Hello everyone!
Being well into winter in Colorado, I have finally begun tearing down my Chevelle for what I am calling Project Mordor.
I will be taking this car... http://i.imgur.com/xtTPrlr.jpg
...A 1967 Chevelle Malibu 4-Door (originally gold on gold) and turning it into my dream car that I have been planning for going on 8 years now. The drivetrain will be a 2006-2007 LBZ. Due to its size, I will not be using the stock Allison transmission, instead opting for a built 4L80E (every Chevy transmission, including a Powerglide, will bolt right up!).
The first few steps, that will also take the most time, are:
Other than small custom details here and there, that is the bulk of the project.
As of right now, I have taken 4 rolling chassis and turned them into street legal, moderately powerful (most horsepower was 425/450 ftlbs), muscle cars. For the last 8 years I have wanted to build my dream car, and each time I went through the options, I kept coming back to diesel. I wanted uniqueness, difficulty, MPG, power (360hp/650ftlbs stock, 500hp/850ftlbs with a "mild" tune, outrageous in a 3k lb car.), and it is a project that I will get to complete with my brothers and Dad, maybe the last one we get to do together. I have no concern for resell value, if I did I would have gotten a 2 door. I've had coupes, and for this, I wanted something I could actually bring people along in.
I have a long (hopefully less than 2 year) road ahead of me, and I couldn't be more excited. Once I tackle the diesel, there's nothing stopping me from adding the electric FWD to turn this into an Turbodiesel AWD '67 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu 4-Door. :thumb:
Thanks for reading everyone, and I look forward to keeping you all irregularly updated!
Being well into winter in Colorado, I have finally begun tearing down my Chevelle for what I am calling Project Mordor.
I will be taking this car... http://i.imgur.com/xtTPrlr.jpg
...A 1967 Chevelle Malibu 4-Door (originally gold on gold) and turning it into my dream car that I have been planning for going on 8 years now. The drivetrain will be a 2006-2007 LBZ. Due to its size, I will not be using the stock Allison transmission, instead opting for a built 4L80E (every Chevy transmission, including a Powerglide, will bolt right up!).
The first few steps, that will also take the most time, are:
- Strip the car and clean every reused part (I hate working with dirty parts).
- Take the body off the frame.
- Box the center section of the frame and reinforce everything.
- Design and install custom roll cage. I will be attempting (if safe) a double hoop in the roof, so the rear is a relative mirror of the front. It is very, very important to me to retain seating in the rear. Both bench seats will be removed because of safety. I'll be sad to see them go as I've never had this unique of a driving experience of a car in my life. Plan is to replace both benches with 4 racing seats, but rear racing seats may look hideous. I plan to install and extend a center console all the way to the rear to hopefully make it look better. 3 point racing harnesses throughout, but provisions for 4+ point in the future if I want.
- Minitub if needed. I would like to get ~275/xx/18's all the way around. I am going for a square setup for better rotations, limit further contributing to understeer, and for a future plans.
- Smooth the fire wall and recess if needed. A Duramax is the same depth and width as a big block Chevy, it is just taller because of both the depth of the oil pans and the amount of accessories on top. I want to clear up more space in the front because it is going to be really tight with all the coolers and radiators up there, so I plan on having to notch back the center section of the fire wall 2" or so. I already have to widen the transmission tunnel a little for the 4L80E to be serviceable (not nearly as much as the Allison), so this is the best time to recess it. It will allow me to both center the weight in the car better, as well as lower the engine down because of extra oil pan clearance.
- New suspension. I am leaning towards air bags, but haven't made a decision yet. New upper and lower front control arms will be absolutely necessary, and I may be "remote" mounting the shocks because of future clearance issues.
- New rearend. Haven't decided which yet. Gearing will probably be very high, so the low 2.xx's.
- Install new InfinityBox wiring system. These things, while expensive, are so damn cool and will really clear up a lot of headaches later. Not to mention they are incredible capable wiring systems. http://infinitybox.com/
- Dakota Digital VHX gauge cluster. The only extra gauges I will need will be boost, transmission temp, and pyrometer. It's possible to have the display on the cluster show these, but I would have to push a button to scroll through each of them, they don't have a dedicated gauge. http://www.dakotadigital.com/index....t_id=798/category_id=424/mode=prod/prd798.htm
- Reuse truck radiator/intercooler, or do split radiators if it improves space. Mounting at an angle with electric motors is also an option.
- Battery bank moved to rear.
- ~40 gallon fuel cell in the trunk. The trunk on this thing is really, really massive, so there is plenty of room for a low and wide fuel cell that won't affect my ground clearance. Tuned diesel trucks can get into the mid 25's for MPG already. Rough napkin math is you gain 3-5 MPG per every 1,000 lbs of weight you shed. The Chevelle is already 4,000 lbs lighter than the HD truck, minus how much weight I add beefing up the frame, adding the roll cage, etc.. Even conservatively at 2 MPG/1k lbs, I will be at 32 MPG. This doesn't take into account much lower rolling resistance, custom tunes, much better aerodynamics, etc. My goal is to break 40mpg (this type of project has already hit 36-38 really consistently), or hit the limit of the Duramax MPG, whichever comes first. Diesels can do insanely low idling fuel ratios, I think 40+ is well within reach.
- Turbo inlet was originally going to be through one of the headlight openings like the Chevelle in the link below, but I like the look of 4 headlight too much to do that. I will instead find, or make, a scoop to pull from under the center section of the bumper, around where the hood latch is.
- Exhaust routing TBD. It will be 4-5" from the collector back, so it may be routed through the crossmember. May end up double-mufflering it if it is a single outlet, depending on what it sounds like. Going with Magnaflows as I had them on my last Camaro and loved them. Quite a big difference than my multiple sets of Dronemasters.
- Keeping the crank windows, yay! They, along with the wing window, just feel right.
- New side mirrors? Side mirrors on this car were dealer added most of the time (including mine), so the variation in their placement is huge. I can't open my wing windows without swinging my side mirrors away first. Definitely going to fix that, but might go with a more modern mirror at the same time. Maybe something with signals?
- Rebuilding stock A/C with better parts. Not having to buy a VintageAir setup frees up a lot of money to be spent elsewhere.
- I am fairly sure I will be leaving the stock interior gold. It is in really, really good shape (no scratches, only package tray is faded, seals are great), and I still want it to look like the Chevelle I love. Other than the tires and nice paint, and sounding off, I want this car to be a sleeper as much as possible, inside and out.
- Color will either matte blue, matte black, or Artesian Turquoise (old Chevy color) inspired by this amazing car: http://image.adam.automotive.com/f/...chevelle-sport-sedan-front-three-quarter-view
Other than small custom details here and there, that is the bulk of the project.
As of right now, I have taken 4 rolling chassis and turned them into street legal, moderately powerful (most horsepower was 425/450 ftlbs), muscle cars. For the last 8 years I have wanted to build my dream car, and each time I went through the options, I kept coming back to diesel. I wanted uniqueness, difficulty, MPG, power (360hp/650ftlbs stock, 500hp/850ftlbs with a "mild" tune, outrageous in a 3k lb car.), and it is a project that I will get to complete with my brothers and Dad, maybe the last one we get to do together. I have no concern for resell value, if I did I would have gotten a 2 door. I've had coupes, and for this, I wanted something I could actually bring people along in.
I have a long (hopefully less than 2 year) road ahead of me, and I couldn't be more excited. Once I tackle the diesel, there's nothing stopping me from adding the electric FWD to turn this into an Turbodiesel AWD '67 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu 4-Door. :thumb:
Thanks for reading everyone, and I look forward to keeping you all irregularly updated!
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