R I C O C H E T F A C T S & F I G U R E S
NAME Brent Du Pont,
CITY, STATE Rocklin, California
YEAR, MAKE, MODEL 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air 2 Door Hardtop
CHASSIS
Frame / Manufacturer Jim Meyer Racing Built frame, Custom built utilizing 2x4 .120 wall frame rails tied together with 1 Ύ .120 wall cross member & K member supports, frame was stepped to get the car to sit as low as possible. Car has been lowered 7 in front & 6 in rear over stock.
Front suspension Independent front suspension featuring D.O.M. steel 1 .120 wall upper & 1 Ό .120 wall lower A-arms fabricated by Jim Meyer Racing. 78-88 B-Body Spindles, 1 swaybar, QA1 adjustable billet aluminum coil-over shocks. Track width 59. A-arms, swaybar & bracketry chromed.
Front brakes Baer Track system, featuring 13 cross drilled & zinc washed rotors, PBR calipers
Rearend / Ratio Ford 9, narrowed 6 inches & centered in the car, Randys Ring & Pinion set up the Strange Aluminum Center Section with 3.25 ring & pinion, & truetrac posi-traction unit, 31 spline Dutchman Axles
Rear suspension 1 Ό D.O.M. 156 wall urethane bushed parallel 4 link rear suspension. 1 D.O.M. 156 wall wishbone locater. 7/8 sway bar. QA1 adjustable billet aluminum coil-over shocks. Four link bars, swaybar, & bracketry chromed.
Rear brakes Baer Track system, featuring 12 cross drilled & zinc washed rotors, PBR calipers
Master cylinder Baer Racing
Steering Flaming River Rack & Pinion
Steering column Late model Chevy truck shortened 3 ½. I used this column for couple reasons, I wanted a square shaped column to fit the dash better & have that modern look. Other benefits include, hi-beams are now in the column & off the floor & ignition key in column.
Front wheels & tires 17x7 Boyd Coddington LS Fury soft lip design, 4 ½ backspace mounted on Goodyear Eagle 225/45-17 GS-D3, Custom made Ricochet center caps by Ron Clark.
Rear wheel & tires 18x10 Boyd Coddington LS Fury soft lip design, 4 ½ backspace mounted on Goodyear 295/45-18 GS-D3, Custom made Ricochet center caps by Ron Clark.
Gas tank I eliminated the spare tire well in the trunk to accommodate a bigger fuel tank. I had Rock Valley Antique Parts Limited, build me 23 gallon Stainless Fuel Tank. I had them install a Holley high pressure fuel pump inside the tank. I then polished the tank to a mirror finish.
Other chassis items Frame completely smoothed & welds filled. Once the body work was completed it was painted PPG Deep Black. The rearend & spindles were coated in PPG Deep Black after they were ground smooth. Brake lines were custom made by Scott Jones & myself using 3/16 stainless line. Used 2 lb residual valves front & rear, Baer proportioning valve. Fuel lines also bent up by Scott Jones & myself using 3/8 stainless line both on pressure line & return line. All lines were than polished. Lines supplied by Pure Choice Motor Sports. All hardware on frame is 12 pt grade 8 chrome supplied by Gardner Westcott Co.
ENGINE
Year and make 1972 Big Block Chevy
Displacement - .030 over 454 (now 461 cubic inches)
Machining / Assembly - machine work performed by John Gianolli at Reggie Jackson High Performance in San Bruno, California. Assembly done by Scott Jones & owner.
Crankshaft Factory Steel Chevy
Rods 3/8 Rods w/ ARP wavelength bolts
Pistons Keith Black Hypereutectic 9.5-1
Camshaft - Schneider Hydraulic Roller - .550 int .560 exh lift, 230 duration @ 0.050, 114 lobe centers
Water pump Meziere Billet Mechanical
Cooling fan - 2 - 13 SPAL electric fans pullers, 1710 CFM each
Radiator Be Cool, custom built to owner specs, 14 tall & 42 wide
Alternator Street & Performance Polished 120 amp & Low mount bracket kit
Heads - 1968 Semi-open chamber heads, pocket ported & gasket matched
Valves / Springs Manley 2.19 intake, 1.88 exhaust, Crane Valve Springs, Retainers & locks
Rockers Crane Roller Rockers
Valve covers Moroso Polished Aluminum
Manifold / Induction Arizona Speed & Marine EFI
Air cleaner 2 - K & N air filters, each one mounted inside the factory vent intakes behind the headlights, route through custom core support into the throttle body
Ignition / Wires GM HEI with MSD 6AL, Taylor wires, Auto-lite Platinum plugs
Headers Owner modified Rodworks headers to fit in Jim Meyer Chassis
Exhaust / Mufflers 2.5 mandrel bent exhaust, flow master mufflers, all work by owner
Other engine facts Balanced & blue printed, Clevite bearings, Sealed power rings, Milodon 9 qt. Oil pan, Melling oil pump, ATI balancer, billet timing cover, custom made billet pulleys machined by Meziere Enterprises, engine & transmission polished & painted body color. All accessories were mounted down below. All wiring and plumbing are out of sight for a clean look. All hardware on engine & transmission is ARP polished stainless 12 pt., mandrel bent radiator hoses painted body color. Motor made 486 H.P. & 538 lbs of torque. I wanted the motor make plenty of power but most off all be very driveable & dependable.
TRANSMISSION
Year and make 1990 Turbo 400, built by Lee Myles Transmissions in Oakland, Ca
Converter PDQ 2400 Stall converter
Shifter - Lokar
Trans mods Heavy Duty 34 element sprag, Trans Go 2 shift kit, Kevlar Bands, Hi-energy Friction discs
Driveshaft 3 drive line built by South Bay Driveline in San Jose, Ca.
BODY
Body style / Material Bel Air 2 Door Hardtop
Body mods Eliminated louvers in front fenders, shaved hood, shaved trunk
Hood Factory Steel modified, Eliminated bullets & humps in hood, both sides finished off & work completed by owner.
Grille Owner made, 16 gauge steel, perforated oval openings & power coated semi gloss black. Factory bumper bullets cover the end of the grille where it meets the fenders. So when I eliminated them that left a 3 gap on both sides, that is why I had to fabricate my own grille.
Bodywork Trent Jones & Joe Stockdale at Bay Area Customs in San Jose, California
Paint type / Color PPG Custom mix by Bay Area Customs
Painter Trent Jones, owner of Bay Area Customs
Detailer Color sanded & rubbed by owner
Headlights / Taillights IPF Projection Headlights & LED tail lights
Bumpers Custom built front bumper with bullets removed & all bolt holes filled & studs welded from backside. Rear bumper is off a Nomad eliminating the license plate off the trunk. All bolt holes filled & studs welded from backside. All work performed by Classic Parts Unlimited. Owner fabricated bumper brackets.
Other body items Body remains factory in shape, however, smoothed up by eliminating a few things. I mini-tubbed the car to accommodate 18x10 wheels & get the car to sit right. I cut out the original firewall & fabricated my own recessing it back 4 to clear motor. I also fabricated my own inner splash panels and inner fender wells. I fabricated the core support (shortened 5 from stock) enclosing radiator and air conditioning condenser. Fabricated air intake system inside core support that picks up air through vents behind the headlights routing it through core support into the throttle body. I modified the factory hood to & created a flat hood with no bullets or humps. I also had a custom front bumper built by Classic Parts Unlimited eliminating the bullets off of that as well. I also welded up windshield wiper holes & Classic Parts Unlimited made lower windshield moldings for a smoother look. I welded up all holes on trunk lid. All of the stainless moldings are the original pieces off this car & were polished by Classic Parts Unlimited. All hardware on body is polished stainless button heads supplied by Gardner Westcott Co.
INTERIOR
Dashboard I found a wrecked 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII. I took the dash, console, seats, door handles & other misc. pieces.
Stereo / Speakers 1200 Watt Stereo system utilizing Sony CDX-90 head unit, Phoenix Gold ZX475 4 channel amplifier driving 2 sets of Diamond Audio Hex Series S600A components front & rear, Phoenix Gold ZX600 2 channel amplifier driving 2 - 10 Phoenix Gold X-MAX subwoofers enclosed in 2 custom built boxes behind rear seats. Installation done by Nu Concepts Custom Audio in Citrus Heights, California
Air conditioning Vintage Air, Compressor mounted on frame with owner fabricated bracket, plumbed by owner
Wiring Ron Francis Kit wired by Owner
Steering wheel 2002 Chevy Truck
Seats Front 96 Lincoln Mark VIII tracks & frames with Full power & Lumbar support, Ward Auto Interiors sculpted & designed everything else from scratch,
Rear seats & rear console fabricated from scratch.
Upholsterer Barry Ward at Ward Auto Interiors, Orangevale, California
Material / Color Ultra leather, light cream & palomino
Carpet Palomino Italian Wool carpeting
Other interior items 5 cases of Cascade sound deadening material installed. Lincoln door handles, dome light. Owner fabricated the dash, console & seats to fit. Ward Auto Interiors did everything else. Roadkill Customs, Orangevale, Ca fabricated dash & console pieces. Power window kit supplied by Specialty Power windows. Power window switches hidden under ash tray door. Other features include power locks, keyless entry, power seats, lumbar, tilt column, & tinted glass.
Here is the story of my build up. I used to have a 1968 Camaro SS Big Block Ratguts & much like new cars they dont stay new forever. It was time to move on so I sold Ratguts & started building Ricochet. I found this car in Aug, 1996, in Livermore, Ca in the local news paper. It had been in storage for 18 years & had 83,000 original miles on it. The owner had taken the car completely apart to restore it. It sat that way for 1 ½ years. It was just a primered shell & a bunch of boxes. He did an excellent job labeling & putting everything in zip lock bags. It was in excellent condition with no rust anywhere. Every piece of stainless was there & in excellent condition. It was a perfect victim. When I started this car I figured about 3 years to complete the project. Like most owners/builders have figured out, double it & that is more like reality. Well 6 ½ years later, I am finally done. I never imagined I would go this far, but very pleased with the results.
My plans with the car was to build a very nice 57. Something that would be a great driver. It had to have a killer stance, big brakes, big wheels, big block, & creature comforts galore. I wanted to be a great driver, had to be comfortable & most important fun.
One thing I lacked before this project was fabrication kills. I am mechanically inclined & a desire to learn. So I went out & I bought a Miller-matic 185, learned how to weld & went to work.
The first thing I did was start researching suspension options. After talking to a lot of people I narrowed it down to a modified stock frame with Corvette suspension or a Jim Meyer complete chassis. At the time, 6 years ago, they were not offering the Corvette frame with a big block available,not to mention I dont care for positive offset wheels. One thing it had to have was a big block!! I decided to go with Jim Meyers Chassis. I told him it had to sit extremely low. Another reason I went with Jim is because the main cross member is 4 higher than stock. Knowing how low I wanted the car, the scrub line was a major concern of mine.
I spoke with Todd Garthshore at Baer Racing Brakes & told him about the project & what direction I was going. He set me up with their Track System featuring 13 discs in front & 12 discs in rear. I then moved on to mini-tub the car to accommodate bigger tires. I then went forward to the firewall. I knew I was going to have clearance problems, so I cut out the stock firewall & made my own out of 16 gauge steel. I recessed the firewall back 4. Once the firewall was complete it was time to put the body on the new chassis. I was pleased where the front was sitting but the back was higher than I wanted. Once the body was on I wasnt happy where it sat. The rear was to high. I took the body back off & took the chassis to a friend of mine, Dennis Blakely, & we cut all the rear suspension out of the car & moved it up 3. Made new coil over mounts. Once the body was back on, I ran into some problems. The body wouldnt sit down in the back. The body was resting on the four link bars. I then had to cut the floor under the rear seat & made reliefs to accommodate the four link bars. I then had very tight clearance problems with the rear end pumpkin to the body, suspension travel & routing the exhaust through cleanly. I ended up cutting out everything from the backseat to the rear bumper. I made my own floor pan out of 16 gauge steel. Now I have plenty of room & then some for everything to work well without any problems.
I put 295/45-18 tires on it which are 28.5 tall. I wanted a tall tire for 3 reasons - 1) The 57 has a big wheel well & I wanted to fill it 2) I knew I was going to drive this car a lot & I wanted a taller tire for a smoother ride 3) We all know these cars arent light & I didnt want to worry about bending wheels with a short sidewall. I like the look of bigger wheels, but not willing to make that sacrifice. Another reason I went with the soft lip wheels to give that effect the wheel is bigger than it really is.
From the beginning I planned on doing a EFI big block. I have always been into big blocks. Fuel injection was going to be a new road for me to go down, but a must. I contacted Arizona Speed & Marine & talked with owner Jim Shofner about theyre system the have to offer. My opinion, I think theyre system is the best looking out on the market. After getting educated on EFI I decided to go with the Arizona Speed & Marine unit. I then went on to the exhaust. Between the custom chassis & installing the master cylinder on the frame created some problems in the header department. After trying a few sets of headers & not finding a bolt in set. I bought a set of shorties from Rodworks & modified them to fit in the chassis & clear the master cylinder. Shorties also worked out great getting the collector off the ground due to how low the car sat. They feature 1 7/8 primary tubes w/ 3 1/2 collectors. I then bought a bunch of 2.5 aluminized tubing & mandrel bends & proceeded to make my own exhaust. Once done I sent out to the system Component Finishing in Santa Clara, Ca to get Ceramic coated.
One of things I have never liked about 55-57s is the core support is so high you cant see the motor Its like hiding behind a wall. I decided to fabricate my core support. I took 5 out of the height. The main support from side to side is 3 oval shaped tubing. It goes through the inner fenders & have K&N filters on each side that draw air through factory vents behind the headlight buckets. The center of the support was opened up 14 x 4. I then made the cover and I used 2 pieces of 2 ½ tubing that comes together & funnels air into the throttle body. I sealed the cover to the core support. I also wanted to cover up the factory wheels wells. I then extended the fenders 6 down into the motor compartment. I then made my own inner fenders that bolt to the fender extensions & down to the frame. I have never done metal work before this. I learned a great deal, went through some metal & a lot of time.
Interior Story I own a detail business on the side & was detailing a 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII. I liked the layout of the dash & took some measurements. The width was very close to that of a 1957 Chevy, but the depth was a lot different due to the raked windshield the Lincoln possesses. I went out looking for wrecked Lincoln at the local wrecking yards. I found one & took the dash, console, seats, door handles, dome light & other misc pieces. To get the dash to fit I took approximately 3 of each side & 9 ½ on the depth in the middle. It took a lot more work than I imagined but it came out like I thought. A lot of people thought I was crazy cutting out the factory dash. Now that it is done most have been very receptive to the change. I wanted to create a modern looking interior with a lot of creature comforts. Between my work & Ward Auto Interiors I feel I have accomplished that goal.
The level & quality of cars over the past few years has increased dramatically. Many of them being built by professionals. They are setting the standards in most cases. The innovative design & concepts that these guys come up with is unbelievable. It keeps the hobby alive & well. That has been my motivation on this car for 6 ½ years. Was to build a car that could hold its own within reason, have fun building it, drive great & do it myself. I have done probably 80% of everything on this car. This car has been a challenge to say the least. I have enjoyed every minute of it & have big plans for the next project.
I have learned a lot & met some great people along the way. To those who have helped, you know who you are I cant thank you enough! Especially my family & understanding wife for their continued support.