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Oregon 55 Gasser

109K views 318 replies 60 participants last post by  MT94SS 
#1 ·
I put this car on another thread with some frame questions but thought I should just do a build thread.
Car has been sitting in the same spot since 1976 near my home. It took some doing and many moons to talk the owner into letting it go. The windows were down for several years with 70s shag carpet so it rusted the floor pans, other than that its pretty good. So here we go on the build.



Most of the original paint in the trunk area..


Floor pans removed, braces were good so I sandblasted them.
 
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#39 · (Edited)
The carbs (mine and yours) are pretty much identical other than the choke towers, I love mine!

Mine are the #0-80575S


Yours are the #0-80592S


I've been tuning mine with a wide band O2 sensor,
it runs in the 10 to 20 inches vacuum out on the street,
when I hit boost it is almost uncontrollable, you want empty
road ahead....
Pulleys are set now to provide 7 lbs boost on pump gas.
With 8:1 pistons that seems a good combo, probably could
pulley it up for more boost with race gas.
How much CR are you aiming for?

Think I busted my '55 (again), hope it's nothing serious, just a rude noise I gotta go check out...
Aloha,
Willy
 
#40 ·
My plan is to run a dart 427 small block with AFR heads. The comp ratio with a 20cc dish piston and 75cc head will be about 9.1. 8 or 8.5 would be ideal. On my old 471-350 I was at 8.5 and it would run on pump gas at about 8-10 psi I plan to run a mix of non ethanol premium and racing fuel or avgas. If you are tuning with an o2 that is good, Watch the timing and keep it a tad on the rich side. You are probably close to sea level and we are at 3300ft so we have less air here which is more forgiving.
Hope your noise is something minor...
 
#42 · (Edited)
Update...
The floor pans arrived yesterday so I got right at it. I had sandblasted and prepped the body seams and braces previously with POR-15 and weld through primer so I just needed to fit and install the panels. They actually fit pretty good. I laid them out in the car and double checked and adjusted all corners and toe board fit. I then went under the car and scribed all the braces, Pulled the panels out and drilled the weld through holes, I then installed the panels starting with the left side by putting a few self tapping screws near the braces to pull the two pieces together. I then started welding the panel in. When I had the left side mostly done I put the right side in.




Got some stuff in today from Speedway...2-3 more weeks on the axle though.
 
#43 ·
so on the trans hump to toe board/firewall joint , I weld the joint up on the inside then cut off the flange underneath. this adds 3/4" of much needed room in the tunnel around the trans bell housing area. JMHO
 
#46 ·
Nice build. Looks like it is a good enough base to start with. Love how easy the floors go in, need those for '65 Rivieras now.

Tilting fiberglass or steel? Willy's is a good option.

Sometimes wish that I would have went with a blower instead of a lift...

Keep it going!
 
#48 · (Edited)
Thanks again for the comments, I am really enjoying this project.
Here is a little update. Been working on my wifes 55 sedan while waiting for my axle from Tinnys hot rods to arrive. It showed up on Wednesday so back to work on the gasser.
The axle is chrome moly and is 51 inches on the king pin to pin & 60 3/4 hub to hub. I stretched the wheel base to a final of about 117'', just test fitting the axle for now I tacked in the rear shackle mounts, will wait to load the chassis some to set the front shackles, then installing the engine mount and doing the bull nose on the frame ends. progress!:tu





I found the American 15X6 "D" wheels up in my shop attic, I think I put them up there about 20 years ago.
 
#51 ·
Thanks, I thought they looked a bit light, the stationary end brackets are nice. What did you use? I thought about making some.

Hey Mike, the 427 SB is soon...being self employed I need to make sure I have enough to pay uncle Sam at tax time...

here is a front view of the car.
 
#52 ·
I had some of those long aftermarket shackles sitting in a bin here. So I simply cut off the section that had the adjustable 3 holes, and used the two end holes for the right length. They're beefy, and worked well. For the frame I made my own boxed mounting point, and sleeved it with thick wall tube for the through bolt.
 
#54 ·
Time for another update.
Did a test fit on the engine mounting, Once that was good I tacked the mount in and went to work on the bull nose on the front frame.

The frame was strong enough here I just wanted a finished look so I made up some plates.

Working on the bull nose. I marked the outline and we cut the frame horns with a cutoff wheel. Then used some round stock to finish the ends.


 
#56 ·
The front of the frame looks great. Car has a nice stance.
I was not a fan of the Speedway frt shackle mounts either. I cut the ears off them , drilled holes in my front spring mounts and welded the shackle mounts to them. All you'd have to do is drill a couple holes in the tubing. Will drop the car approx. 1 3/4 inches, but will look nice and neat and certainly be plenty strong. And if you want to keep the height as is, you could cut a triangular piece of tubing and mount the shackle pivot in it.
Here is the shackle mounted on my 57 Corvette.

 
#57 ·
Thanks Baron
I don't want the car any higher in the front so that might be an option. I blasted and stripped the car today and put it in DP primer so I can get back to fitting things. I need to load the front suspension and see how much the leafs compress so I can get the final ride height before installing the steering gear. I do have a question for all.... Has anyone had any issues with the front steer with front shackle? I see it done a lot. I can mount my gear in the rear but would rather have it in front. Here are a pics of a drag link mount a friend of mine has on his 55, he has put 10K miles on the car and says it drives fine, front vega box with front shackles.
Thanks
Wade

 
#59 ·
I have one of each, so can compare the two. Both are front steer, but one with shackles in back, and one in front. Both drive great, and handle well. I've heard people say that having shackles and steering on the same side will cause the axle to be pushed when turning. I think that might be a possibility in a situation where springs were mounted in rubber bushings, and shackles were extremely long. But I've never seen it with short shackles, and good poly bushings.
 
#60 ·
Thank you both for the replies I kinda figured that would be the case but had to ask, I will proceed. I am using the Borgeson short shaft 525.
Here are some pics from yesterday, sandblasted the jambs and firewall and hand stripped the rest of the tub with the Bondo Hog, Wiped her down with acetone and sprayed a coat of PPG DP 90 epoxy primer. Next is the column & steering gear.


 
#64 ·
Wade....Just came across this thread of yours....Its a great Gasser build story and I love it....Keep up the good work buddy :):congrats:
 
#65 ·
Wade,
When I was setting up the front end on my '55 gasser, I used a manual steering box I pulled out of a junked '67 Olds Cutlass, and mounted it for a front, cross steer setup, with the spring shackles on the back. Had no opinion on where the shackles should go, it just looked good that way to me.

But I had a bit of an issue with that cross steer pushing the axle sideways, giving me a weird driving feel, not sure why it was doing that. But I fabbed a panhard bar, same length as the drag link, and parallel to the axle and drag link, and that solved it. It tracks very precisely now and handles great out on the open road. I also put in a fairly stout sway bar, that helped a lot with controlling body lean in the corners. And of course those ladder bars, mounted parallel like I have 'em, act like a sway bar on the rear axle, so it corners nice and flat! And I put real good tires with some meat on 'em on the front, as I tend to drive it hard whenever I can.

I'm actually amazed at how well it handles for what it is....

I ran my '58 pro street pickup for a couple years wearing black DP90, but started getting rust showing up. Was surprised, as I though the DP90 would seal it up, but it doesn't. So had to sand it down, treat it with Ospho, reprime it and put a finish coat on.
This is with the DP90:


Willy
 
#66 ·
Thanks again for the comments, I don't plan on doing much with the firewall, running the stock engine location. Welding was done with my Miller 35 I have had for 30 years. Getting the old paint stripped is a big step, now I can start fitting my engine bay components.The DP holds up well here in the high desert of Oregon. I will paint the car as soon as I get the steering done and stuff test fit on the firewalll. I am working on 3 cars at once right now but 2 of them are nearly done so I can focus on the gasser full time soon. I am motivated to get it running this summer if possible.
My wife's 55 almost done.

64 Impala doing a repaint
 
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