Derek69SS
Veteran Member
Now, 11 years later if I was to sell the car I'd be asking about 3X what I sold it for then...
water under the bridge, I guess.Jenna still gives me a hard time about selling her car though.
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- Thread starter Derek69SS
- Start date
water under the bridge, I guess.Jenna still gives me a hard time about selling her car though.
kmakar
Janitor
Now, 11 years later if I was to sell the car I'd be asking about 3X what I sold it for then...
Jenna still gives me a hard time about selling her car though.
Yeah, I still get crap from Lisa from time to time that I sold her Excursion (even after I had already bought her a brand new Ford Escape Ecoboost in 2017). Oh well, water under the bridge.
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
In 2008, after 2 years of driving with no speedometer due to the modern transmission not having any way to run a mechanical cable, I decided to adapt an electronic speedo into the stock dash. I also wanted better seat bolsters to hold me in place while cornering, and to change the interior to "parchment" off-white from the original black.
Scat had just introduced their new "Procar Rally" seats, which had nice bolsters, but also styling and sized to look great in a musclecar without the high-backs that most other bolstered seats had. I decided to buy those seats, and have them custom upholstered with correct '69 style pattern inserts. It was kind of expensive, but worth every penny! I still love these seats.
For gauges, I wanted white faces to tie with the interior color and the stripes, so I cut and welded on the gauge panel to adapt 5" Autometer Phantom speedometer and tach into the stock cluster, and put a gas gauge in the clock location. One cool original feature on a 69 Chevelle dash that I knew I would miss was the little blue bowtie for the bright light indicator. I designed a small custom bracket and panel with a blue bowtie light to go in the PRNDL location. I also used the Corvette style font but read CHEVELLE instead to tie in with the Corvette brakes and fuel rail covers.
I finished the install just in time (bolted the front seats in while Jenna loaded the trunk) to drive the car to Nashville, TN for the Chevelle-abration show in June, and while the AC didn't work yet, the white interior proved to be a good choice in the 105° heat down there!
Scat had just introduced their new "Procar Rally" seats, which had nice bolsters, but also styling and sized to look great in a musclecar without the high-backs that most other bolstered seats had. I decided to buy those seats, and have them custom upholstered with correct '69 style pattern inserts. It was kind of expensive, but worth every penny! I still love these seats.
For gauges, I wanted white faces to tie with the interior color and the stripes, so I cut and welded on the gauge panel to adapt 5" Autometer Phantom speedometer and tach into the stock cluster, and put a gas gauge in the clock location. One cool original feature on a 69 Chevelle dash that I knew I would miss was the little blue bowtie for the bright light indicator. I designed a small custom bracket and panel with a blue bowtie light to go in the PRNDL location. I also used the Corvette style font but read CHEVELLE instead to tie in with the Corvette brakes and fuel rail covers.
I finished the install just in time (bolted the front seats in while Jenna loaded the trunk) to drive the car to Nashville, TN for the Chevelle-abration show in June, and while the AC didn't work yet, the white interior proved to be a good choice in the 105° heat down there!
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
In 2008 I was finally ready to try autocross, but had no idea where to start. Car Craft Summer Nationals in St. Paul, MN had a small course and I was determined to try it there, but it was not meant to be... Fuel pump problems kept me out of the competition there that year. Later that fall, I found that there were local autocross events held in Winona MN, so I tried it there for my first event. I was slow, but steadily improved with each run. I only got in one event at the end of the season.
I competed several times in 2009, including multiple Winona events, Car Craft, and on the speedway at La Crosse, WI. I enjoyed this a lot more than drag racing.
Dad went with me to one of the Winona events, and on his first ride-along he forgot to buckle his seatbelt, and ended up on my lap on the first turn.
I competed several times in 2009, including multiple Winona events, Car Craft, and on the speedway at La Crosse, WI. I enjoyed this a lot more than drag racing.
Dad went with me to one of the Winona events, and on his first ride-along he forgot to buckle his seatbelt, and ended up on my lap on the first turn.
Looks like a lot of fun and what a great looking car !
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
Thanks! There's still a lot of improvements to show before I get to current pics. The car is pretty much at the point now of being what I was dreaming about 15 years ago. If I was as fast then as I am now, I would have won everything... trouble is, everyone else has gotten faster too.
Car is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
2010 was a big year for me with this car. I bought yet another new set of wheels. 17x9 Cragar D-windows were the cheapest way into 9" wide wheels at the time, and gave the car somewhat of a NASCAR vibe. With some advice from some very fast local autocrossers, I ran 265/40 Dunlop Z1 Star Specs, which were a top competitive street tire at the time.
My 2nd son AJ was a baby then, and Jenna was off most of the summer on maternity leave. With her schedule cleared, I got a lot of racing in that year running with MAC, COM, and SCCLaC locally. I had my spring/shock/sway-bar combination figured out, and was getting a lot of practice.
At the Car Craft Summer Nationals, I ran fastest of any vintage car for most of the day on Friday. Jeff Smith (Car Craft editor) asked me to enter the Real Street Eliminator competition, so I did. I finished 3rd in the autocross, just a couple tenths of a second behind 2 pro-built shop cars on R-compound tires. I didn't try very hard on the stop box, so my time there was unimpressive. On the dyno I made a meager 256hp. There was a small paragraph in the magazine about me and the Chevelle, and a tiny picture of it on the cover of Car Craft Magazine in their issue with the event coverage.
We then drove it to Cleveland Ohio for the NOCC Chevelle show, where Chuck Hanson did a photo shoot for a full multi-page feature in Chevelle World Magazine.
That fall we made plans to drive the car down to Tennessee with Scott Parkhurst for the "Run to the Hills" pro-touring event. A couple weeks before the trip, overdrive started slipping in my 4L60, so we decided to tow it there instead. We had an awesome time on the cruise to the "Tail of the Dragon" that Friday. At the autocross Saturday I did pretty well, but coned my fastest run which would have otherwise gotten me into the top-8 shootout. My fastest clean run put me in, I think, 9th of about 80 cars in a car with half the horsepower of most cars there on a course with 2 long uphill straights. The following day was drag-racing, and after a few runs, 3rd gear was slipping too, the transmission was toast.
My 2nd son AJ was a baby then, and Jenna was off most of the summer on maternity leave. With her schedule cleared, I got a lot of racing in that year running with MAC, COM, and SCCLaC locally. I had my spring/shock/sway-bar combination figured out, and was getting a lot of practice.
At the Car Craft Summer Nationals, I ran fastest of any vintage car for most of the day on Friday. Jeff Smith (Car Craft editor) asked me to enter the Real Street Eliminator competition, so I did. I finished 3rd in the autocross, just a couple tenths of a second behind 2 pro-built shop cars on R-compound tires. I didn't try very hard on the stop box, so my time there was unimpressive. On the dyno I made a meager 256hp. There was a small paragraph in the magazine about me and the Chevelle, and a tiny picture of it on the cover of Car Craft Magazine in their issue with the event coverage.
We then drove it to Cleveland Ohio for the NOCC Chevelle show, where Chuck Hanson did a photo shoot for a full multi-page feature in Chevelle World Magazine.
That fall we made plans to drive the car down to Tennessee with Scott Parkhurst for the "Run to the Hills" pro-touring event. A couple weeks before the trip, overdrive started slipping in my 4L60, so we decided to tow it there instead. We had an awesome time on the cruise to the "Tail of the Dragon" that Friday. At the autocross Saturday I did pretty well, but coned my fastest run which would have otherwise gotten me into the top-8 shootout. My fastest clean run put me in, I think, 9th of about 80 cars in a car with half the horsepower of most cars there on a course with 2 long uphill straights. The following day was drag-racing, and after a few runs, 3rd gear was slipping too, the transmission was toast.
Wow that's cool that Chuck Hanson wrote an article on your car. He lives not too far from me in Hendersonville TN.
Drag racing is hard on parts, but autocross looks like it would be even worse LOL
Drag racing is hard on parts, but autocross looks like it would be even worse LOL
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
Yeah, it's definitely hard on stuff. I've had a few parts failures, but mostly just wear & tear... Lots of extended high-RPM abuse.
Frequent nut & bolt checks are required... red lock-tite on everything, etc. Learned a few lessons the hard way.
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
After having some really good results against some of the heavy-hitters in the Pro Touring community, despite being way outgunned on horsepower, I needed to step up my game, and the transmission failing gave me the excuse I needed to justify tearing the car apart again.
I bought an LS1 and T56 out of a wrecked 2000 Camaro SS on ebay, located near Green Bay, WI. The ad was poorly written, and had a bit of a scammy vibe to it, so it went cheap. Afterwards, the seller called me and apologized for not disclosing that the heads were studded. Good deal getting even better!
I reached out to a friend who lived nearby, to see if he wanted to get together for lunch when I come pick it up. He offered to pick it up for me, and bring it 4 hours closer because he was coming this way for a hunting trip, saving me 8 hours round-trip! He pointed out that it had an LS6 intake and upgraded injectors also!
I had it for a while before I pulled the pan, and when I did, I found it also had a 4" stroker crank, Eagle H-beam rods, forged pistons, ARP hardware, and studded mains. Jackpot!
I tore the car apart in the fall of 2010 thinking it would be done by spring. Our oldest, Cale was a very easy-going toddler who loved to help, stayed out of trouble, and generally let me get a lot done in the garage. A week later, baby brother AJ started to crawl, and my free time came to a very sudden halt...
I bought an LS1 and T56 out of a wrecked 2000 Camaro SS on ebay, located near Green Bay, WI. The ad was poorly written, and had a bit of a scammy vibe to it, so it went cheap. Afterwards, the seller called me and apologized for not disclosing that the heads were studded. Good deal getting even better!
I reached out to a friend who lived nearby, to see if he wanted to get together for lunch when I come pick it up. He offered to pick it up for me, and bring it 4 hours closer because he was coming this way for a hunting trip, saving me 8 hours round-trip! He pointed out that it had an LS6 intake and upgraded injectors also!
I had it for a while before I pulled the pan, and when I did, I found it also had a 4" stroker crank, Eagle H-beam rods, forged pistons, ARP hardware, and studded mains. Jackpot!
I tore the car apart in the fall of 2010 thinking it would be done by spring. Our oldest, Cale was a very easy-going toddler who loved to help, stayed out of trouble, and generally let me get a lot done in the garage. A week later, baby brother AJ started to crawl, and my free time came to a very sudden halt...
Now for the 4.030" bore block and square port heads ! LOL
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
I have an LS3 block (4.065 bore) and AFR heads waiting for a future upgrade. ~500hp became inadequate real quick. Next one will be 700-ish.
What mods are you doing to the chassis to support 700hp?
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
Boxed frame and home-built 3-link... but we'll get to that 3-link in a later installment.
Derek69SS
Veteran Member
A big hurdle of a LS1/T56 swap was fitting the transmission in the tunnel, while keeping the car low, getting proper driveline angles, and having plenty of driveshaft tunnel clearance.
I decided to just cut the whole tunnel out and make my own. I also fabricated it out of heavy 16ga steel as this tunnel provides a lot of the body's stiffness. Templates were made from construction paper, then traced onto a flat sheet, cut out with plasma cutter, and formed in Dad's home-made 4' sheetmetal brake.
I decided to just cut the whole tunnel out and make my own. I also fabricated it out of heavy 16ga steel as this tunnel provides a lot of the body's stiffness. Templates were made from construction paper, then traced onto a flat sheet, cut out with plasma cutter, and formed in Dad's home-made 4' sheetmetal brake.
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