SO awesome! Great job :thumbsup: I know all about the SS nerves.......oh well:lol:
:superhack::weld:

Agreed! It will never be restored so oh well! :thumbsup:

Chevelle 2.0
 

A big thanks, Herb, for this thread! It's really got me motivated to get back into my car's transformation from drag to track, as well as being a visual blueprint for what I have planned for mine. Do you have plans for a body mount behind the rear axle? I moved mine to the inside of the frame rails when I tubbed the car and used the same point for a ballast mount inside the trunk. It appears the rear rails are above the trunk floor. Is this correct? I built my car to match NHRA Super/Stock rules that stipulated there had to be some oe floor between the tubs and the rails below the floor. Looks like I have to rethink that and do a lot more cutting, too! thanks again!

And to think about how many times I walked around my car scratching my head before just cutting the hole for the T56 shifter!!! :D

Looks great Herb!!

Hi Ric,

You're welcome, glad my posts are helpful!

Yes my rear rails are above the trunk floor. Fortunately I don't have to follow any sanctioning body rules for my build. :hapdance: With that said, once the body is on to stay, I'm probably going to attach what's left of the OE trunk floors to the frame rails using a "L" on each side since there's only about a 1/2" gap. I won't do anything with that though until I get wheel tubs figured out. As for the mount, I think I'm going to fab an outrigger from the frame rail to the mount location.

Hope all that makes sense and answers your question. :cheers:

Any time you take a :superhack: to your car, there has to be a few moments of reflection before you start.

Thanks! :thumbsup:

looking great!

Thanks!

Chevelle 2.0
 

Looking at your pic with the Z06 wheels on the rear, it looks like your coilovers would be kinda close if you used that backspacing. How wide were you able to put the lower link mounts? thx!

Maybe this picture shows the space better...

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/811/3...b6c6c9cc_b.jpg10096 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

I could run this exact wheel/tire size/backspace with plenty of room. The lower mounts are 38" apart, and if I remember correctly, with the Z06 wheels there's 7" between the inside tire sidewall and the frame rail.

It’s been a busy summer but I finally found some time to work on the Chevelle. Over the last few days I finished cutting out the floor and firewall. :superhack:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1877/...0132eae6_b.jpg10097 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1880/...4b17e38e_b.jpg10100 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

Then I added in the two 2x2” rails to connect the front and rear chassis sections. :welder: More bracing will be added but this is just to get me started.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1848/...7772b0b8_b.jpg10101 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1845/...d1a53660_b.jpg10102 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

Once all that was done I put it on the ground for the first time in about two years! My curiosity was killing me so I scaled it just to see.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1900/...974fb3a5_b.jpg10103 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

Notice the driver side is heavier and the front bias is pretty light, but I’m sure the hood sitting on the roof skewed things a bit. Now that I have a baseline, I’m going to weigh it after each major change, such as the cage, engine & trans, etc. My goal is to not exceed 3400 lbs.

Well here it is…

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1856/...e5c231ce_b.jpg10104 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

And here they are…

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1876/...b2b6c3d7_b.jpg10105 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

Here are some more pics from today...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1878/...b400bc46_b.jpg10109 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1854/...3baf737f_b.jpg10110 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1894/...502bd206_b.jpg10107 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1882/...80a7408f_b.jpg10108 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

It's looking great, Herb. It seems odd that the driver's side is so much heavier. That steering column and wiper motor must be really heavy, lol. Are you fabbing a complete new floor from scratch?

Thanks Ric! I didn't level the scales beforehand and the hood is on the roof, so I'm sure that skewed the results. At least I have a place to start so as I add things I can try to keep it balanced.

And yes, I'm building a new floor because I want to run a belly pan and keep everything above the bottom of the frame.

Looks great! Would you be able to cut the rear frame off where it is horizontal and re weld it on at factory height so you can keep a stock trunk pan?

Nice update, Herb. Keep up the great progress.

:confused59::superhack: Cut that car up! Looks great!

Thanks! The rear frame rails are where they need to be for the suspension to be located correctly. On top of that, I'm not concerned about a stock trunk pan. This is going to be primarily a track car.

Glad to see your back at it Herb. The car is beautiful.

Ah, I see. I thought all the pick up points for suspension were forward of the horizontal rails and the rails were only for rear body support and bumper support Either way it’s an awesome car and you got a big set on you chopping out that floor! I would have to be hammered to get the guts to do that! Keep the updates coming

Thanks Scott!

Just remembered, the last time I scaled my car I had shock simulators to set ride height and when I put the shocks in and weighed it again, everything was different.
Strange thing, the ride height was the same! Go figure. Great job!

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk

You're killin' it again Herb!!

Nice work and will be a great project! Hurry up so I can see it finished!

Thanks... and don't tell anybody, but:

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/819/4...0f9e1b9d_b.jpg10095 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

Thanks Greg! I'm making some changes to the El Camino this coming week and once that's done I'll be burning the midnight oil on the Chevelle! :superhack: :weld::G-Dub:

I have all-thread with shock eyelets on each corner to simulate ride height, so I'm sure once everything is in place it will be totally different. :cheers:

In an effort to keep this project moving forward, I set the trans and bellhousing in place.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1873/...a5b0cbf2_b.jpg10112 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

This enabled me to make sure I had the engine where it needed to be, specifically to be sure the return line for the power steering reservoir cleared the shock mount.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1896/...101e7ea3_b.jpg10113 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

To help figure out driveline angles, I cut 10-3/8” off of a damaged driveshaft from the El Camino and welded it together for mock up. In case you're wondering, the El Camino and Chevelle used the same length driveshafts, so that means the Chevelle's engine is 10-3/8" back from stock location.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1891/...ed24d73b_b.jpg10114 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1877/...224b66af_b.jpg10115 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

With an actual driveshaft in place, I now see the rear hoop needs to be raised… so there’s my next project within a project! :weld:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1882/...b44da524_b.jpg10116 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

That's a crazy amount of set back, Herb! Keep up the good work!

It looks good Herb, that setback should make a nice difference.

Thanks guys! I hope all this work is worth in the end!

I'm finally back at on the Chevelle. Since my last update a lot of things have been pushing this project on to the back burner. We replaced the gravel driveway with concrete (around 146 yds!), got a new front door on the house, I converted the El Camino over to a Ridetech coilover system with a set of custom built (by me) triple adjustable shocks, and we drove to Vegas to attend SEMA. Over the last few days I was able to get most of the main cage structure tacked in place. I've never installed a cage before and I'm using a kit (from Ron Sutton). I don't have any experience to say whether or not the kit is any good (not that it matters anymore), but I think it will be ok for my use.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4860/...f3edde44_b.jpg20181114_114640 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4823/...a9877bc5_b.jpg20181114_114652 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

Once I'm done with the main cage, the body is coming off and the chassis is going on a rotisserie that I'm borrowing from Tom Farrington. With access to all the tight joints I should be able to weld it much better than in the car. While it's on the rotisserie, I'll also address some areas under the chassis that were hard to get at while it was on the table.

It may not be Vorshlag quality, but I'm trying my best! :weld:

Sorry I never got to see you while at SEMA Herb...guess we just never crossed paths. Good to see you back on the Chevelle...good luck finishing up the cage. Looks like a LOT of work...

I'm sure we'll cross paths eventually Lance! I visit friends in Phoenix occasionally...

And yes, the cage is a lot of work especially since there were no instructions or diagrams saying which tube goes where, but I'll make it work!

In case anyone was wondering, I'm still plugging away on the Chevelle but I've been very lazy with thread updates. Instead of boring you with all the little details, I'll just post the most current stuff...

Here it is on the ground for the first time in a while. I had the Forgelines widened to 18x11 and 18x12. The tires are a used set of 315s and 335s I got from Ridetech. They're good enough to roll around the shop and even for some test drives when the time comes. I have the mock up engine in place mounted to the Quicktime bell and T56. Engine set back looks good too.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7855/...8c68b023_b.jpg20190317_210712 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7806/...f41dba6e_b.jpg20190318_101809 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7849/...c8254b69_b.jpg20190318_101754 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7927/...b28f3257_b.jpg20190317_210552 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7822/...6cdabf3d_b.jpg20190317_210727 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

With the help of some friends, I made new steering arms.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7806/...b72a2378_b.jpg20190318_101949 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

I've also been busy bending sheetmetal for the interior. Right now it's just screwed together to make sure it all fits.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7823/...9011ab9a_b.jpg20190214_190154 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

Finally, I got the fuel cell mounts figured out.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7816/...f424e593_b.jpg20190112_170316 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7879/...32179ff1_b.jpg20190112_170248 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

The next big task will be removing the body again, mounting the chassis on a rotisserie so I can complete all the cage welding and other various things that are currently tacked together.

Nice work Herb.

Quick question, how are you handling the access to the distributor if you need to take it in or out? Im doing an S10 that has massive engine set back like yours and Im almost considering a LS engine just so I dont have to worry about that.

X 1000. :thumbsup:

What a beast! Nice work, Herb. Keep it up!

Killer Chevelle !

Thanks!