The complete 1969 Chevelle Weblog series. Here you'll find all of our weblogs relating to the complete transformation of this 1969 Chvelle SS496 convertible. These blogs are supplimental content to the V8TV television episodes. We tend to put the really detialed stuff in the TV show, and give you a "behind the scenes" look at what we're doing with these short blogs. Some are fairly large files, so please be patient if they don't start right away.
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 We've cleared another hurdle with the SS496 project - the engine, transmission, and driveshaft are all installed in the car! We still are not 100% sure about our hood clearance issue, and the Hooker Super Comp headers needed a little massaging to fit, but at least it's all in the car. We bolted the 496 in the car, then installed the Turbo 400 tramsmission to the TCI SFI-spec felxplate and the TCI Breakaway torque converter. The Breakaway offers a 2400 RPM stall to deliver a good launch and decent highway cruising. We were considering a lower stall converter seeing that this car makes alot of torque at a low RPM, but we'll see how it feels on the street. We may be going through tires often! The header flanges on the head side were contacting the taller-than-stock ARP head bolts, so a little grinding was in order. Other than that, the ceramic-coated tubes look great. We also received the 17x8" V40 wheels from Vintage Wheel Works... these are awesome! Vintage Wheel Works builds some fantastic looking wheels, and the 2-piece V40 has the perfect look for this car... nostalgic and aggressive without too much flash. Wheels make a car, and these really kicked the SS496 up a notch. Stopping this big ragtop is being helped by a Hydratech Hydroboost system, which we installed and plumbed today.
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 New-style lighting not only looks great, it helps keep your car safe. This time, we're starting the install of several high-tech lighting products on the SS496 with the taillights. These are called Digi-Tails from Spaghetti Engineering, and they're LED lights that sequence or light up traditionally. You can see a demo video of these here . We also painted the engine Poppy Red, the original Chevy engine orange color to lend a stealth appearance to the SS496.
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 We had the 496 Engine shipped to our shop from Fast Times Motorworks, and now we're starting to transform it to look like it belongs in a 1969 Chevelle.
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 The final assembly begins on the SS496. This time, the convertible top mechanism went in, some trim, rear bumper... there's alot to do. The wiring job, engine install, and brake system are all up next. These are the days that turn into long nights... 11 days to go!
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 The moment of truth... the SS496's big block Chevy engine finally came to life on the Fast Times dyno! The Lunati reciprocating assembly under Holley heads and intake fired by an MSD Digital E-Curve Distributor spun it's way to over 550 HP and 572 Ft. Lbs. of torque at just 4400 RPM, and it idles smoothly at 750 RPM. The 150 HP NOS Nitrous shot will push this motor right up to the 700 HP mark on the track. The torque comes in bigtime and low in the rpm range producing a nice, big, flat torque curve that is going to be great fun to drive!
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 The 496 Big Block Chevy for the SS496 Chevelle is taking shape - which means the crew at Fast Times Motorworks literally had to change the shape of a few things to make it all match perfectly. They chose to mill the intake slightly to match the ports precicely, the trick Lunait rocker arms were machined to fit under extrememly short stock valve covers... little things that take time but make big differences. We'll hit the dyno later today!
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 We started building the 496 Chevy for the SS496 today at Fast Times Motorworks, but we had an issue with the head bolts. At any rate, here's a look at the shortblock and heads on the car. This piece also containes a quick lesson in flow bench operations and head porting. Tomorrow we dyno!
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 Even though we just got the SS496 back from the paint booth, we elected to wetsand and buff the car to make it mirror-flat. Tonight, John and Mark scuffed the car with 1500 grit 3M wetsand paper, tomorrow will be 2000, then the buffer brings the shine!
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 The momentus occasion has arrived - the SS496 Chevelle is painted! John shot 3 coats of PPG Deltron basecoat and 3 coats of PPG Concept 2002 clear for a great looking paint job right out of the SATA gun. Special thanks to Greg Bartnett at Meramac Heights Collision Center for letting us use their fantastic Blow Therm downdraft booth to spray the car and bake it without the worry of dust in the finish.
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 The SS496 is getting its last wrap in masking paper and tape in preparation for being loaded onto the trailer and heading to the paint booth!
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 The shop is getting a little chaotic these days, as everyone is anticipating the Chevelle finally getting painted in the next day or so. Today, we worked on trim details, installed the windshield, and masked and sprayed the bottom white part of the SS496's 2-tone paint scheme.
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