Welcome to my garage - and gaze upon my 1970 Chevelle!!
02-09-15, 01:00 PM
#1
Pole Position
Thread Starter
Welcome to my garage - and gaze upon my 1970 Chevelle!!
Seeing as how we can run out of topics to discuss on our fine Lexus’s that rarely breakdown and upon the request of another member in a separate thread, I thought I would share a view of my garage and my first love – my 1970 Chevy Chevelle.. So welcome to my garage CL!!
I have owned the car for almost 10 years now, and it is easily the most fun I have ever had behind the wheel, ever! The sound of the classic v-8 rumble that permeates your soul and sets off car alarms wherever it goes, the brutal tire melting torque just a stamp of the pedal away, the spacious comfy interior (ok, not Lexus comfiness!), and the classic muscular lines are hard to beat imo.
Over time I have performed many upgrades to the suspension with tubular control arms and adjustable coil overs, giant Baer 14” brakes, 18” wheels wrapped with massive 275 and 305 tires front and rear respectively, so now it is even handling like a modern performance machine – and may even dare to say it will keep up with my 2015 GS350 F Sport on a canyon road even! And much like my Lexus, never really had any major problems at all to speak of throughout ownership believe it or not. I do all the work myself on this car, upgrades and maintenance so she’s a true labor of love and we have bonded over the years both on the road and in the garage. These are some pics of her a little while back with the upgrades I have done, before taking it apart and getting deep into my current phase of the project.
Right now I am in the process of swapping the engine and tranny over to increase the high performance fun. Take a peek at the L92 I took from an 08 Escalade at the junkyard that I built up with a camshaft, headers, ecm tune, and intake manifold that looks like a vintage single plane but keeping the original throttle body to keep a vintage look combined with modern performance and reliability, keeping the efi and variable valve timing - yeahp in a vintage muscle car! With the ecm tuned it is rated at 545 horsepower and I am also dropping a couple hundred pounds off the front end and moving the engine and tranny back towards the center of the car for better front to rear weight balance to enhance the handling even further.. The tranny is a Keisler 5 speed with overdrive, and the rear is a Currie 9 inch with true-trac and 3.70 ratio. So I imagine this will be a whole new driving experience when I get done with this phase of the mechanical makeover I am performing!
I have a whole library of pics, and tons of work done if anyone has questions about further details feel free to ask. Here a couple of highlights and the current view in my garage.
Took the body off the frame myself with a hoist and floor jack, and just stood it up on cinder blocks and 4x4’s. I am replacing the crusty old body mounts and having the frame boxed and welded for extra stiffness to beef up the foundation to handle the new engine.
Here is what the engine looks like after modifications in the car, they don’t come like this from the factory in the Escalade!
Engine and tranny mocked up in the rolling frame. Good niew of the custom front suspension too.
Here is what the garage looks like nowadays.
From the rear you can see the Currie axle and suspension.
I just got the frame welded and it's back home, so next up I need to mount the body back on the frame. After that it’s a simple matter of just rebuilding the entire car! If there is interest I can keep the build thread going…
Let me know what you think Lexus members, I am curious to know how many car guys are out there that enjoy the vintage muscle cars as much as I do.. and it will give us something to chat about other than custom audio, tinted windows, and drop springs!!
I have owned the car for almost 10 years now, and it is easily the most fun I have ever had behind the wheel, ever! The sound of the classic v-8 rumble that permeates your soul and sets off car alarms wherever it goes, the brutal tire melting torque just a stamp of the pedal away, the spacious comfy interior (ok, not Lexus comfiness!), and the classic muscular lines are hard to beat imo.
Over time I have performed many upgrades to the suspension with tubular control arms and adjustable coil overs, giant Baer 14” brakes, 18” wheels wrapped with massive 275 and 305 tires front and rear respectively, so now it is even handling like a modern performance machine – and may even dare to say it will keep up with my 2015 GS350 F Sport on a canyon road even! And much like my Lexus, never really had any major problems at all to speak of throughout ownership believe it or not. I do all the work myself on this car, upgrades and maintenance so she’s a true labor of love and we have bonded over the years both on the road and in the garage. These are some pics of her a little while back with the upgrades I have done, before taking it apart and getting deep into my current phase of the project.
Right now I am in the process of swapping the engine and tranny over to increase the high performance fun. Take a peek at the L92 I took from an 08 Escalade at the junkyard that I built up with a camshaft, headers, ecm tune, and intake manifold that looks like a vintage single plane but keeping the original throttle body to keep a vintage look combined with modern performance and reliability, keeping the efi and variable valve timing - yeahp in a vintage muscle car! With the ecm tuned it is rated at 545 horsepower and I am also dropping a couple hundred pounds off the front end and moving the engine and tranny back towards the center of the car for better front to rear weight balance to enhance the handling even further.. The tranny is a Keisler 5 speed with overdrive, and the rear is a Currie 9 inch with true-trac and 3.70 ratio. So I imagine this will be a whole new driving experience when I get done with this phase of the mechanical makeover I am performing!
I have a whole library of pics, and tons of work done if anyone has questions about further details feel free to ask. Here a couple of highlights and the current view in my garage.
Took the body off the frame myself with a hoist and floor jack, and just stood it up on cinder blocks and 4x4’s. I am replacing the crusty old body mounts and having the frame boxed and welded for extra stiffness to beef up the foundation to handle the new engine.
Here is what the engine looks like after modifications in the car, they don’t come like this from the factory in the Escalade!
Engine and tranny mocked up in the rolling frame. Good niew of the custom front suspension too.
Here is what the garage looks like nowadays.
From the rear you can see the Currie axle and suspension.
I just got the frame welded and it's back home, so next up I need to mount the body back on the frame. After that it’s a simple matter of just rebuilding the entire car! If there is interest I can keep the build thread going…
Let me know what you think Lexus members, I am curious to know how many car guys are out there that enjoy the vintage muscle cars as much as I do.. and it will give us something to chat about other than custom audio, tinted windows, and drop springs!!
02-09-15, 05:03 PM
#4
Lexus Fanatic
Nice car. Congratulations. Great job so far.
I grew up with American cars of that vintage in high school. I notice yours doesn't have the classic SS hood stripes....did you not want them, or is that still an ongoing part of the project?
Also, besides the obvious chassis mods, I see there are no spark plug wires, no distributor and (apparently) no carburetor. You must have redone the engine with electronic ignition and fuel-injection....common mods on 60s-vintage muscle-cars.
In some states, you can get free or reduced-cost license plates if you have a legal antique car.....over 25 years old from the original date of manufacture.
One thing that was first-rate on GM cars of that vintage was the bodywork....done by a company named Fisher. (most GM cars, with the exception of the fiberglass-body Corvette Sting Ray, had a plaque on the lower-door sill with "Body by Fisher" on it. The quality and fit of the bodywork was generally better than the rivals at Ford, AMC, and especially the poorly-done bodies at Chrysler. But the GM original-factory acrylic lacquer paint used back then s**ked.....though it didn't chip as easily as the enamel paint on Ford and Chrysler products, sometimes it would start fading and oxidizing even before the first year was up....it had to be constantly waxed, or it would fade.
Here's one like yours, BTW, with the original stripes.
I grew up with American cars of that vintage in high school. I notice yours doesn't have the classic SS hood stripes....did you not want them, or is that still an ongoing part of the project?
Also, besides the obvious chassis mods, I see there are no spark plug wires, no distributor and (apparently) no carburetor. You must have redone the engine with electronic ignition and fuel-injection....common mods on 60s-vintage muscle-cars.
In some states, you can get free or reduced-cost license plates if you have a legal antique car.....over 25 years old from the original date of manufacture.
One thing that was first-rate on GM cars of that vintage was the bodywork....done by a company named Fisher. (most GM cars, with the exception of the fiberglass-body Corvette Sting Ray, had a plaque on the lower-door sill with "Body by Fisher" on it. The quality and fit of the bodywork was generally better than the rivals at Ford, AMC, and especially the poorly-done bodies at Chrysler. But the GM original-factory acrylic lacquer paint used back then s**ked.....though it didn't chip as easily as the enamel paint on Ford and Chrysler products, sometimes it would start fading and oxidizing even before the first year was up....it had to be constantly waxed, or it would fade.
Here's one like yours, BTW, with the original stripes.
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-09-15 at 05:22 PM.
02-10-15, 11:42 AM
#6
Pole Position
Thread Starter
Nice car. Congratulations. Great job so far.
I grew up with American cars of that vintage in high school. I notice yours doesn't have the classic SS hood stripes....did you not want them, or is that still an ongoing part of the project?
Also, besides the obvious chassis mods, I see there are no spark plug wires, no distributor and (apparently) no carburetor. You must have redone the engine with electronic ignition and fuel-injection....common mods on 60s-vintage muscle-cars.
I grew up with American cars of that vintage in high school. I notice yours doesn't have the classic SS hood stripes....did you not want them, or is that still an ongoing part of the project?
Also, besides the obvious chassis mods, I see there are no spark plug wires, no distributor and (apparently) no carburetor. You must have redone the engine with electronic ignition and fuel-injection....common mods on 60s-vintage muscle-cars.
It's a Malibu, not an SS, hence no stripes. I have removed the fender badges as well at this time as I am not trying to build a clone SS, its going to be waay better than that!
Youre right, I am going to efi and even vvt! There will still be plug wires though going to ignition coils I am going to mount hidden low on the firewall. These pics are still in the major mock up phase, I got a lot of wiring to do when I install it all (again).
Got my work cut out for me on this one!
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02-11-15, 12:17 PM
#9
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Thread Starter
02-11-15, 12:25 PM
#10
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02-11-15, 12:56 PM
#11
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Thread Starter
LOL - I feel your pain brother!
Although I drove the car for about 8 years, working on it and driving it at the same time between changes, I havent drove the car in around 2 years now.. if it makes you feel any better!
When I ordered the Keisler tranny it was not yet in production and they told me it would be ready in 2-3 months. I took the car apart and built the engine to have it ready by then not knowing it was going to fail QA testing and it took almost a year and a half before I finally received the finished product.
Karma did get them in the end though, and they are no longer in business. Luckily the tranny is still serviceable with off the shelf parts.I finally did get it though and got it mocked up in the car mated to the engine as you can see. Then I decided I wanted to powder coat the frame while I had the body lifted to replace the mounts.. then I decided to box the frame rails for stiffness before I powder coat, you know how it goes, the domino effect!! Well the shop took almost 6 months to complete the welding, keeping me out of the drivers seat or even wrenching on it that much longer..
Anyhow, the frame welding is finally done with the exception of one additional body mount I am adding for even further rigidity. So I need to mount the body, get the mount welded, then remove the body, then powder coat the frame, then put the body back on with new bushings, the engine/tranny, ecm, ac components, new wiring harness, interior, etc, etc, etc..!
I hope and pray all goes well and I can drive it once again sometime before 2015 is over.
02-27-15, 01:29 PM
#14
Pole Position
Thread Starter
For those rare Lexus aficionados that also appreciate vintage American muscle, or the folks that simply dig wrenchin on any 4 wheeled machines, I am gonna share the latest happenings on my Chevelle project!
I got her back from the fabrication shop with the frame rails all braced up and boxed in for extra chassis stiffness, and the crossmember modified to go with the new frame rails:
Also since I like to run the car low for increased handling, I added a coilover mount that will add to the suspension travel while the car hugs the Earth:
Next up I am going to paint the exposed metal, and mock up some fuel and brake lines..
Enjoy!
I got her back from the fabrication shop with the frame rails all braced up and boxed in for extra chassis stiffness, and the crossmember modified to go with the new frame rails:
Also since I like to run the car low for increased handling, I added a coilover mount that will add to the suspension travel while the car hugs the Earth:
Next up I am going to paint the exposed metal, and mock up some fuel and brake lines..
Enjoy!
