1969 Chevelle Build

[MICROMACHINE72]

GREAT THREAD! look forward to reading more. Just wondering, what was the record for I/S in those days? High 12's?? My old man has many trophy's from New York National back in the day, (I think is was AHRA) he won the summer-nationals in 1972, 69 Chevelle SS-396/375 stick car high 11's. Not sure what class he ran, he can't remember! He said thought it was formula stock or something?? Anyway, and just wondering as I don't know much about stock class racing, but how can a 69 Chevelle run a 427? I thought the 396 was the largest BBC available in a factory car? Was it a special option over the counter not factory installed?? Good luck on your build and Merry Christmas!

[HandOverFist]

Originally Posted by MICROMACHINE72

GREAT THREAD! look forward to reading more. Just wondering, what was the record for I/S in those days? High 12's?? My old man has many trophy's from New York National back in the day, (I think is was AHRA) he won the summer-nationals in 1972, 69 Chevelle SS-396/375 stick car high 11's. Not sure what class he ran, he can't remember! He said thought it was formula stock or something?? Anyway, and just wondering as I don't know much about stock class racing, but how can a 69 Chevelle run a 427? I thought the 396 was the largest BBC available in a factory car? Was it a special option over the counter not factory installed?? Good luck on your build and Merry Christmas!

Must have been...it's listed in the Stock Classification guide for 1969 Chevelle.

[Alan Nyhus]

Originally Posted by MICROMACHINE72

....... I don't know much about stock class racing, but how can a 69 Chevelle run a 427? I thought the 396 was the largest BBC available in a factory car? Was it a special option over the counter not factory installed?? Good luck on your build and Merry Christmas!

The '69 427-425 Chevelle was COPO 9562. Like their COPO '69 Camaro cousins, they were outwardly plain Jane with the exception of the hoods. The COPO Chevelles looked like a regular Malibu, but had the SS hood.

A few years back, I saw the remains of a '69 COPO 9562 in a small town outside Kansas City.

[Andy Friar]

Dad and I got our Harleys back together and sold as well as Dad's 67 Olds cruiser, together and sold. Now back to the race car with the other projects out of the way and the cash to fund this one. Yanked the front end to be able to clean it all up, easier to install solid body mounts and to install a torque limiting link setup on the motor. I cut out the old driver's side floor pan and I just about have the new piece from AMD fitted to the hole. Gonna start burning it in this week. Look at the Muncie case ear tab reinforcements that Jim made back in the early 70's, pretty cool stuff. Just a quick check, is our vintage overflow can still legal??

[Greg Barsamian]

Andy, the Muncie ear tabs are "Spot-on"
The patina of "catch can" fits the time-frame, and looks Way-Kool!

Keep the pic's and stories coming.

[Andy Friar]

The forward progress continues. We lifted the body off the frame to swap out the original, wasted, body mounts. We went with a set of hard anodized aluminum mounts from ABC Performance. With the body up we prepped and painted the 'top' of the cage and fixed a torched in hole on the rear passenger frame rail, right where it kicks inboard to clear the wheels. With the body down on the new mounts I set about burning in the new driver's side floor pan. I finished fully welding it all last night and I am going back it today with a grinder to prep for primer/paint.

[Andy Friar]

I missed a few pics on my last reply....

[Andy Friar]

I haven't post a reply on here in a while, but I assure you guys and gals that I have bustin' my tail on this crusty ol hot rod. Got the floor pan fix finished, welds ground, surface rust converter, raw metal primer and multiple coats of chassis satin black.

Underneath of the car cleaned up. Old nasty stick welded in super heavy duty tubes cut off the frame, many boxes of sanding discs and wire wheels later, and a bunch of rust converter on it too. Then multiple coats of satin chassis black.

Engine torque limiting strap build and in place. Dad has been working on a parallel path with the motor. The Turbo 292 heads have a 68cc combustion chamber. Since we are going to run this in a Stock legal configuration, with a bracket motor to get started, we ordered up a set up 13.0:1 Mahle coated pistons and Manley H-Beam rods. We want this to be a wheels-up beast. The stock crank Dad got from Reichert fit good with .010" under bearings. The block and pistons are back at Reichert's getting fitted up.

While I was at it, I cleaned up the trans crossmember. I also metalworked up the steering column closeout panel that someone took a torch too 40 yrs ago. Out of time and energy for tonight. Working on the car tomorrow night and I hope to post 4 or 5 more pics too.

[impstocker]

Love the pics on the build. I was wondering since you dropped the frame, is your roll cage welded to the frame? , or the floor? My Impala my roll bar is through the floor into the frame. I did this for strength plus the crossmember where the upper control arms are attached to is the weak link in theses Impalas, they tend to pull out . I used a cross brace from the roll bar to strengthen this area. I guess Chevelles don't have this issue. Using the solid body mounts is a good idea. Just wanted to say great job, keep it up.
Will Lamprecht I/SA 65 Impala in progress- Div 1
(rear end went in yesterday)

[Andy Friar]

Originally Posted by impstocker

Love the pics on the build. I was wondering since you dropped the frame, is your roll cage welded to the frame? , or the floor? My Impala my roll bar is through the floor into the frame. I did this for strength plus the crossmember where the upper control arms are attached to is the weak link in theses Impalas, they tend to pull out . I used a cross brace from the roll bar to strengthen this area. I guess Chevelles don't have this issue. Using the solid body mounts is a good idea. Just wanted to say great job, keep it up.
Will Lamprecht I/SA 65 Impala in progress- Div 1
(rear end went in yesterday)

Thanks Will! Our cage is welded to the frame and to the rear upper suspension crossmember in the back. We only lifted the car 3.5" inches, basically enough the get the mounts swapped and that was the amount were were limited by the cage hitting the floor. The floor was opened up with the tin snips when the cage was put in. I welded those slices closed after we did the body mounts. We are using bolt in stiffeners from Detroit Speed (http://www.detroitspeed.com/1964-197...brace-kit.html) To my knowledge the Chevelles don't have the issue with the crossmember separating from the frame.