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My passion for muscle cars, particularly Chevrolet’s super car, the Chevelle, started over 16 years ago when I was just entering high school. My father had purchased a 1971 Malibu coupe for my sister, who at the time was also in high school. The original engine was very tired and rather than put any more money into the car, a year had passed and Dad decided to find my sister a different car altogether. I really liked that Malibu and was hoping that it would be mine after my sister had used it. Like I said, I was hoping!
My parents had also owned a 350 powered 1972 Buick Skylark, which was the first car I used to practice my early driving skills with on country roads (ie. cutting donuts, cookies, power braking). As a youngster, I was really attracted to the GM A-body styles. I always knew that someday I would own a good looking, and very fast street Chevelle. The LS-6 SS 454 Chevelle represented the ‘Top Gun’ of muscle cars for me (and still does today), but as a teenager finding the money to fund my dream was still just that, a dream. For many years, the Monogram and Revelle model company’s did their best to satisfy my thirst for hot Chevelles. Building models of the Chevelle was as close to the real thing I was going to get for a long time to come.
Fast forward to the summer of 1997.
I had finally reached a point in my life when I was ready to find that one special car and begin modifications to it. I seriously considered buying an already restored SS LS-6 car. After all, that was the car I had always dreamt of owning. But after considering the fact that it would have already been completed and that most quality SS cars of this caliber were a bit on the expensive side, I opted to find a good solid Malibu instead, and turn it into something equally as good or better than the formidable LS-6 Chevelle.Old Car Trader magazine came to the rescue and after a few weeks of making numerous phone calls, Linda (my beautiful, supportive wife and mom to-be) and I located and decided to purchase a totally rust-free, 1970 Chevelle Malibu from a gentleman in Jacksonville, Texas. The ad stated that the Malibu had a "300 horse GM crate engine". This engine was in such poor running shape that the car would have had a real problem if it were raced against a John Deere riding lawn mower pushing through tall grass in high gear. Looking back, I am surprised that the then ‘dysfunctional’ Holley carburetor made the 150 mile journey back to our garage in Houston. Needless to say, it was in poor driving shape and was in dire need of some special TLC. The real fun was just about to begin!
Here is how it happened over a two year period...all of the modifications below were completed by myself with the exception of the final engine assembly, transmission rebuild and the rear-end rebuild. Modifying this car has been a real blast and a great learning experience for both my wife and I.
Paint and Body:
My best guess is that the paint is around 5-7 years old. From the pics you see here, one cannot see the metal flake in the paint but it is there and looks very beautiful at night under the lights. Whoever sprayed the car with this paint job put on several extra-thick coats of clear but failed to wet sand their work. As a result, the car had a case of severe orange peel (very bumpy) all over the paint. After getting some good advice from a great friend and neighbor, Richard DeYoung (who owns a gorgeous red 67’ Chevelle), I somehow managed to wet sand and buff out all of the orange peel over the entire car (mid-summer sweat fest). The results are fabulous and well worth the effort. As a result, the cars’ appearance has been transformed to a very ‘wet’ appearing high-gloss. Both front and rear bumpers have been re-chromed and the entire front plastic grill section was removed, sanded and re-painted with gloss black plastikote paint. All of the car and window trim pieces are original and in good shape so I have not replaced them. The elements were easily sneaking into the passenger compartment so a complete Soft Seal weather stripping kit was put to good use.
Interior Changes:
Year One supplied new front and rear door panels, package tray, headliner, carpet, door sill plates, rear seat arm rests and custom floor mats. For steering, I use a Grant GT Elite chrome four-spoke wheel and keep an eye on all of the cars’ vital stats with Autometer gauges and tachometer. Gear slamming chores are handled by a B&M Megashifter that really performs and the T-handle also houses the ‘beckoning’ black and shiney nitrous oxide button. Music is provided by a Pioneer stereo cassette deck, 140 watt speakers, and a concealed Jensen 100 watt amplifier.
Wheels and Tires:
When we bought the car, it came with 15X7 Corvette style rallye wheels on all four corners. I purchased two new 15X8 rallye wheels for the rear and wrapped them with BFGoodrich 275-60R15’s TA’s while BFGoodrich 255-60R15’s TA’s found a home on the front 15X7’s. I replaced the original and battered center caps with a set of new ‘Bow-tie’ style caps from Wheel Vintiques.
Brakes:
Stopping power is supplied by the original drum brake system with metallic friction pads. Just about every component of the braking system has been replaced with the exception of the backing plates, brake lines and master cylinder. Surprisingly, these drum brakes seem to work just as well as a front disc brake set-up.
Power Plant:
388 cubic inch Chevrolet Stroker
(Final Assembly Provided by Custom Automotive Machining - Houston)
350 seasoned block, bored .060 over, 4 bolt mains
ARP bolts used throughout entire rebuild
Custom 400 crankshaft
Keith Black 10-1 Hyperuetectic pistons
Air Flow Research 195cc aluminum heads with: 2.02 and 1.60 valves, CNC ported intake and exhaust chambers, guide plates, 10 degree locks and steel retainers, 1.45" springs
Fluidamper 7.25" harmonic balancer
Lunati camshaft - 225 intake / 235 exhaust duration, .477 intake / .507 exhaust lift,
110 degrees lobe separation, 4 degrees advanced
Crane 1.5 ratio Aluminum roller rockers
Comp Cams Magnum 1010 chrome moly pushrods
Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, Por 15 clear
Holley 750 cfm Double Pumper: milled air horn, 50cc secondary pump shot, modified pump shot cams, #74 jets front and rear, and 1/2" jet extensions
4 hole 1" Phenolic carburetor spacer
NOS Super Power Shot (125 horsepower jets) Single Plate Nitrous System
Cloyes true Double Roller timing chain
Melling high volume oil pump
Moroso 7 quart pan with windage tray and integrated scraper
AC Delco Chevrolet chrome engine kit
K&N 4" X 14" air filter
Ignition System:
MSD billet distributor
MSD 6AL fire box, 6,500 rpm rev limiter chip
MSD Blaster 2 Coil
MSD 8mm plug wires
Fuel Delivery:
Mallory Comp-140 fuel pump
Proflex #8 Steel Braided fuel line from tank/fuel pump to fuel pressure regulator
Holley 1/2" Big Port fuel pressure regulator
K&N in-line billet aluminum fuel filters
Russell AN style fittings used at all connections
Cooling:
Griffin 2 row (1 inch each) aluminum radiator
Edelbrock RPM aluminum water pump
Black Magik 2,800 cfm electric fan with thermostat
180 degree Stewart-Warner high flow thermostat
B&M High-Tek racing transmission cooler, 28,000 gvw rated
Exhaust:
Super Comp 1.75" X 31" exhaust headers
2.5" exhaust with crossover pipe, exhaust dumps just before rear axle
Terminator 2.5" inlet-outlet Turbo Mufflers with 3" flo-thru center
Transmission:
Rebuilt and modified TH-350 (Atlas Transmissions - Northwest Houston)
B&M TransPak shift kit : high-performance street mode
TCI 11" Breakaway converter with anti-ballooning plates
B&M 3 quart, deep chrome pan
Rear Gear Set-up:
GM 12 bolt housing
Auburn Pro, 4 Series posi-traction carrier
Richmond 4.10 ring and pinion
Strange C-Clip eliminators
Moser 30 spline, hardened steel axles
Suspension:
All original rubber bushings for both the front and the rear 4 link suspension were replaced with PST polygraphite pieces. All body bushings are polygraphite units as well. Both front and rear shocks are Monroe units. The front coil springs have had approximately 1.2 coils removed for a lowered, aggressive stance and the rear lower control arms, boxed units from Malibu Performance, keep the wheel hopping madness to a minimum. With the above combination, this car handles the turns and curves like a 3,800lb. car should not - very well.
Performance: The following times and estimates were obtained using the G-Tech Accelerometer, with the following conditions:
BFGoodrich radial TA’s, no nitrous, 6,000 rpm shift point, 75 degree temps, and concrete road surface
0 - 60: 4.69 sec
1/4 mile et.: 12.88 sec
My guess is that our car is capable of much better times with stickier tires out back and with the nitrous in the ‘ON’ mode. Careful ‘pedaling’ of the throttle yielded the above best times. I tried to get a good run using the nitrous but the BFG street radials would not hold up through second gear (lost cause) due to severe traction loss. On the bottle, that 12.88 et. should drop at least a full second when combined with sticky tires. Not bad for a mouse-powered sled! Overall warm and fuzzy feeling: Immeasurable! ;)
Future Changes:
In the immediate future, the only changes I plan to make include replacing all four shocks with higher performance pieces (KYB or Koni), upgrade to a March billet under-driven pulley kit and install 1.6 ratio roller rockers on all of the intake valves. Long term, I may install a Lunati solid roller camshaft or build the motor to handle a B&M ProCharger supercharger...but again, that is long term. Right now, I am really pleased with the way our car performs.
I hope that my shared dream has inspired you or at least given you some new ideas about your future or current project Chevelle. Thanks for taking the time to follow along in my dream and a special thanks goes out to every member of Team Chevelle, especially those who have worked really hard to make this outstanding internet site possible. Hats’ off to Mr. Al McKenzie. Al, your creativity, leadership and outstanding support for this site have been top notch from the first day I searched and stumbled across Team Chevelle. Chevellz Alwayz!
Keep America Beautiful - Drive a Brute Force Chevelle! A photo background of Wes's 1970 is available here.
Team Chevelle would love to feature your Car on one of our future monthly articles.
To take part, send a few quality pictures to us and as much information as you can (we LOVE reading about Chevelles!)
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or:
Al McKenzie, Box 231, Creston, B.C. Canada, V0B-1G0
