Lance, I follow your thread and I read about your issues. I found it kind of odd that your RB's are hitting the tray this go around. Honestly your engine woes inspired me to update my thread. I figured we all should get to read about people having real issues building these cars. Stuff happens to all of us!
Hope you get it figured out soon. Keep us posted!

Spent 5 hours Saturday completely setting up rear end again with all new TrueTrac, R&P, bearings, crush sleeve, etc. set up went great, and I drove the car for the first time Saturday night without a noisy rear end. Yay!
So, I made it out to the shop tonight, pushed the car back to the lift area, and up we go. Drumroll........
A brand new pinion seal that leaks. This is awesome! ...Now I get why you guys purchase those expensive pre built rear end units.
On a positive note the TrueTrac is quiet, and should do the job well.
The Borla XS mufflers surprisingly aren't as quiet as I had thought, and actually are just a tad quieter than the Flowmasters, but with much less drone. They do drone a very small amount, but it's very bearable, and allows you to actually hear your stereo. I like them! More later!

One step forward, two steps back... :D

Seems to be a common theme as of late. Keep at it, you'll get it eventually. You are in the fine tuning phase now, working out the minor details. Soon you'll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor without issue and you'll know the car is perfect....because you made it perfect with your own hands. Glad the new rear is quiet and the mufflers are "better".

I'm down to polishing last year's number magnet stains off the doors and fine tuning the vacuum advance with Barney, and driving it as much as I can to break in the new clutch properly. Glad the mad rush for this year seems to be behind me **knocking on wood**

Thanks Lance! Your build is one of inspiration for sure! Your one of the few people that actually thrash what they build. Hope to see more videos from you!!

Had some extra time Wednesday between jobs, so me and my brother jumped in the car and went over to Dads house. My brother truly enjoyed the ride, and we went by the alignment shop on the way over. Car drives way better now!
Dad got in and we went for a 30 minute trip, with in town and interstate driving. Coming off the interstate exit ramp, I was rolling in 2nd, opened it up big, and spun 3rd gear. He smiled pretty big, so the entire last 4+ years of my life building this car at that moment became worth it all. To impress the old man, I think I did pretty good on this one. I just wish he had drove the car. He declined, but maybe next time.
Overall I'm quite happy with the Chevelle. Ride quality is great, Thanks to Ron Sutton! Power is plentiful, brakes stop the car excellent, seats are comfy, steering is accurate, clutch has a small amount of chatter, but should get better with age, radio sounds great, everywhere we go, people take pictures and wave, blow their horn, and give thumbs up. All in all, it's a total success for me. No regrets at all at this point! The odometer reads 370ish right now, and I'll put a couple hundred more this weekend on it. Researching cameras currently, so I can post real pictures of the car on here.
More later!!

Congrats Scott - What dreams are made of! Thanks for that account. I can't wait to experience that. Looking at spring/summer '17. Get that camera sorted out and post, post, post...:cheers:

Making the old man smile
 

That is classic, My Dad use to tech me how to speed shift and launch the car and would always want a ride later to see how I improved.

Glad you are getting to get it out and enjoy it now Scott, that's what it is all about.

You know it's not finished though right? :D You'll still find things that you want to improve or change on it. I suggest you follow this rule of thumb for future changes, plan them out well in advance and try to not take it off the road for any longer than a three week period. It makes it so much nicer when you can plan a project, make the changes...and then begin enjoying them right away afterward.

I did my T56 swap in three weeks, so it can be done.

Memories for a lifetime Scott...you and the old man spending some QT together.:cheering: :cheering:

Great advice! :popcorn2:

WTG Scot!!

lol, I can't get my Dad to drive my car either.

That's great Scot, glad your getting to share the ride with your father and brother. Enjoy it.

Thanks for all the replies, and advice guys! It was a great day. Sunday I'm driving it to the in-laws. None of them have seen it yet. I have several people in that area that I want to share it with, so looking forward to that also.
Not real sure what area of the car I want to mess with in the near future. I might add a nice EQ to the stereo...I put in a 10 speaker 1600 watt system that isn't bad at all, just needs more tuning than the head unit will allow. Definitely adding a/c this next winter. Gonna pick up a nice camera outfit first...that's a sure thing.
More later!

Nice project and great start! Looking forward to seeing the final product!

If you're thinking EQ, I'd look at a JBL MS8 or a Mosconi 6to8.

They do time alignment that makes a very nice sound stage.

Thanks JJ, I'll check these out. I don't think the JBL is still being made, but I could probably find one sitting around.

Drove the car today. Man we had beautiful weather here in N. Ga.
I've logged almost 500 miles. This thing is just a load of fun! Spent the entire day with the car. Drove it to Church. Left there and went to lunch, then I had a couple of people to show it to. The wife went along, and didn't complain about anything...WIN! Most of the day was spent an hour or so away at the in-laws. Pulled the car back in the shop this evening right at dark, and as I'm backing it through the shop door, the pressure side power steering hose lets go at the crimp connection. I had the hose built, so I'm taking it back to see what they can do. SO relieved that this happened in the shop, and not an hour away from here. More Later!

Edit: I thought they were still being made.

I do have one on the shelf.

I'll PM you JJ.

Great news, Scott. Really glad to hear the car is running well for you. I may be headed that way to ride the bike through the mountains on Saturday. This weather is way to nice to not enjoy. If you're going to be out, let me know and we'll grab lunch or something.

Odometer went past 700 miles today. Great day for a drive, but I've developed a small exhaust leak at the driver side header. Looking forward to jumping into this actually...haven't had the time to touch the car in a couple of weeks, and miss working on it. #shouldhavewentwiththegmgaskets
More later!

:ttiwop:


...just sayin... Were overdue.

Lead.

Thanks guys. It's been a very busy summer at work. I have managed to get the odometer to go over 1k, so I have enjoyed the car some. I have yet to purchase a nice camera setup, and frankly I dont know where to start. Not enough time lately to research them much.
We just wrapped up another championship baseball season, so that will free up some time. The exhaust leak is gone, and I am down to chasing the final bug in this setup. My CEL has been on since day one. I have talked to Mast about the code it throws up, and it's my fuel pump circuit. Specifically a ground short in the circuit. I'll figure it out this winter...

Scott, I use a CANON POWERSHOT A610. These older cameras are cheap and take awesome photos.

My SAMSUNG S6 takes even better shots than the CANON.

Killer build Scott!

Thanks Nick!

SUP guys! Been a while since I’ve posted here. Car is great, but didn’t have a ton of time to enjoy it this year due to work. I’ve had an engine project going since January, and it’s finally in the car. Not started yet, but we’re close. Nothing wrong with the engine in the car at all, I simply turned stupid and decided that the car deserved an LS7. So I began putting together a plan. I’m not one to ever settle with what’s available, and I wanted to put something together a little bigger, and a little more powerful than what comes in a crate. I thought that 434 cubic inches would work well as a package, so I bought a block and sent it out to Steve at Race Engine Development (RED) in Oceanside Ca. to be sleeved. I also made a phone call to Tony Mamo to see what he could do to a set of GM LS7 heads that I had, to make them work better, and that’s where the project took a slight turn. Tony’s LS7 Head program uses TrickFlow 260 cc castings, and make big power. Tony sold me lots of goodies besides his LS7 265 cylinder heads, such as his ported MSD Atomic manifold, a Nick Williams 102 throttle body, state of the art solid roller lifters, solid camshaft, shaft rockers, ported oil pump, push rods, custom head gaskets, and more. There are a lot of details in this new engine that you have to check out, and I’ve put together a build thread over on LS1Tech. I’ll update this with pics after install is complete. Anyway, here’s a link if your interested...
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...ved-block.html

Jesus. That is a beast.

What power you projecting / hoping for? :thumbsup:

Man...wait a minute, that's one sweet build Scott. You told me you had something up your sleeve, but I didn't know you were gonna step up your game like that. Can't wait for the start up video bro.

That's killer, Scott. Should be a handful once done. You've got the bring it down to Caffeine and Octane once done.

Should be fun. Not looking to meet any power goals. I’ve followed many of Tony’s builds on CorvetteForum, and those guys go 640ish to the tires with similar camshaft...some more, some less. I’d be happy with 625, but I’m secretly expecting a 650 number. Can’t wait!

Going to for sure. Gotta get out more!

You will love that motor... similiar to what went into my Mullet Mobile.

Scott,
Just spent the better part of an hour going through your build. I hadn't seen it before.

Awesome work! Looking forward to the 434 updates...



I had a 72 just out of high school over 44 years ago. Kinda miss it...

Yeah Scott!! How's that sweet motor coming along...?

Sitting here deployed on my day off, found this thread and read through it. Outstanding work. I grew up in the back seat of a 72 Chevelle, so seeing your car come together brought back some memories.

Joe, I appreciate the props. Yours was almost new when you had it. Mine was 40 years old when I drove it home. It’s been a fun ride.

Well Marcus...it’s stout. So stout that the clutch didn’t want to stick around for the encore. I have the engine so close to the firewall, that it all has to come out to get the bellhousing off. No big deal right? After all, I own a killer set of tools, and have a shop to goof off in. I bought an RPS BC2, so I’m covered there.
But wait...there’s more. The corvette fuel pressure regulator won’t work with a really big pump, like my 450 that I installed for this engine. Of course I had no idea it wouldn’t work with big pressure/volume! It was perfect for my previous pump, which was a 255. I had this incredible idle surge at startup, which we eventually tuned out. Thought it was timing mostly. Well after a couple weeks I decided to put a gauge on my rail, you know, just for giggles. 75 lbs of fuel pressure later, I realized what my idle surge was from. This combined with 3 sets of fouled plugs, the first set which was fuel. 2nd and 3rd set I thought was fuel as well, was actually oil. The fuel pressure issue probably washed the cylinders down to the point of hurting my rings. Not really sure yet until we dig back in. Got to mess with it for about 40 miles. First drive out, it would spin the tires in 4th gear. It’s stupid stout. Tony Mamo without a doubt builds the best ls7 package out there. I’ve alread got new head gaskets from Tony, and I’m just waiting to get my nephews silveraydo out of the shop that I’m putting a 6liter in that I just finished. All this on top of work, and I’ve been a busy boy.
Besides all of that, everything is great. Lol!