After a slight hiatus, we’re happy to show you the progress we’re making on our ’51 Chevy Sport Coupe. Our wrenching bonanza took a back seat to work commitments, moving homes, holidays, etc. you understand. But we’ve never stopped thinking about the next updates to our project. In this fourth installment where you’ll see how we plan to make the ’51 shift and stop.
First, let’s take a moment to recap our goal and other modifications we’ve completed. The end goal is to build a reliable, comfortable cruiser. It might not be pretty at first, but it is something we want to feel confident about while motoring the family around to cruises. The budget is maxed at $15,000 total (which we really want to beat by a lot). To date, we’re just over $5,400, including the $2,750 we paid for the car. So far we’ve nearly doubled that as we treated the front and rear suspension to complete upgrades from Chassis Engineering to the tune of $2,604. So far so good.
This month we center on the transmission mount and the master cylinder. Our plans are to run a used small-block Chevy with a TH350 automatic transmission, simply because they were available and cheap. We’re going to be mounting the engine with parts from Chassis Engineering so we searched for a new transmission mount. One of the Street Rodder readers following this project suggested that we take a look at Walton Fabrication. After surfing around their site and making a call, we decided to try one of their crossmember kits.
The Walton tubular crossmember is designed to bolt in and incorporates a versatile mount that accepts six transmissions, including aluminum Powerglides, TH350 or TH400, the 700-R4, 4L60E, and a T-5 manual trans.
The Walton crossmember is constructed of 1-3/4-inch tubing and is designed as a bolt-in, though they do recommend a couple small welds to the original K-members to add chassis rigidity. We also liked the idea that one crossmember could be used with several transmissions. To fit our budget, we’re starting with a simple three-speed automatic, but down the road we may want to upgrade to an overdrive and the Walton mount gives us the opportunity for the swap. Speaking of budget, the Walton kit was a value at $169.95. This system allows for the swap, plus we can get the trans in and out without pulling the engine.
Installation of the crossmember was straightforward as we cut and ground out the rivets of the original unit, and bolted the new one in place. The welding that is recommended is right where the K-member support brackets come down and meet the Walton unit. They still bolt together, but the finish welding will add to the overall strength of the chassis. We’ll wait to weld everything together once the engine and trans is fit in place.
The first step was to tackle the 60-year-old rivets. After completing the front and rear suspensions, we thought we were through with grinding and drilling rivets.
As for braking, we wanted to keep the floor-mounted throttle and brake pedals so we set about looking for a frame-mount master cylinder bracket. We reached out across the country to the Connecticut-based team at Engineered Components and they answered our needs. First, they had the exact bracket for our ’51 Chevy. Second, they also recommend the specific dual reservoir master cylinder we needed to work with our Nova drum brakes and the new manual front discs of the CE frontend. It’s important to note that there are several different master cylinders to select from depending on the brakes you’re using, so be sure to have the answers when you call.
With the master cylinder installed the next big part of the puzzle is running brake lines and hoses. That’s proving to take longer than it did installing both the crossmember and the master cylinder. Remember that bending brake lines is like wiring, it takes patience to do the job right. We located brake hoses that fit well from the calipers to the frame, after some trial and trades at the local parts store, and spent about $100 in hard lines, a proportioning valve, and brake switch. We’re taking our time on the plumbing and so far, so good.
Once we cut the factory crossmember away from the support brackets, you could see why even southwest cars rust. The frame supports were packed solid with dirt.
With these additions to the ’51, we’re just under $6,000 for a full suspension and brake upgrade. Next up we’ll be spending some cash on tires and a drivetrain with items such as steering, wiring, glass, and more coming soon.
Project 51 for 15K
Parts Cost ’51 Chevy Business Coupe $2,750.00 Chassis Engineering
Front suspension $2,052.00 Rear suspension $602.00 Subtotal: $5,404.00 Brake lines, hoses $83.00 Proportioning valve $40.00 Brake switch $14.00 Walton crossmember $169.95 Engineered components
Bracket
Master cylinder
$130.00
$75.00 Grand Total: $5,915.95
Running tab: We’re skimming just under $6,000 into our project and we’re feeling pretty good. The next big move will be sliding the engine and trans in place followed by figuring out a way to use the stock column with the new rack-and-pinion steering.
