Brennan's 54 chevy kustom

[Brennan]

Bit different and a bit more old school than the average car on here. but thought i would share anyway.

I brought this 1954 chevrolet when I was 13? or 14? after i saw jesse james' in various magazines. Didn't do allot with it for a number of years, but now is coming along quite steadily.

done so far,

Dropped on hq holden ute chassis,

Vn commodore v6, trans and diff with standard arms.

watts linkage

c notched

new boot and back seat floor

lays frame easily

coming soon from america, new slam specialty bags, larger tank and valves.

future plans are to

weld up and fix any body damage,

paint oxide red primer

get running

cert

DRIVE

SCRAPE N SPARK

 

 

[Brennan]

New goodies just in from America. Its like xmas...

[Brennan]

[Brennan]

Redrilled the holes for the rear air bags. As the new ones are allot smaller. Temporarily plumbed them up and used the shop compressor to test them. All the rear geometry looks to work fine and has over 12 inches travel. Very stoked and motervated to plumb it in properly now and get it road legal.

Video soon?

[Brennan]

brought some paint, painted model with it to see what its going to look like.

its oxide red primer and will be everything up to the final coat.

started sanding down the doors and hood with a grinder and linishing discs.

can count up to 7 different colored layers of paint and primer, applied over the last 60 years.

[Brennan]

Finished sanding the doors, boot and hood down;

ANd started painting, love the colour;

Next

-Get the Fenders and hood sandblasted, then paint them too

-Make some body to chassis mounts

-And start to assemble back together.

[Brennan]

--

[Brennan]

Car has sat for the last 8 years. The Beams 3sge Corolla took over, was fun, and is gone. The house has a renovated ensuite, bathroom and laundry.

Been thinking about getting stuck back into this Chevy for a year or so.

The time is now, and we have Big Changes to the plans.

Browsing the Facebook market place i came across this in wellington.

1994, UCF20 Ls400, only 150,000kms. But has a dodgy trans and sat in long grass for 10 years from 2008.

Plan is to Cut off the body, and weld the chevy body to the floorplan.

Normally i wouldn't be into such a plan. But due to:

• The Absolutely terrible condition of my chevy.
• The extreme lack of 54 chevrolet parts in new zealand.
• My growing dislike and unsatisfaction of the HQ chassis and v6
• The abundance of ls400 close to being parted out.
• The idea of cruising in a 54 chevolet, with a v8, electric leather seats, cruise control and handling of a fairly modern sedan.

This should mean i can get it done fairly quick. Although it is even more likely to have to be registered as a scratch built.

 

 

 

 

 

[Brennan]

Once, in the shed, the parts removal begun.

Quite surprised at how little steel there is inside the sills.

Next up will be to drag the chevy out from behind the hoist, get it on the hoist above the lexus, and cut the floor of it out.

 

 

[Brennan]

Thought i would include a couple of photos of just how wonderful the body is of this old chevy.

I do however  have a couple of replacement panels for the rear quarter panels and the tailpan.

Todays progress, was to remove the chevrolet floor and bring the two halves a little closer to see what else will need the chop.

[Brennan]

Not much chevy left.

50mm to drop further,

few more little bits to cut out.

Looks weird as hell. but seems to be working so far.

 

 

[Brennan]

Bit of spare time, spent in photoshop and came up with something to aim for.

Just do not look too closely.

 

 

[Brennan]

spent well over 200 hours on this recently. Have had the body on and off countless times. Trying to get it down low enough. The sills are now as low or lower than the Lexus floor. Just the exhaust hangs lower. But that will all be tucked up.

Started Filling holes left in the Lexus, Plated over, then cut open again to create clearance for Chevy hinges.

 

The LH sill on the Chevy had been repaired quite well in the past,

The RH sill however had not, so i cut all the rust out, and wire brushed it back to nice metal,

Folded up a new panel welded it in.

[Brennan]

 

Then made 10 brackets, 5 per side to live in the sills, and join the two cars together,

 

 

The Two cars were then welded together,

 

 

Couple more brackets up front, and to hold the front of the door hinges.

 

And today, the first filler panel on the firewall. Rebuilding the 2x rear Bonnet hinge mounting points.

 

[Brennan]

The trunk is coming together great, The Chevy supports come down beautifully onto the pinch weld around the Lexus rear wheel wells.

I need to purchase the tail pan replacement panel from EMS.

 

Plug Welded in place.

The 85 litre Petrol tank doesn't quite fit. due to the trunk hinges. But like most of the Lexus, is full of rust. So smaller aluminium tank will likely be made to fit between the strut towers.

 

And seam welded the parcel trays together. Couple of filler panels to be made around the strut tops.
Back seat still fits. It just sticks up into the rear window a little, but should be easy to reshape the top, to look correct and fit.

[Brennan]

Bit of a change in plans too. here is some hints.

On the Hunt for some of these wheels off a Honda CRV ~2002

Or other 15x6 5x114.3 wheels with a positive  offset between 50 and 60

(the lexus Track width is a bit wide, oops)

 

Also after another 1994-1997 ls400/Celsior, for suspension arms, cross members, rear subframe, and transmission.

if anybody knows of a low km one that isn't rusty.

And 1989-1991 Ls400/Celsior Calipers (front and Back), please

[Brennan]

Filled in the tops of the sills, few smaller holes and a larger gap in the front footwells to fill.

 

Cut the front cross member/radiator support off the ls400.

As i have ordered a aluminium 1954 Chevrolet radiator to fit in. 

and took some time to start fitting the fenders and bonnet.

Picked up some mazda 3 wheels. 15x6 50p with 195/65 tyres. Old man has some 54 belair caps that fit them, or i will get some moon discs.

Front wheels are still not tucked under as much as i would like.

But with the guards pumped out a bit, some adjustable upper and lower control arms, and potentially changing the offset of the front wheels ~10mm.

It should be fine.

 

[Brennan]

While trying to sort out the seatbelts I test fitted the rear seat. it still fits, but the chevy rear window, and parcel tray is lower than the lexus. So the Seat sat up in the glass.

 

Pulled all the leather and foam off. Bent the frame to new shape using some homemade tools.

 

Re-trimmed, and should be sufficient.

Still look too big and plush for an old chevy. But the comfort should be an ok compromise on looks.

 

Front seat Fitted too. This is raised all the way up. Goes much much much lower.

 

Our Certification man came around to have a look at all the projects. From what i hear, he was stoked and shocked at how well this was all working out. And is happy with progress and future plans

[Brennan]

Have also made a start on modelling the new fuel tank.

 

Created a 3d scan of the trunk, with 100 photos and Autodesk Recap.

Super easy, and accurate, when scaled.

Only 60 litres now, instead of the factory 85litre that no longer quite fit (and very, very rusty)

[Brennan]

Bit slow on progress lately. Removed the factory springs on one side, to see how much suspension travel the factory struts have.

Looking at buying some boss airbags to weld onto them.

Its motivating to see it so low again.

And the rear wheel being too far forward, doesn't look tooo bad this low.