What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

57 Pontiac "Zero Fox"

I was going to say, put the radiator in the 6 cyl position in front of the core support as it would net the most room for a long water pump. Your support being cut with the rad where it splits the difference but if you move the rad out so it's on the front side of the support it will still fit (that's the stock 6cyl location anyway). Another thought would be to move to a short water pump to gain clearance. But that requires changing the alternator mount and crank pulley to line up with the short pump position.

Great progress though. I bet it feels good to be bolting new stuff on than ripping stuff off the car.
 
Car is looking awesome! I bet you are getting excited to drive it, I want to see it drive!

tRustyK5 said:
I'll have a better look at the class rules and make sure a Drag Radial is OK before making a final decision. I think I can get a 30" tire in that wheelwell..it's cavernous. :waytogo:
Click to expand...

If the rules don't allow a drag radial in the back, then I suggest you get a set of bias tires for the front too, it will handle bettter down the dragstrip if the front tire construction matches the back.
 
folkenheath said:
Car is looking awesome! I bet you are getting excited to drive it, I want to see it drive!



If the rules don't allow a drag radial in the back, then I suggest you get a set of bias tires for the front too, it will handle bettter down the dragstrip if the front tire construction matches the back.
Click to expand...

All the rules specify is tread width. maximum 11.5" at the tread with a go/no go gauge. A 295-55 or 65 should fit within those specs easily enough.
 
ZooMad75 said:
I was going to say, put the radiator in the 6 cyl position in front of the core support as it would net the most room for a long water pump. Your support being cut with the rad where it splits the difference but if you move the rad out so it's on the front side of the support it will still fit (that's the stock 6cyl location anyway). Another thought would be to move to a short water pump to gain clearance. But that requires changing the alternator mount and crank pulley to line up with the short pump position.

Great progress though. I bet it feels good to be bolting new stuff on than ripping stuff off the car.
Click to expand...

The rad I'm using is technically for my big block Fury. I knew it'd fit the area, but it did require some surgery on the core support. With the electric fans and shroud I couldn't just stick it in the "6 cylinder" position. Upper hose location is fine, lower hose is on the wrong side so something custom will get made for that.

This is the first straight sheet metal up front on this car since 1967...
 
Well, some disappointing news.

As we've gotten closer to Drag Week I have been slammed with one financial crisis after another. Each one, in and of itself, able to be dealt with...but together they have created an issue where I could (probably) get the car done(ish) and not be able to afford the trip, or be able to afford the trip and run my Dirtymax down each track leaving an unfinished 57 Pontiac at home.

I hate this, especially after working pretty hard on it, and then having to come here and say I'm not going to make it this year. All I can say is I am not willing to go to my bank and ask for a loan to get this done. That would cross a line for me I'm unwilling to cross. Next year we will have our pick of Drag and Drive events to participate in.

I've avoided this thread for obvious reasons. I have not stopped working on the car though.

It currently has three working pedals now, finally got the last brake line made and brakes fully bled. I do have to create the E-brake but I have a universal kit and a plan.

Electrically my battery is in the trunk and I had wired it up so when you pushed in the switch it killed the car. I had run my charge wire all the way back to the battery, inadvertently creating a situation where no matter what that charge wire, and the stud on the alt were always hot. That was no bueno, so I re-wired it adding a second solenoid back there. Now the cut-off switch kills all. When you turn it on it sends power to the car, and the solenoid for the charge wire. Not only will it pass tech, but it's 100% safe as intended now.

Next electrical fun was the ignition and starter situation. I think the ignition switch might be bad internally. Back probing it I have heavy red wire that's hot, a heavy pink wire (to fuse block, power for the car) and smaller pink wire (flasher relay) and a purple wire which is cranking trigger. Turn the key on and both pinks have power, turn it to "start" and purple gets power which is good, but the pinks drop power. I had it "rigged" with a toggle switch but hated that. So today I re-wired stuff and added an engine start button.

 
I really thought I could get this done in a year...

What is the saying? "Life is what happens while you're busy making plans"

I will have the car on the road this summer sometime, and by next year it'll be fully sorted and much less stress to sign up for a Drag and Drive event.
 
Sucks to hear, but your logic is spot on. Get the car rolling this summer and make a few licks on the local strip to sort it out.

The lighter starter button is ridiculously cool. Nice work. Don't dwell on not being able to go this year. Focus on taking your time to get stuff done right without the stress of a looming deadline.
 
I like Dart Start!!

It was kind of a form over function thing...

I bought this engine start button off of Amazon.


51Z+A8Y9TsL._AC_SL1000_.jpg

Not a bad piece IMO, but the blue LED part in a 50's dash didn't exactly blow up my skirt. Then there was the whole drill a big F'in hole in the dash that didn't excite me much either. Seeing the lighter right beside the key got the whole thing rolling. Turned out better than I hoped, but I will say I hate underdash stuff like this. Just murdered my back...and totally worth it!
 
I did the same thing on my 67.
Tossed a push button start up under the dash for a little anti theft.

First time I took the wife out for a ride, we had stopped got in the car and I turned the key and said.
"OH shit!" "Won't start!"

She just kinda looked at me.
Didn't believe it for a second. Lol.
Good trick for people that aren't married to you thou!
 
As an aside you can see two out of three working gauges in the vid. Fuel level works, and Oil pressure. Temp works too but you can't see it in the vid. The oil pressure gauge, according to my factory service manual goes up to 60 psi. It's pegged at the top anytime this thing is running...

They're better than no gauges for now.
 
I thought the factory oil was pretty cool, also dont believe I’d trust it

Glad to see you’re still gaining. Test drive will be three tits. I have on good authority that the tremec will bang shift just fine
 
Tires getting mounted on Wednesday.

Then some minor things and a driveshaft...

I don't distrust the oil pressure gauge, it's mechanical. The thing for me is I believe the gauge just doesn't go high enough. It might be 60+ psi at idle. All I know for sure is it isn't under 60 psi right now. Since I got the cooling system set up I ran it to "temp" once, and even at operating temp, or a bit warmer the oil pressure was still 60+ psi. Temp doesn't have any numbers, just "H" and "C". I let it run until it hit the mid point on the gauge, coolant was starting to move so I'm pretty sure the 180 stat had opened by that point.

Until I an afford the driveshaft I still have lots I can do. E brake I already mentioned. I have some sheet metal work I can do so I can get the front end on in a more permanent fashion, which will lead to headlights, signals, and electric fan relay wiring. I'm working on a heater fan project right now. The stock heater fan takes up a ton of underhood real estate with the fan motor literally resting on top of the fenderwell headers. I found a 5.5" x 5.5" 12 volt DC brushless fan on Amazon that blows about twice the volume of air the stock squirrel cage fan does....and is only 1.5" thick. I need a new resistor so I'll have a low and high speed rather than just having "high".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom