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#489552 - 02/23/08 07:41 PM
Chevy 350 in 56 Olds
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UncleBiggy
Member
Registered: 06/01/03
Posts: 32
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a friend who inherited a 1955 98 convertible from his family wants to go this route 'cuz he was quoted $3000 to rebuild the original engine and $1500 for the transmission when he can get the 350/350 for a fraction of that. His question, does the street rod fraternity sell the proper crossmembers for such conversion??(there does seem to be a lot of these cars that have underwent that,,,me I'd rather starve a few years & save the money to keep it correct!)
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#489555 - 02/23/08 07:48 PM
Re: Chevy 350 in 56 Olds
[Re: UncleBiggy]
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joe_padavano
Member
Registered: 08/21/06
Posts: 308
Loc: Northern VA
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a friend who inherited a 1955 98 convertible from his family wants to go this route 'cuz he was quoted $3000 to rebuild the original engine and $1500 for the transmission when he can get the 350/350 for a fraction of that. His question, does the street rod fraternity sell the proper crossmembers for such conversion??(there does seem to be a lot of these cars that have underwent that,,,me I'd rather starve a few years & save the money to keep it correct!)
Your friend is being naive. The SBC and TH350 may be less expensive, but then add the custom mounts, the accessory brackets, the custom driveshaft, custom exhaust, rewiring under the hood, custom throttle and shift linkage, etc, etc. I'm just counting the cost of the parts. If your friend is planning to pay someone to do this work, double or triple the price.
_________________________
Joe Padavano
OCA Capital City Rockets chapter
64 Jetstar 88
66 442 conv
68 W-30
69 H/O
69 442
70 W-30
72 442
86 Caprice wagon (w/307 Olds)
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#489611 - 02/24/08 09:22 AM
Re: Chevy 350 in 56 Olds
[Re: talarico8447]
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rocketraider
Long Time Member
Registered: 12/05/01
Posts: 3110
Loc: the Last Capital of Dixie
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$4500 to RB the original driveline is peanuts when compared to what a 1955 Starfire convertible WITH ORIGINAL DRIVELINE is worth when done.
If he sticks that Chevrolet crap in there, he has a butchered car that will never be worth more than 20-30% of a correctly done car. Plus, if he doesn't keep up with what parts came from what, it will be a service nightmare.
Some day, people will realise that a Chevy crate engine is not the solution to keeping old cars drivable. The Rocket engine/Hydramatic was reliable when contemporary, more powerful than about anything on the road, and more to the point belongs there.
Try to talk him out of this, and if you can't, then try talking him into selling the car before he starts this abortion. I can see this turning into a never-finished project with him losing interest and then the car sits and goes to nothing, because no one wants to take on a half-finished butcher job.
_________________________
Glenn Williamson
Rocketraider
member AACA and all major Olds clubs
"That's a strange concept, Son" said my father as he sampled the day's run of silvery-clear moonshine for taste and quality. "Good 'shine, that. Your grandpap would be proud that the gift has passed on to another generation. But yes, it's real strange that some folks feel like a varmint has more right to illegally inhabit and destroy your property than you have to prevent it from doing it."
"Come to think of it, that's why your Uncle Reade sold off all them rental houses he had. It was costing him more to fix what the varmints tore up than he was making off 'em. And the govamint wouldn't let him evict them."
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#491209 - 02/29/08 10:41 PM
Re: Chevy 350 in 56 Olds
[Re: Badger Guy]
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UncleBiggy
Member
Registered: 06/01/03
Posts: 32
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well,,,when you're Grandpa's pick(or for that matter any other relative) then the sky's the limit,,,so he got the car. Anyway I spoke my (unapproving) piece on the sbc matter,,,maybe it was listened to.
Another thing he wants to know if the stock rear end is geared high enough for todays highway driving (say at least to do 55 on a country road) without the engine screaming. Told him my '53 I had years ago did fine on the interstates at 65. His only other old car was a 54 Chevy that was geared so low, the engine was screaming at about 50 mph.
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#493556 - 03/10/08 03:47 PM
Re: Chevy 350 in 56 Olds
[Re: UncleBiggy]
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Jim_Edwards
New Member
Registered: 03/10/08
Posts: 2
Loc: Texas
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a friend who inherited a 1955 98 convertible from his family wants to go this route 'cuz he was quoted $3000 to rebuild the original engine and $1500 for the transmission when he can get the 350/350 for a fraction of that. His question, does the street rod fraternity sell the proper crossmembers for such conversion??(there does seem to be a lot of these cars that have underwent that,,,me I'd rather starve a few years & save the money to keep it correct!)
Aside from all the good advice on keeping it original to maintain value, there is no such thing as a power train swap like the one your friend is asking about that really ever works out right. Nothing really fits right and such butchered car will always have driving issues, just as most all "Street Rods" have continuous issues of one sort or another.
Another piece of advise for your friend. Stay to heck away from Street Rod shops for quotes on engine or tranny rebuilds all they do is tack on a fee for sending the engine or tranny out to a rebuilder's shop, usually a healthy fee.
_________________________
394's forever
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#494824 - 03/15/08 11:45 PM
Re: Chevy 350 in 56 Olds
[Re: UncleBiggy]
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UncleBiggy
Member
Registered: 06/01/03
Posts: 32
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Update : after a week's vacation, I saw my co-worker on this matter. Initially he had serious thought on keeping it correct but three days later, he got his income tax refund. He has now hired someone to cut the original front end off & subframe it with a 1976 Impala. Sorry folks,,,I tried.
He also says he couldn't care less about it's dollar value & went into quite a stir about it, saying people over-emphasize on dollar value(I agree somewhat with that) & so on & didn't want to hear any more about it.
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#494840 - 03/16/08 12:21 AM
Re: Chevy 350 in 56 Olds
[Re: UncleBiggy]
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rocketraider
Long Time Member
Registered: 12/05/01
Posts: 3110
Loc: the Last Capital of Dixie
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That's a good thing, because I expect he's gonna be stuck with that car for a while. It's also going to be a money pit, and as I mentioned earlier, a service and parts nightmare.
Wait'll he starts trying to make the later brakes and steering work with the 56 body shell. The hatchet man will grin till his ears fall off at the money he's making off this job.
His car, his money. When he starts yelling about it not driving right, or can't get stuff to work with the earlier body, or how much it's costing and he still can't drive it, just look at him and smile wisely.
_________________________
Glenn Williamson
Rocketraider
member AACA and all major Olds clubs
"That's a strange concept, Son" said my father as he sampled the day's run of silvery-clear moonshine for taste and quality. "Good 'shine, that. Your grandpap would be proud that the gift has passed on to another generation. But yes, it's real strange that some folks feel like a varmint has more right to illegally inhabit and destroy your property than you have to prevent it from doing it."
"Come to think of it, that's why your Uncle Reade sold off all them rental houses he had. It was costing him more to fix what the varmints tore up than he was making off 'em. And the govamint wouldn't let him evict them."
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