My 1969 Chevelle Build

[Haulnaz]

Hello to all. First time to start a thread on here. I have a 1969 chevelle that my wife bought me for a wedding gift a few years back. We picked it up and it was a factory 307 car. It had some crappy paint and a tow truck 454 block in it. From day one i started tearing it apart and then buying parts when i could afford them. Traded a gun for some nice engine parts and well this project has turned into a complete new car build. Almos every panel was replaced, every suspension part beafed up to handle the hp/tq from the new 540 bbc. wheels were ordered from rushforth and large 13" wilwoods to stop it. I went with a UMI stage 5 kit and kings shocks. Moser fabricated 9" rear end with 35 spline axels. Used a frame boxing kit from HPE Performance to help stiffen the frame. Stage 3 th400 from jakes performance transmissions. Aeromotive stealth gas tank with Fragula PTFE hoses. On the engine i decided to go with a Dart Big M Block, AFR 305 CNC heads, Mahl Pistons, Scat Crank and rods, Lemons pro touring headers, 1050 AED Carb, Victor JR intake manifold, Stainless works headers back system for exhaust and a Concept One BBC pulley kit. Thats all i can think of at the moment and ill post a few pics to speed up the process to get you to see where im at now. Thanks for reading my apologies for the pictures out of order. There were alot to choose from.

[Haulnaz]

More Pictures

[Haulnaz]

More Photos

[Haulnaz]

More pics

[Haulnaz]

Engine first start up on FrameWW55KTP93WQ

[Haulnaz]

One More VideowF1d_7WkkaQ

[Frankenstine]

Engine sounds mighty healthy, What color is the wrap you put on the car ?

[214Chevy]

That wrap is sweet...

[Haulnaz]

Thank you. The wrap is a brand named Avery and it's titanium brushed metallic. I went this route to cover a crappy red paint job on the firewall another guy tried to do and to help make the car look decent while I save up to one day afford a professional job.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Great build! My first car at 16 was a 69 Chevelle that unfortunately got away a long time ago. Love the body lines on them and yours is coming along super cool.

I'm thinking to wrap my car too, wondering if this was your first time wrapping and how difficult / easy did you feel it was?

My car base paint will be satin black and our local vinyl supplier said he wasn't sure that wrap would stick so well to a non gloss finish, did you see any troubles there?

Thanks for any insight and I'm subscribed to follow along!

[rickpaw]

Glad to see you on here.

[waynieZ]

I just watched your videos of the first start Man that sounds so sweet! That's the biggest thing I miss using an LS engine not even close to sounding that good. Nice project.

[Haulnaz]

Great build! My first car at 16 was a 69 Chevelle that unfortunately got away a long time ago. Love the body lines on them and yours is coming along super cool.

I'm thinking to wrap my car too, wondering if this was your first time wrapping and how difficult / easy did you feel it was?

My car base paint will be satin black and our local vinyl supplier said he wasn't sure that wrap would stick so well to a non gloss finish, did you see any troubles there?

Thanks for any insight and I'm subscribed to follow along!


The wrap is easy if you take your time. it gets harder on the smaller parts but my car was just in primer that has been sanded smoother. Seems to be holding on good. I used a 3m sealant on the edges to keep it from coming up. The only problem is it can scratch and tear easy. Ive already put a nice scratch on drivers door by trying to hand the front fender. But i did have a guy from craigslist do the majority of my wrap. you can see him in the pictures. i think from 5 ft out you cant really tell its a wrap but i will take some pictures this weekend of it out in the sun so we can all see what it really looks like.

[Haulnaz]

I just watched your videos of the first start Man that sounds so sweet! That's the biggest thing I miss using an LS engine not even close to sounding that good. Nice project.

no replacement for displacement. lol The video doesnt do it justice. It literally knocked pictures off my walls in the house.

[waynieZ]

Sweet!

[tmadden]

Very nice

[Haulnaz]

Here is a front shot. Only after i took it did i realize that the cars headlight bezels are on in the incorrect places. I put them on for a motivation. I like seeing the cars parts go on even if they are not ready lol. the chin spoiler we wrapped in carbon fiber and i like the way it looks. Its made of fiberglass so we shall see how long it last on Houston streets. The cars wiring is starting today. I chose the dreaded painless wiring harness kit, the Dakota Digital gauges (shouldn't be too hard to hook these up) and the flaming river steering column looks like an easy plug and play. Wish me luck. Ill keep updates coming.

[Dave Pratt]

Great work on the Chevelle...that engine sounds like a beast!

[Haulnaz]

Great work on the Chevelle...that engine sounds like a beast!

Much appreciated!

[Kcrain]

What's the problem with the painless harness. I put there muscle car harness in my 1969 Chevelle 18 plus years ago it laid out great with plenty of length all connections were soldered and shrinkwrap haven't ever had issues even use there fuel injection harness with no issues. Has there quality went down or is there a preferred and cheaper harness? Keith

[Haulnaz]

What's the problem with the painless harness. I put there muscle car harness in my 1969 Chevelle 18 plus years ago it laid out great with plenty of length all connections were soldered and shrinkwrap haven't ever had issues even use there fuel injection harness with no issues. Has there quality went down or is there a preferred and cheaper harness? Keith

So far its going smooth. Everybody that ive talked to before i started install yesterday say they are a pain to work with and adjust but so far so good.

[Haulnaz]

Got the Dakota Digi's put in the cluster tonight. Waiting on the dash and dash pad to come in Friday so I can mock it all up. They were out of stock of the plain black gauges so I took a chance and ordered the carbon fiber apperence and I think I like them

[Haulnaz]

Got the dash in place just temporary and I installed a set of Clayton Machine Works pedals. They look great and are made with attention to detail. I will say this however, the kit does not come with any instructions. Even though the kit did go together with only a few adjustments needed it would have been nice to have a guide with specifications on the hardware. I had to make one hole for the brake booster rod that threads into the u shaped fitting larger as it did not fit the wilwood hydroboost rod. I know that's a terrible description but just a heads up that the kit may require modification but not much. I'll try and get better pics as I go along. When I pulled the stock gas pedal bracket off a pile of sand came into the car from when I had the car lasted about 4 years ago. I'm sure I'll find sand in the car for years to come.

[Haulnaz]

Picked up a shifter setup from a friend. It's a Muncie handled promatic shifter mounted on a 4 speed shifter hump. It's a nice piece and will look great. The boot is a Mack truck cover that way it's big enough to fit over the promatic. Not running a console with this setup.

[Haulnaz]

And the shifter ball. I liked this quote and I've seen similar ones.

[Yukon Cornelius]

Love the quote on the shifter handle.

[HarveyT]

Nice touch with the Thor quote. The car is really coming along, nice job.

[gnx7]

Love this car! 540BBC :)

[Haulnaz]

For the most part, installed

[Haulnaz]

Well it looks like i may have to sell the Chevelle and without ever getting to drive it. Im not really sure on how to even start the process or what the car is realistically worth. I have almost every receipt almost 80-90k worth but just not sure what i could realistically get for this car. Any ideas? Is there a good website for cars like this or maybe a forum board i could look into? Thanks.

[rickpaw]

No, sorry to hear that.

[214Chevy]

Well it looks like i may have to sell the Chevelle...

Without prying and getting too personal about your business, why are you selling?

[Haulnaz]

Without prying and getting too personal about your business, why are you selling?

Business is slow and could just use the money as a backup.

[Camaro Dave's]

I would be interested in buying, if you decide a price pm me

[214Chevy]

*How much do you want for the car?
*Where are you located?

[Haulnaz]

Sorry to those who have sent me messages asking about the car. Last few weeks have been crazy but lifes back on track. Ive decided to keep the car and work on it when able. Worked on the car last night. put on headlights and started on the grill. Pain the the you know what to get the trim pieces on the grill and mount all of the supporting brackets. I can honestly say that this is one of the most rewarding pics for me. Its like the car now has a face and getting somewhat of a personality when you put the lights and grill on. I've only seen the car with lights and grill for about two days before i took it apart almost 4 years ago so this was a good site.

[Haulnaz]

Got the rest of the grill on. Love the look of it.

[rickpaw]

Glad you're back at it.

Car is looking good, Pat.

[TorqStorm]

Glad you got to keep your car. Nice work.


Torqstorm

[Haulnaz]

Glad you got to keep your car. Nice work.


Torqstorm

Me too. Thank you!

[Haulnaz]

Glad you're back at it.

Car is looking good, Pat.

Much appreciated. Now onto wiring the painless

[Haulnaz]

Working on the dash this weekend but making some progress.
Get the center ac vents in and the lighter switch, lights switch and glove box mounted.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Nice!

[Haulnaz]

Working on wiring up the remote solinoid and trunk battery. Getting all of the kinks worked out. Also have a Flaming River disconnect switch coming in. You can cant see it but i have the stealth tank wire harness on the other side of the battery thats also getting tied in. Installed the rear wire harness for the lights that will tie into the main wire harness. Ill get more pics soon. I have most of everything hooked up and was able to turn the motor over this weekend with the ignition key so updates will be coming soon!

[Haulnaz]

Dash lit up and also put in a vintage air control unit in the dash. I dont have the Vintage air installed but i wanted to clean up the big empty space in the dash where the control box goes.

[ZMAN1969]

Got the rest of the grill on. Love the look of it.

I agree I like the 69 Chevelle grill best of all of them and looking through the thread I saw the start of the wrap install and thought WTH? I'm amazed how good that looks! keep up the good work

[Haulnaz]

I agree I like the 69 Chevelle grill best of all of them and looking through the thread I saw the start of the wrap install and thought WTH? I'm amazed how good that looks! keep up the good work

Thank you!

[FaBrycation]

agreed. I like the wrap. keep it coming

[Haulnaz]

Was able to fire off the car today for the first after doing the wiring. It was scary I won’t lie but we’ll wotth all the blood sweat and tears. Video doesn’t do it justice but I must say it made a sweet rumble. Next will be getting the brakes dialed in along with some left over electrical like fans, lights and so on. Since I relocated the battery to the trunk I did my own version of the setup. Let me know your thoughts! Would love a star or two rating if you like it but you didn’t hear that from me ; )
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https://youtu.be/lNfXbSR-F0I.

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[tubbed69]

Dash lit up and also put in a vintage air control unit in the dash. I dont have the Vintage air installed but i wanted to clean up the big empty space in the dash where the control box goes.

That dash really looks great all lit up:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[shelteredV]

Car looks great! The wrap will serve it's purpose well, Avery is good stuff.

[Haulnaz]

Ok so I was able to get the car moving under its own power this weekend and ive come across an issue. The motor has pressure, has good fuel pressure, ive checked the float level in the carb, and it is idling funky. when i take the belt off it fires right up and runs strong. put the belt back on and its slow starting and does a really weird progressive idle sound that i cant really describe so ive put a short video below of it in the driveway. You can here it about every 3-4 seconds and last a few seconds. ive been told to check the tightness of the pulleys, ive been told to check the MSD is getting good power, ive been told the carb could be gunked up due to sitting for over a year. If it was carb related i would think it wouldnt run well even if i took off the belt but it runs good without it. i have not checked the pullys and how tight they are.... would this be a common issue? im wondering if its timing, but again if fires right up without the belts. any thoughts??


JuVY5WO1_40

[Haulnaz]

Been doing some research and it looks like I need to disconnect the one wire alternator wires and start up the engine and see if that is the issue. I may have some wiring issues with the MSD and i want to say ive wired my power wire for the msd to the alternator charging wire that goes back to the battery. This i want to say was a bad idea and now that i think about it is more then likely why im getting the slow start (alternator is powering the MSD and is not spinning right away at crank up. thus not giving the msd ignition box enough juice. then when it does start its not getting the correct amount of voltage to operator properly. Hope i didnt F anything up and i can still fix this issue.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Good luck with tracking down the culprit! The car looks great so far, glad you decided to hang on to it and follow through.

[shelteredV]

Run the msd direct to the battery posts with zero detours or interruption, that'll make it right.

[Haulnaz]

Run the msd direct to the battery posts with zero detours or interruption, that'll make it right.

What gauge wire would you run? 10?

[Haulnaz]

Run the msd direct to the battery posts with zero detours or interruption, that'll make it right.

Tried this last night... no luck. It actually wouldn't even run.. it would fire up and slow idle for about 3 seconds and die.. im going crazy trying to figure this out.

[z28cp]

Try bypassing the MSD box. Also, substitute a known good coil.

Things happen...

[MAK567]

Are you in Houston?

[Haulnaz]

Are you in Houston?

Yes Sir.

[Haulnaz]

Ok, took the car to a shop to have the carb looked at. My idle mix screws were all messed up and my floats needed adjustment. Now she runs like a champ. Also put the stainless works exhaust on so its not so loud for the neighbors but to be honest its still very very loud.

[MAK567]

what side of town

[Haulnaz]

what side of town Currently Missouri City but soon to be moving up to Waller County / Cypress area in about 3 weeks.

[Haulnaz]

I think i got her all dialed in for the most part until i can put it on a chassis dyno and fine tune it more.

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[Haulnaz]

Well i drove it yesterday and my oil pressure is dropping when the motor is heated up. It still has the break in oil from the builder so im thinkin of changing it out to some Driven Oil 15 w50. It started to sputter and died on my at a red light and i watched the pressure drop to low 30's psi then it died. Hopefully some thicker oil will do the trick. its HOT here in houston.