I really don't know about the tint. I'll get a better look tomorrow and let you know.

Lots of work but lots of satisfaction when your efforts pay off! Keep at it, eh.

I replaced or rebuilt every single suspension and steering piece front and rear, installed new power front disc brakes w/ master cylinder, rebuilt rear brakes and emergency brake, all relatively easy to do and as you know parts are easy to come by since they are 100% 55-7 Chevy. And when done, the car will drive great.

Given your plan to eventually dump the anemic 6, I would caution you about spending money on it in the short run. You will end up spending hundreds of dollars, not to mention all of your time, because once you fix one thing you will discover another - starter, generator, voltage regulator, carburetor, distributor, water pump, fuel pump, the list goes on and on. When you start with a non-running long-neglected motor, the seizing is just the beginning of the problems. I speak from experience - I had the same plan as you, fix it up to be a safe driver and run the 261 for a while -  mine did run (poorly) when I got it so I kept fixing one thing after the other - I finally pulled the plug on it when I discovered it had the wrong head and needed at least one new valve as well as a valve job.

Maybe you will be lucky and not have to do all that. I hope so, for your sake, if that is the route you choose.

Or maybe you should skip the short-term and go for the motot/tranny you really want, right from the start, and take a little longer to do it all. I wish I would have done that from the start.

Just my two cents (and lots of wasted dollars).

Dave

57 Pathfinder wrote:

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I'm not averse to spending even a grand or so to get it running well again and driveable. What I don't want is another multi-year project sitting in my garage mocking me. I have a K5 Blazer I have been messing with off and on for quite a while now. Because I can't drive it at the moment it has gone several long stretches where I don't even want to look at it. It's close to roadworthy again, and I have vowed anything further I do to it will be in small weekend sized chunks so it's not down for so long again. If I get the 57 driveable I can enjoy it while I put together an LQ4 etc. The new drive train will take some time to save for, assemble etc...

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 Rene, that makes complete sense to me and that should be your course of action. Good luck with the 57 project. Cheers. George

57 Pathfinder wrote:

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I'm not averse to spending even a grand or so to get it running well again and driveable. What I don't want is another multi-year project sitting in my garage mocking me. I have a K5 Blazer I have been messing with off and on for quite a while now. Because I can't drive it at the moment it has gone several long stretches where I don't even want to look at it. It's close to roadworthy again, and I have vowed anything further I do to it will be in small weekend sized chunks so it's not down for so long again. If I get the 57 driveable I can enjoy it while I put together an LQ4 etc. The new drive train will take some time to save for, assemble etc...

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 Makes total sense to me!  Thanks for the updates.  Truly, with all the history and mystique your car has, it is one of my favourite builds on this board.  Wrecked in the sixties, sitting all these years, bringing it back to life, finding "interesting" items in the car.  There's a story here to tell!!

Keep it coming!

I'll try to make the next one Randy. Didn't mean to flake out on you guys, just got busy working on my K5 then doing renovations on the house. When are you guys meeting next and where?

MC wrote:

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57 Pathfinder wrote:

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I'm not averse to spending even a grand or so to get it running well again and driveable. What I don't want is another multi-year project sitting in my garage mocking me. I have a K5 Blazer I have been messing with off and on for quite a while now. Because I can't drive it at the moment it has gone several long stretches where I don't even want to look at it. It's close to roadworthy again, and I have vowed anything further I do to it will be in small weekend sized chunks so it's not down for so long again. If I get the 57 driveable I can enjoy it while I put together an LQ4 etc. The new drive train will take some time to save for, assemble etc...

---

 Makes total sense to me!  Thanks for the updates.  Truly, with all the history and mystique your car has, it is one of my favourite builds on this board.  Wrecked in the sixties, sitting all these years, bringing it back to life, finding "interesting" items in the car.  There's a story here to tell!!

Keep it coming!

---

 X  2 !!!!!!!

Well, me and a friend have spent some time on the parts car of sadness. I have to say it's pretty much been a waste of money, and today was just depressing. We got the front end sheet metal off, and did find some good solid parts. The 283 however is complete junk. At some point it appears the short block was replaced with a Chevy 283. Orange block, heads and intake are Pontiac green like my 261. I had hopes it would prove to be a decent rebuildable core. The scary things, no valve covers, no oil filler cap, no water pump, carb removed and set aside. We removed the distributor hold down, and it wouldn't budge in any direction. We did finally get the distributor out, but broke it doing so. We removed the intake and the lifter valley was debris filled. Under the debris was just crust, lifters seized solid in the bores. Removed one head, and half the pushrods broke off.

The guy I got the parts car from is offering me another 283. We'll see how that goes, but for the most part this parts car was one big fail!

I'll snap a few pics later.

57 Pathfinder wrote:

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Well, me and a friend have spent some time on the parts car of sadness. I have to say it's pretty much been a waste of money, and today was just depressing. We got the front end sheet metal off, and did find some good solid parts. The 283 however is complete junk. At some point it appears the short block was replaced with a Chevy 283. Orange block, heads and intake are Pontiac green like my 261. I had hopes it would prove to be a decent rebuildable core. The scary things, no valve covers, no oil filler cap, no water pump, carb removed and set aside. We removed the distributor hold down, and it wouldn't budge in any direction. We did finally get the distributor out, but broke it doing so. We removed the intake and the lifter valley was debris filled. Under the debris was just crust, lifters seized solid in the bores. Removed one head, and half the pushrods broke off.


The guy I got the parts car from is offering me another 283. We'll see how that goes, but for the most part this parts car was one big fail!


I'll snap a few pics later.

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Man, that sounds like a typical old car story. Very unfortunate.

I guess i'm an optimist at heart, when I should be looking at this stuff more critically. At least the guy is going to hook me up with another 283, and if it's the same engine he was going to hook me up with before I went with the boat anchor, it's a '59 Vette 283 with 305 heads. I think Wednesday I'll have time to head out there.

Shame to see that 283 wasted but it's certainly not your fault, you tried! It certainly is an anchor.

Rene, it is obvious to me that you should be building the 261 inline six. Too bad about the 283 set backs but look at it this way, some one in old car heaven is telling you............................. build the motor that came with the  car originally............................... the  261 six. Good luck to you brother and cheers. George.