Today was the day, the first drive.

The dyno tuner in Claremont, CA, called me up to say she was all tuned and ready to go home. They are located about 40 miles away and there’s no easy way from there to here. Usually when I start “breaking in” a newly done car I take a spiral approach. This is where I drive around the block, then around two blocks, then a little farther until I feel the car is officially “road worthy”.

However it was Friday night and I couldn’t arrange a flatbed tow. Screw it, I decided to drive her home. At first it was strange, but as I drove I got more confident with the way she shifted and felt.
She’s fast, smooth silky speed…

On the mustang-style dyno she put down 440rwhp and 390 rwtq. That’s right around where a new Z06 comes in on his dyno.
My max torque is at 4500 and at 6500 I’m still at 90% of that. Gotta love a flat torque curve. At 6500 rpm the car still accelerates to the tune of 7.4 feet per second. A bit above a new Z06. She would pull to 7000 but we decided to set the rev limiter to 6700 to save the rods.

She idles very nice. During the drive home she never went over 190 degrees. The brakes worked great. The car road like a new car. It was firm but didn’t fell like an old car. I still need an alignment, but the car tracked well and was rock solid stable.

I got a ton of thumbs ups from people. Several shouts and three times I caught people taking pictures. On the 91 fwy the people in one car were video taping me, so I dropped a gear and hit it.
Oh, and several people tried to race, I declined.

When I got home my wife loved the car. It’s the first time she’s seen it in over a year and she very much liked how it turned out. That was nice and I’m a lucky guy.

Ok, the bad..

On the way home I guess I went too fast. In my driveway there was a small nick in my door, no dent just a scratch like a knife hit the door. I couldn’t figure it out until my noticed the passengers side (vertical) stainless window trim was gone.. poof. I guess it came off and nicked the door on the way to the great unknown. Lol. Maybe I need to safety wire my trim.

Anyways, I will fix that and BOS will fix the nick. Just part of the sorting out process. Saturday we shoot the car in an old machine shop, should be cool and I’m almost done writing the story for Super Chevy.

After driving her I’m hooked, it was such a blast. The suspension felt great, it felt stable and it felt reliable. All this without tuning or even an alignment.

It’s going to be a fun fun summer…

Here’s the missing trim and nick..could have been worse.



Here’s her new license plate



Thanks to all those who have helped make this happen. Best of Show, Lateral-Dynamics, Marquez design, Rick’s hot rods, DSE, American Autowire, Classic Chevy 5-speed, Optima, Stewart Warner, ATS, Modo Innovations, 21st Century Street Machine, AFCO, COMP, Varishock, Inland Empire Driveline and everyone that helped give me opinions, ideas and encouragement.

I have a dyno vid in some new quicktime format. Once I figure out how to size it down and convert it to MP3 or something common I will post it.

 

Congrats on the first drive, always a fun time . The car looks great.

 

The car is gorgeous! One of the nicest cars on ls1tech, if not number one. I know we're all excited to see some more pics and vids.

 

Here's a link to the vid.. it's 18mb so beware.

I'm trying to find a way to convert it down and to a more user friendly file format...

http://s24.quicksharing.com/v/3016880/SANY0011.MP4.html

 

you just dont know what i would give to own your car....beautiful work....my dad and myself are in the middle of the second restore of our 71 chevelle and i hope it turns out half as nice as that....one word...beautiful

 

Beautiful car, what rims are those? Those would look great on my 71 ls1 project.

 

Forgeline wheels

Here's a quick video of the car on the dyno.. full pull

http://www.dailymotion.com/jm350/video/x1ujve_redcam/1

 

wow that car is incredible. how about a shot of the engine bay?

 

 

That is one clean engine bay.

 

 

Thou shalt not covet......Oh, what the hell! I want it

 

soooo nice! yours has got to be one of the best looking ist gens i have seen in a long time.


your forgelines look just like my wheels.

 

Looks like a concept car engine bay. I think that's one of the best I've seen. Congrats and take care.

 

yes i love the clean look with nothing on the firewall. awesome car once again!

 

what a nice car. Love the first pic. Great choice on the name also.

 

did you use stewart warner gauges and if so what kind

 

sweet baby jesus.

 

Magazine material right there, Wonderful work!

 

Yep, the black "Maximum Performance" with red LED bulbs.. looks KILLER at night. Has a mil-spec look.