calmloki
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
We have a '56 chevy 210 wagon that has been in her family since 1960. The 235that was in it lost timing gears in Minden Nevada as we brought it north many moons ago. I swapped in a 216 6, but didn't have the skill or $$ to do a good job. Then bent the hood. It then sat inside in storage for a dozen years or more till we dragged it out and decided to bring it back. Over the last year the body has been massaged, all the desert alligatored paint ground off, all the damage from doing duty as a water hauling rig for horses down in the desert has been replaced, and it has a new coat of paint. Just sprang for new glass all around. Now. It's power train time. I'm thinking that this could do duty as a 4 door/4 person hauler, a trailer puller, a cruise to wherever car, allowing me to retire my '93 BMW 525it work truck for the rentals. The gal and I could then each have a little fun car - maybe a minicooper or a Smart car, maybe a pumped up BMW E30 or a Chery.... The '56 would have to be trustworthy. What I'm thinking is a rebuilt fuel injected 5.7L/4 spd. automatic from a '94 ex-patrol car Caprice. 4 wheel discs would be nice. At about 500# lighter than the Caprice it should perform fairly well, while delivering maybe 18-24mpg city/hwy. Any of you wrenches or ex LEOs got any thoughts? Gotchas? Have to get the rear end ratio on the Caprice - it's been suggested that the 6 cyl chevy rear end won't hold up and a 9" Ford should be substituted.
calmloki/Chevy - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
calmloki/Chevy - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting