Thread: 57 Chevy Cruizer

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Hey Dave, Since your looking for Aero and ain't got nuthin else to do anyway , might lay the head lights back 10 degrees and take a couple inches outa the brows.

Originally Posted by HWORRELL

Hey Dave, Since your looking for Aero and ain't got nuthin else to do anyway , might lay the head lights back 10 degrees and take a couple inches outa the brows.

Yeah, headlights are definitely going to be a challenge.... Stock they had that great big trim piece, plus the vent intake on top... Going to take some reshaping and re-sizing to get the openings down to the correct dimension... Gave some thought to getting the size correct, then maybe bend up a lexan cover of some sort??? Not sure, guess I'm just ignoring the top of the fender for now!!!!!!!

How much lighter will the glass bumper be than the steel? I know your lookin to shave as much weight as posible

Edit...Double posted site glitch!

That front bumper With all the iron that holds it in place I'd bet its well over 100#

Charlie, this is the big, heavy one piece bumper with the added on pieces, too. With the irons I'd say it was dang close to 100 lbs.!!!

34-30, I'll use some really high strength matte that I have left over from the Merc's, really light weight and super strong, used to use it on the floorboards and federwells building 'glass cars.... the 'glass bumper and it's attaching hardware will come in under 5 lbs. Adding in everything else that's being removed and replaced with lighter bracing (1" 6061 T-6 aluminum tubing) from the firewall forward the weight reduction will be around 300+ lbs. Still shooting for 2500 lbs. or less wet weight with the car ready to fire!!

PS--Anybody have any use for a '57 Chevy front bumper narrowed up about 1 1/2"???? The purists sure do hate it!

Made up a couple mock up pieces for the ends of the new grille openings. Not sure it's a final design, going to leave them taped in place and look at them for a few days. Lousy angle on the camera, too much stuff in the garage and no room to get things spread out yet.....

Dave, you could lay the headlights back ala 39 Ford. It would change the character of the car and the purists sure wouldn't like it, but I think it would cheat the wind somewhat.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

Dave, you could lay the headlights back ala 39 Ford. It would change the character of the car and the purists sure wouldn't like it, but I think it would cheat the wind somewhat.

That's still an option I'm considering, Ken....with the huge opening for the headlight trim, bucket, and air vent intake I've also been considering extending and minimizing the headlight opening to put a normal sized headlight bucket in, like maybe the Hagan frenched lights. Not ideal, but it's gotta be better then what the factory built as far as aero is concerned, isn't it?????

I saw one done that way at the Street Rod Nats this year in Springfield. I think they were from a Porsche or Benz or some foreign car. Not exactly my cup of tea for a cruizer though I can see where it would help air flow.

Yeah, that's the challenge in the thing, Ken.... Still want to keep the basic design of the '57, just tweak things around a bit to smooth out the airflow..... I guess if it was easy, everybody would be doing it, huh??? I'll start cutting up some posterboard and mock things up a little one of these days and post some pics....

Thanks a bunch for the input! Keep the ideas coming, I sure do need them!

Maybe you could rig up a light weight lens cover that is fairly easy to attach to airstream the light while racing, but easily removeable for day to day driving to retain the classic look? Kind of like the jet engine intake covers they put on them when on the ground, to keep little crttiers out.

Originally Posted by stovens

Maybe you could rig up a light weight lens cover that is fairly easy to attach to airstream the light while racing, but easily removeable for day to day driving to retain the classic look? Kind of like the jet engine intake covers they put on them when on the ground, to keep little crttiers out.

That was one of the first options to be considered, Steve.... Unfortunately my pal Tommy reminded me that a "real Hot Rodder" wouldn't take such a chicken poo-poo way out of an "engineering opportunity", so what could I do then???

Went to the store last week and got 10 new pieces of posterboard to make patterns out of, think I'll just keep messing with the headlight openings and maybe stumble over a plan that smooths things out and looks decent... But meanwhile I do have a piece of clear Lexan laying around to make covers out of.....

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

That was one of the first options to be considered, Steve.... Unfortunately my pal Tommy reminded me that a "real Hot Rodder" wouldn't take such a chicken poo-poo way out of an "engineering opportunity", so what could I do then??? .....

I've had this idea in my mind for a couple'a days but have hesitated sharing it. First because, I've never done it! And second because it isn't my car but... here goes nothing.

How about following the lead of Ford & Chrysler from "back in the day" and give it the "talledaga" treatment? A 1 inch pie wedge from just above the front tires / wheel opening to the front grille top...??..?? This would reduce the frontal area a bit and just drive the purists bonkers!

Originally Posted by 34_40

I've had this idea in my mind for a couple'a days but have hesitated sharing it. First because, I've never done it! And second because it isn't my car but... here goes nothing.

How about following the lead of Ford & Chrysler from "back in the day" and give it the "talledaga" treatment? A 1 inch pie wedge from just above the front tires / wheel opening to the front grille top...??..?? This would reduce the frontal area a bit and just drive the purists bonkers!

Had that all taped out on the car once.... decided it wouldn't look right without doing something to the roof (think Chezoom), so anyway, that's already been done! Main goal is still to get a ridiculously high top end on the car---and keep it "stock appearing"--which is always up to interpretation, I suppose!!!!! Also thought about sectioning the entire body a few inches, but saving that for a different project.