1970 Chevy Chevelle Gets 640 HP From Naturally-Aspirated 427 LS: Track Time Tuesday Presented by the All-New Nitto Recon Grappler™ A/T
Super-clean 1970 Chevy Chevelle is somewhat understated, but that only adds to its endless charm.
The 1970 Chevy Chevelle ranks right up there with the greatest muscle cars of all time, thanks to its supreme styling and bevy of powerful engine offerings. Of course, one can always improve upon what was offered from the factory, and that’s precisely what the owner of this 1970 Chevy Chevelle – Memo – has done to his slick ride. But instead of going the ever-popular power-adder route, Memo’s Chevelle is all motor, as we learn in this video from AutotopiaLA.
The subject of this week’s Track Time Tuesday presented by Nitto, is a perfectly understated example of a ’70 Chevelle, if there ever was one, but it has far more muscle than even the mightiest version of the SS. From the outside, you’d just assume that it’s a super clean old Chevy, with all-black paint, shiny chrome, and some modern wheels and tires. Memo bought the car as a shell with no engine or interior, however, before he proceeded to strip the Chevelle down to its bare frame and completely rebuild it.
To that base, Memo added coilovers at all four corners, big sway bars at both ends, and 14-inch Wilwood brakes. The rolling stock consists of staggered wheels that measure 19 inches up front and 20 inches in the rear, with a meaty 305-series tire to help try and put the car’s prodigious amount of power to the ground.
The interior is a bright glowing sea of red and retains much of its stock appearance, but there are enough updates to modernize it nicely, such as Scat seats and a newer steering wheel. One of the coolest hidden features in this Chevelle are the push-button gearbox controls located in the center console, which Memo preferred over putting a set of paddle shifters behind the steering wheel.
Those buttons help control a beastly naturally-aspirated 427 cubic-inch LS that cranks out 640 horsepower, which it sends to the rear wheels via a TCI 6-speed transmission. With steep 4.11 gears out back, acceleration is obviously brisk, or maybe even what one might call violent. It also happens to be one of our host’s favorite Chevelle builds to date, and we can certainly see why.
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