mikehartwell
Feb 16th, 04, 10:52 PM
After nearly 2 years of restoring, re-restoring, changing our minds and replacing, etc. - we had our first trouble free test drive last week. The vintage air is not hooked up yet, but everything is clockwork smooth. The Zirgo fan appears to be pulling the advertised 3300cfm so it looks like the big BeCool and Zirgo are going to cool this baby fine. The 434 is a real thumper and comes on strong. God bless Joe for DEMANDING I use an ATI converter - it is dead nuts on 3000 and rock solid. the global west front end is a dream compared to the old stocker and the metco rear kit hooks HARD with the Currie 3.70 behind Jakes TH350. Kevin (Kenny's lead mechanic) thinks we're making well over 500hp and a bunch of it is getting to the rear wheels. We'll get a rear wheel dyno read in a couple of weeks.
Felt like getting the front wheels up would have been no problem, but I have no idea what the 350 will stand up to yet. The only problem is the Victor and blueprinted 870. We may be dropping that down a notch to something more streetable, but we gotta get a couple hundred miles on it and some hard passes before we make that decision. Kenny did an incredible job of custom making headers ($750 coated - ouch. Actually, the Doug's shorties would have been fine, but the full length headers obviously offer up more torque and the car just sounds better. The MSD pro billet was well worth the money. Also, it was worth every dime that went into rebuilding that WP piece of crap. This motor has a real solid, bullet-proof feel. The crate was "shaky and straining" at best.
Wish I had some pics of the new resto to post, but they are all too high resolution and I don't know how to reset for attachment. The Porcar seats, haneline dash, and street bandit billet shifter all look so freakin' trick.
This has truly turned out to be one awsome machine (knock on wood - the last time I put up a post like this, the motor started knocking like a loanshark looking for the payoff). Couldn't have done any of this without the help, guidance, advice of this forum. One more badass Chevelle hit the road last week. Finally - a light at the end of the tunnel - and it's coming up darn fast.
thanks to all,
Felt like getting the front wheels up would have been no problem, but I have no idea what the 350 will stand up to yet. The only problem is the Victor and blueprinted 870. We may be dropping that down a notch to something more streetable, but we gotta get a couple hundred miles on it and some hard passes before we make that decision. Kenny did an incredible job of custom making headers ($750 coated - ouch. Actually, the Doug's shorties would have been fine, but the full length headers obviously offer up more torque and the car just sounds better. The MSD pro billet was well worth the money. Also, it was worth every dime that went into rebuilding that WP piece of crap. This motor has a real solid, bullet-proof feel. The crate was "shaky and straining" at best.
Wish I had some pics of the new resto to post, but they are all too high resolution and I don't know how to reset for attachment. The Porcar seats, haneline dash, and street bandit billet shifter all look so freakin' trick.
This has truly turned out to be one awsome machine (knock on wood - the last time I put up a post like this, the motor started knocking like a loanshark looking for the payoff). Couldn't have done any of this without the help, guidance, advice of this forum. One more badass Chevelle hit the road last week. Finally - a light at the end of the tunnel - and it's coming up darn fast.
thanks to all,