70 Chevelle build on a college budget

[lsx70]

Hey guys,



This is something I've been wanting to do for some time! I think the project is far enough along now that I have a good amount of pictures and information to share.

First a little about me and about the car. The car is a 1970 Chevelle originally from California, it was originally a Mailbu but I have since taken some steps towards making it an SS clone.

The car started out gold but is now in dark grey epoxy primer and has been for the better part of 10 years, which is about how long I have owned the car (somewhere between 10-12 years but the exact details are a bit fuzzy). Now 10-12 years might be quite a long time to own a car and I agree, but I'm sure some of you are looking at the title and thinking college budget? Owned for 10+ years? something isn't adding up. Well actually it is, I have owned the car since I was 9 or 10 and I'm now 21 just finishing my bachelors degree in university. The car was/is a father and son project that we had finished for the time I was 16. In that finished state which I'll call stage 1, the car had a 350 with some better heads, a 3/4 race cam and an edelbrock torquer 2 intake. This was all backed by a th350 trans with a shift kit and switched between a 12 bolt posi with 4.11:1 gears and a 10 bolt posi with 3.08:1 gears with mainly the 10 bolt in for the last few years for easier highway driving.

Now onto stage 2 of the build. The idea here was that I wanted a car that would be a decently fast drag car and also be able to cruise on the highway. So I started thinking about an overdrive transmission. That researching led me to the 4L80E, something strong enough to hold some power and still overdrive (no 6 speed for this car because I couldn't bring myself to cut the mint California floors). I began reading about LS swaps and I thought it would be cool to do something that is super uncommon in my area. I stumbled across a cube van (2005 GMC Savana 3500) with a 6.0L and a 4L80E for a good price and snapped it up.

After a quick test to make sure the engine ran and the trans went through all the gears, we got to work!

The engine, transmission, wiring harness and ECU were pulled out for the project.

With some help from my girlfriend we got the engine cleaned up!

Next it was time for some upgrades. I switched from 317 heads to 243's, new main and rod bearings and a Tick Performance SNS stage 2 cam

A little more help with lapping the valves

And installing the new springs

I also picked up a few pieces for later. Hooker headers, Holley/hooker motor mounts and trans crossmember

I was planning on running a trailblazer SS intake but I decided to run an Edelbrock Victor Jr intake and Holley 4150 style throttle body to try and make the engine look a little more at home in the Chevelle engine bay. The engine then got a nice coat of Chevrolet orange.