gauge reads up to 50 P si and comes with all your necessary hardware for an easy installation.

The exhaust temperature gauge reads up to 1500 degrees and comes with its own parameter which can mount in the turbo down pipe or the exhaust manifold. Now, you can get this whole set up for just over $300.

If you wanna improve the performance of your daily driver, you might wanna try some of this fuel system treatment from protect. Uh It's got a formula that cleans your injectors valves and combustion chamber plus a friction producer that can improve your gas mileage 3 to 4% which doesn't hurt with today's prices at the pump.

They also have this treatment to protect your engine during extreme driving conditions and this one to extend the life of your transmission.

We found bright idea for the interior of your sport compact performance import trends has these new floor mats. They are CNC machine from aluminum. They also come custom fit for several different applications and have a scratch resistant powder coated finish that won't rust, they won't corrode the bank either at $80 a set.

Well, finally, a product that resists corrosion in your radiator and helps reduce its temperature. It's purple eye from Royal Purple,

pouring one bottle in your cooling system will help it transfer heat more effectively

and protect the components from pitting and erosion. Plus it'll also lubricate the seals in your water pump and that's pretty good insurance for around 11 bucks. Well, that's it for hot parts and that's it for us in the shop. We'll see you next week. Good catch, by the way.