no name-61 bel air

[lnirenberg]

Goal was for an old school car with some pro-touring touches--show, go and turn with yearly passes down the 1320 as this will be too big and heavy for the track. Started with a 7 year old < 5000 mile body off red (single stage paint) '61 bel air in excellent condition (bought in Ontario when the CN $ was worth $.80 US) w/ tremec 5 spd, 3.73 rear and non-original 409 built with '65 passenger block, '63 609 large port heads, dual edelbrocks on a custom offenhauser aluminum intake & custom headers. Interior: Glide engineering front seat frame--adjustable and locking split back bench with armrest with matching modified original rear; outboard front 3 pt belts and 3 rear laps; 4 New Classic instrument gauges replacing 2 originals and idiot lights, custom polished ss dash insert, alarm, new tunes with ipod hookup and control with trunk mounted amp and sub; vintage air model specific AC. Exterior: roof painted single stage black and that was about it. Drive train, new ported aluminum heads with full hydraulic roller setup (which are scheduled to arrive next week), Mass-flo sequential EFI; Spectre dual snorkel cold air intake; new Billet Specialties 409 serpentine system; aluminum radiator & condensor with dual electric fans. Suspension and brakes/wheels and tires: 4 wheel SSBCs, global west front setup (rear has already been stoutly boxed by prior owner); 17” BS rally wheels 7” front 8” rear 4” backspacing Goodyear GSD3s 225/50-17 fronts, 255/45-17 rears.
Present state is car is on the road waiting for final engine parts; when I went to put on the new wheels the rear studs were too short as the old Cragars use a long necked lugnut that doesn’t fit through the BS holes. This week the rear axles come out, old studs punched out and new longer studs in. First drives tell me I need a much stouter front sway and an 1 ¼ “ Hotchkis piece is in the mail. Sorry I don’t know how to put pics in the body of post so I will make do with thumbnails. Below find dash new & old, seats new and old.

[lnirenberg]

thumbnails include current state of engine; new front and rear brakes and suspension and new wheels in the trunk.

[67 ls1 vert]

WOW!

Very nice car! Thanks for sharing.

[lnirenberg]

Exterior shots of car today and of condition at purchase. Exhaust had exited behind rear wheels but was touching the new rear calipers. This solution seemed a lot easier than custom making new mounts to relocate the calipers. You might have noticed in a previous pic of the new rear brakes that the exhaust as I found it was built with crimped pipe. This was not a short cut as many 409 gurus feel the engine needs backpressure for maximum performance. The new pipes are mandrel bent and I guess we shall see but it pulls very strong as currently configured and I expect the engine mods will add a few ponies. I forgot to mention or take a picture of the QTP electric cutouts. It is absolutely ear shattering with wide open pipes--no big deal for me as decades of high decibel car tunes has my hearing just about where I want it, that is to say I can now adopt the selective hearing model. I will post the engine pictures after we start the work. The plan is to do a few dyno pulls before and after the engine build-- a few being 1 closed pipe and 1 open and likely a few to setup the tune. The Mass-flo system is in theory plug & play but again time will tell.

[wolf28]

I love those cars so much!

[Motown 454]

I love 61 Chevy's

[BobB66SS]

Great car. I've got one of these I picked up awhile back just out of the paint booth (white on turquoise). These pics make me want to dive in and get it finished!

[lnirenberg]

Took a break for some seat time which exposed the need for tweaks to the suspension/handling/steering. Problems included excess body roll, over-boosted power steering and too little shock on the bumps. Upgrades include replacing the stock front sway bar with an Addco 1” and adding an Addco 1” to the rear, a set of single adjustable Vari-shocks and a Heidt adjustable power steering proportioning valve . Lastly, in order to install the BS wheels with GSD3 rubber the old studs had to be changed out as they were too short because of the wacky way old Cragars mount—old school Cragars were definitely designed by a sadist. Unfortunately, given the glitches with the “simple” engine build I won’t know how this setup works until spring.

The engine plan was fairly straight forward. A new set of Edelbrock aluminum heads were being ported and assembled as well as a full roller setup speced out by a 409 guru up in the wilds of Canada. I figured the parts would go in and on, the EFI installed a couple pulls on the dyno and I would be good to go. Glitch #1 409 Alberta guru is currently enjoying a full room and board stay on the Canadian government in a state of the art correctional facility based on a drug charge that only his late brother could exonerate him from. 1st call was to comp cam to have them spec out the roller setup with a plan to send the 690 heads up to Golen engine in Hudson, NH for porting and assembly. Given my engine has less than 6000 miles on it since its last rebuild by prior owner I took for granted the bottom end would be good to go. Glitch #2, heads come off and the view was not pretty (see attached pics).

[lnirenberg]

What the F***? Sent the whole mess up to Golen for light hone to clean up the cylinders and it ends up the hone won’t go to the bottom because the lower part of the cylinders have a smaller diameter than the tops. The prior shop clearly knew they screwed up as they must have already bought the custom Ross pistons so they put oversized rings on as the piston to wall clearance at the top was almost twice Ross’s recommended max, hence major oil blow by. Cylinders re-bored even, new Ross pistons ordered and all assembled and delivered about 2 weeks ago. Engine back in car with new BS 409 serpentine system and an incredible looking custom PRC radiator and condenser: http://www.prchotrod.com/
They were great to deal with and if it works ½ as good as it looks it’s a winner. Rick’s hotrod SS gas tank and pump in, EFI system close to finished with the fuel lines left and we should be good to go in time for the next blizzard and its enclosed trailer transport to its winter hibernation home. I am a pretty avid skier but it’s no wonder I had a dream last night that it was the 1st day of spring.

[CruizinKev]

looks very nice :twothumbs

[lnirenberg]

I forgot to mention that I had it on the dyno for some base #s before we tore the engine apart. At the rear wheels we got 300ft/lbs and at 6200 rpm (where I lost my nerve as these were not originally high rev motors) 300 hp and climbing. Very disappointed at the time but once we got into the engine amazing given the issues. Can't wait to see what the new setup does

[LeighP]

Very very nice....love the 61's.

[Motown 454]

It looks good in there.

[nekkidhillbilly]

I love 61 Chevy's

i love all the bubble top cars wish they made them longer

[lnirenberg]

OK, the motor is rebuilt and I finally got the EFI up and running. Ran it on the same Mustang dyno and got 365 hp and 368 ft/lbs through the mufflers and another 20 of each with the cutouts open, (although my hearing will never be the same) on the stock stroke motor w/ 690 heads. Based on other cars I've run on this particular dyno, it reads about 15% lower than a Dynotech dyno. With the 15% loss from the crank it comes out to about 500hp and 500+ ft/lbs at the crank. I am well pleased. A bit dirty and the grille needs to be reinstalled but the pic is what the final product looks like. Expect to have it on the road in the next few weeks so I don't yet know how the suspension tweaks worked out.

I have some video of the dyno pulls but have no idea how to post them. Any help?

[Motown 454]

Nice numbers. You'll have it done just in time for some fun. Very nice.

[lnirenberg]

Nice numbers. You'll have it done just in time for some fun. Very nice.

Where do you bring your toy out to play?

[lnirenberg]

Back on the road about a month ago. Finished? Maybe after I install the '61 3.50 Posi I bought today, pull out the steering box and have it rebuilt and have the new door panels made. Then...I'm sure I'll find something else. Its a great cruiser, nice and flat around corners w/o being harsh over bumps and once I get the new gears (replacing 4.10s) and the tighter steering box it will about perfect.

[David Sloan]

Very nice, That's a killer car!

[shortrack]

Nice!....I love Chevy big cars.....grew up ridin' in them

[lnirenberg]

Thanks to all. Like many here, I am seriously ill as I find I enjoy the build as much as the car and with a 2 car garage, 6 cars (including daily drivers) and an infinite # of cars in my head I am seriously considering a substantial and unsolicited offer on the car. I have this '69 LeMan style vette street/track build simmering, hmmm.