Welcome to  the homepage for my 1969 Chevelle, which will hopefully stay current with the progress of the car!

 

Latest News

(10/05/08) Haven't been updating this much lately... let's see what has changed. Front suspension was updated this spring and the front end is finally cured of the bumpsteer issue-- updates there. Also sliced-n-diced the entire center of the floorpan out to get the u-joint working angles reduced and to make more driveshaft clearance; pics and info for that under the floor mods page. Other than that, just been putting miles on it and wearing tires out prematurely.

(6/2/07) Finished intercooler installation pictures are finally up. Also, the Procharger is leaking... again. Isn't that what I sent it back for about a month and a half ago? Ugh. It will be going back to them again within the 90 day warranty. To say I'm a bit upset is an understatement, I hope they fix it right this time and in a reasonable amount of time.

(4/20/07) Finally got around to adding an intercooler. Check the intercooler tab to the left for more info. The rear high speed seal in the supercharger also developed a leak about a month ago so I shipped it off to ATI for a rebuild. Actually, I tried to rebuild it myself first until I got it apart and found that the rear high speed seal is a ATI-proprietary design and uses non-standard external dimensions so I could not get an out of the book seal from Motion Industries. So I called ATI, fessed up that I was digging inside, and sent it in. Rather than just rebuild it I decided what the heck and it will be coming back upgraded as a D1SC.

(9/4/06) Let's see... changed the exhaust recently after finding some severe cracks in my Dynomax Ultraflo's. Changed the system over to much larger Magnaflows and a bizarre X-pipe arrangement as suggested by an engineer formerly with Guldstrand / Traco. Check the exhaust page and scratch your head. Also, picked up a set of Recaro SRD seats and Morris Classic seatbelts... one of the best mods on the car. No longer do I slide around in turns! I can actually feel what the car is doing and concentrate on driving it through turns now rather than concentrating on holding myself in. Pics on the interior page. Next up, getting some hot air out from under the hood and cutting down on front end lift at high speeds. I have a plan involving a Glasstek 68-69 SS style hood or 2" cowl hood, a pair of Aerocatch hood latches, and a pair of louvers used on 67 Shelby GT-500 vented hoods that I'll be picking up from Bill Maier Racing. The louvers should be here next week, I need to lay them out on the hoods I have sitting around the house (I have both the flat hood on the car and a mint GM SS hood) and decide where I want them. I will try and have Glasstek build them into the hood, but if they are unwilling or too expensive I'll glass them in myself. Should work very well for heat extraction and look good too.

(6/3/06) Needed new back tires so why not buy new wheels while I'm at it? Updated pics under the Exterior page. I also added some pictures of the custom Canton oilpan to the Engine page. I've also changed the exhaust a bit, decided to hack off the 2.5" pipe from the back of the X up to the mufflers; the system is now full 3" from the headers back to the muffler inlets. Still using the 2.5" tailpipes out the back. Next up, more supportive seats. May be offered a screaming deal shortly on a set of barely used Corbeau Forza's, we'll see. I was on the fence about 1-piece seats in terms of comfort but they are quite nice IMO, unfortunately they will limit back seat access. I've also spec'd out a Spearco intercooler core and think I have a hood hold down scheme worked out (since I'll be ditching the factory hood latch for more intercooler clearance), but that's a project which will wait for winter.

(3/21/06) I suppose it's time for the yearly update! Let's see, since my update about a year ago quite a few things happened. I upgraded to 75 lb/hr injectors, which have seen a maximum of 82% duty cycle. Much safer! I also put just a tad over 8,000 miles on the car since last March with no real issues to speak of other than some extensive wear to the tires and brake pads, both of which are now due for replacement. However, the engine is out again. Not because I broke it, but because I became paranoid about my cast core hydraulic roller cam failing after several friends had it happen to them. So, the engine is currently out of the car again for an inspection and cam swap. I had the same cam reground on a billet core with a pressed-on iron distributor gear to take care of the cam issue. I also changed the valve springs for Comp #26120 beehives and titanium retainers (each spring/retainer combo is over 70 grams lighter than my old 986 dual springs with titanium retainers), swapped the headgaskets for Fel-Pro MLS gaskets for some additional durability and better block-to-head heat transfer (the 8,000 mile old Fel Pro 1010's looked new actually,) And finally, I'm having Canton custom make a road-race style oil pan to help with the oil starvation issues I was experiencing in sustained hard turns and max-effort braking from high speeds; the Milodon "Claimer" pan just wasn't up to the task. I had to go custom because I could not find any off the shelf road-race style pan that would clear both a stock Chevelle crossmember and also clear my headers.

(3/4/05) Been a looooong time since I updated. Let's see what's happened since the last update: I drove it easy for about 200 miles to get things settled, then started getting into it and immediately developed a bad vibration in the rear end. Turned out the pinion nut backed off, allowing the pinion gear to walk which trashed the pinion bearings and the gearset. Yanked that for a rebuild which had the car off the road for a month and put it back in only to force myself to take it easy for 500 miles for break in of the new gearset. Then I decided to start driving it a bit harder and soon found I'm out of injector. My current 52 lb/hr fuel injectors go static at only 5600 rpm.  I was hoping for about 625 hp at the wheels, but knowing what my current injectors can support and knowing they max out at only 5600 rpm means it may make more than I expected-- always a good thing! I've also finally taken care of the biggest problem since I put the supercharger on, which is the junk ATI brackets and their idler pulleys eating V-belts. I converted the alternator and A/C over to serpentine, and made a new power steering bracket which still uses a v-belt but eliminates the idler. Expect some updated pictures and a write up on the belt conversion soon. Other than that, been having a blast driving it especially since I can now take it on long trips and zing the RPM's up knowing it won't blow up a belt as it would frequently do with the ATI brackets. Rolling on the throttle in 2nd gear sends the rear tires up in smoke at about 60 mph, which is a LOT of fun-- I just have to get out of it and shift early before I max the injectors out and run it lean. 

(10/16/04) It runs! Fired it up initially on the 10th, then took care of some odds and ends and finally drove it on the 13th for the first time. Today a friend of mine came over to assist with tuning the EFI. Things are progressing nicely and tuning is nearly complete, with only heavy throttle and higher boost ranges needing attention. The car is very smooth and driveable, starts very easily and quickly, and idles very smoothly and much cleaner than it ever did with the carb.  I'm very happy with the final combo! More pics on the EFI page. Expect chassis dyno numbers once the tune gets worked out.

(9/11/04) Almost ready to bring the engine back home and put the car back together. I ordered up some aluminum mandrel bent tubing from Woolf Aircraft to run from the throttle body to the blower's discharge. After a couple hours of bandsawing and sanding this morning it's done, aside from welding. I'd do that myself, but I can't weld aluminum very well. I'll leave that task to a friend who welds for a living. Motor will come back home next week and then things will start going back together. I'm hoping to have it running by the end of the month. All the EFI wiring is finally done. See the EFI Conversion page for the latest pics. Also on deck is making a carbon fiber top for the intake manifold. I have the carbon already, I just need to shape it and drill the holes. I decided it will add a little bit more personality to the intake and engine compartment, the aluminum top on the intake now is just a bit on the plain side.

(8/11/04) No, I did not sell the car, nor have I forgotten about this web page! The reason for the lack of updates was lack of parts (and therefore stuff to do). The intake from SDCE finally arrived after multiple problems and delays. I knew a long wait was a possibility going in (Scott is a one man show and has expanded his line of work this year) and I planned for a potential wait. Since I'm still in no big hurry to get the car done I really didn't mind that much. The good news however is it finally arrived, and it's the last piece I need to get the car on the road again. The intake looks great, very trick, and sports several cool features. Scott did a super job (yet again); I don't think there's anything the man can't do. I really need to meet the guy face to face one of these days!  Pics can be found under the recently added EFI Conversion tab on the link bar to the left.

Also interesting to note is a recent conversation I had with Mike Lewis of Lewis Racing Engines; on a recent chevelles.com thread, Mike mentioned he has had 4 Comp Hydraulic Roller / MSD Iron gear combos fail on him, one in only 26 miles. (Sound familiar?) Comp points the finger at MSD, and vice-versa. So maybe the MSD gear was my problem all along. Mike's suggestion is to buy a GM Melonized gear and hone it out to .500" to fit on an MSD distributor gear; he has done so and things work as they should (meaning the distributor gear doesn't shred!) 

(4/23/04) Making some progress. The engine is back together minus the intake, which is still at SDCE. The extrude honing outfit took a lot longer than anticipated. Scott expects to ship the manifold to me in another week or so. There are still quite a few things left to do before dropping the motor in, such as modifying or replacing the A/C-Alternator and power steering bracket. ATI's brackets are junk, to be honest. You just don't tension a V-belt with a backside idler pulley-- doing so results in VERY rapid belt wear and occasional belt throwing. I'm amazed they sell the brackets in their current state, but maybe people don't call and complain about it. I have my eye on a power steering bracket from CV Products that should work (and looks trick), but I need to bolt the blower back on and see if there's room for it as it moves the pump up a bit compared to the ATI bracket. I also have an idea in mind for how to modify the A/C and alternator bracket and eliminate the idler pulley. Once the intake is here I need to fab up a new blower to intake pipe; I'll probably chop and weld sections of mandrel bent tubing. I also need to purchase a remote IAC mount as the Ford throttle body Scott is using on my intake doesn't have an IAC boss. Kinsler makes a nice remote mounted unit which I think I'll try. Haven't got around to having the headers coated yet, I need to get that done before they become a hang up.

(3/26/04) Things are starting to move along. I have all the parts now minus the new intake from SD Concept. I still need to have the headers coated, luckily a friend pointed me to a very good guy locally and hopefully I can get them in next week. The FAST box is mounted and wired up. I also took the liberty of wiring up an RPM activated switch to cut-off the A/C compressor at higher RPM, saving a bit of power but mostly to be easier on the compressor. As soon as the intake arrives I can put the engine and tranny back in, hook everything up, and start tuning.

(2/26/04) Waiting for parts is the name of the game. The FAST EFI box and wiring harness are on order from Force EFI and should be here in about 2 weeks. My heads are back from porting. I had them ported primarily for low lift flow, but the peak numbers are quite good; they ended up flowing 286/220cfm @ .600 lift @ 28" H2O, using a 4.026" diameter feed bore on the bench and a 1.75" diameter pipe stub on the exhaust port (same as my primary diameters.) The reworked intakes flow more at .450 than the stockers at .600, and the exhausts are flowing more at .400 than they were at .600 stock. Should make quite a few more ponies, that's for sure. The Inconel exhaust valves are 6 grams heavier than the stainless valves I'm replacing, but by going to titanium retainers I'll be able to save 15 grams per valve. Scott at SD Concept is still working on the intake manifold and now that I have head flow numbers he can design a cam. I'm also going to have him extrude hone the intake base, which will put each intake runner's capacity at 307 cfm. I'm starting to get antsy, as everything I need to get the car back on the road has been ordered and is in work.

(1/28/04) Not much going on. Heads are at a friend's shop being ported, I have Manley Inconel exhaust valves on the way for them. Motor is still torn down, but has been cleaned, line honed, and honed. Pistons are being recoated. I ended up ordering the intake from SDCE; a holley stealthram lower with a sidefed sheetmetal upper with a BBK monoblade. I will be ordering the FAST box next week. I'm also probably going to be purchasing a radiator / intercooler setup from Ron Davis Radiators.

(1/7/04) Stripped the motor today. I'm going to send "I told you so" pics to all my friends and others who advised me to "just change the cam and run it." It's a good thing I didn't. I feel really bad for all those people who wipe a cam or eat a gear and then just throw a new one in and keep going. ALL the bearings are toast. You can see copper on nearly all of them (lots of copper on some of them), and many of them have nasty gouges. The rod bearings are by far the worst, although the mains are pretty bad too. The cam bearings are in the best shape but also toast. This motor and these bearings only have 7500 miles; 5000 without the blower, and 2500 with.

The good news:

The crank will be OK after polishing.
The pistons are OK, but I'm going to have them recoated while they are out.
The bores are OK but will be treated to a light hone, and I'll be installing on new rings. Don't want to run old rings on a touched-up bore.
All lifters seem to be OK but I haven't looked at them very closely yet. No obvious excessive wear or gouging of the bodies, but I need to check all the rollers.
I didn't take the oil pump apart yet. I'll be getting a new one, but want to see how bad this one is.

What's really worrying is that the #4 main cap shows evidence of "walking." I haven't detonated this motor to my knowledge (and the plugs never showed evidence of it), so that does have me concerned. However no telling when it happened, could have been either before or after the blower. I am using ARP studs on the mains. My friend and engine builder says this is the most common problem he experiences in high-HP stock block motors, and typically a result of detonation.

The heads are going in tomorrow to be ported. I will probably be switching to Manley Inconel or their new ExtremeAlloy exhaust valves at the suggestion of the porting guy. According to him (and he's been doing this for decades) stainless valves will be just fine as long as I keep the motor on "street duty"-- i.e. no more than 10-15 seconds of hard use at a time. He said if I keep my foot in it for a while I'll cook and tulip the stainless valves. I'll be checking my current exhaust valves for indications of that. I can get a set of the Inconels for $300 and the next step up ExtremeAlloys for just a bit more, so I might just upgrade while I have it apart to avoid another future teardown.

Also, for EFI, my choice has changed as far as the intake goes after a conversation with Scott at SDCE. I'm now probably going with a Holley Stealth Ram EFI lower, paired to either a modified to sidefed stock Holley upper or a custom sidefed sheetmetal upper and a 70 or 75mm monoblade. I need to verify hood clearance first, but it should fit no problem. According to Scott  a sidefed StealthRam is one of the best reasonably priced small block EFI manifolds right now short of a full-on sheetmetal manifold. The d-shaped runners have good velocity and with a bit of work will flow more than 300cfm each, and since the runners are all the same length each runner has the same resonant frequency, unlike a typical EFI-converted single plane which will have 2 frequencies-- one for the 4 outer ports, one for the 4 shorter inner ports. The vertical runners of the stealth ram also means reversion will not jump back up into the plenum and cross-contaminate the other cylinder's charges since it has to try and climb a near-vertical port, unlike a more horizontal single plane where the reversion will "spill back" into the main plenum. He also says the manifold has GREAT idle and throttle response characteristics and makes lots of low-end torque. 

Anyways, here are links to pics of my UGLY main bearings and rod bearings.

(1/3/04) Finally pulled the motor and trans out today. (Took me long enough, I know.) I'll know by next week if the internals are A-OK. If everything is good, it's time to order the EFI. Heads will also go in for flowing and porting next week. Once I have the new flow numbers, I'll have SD Concept design and have a new cam ground for me. Starting to make progress. Up next is to remove all the wiring for my old homebrew water injection, wire in the new progressive setup, and also for future expansion install another, circuit breaker, and heavy gauge wiring into the passenger compartment for my future power windows. It's just so much easier doing this kind of stuff when I can sit on the crossmember in the engine bay.

(11/6/03) It's been a while since my last update. Not that anything good has happened. The car is once again parked in the garage and has been out of action since 9/26/03 when it left me stranded on the way back from a local carshow. The car was running great one moment and then it started backfiring like crazy and died. I was able to coast into a parking lot. Suspecting the connector for the distributor came loose, I quickly checked all the ignition wiring. Nothing appeared wrong, so I tried to fire it again, and this time I could hear the mixture igniting in the exhaust. I knew right away something was seriously wrong, so I called a friend about a half block away who came and gave me a tow to his shop where I left the car for the night. That night I got to thinking "how does timing go from OK one minute to advanced to retarded within a few minutes?" I had a theory but I was hoping it wasn't that.  I came back with a trailer the next day and took it home. Once I got it home, I yanked the distributor and my theory was right. The distributor skipped a few teeth, because, well, there weren't any teeth left on the gear! See the carnage HERE. I was not a happy camper. The motor is coming back out for a teardown and inspection to see where the gear particles went and what they did. After talking to Scott @ SD Concept about the problem, the cause of the gear's demise was simple: the distributor was sitting too high, as evidenced by the wear pattern on the lower half of the gear. When the motor goes back in, I will be using a slip-collar distributor,  checking the wear pattern, and adjusting the installed height as necessary. The tranny will also be coming out to fix a minor fluid leak at the tail housing. While the motor is out, the heads will be heavily worked to get more power out of the motor. My current Dart's only flow ~160cfm on the exhaust side @ .600 lift, which is probably losing quite a bit of power. The motor isn't going back in the car with a carb, I've decided to convert to EFI using an Accel/Lingenfelter single plane, a FAST bank to bank wideband ECU,  and either a 1000cfrm Force 4-barrel throttle body or a Wilson elbow and a TPIS or Accufab monoblade. I will also be removing my 2-stage water injection and installing a progressive injection controller I purchased from fellow Turbo Trans Am owner Julio Don. His controller is EXTREMELY nice and a bargain for the price he's asking, and will offer far more adjustability than my simple 2-stage setup. I may also do bodywork and paint while the motor and trans is out. Expect an update in another month or so when I have the EFI parts in-hand. Just for the record, the motor logged up a whopping 2500 miles since it was out last year for the cam swap and checkup. Sigh.

(8/17/03) What's new? Not much. Have about 1500 miles on the TKO now and loving every minute of it, the car is just so much more fun to drive with a stick! I find myself hurrying home from work so I can jump in the car and go for a ride. I have another upgrade brewing-- DIY 2-stage water injection. I looked at several different kits, and while nice, I could make a system exactly how I wanted to cheaper, and it's a lot more fun for me when I get to hunt down the parts and get exactly what I want. The parts should be here this week, and I should get around to installing it next weekend. Why water injection? The engine doesn't detonate, but I really like the added insurance water injection will give, not to mention the lower EGTs and also the "steam cleaning" effect it has on the valves and combustion chamber-- basically a safety "Just in Case" item. Anyways, expect an update soon after it's installed. I ordered all the parts from Northern Hydraulic and McMaster-Carr, so I'll post a list of what I used. The total came to right around $230, but you could shave about $50 if you pass on the trick push-to-connect tubing and fittings.

(6/27/03) Ever since I installed my 700R4 just over 10,000 miles ago I have had a bad vibration at freeway speeds, but for some stupid reason I ignored it for almost 4 years. The vibration persisted with the TKO, so I finally broke down and bought a digital angle gauge to check pinion angles. I started with the tranmission, which  is 5 degrees down, thus the rear end should be 5 degrees up.... guess what, the rear end was 3 degrees down! No wonder the mirrors shake so bad on the freeway. To fix the problem I ordered a set of Edelbrock adjustable upper rear control arms. The Edelbrocks are the best on the market in my opinion because of the spherical bearings at the frame. The stock 4-link in a Chevelle needs to flex and rotate as it moves up and down, and the spherical bearings take care of that task. This is not a place for polyurethane, and especially not for polyurethane and boxed upper and lower arms. I installed the Edelbrock arms (nice pieces) keeping the factory upper rubber bushings, readjusted the pinion angle to 5 degrees up, and all the vibration is gone. Pics of the Edelbrock arms are on the Rear Suspension page.

(6/21/03) Car is back on the road finally. Still getting used to the stick, but loving it. The Weber clutch is a lot lighter than I expected, but it's very smooth. The TKO has very good ratio spreads and shifts quite nicely. What I'm really impressed with though is the Level III Hydroboost I purchased from Paul at Hydratech. I have one word to sum up one of Paul's hydroboosts: WOW! Let's quantify it a bit: I can now stop the car WAY harder with just the tips of my toes than I ever could with my entire leg behind the manual brakes. The amount of braking power available is unreal! It took about 20 miles of driving for all the bubbles to work out and for the twitchiness and slow return to work out of the pedal, but now it's just awesome. What's equally surprising isn't just the amount of assist, but the fact that it is extremely controllable-- very smooth pedal modulation that always feel the same no matter what the engine load is, and again, an amazing amount of assist available. It's a piece of cake to do normal light braking but at the same time it has NO problem hauling the car down in a BIG hurry from well above legal speed limits-- repeatedly! Let's just say 4-point belts would be a big improvement, they'd probably bruise less. I am VERY impressed. Well worth both the money and the effort for installation. If you're searching for a brake booster I strongly suggest a Hydroboost. I will most likely never go back to a vacuum booster. Paul, he knows his stuff and is very helpful and knowledgeable. Definitely give him a call or send him an email if you're interested. There are now pics on the TKO Swap page and also pics of the Hydroboost on the Brakes page.

(6/10/03) Been a while since my last update. Car is still on the garage on jackstands in the middle of swapping in the new TKO 5-speed I got from Mike Pell at www.5speedtransmissions.com (nice guy!). I'm not happy I had to cut a gigantic hole in my floor to get it to fit, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do. Added a page for the swap on the bar to the left, see the TKO 5-Speed link. I've been driving the Trans Am quite a bit lately to quench the need for speed, but I really, really want to get this thing back on the road.  

(4/10/03) Smoked the tranny on Sunday. Oops! I was giving a friend a ride who really wanted to see how much the blower changed how the car behaves.  So to give him a taste I decided to hammer it in 1st gear at about 25mph so I could do a little  road graffiti. The tires spun through first, through second, and with the tires still spinning (speedo reading about 85mph, actual vehicle speed probably about 35-40mph) the tranny went to shift into third. At least it tried to shift into third. It let go so fast there was no way to get my foot out in time. Let's just say I'm very happy I installed a rev limiter! I had to limp home 30 miles in 2nd gear, 3rd gear is toast. The tranny still  tries to shift into third but all it does is slip. I figure I smoked the 3rd gear clutch pack. The trans has 10,000 miles on it total; it was working fine up until it let go. I managed to get 250 miles out of it with the blower. I'm currently deciding on either doing a Tremec TKO swap or having the 700R4 rebuilt with the new trick HD internals which are now on the market. The Tremec swap will cost ~$1200 more at the minimum, and that's if I can get away with my driveline. Unfortunately it looks like my 700 is longer than the TKO, so that would really up the cost of the swap if I have to get a new driveline. Decisions, decisions.

I also ordered a Level III Hydroboost brake booster from Hydratech this week. I finally got fed up with the stiff pedal. The PBR calipers just don't lend themselves to a manual brake configuration; even with a 15/16" bore master cylinder and fairly long pedal travel they were too stiff. The PBR calipers Baer uses on the Track systems just don't have enough piston area to work well in a manual configuration.  The smaller the piston area, the more input pressure is required to produce a given clamp load, and that means more leg pressure. The manual setup was fine for normal stopping duties but needed a LOT of leg effort to stop even remotely hard, and I couldn't push hard enough on the pedal to use the brakes to their maximum ability. Since my cam only makes about 6" of vacuum at idle (about 12-15 during cruise), a vacuum booster would be spotty in stop and go traffic. The Hydroboost should give me more assist than I'll ever need, and it will also give a consistent pedal feel at any speed and driving condition. A Hydroboost teamed with the 13"/12" rotors and PBR calipers should be a pretty potent combo.

(3/18/03) My new 4" aluminum driveline from Inland Empire showed up today. I went with their billet transmission yoke and 1350 solid u-joints. Last week I purchased Moser Engineering billet pinion yoke so I could install it and give Inland accurate measurements. I still haven't figured out how Inland manages to build and ship the next day after order. The driveline looks very nice; excellent welds, beefy weld yokes, and their billet tranny yoke is very trick, being a 2-piece design. Fit perfectly. I had a very, very slight "rolling vibration" from 60-65 mph and also from 120-130mph with the shortened/rebalanced original driveline; they're gone now. The new driveline is as smooth as glass, so far I've tested it up to ~140mph. I had Inland balance it the shaft at 10,000 rpm (critical speed is ~10,750 for my 51.75" long 4" diameter driveline), which means I'm safe up to about 225mph with my current 3.42 gears. That's way faster than the car will be able to go with its late 60's aerodynamics, so I feel at ease doing my occasional high speed blasts knowing I won't hit the critical speed and jumprope the driveline. Pictures are under the rear suspension page. It's a tight fit around the X-pipe, but it clears the exhaust, mufflers, trans tunnel, and seatbelt bolts poking into the tunnel. 

(3/5/03) Put some finished pics up on the Blower page. The car runs great! Very smooth, and the blower I received is a pretty darn quiet one, which I really like. MUCH quieter compared to other Prochargers I've heard. I've been tuning the car a little at a time. Currently running 34 degrees total timing and using the retard to back it down to 24 degrees @ 10psi boost, still very conservative. The O2 sensor is also showing the mixture is on the conservative side at ~11.0:1 -- safe, but not making max power yet. I'd rather leave it on the safe side than change a headgasket (or worse). The car is a handful to drive; I can't keep my eyes on the gauges to watch the boost on a WOT pass, but so far I've been able to catch a glimpse of the gauge reading 10.5 psi @ 6000 rpm, about 750rpm shy of where I plan on shifting. Need to take Dad for a ride and have him watch the gauges as I drive. The power has made me VERY uncomfortable using the original 34 year old driveshaft and stock small 1310 u-joints to transfer the power. I'm asking for trouble. A new driveline, trans yoke and pinion yoke with 1350 U-joints will be ordered very shortly. Choices are narrowed down to either a 4" Aluminum shaft from Inland Empire or a 3.5" Nitrous Ready shaft from Denny's. The 4" Inland shaft will meet my minimum critical speed criteria with a large margin of safety. I need to call Denny's on Monday and get some info from them. If their shaft will have a large enough margin of safety on the critical speed, I'll go with the Denny's shaft.

(2/23/03) SHE'S ALIVE!!! But not without a few initial problems. The new cam and new distributor gear needed to get acquainted with each other, so I decided a break-in was in order. I pulled the blower belt, tossed an open element air cleaner on it, filled the motor with good old dino juice, set the fuel pressure to 7psi, dialed in 24 degrees total advance and let it run at 1500rpm for about 30 minutes to seat in the new distributor gear. I did notice during this time that the electric fans stayed on continuously, odd considering it was pretty mild out (about 70F). They usually cycle on at 190 for a minute or two and then shut off at 175F. The motor ran ~185-190 the whole time. About 2 hours later while hooking up all the blower ducting, I noticed that all the wireties on my plug wires had melted, the protective boot on my collapsible steering shaft had melted off, and the split loom on the wires going down to the starter had also melted. Luckily the wires themselves were OK. Yikes! Guess I should have set my 42" fan in front of the car on high. Lesson learned. I repaired all the melted stuff and added some thermal sleeving on the wires going to the starter for safety and rerouted them to stay a little farther away from the header. Figuring the high EGTs were a product of low timing, I bumped the total timing up to 33 degrees and then dialed in 1.2 degrees of retard per pound of boost on the MSD as a conservative starting point, and drove it down to my friend's shop to charge the A/C. I still don't have the O2 sensor in the car, and being unaware of the A/F ratio meant I never really tested all that's available, but I rolled about halfway into the throttle soon after it shifted into second gear at 30mph; the boost came up to 4psi and the rear tires lost their battle for traction. Can't wait to get to a chassis dyno with a wideband for final tuning and see what wide open throttle is like! Even taking it easy and with the conservative tune and with a more mild 2200 stall converter in (MUCH more pleasant driving around town), it makes the old naturally aspirated 485hp with a 3000 stall converter seem tame! Hopefully I can get the O2 sensor in this week and hit a chassis dyno next weekend. Stay tuned... (no pun intended)

(2/20/03). T-minus 1 day until fire up. Been working on the car little by little every night after work. The power steering idler pulley spacer finally came from ATI, and the custom brake lines came from Classic Tube (fit like a glove, nice pieces), so I now have almost all parts in hand. My distributor has .023" of endplay, so once the shims get here from Summit tomorrow, it's time to prime the motor, drop the distributor in, and light it off. Woohoo! A good way to spend a Friday night in my opinion. I'll try to record some sounds (and possibly video) this weekend. Some "almost-finished" pictures are up on the Blower page. There are still some odds and ends that need finishing but won't hold up driving the car such as welding the bung in the exhaust for the O2 sensor, pulling a wire back to the trunk to switch the fuel pump relay, etc. I plan on keeping the timing VERY low until the O2 sensor is in and I head to a chassis dyno, hopefully next weekend. Don't want to lunch a headgasket (or worse) on the maiden voyage.

(2/8/03) Made some very good progress today! My A/C fittings all came in Friday, so I borrowed a beadlock crimping tool and managed to fab all the new A/C hoses this afternoon. My most recent order from XRP also arrived (minus the high pressure power steering hose which they forgot) so I fabbed up all the braided stainless hoses from the Street and Performance Type II pump to the new aluminum reservoir. I also fabbed a bracket to support the reservoir out of some .125" 2024-T3 aluminum I snagged from work, as there isn't a real good spot on the core support for the power steering tank. All that's keeping me from firing up the motor now is the rear master cylinder and front to rear brake lines from Classic Tube and the idler pulley support from ATI, which I hope will arrive next week. I tossed up some pics of the A/C and P/S install on the blower page.

(2/6/03) The motor is back in, but for every step forward I end up taking two steps back, due to what many others have called "ATI Issues." Rather than clutter up the front page with them, you can read my list of "issues" HERE. They're all solvable, but it's frustrating because it would take very little effort on their part to correct it. I brought this fact to their attention, but I was told on the phone that all the parts involved were designed many years ago and they aren't about to go making changes to them. Ugh. I have made some progress though, such as wiring up the new A/C trinary switch (high/low pressure cut and fan turn on) and A/C clutch relay, finalizing the alternator wiring, running push-to-connect tubing and fittings for the fuel regulator, MSD, surge valve, and boost gauge, and a few other odds and ends. If my new stainless brake lines show up next week and ATI comes through on the missing power steering idler pulley parts, I may have the car back on the road by next weekend. We'll see.

(1/29/03) Brought the motor home today. Decided to test fit the blower/bracket/tensioner setup. Look under the blower page for pictures. You can also see the bracket brace I fabricated. I may drop the motor back in this weekend if I have time. 

(1/25/03) The motor has been done a week, I just haven't had a chance to get it home yet. The carb and hat are back from receiving modifications at SD Concept Engineering and look great. I have a new P/S pump on the way from Street and Performance. I need to order up the GM R-4 A/C compressor this week. I had ordered some new stainless brake lines from Classic Tube but there was a mix-up on my order. I was planning to drop the motor back in next weekend, but the motor won't go back in until I have the new brake lines in-- it's MUCH easier to install the lines with the motor out. I have a new receiver/dryer with a trinary switch on the way from Vintage Air; the new switch will turn on the fans when A/C head pressures call for increased airflow. Hopefully this means the fans won't run going down the freeway. Added a link for my other toy, my 1989 Turbo Trans Am. I was trying to sell the car for the past several months but changed my mind last weekend. More mods are planned for that car after the Procharger project is done. 

(1/5/03) Yanked the motor out last weekend, it's currently down at my friends shop. The new cam is installed and degreed in. Still need to install the new valve springs and rev-kit. The rev-kit is going to take some work, as my Dart Pro-1's don't have a very good surface on their underside to adequately support the rev kit. Need to smooth under the ports and weld a brace in the center where the crossover port is recessed about 0.25". I'm really beginning to regret not going with a solid roller cam, but I want to hear some more info from people running Crower lifters with the High Pressure Pin Oiling option first, I don't want to chew up a roller during low-rpm in traffic driving. I still have plenty of other work to do though, I did some wiring tonight to get ready for the 12SI alternator, and at the same time rewired my headlights to use Bosch relays and get power right from the alternator output for some extra voltage. I got the relays and parts from Mark at MAD Enterprises. Mark is a VERY knowledgeable and helpful fellow. Don't hesitate to call him with any electrical questions. His instruction book is one of the most clear, comprehensive, and helpful pieces of literature concerning automotive electrical systems I've ever read. He not only describes the current system and walks you through the upgrades, but he tells you what to do and why to do it that way. Excellent stuff. I still need to get the MSD 6BTM and the new A/F meter from SD Concept installed and wired, then the car will be ready for the motor.

(12/14/02) The P1SCH Procharger is here! Take a look at the blower page for specifics. A big thanks to Scott, Wendy, and Jamie at SD Concept Engineering for putting up with me on the phone. You won't find a nicer or more knowledgeable group of people. If you're interested in a centrifugal blower, definitely make them your first call. It will probably be your only call!

A Little History...

 I purchased the car 7 years ago when I turned 16, and have put countless hours of work into it since then. When originally purchased, it was a 4 wheel manual drum brake, 2.73 geared 10-bolt, 307 / turbo 350 car. Your typical grandma car. I had looked at a few 69 SS396 cars but the buy-in price and insurance costs were beyond what I could afford at the time. The previous owner purchased it from the original owner, who just happened to be a 78 year old woman. The bench seat interior was all original and in remarkably good shape. Over the next 5 years or so, I did many repairs / upgrades as issues popped up. Some of the major things included:

Basically, a nearly stock car with a few upgrades, but nothing fancy. Because I was in college and left the car at home, I really didn't do too much to it for 4 years.

The real fun began in 2001. After graduating from college, I decided to build a new motor. I treated myself to a new 485hp 353 built by a good friend and myself. For 4 months after that, the car was my daily driver. Every stop light departure brought a huge smile to my face. I still didn't want to go too crazy with the car because it still was my daily driver. That all changed near the end of summer I picked up a daily beater, not wanting to wear out my new motor going to and from work everyday. With the Chevelle now assigned pleasure/weekend duty only, I felt I could do some of those things I had been putting off since it wouldn't be out on the road at risk every day. Unfortunately about that same time I noticed the whole Pro-Touring trend, and I was hooked. The Pro-Touring project has snowballed almost out of control since spring 2002, when I took the liberty of using my tax refund to buy full Global West suspension and Baer brakes for the car. The project went even further off the deep end in October of this year. I noticed a rather striking '69 Camaro owned by a member of the Chevelles.com message board. After a few emails, I found he lived very close to me, so I took a drive up to look at  his 1000+ HP Procharged 1969 Camaro. The owner turned out to be a very nice and extremely knowledgeable fellow. I don't think I need to say anything about his car, it is simply stunning. He also has a friend with an extremely nice Procharged 406 motivated Camaro SS.  The very next week after visiting him I ordered my own Procharger through SD Concept Engineering, who he recommended very highly.

Anyways, enough rambling.... Take a look at the individual sections for specifics.