Project WidowMaker - The Chevelle Build Thread

[The WidowMaker]

just spent 3 hours trying to get the bumper back on and re aligned. i pulled it to do a little straigtening before welding the round bar to the edge against the grille. the camaro guys dont know how well they have it with nothing to line the bumper up with. between the headlight extensions and the grille its frustrating as hell.

i also finally pulled the trigger and bought an ls7 short block. its sitting at RED in oceanside and will be getting a full sleeve job. i will end up boring it to 4.185 and will either build a 4" stroke 440 or a 4.125" stroke 454. im really wanting to do the 454 and will have to look past some of the hype about rod angles. the longer sleeves get rid of the issue of piston rock with the longer stroke. i also now have the stock titanium rods and ls7 crank for sale........

im also deciding if i want to do a wet sump with accusump, or an ls7 dry sump. the wet sump would use the autokraft pan and the dry would use the stock pan, avaid pan baffle, stock pump and peterson 2.5 gallon tank. i found a pretty good deal on most of the ls7 stuff, so a rough quote makes these two systems about $200 apart. at this point, 200 means nothing. but, some say the ls7 system isnt any good and start upgrading even more parts. if i have to run an ARE pan, ls9 pump etc., its no longer worth it. but, if the poorly built ls7 dret system is still better than any wet sump pan it will be worth it to me. any thoughts? ron gave me some good insight.



have a quote from charlie at RPM and waiting on livernois, wegner, dan zio and hke

more to come.....

[Hondo78]

Great thread, you have my attention I can see you have an eye for the custom touches, about 1000 hours worth. In the home stretch now looking great, this inspires my purchase this evening, a barn find wrecked '67, I really like the tubs.. Nice work my friend Very Nice..
What do you think about the GM performance LS 454 crate engine?