Friend's '54 Chev troubles

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lazarat

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2018
Messages
657
So a neighbor of mine has this nearly mint '54 Chev, a 210 Del Ray, a rare model, stock original with 84,000 miles. He owned the car since he was 16, had AC installed, and was in storage for over 40 years.

I have been helping him out with oil leaks, manifold leaks, and other weird little anomalies. About a year ago he had some work done at a local shop having to do with the transmission. (I am not clear what it was, but I know he curses a lot when he has to get greasy working on it, he prefers doing body work. Quite the character.)

So now the latest complaint was this clunking sound coming from the transmission area. We didn't want to drive it so we have it jacked up at his apartment complex. Lo and behold;

Not only did they leave out one of the lock out tabs on one side, but they put the u joint (this is a closed drive shaft) hold down bracket which is offset, backwards...so that there was a gap between the joint and yoke...plus the bolt fell out, the other was loose, and we found the chewed up bolt laying in the bottom of the transmission tail.

He was cussing and fuming so much I had to leave.

So he ordered the bolts and locks from National Chev, and they arrived yesterday, in an hour I will be under this thing helping him out.

I am hoping it will be a pleasant fix, no cussing, and I get my jackstands back. Film at 11.
 

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Sad but, there's shops out there that don't have a clue what they're doing but, will take on the job anyway.
You'll get it fixed though. The cussing thing may never go away.
[P[P[P
 
Sad but, there's shops out there that don't have a clue what they're doing but, will take on the job anyway.
You'll get it fixed though. The cussing thing may never go away.
[P[P[P

My buddy owns a shop & he has been working on the Chevelle from hell & trying to fix a lot of crazzzzy things the previous shop did wrong! Just one of the things that I thought was a amazing was... the owner wanted my buddy to put in a 700R4 in place of the 3 speed that was in the car! Come to find out it already had a 700R4 but only had a 3 speed shifter! Unbelievable what some shops do!

BoB
 
I agree! I have seen some crazy lazy stuff on some very nice "looking" cars!!! You will get it licked!!
 
My buddy owns a shop & he has been working on the Chevelle from hell & trying to fix a lot of crazzzzy things the previous shop did wrong! Just one of the things that I thought was a amazing was... the owner wanted my buddy to put in a 700R4 in place of the 3 speed that was in the car! Come to find out it already had a 700R4 but only had a 3 speed shifter! Unbelievable what some shops do!

BoB
Aftermarket shifter or stock? I am now wondering if the 85 200r4 in my 39 will work with the stock 93 S10 column shifter.


HINT: I'm not a Chevy guy, but I am learning.
 
A lot of the shops around here have the youngers that are probably great at the computer ops than the old school stuff, easy as it is in a lot of cases, and I hate working on anything that has 'front wheel drive" in its description.

Fortunately I have bros that have been around awhile, a couple with nice garage space, lifts, welders, probably like many on here.

I am limited in that regard, and If I can't fix it, its broke...or I will get to a bro that can help me unbroke it.

So this above Del Ray was a bit of a struggle getting everything lined up, had to jack up the trans a little, and a thousand cuss words later, (not me, I was too busy laughing at the antics) mission accomplished.
 

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