HPI Customs 1970 Chevelle "Roadwarrior"
 

So here is one of our Chevelle projects that is underway at HPI. It has taken a bit of time to get back at it after the move to our new shop, and we are getting back into this one! Kind of a pro touring style Chevelle with a big block and carb, bit of a break from all the totally modern drivelines! We have a bunch of cool ideas into this Chevelle though, so make sure you keep your eye on it at check out all the pages!

Lets try this, a teaser shot of what will come later in the posts!

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/...e/IMG_8388.jpg

So this car started as a totally rusted hulk, which we ended up getting rid of for a slightly less rusted hulk! The body had three quarter panels on ONE side! They patched the original, stiched on a piece of quarter skin, then when that rusted they glued on another skin overtop. I peeled it apart easily. And the rockers were sculpted from tape, tinfoil, and filler.

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Dude!?!??! You're kidding me right??? After these months of silence from you, you finally return and only give us a couple posts?!?!?! Totally uncool.

I was going into withdrawal....

You start posting more pics of your builds or else! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Sorry man,

I will post more tonight when I get home I promise!!! It has been tough as we have been just clearing up a bunch of small stuff and trying desperately to finish the new shop in between. You will notice all the pictures I will post leading up to this week are dark, because our lighting still wasnt finished. I have it scheduled to be done for wednesday, so after that the pics will get better!!

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/...e/IMG_2173.jpg

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Just to show you what we deal with on a daily basis, really rusty cars! Damn winters:mad:

Thats one way to let off some steam! We sold a Dynacorn body to another customer to replace his 1970 chevelle, so we got his old body to start with because it was in a bit better shape!

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We did a floor, trunk, bracing, wheel tubs, quarters, rockers, door skins and repairs, and some custom work including a really trick firewall with a cowl induction style setup for our custom air cleaner.

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Here is what was the start to our 68-72 A body frame bracing kit! This was the first design.

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And the New Gen one of a kind wheels .

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/...e/IMG_8300.jpg

Ok now for some cool stuff. Sorry about the picture quality. I am working on a better camera and some graphic design help.

We wanted to do a few subtle body mods, so we came up with a few. Here is what we have so far, there are a few more to come but nothing major. Just a bit of a spoiler, which I havent seen alot of on Chevelles, and it matches the body line on the rear trunk and the angle of the upper quarter panels. It looks good standing back, and it will look amazing in paint! I will get some better shots once we have the car all mocked up.

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/...e/IMG_8247.jpg

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Ok how about this for a cowl induction air cleaner....... it will match the valve covers once it is painted the same, and there will be a machined flange and seal on the firewall. It has a standard 14 inch air cleaner inside, and is two parts. Last piece to go on will be the lower laser cut flange that is tapped for the hardware.

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Looking good.:thumbsup: The exhaust is very nice.:thumbsup:

I slept very well last night after these pics....thank you. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Great work Tyler :thumbsup: What are you running for rear suspension?

This Chevelle has the "Track Time" Package from Speedtech. It is tubular front arms, coil over conversion, large sway bars front and rear, and articulink rear upper and lower control arms.

We are using a Strange S60 rear end as well!

Thanks for the compliments

I especially like doing exhaust. This one is just a modified Dynatech kit! My favorite part so far has been the air cleaner. Anyone else like it??

I like it. Looks like you put some good thought into it to match the valve covers. I'm doing something very similar on my wife's '67, but more rounded like the early Nascar 427s. Cool build btw.

Its different, But not my cup of tea the copes are a little too deep, if the air cleaner was split in the center and the copes were shorter in height it would look a bit better in my eyes.

Matt

I saw yours too, I was half way into this one when I came across it. Looking good BTW!

Matt, Split which way, parallel to ground? Didnt want to put a shorter air cleaner element in, as it is a drop base and would contact the top of the carbs choke airhorn if it was shorter. We wanted it to look like some sort of nasty weapon like piece, and match the copes in the valve covers. I am not a huge fan of the fabricated valve cover, so this is what I came up with!?

It will look different once coated, with the firewall flange machined out of aluminum. It is something different, I could not bring myself to put a round air cleaner on the car.

Thanks for the compliments

I'm not running anything special my self. but just what jumps out at me are the depth of the copes. but definitely nice work for sure.

Matt

Thats cool, I was just wondering if you had an idea to make it better! Hope you can pull some sort of insperation from it.

I always wondered what my Chevell would look like with a spoiler. Especiall with how our cars round off in the bake. Very nice, i like it. :hail: :hail:

214 - Wait until I get a good shot of it away from the wall with everything mocked up, then I think we will both like it even better!

Looks great! :thumbsup: Nice to see some "BIG" valvecovers in a sea of LS motors! Not knocking LS motors, you really can't beat them, just nice to see something different!

Thanks! They can't all be LS motors right? I just fired up a 502 that we put in a 67 Chevelle, and man you sometimes can't beat that sound!

Subscribed!!!!

Finally some updates for everyone on Lat-G! Been a busy last two months, hopefully everyone has had a great holiday season!

Got the Roadwarrior Chevelle out to paint before the break at the beginning of December. Should look good in a month! Here are some updates before it left....

March Ultra black powdered serpentine kit (entry level but a nice kit!)

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/...ps82eccb90.jpg

Rear suspension, diff, brakes all buttoned up. Full Speedtech Package w/sway bar, modified Dynatech exhaust, Ricks tank.
http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4a6019c5.jpg

And the lower valance modifications. Couldnt justify a custom panel, and we have a stock rear frame behind it, so we snazzed up the factory panel to match the spoiler!

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Looks very nice !!!:thumbsup:

I like that lower valance. Keep up the good work.

Thanks guys, I will keep you posted with bodyshop updates.

So quick poll, on the lower valance should be just keep it all body color or have two matte black panels where the "mini difusers" are? The car is going to be Calypso green with matte black racing stripes.

I could see some accenting of the panel working out well. However, I'd need to see a rendering. I can't picture it in my head properly. Color combination sounds good though. I think green needs to be used more often.

Tyler,
Can you give me an idea on the size wheel and tire on the rear?

Thanks

HEEP

The rear wheel is an 18x10. Backspacing is 4 (custom rear end width) and it is a Strange S60 with torino ends.

The tire in the rear is a 295. Fits no problem and we left the unneccessarily large wheel well lip that the 70 chevelles have.

I don't have a rendering, we are flying without one on this car. I will photoshop something!

Thanks Tyler.

I'm still in the process of deciding what I am doing on the rear for tire size. I installed your frame kit, and am looking at doing something to the rear frame rails to get wider than 10" on the wheels.

HEEP

I will find you a picture of what we did to notch a stock frame. Just did some 1/8 plate in the shape of the frame arch, and cut in half way. We also reinforced/gusseted the coil mounts ahead and behind to help stiffen with all the metal gone.... Got us an extra 1 3/8 per side.

If you trim back the wheel lip you can gain another 1/4 to 1/2 depending on if they are stock or repop quarters. I have found the repops to have an even larger lip.

looking great