1969 Chevelle 540 Garage Build

[69chevelle540]

Hello to all. Kinda new here and ive always posted my information to the Team Chevelle website but Ive really taken a liking to this website due to the fact the cars a more in tune with what im trying to build on a very tight budget. Ive worked the past three years gathering parts one at a time until I could either put it together my self for pay to have someone else do it. Its been a long road and ive got even longer to get where im hoping to be. Ive had several milestones that make me happy and ive also have several setbacks that make you question why you started this process in the first place or ask why didnt i just buy one already done. Truth be told im happy ive taken the route ive chosen and yes its not easy and it takes alot of time and money but in the end ill be proud of what ive been able to accomplish. Ive got several photos and im sure i will skip a few steps but i will upload to try and get everybody caught up to where im at now. Just found out i have my first son on the way and im sure that will slow things down but i hope to keep things going on step at a time. There are tons of great builds on this forum and i hope that i can learn a thing or two from the members as well as give others who are starting with basically nothing and no huge budget inspiration to keep on keepin on. The car currently has e 540 BBC that was built by G&G Performance. It was built using a Dart Big M block, Mahle pistons, Scat rods, crank, Straub Hydraulic roller cam, Crane lifters, ATI Super Damp, Lemon pro touring headers, Concept one pulley system... Im sure im forgetting someting but it dynoed at 747 hp and 692 lb ft of torque. Wheels are Rushforth Wildsides 19's all around. I have ordered a Jakes 1000hp capable TH400 that should be in shortly. Rear end is a moser M9 with 13" wilwoods and front is 14" wilwoods, Suspension is a stage 5 UMI with Viking coil overs... So here she is. Sorry for the randomness but getting all of this information started all over again kinda sucks so ima do my best. 12576512576412576312576212576112575412575312575212 57501257431257491257481257471257461257451257581257 44125755125759125756125757125751125772125777125782 12579412579312579212576912579112579012577012578912 57711257871257861257851257751257811257801257791257 76125778125783125784125788125796125774125773125795

[69chevelle540]

Terrible order of photos but it will get better i promise.

[69chevelle540]

How the car sits today. ALOT of body work still needed.... 125798125797

[69chevelle540]

Concept one

[69chevelle540]

Found some photos of the frame kit installed.

[69chevelle540]

Better view of the engine and headers

[69chevelle540]

The following were replaced using AMD

Roof, Door skins, Bother Quarters, Rear valance, Rear outer wheel wells, Full floor pan, full trunk pan, both front fenders, hood, radiator support, ... basically everything unfortunately.

[raustinss]

sweet ive got a 70 ....great progress so far love the look youve got ,keep up the good work youve already got alot of the expensive stuff done

[Fahrenschnell]

Nice. Keep after it.

[JAWSS]

Great work and choices for parts and color!! I have a 70 Chevelle too and this is good motorvation!!

[lawrenq]

Car looks great, I have a 71 Chevelle also that I'm building in the garage, you're almost there, looks like the hard part is done.

[69chevelle540]

Just got the hood worked on. Still not finished but its looking good. I saw another member with a camaro with ones kinds similar to this and had to make it. Its turning out good. the vents are from the shelby gt500 super snake. They fit nicely and should provide some good airflow and heat reduction in the engine compartment. ive never seen this done quite like this on the cowl so i hope everyone likes it.129636129637129638

[69chevelle540]

Finished Hood Mods

[MOREHORSEPOWER]

Looks good !!

[2ndroundko]

love where this is going.

[69chevelle540]

Quick question and i apologize if this is the incorrect way to ask on here. But i have ran into an issue with my Moser M9 Fabricated Rear End with Back Braces and running my brake lines. I cannot seem to find out where i can bolt the brake line splitter to my housing like you would on a normal 12 bolt. This is a ford 9 style but as you can see there is no where to bolt the splitter to stay stable and not bounce around. Only thing i can think of is to find some mount made to bolt to the center section of the diff as it has bolts. Has anybody had experience with this type of issue? Any ideas about how i could stabilize the splitter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[69chevelle540]

Kinda like this.

[69chevelle540]

Mock up of Stainless Works Exhaust. Going to need some work to make it fit.133661133663133664133662

[PickSS]

Great build. I'll be following it closely. Im building a 69 Chevelle as well.

[Shortacus]

Car looks great. I'm building a 67 and can't wait to get it to your progress level

[Motown 454]

Sweet build! It's looking great. I did my brake lines on my Chris Alston Fab 9 like the picture you posted.

[69chevelle540]

Here is a link to the start up of the engine. First time to start engine on the chassis. The neighbors are gonna LOVE me in the mornings!
https://youtu.be/WW55KTP93WQ

[67goatman455]

hooooooly crap that sounds good! haha

[Lickity Split]

lol... You can come be my neighbor!

[69chevelle540]

Well today I decided to start the wrap on my car. With a new baby and other expenses this is my temporary solution to getting the car looking like a car and so I can at least start to see how it would look when I get the funds needed to paint the car. The firewall was a B*TCH but the rest of the car went smooth. Hope to have the rest wrapped in the next two weeks. We used Avery Brushed Tianium and I have to say I really like it. Should look good with the black wheels. Sorry pics are crappy

[MOREHORSEPOWER]

That looks good !!

[KB Camaro]

awesome build

[sheck44]

WOW ... great build, awesome fab skills !!
Cheers
Steve

[69chevelle540]

Dont think i ever posted the Dyno sheet on here but here it is.136130

[2ABodies1FBody]

The wrap looks great! Did you have to seam it anywhere? How large of a piece/pieces did you buy? Been kicking around the idea of wrapping my Camaro. I'm really impressed with your results.

[69chevelle540]

The wrap looks great! Did you have to seam it anywhere? How large of a piece/pieces did you buy? Been kicking around the idea of wrapping my Camaro. I'm really impressed with your results.

I got the Avery 75' roll. The only seams so far have been on the fire wall in areas that just cannot be covered without it but the areas you will actually see there will bo no seams. However due to the fact that there is an area where the body doesn't have a window gap from the rear fender onto the roof there will be a seam on each side on top of the roof. The seams are very hard to see and if it bothers me enough I may cover them with vinyl stripes.

[Motown 454]

Damn That looks nice! Some sweet numbers !! It sounded good in the video. Nice work.

[69chevelle540]

Thank you all for the kind words. Its amazing what a little bit of color on the car can do for motivation. Even if its a wrap!

[69chevelle540]

136203136202136200136201Got the majority of the rest on today. Very happy.

[wyattroa]

That looks great. How difficult was it to do?

[69chevelle540]

That looks great. How difficult was it to do?

Guy off craigslist did it in two day. about 12 hours total for a few hundred bucks.

[Jeff70]

What city and state is the guy based out of?

[Michaels 69]

Nice job on the wrap.

[69chevelle540]

What city and state is the guy based out of? Houston Texas

[chuck_skywalker]

man this is a sick build! keep going!

[csouth]

The wrap turned out really nice! That is one of those things that you can save a bunch of money on if you can buy the roll and learn it yourself. The only thing I would change is to counter sink the holes on the louvers and use a flat socket head screw instead for a flush fit. Nice ride though

[69chevelle540]

The wrap turned out really nice! That is one of those things that you can save a bunch of money on if you can buy the roll and learn it yourself. The only thing I would change is to counter sink the holes on the louvers and use a flat socket head screw instead for a flush fit. Nice ride though Thanks! That is exactly what were going to do. The screws in it now look pretty awful sticking up like they are so were going to counter sink them and use flat socket heads.

[69chevelle540]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF1d_7WkkaQ

This is another video we took the day we fired it up. You get a better look around the engine.

[69chevelle540]

started put fit some trim and new tail light bezels, lenses , gaskets. The location i get my parts was out of the upper rear trim that goes across the area below the trunk opening. im sure there is a correct name for it but you get the point. Im really liking the way the chrome and silver looks together. the small black parts also pop against the colors. ill take more pictures soon. im going to try and install some of the dynamat this week as well as the other bits of trim on the rear. May be going LED for the lights but not 100% sure.136637

[69chevelle540]

got the body back on the frame. did it myself using an engine hoist, chain, seat belt holes. And alot of balance.138057138058

[rickpaw]

Just read thru the thread. Nice project you have going there.

From the looks of the neighborhood, I'd take it you're in Texas?

Tu

[69chevelle540]

Thats correct. Houston Tx.


Just read thru the thread. Nice project you have going there.

From the looks of the neighborhood, I'd take it you're in Texas?

Tu

[rickpaw]

Thats correct. Houston Tx.

I'm in Houston as well (NE area by lake Houston). Would love to meet up sometimes. We have quite a few pro-tourers in the Houston area.

[wyattroa]

That looks so good with black wheels. I honestly think I am going to have to go this route when I get to that point.

[69chevelle540]

just another pic

[Sebambam]

What a Awesome build what a awesome car, fun to read to watch and to follow...

[rickpaw]

Start to come together there Patrick.

[69chevelle540]

thank you for the support. One thing that is bothering me is the amount of gap i have between the bottom of the doors and the rocker. Looks HUGE compared to others. I had a shop replace the passenger side and i dont think they knew what they were doing. Fearing future headaches.

[69chevelle540]

Some Dynamat. probably overkill but o well. 138497138498

[69chevelle540]

got the dakota digitals in the cluster last night. Very very easy. Cant wait to see them wired up.

[69chevelle540]

New shifter thanks to AlanF

[chuck_skywalker]

awesome build, cant wait to hear what the motor sounds like!

[rickpaw]

New shifter thanks to AlanF

Nice.

[69chevelle540]

Well it looks like i may have to sell the Chevelle and without ever getting to drive it. Im not really sure on how to even start the process or what the car is realistically worth. I have almost every receipt almost 80-90k worth but just not sure what i could realistically get for this car. Any ideas? Is there a good website for cars like this or maybe a forum board i could look into? Thanks.

[csouth]

Well it looks like i may have to sell the Chevelle and without ever getting to drive it. Im not really sure on how to even start the process or what the car is realistically worth. I have almost every receipt almost 80-90k worth but just not sure what i could realistically get for this car. Any ideas? Is there a good website for cars like this or maybe a forum board i could look into? Thanks.

Why not post it here?

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

Sorry to hear that you have to let this go so close to complete. Nice work on the car. Good luck with the sale.

[bootlegr]

Bummer for sure, did car get flooded ?

[69chevelle540]

Bummer for sure, did car get flooded ?
No flood. We were lucky. Business is just slow and i could use the money as a reserve is things really get bad. This is a last resort but again not 100% sure on the cars realistic value.

[69chevelle540]

Why not post it here?

I may possibly do that. But I need to figure out a realistic number. The whole " its worth what someone is willing to pay for it" kinda comes into effect. Need opinions or a professional advice in order to put a price on her.

[badolds]

I will start the bidding at $1500 cash, just kidding. As you are probably aware you are going to lose your ass if you sell it. Lifes setbacks are usually temporary and you should consider putting a car cover over it and keeping it till things get better. Houston is a great place to do business and if you hustle you can make money here. I hope you can keep the car long enough to enjoy it. Take some deep breaths and don't make any hasty decisions. Finish this bad beast up and lets go for a cruise.

Dan

[bootlegr]

I 2nd what Dan said. From my experience, I only use my O/T pay for my car as not to upset the household balance. The oil industry has not provided any O/T for 3 years now so my project sits in waiting until something happens to make funds available again to continue. I keep myself busy with small fab projects just to keep forward progress while avoiding major purchases. Hang in there if you can. In the end, only you know your situation. Good luck.

[69chevelle540]

Gonna keep her and try and finish it. May just have to keep under a tarp and storage for the time being but from what im seeing and hearing selling it would just be like giving her away and thats not an option. Ill try and post some updates when i can get back to working on it.

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

Glad to hear you are keeping it.

[USAZR1]

Gonna keep her and try and finish it. May just have to keep under a tarp and storage for the time being but from what im seeing and hearing selling it would just be like giving her away and thats not an option. Ill try and post some updates when i can get back to working on it.


Good choice. If we can help, just ask.

[1sikride]

Throw a price out there...
May be surprised. Get some dialogue
Going.

[csouth]

Throw a price out there...
May be surprised. Get some dialogue
Going.

I'm pretty sure he said he's keeping it in post #67

[69chevelle540]

Worked on the car last night. put on headlights and started on the grill. Pain the the you know what to get the trim pieces on the grill and mount all of the supporting brackets. I can honestly say that this is one of the most rewarding pics for me. Its like the car now has a face and getting somewhat of a personality when you put the lights and grill on. I've only seen the car with lights and grill for about two days before i took it apart almost 4 years ago so this was a good site.146496146497

[69chevelle540]

Got the rest of the grill pieces on. Lost some blood and skin doing it but for the most part not too too bad. Loving the look.

[badolds]

Looks killer!!

[USAZR1]

Great looking front air dam! Who built that?

[69chevelle540]

Thank you...I ordered it from a place called Iwancustoms. Its fiberglass took 8 weeks to get and then i wrapped it with carbon fiber. I just tried to go to the website so i could put a link but looks like they no longer are in business.

- - - Updated - - -

Much appreciated!

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

That is a really tough looking pic. I like that head on view.

[69chevelle540]

That is a really tough looking pic. I like that head on view.

I have to agree. One of the best pics ive taken of the car. Also, I have to admit the primer color is kinda growing on me. The car was original butternut yellow from the factory and the primer isnt that far off. I have been tossing around going a custom version of butternut yellow bc of how the yellow-ish primer looks. Its somthing you dont see everyday. There may be a good reason for that lol but who knows. Paint is a long way down the road.

[69chevelle540]

Was able to fire off the car today for the first after doing the wiring. It was scary I won’t lie but we’ll worth all the blood sweat and tears. Video doesn’t do it justice but I must say it made a sweet rumble. Had to adjust the idle RPM's a bit but you get the point. Also have to do some investigation on the oil pressure. It was going up to 80 psi on start up then would drop quickly to 15-20psi. next day i fired it up and it was showing 0 and i shut if off quick. Purchased a oil pressure tester to see if its gauge related or not. Hope it is, but we will see. It has a 20401 moroso 7 quart pan and a Moroso street/strip high volume pump 22195 so i really dont know why it would be doing this. maybe the pickup tube came loose? Still has the same oil used only to dyno test it in 2015 so im sure i need to go ahead and replace the oil but that wouldn't cause a zero psi. Next will be getting the brakes dialed in along with some left over electrical like fans, lights and so on. Since I relocated the battery to the trunk I did my own version of the setup. Let me know your thoughts! Youtube video below.

https://youtu.be/lNfXbSR-F0I

149610149609149608

[skylark guy]

The front of this car has an amazing look to it. Great work and I'm glad you are continuing with the build.

[badolds]

Do not run it anymore!! do you have a Fram oil filter? Drain the oil and cut the oil filter open to see what is going on in your engine. Make sure you have a bypass in your oil filter adaptor that will open if your filter gets plugged. I have seen Fram oil filters plug up many times. Freshly built engines can have lots of debris in the filter.

Dan

[ekmxryda]

Glad you are able to hold on to the Chevelle, its going to be sweet when its done!
Have you sorted out the oil pressure drop yet?
I would drain the oil and pull the filter to look for any blockage. Sometimes assembly lube can get in the sending unit.

Good luck

[69chevelle540]

Turned out i had my speedo wires and the oil pressure wires crossed on the dakota digital box. Swapped them and i have a nice 60psi oil pressure. That was a close one.

[badolds]

Thank goodness its not something you have to dig into. Good deal.

Dan

[69chevelle540]

Ok so I was able to get the car moving under its own power this weekend and ive come across an issue. The motor has pressure, has good fuel pressure, ive checked the float level in the carb, and it is idling funky. when i take the belt off it fires right up and runs strong. put the belt back on and its slow starting and does a really weird progressive idle sound that i cant really describe so ive put a short video below of it in the driveway. You can here it about every 3-4 seconds and last a few seconds. ive been told to check the tightness of the pulleys, ive been told to check the MSD is getting good power, ive been told the carb could be gunked up due to sitting for over a year. If it was carb related i would think it wouldnt run well even if i took off the belt but it runs good without it. i have not checked the pullys and how tight they are.... would this be a common issue? im wondering if its timing, but again if fires right up without the belts. any thoughts??


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuVY5WO1_40

[69chevelle540]

Been doing some research and it looks like I need to disconnect the one wire alternator wires and start up the engine and see if that is the issue. I may have some wiring issues with the MSD and i want to say ive wired my power wire for the msd to the alternator charging wire that goes back to the battery. This i want to say was a bad idea and now that i think about it is more then likely why im getting the slow start (alternator is powering the MSD and is not spinning right away at crank up. thus not giving the msd ignition box enough juice. then when it does start its not getting the correct amount of voltage to operator properly. Hope i didnt F anything up and i can still fix this issue.

[ElCamino400]

Nice build !, I had the same thing happen on my motor (BB chevy), had the motor rebuilt, fired it up in the chassis and broke it in. Everything was good, ran perfect.
Had a health issue and the car sat for a couple years, in that time the assembly lube solidified in the bottom of the pan. When I restarted it I did not drain the original breakin oil,
Big mistake, the assy lube clogged the pump pick up screen, so there was a dry start condition and the damage was done , after the motor got to temp everything seemed fine for
awhile till I started seeing signs of rough idle. (timing issues) Pulled the motor, found a big hole in my pickup screen and a bunch of assy. lube stuck to the screen.
Cooked my cam and rear main journal... Hopefully this is not the case with your motor..

[69chevelle540]

I really hope thats not the case.

[ElCamino400]

I hope not too, I chased the problem for probably 6 months off and on, cleaned the carb, changed the plugs (which made it run worse ?), finally I pulled the cam and it had a flat
lobe (flat tappet/hyd cam). Figured that I didn't breakin the cam properly, so swapped out the cam and bingo motor ran great...Till the rear main seal started leaking !. That's
when I pulled the motor and pan, should have just done that from the get go.

.. and I tried the old doing burnouts and revving the crap out of the motor...surprisingly that did nothing to fix the problem..Ha.ha

Good luck, you will get it sorted out..

[badolds]

Go back to basics and check everything its really not that big of a deal. First check your alternator with a voltmeter, Crank the car and check the voltage at the battery at idle it may be low. Flash the engine above 3000 rpm, just a bump. check voltage again at idle should now be around 13-14 volts. The alternator wont start charging until it gets rpm the first time. Replace all 8 spark plugs next, any different? I suspect your carb is gunked up, still no big deal its only four nuts and a throttle cable. Now pull off the float bowls again four bolts. You will be able to see any varnish or debris that's in the float bowls. If you don't have the colored non stick gaskets you will have to scrape the float bowl and metering block gaskets off. If it is gunked up you will need to have it rebuilt or do it yourself. Once again its not that big of a job to clean a carburetor, hit google youtube etc. If all that is spotless then its time to pull the plugs and do a simple cranking compression test on all cylinders if one is lower than the others your problem is on that hole. How is the valve lash? Cut the oil filter open any metal in there? How old is the gas?

[69chevelle540]

Go back to basics and check everything its really not that big of a deal. First check your alternator with a voltmeter, Crank the car and check the voltage at the battery at idle it may be low. Flash the engine above 3000 rpm, just a bump. check voltage again at idle should now be around 13-14 volts. The alternator wont start charging until it gets rpm the first time. Replace all 8 spark plugs next, any different? I suspect your carb is gunked up, still no big deal its only four nuts and a throttle cable. Now pull off the float bowls again four bolts. You will be able to see any varnish or debris that's in the float bowls. If you don't have the colored non stick gaskets you will have to scrape the float bowl and metering block gaskets off. If it is gunked up you will need to have it rebuilt or do it yourself. Once again its not that big of a job to clean a carburetor, hit google youtube etc. If all that is spotless then its time to pull the plugs and do a simple cranking compression test on all cylinders if one is lower than the others your problem is on that hole. How is the valve lash? Cut the oil filter open any metal in there? How old is the gas?


Turned out to be idle mix screws on the carb were not correct and the floats needed adjustment. Fires right up now and sounds good.

[badolds]

Turned out to be idle mix screws on the carb were not correct and the floats needed adjustment. Fires right up now and sounds good.

GOOD NEWS!!!! glad you don't have to dig into it.

Dan

[69chevelle540]

Think i got her dialed in. The car needs to be dyno tuned and she will be ready to rock and roll.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFV0ZlcyHkA

[Steve Chryssos]

Sounds really pissed off. Nice work.

[ElCamino400]

Happy to see that the motor is o.k.


Sounds Tough.....what are the cam specs ?

[69chevelle540]

Happy to see that the motor is o.k.


Sounds Tough.....what are the cam specs ?

Well i drove it yesterday and my oil pressure is dropping when the motor is heated up. It still has the break in oil from the builder so im thinkin of changing it out to some Driven Oil 15 w50. It started to sputter and died on my at a red light and i watched the pressure drop to low 30's psi then it died. Hopefully some thicker oil will do the trick. its HOT here in houston.

[ElCamino400]

You may want to drop the pan..

[badolds]

Well i drove it yesterday and my oil pressure is dropping when the motor is heated up. It still has the break in oil from the builder so im thinkin of changing it out to some Driven Oil 15 w50. It started to sputter and died on my at a red light and i watched the pressure drop to low 30's psi then it died. Hopefully some thicker oil will do the trick. its HOT here in houston.

30 psi on a hot engine is not low in my opinion