THE AUTO BUILDER

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When Honolulu, Hawaii, nightclub owner Fred “Scruples” Piluso was growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he read an issue of Rod & Custom magazine that showed readers how to install a ’59 Ford Thunderbird front bumper onto either a ’55 or a ’56 Ford. “Man, I thought that was really a cool idea! I went right out and installed one of those setups on my ’55 Ford Crown Victoria. It really looked great with that ‘Dago Rake,’ that set of ’57 Mercury fender skirts and the ’55 Mercury station wagon taillights I had already installed.” For being built on a budget, it was definitely one of the most popular customs in the neighborhood for its time!

Hydro-Boost Brakes

Nothing is more terrifying than cruising down the street to the fairgrounds when some idiot pulls out in front of you and you have to jump on the binders. Making a panic stop can be difficult when you are trying to stop 800 throbbing horsepower with a set of 9-inch rotors and single-piston calipers. You might even wonder if it will stop as you mash the brake pedal. When it comes to street rods with big motors, one braking concern is vacuum pressure. Is there enough? Many high-performance camshafts add power to the motor but produce low vacuum levels. This is something to consider when selecting your engine components. Of course, if the motor fails, you will have no vacuum, so stopping will be a real problem.

SUPER BEELIEVER

While it may be somewhat of a surprise that muscle cars have become some of the most highly prized cars on the market today, the prices people are paying for them really have enthusiasts reeling. With some cars easily surpassing the million-dollar mark at the Barrett-Jackson auctions and others swelling in value in the wake of it all—well beyond the prices paid for the most treasured of European exotics—muscle cars have been transformed into commodities. That’s a good thing and a bad thing.

Spotlighter

It’s a Gas!

Author

Tim Gavern

Story & Photography

Mission accomplished … Project “Tin Can” is a runner! We think it came out just right, and already it has become an amusement ride for the neighborhood.

The combination of the high-winding 283 flowing through 2-1/2-inch turbo mufflers, along with the unmistakable whine of the close-ratio Muncie four-speed provide an aural treat, while the acceleration from the 4.56:1 gears simply make the car a blast. In fact, we may to have to start charging admission.

Hysterical laughter can be heard from inside the car at every intersection as shocked onlookers gawk at Tin Can. The car is more fun to drive than a barrel of monkeys and attracts a huge amount of attention wherever it goes. Innocent passengers are forever changed and kids go crazy over it. If only one kid gets into cars because of seeing and hearing Project Tin Can, our job is done.

Who would have ever thought that our little 283 would have this much poop with only a shave and a haircut? Seriously, the combination of a new Melling solid-lifter 30-30 Duntov camshaft and lifters, vintage Edelbrock C4B intake manifold and a “loaner” Holley 650 double-pumper carburetor, along with the close-ratio M21 Muncie four-speed and 4.56s, make Tin Can feel like an honest 13-second car. We’ll let you know…

Although this is the final part to Project Tin Can, we will be using her for occasional testing of products and such. We would like to thank everyone who helped with the car during its buildup, especially Rick “D/G” Del Gado, who wrenched on the car from day one. We would also like to thank the many new friends we’ve made from readers who sent in letters and e-mails about Tin Can. Keep those cards and letters coming. Old-school rules!

Project “Tin Can” is complete. Sure, there’s the possibility of a new coat of paint down the road, but the car is so much fun to drive that it will probably be a long time before we’ll let it out of our hands long enough to do so. A new 2-1/2-inch exhaust system is tucked up way under the car, so only the header caps and small downspouts in front of each rear wheel show.

Tin Can’s Biscayne body has simple, attractive lines and a hard-to-miss attitude that lets onlookers know she’s no stocker.

Tin Can will be running hoodless until we can get the hinges and hold-down parts restored. The front bumper is gone forever, and we chose to leave the headlight bezels off after seeing how mean it looked without them. The front grille, outer grille moldings and parking lenses are all exceptional reproductions from Classic Industries.

How does that old saying go? This is the only view of Tin Can that most cars will see. Note the “bullet hole” in the rear window, probably obtained while running from the law…

Tin Can’s warmed-over 283 features a Melling 30-30 Duntov solid-lifter cam and lifters, Cloyes Tru-Roller double-row roller timing set, Edelbrock C4B intake manifold and a Holley 650 double pumper. Vintage Hooker headers feature white ceramic coating. Stains can easily be removed from the white headers with Simple Green or soap and water, and the coating will last many times longer than white, spray-bomb, high-heat coating. Note the extreme length of the fan spacer to get it even closer to the radiator. From the factory, Biscaynes had shrouds, and we may need to install one later.

Ultra-rare, very early, Mickey Thompson polished valve covers and scoop brighten up the otherwise stark, low-gloss-black, spray-bomb painted engine compartment. New Castle Battery provided the reproduction tar-top battery, while the correct spring-ring cables and hold-down hardware came from Show Cars Automotive. The original two-core radiator was transformed into a three-core, and the 283 runs cool so far.

The interior still requires plenty of work, but hardware is arriving daily. The radio-delete plate is an original that we located on eBay, while the heater-delete plate is a reproduction from Show Cars Automotive. We’re still looking for that elusive ’63 lighter delete The Hurst Competition Plus shifter is topped with a rare Cal Custom metal-flake ball, and the matching gas pedal and high-beam switch pedals are extremely rare Cal Custom gasser-style covers. An NOS gauge panel and 2-5/8-inch oil pressure gauge are from Stewart Warner. The R.F. hat is a tribute to our friend, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, who is sorely missed.

An Eelco ball-joint lift kit is shown in the upper A-arm. Note how the ball joint and spacer correctly sit under the A-arm. The entire front suspension was rebuilt using quality Moog parts. We’re still looking for NOS 90/10 front shocks, so repainted Gabriel shocks were used to replace the broken originals.

We had several readers ask about how to get the front end aligned after installing a ball-joint lift kit. Note how many shims it took to get the front tires on Tin Can back to nearly straight up and down. The nuts on the upper A-arm shaft bolts need to be tightened using their entire thickness, even if it means not having enough shims to be able to align the car perfectly. Never install so many shims that the nuts are only held on by a few threads. Nuts should be checked frequently

Shown are two factory alignment shims (the ones with the protruding tangs). We could not locate exact duplicates. The shims were found at a local hardware store, and each had to be ground slightly to fit wider upper A-arm bolts. It would be impossible to align the front end on a car that has a front-end lift kit installed without similar shims. After shims are installed and the car is driveable, the vehicle should be aligned as soon as possible by a shop that specializes in alignment.

5.60-15 reproduction Firestones by Coker Tires on “generic” aluminum five-spokes look great on Project Tin Can. Thunderbolt-style tow tabs made by Mitch’s Custom Fabrication replace the heavy front bumper and save over 100 pounds.

Vintage Hooker headers were highly modified and really make the car. Additional collectors were welded onto Hookers by Mike’s Mufflers, which did an exceptional job of tucking the hand-fabricated exhaust system up and out of view. The crew even made big, ugly welds for that old-school look. The 2-1/2-inch clamped-together system uses Summit turbo mufflers for vintage sound