Burning Rubber with a 53

[Tom P.]

Re: Burning Rubber with a 53

Tom;

You're my kinda guy! Those were the days when you made something out of practically nothing. That's like when I put the 55 V8 in my 50 coupe in 1956. There were no articles in any Hot Rod magazines about how to do it or what to expect. That was fun; I learned the pickup truck tranny bolted up to the 55 bell housing and the torque tube drive shaft all through my own investigation; how to change a 6 volt electrical system over to 12 volts, how to rebrace the fire wall after cutting out the vertical supports (had the front of engine moved back to the front wheel center line), how to devise a heater/defroster system using a Pontiac under seat heater, a shift linkage, an exhaust system using aftermarket 53 Chevy P.G. duals, etc, and the list goes on. That, to me, is the way you learn about cars.
My only regret was I never figured out a good clutch linkage so I ended up converting to open drive shaft with a Vette 3-speed and using a reworked V8 clutch relay lever which pulled from the clutch pedal rather than pushed. It worked great.

Those were great times. All toll I had 3 different engines in that car - the last being a nearly new 58 Fuelie (in 1958) - whistling around town with a 57 Air Cleaner on it and just one script lettering "Fuel Injection" from a 58 mounted on the body below the trunk lid. What a blast. (and the car still exists today in S.E. Wisconsin).

Stu Fox

Well, my 51 is on its 5th engine (350) and the clutch linkage is the STOCK 51 clutch linkage including the 51 throwout bearing fork installed in a 57 V8 bell housing. In order to get the stock clutch linkage to work, I had to lengthen it with some links of chain and bolts with a hole drilled in the end for a cotter pin for quick removal! I took these pictures last year when I had the left head off to replace a leaking head gasker (after 32yrs).
when I converted it to open driveline (283-3sp) in 67, this is the way I did the clutch linkage and its been trouble free all these years.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Burning Rubber with a 53

Tom;

That is amazing! You don't know how much those pictures mean to me. I went through pure hell trying to figure that one out, and you did it. Wow! All those parts, save the chain links, bring back so many memories. Thanks. But, there is no doubt you understand the problem and what I went through; pulling from a lower plane with a simple link to the "L" adjustment piece - well, I just bent (twisted) up one clutch fork after another. And I'd tried them all including the forged arm (like the one as it appears in your pictures). I chewed up several throwout bearings, tried different pivots, even had my dad make a new linkage that he and I designed at his company shop. They would all work for awhile, then I would start to have gear shifting hang up, and it was back to square one. Of course, I was using a white spring B & B pressure plate and that agravated the situation big time. On my first transplant 55 engine, I still had a diaphragm unit which worked pretty well.

Wow! If one could have just one "Mulligan" in life or a "Do Over", I'd sure like to have that one. I had so much fun with that car, which could have been even greater if I could have solved that linkage problem as you have. I went through a number of truck trannies because of it (dropped out the counter shafts). Believe it or not, I had changing them out down to a science without hardly jacking up the car - right through the removable floor board. I had to hang the rear wheels down, disconnect the coupling to the drive shaft, then jack the shaft and housing up to the floor (w/a notch in the cross member), then unbolt the box and take it out through the floor. BTW, the truck trannies were plentiful and cheap back then.

Thanks again for sharing your success. You've made my day.

Stu fox