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    Thread: Chevelle 2.0

    1. #1
      Join Date
      Sep 2006
      Location
      Indiana
      Posts
      2,668
      Country Flag: United States

      Chevelle 2.0

      Since Photobucket kinda messed up my original Chevelle thread, I decided to just start fresh with a new one. So here goes Chevelle 2.0, AKA, The Blue Car.

      The plan is to make this version a more dedicated track car along with some autox. The first step is to update the chassis and I decided to build my own (more or less) because my budget doesn't allow an aftermarket chassis.

      This has been going on for some time so there will be an overload of pictures with or without comments just to get caught up.

      As a side note, this is the first chassis I’ve built. You may see some things that don’t make sense to you or it may seem like I’m doing things the hard way, and I probably am! I’m learning as I go and ask for help when I need it.

      This is the donor '66 chassis I started with:

      00001 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      The first thing I did was to strip it down to the bare frame.

      00006 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Next I got it sandblasted.

      00007 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Then I sprayed some primer on the areas that I was going to keep.

      00008 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Once I got the frame mounted on the frame table, I installed all of the suspension from my car on to the new frame. That way I could locate the front and rear axle center lines. Once I cut the front and rear sections off the frame, I needed to know where to put the new stuff.

      00009 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      00010 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Speaking of new stuff, back when I worked at ridetech, I bought a front clip from Scott Mock that uses C5 components.

      00012 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With the suspension mounted I was able to locate the front axle center line. To ensure I put the new spindles in the same place, I made a pair of stands that I could bolt to the hubs and table to keep things from moving around.

      00013 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      00014 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      After I felt confident about the center line, I placed the new front clip on the frame to get an idea of where I needed to cut.

      00015 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Instead of cutting off too much, I chose to be a little more cautious. First I cut the main cross member off…

      00016 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      And then I followed that up with more precision cuts.

      00017 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      After I was happy with the cuts, I lowered the new clip in place to see how it fit.

      00018 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      00019 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      00020 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      After I got it in place and the fit seemed good, I needed to fine tune the location. I did that with string, bubble levels, and spacers.

      00021 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      00022 by Yelcamino, on Flickr



      00023 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      After I was happy with its location, I tacked it in place and started figuring out how to permanently attach the clip to the side rails.

      00024 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      00025 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      00026 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With that out of the way, I made a wheel fitment tool because I’m too cheap to buy one!

      00027 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With my new tool, I was able to mount a 315/30-18 tire and adjust the back space to simulate a wheel to check for clearance around the frame and suspension components.

      00028 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      00029 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Next comes the rear suspension…
      Last edited by Yelcamino; 01-13-2018 at 04:58 PM.
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube



    2. #2
      Join Date
      Sep 2006
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      Indiana
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      As promised, it’s time for the rear suspension. When I started this project my original plan was to get the rear frame kit from ABC Performance so I could stuff 335s out back. After thinking about it for a while I decided that if I’m going to go through all this work I wanted to try something different. During my dealings with Ron Sutton while I was at ridetech, I learned about his suspension kits, specifically his offset three-link. After some discussions and numerous emails, a big ol brown box showed up on my door step with this stuff in it…

      10015 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      After having cut the front end apart with a 4 ½” grinder, I broke down and bought this Eastwood plasma cutter. It was relatively cheap, has a better warranty than the big names, and it works awesome! So far it has been able to cut ¼” plate without the slightest hiccup. Highly recommended if you’re in the market for a plasma cutter.

      10020 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With the old 9” in place, I located the stock rear axle centerline using a good old fashioned plumb bob. (I added the red line to show the plane I was using)

      00012.1 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With the centerline marked, I removed all the rear suspension and started measuring for the new parts.

      10027 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Wanting to keep the body mount, I was able to do some fancy cutting thanks to the plasma!

      10028 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10029 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With all my cuts made, the engine hoist made quick work of getting the old stuff out of the way.

      10030 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      The first thing I did was get the new crossmember tacked in place so I could start fitting the new rear frame rails. After spending too much time trying to get these rails in the proper position…

      10031 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      …I got in contact with Ron and he sent me a new set of rails that were a better fit for me. He’ll probably chime in with more details, but I think these are now the standard rails in his rear kits. A couple of cool features is the holes for the watts link crossmember and sway bar tube are already in place, and there’s a line cut to locate the axle center line.

      10032 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10033.1 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      The next step was getting the new rear end housing in place so I could locate the suspension brackets.

      10033 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Here the watts link crossmember and sway bar tube are tacked in.

      10034 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Lower shock mounts tacked in.

      10035 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Third link tacked in.

      10036 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10037 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Driver side watts bracket tacked in.

      10038 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      It’s slowly starting to take shape. You can see in this photo the back brace is tacked to the rear housing. Down the road you’ll see I had to modify it to clear the coil overs.

      10039 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      From this angle you can see there’s about ½” of space between the back of the rear end housing and the watts a-frame.

      10040 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      I made these gussets to help reinforce the joint between the rear frame rails and crossmember.

      10041.1 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10041.2 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10042 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      At this point just about everything is welded in permanently except for the housing brackets.

      10043 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10044 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      I added this rear crossmember which I cut from the original frame rails that Ron sent me.

      10045 by Yelcamino, on Flickr
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    3. #3
      Join Date
      Sep 2006
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      With all that done, it was time to connect the original frame horns to the new rails. They didn’t turn out quite as pretty as I imagined them, but they’re pretty sturdy and put both bumpers where they should be.

      10046.1 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10046.2 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10046.3 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      I tried to make both sides as similar as possible.

      10046.4 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10046.5 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      The bumper fits nice and doesn’t bounce around!

      10054 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Here’s the front…

      10046.6 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10046.7 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10046.8 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10046.9 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      And then I made a pair of boxing plates for the side rails and welded them in. (For some reason this is the only picture I took)

      10046.91 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      The next big hurdle was permanently welding the suspension brackets to the rear end housing.

      10046 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Here you can see how I shortened the back brace to clear the coil overs.

      10047 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10048 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With all the brackets welded on, I made a trip to Moser and had them weld on the Baer floater ends and cut axles for me.

      10049 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10053 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10050 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      I also picked up some gear oil and axle seals.

      10051 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      And some Redline grease for the axle bearings.

      10052 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With everything welded, I put the housing back in to see how it all fits.

      10055 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Here’s the ridetech coil over with a spring in place.

      10056.1 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10056.2 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Plenty of room!

      10056 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      With the rear wheels and tires in place, the track width is 72” just like it was before. With these little 10” wide wheels and 295 tires, there’s 7 ½” between the inner side wall and the frame rail so I have lots of room to fit a 12” wide wheel with 335s!

      10058 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10059.1 by Yelcamino, on Flickr
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    4. #4
      Join Date
      Sep 2006
      Location
      Indiana
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      2,668
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      A while back I came across a set of Jake’s Rod Shop C6 tubular arms being sold by Jon (Jtomas801) on Lateral-G. The price was right and I liked the way the lower arm was designed for a coil over vs the factory arm which requires a weak (IMO) trunnion to mount a coil over.

      10059 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10060 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10061 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Here’s the Jake’s Rod Shop arms mounted along with the new ridetech Track 1 C7 hubs.

      10063 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Now things are starting to get fun! Just to help me visualize things, I put my P-Ayr mock-up engine in place. In this position, it’s about 12” rearward of the stock location. The plan is to get the engine behind the front axle centerline.

      10062 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10064 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      For the most part the front suspension is all in place. I did a quick check of the alignment and I have 5* of caster on both sides, -1.5* of camber on one side and -1.4* of camber on the other. Not too bad as a starting point.

      10065 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10066 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      It’s finally starting to look like a real chassis!

      10067 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      Now you’re all up to date. I still have a few little things I need to get done on the frame but the next big step is test fitting the body. Due to the rear suspension, I’m going to have to cut out some sections of the rear seat area and trunk floor. Before I can do that, I have to get the interior stripped. To get myself motivated, I took the rear wheels off the Z06 and put them on the frame to see how some big meats would fit…

      10072 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10073 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10074 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10075 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10070 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      10071 by Yelcamino, on Flickr

      The Z06 rear wheels are obviously too wide for the front and they have too much backspace. However, they actually turn quite a bit so that tells me 11” wheels (with the proper backspacing) and 315s will fit! They fit great out back but again, due to the offset, they actually narrow the rear track width by 2".
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    5. #5
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      Awesome build my man. Would it be okay if we drop my Cutlass body on top of that to see how it would look?

      Dan

    6. #6
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      Quote Originally Posted by badolds View Post
      Awesome build my man. Would it be okay if we drop my Cutlass body on top of that to see how it would look?

      Dan
      Thanks Dan! You're Cutlass would probably look pretty cool, but that would be an awful lot of work!
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    7. #7
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      Apr 2001
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      Hey Herb,

      Glad you started this new thread! Are you going to have to do major body mods to make the body fit on the new chassis?

      Andrew
      1970 GTO Version 3.0
      1967 Cougar build
      GM High-Tech Performance feature
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      Dr. EFI
      I deliver what EFI promises.
      Remote Holley EFI tuning.
      Please get in touch if I can be of service.

      "You were the gun, your voice was the trigger, your bravery was the barrel, your eyes were the bullets." ~ Her

    8. #8
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      Quote Originally Posted by andrewb70 View Post
      Hey Herb,

      Glad you started this new thread! Are you going to have to do major body mods to make the body fit on the new chassis?

      Andrew
      Hey Andrew! I shouldn't need to do any external body mods, but because of the 3rd link and the massive engine set back, I'll have to build a new firewall and floor around the rear seat and trunk area. If I go with a T56, then the tunnel will need surgery. In all likely hood, I'm going to build a complete new firewall and floor.
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    9. #9
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      Dec 2007
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      Lombard, IL
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      Really outstanding work, Herb. Well thought out!
      Dan
      1971 Chevelle Maliboo Convertible 496/4L80E
      1956 210 2 door Sedan 8-71 blown 468/T400

    10. #10
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      Feb 2013
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      1,414
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      Impressive, as always. Glad to see you working on it, Herb!


      Ridetech Suspsension
      Tech Specialist
      Phone: 812.481.4734

      Project Fox
      1979 Trans Am

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Apr 2001
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      The Netherlands
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      very cool Herb! that is some awesome fabrication there :-)
      1st 2nd
      Pro-Touring outside the USA !
      Martin's Camaro Page

    12. #12
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      Quote Originally Posted by Zanie View Post
      Really outstanding work, Herb. Well thought out!
      Quote Originally Posted by Martin71RS View Post
      very cool Herb! that is some awesome fabrication there :-)
      Thanks guys!

      - - - Updated - - -

      Quote Originally Posted by Josh@ridetech View Post
      Impressive, as always. Glad to see you working on it, Herb!
      Thanks Josh! Have you started a thread on your new toy?
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    13. #13
      Join Date
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      That's awesome! nice fab work
      66 Mustang "Project: Ballin on a budget"
      89 Mustang "Box Wine"

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Dec 2005
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      Maryville, TN
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      839
      Holy balls man!! See... this is what I should have done. Taught myself how to weld, and then do it all myself. Cool stuff!!

      Dan
      A.K.A: That bald guy
      Find me on Facebook or my personal website.

      - 67 Camaro: Current Project Car

    15. #15
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      Quote Originally Posted by Z06killinSBF View Post
      That's awesome! nice fab work
      Thanks!

      - - - Updated - - -

      Quote Originally Posted by 67SSDan View Post
      Holy balls man!! See... this is what I should have done. Taught myself how to weld, and then do it all myself. Cool stuff!!

      Dan
      Thanks Dan! I'm doing most of it myself. There are some things I'm not going to attempt, like the roll cage for instance.
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    16. #16
      Join Date
      Oct 2007
      Posts
      59
      Wow that's lot of nice work.

      You still planning on the alum 522 BBC build and is it destined for this car? Did you get further with that engine? Last time I saw it I think it was getting lifter bores done or something. Interested to see how that turns out because I too wanted to do a 4" stroke build.

      John

    17. #17
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      Quote Originally Posted by BBC71Nova View Post
      Wow that's lot of nice work.

      You still planning on the alum 522 BBC build and is it destined for this car? Did you get further with that engine? Last time I saw it I think it was getting lifter bores done or something. Interested to see how that turns out because I too wanted to do a 4" stroke build.

      John
      Thanks John! Yes, the all aluminum 509 is still the one! In fact, Straub Technologies is just about done with my heads, intake, and custom cam.

      Once I get those parts back I'll do an update on the engine with pics, lotsa pics!
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    18. #18
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      I Can't wait to see that update! Nice work Herb.
      Wayne
      Car FINALLY home !!!!!! lol
      Project FNQUIK https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=FNQUIK

    19. #19
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      Thanks Wayne!
      Herb

      1966 El Camino LS408/T56Magnum
      1966 Chevelle 509/T56Magnum
      1963 C10 454/4L80

      PHR CHP CHP youtube


    20. #20
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      Following, interesting project and great fab work.

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