‘63 Chevy II Pro-Touring Build

[bkswede]

Wow... where did the summer go? Can’t believe how quickly it went... didn’t make as much progress on the Nova as I had hoped over the summer. Kids activities seem to dominate the schedule and I also spent a lot of time finishing the new garage/sport court addition we built over the summer.

We finally got the LS7 on the engine dyno... nothing ever seems to go as easy as it should, and this was no exception. Motor first went on the dyno in July and didn’t produce near the power I was expecting - it topped out at 580hp when I was expecting 700+hp. Turns out the dyno operator used an incorrect pilot bearing when connecting the engine to the dyno which caused significant forward pressure on the crankshaft. So much pressure that it burned up the thrust bearing and damaged the crankshaft. The dyno shop paid to fix the crankshaft, new bearings, fresh hone on the cylinder walls, new rings, etc. Really frustrating, but at least they owned up to it.

The rebuilt motor went on the engine dyno in late August and results were great - 705hp and 604tq. The torque curve is insane - a little over 500ft lbs of torque starting at 3,500 rpm and it never drops below that. It holds peak torque (~600 ft lbs) for more than 1,300 rpm, from 4,900 rpm to 6,200 rpm with a gradual fall off after that. You can see on the attached dyno graph how the torque curve is like a table top in that rpm range. Since horsepower is a function of torque, the motor’s ability to carry its torque like that is what allows it to top 700hp in naturally aspirated form.

As I stated in earlier posts, Tony Mamo has a lot of these head, cam and intake combinations on LS7s across the country and they are, in many cases, breaking dyno records when put on the rollers. He obviously knows his stuff - that’s an impressive power curve. This dyno was done on 91 octane, but I will have it tuned for 93 octane after its in the car, so I suspect final numbers to be closer to 720hp at the crank with 93 octane. Really amazing and probably a little over kill for the Chevy II... I can’t wait to experience it in the car!

[Grnova]

Those results look really good and without any power adders! Great job on the build!

[two-piece]

Looks like a awesome build.

[bkswede]

Originally Posted by two-piece

Looks like a awesome build.

Thank you! Getting close to painting, and excited to make some progress!


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[kbclamper]

great numbers. Tony built a 427 ls3 for my 63 nova that did 680/580 at westech. looks like those ls7 heads are definitely worth some more power than mine. had to spin mine to 7200 to get my peak. your car is going to be a blast

[bkswede]

Originally Posted by Grnova

Those results look really good and without any power adders! Great job on the build!

Thanks! Appreciate the kind words!


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[bkswede]

Attached are some pictures of the Chevy II with the wheels mounted - we had to get some new wheel studs and Kurt had to make a couple of minor modifications to make sure we had sufficient clearance on the rears. I think the wheels look awesome - fill up the wheel wells nicely! The car had a mock up block in it when these pictures were taken; so the front end will drop a bit when the full drivetrain is installed. I’m sure we’ll need to make some adjustments at that time to get the right stance, but I think it looks pretty good now, too!


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[Grnova]

Looking good what are you using for engine management system, and what are you plans for interior?

[bkswede]

Originally Posted by Grnova

Looking good what are you using for engine management system, and what are you plans for interior?

I’ve got a Holley Dominator ECU, which will feed my Holley digital dash and is needed for the DBW throttle body (Holley HP ECUs don’t work with DBW throttle bodies). The Dominator is a little overkill for my naturally aspirated motor, but plenty of room for future mods if I go in that direction.

For the interior, I’m planning to use TMI molded door panels and TMI buckets for front seats. Both of those items are available for purchase now. I’d like to use the TMI one piece molded head liner, but it’s still in development, as is their molded rear seat. They debuted the headliner and rear seats at SEMA last year on a ‘67 Nova built by Church Boys racing, but they’re not available to purchase yet. Would be great to buy all of it together using matching fabrics, colors, etc. I’d like to do something for a console as well, and TMI is also developing that, but it’s not clear when it will be available.


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[bkswede]

Quick update... targeting end of January for paint. We need to finish up fitting driving lights in the front bumper, and a small rear spoiler on trunk lid, at which point, all exterior body work should be finished. Also working on test fitting radiator, A/C condenser, catch can, routing of heating and A/C lines, air intake, etc.

Ben from SRD did a really nice job putting together a rendering to help illustrate what we’re striving for. Colors should be pretty accurate - we’re planning on using Shark grey metallic, which was a C7 corvette color on 2015-2016 models. I want a metallic grey that is light enough for the black trim, black wheels and red calipers to really pop against it. I’m attaching a photo of Ben’s rendering and of some shark grey metallic Corvettes so you can get a sense of the color combination. Let me know your thoughts. Happy new year to all and best wishes for healthy and prosperous 2020!

Ben’s rendering:


Some shark grey metallic Corvettes:




Photo of my LS7 after delivering to Kurt at AutoKraft:



Photo of test fitting of my Holley digital dash:



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