Hi everyone, long time lurker here. I bought a 4-door '72 Chevelle a few years ago that needs a fairly light amount of restoration. The body is in pretty good shape, only a little bit of bondo over the rear passenger wheel, but the engine is wrecked.
About the car: It was originally a basic 4-door Lime-Yellow car with an inline-6 engine and TH350 tranny. The guy I bought it from and his buddies had began cutting holes in the interior for speakers, and rewiring the electronics... wrongly I might add. They also replaced the I-6 with a 350 that threw piston rods within 35 miles of me getting the car.
I'm a poor college student, but this summer looks to be the first summer that I'll actually have money to throw into the car, so I'm looking for a lot of advice because I'm not a mechanic. The goal is to pro-street the car on a budget. Bring the suspension and brakes up to modern standards, and drop a big block in that big front end. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do engine wise. I've fallen in love with some 496s, and having a nice mild build of around ~500hp and a little more torque is the idea.
I'm hoping for this year to replace the 8.2 with an 8.5 posi, switch the 4 drums to at least front discs, and replacing the rears and get a decent suspension kit put on. Then next year hoping to do Engine/Transmission/gauges. Then interior/exterior.
About the car: It was originally a basic 4-door Lime-Yellow car with an inline-6 engine and TH350 tranny. The guy I bought it from and his buddies had began cutting holes in the interior for speakers, and rewiring the electronics... wrongly I might add. They also replaced the I-6 with a 350 that threw piston rods within 35 miles of me getting the car.
I'm a poor college student, but this summer looks to be the first summer that I'll actually have money to throw into the car, so I'm looking for a lot of advice because I'm not a mechanic. The goal is to pro-street the car on a budget. Bring the suspension and brakes up to modern standards, and drop a big block in that big front end. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do engine wise. I've fallen in love with some 496s, and having a nice mild build of around ~500hp and a little more torque is the idea.
I'm hoping for this year to replace the 8.2 with an 8.5 posi, switch the 4 drums to at least front discs, and replacing the rears and get a decent suspension kit put on. Then next year hoping to do Engine/Transmission/gauges. Then interior/exterior.