VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION What did you do with your vehicle today? Finally found a pristine (barn find) 37 Coupe

New to this forum as I've only been working on my 37 Buick for the past few years. But I've been looking for a 37 Chevy Coupe forever and finally found one.

Just got it home last week. Looks to be truly a Parade Car. Spent this last week draining everything I can find and refilling with modern and fresh fluids. Cleaning everything I can reach. Getting it up on stands and inspecting everything I can see. The carb hasn't been touched in forever so THAT has taken awhile the actually recognize. The fuel pump and glass bowl was beyond full of crap. I haven't drained the fuel tank yet as it actually runs pretty smooth right now but that is next. I haven't found any rust or bodywork anywhere so THAT is good. I drove it around the block after the fluid changes and wasn't overly impressed with the ride. Brought it back and figured how to refill all the shocks. They were all less than full so topped them all off. I'll take it around again and see what was improved. In hindsight I should have blown out as much previous fluid as possible before adding some but that'll wait till later. Checked the front end alignment and at least the toe was good. If the shocks didn't improve the ride I'm thinking string the axles to make sure all is running in a straight line. Trying not to make any sudden changes just to confirm all is pretty tight and smooth. I can see cracked wire everywhere so that'll need tending to. Anyway... that's what I did this week. Cheers

If it is a Master with front leaf spings itt will have a choppyrd ide ompare to your Buick.
If a Master Deluxe wih enlosed coil spings a soft ride unless the big arms are froze upp ..

Good to know as it is a Master. I'll take that under advisement. Hope the shock oil helps.

It's been a busy few weeks. Got the suspension all straighten out. Actually more "cleaned up". Replaced the rear front bushings but everything else was just cleaning out 80 years of dirt and old grease. Dicked with the fuel sending unit and just decided to replace it instead of doctoring up the old one.

Decided it's a good enough time to pull the floor up and seat out and kick panels out. Inspected everything. Scraped up the last of the roofing tar material and blew out the kick panel area. Only one small nest down there. Everything is basically rust free. Can't really complain.

Inspected the seat real good. Flipped the seat over and Vacuumed in and around the springs. I know I really need to reinforce the cushioning but haven't really decided exactly how. I found the material that is used for tubular cushions. The ones that decorate the occasional couch. There are different diameters of that that might fit inside each round spring. Haven't decided yet.

Took the seat itself across the street to the car wash. I know a lot of folks are cringing with that but, say what you want, as long as you don't squeeze the handle and be cautious, one can clean up old upholstery pretty well. Brought it back and set a few fans on it over night and wahlah, as clean as it's going to get.

Pulled the trans cover and cleaned around under there. Took the shifter off and inspected down in the tx. All looked pretty good. I made a felt cover for the whole area to include the screw holes for the cover. That should be a good seal and soundproofer. Repainted the tx cover and replaced all the screws.

I had enough 1/2" felt to cover the entire floor back past behind the seat. Also great soundproofing. I got it all cut in with the seat mounts to be on top of the felt. That'll raise the seat less than a half inch but should work fine. By now it's all been in and out a few times. I'll coat everything with rustproofing before the final lay. I had to pull the shifter back off anyway so to thread the end. The ball on it was just loose and floppy. I went with a Delrin black 2.25" ball so will also repaint the shifter before it all goes back together.

The battery cover is old plywood and falling apart so I still have to make that. I need to be mindful of all the insulation not obstructing the battery and the master cylinder but it should all turn out well... hopefully

Took it out yesterday for the first time. Drivetrain did fine. Suspension is tight but still handles squirrely due to the old bias ply tires. The wheels are also a little less than true. They're not bad but not great either. I hate whitewalls anyway so it's a good excuse. Looking into new 6" smoothies and modern tires. They're on order and I won't have to take them if they don't fit. Guess we'll see.

The rear aux lights are also irreparable so I'm shopping for options. Don't really like the 4" (red/amber) double sided ones but there aren't many non-LED options to be had as It'll have to be 6v compatible. So 1154's instead of 1157's. That is another reason to want to convert to 12v. It's really hard to find ANYTHING these days that are 6v. Oddly enough I'm finding far more acceptable motorcycle lights that may work. Not too big and gaudy and still look and work ok. I can make nice brackets and bolt to the bumper on both sides. Should look nice and clean. I'll post pictures if anyone wants to see.

Still getting body rattles toward the middle and/or rear. Did a few well placed screws into the rattly trunk side panels. Found the spots where the metal frame was just behind. Maybe 8 screws in total. All that really helped a lot. Drove again and it WAS improved but not yet fixed. I'm thinking go ahead and pull up the wood panel over the fuel tank and check everything under there. Kinda been putting that off but guess it's time.

To be continued. Cheers.

If you have the accessory RH tail/stop lamp on your car, you can use the stop lamp filament for signals. This requires a 7 wire turn signal switch, which works through the stop lamp switch. The 7 wire switch is available new or you can find a 50s version on eBay that doesn't look so modern, if that is a concern.

Mike.

I don't have the RH light. Wish I did. But I really don't mind the extra aux lighting. Anything to avoid idiots on phones. Not sure a rear flood light hooked to the brake isn't a bad idea either. Ok, maybe a bit much. 😂

I think I have a pair of '37/'38 lamps with brackets, somewhere. I believe there are at least two different lengths for different body styles. I think mine are the short ones. I will look for them and get a measurement.

Mike

Finished up all the lights and wiring there of. I'll need to do the rest of the wiring soon but not right now. Rerouted things a little. Took the headlights and markers off the battery and ran them through the ignition switch I.e., they won't stay on with the switch off. I wired the Blinkers and flashers to the battery so they WILL stay on with the switch off. Since everything on the car had the in-line fuses or nothing at all, I installed a couple fuse blocks to feed the two conditions. One is always on (the battery) and the other is on (the switch). And to be exact, so to reduce the current through the switch for all the extra lighting, I installed a relay that the switch controls to feed the (not always on) fuse block, and then that feeds all the lights through one of the new fuses. I already know I'll be adding additional circuits (heater fan, defrost fan, maybe a few others) so do the fuse blocks now or later. Now it is.

Took it back out for a much longer run yesterday. Ran fine. Stops great. A little squirrely on rough roads but pretty good on smooth. I'd really like to keep the original look inside and out but da*n... that original seat (and really in pretty good shape) is truly from he*l. The only thing I can figure, anyone who WASN'T 5'4" or less, didn't buy this car. Needless to say my 6'2" frame will need to make some changes. Tasteful I hope but changes nonetheless.

For now the hard part is done - ish. I got the title work done (finally) and permanent tags on. Good lights all around so just maybe I won't get run over. The shocks are all oiled up so they should last me maybe a month or so at a time. I car washed under the hood again and blew out more crap that I discovered while running the wires. Sprayed Gibbs oil everywhere I could find and parked it back in the corner of the garage until I forget how bad the seat is and take it out for another drive.

My Buick has been waiting patiently in that same spot for a number of weeks so now it's his turn. His name is Baloo so yes IT is a HE... and he just happens to be Blue. Cheers

Oh, and I'm taking suggestions on the chevy's new name. It's black so finding something that ISN'T dumb is proving to be a challenge. We've already used "Vader" for a black inside and out car. So THAT'S out.