my 1965 chevelle hybrid

[shawnvan]

hello,
my name is Shawn Van Horn, I live in Paso Robles, CA. I am a mechanic in the vineyard industry, I bought this Chevelle from the second owner whos had it since 1968, the only thing done to it when I bought it was a vibrasinic radio device that was installed before i was born. I drove the car for about 2 months before disassembly. I have since modified the original frame to accept C4 corvette suspension and an LS1 T56 combo I pulled from a wrecked 1998 Camaro. I hope you enjoy looking at my project as much as I've enjoyed looking at yours.
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[shawnvan]

engine fit up, and trans tunnel
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[shawnvan]

fire wall mods and trans tunnel
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[Simmo]

Nice work! That frames a work of art.

Recessed firewall & R&P too...you aint no ordinary mechanic lol...

[drflex]

nice...looks like you know what your doing

[shawnvan]

finished tacking up the tunnel and some motor mount pictures
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[sixfivepost]

Damn! Looks great, nice fab work!! I now feel like my 65 is a beater compared to how this one is coming along! :-)

[shawnvan]

not true, I enjoyed reading about your car very much good luck with her

[zipsimons]

ah man... this is just a sweet beast! very very nice looking work!

[MrQuick]

nice work. can't wait to see more.

[shawnvan]

I cant believe how fast the day went, I was able to finish installing the mini tubs and had the body off so I took some more pictures.
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I am having so much fun reading thru all these builds and taking a little from each one and making little changes and copying for myself.

[INTMD8]

Nice work! Frame and fab work looks great :)

[shawnvan]

I got the trunk all sectioned and clearanced and started on the headers, Ive never built headers before so this could get interesting
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[65chevelleboys]

nice shop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Nice fab work..

[Bryce]

cool project, thanks for sharing.

[CruizinKev]

wow awesome! looks great!! :twothumbs

[Supra510]

Nice job and fab work.

[65_LS1_T56]

:twothumbs Wow, great project! Can't believe I didn't see it before. Subscibed.

[ryeguy2006a]

You have some great fabrication skills. I must admit, my first thought when seeing the title was that it might be half Chevelle and half Prius hybrid... I am very glad that I was wrong. Nice work.

[shawnvan]

thanks for the compliments, I've been busy with work and haven't got much done lately. My ambision has risen after talking with my friends from Newman Car Creations about the good times they had at RTTC and have set a goal to have the car shaken down and ready for next year.

[shawnvan]

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[topless]

Looks good. Is that the global west upper coil over mount?

[shawnvan]

no its C4 corvette

[shawnvan]

5875858759587605876158762installed the quarter patch panels and installed the hood and fenders

[shawnvan]

I have been real busy lately, my wife and I spent countless hours sanding on this thing with a result that we are very proud of. I primed it quite a few times and in the end felt confident enough in myself to spray the color. Well luckily my painter buddy came home ( the booth is at his home shop) and stopped me from spraying clear over some tiger stripes that my ametuer eyes didn't see. The end result was a very nice job, not pro but I am not embarassed.
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[shawnvan]

here is some more
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[shawnvan]

67102671036710467105some more

[shawnvan]

assembled and wet sanded
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[shawnvan]

zolotoned the trunk and mounted the vintage air setup ( due to firewall mods I couldnt run a sure fit setup ).
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[shane38]

looking great!!!!

[shawnvan]

A/C lines and compressor mount
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[SparkyRnD]

that is a killer looking project, and very good fab skills

[77tony]

Awesome ! Love these sqauarish bodied early cars. (my 1st car was a 64 GTO) T

[73z-6sp]

frvgtbhnj

[BPDRacing]

Amazing work! I would love to fit that same suspension under my 65 Skylark...care to share your secrets on the front and rear frame mods?

[compos mentis]

Well done. :twothumbs

[Crestronwizard]

Love it! Look forward to more pics :)

[shawnvan]

bending brake and fuel lines is not easy this took me the better part of 2 days. now I can finish welding up the exhaust.
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[srh3trinity]

Love that color on that body style.

[shawnvan]

A lot has happened since my last update. I got the car running and have been shaking the bugs out over the last 1100 miles, and we drove it on Christmas day which was our goal. I ended up having an engine harness built by Speertech and the computer flashed by Mark Romans and it fired right up and has been running without a hickup ever since. My wife has been driving it to work during the week and I have been cruising the back roads on the weekend, what a fun car this thing is.712537125471255

[Lenie]

You've got to be happy w/that, around a years time and it turned out sweet. Really like your color combo, body/wheels. Nice job, great year.

[shawnvan]

Here are a couple more of the interior and engine
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[acegto]

Love it. Hope mine goes as quickly as yours did.

[1965_SS]

Looks good:twothumbs

[shawnvan]

Special thanks to the guys at American Street Car Series for putting on such a great show at The Run To The Coast 4. What a great weekend, the car drove 250 miles there, had fun all weekend and drove home. Cant wait until we can do this again.7304673047730487304973050

[ent72olds]

Great pics! Love the stance on it....my favorite year Chevelle! Awesome work!

[65_LS1_T56]

Car turned out amazing! Excellent job, the stance and ride height is perfect.

[CodexGigas]

That Car is Beautiful. The Wheels really Fit nicely.

[Typhoon1015]

Looks great, was lots of work. Any other shows/events planned with it so far? I love the color with the dark wheels.

[car_guy]

A lot has happened since my last update. I got the car running and have been shaking the bugs out over the last 1100 miles, and we drove it on Christmas day which was our goal. I ended up having an engine harness built by Speertech and the computer flashed by Mark Romans and it fired right up and has been running without a hickup ever since. My wife has been driving it to work during the week and I have been cruising the back roads on the weekend, what a fun car this thing is.712537125471255

Those are some really cool pictures. Kudos on your velle...I wish I had a hybrid like that!

[csouth]

Nice build, I don't know how I missed it. Love the body and the color.

[brownz]

Nice job on the build!!

[bowtie65]

Great Job!!! I'm still collecting parts to do a LS1 T56 swap in mine. Looks like a fun ride, Enjoy it!

[CFster]

I got the trunk all sectioned and clearanced and started on the headers, Ive never built headers before so this could get interesting
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Never built headers before holy crap!

Car came out great! You're a lucky guy to have a wife like that too ;-)

[Nicks67GTO]

Impressive fab skills. I really like everything about this car.

[brut4s]

What size are the wheels and tires?

[shawnvan]

Thanks for all the kind words, the tires are 245/45-17 front and 285/40-18 rears.

[TurboLark]

Congrats on the Chevy Hi Performance write up! Did you use the early or late C4 suspension for the swap?

[shawnvan]

Congrats on the Chevy Hi Performance write up! Did you use the early or late C4 suspension for the swap?

I used the early it's an 85 Z51 with the j55 brake upgrade

[scott_fx]

amazing work!! this car is beautiful

[83tb]

Nice job on the build, i like the headers and fab work!!

[shawnvan]

82954I found a good deal on a set of lingenfelter cnc LS6 heads, so I pulled the motor out to do a head and cam swap but wanted to check the bottom end. Good thing I did, the motor had been rebuilt before I got it and the rods were not resized, #5 was 5/1000 out of round which caused wierd wear on the crank, I also found the thrust bearing surface in the crank wiped out beyond repair. So we have a freshended up bottom end. I sourced a cam from Texas Speed 228/228 589 lift on a 112. Wow did it wake the car up but my 355 gears need to be 410 so i can use 6th gear again. Mark Romans dyno tuned it to a conservitive street friendly tune of 333 rwhp. All this happened while we were in escrow with our new house. But we have a new shop, and a costomer car to build, so I think we are starting our own little business, any thoughts or advise would be greatly apreciated. 8295682957

[Arctic_Ragtop]

Beautiful car, amazing work. Great job. Keep the pics coming! #yesiknowthelastpostwasin2013

[Bonehead]

Gotta love Chevelle builds! I agree, more pictures would be appreciated!

Theres an awesome LED light company in Paso. Lazer Star Lights. Awesome people and amazing product.

[MMcMasters]

The car is beautiful and your fab work is impressive!!

Mike

[Motown 454]

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Yes just keep doing work like this and you'll be fine.
I just found your build. The only thing I don't like is that I didn't see this while you were building it. Beautiful car!