1969 Chevelle Turbo LSx-T56 Magnum-14" brakes-CTSv interior

[gnx7]

I guess it is finally time for a build thread.

I have always been into cars and my first real build was in the late 90's where I put a Buick GN (turbo V6) drivetrain into my '87 Mazda RX-7. I put about 20K miles on it and commuted to work in it every day. Car ran mid 11's with a stock turbo on Nitto 245/50/16 Drag Radials. I had another stock rotary RX-7 with coilovers and Toyo RA1 tires with upgraded pads and tried road racing where I was hooked. Sold both cars and set out to build an LS1 powered '93 RX-7. That car I drove at the Sport Compact Car "Ultimate Street Car Challenge" in 2005 where I met Mike Maier and he was piloting the K&N sponsored turbo MR2 (it needed a bunch of refinement and he said was a handful to drive due to its on/off power). My car managed a 1.13g on 285/30/18 MichPSCup tires which was my goal. To prove the aluminum LS swap wouldn't mess up the cars handling.

I picked the Chevelle up in August 2012 off of Craigslist and surprisingly it was on there for a couple months. The story goes like this. 2 owner car originally purchased in Pasadena, CA where the 2nd owner bought it from about 10 years ago as a father/son restomod project. It sat in their garage about 30 mins north of SF for the entire time they had it. 93K original miles, Protectoplate, paperwork and service records dating back to the early 70's, factory Green/green 307ci, powerglide, 10 bolt non posi no a/c bench seat car when the original owner had it. 2nd owner installed an unknown mileage iron 5.3 with 4L65E trans and that was about as far as he got. No engine harness, no other real progress made. I had a bodyshop friend of mine come with me to look at the car and he said within a few minutes this is the cleanest rust free car you are ever going to find. Impulsively I bought it on the spot and put it in the trailer to take it home for some much needed care.

My goals for the car were to modernize it with EFI, a/c, better brakes/suspension, interior, and plush comfort. I hope that the car will run 9's with the turbo 5.3, achieve 25mpg highway, and be reliable with a/c as icing on the cake.

That week I pulled the engine/trans and in the following months installed a 2008 alum 5.3 with ported 5.3 heads, LS9 head gaskets, ARP studs, 225/223 114LSA cam, LS6 intake, ported TB, AutoKraft baffled pan, CarShop Inc 1" engine setback motor mounts, TC78 turbo, McLeod twin disc, and T56 Magnum, Holley 120# injectors. Most likely run it on e85. My buddy made 830rwhp with this turbo on a 378ci forged LS3 with ported LS3 heads/intake. I'm guessing I could make around the same.

Pulled the stock peg leg 10 bolt out and picked up a built Currie HD 9" with 35 spline axles, Detroit locker, installing 3.25 gears, with Torino big ends. TRZ adj upper/lower control arms too.

[gnx7]

Digging into the body work the sail panel below the rear window had some rust and some of the rear window frame needed repair also. I had a neighboring shop repair that and prep the rest of the body, weld some of the trim holes closed, and put it in black primer.

At that point my good friend Chris Coffey was leaving the area with an empty trailer back to Nashville, TN (he was out doing some fab work in the area) and asked me if he could take it with him so he could work his magic. Realizing that my progress was slow and I don't have the skills to do a full cage that actually looks good, a turbo system that would be reliable, and other touches the car left with him! He has been a fabricator for pretty much his entire career and would work on it during his slow times and charge me a discounted rate as a result.

At that point I felt like I was paying alimony at times as monthly funds were being sent to make headway and buy parts. I'm coming towards the end of the build so this thread needed to be put up!

[gnx7]

I sold the TC78 turbo and went with a GTS76 billet unit (1200hp rated), bought a beefy CG&J custom radiator, Holley Dominator EFI, chromoly tubing for the rollcage, and the hot side parts for the turbo system. 2.25" crossover tubing using truck manifolds and Vbands welded on them. Downpipe is 4" into a Badlandz e-cutout and then dual 3" into 4 mufflers for super stealth mode when closed.

Looked for a year and found some black Recaro heated/cooled seats from a totalled 2009 CTSv and had to have them.

[gnx7]

onto the cagework.... Coffey Fabrication on it! Chris builds Bonneville salt flats landspeed cars for a hobby!

The first picture is the frame table Chris and his friends made from plate steel and then drilled in something crazy like 350 threaded holes into it!

The CTSv rear seats need to go to an upholstery shop to be cut and fitted properly; however they do sit in there nicely.
Front seats were pretty easy to install.... the wiring to control them is the next challenge.

[gnx7]

Newport Engineering wiper motor.... few more of the turbo progress.

Big thanks to SpeedTech for their ATS spindle kit to correct the poor factory ackerman that resulted in scary steering. Also added a faster ratio rebuilt Cherokee steering box and Global West tubular control arms at the same time. Body bushings were replaced in California by me with poly Energy Suspension stuff.

[gnx7]

Flew out to Nashville last fall to visit and get some work done on the car I didn't want to waste Chris' time on. Knocked out about 40hrs on the car that week and prepped all the floors for Lizard Skin heat and sound barrier. It was a ton of work; however I feel it will really help in the end. I also installed the 4" aluminum DriveShaft Shop driveshaft with billet 31 spline yoke in the car. It is beefy.

In the first picture that is a '95 Firebird landspeed car project with full chassis built on the table, 540ci twin 88mm turbo, Bruno trans, Winters style quickchange rear, and other goodies to shoot for 300mph this year at SpeedWeek.
They are feverishly working on it! That picture is from last fall.

[Che70velle]

Been wondering if you were ever gonna start a build thread on this car! Nice find!

[gnx7]

Rears mocked up. I feel a lot more confident with the wheel tool when ordering rims for the car

[gnx7]

Wheels ordered from Forgestar and chose the F14 today.

Should be at Coffey Fab by end of February! The rears are in stock! Fronts supposedly ready to powdercoat by mid Feb.

Am I the first Chevelle to run the F14? I found a few 1st gen Camaros using them.

[Flash68]

What sizes did you get? They are a great value and seem to be holding up on track for such low cost wheels.

Yeah, rarely see those on muscle cars..