1969 Chevelle Build

[Andy Friar]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

The car looks good!

Despite the fact that the 69 Camaro Kevin Cradduck and I have campaigned for the last few years with good success is a really good car, my favorite stocker of all time is Harry Vineyard's white 69 Chevelle 427/425 that he campaigned for years in B/SA when he drove, and in A/S with Tucker Parrish driving. I wish I had bought the car when Harry offered it to me when he was buying the 69 Camaro SS/EA that Alan Oakley bought from Eddie Miranian. Not buying that car was a huge mistake.

Wow, such cool history. Don't kick yourself for what you didn't do, maybe it was part of the plan that you passed on it...or maybe you had a brain fart that day. I have many, every day.

[Andy Friar]

Pete doing front end wiring while Dad is searching for bolts, or nuts, or a clip or I don't actually know

Dave plumbing in the line lock to the OEM style replacement brake line system

Pete doing under dash wiring

Chris trimming the stock defroster duct to run the dash mounted water temp on and oil pressure lines.

Pete's level of attention to detail in the 3 wiring shots

Pete's destruction/ construction area

Pete reshaping a p-clip to clamp around the Metri-Pak connector to secure it the fuel system plate. Hence, Pete's attention to detail.

[Andy Friar]

This is the point in our build where sleep was in short supply. Mid Sept until late Oct of this year. Not uncommon to be out in the garage at my Dad's (20 mins highway drive away) past midnight when I leave for work at 6:30a and have a 1 hour commute. I hit 2a a few times, and I even think 3a. That is not as impressive to me as it is that Pete and Dad were right there along side of me that late most of the time. Pete lives 30 mins away too.

New parts everywhere, Jim's old engine (late 70's build) being checked to see if operational for test hits.

Dad finishing up lashing the valves after putting in the GM 140 cam

Engine ready to go back in, carnage of new parts and work tables.

Jim's old gage panel restored with scotchbrite. Autometer in dash mount gages ordered to fit holes then the backs spray bombed black.

Dorman OEM replacement Chevy HHR (fan module $68 Rock auto, wiring pigtail like $6) fan installed with some quicky aluminum tabs. Just had to zip a few tabs off the fan and it bolted right up. Best money per time and function spent on the car thus far.

Dad and Bill cutting the carpet to install seats.

[Andy Friar]

And the thrash continued. Battery hold down and mounts as well as a MSD 7AL-2 and 3 Step box bracket inside the glove box door.

We don't know why the stock battery tray has so many small holes drilled in it, but we just hit it with the sand blaster, I buzzed on an off the shelf 3/8" hole A&A Mfg tab and it was ready for some rattle can love. Bent up some allthread and welded on some hardened washers. A couple of nuts hold it down tight and can be easily reached with a gear wrench. The 'speed hole' battery clamps are just drilled angle steel we had in the shop. I believe it is1" x 1" x .125".

The double studded rubber bumpers under the MSD box are from McMaster Carr. The BEST website I have ever used (12yrs now) for building, machining, fabricating, etc. Their catalog is 1400+pages of super small font and the website seems to have that content and more. Unbelievable service, knowledge and speed. Bent the steel rod with the vise and a rosebud torch. The aluminum plate was bent over the edge of the work bench with quick clamps, rubber mallet and a dead blow. You can't see in this picture but the front and rear edges of the plate were bent down 90 degree by 3/4" to add strength.

[Andy Friar]

Relay and power distribution panel fab work. Bought a simple .750" dimple die from Summit. Any excuse to use it makes me happy.

Panel mock up. Trimming of lower profile required. Upper mounting point needed. More holes and dimples needed.

Panel completed, wired and labeled. Just missing the top mounting point bolt. I later thru in a 6 pt ARP SS I had.

Motor going in.

Nothing like getting those driver's side rear header bolts in place.

Wiring layout contemplation, fuel plumbing from trunk to engine bay completed.

Carb, water pump and alternator in place. Torque strap we made in place too. Dad messing with the distributor. Wiper motor block off plate made to mount coil.

Dad uttering NSFW words while trying to install the trans shield. Never did even come close to fitting. 'Universal' means universally never fits good, right?

[Andy Friar]

Fabbed an on-off switch for working on the car, transporting or when it is just sitting. Wired the alternator to the battery side post. So it will truly kill all of the electrical.

Bought and tried to install a Powermaster Alternator kit. Not impressed. Early 90's GM 1 wire truck alternator with crappy spray paint, cheaply made brackets and equally crappy mounting hardware. Not to mention expensive. We flipped around the bolts just to make it work, cut off one ear of the alternator, ditched the stamped fan and shimmed it out from the block for alignment. At some point when this motor comes out, I will dissemble the alternator, get the case powdercoated, speed hole the crappy brackets and get them anodized black, along with the pulleys to match the high quality Meziere water pump. I will swap out the hardware for ARP too.

[Andy Friar]

Laying out the shifter location and making a 'lift kit' for it. Trimmed and welded up the Summit Driveshaft loop. Hit it with chassis paint before install. Installed a pair of 2.5# extinguishers right behind the seats with these super rad billet Eddie Motorsports mounts. High quality and well made.

Sealed off the cage holes with flexible adhesive backed modern OEM noise insulation rubber, then 3M foil tape for strength over top. Blue thick mylar tape to hold the wiring in place under the sill trim.

[Andy Friar]

My favorite fab project on the whole. The Moroso switch panel holder. We did not want to mount it to the cage overhead since I am 6'4" and I was worried about my vision being blocked. My Dad is 5'9" so I also couldn't mount it way out of the way, or he wouldn't be able to reach it. We also do not like every cutting up a car to install stuff. I figured out a way to remove the ashtray and have this path through that space and support the switch panel out in front of the dash, but up out of the way. Definitely happy with how it turned out. I have about 25 hrs in the whole part, if not more time.

[Andy Friar]

Switch panel mount finished up, painted and installed. I used 10-24 weld-nets around the face frame. I used riv-nuts in the cowl for the vertical support bars went through the knee bar structure of the stock dash. I used 1/4-20 riv nuts for angle mounts brackets from the tray. The big hole through the middle of the sheet middle is for sliding all of the metri-pak connectors through. The cover can be removed to inspect the switch connections. Or the switch panel can be removed. The whole bracket and support structure can be removed without removing or even having to loosen the dash or IP.

You can see the shift light installed with 3M industrial velcro, so we can move it around if needed. The 3 spoke Eddie Motorsports steering wheel is light and super high quality. With the the line lock button tucked in on the left side.

[Andy Friar]

We finally FINISHED and we couldn't be happier. This whole deal coming together was way bigger than just me. My dad is responsible for providing the great shop to work out of and was there right next to me for every dirty, frustrating, expensive, exhilarating & dead tired moment. We are so lucky to have so many willing, helpful & knowledgeable friends that deserve boat loads of credit.

The last week (Oct 18-25) of the build was a thrash. Car started on Monday, but wasn't fully assembled. Initial tuning on Tuesday and make a new return spring bracket at the carb. Transbrake hits on the jackstands, line lock tests, carb tuning etc on Wednesday. Drove under it's own power Friday night, out of the garage and into the trailer. Belle Tire Alignment Saturday. (First time we towed with our new trailer and 13MY Chevy Z71 ext cab. It was a pucker ride if you know what I mean. Moved the car forward, added shims to the hitch/ receiver interface, got better, but still need to get a sway control. We were out of time and money at that point.) Loaded the trailer saturday afternoon, slept maybe 2.5 hours out of excitment/ nerves and went to Milan Sunday to race and make test runs.