Rinkys 72 Chevelle LS3/T56 Pro Touring Build
01-13-2013, 05:56 PM
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Staging Lane
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Rinkys 72 Chevelle LS3/T56 Pro Touring Build Okay. I have been kicking around doing my thread on my build for some time now, and am finally getting around to it. The cold weather and my car being in body shop purgatory makes it simpler. That and the fact that the kids are not in soccer, football, baseball, swimming, or anything else that makes me busier. It begins like this. The Chevelle was my sisters car in high school, and she had been driving it since about 1981 or so. She was quite popular – and all popular girls have lots of friends, but many more enemies. One of them decided to key up the original spring green paint (at least we thought it was original – more later) and cut up the original black vinyl top.
That is when the car was changed from spring green to Corvette yellow. She decided to “upgrade” to a 1984 Mustang while in college, and I received the Chevelle around March of 1987, a few months before my 16th birthday. I agreed to pay $1200, but only got to $600 in payments when the engine started knocking. We agreed that $600 was enough. I made what improvements I could (new engine, bucket seats, console, new coat of yellow piant with racing stripes, etc.). When I joined the Air Force after college, I parked the car under my father’s deck and was going to return to get it later in the summer. Well, long story short, and I am sure this sounds familiar – that never happened. New wife (not insinuating it was her fault at all), new job, living in Virginia, moving from California – it was all a little much to handle. That, and I could not afford a house with a garage. A timely PCS (Permanent Change of Station) to California in 2006, and enough cash to rent a house with a 3-car garage, meant that the build was on.
I am building a fairly complete, pro touring style car with modern bolt-on suspension pieces, 4-wheel disks, LS3 engine with T56 transmission, painted PK3 Very Viper Orange Pearl with black stripes. Since all of the above has already happened, all the pictures are included in the link below.
I am going to try something different. My thread includes over 275 pictures detailing the past 7 years of my build. I have a thread that has about 30 pictures alone on how to recover a rear seat. I have about 15-20 pics on how to restore a sweep dash when installing a Vintage Air system. In that dash resto, I also detailed my thoughts and installation of the Metrom dash insert with New Vintage 1969 series gauges - including issues I had with one of the senders, and wiring. Details on Global West suspensions, the ATS/AFX spindles and C5 brake conversion, calculating pinion angle for driveshaft measurement, lots of stuff. I have dozens of things I have done that I think will help folks doing stuff like this - but I am going to run out of room and time if I try to download all the pics.
So. I took the last week, and built a photo journal, along with detailed captions which outline every step of nearly every thing I did on the car. Yes, it is about 275 pictures in length - and the entire build is covered. It is only open to those with the link. Since I like all you guys ,here is the link, check it out.
When I get the car back from paint next week, it will continue. But I plan to have the car running and driving in enough time to catch up with the Power Tour somewhere.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1070531...eat=directlink
TJR
That is when the car was changed from spring green to Corvette yellow. She decided to “upgrade” to a 1984 Mustang while in college, and I received the Chevelle around March of 1987, a few months before my 16th birthday. I agreed to pay $1200, but only got to $600 in payments when the engine started knocking. We agreed that $600 was enough. I made what improvements I could (new engine, bucket seats, console, new coat of yellow piant with racing stripes, etc.). When I joined the Air Force after college, I parked the car under my father’s deck and was going to return to get it later in the summer. Well, long story short, and I am sure this sounds familiar – that never happened. New wife (not insinuating it was her fault at all), new job, living in Virginia, moving from California – it was all a little much to handle. That, and I could not afford a house with a garage. A timely PCS (Permanent Change of Station) to California in 2006, and enough cash to rent a house with a 3-car garage, meant that the build was on.
I am building a fairly complete, pro touring style car with modern bolt-on suspension pieces, 4-wheel disks, LS3 engine with T56 transmission, painted PK3 Very Viper Orange Pearl with black stripes. Since all of the above has already happened, all the pictures are included in the link below.
I am going to try something different. My thread includes over 275 pictures detailing the past 7 years of my build. I have a thread that has about 30 pictures alone on how to recover a rear seat. I have about 15-20 pics on how to restore a sweep dash when installing a Vintage Air system. In that dash resto, I also detailed my thoughts and installation of the Metrom dash insert with New Vintage 1969 series gauges - including issues I had with one of the senders, and wiring. Details on Global West suspensions, the ATS/AFX spindles and C5 brake conversion, calculating pinion angle for driveshaft measurement, lots of stuff. I have dozens of things I have done that I think will help folks doing stuff like this - but I am going to run out of room and time if I try to download all the pics.
So. I took the last week, and built a photo journal, along with detailed captions which outline every step of nearly every thing I did on the car. Yes, it is about 275 pictures in length - and the entire build is covered. It is only open to those with the link. Since I like all you guys ,here is the link, check it out.
When I get the car back from paint next week, it will continue. But I plan to have the car running and driving in enough time to catch up with the Power Tour somewhere.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1070531...eat=directlink
TJR
Last edited by Rinkys; 02-07-2013 at 11:52 AM.
01-14-2013, 06:24 AM
#2
TECH Fanatic
Nice work, the car should be a ball to drive. One note toward the end about wife driving the car. "Before you take the keys buy a 1 way ticket to some obscure location. Hurt the car, use the ticket."
02-01-2013, 02:38 PM
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Bump. New paint pics. Ever wonder what a Chevelle looks like with Very Viper Orange Pearlcoat paint? Sneak peek. Last 4 pics.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1070531...eat=directlink
TJR
https://picasaweb.google.com/1070531...eat=directlink
TJR
02-01-2013, 07:03 PM
#5
Great writeup and pictures. I took notes on the ATS spindles and front suspension mods. CPP makes a new spindle that is very similiar to the ATS that I was going to use, I will look into the steering arms. Two items you have done are interesting to me as well, the VintageAir installation and the F-body accessory drive with the Jeep steering box. Is the Jeep box quicker ratio? How far back from stock location do you think your engine is? How much room behind the alternator do you have before it hits the crossmember?
02-04-2013, 08:02 PM
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Thanks for the replies, guys. To answer a few questions...
I am not familiar with the CPP spindles, and could not see anything like the ATS/AFX spindles on their website. Take a look at the ATS/AFX spindles - there is really nothing like them out there that I have seen. 100% forged aluminum, C5 hubs w/sealed bearings - these things are really impressive. I got mine back in 2008, but the design is still the same. Most compaines that sell A-body spindles are using F-body design in a front-steer versus a rear-steer car. That changes the geometry that I think a lot of compaines don't fully understand. I talked at length with Shawn (I think that was his name) at Speedtech Performance, and he really knows his stuff with the difference betwen F-body and A-body cars, and designs each of his suspension packages with those changes in mind. He got my business, and he will again for my next car.
As for the Vintage Air, that is going well. I basically got the 72 A-body kit, with the custom hose kit for "non-standard" installations. I also talked with them and determined that I can use the A/C pump from the F-body accessory drive. Everything else should bolt right up. I am going to probably farm the completion of that system out to the guy in town I got the system from. I don't have the tools to custom fab aluminum lines, and don't really want to learn that right now. I got my hands full with a new welder I gotta figure out before I start the exhaust.
The F-body accessory drive bolted right up becuase the engine placement was dialed in with the accessory drive in place. Since the BRP kit was designed around placing the engine high enough in the engine compartment to facilitate the F-body accessory drive and oil pan, it was not hard to get it to fit. Of course, I had to move the placement around a bit until I was satisfied with the location - then tacked it in place. That means I moved it about 1" further forward then BRP said I would have to - but that is better actually. I would rather have 3/4" more room by the firewall then between the accessory drive and the radiator. It had some flexibility on placement, and I used that to get the fit I was hoping I needed. So far, it seems to be just about perfect.
As for the Jeep steering box, yes, it has a quicker ratio - 14.1:1 to 12.7:1. I have conversed with some folks on Chevelles.com, and they love the quicker ratio. It is supposed to have speed sensitive steering also (gets loosy goosy in parking lots, tightens up on the interstate) - but I am not sure if that feature will work outside of a Jeep. I have the same hydraulic lines hooked up, and nothing left out - so when I drive it I will know better. Alternator placement in regards to the frame crossmember? Not sure, never measured it - but if memory serves me correctly, it is about 4" or so. I'd go measure it, but the car is in St. Louis right now getting color.
Anyway - that is all for now. I plan to post some more pics of the paint in a few days.
Keep in touch!
TJR
I am not familiar with the CPP spindles, and could not see anything like the ATS/AFX spindles on their website. Take a look at the ATS/AFX spindles - there is really nothing like them out there that I have seen. 100% forged aluminum, C5 hubs w/sealed bearings - these things are really impressive. I got mine back in 2008, but the design is still the same. Most compaines that sell A-body spindles are using F-body design in a front-steer versus a rear-steer car. That changes the geometry that I think a lot of compaines don't fully understand. I talked at length with Shawn (I think that was his name) at Speedtech Performance, and he really knows his stuff with the difference betwen F-body and A-body cars, and designs each of his suspension packages with those changes in mind. He got my business, and he will again for my next car.
As for the Vintage Air, that is going well. I basically got the 72 A-body kit, with the custom hose kit for "non-standard" installations. I also talked with them and determined that I can use the A/C pump from the F-body accessory drive. Everything else should bolt right up. I am going to probably farm the completion of that system out to the guy in town I got the system from. I don't have the tools to custom fab aluminum lines, and don't really want to learn that right now. I got my hands full with a new welder I gotta figure out before I start the exhaust.
The F-body accessory drive bolted right up becuase the engine placement was dialed in with the accessory drive in place. Since the BRP kit was designed around placing the engine high enough in the engine compartment to facilitate the F-body accessory drive and oil pan, it was not hard to get it to fit. Of course, I had to move the placement around a bit until I was satisfied with the location - then tacked it in place. That means I moved it about 1" further forward then BRP said I would have to - but that is better actually. I would rather have 3/4" more room by the firewall then between the accessory drive and the radiator. It had some flexibility on placement, and I used that to get the fit I was hoping I needed. So far, it seems to be just about perfect.
As for the Jeep steering box, yes, it has a quicker ratio - 14.1:1 to 12.7:1. I have conversed with some folks on Chevelles.com, and they love the quicker ratio. It is supposed to have speed sensitive steering also (gets loosy goosy in parking lots, tightens up on the interstate) - but I am not sure if that feature will work outside of a Jeep. I have the same hydraulic lines hooked up, and nothing left out - so when I drive it I will know better. Alternator placement in regards to the frame crossmember? Not sure, never measured it - but if memory serves me correctly, it is about 4" or so. I'd go measure it, but the car is in St. Louis right now getting color.
Anyway - that is all for now. I plan to post some more pics of the paint in a few days.
Keep in touch!
TJR
Last edited by Rinkys; 02-07-2013 at 11:51 AM.
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02-05-2013, 06:11 PM
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Staging Lane
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Clarification...
I found the CPP "C5" spindles this morning while enjoying a slow moment at work
. Yea, they look smiliar in the fact that they use C5 hubs, but I cannot decipher from their literature whether or not they relocate the steering arm connection points to compensate and correct (eliminate/reduce) bump-steer. Since CPP (from what I can tell) cut their teeth building F-body stuff, I would ask them about the design differences between their A-body and F-body spindles and see if they did any compensating between the differences of front-steer versus rear-steer.
They probably did, and they probably have a great product (at less than what the ATS/AFX costs - until you add the $245 hubs). I would just call and ask them some questions.
TJR
I found the CPP "C5" spindles this morning while enjoying a slow moment at work
. Yea, they look smiliar in the fact that they use C5 hubs, but I cannot decipher from their literature whether or not they relocate the steering arm connection points to compensate and correct (eliminate/reduce) bump-steer. Since CPP (from what I can tell) cut their teeth building F-body stuff, I would ask them about the design differences between their A-body and F-body spindles and see if they did any compensating between the differences of front-steer versus rear-steer.They probably did, and they probably have a great product (at less than what the ATS/AFX costs - until you add the $245 hubs). I would just call and ask them some questions.
TJR
Last edited by Rinkys; 02-07-2013 at 12:09 PM.
02-21-2013, 12:51 PM
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Update Update: I would be picking up the car today, but the St. Louis area is being pelted with an epic ice storm. However, the car is cleared and ready for assembly. Looking at Saturday. New pics posted with the clearcoat. Now you can see that Viper Orange coming through!
A few new pics in the link on the sig block. Check them out.
TJR
A few new pics in the link on the sig block. Check them out.
TJR
04-09-2013, 08:43 AM
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Update to Rinky's Build Update: Got my car back on 8 March. Actually, it was more of a rescue because it was less than 100% complete (or at least what I expected). I have the wiring nearly complete, alot of the trim installed, and am focused on finishing the body wiring, dash installed (which is ready to go), and exhaust prior to starting it up for the first time. This would be the plan, but it looks like it has to go back to the body shop to get fixed. I paid for a bumper test fit and install, and after seeing the bumper on the car (when I installed it) it was very obvious they did not test fit it. After sending the pics, they pretty much admitted that they "held the bumper up to the car, and it looked good." No Mr. body man, you have to test fit with the brackets installed....
Good news is that I did fab up a good alternative for a Neutral Safety Switch, so that those two GIANT purple wires in the AAW wiring kit have some place to go (actually, they go to the relay hidden in the passenger cowl area). See build thread for more (in sig) - just updated last night.
TJR
Good news is that I did fab up a good alternative for a Neutral Safety Switch, so that those two GIANT purple wires in the AAW wiring kit have some place to go (actually, they go to the relay hidden in the passenger cowl area). See build thread for more (in sig) - just updated last night.
TJR
04-26-2013, 12:16 PM
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New Info Hey guys, some new stuff on my thread. Built a pressure bleeder for the brakes, fabbed up the Pypes exhaust, and shipped the car off to the body shop for some "warranty" work on that faulty quarter panel. Seems as if the Dynacorn guys were coming to town, and they needed me to get my car back to the shop ASAP so it could be looked at from the factory rep (who I am told is the owner/co-owner of Dynacorn). Between the shop and Dynacorn, they are going to figure out who is responsible for fixing it. All I know is that it is not me. I think that getting this car to the Street Machine Nationals at DuQuoin IL is a pipe dream now. Next year is not looking good either. Anyway - check it out (link in sig block). Picasa changed it a bit recently. Captions are on the right side, and you have to click the word "more" to see the whole thing. I left feedback - hope the old version comes back.
https://picasaweb.google.com/1070531...eat=directlink
TJR
https://picasaweb.google.com/1070531...eat=directlink
TJR
06-15-2013, 12:47 AM
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Wow. No updates since April. Guess I have been busy. Here is a preview. Check out the link!
https://plus.google.com/photos/10705...97347779304417
https://plus.google.com/photos/10705...97347779304417
08-18-2013, 09:02 PM
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And She Is DONE!!!!!!! Sept 2006 - Aug 2013 I never thought this day would come, but here it is. She is finished. Although, they are never finished. For now all I really have left is to get the drip rail molding on (it is causing me some issues), find a suitable reservoir for the windshield washer fluid, get the exhaust run all the way out the rear (TOO MUCH DRONE below 35 MPH), and as a winter project - design and build a center console. I thought there were issues with the clutch - but those worries were dispelled as I was rowing through the gears up to 4K with no issues whatsoever. The LS376/480 is a bit rough for a 6-speed MT - but I have the hang of it now. Perhaps later I will try to tune some manners into the beast. I can confirm that below about 1400 RPM, she is tough to keep running smoothly. Above about 2K she runs like a scalded dog. The whole build is shown below - some 535 or so pics. Sneak peak:
https://plus.google.com/photos/10705...97347779304417
https://plus.google.com/photos/10705...97347779304417
