Thread: 57 Chevy Cruizer

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Its all looking great Dave, I still reckon it should of been a gasser though

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Originally Posted by roadster32

Its all looking great Dave, I still reckon it should of been a gasser though

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Well, it was going to be but a few of the locals around here started all this 'gotta have this and gotta do that' crap and I just decided (as usual) that I don't want to play where I have to go buy someone else's interpretation of how a car should be, matter of fact decided I didn't even want to build my version of a gasser cuz I'd probably end up having to associate with them!!!!!! So, now I'm building what I want to build and having a blast doing it!!!!

Ok, this is where the purists might want to stop looking at this thread!!!! One of the things I never liked about the '57's where the wheel openings....With that long taper to the rear it just showed to much ugliness around and behind the tire. I'm going to change both the front and rear wheel openings. Drew some lines on the fender, did some planning, then started cutting.

I'll be changing the long taper in the back to a tighter radius, and moving the wheel opening itself back about 5" so as to lose some of the overly long wheelbase. Here's a couple pics of how the whole adventure started;

So !!! Don't stop there I would like to see a finished fender. Are you changing the wheel base?? That will change the hole looks of the car

That's where I quit for the day, Charlie...Had some other things to take care of. I'm taking 5" out of the wheel base and redoing the wheel opening on the front fenders.... I like to have things a bit different!

OK I just couldn't see it with out shorting the W/B. It will be different are you moving the engine back also??

Originally Posted by cffisher

OK I just couldn't see it with out shorting the W/B. It will be different are you moving the engine back also??

Yeah, the engine will be set back a ton, don't have the exact amount just yet, need to get the frame started and do some engine mock up...on paper it's about 7" setback.

that would be the reverse of the old days moving the rear forward

Yup, just the opposite. The car has such a long wheelbase, I'm shortening it 5" to improve the handling issues, the shorter wheelbase, along with all the weight reduction and engine setback should get the chassis to handle better in a corner and react a lot faster in straight line acceleration. Still aiming for 2500 lbs. dry weight!

thats one big diet for a 3200# car

Originally Posted by cffisher

thats one big diet for a 3200# car

Yeah, big diet but a lot to be gained in performance and handling!!!!

Got started putting the left front fender back together today, didn't do much had some visitors and went for lunch then checking out a couple of the local racers' shops.... Still have to do some designing around the front bumper to get the wheel opening to look right.

lookin good your not running a bumper are you

Originally Posted by cffisher

lookin good your not running a bumper are you

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Yeah, but it will be fiberglass. going to narrow it down a bit so it doesn't stick out past the surface of the fenders... Trying to figure out how to put some decent aero in the front end without totally doing away with the original look. Without anything on the front end, it becomes one big huge air trap, kind of like trying to drive a barn door down the road!!!!

Dave I get this 31 done in time will may have to make a phone call together ,

Well, one front fender roughed in, one to go! I modified the wheel opening because I never have liked the long tapered look of the rear of the wheel openings on a '57... From the side, you just see too much "stuff" behind the tires, frame, exhaust, etc. I began by moving the whee opening back 5" to shorten up the wheelbase a bit, then changed the radius on the rear of the wheel opening. On the front of the wheel opening I added in a piece of sheet metal and matched the front lower portion of it to the contour of the bumper. Still have to get the other fender done to match, then shorten the bumper up so that it doesn't stick out from the side of the car but rather is tucked in to the fender. The mods to the bumper and fender should also help aero performance a bit, the huge stock opening has to let a lot of air in behind the tire and stack up against the firewall. I'm sure the gains will be minimal, but every little bit counts when you're dealing with a car that has the same aero characteristics of a barn door!!!!

Sure do hope the restoration purists don't find where I live, there'd probably be a public lynching!!!!!!!