70 Chevelle performance project - Lateral-g Forums

Che70velle · #1 12-27-2012, 09:14 PM

Been on the site for a little while now, and I must say that you guys are a dedicated and talented bunch of enthusiasts.
I'm a 40 year old gearhead, who does electrical contracting out of necessity. It pays the bills. My passion is cars. I'm a performance and technology nerd. If its cutting edge, I'm interested. I've had my hands in a lot of cool stuff. I've built a couple high end builds for show. Both were trucks. The first one I built for myself, and its won just about anything ISCA could throw at it. It's been featured in truckin' and Sport truck magazines. It's won the coveted Boyd Coddington award. 1 of 400 he ever made. Not trying to boast here, just laying some ground work. I'm pretty picky. A perfectionist actually. I do my own work, and I do it right. I've worked with cars since I was a teenager, and its a passion. I've worked around quality people, and I believe that makes all the difference. I worked for an engine builder who did a lot of cup engines, and other types of racing engines. He taught me how to be patient, and why attention to details matters. He also raced asphalt late models, and I worked on his cars. He taught me chassis. Years later, I was able to afford my own asphalt race team, and what I learned from him, engine and chassis wise, was invaluable.
All the while I've been a fan of the 70 Chevelle. I've had many chances to purchase a nice one through the years, but passed. I'm not one to just buy a car from someone, and enjoy it. I have to make it mine. It's a disease. I'm in Georgia, and around here, if its a 70' it's worth more than say a 71' in the same condition. I don't know why. But it's true. So when it came time to begin this project, finding a nice donor car at a reasonable price was impossible. So I found a suitable 71' in my price range, and pulled the trigger. It's a decent car. An Alabama Craigslist find, that had been in the same family since it was new. It will be a 70' clone when I'm done with it. Nothing wrong at all with a 71'. Just not what I wanted.
I'm looking to build a 70' that will handle well, as I will surely go dodge some cones. It must have a decent amount of power, high 400, to low 500 horse, with gobs of torque. The car must stop well, and be above all else, fun to drive. I don't want to use the pro-touring title, but I guess that's the overall look I'm after. I've owned a couple of corvettes, so I'm kind of spoiled with what I'm looking for in a overall package. This will be fun. I have tons of pics to share with you guys, so be patient. This will take a while.

Started with this. Bought it November of 11'

Che70velle · #2 12-27-2012, 09:25 PM

Another view. Gotta love those wheels. I just realized that my cat is in the first pic, and a partial of my dog in the second pic. That's funny.

Che70velle · #3 12-27-2012, 09:33 PM

So, the first order of business was getting the car apart, and seeing what I had to start with.

So I got the shell up on a rotisserie, and quickly saw that I needed floors, and the trunk pan had issues as well.

Che70velle · #4 12-27-2012, 09:41 PM

So I made a quick trip over to Year One, and purchased everything needed to convert my 71' into. 70'. I began with the floors, and made quick work with them.

I left my tranny tunnel opened, because I knew the t56 would require more room.

Che70velle · #5 12-27-2012, 09:55 PM

Overall the only rust issues I have ran into are the common floors, trunk, and bottom corners of the rear window, which was an easy patch.

Che70velle · #6 12-27-2012, 10:32 PM

I am not, repeat, am not building a show car. I will drive this car. A lot. Having said that, my paint job will be a quikie. It will be nice, don't get me wrong, but I'm not gonna spend up all of my home equity doing it. I've been there and done that. So I'm gonna spend nearly all of this cars budget on chassis and drivetrain. I considered an aftermarket chassis, but I love fabbing my own stuff. I knew That I wanted a true coilover car, and I had a direction that I wanted to go. I looked at my GM frame and started with measurements, and went from there. After spending a lot of time on my front end, I realized that I could buy the Global West extended travel kit as cheap as I could build one, so that was first in line.

It's built very well.

Che70velle · #7 12-27-2012, 10:48 PM

The install was really simple...

Weld the perimeter and a couple of other key areas and your done.

Che70velle · #8 12-27-2012, 11:14 PM

On to the rear end coilover setup. I removed my factory upper spring bucket brackets first. I then installed a crossmember after many measurements were taken. This crossmember was inset into my frame with a holesaw, instead of flush mounting it, on each side for strength.

I then braced this crossmember to the factory crossmember diagonally.