This 1965 Chevelle is a real-world example of a great project... we're going through the suspension, body, interior, and paint without a zillion dollar budget. Follow the build here!
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 When it came time to plan the engine in our 1965 Chevelle project, we tossed around a couple ideas, but decided to modify the 350 that came with the car. It's a parts-store remanufactured 4-bolt 350 V8 with less than 10000 miles on it. The bottom end is ideal for a mild street engine, but we didn't like the crappy lo-performance cast iron heads and weak camshaft. So before we turned a single wrench, we turned to our handy copy of Dynomation engine simulation and dyno software to help us build a smooth 400 horsepower version of our engine. Dynomation helps you select cams, heads, compression ratios, exhaust.. all elements of engine design and then simulate dyno pulls and evaluate parts changes, all without buying a single part. It's a great way to hone-in on your ideal combination without having to spend extra money and time doing things twice.
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 We've turned the corner on our 1965 Chevelle build, and we're finally starting to put the car back together. This time, we're re-assembling the newly painted chassis with a complete Hotchkis Total Vehicle System suspension package, along with some newly restored brake hardware and new brake and fuel lines. The Hotchkis kit is nice because it comes with all the parts you need to improve the handling performance of you car including tubular rear suspension control arms, Bilstein shock absorbers, oversize front and rear sway bars, and Hotchkis lowering performance springs. The kit also includes all the hardware you need to put it together. This car came with a decent disk brake kit installed, so we simply ran the parts through our Eastwood sandblast cabinet and then powdercoated them with an Eastwood Hot Coat kit. We reassembled the brakes with new pads, bearings, and Royal Purple Synthetic Grease . Next we installed new bushings and ball joints from OPGI, and then the parts were ready to bolt together. Our new brake lines were formed with a kit from YearOne . Finally, we shot the underside of the body with some PPG DP90 Epoxy black primer followed by a coat of 3M Body Shutz for protection. The wheelhouses were coated with roll on Herculiner truck bed liner to make them bulletproof, and then we mated the body to the chassis with the help of a body mount bushing kit from OPGI .
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 The quarter panels on our 1965 Chevelle did not look terrible at first glance, but they showed some issues the more we looked. We elected to attack the passenger side first, as it boasted a botched repair job and a big rust hole over the wheel opening. We were happy to find that the inner wheelhouses were in great shape. When we started this project, we could not find replacement complete quarter panels. Now, of course, OPGI sells complete reproduction "to the roof" panels, but we chose to use their quarter panel skin to make our repairs. The twist on this repair is that we chose to use 3M 's Panelbond adhesive to "glue" the panel in place. Why? The Panelbond greatly reduces the chaces of warpage and future corrosion. Watch the video to see more.
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 Our '65 Chevelle's body had some rust holes in the floor and trunk floor areas, so we created some patch panels from a parts car floor and replaced the trunk floor sections with new pieces from OPGI. The main goal was to create repairs that were not obvious without the need for lots of body filler. The approach called for making patches that fit the holes exactly, butt welding them with a MIG welder, than lightly grinding the edges to clean up the seams. The 3-piece trunk floors required drilling the spot welds from the lower braces before trimming the new panels and welding them in. Overall, it was a pretty clean repair.
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 When we started building our 1965 Chevelle project, complete new quarter panels were not reproduced in the aftermarket. Now, however, OPGI has released these full sized complete panels to repair the rusty or damaged quarters on your car. We're going to install one on our '65, but here are some close-up photos of these new stampings for your review. The things we liked are the completeness of the panel... it replaces the entire quarter from the bottom pinch-welds all the way to the roof, from the area around the tail light all the way to the complete door jamb. We also liked the accuracy of the stamping, as the lines and curves are all crisp and accurate. It's been a long time coming, but these new reproduction quarters for '64 & '65 Chvelles were worth the wait. Check it out! A complete video install of this panel will be posted on here soon!
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