Tyler's 1971 Chevelle Restoration

[Nova Research Project]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: mockingbird812</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Great shot of your son and his pal Greg. I can see the resemblance (between you and <span style="color: #FF0000"> the fella on the right </span> [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/whistle.gif[/img] ) </div></div>
Yep, I am just a bit taller.... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]


We were talking while the dismantling was going on.

The engine in it is a later year 305. (GM SG 1 5.0 LG 16093627) in unknown condition with a Edelbrock intake and carb. But looks to never have been fully hooked up.

He wants to put a 400 in it with TH400. When he said this I was thinking SB 400 (Block castings 3951511 or 3951509). But checking the CBTN, it looks like the 1971 400 was the LS3 402 / 300 hp '854 block with '820 heads.

While the body and technical bits will be done right (maybe with a few unobtrusive mods like power windows) I have been steering him away from a BB due to the cost.

Which engine would be easier and less expensive, knowing that much of the current engine may not be salvageable?

He wants a cool ride that has some resale value. To build either to stock specs might get too costly to re-coop.

Thought's anyone?

Greg

[Salvatore]

You could probably get by with the 305. Maybe it needs to be gone over but that engine will perform OK for what you guys want to do. How about a stock 350 from that era? May find something local, Ebay or Craigslist in your area. Keep up the good work.

[Fallen-Antec]

Well i have $200 holding on a 350 with alum heads ready to drop and go for $500, so question is if i should buy that one for it for now but first i want to know if the 305 can crank over but id love to either do a LS for it or a L78 that's the ideal for me but if i did the L78 i think it be better with a 12 bolt rear ( i got a 10 ) Any thoughts?

[Nova Research Project]

Hello All,

It has been about a month since the last update. What with the holidays, weather, school, and work things did not line up until last weekend. Tyler and friend were able to get some more dissembled.

Just a few shots before they begin.







Now Details before:

[Nova Research Project]

More details:





And some action shots:

[Nova Research Project]

And then things ground to a halt. The 86 Blazer you see in the background above is Tyler's daily driver. At the auto parts store picking up a few parts Tyler hears some posi chatter on the rear while backing up. Then a loud pop.

I ask him to drive the car in a turn in the street in front of the house. Sure enough it looks like the posi was binding. Typical fix is to replace the oil and add some limited slip additive. Then drive figure eights.

Since Tyler needs 10 hours working cars every week for school and he has not had much experience on axles I figure he can handle this.

He pops the axle cover and sees this:




Tyler, Picking pieces of metal out of the housing.



Lots of shiny metal fragments. Not good [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/mad.gif[/img]

These axles have the gov lock type posi. Hard to rebuild and notorious for grenading for no reason. The fact that the Blazer has 260,000 on it and this just happened is a good thing. Next step is an after market Eaton Posi unit.

This will delay some of the Chevelle work and dig into the budget. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/cry.gif[/img]

Tomorrow promises to be a nice day so expect there to be time for both the Blazer and the Chevelle.

More later,
Greg