I have a 1966 Chevelle with a LT-1 out of a 1997 Trans-Am. At the time, I really wanted the LS platform, but money was too expensive. My dad also has a 1967 Chevelle with a LT-1. Gas mileage and performance coupled with reliability is a game changer versus a small block or big block. We get 22+ MPG and close to 300hp to rear tires.
With a stock LS-3 your looking at close to 400hp to rear tires and 20+ miles to the gallon.
I highly recommend a LS conversion since it is not a stock car. It will be the funnest car you will have ever driven.......and LS engines are getting cheaper......

 

Definitely going LS. Just saving up the cash now. Hoping to purchase in a couple months...

 

The LS platform just offers as much horse power as you want. I would not recommend a stroker unless you use a taller cylinder-ed block.
But stock is good, turbo or super charged for 700-1000 or so horsepower.....way awesome.

 

Absolutely. I've done plenty of research. Originally I was looking at a junkyard 5.3, but decided to go with a crate LS3 and 4L70e from gmpp. Basically 'cause I don't want to do it twice, and the crate comes with a warranty. I'll likely do the hopped up 525hp unit. That should give me plenty of power to start in this car and test the limits of tire traction. If I need more, I'll add forced induction. My daily driver is a '09 CTS-V, so I am no stranger to forced induction LS. Given that the Chevelle weighs significantly less than the V, it should be a good place to start.

-Jim

 

Nice build and I like your approach , keep driving while improving .I have a few questions and comments .

What is your feedback on the brakes ? I installed wilwoods on my car and thought they would be better than they are , looking into hydraboost

What is the hp rating on the G M 4l70 ? you may want to look into getting a built trans .

On the vintage air ..I had to hang my evaporator from the cowl area being that my firewall was smoothed prior to me installing the unit so you may want to look into mounting the unit before you finish the firewall and also install the defroster vent pieces as well.


Are you planning on the power tour ? I think its in your neck of the woods

JOHN

 

Thanks John. I'll answer piece by piece.

Brakes - Wilwoods feel great. I haven't had any emergency stops, so I can't tell you how it reacts in that situation, but I can tell you it stops when I ask. I do have to apply a fair amount of pressure, but that is expected from manual brakes. Remember that hydraboost or vacuum boost doesn't do anything for actual stopping power, it just makes it less pressure your leg has to apply to get the braking. On my weekend car, I don't mind the extra legwork. If it was a daily driver...I'd probably go hydraboost.

Good call on the 4L70e. I was concerned about hp rating and looking at the 4L80e, but if you look at the GM 'Connect and Cruise' package, it comes with the 525hp LS3 and the 4L70e with a warranty. If it fails, I'll get a new one.

Thanks on the tip for the Vintage Air. I did think about that. My plan is to mount the airbox before smoothing the firewall. Although I do want to dynamat before I install the Vintage Air...but want to weld the ABC firewall smoothing panel before dynamat'ing. Lots of kart before horse things. I'll probably mock the Vintage Air, then weld in the firewall smoothing panel, then dynamat, then place the Vintage Air box in. Lots of do and re-do.

 

I decided to take the plunge and make the next big step. Previously, I left the car running so I could make an upgrade, then drive it and move to the next change and so forth. Well I needed to POR-15 the rest of the firewall so I could do the wiring. In order to do that, I needed to take out the old wiring, brake pedal, etc. So now I am at the point of no return. I pulled the wiring, steering column and pedals. Much like the other side, I was left with rust on the firewall, so I had to build some patch panels. I also welded the new(er) floor pan to the firewall as the previous owner had just screwed it in.

After disassembly:
Rust at Steering column:

"Extra" holes in firewall:

Floor pan to firewall (unbelievable):


In progress:
Welding floor pan to firewall (no teasing on welds ):

Filling 'extra' holes:


After finishing filling most of the holes and POR-15:



I still have a couple holes to fill, but I'll do those from the outside after the small bock is out. My painter wants to buy the old motor, so we'll probably pull it this weekend.

 

Sooooooo - no turning back now. Did a little work over the weekend. Painter and I pulled the motor and he bought it for a C10 project he has going. Time for me to move forward with the LS.

Empty engine bay:


I pulled all the wiring. I've decided to run the main battery cable in the passenger compartment instead of below from the battery in the back to the starter, so I pulled that. I also pulled the old fuel lines. No pictures of this, cause it's not exciting.

Did get some pictures of the firewall though. My welding is getting much better. It only takes me three times to weld, grind, weld, grind, weld, grind now. I filled all the other holes. Some random screw holes, gas pedal, wiring harness and a couple other holes. I will be using a different fuseblock and harness from American Auto Wire and the gas pedal will be drive by wire, so I figured I would fill the holes. Pics of firewall:

Gas pedal hole. You can see the difference in this and the welds below. The ones below are pretty bad, but I'll grind them shortly. The firewall holes needed to be filled, but they don't have to be perfect as I plan to smooth the firewall with a panel from ABC.


Hopefully more next weekend

 

Just curious did you fill your speedo cable hole? I need to weld mine up but lost track of which one it is and am not having much luck with google images.
Thanks

 

I did fill the speedo hole (I assume), but I have no idea which hole that is. When I got the car, the speedo wasn't working and I don't even believe there was a cable going through the firewall. There were about 6 random holes that I am not sure what they were for - 2 larger in the upper middle of the firewall, two larger near where the fuse box was and a couple other smaller random ones. I assume the smaller ones were for the firewall insulation. The two upper middle ones or the ones by the fuse box may have been for the speedo. I'll bet you if you went on the Team Chevelle website in the restoration area someone could answer that, or probably has pictures of a stock firewall.

-Jim

 

That neighborhood looks eerily familiar, Falconhead by chance?

Car looks awesome btw.

 

Thanks froman. Actually Crystal Falls in Leander.

Is your username a tribute to Abe Froman "The Sausage King of Chicago"? LOL

 

hehe it's not but I get it all the time. It's an old gamer tag that stuck.... long story, not enough characters.

Cool stuff, I'm in South Austin, you should checkout thirdhonk.

 

Had a chance to do a little work last night. I had put a few parts in evaporust (WD40 version actually) a couple days ago. Stuff works GREAT. I don't think I needed to leave them in there that long, but wow this stuff works. What I started with:


After rust remover:



Prepped and POR15'ed (I did the brake pedal too for kicks...I'll end up going with Clayton Machine works pedals for the final assembly):

 

Started tunnel modifications last night. What I started with (don't mind the hole...it was there for some reason from the previous owner):


Starting large cuts and relief cuts:


More cuts. You can see the Tinman Fabrications panel in the background:


Here is a link to the tunnel panel - http://www.tinmanfabrication.com/ind...rod/prd164.htm

Right now, I'm doing the mod for a t56 in case I decide to go that way. However, I'm leaning toward a 4L70 as my wife wants to drive the car as well. She can drive stick, just prefers auto.

And the bad news - my airline broke and I have to fix that. I got one side fitted and started the other side when it broke. I hate it when you're in the middle of something and have to stop. I have redundancy in most of my tools except this one...totally bummed

 

Got a little done. Removed the frame brackets for the motor mounts as I found an issue with one of them. Can someone explain to me why someone would do this?


Also got the rest of the tunnel cut out and shaped. It's ready for the tunnel panel from tinman fabrication and welding. We'll see if my welding skills have improved:

As you can see from the picture, I have some other patching to do. I need to patch the section from the previous owner as well as patch a section at the firewall that came apart due to rust.

Next step will be to make the patch panels and the transmission tunnel. Won't happen 'til next weekend as I'm traveling for work all week.

 

Finally got some more work done and the tunnel finished up over the weekend. Still honing my welding skills (or lack there of). At any rate, the tunnel should not be big enough for the new trans. I still need to seam-seal it. Next step will be to de-gunk the front frame rails to prep for new engine mount brackets and prepare for the LS3.
It's amazing how much the shiny POR-15 and a picture with the flash shows the welding scars. They'll be seam-sealed and Dynamat'ed so I'm not too concerned about it. They are mostly ground down:

Inside of tunnel:

 

Been too long without updates. I've been struggling with how to proceed with the project. Since the interior is already painted, I had planned on doing the wiring, getting the motor, trans and rear end in, then taking it to the painter to paint the outside. I know that's a little backwards, but I wanted to enjoy it with the new motor before she went off to paint jail. After pondering on it a while, I decided to follow the more traditional route. On top of that, I know the windshield and back glass frames are going to need some work, so no sense in getting the pretty new wiring harness in only to have it get trashed by the body men working the glass frame and dropping all kinds of body dust and metal cleaning chemicals on it. So here we go...

Is it too late to go back and make it a simple project?


Beginning to prep the firewall for a smoothing panel:


ABC Performance smoothing panel taped into place. I forgot to take pictures with the firewall all prepped. I will when I take it back out as I need to primer etch the firewall and smoothing panel. I talked to Tony at ABC and he recommended Rubbel-Seal RS512. Matter of fact, he says he won't use anything else anymore. Can't find it anywhere online, so I had to call the company and find someone to ship out a couple cans. After I etch it with that and weld, I'll show some more pictures

 

Prepped and ready to etch:


Rubber Seal RS512 sprayed on and ready to hang smoothing panel:


Panel hung and Cleco'ed...ready to burn some metal:


Mostly burned in on passenger side and driver's side hung and Cleco'ed. I was a little concerned with the RS512 as I put on 2 pretty heavy coats after a light first coat. The can says one medium coat for weld-thru primer and two coats for etching. Even with the two heavy coats, I was able to weld the edges pretty easily. Ran out of welding wire though. Hopefully I can finish it up this weekend, then off to the painter.

 

OK guys, I need some help. I have most of the work on the firewall done and am ready to take it to the painter. I have a couple decisions to make on the direction. A couple pre-reqs:

1. Car will stay the same blue (I love it)
2. I will be removing the wheel well chrome and the lower trim that goes from the front fender at the bottom to the quarter panel (I do not like those)
3. Theme for the car is street car with some extra muscle (RideTech Tiger Cage, big gauges, Corbeau seats, black interior)

Decisions I'm trying to make:

1. Leave the bumpers chrome along with the window trim, door handles, etc
2. Black out the trim around the windows, but leave bumpers chrome
3. Paint trim and bumpers either a gun metal grey or a brushed aluminum kinda color
4. Have the body shop 'flush mount' the windshield and back glass to get rid of the molding around it

I'm sure I'll have some other questions, but that is it for now.

Thanks,
Jim