1970 Chevelle SS 454   

3/4 drivers front
Side view
3/4 rear drivers
 
Drag radial view
Passenger side
Front view
   

As of late March 2006, I began the engine rebuilding story on this car.  The car came with a 454 when I bought it and it ran pretty good.  A little loopy for the cam, but pretty solid.  After a few months, I started having trouble starting or idling.  I attributed that to the carb being out of tune or running rich.  The exhaust smelled rich to me.  However, I couldn't dial it back any without taking the carb apart.  It was a Holley 750 DP Model 4160.  I bought a kit, new jets, and power valves.  I cleaned it, and rebuilt it.  I managed to swap the back jets in the front but found that error before getting it back on the engine.  I fired the car up and had to re-tune the needles to get to idle.  After fooling with it for a few minutes, I noticed the fuel line was leaking.  I turned the engine off and cleaned up the gas.  I began cranking again to see if the leak was still there. 

Well, it was.  The carb backfired through the carb and set the fuel on the manifold on fire.  FIRE!  SH*T!  I jumped out and ran for the garage.  I keep two extinguishers in the garage.  I pulled the pin and gave her a squeeze.  One snuff and the fire was out.  However, there was white powder everywhere.  I mean everywhere.  The next day I started cleaning it up.  Water, a toothbrush, and anything else I could find.  After I got the engine and car clean, I surveyed the damage.  I turned the key to see if I had power or had smoked all the wires.  No power.

I checked the battery and found it was shot.  I removed it and purchased and Interst*ate battery.  I next started replacing wires and melted vacuum lines.  I dumped the carb because it was full of powder and the outside looked like it had been in a fire.  Imagine that.  I took an entire weekend and replaced everything that was burnt.  While I had parts out and wires removed I cleaned some more.  Got it in pretty good shape too.  After that I picked up an Edelbr*ck AVS 800 CFM carb.  Adjustable vacuum secondaries is what AVS stands for.  This is a big step by Edelbro*ck to get the carbs some tunability like the Holleys.  I decided to go with the AVS because I have had good luck with these carbs and bad luck with Holleys.  unfortunately that trend is continuing.  Long story short, some tuning, new plugs, wires, rotor, cap, coil, etc and the car was running again.  Running good too.  The EB carbs have much better throttle response down low than Holleys in my opinion.  I got her running and had a lean/stumble.  I pulled the plugs again and noticed that there was a lot of build up on several.  Great, it's burning oil.  Checked the oil and noticed it was over a quart low.  Confirmed.  So, some limping along for a few months and I decided to pull the engine and rebuild it. 

Here's the images from that work.

Just getting started
Hey, where's the AC clutch
It broke off last summer....
Dump that HEI
 
Alumitech radiator
All accessories removed
 
Nasty looking fuel pump
Valve covers off and distributor pulled
 
Double valve springs and roller rockers.  Sweet!
 
 
 
Look at the size of those ports...
 
Got a little port matching going on here
Intake matches the heads.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The block is back from the machine shop.  They painted it.  Bummer.  I don't know if they cleaned it well or not, so I scrubbed it again and tried to remove was much as I could.  I'm gonna paint it my way!  :-)
Wiring 101 in class today.  Red wires on the right are for the alt.  New charging system installed to support the 140 amp alt.  Green wires with connector on lower left is the AC pressure switch wire.  Pink & yellow in the middle are for the HEI.  On the windshield, wiring diagrams, connectors, shrink tubing, etc.
Here's the electric fans on the radiator.  This is before trimming.  It's a pretty close fit.  I will use weatherstripping to get a good seal all around after I get it to fit right.
Trimming in process.
Getting there.  Close fit, but needs more help.  I need about 1/8" of clearance for the fans.  The will fit close, which is what I want.
This connector goes to the relay mounted on the AC condensor box.  Unfortunately, when it connected, I had about a foot of excess wiring harness to store around it.  In this case, I decided to high the harness and make the connector wires longer.  This is where it was when I started.
This is the result.  Needed to make sure I got the connection right.
More fan stuff.  Here are the two relays mounted on the radiator support between the two driver' side headlights.  Wiring to follow later.  The horn relay is just to the right and up.  Close to get the full 12 volts.  A 10 gauge wire runs from the horn relay to the junction block hidden under the drivers side firewall fender.  Direct connection from the alt from there.
Camshaft going in for the third time.  One bearing was slightly cocked and prevented the cam going in all the way.
Look, it's a crank!  Big ole boy installed.  The Wife, Nance, was helping that night and
Close up of the crank and the #1 main cap.
Here's the piston parts before assembly.  I am impressed, this is a really nice set of parts.  Good quality.
Close up of the piston.
Fully assembled.  Now only 7 more to go.
Reading for installation.  The images don't show it, but these are big pistons.
Everything is installed and the one piece pan gasket in place.  This was well worth the money!
All buttoned up on the bottom and front.
  I kinda fell out of the install process.  I made lots of progress, but forgot to take images.  Let me cover some background.  I assembled the engine.  I took it to the machine shop for break in and dyno runs.  They were able to break the cam in for me, but called and reported the engine was burning a lot of oil.  Not good.  No dyno runs were made and I picked up the engine.  I tore it back down with the phone help of the engine builder at the shop.  During disassembly, which was quick.  I remembered this was a stroker motor and asked if the oil support ring was there.  Basically, with a stroker, the wrist pin moves up the piston and breaks through the oil ring groove.  Therefore, there is ring support missing from the oil support groove.  See the image of the piston above.  Anyway, my set of rings did not come with the support ring.  A quick call to Competition Products rectified it with an overnight shipment.  I installed the rings, reassembled the engine, and returned it the machine shop the next week.  Dozens of pulls later, and no oil smoke, netted 517 hp and 585 ft lbs of torque, max. 

On Dec. 9th, some friends came to town to help me install the engine.  So, it's in, and I am slowing putting stuff back on the car.  The problem encountered, was the passenger side headers would not fit, they were hitting the AC box.  I decided not to install them, but get the engine and tranny in while I had help.  A few days later, I pulled the AC box out and installed the header.  I will test fit the AC box right side to determine what is hitting, if anything.  It might have just been trying to fit it in crooked that causing the problem.  BUT, since the AC is out, I decided to send it to Classic Auto Air for refurb.   They will refurb my condensor, evaporator, install a new dryer, and calibrate a POA valve to run R134a.  That should help my AC perform much better.  So, now we are up to date.  The engine & tranny is in, headers are on, and I am progressing.
Here's the engine in.  Also in the image is my custom engine lifting bar.  Don't be fooled, BBC are heavy!!  I did this so I could pick up the engine by the head holes without scratching the paint off.  The intake was not going to support a lifting plate and the powder coated intake was too easily damaged to use the intake bolt holes.  One of a kind there, and for sale now I have the engine in  :-)
Passenger side with the header installed and AC box removed.  One header bolt did not line up properly, so I had to do some tedious hand filing.
Here's the new transmission cooling lines installed.  They look much better than the 36 year old beat up, bent, nicked, greasy ones I took out. 
These are the power steering brackets before installing.  Look pretty good?  Powder coated.  I paid about $125 locally to have all the brackets powder coated black.  Worth the green.  Much better than paint.
Since I had to remove the inner fender on the passenger side so I could get the header in, I decided to throw it away along with the driver's side.  They were made of plastic and were pretty much trashed.  Plastic inner fenders were used on Monte Carlos, but not on Chevelles in 1970.
Here's what the front end looks like before removing everything to get to the condenser.
Ta-ta, the after view.  The condenser and dryer can be seen.
This is what the condensor looked like when I got it out.  It appears to be in pretty good shape for an original part.  The rubber isolators were pretty much trashed, but everything else looks good.
The evaporator is the same, good condition.
Here's the passenger side new inner fender - steel.  I was hoping to not have to paint it, but since it's scratched, I will have to.  I also have to remove that stupid label  Can't believe they stuck that on there.  It doesn't come off easily either.
And the other side....
Here I am undercoating the fender first.  I will paint it the other side with semi-gloss black paint and hit it with a coat of semi-gloss clear.
These images show the brackets I made to mount the dual electric fans to the aluminum radiator.  I wanted dual fans to keep the BBC cool in the hot Houston summers.  The brackets are made of .060" aluminum sheet.  I used a 24" sheet metal bender.  To make one bracket for the whole fan assembly, I would need at least a 28" bender.  I didn't have it, so I ended up making two for each side.  I created a drawing if anyone is interested.
This is close ups of the brackets mounted to the radiator and the fan assembly.  The black round head screws came with the fans.  I will replace them with SS when I remove the fans to complete the wiring
This is the finished assembly.  Looks pretty good.
Here's the radiator mounted in the car.  The top radiator mount has to have the back edged trimmed down to get it to to fit.  I might have to make another bracket too to hold it down.  Not sure yet.
This the clearance I have between the brackets and the radiator support at the bottom.
This is the clearance between the water pump pulley and the fans.  I have a long water pump on the car, which I could switch to a short one, but I would have to replace the pulleys.  Not ready to do that.  I'm going to get some shorter head bolts, probably some round head screws, maybe Allen head.
  Been stuck in a rut for months waiting on parts.  The AC system was sent out and finally returned after about 8 weeks.  The factory system was cleaned, pressure tested, and restored to factory.  Folks at Classic Auto Air did the trick.  Couldn't install the evaporator box, so the inner fender couldn't go in.  Couldn't install the inner fender, so the front valence panel, grill, and bumper couldn't be installed.  Couldn't finish the wiring without knowing the path. 

To make matters even worse, I had a feeling the new Hedman headers might be a problem.  Sure enough, I took the old evaporator box and tried to installed it with the headers in place.  I needed another 3/8" of clearance to allow the install and get some gap between the plastic box and the header tubes.  Several tech calls and e-mails to Hedman didn't help.  I finally gave up and posted a message on Team Chevelle.  Found a guy who had factory AC '70 SS like mine and he was using Sanderson headers.  BBC hugger shorties.  I called them and the assured my my troubles were over and they gave me a money back guaruntee.  I bought them and they fit great.  More clearance on the driver's side and more than 1/2" clearance on the passenger side for the AC box.  Sweet.

Headers are in, AC evap box is in, inner fender is in, additional wiring in place and....  Found the bolt holes for the inner fender don't quite line up with the mounting holes in the fender.  Sucks.  My favorite rotary tool and I had some good times cutting slots and clearancing holes.  Also found many of my inner fender bolts were a tad rusty.  I ordered a fender bolt kit from OPGI.  Well, guess what.  The clip nuts are too short for most of the locations.  I begun to salvage back through the ones I had to find the best bolts and clip nuts.  I didn't want to have to go buy more since I already sunk $26 in the bag that I had.  Along the way, I found that Lowe's carries quite a few of these little clip nuts of different lengths.  I bought all they had along with several replacement bolts.  In addition, I found a web site that has every nut, bolt, fastener, clip, washer, everything for the car.  They even have the correct plating for concours restos.  Take a gander over at AMK Products.

So, I'm ready to install the remote starter solenoid and I need some SST fasteners, so I am waiting on those to arrive.  I have to make a support plate out of aluminum and bolt it to the inner fender inside of the battery so it won't be to easy to see.  After that get's wired up, I will get the power wires in place and finish the light wiring.  Oh yeah, those inner fenders I was complaining about... yeah, they don't have the pass through holes for the front turn lamp and side marker lights.  I had to buy some metal hole cutters to do that.  Makes lots of hot, sharp shavings that go everywhere.  I even had the shop vac running to try and collect the debris.  So, here's some latest images.
Here is the controller for the electric fans.  The plate is aluminum and will be used to mount the controller to the side of the fan shroud.  It's done, I just don't have an image yet.  I will get one before I install the radiator.
Sweet!  New AC evaporator box with expansion valve & newly calibrated for R-134a POA valve.
Here is what the bay looks like right now.  I need to replace the heater hoses and get some different fittings.
Passenger side header
Driver side header
Here's some good pics of the Sanderson headers I bought.  I needed some block hugging headers to clear the AC and steering shaft.  The fit like a charm.  The flanges are 3/8" thick so you can get some good clamping force and hopefully no leaks.  I used Stage 8 header bolts to hold them in place.  Finish is awesome.  The flanges are machined flat before coating.  The tubes are welded inside and out.
   
   
Lots of changes at this point.  I got lazy taking pictures.  Here the AC system is installed.  The intake is blocked off with a piece of wood.  I still have the junk chrome valve covers.  It's starting to take shape pretty well here.  The radiator is being held in place with wire ties.  :)  The transmission line is also sticking up over the radiator on the left side.  Still have unconnected wires on the right near the brake booster.

Check out the next image
These images are where it is right now.  I am ready to start the bad boy, but something is wrong with my remote solenoid and it is preventing my starting from doing anything.  I am getting power to the solenoid, but nothing after.  Might be a ground problem, but I have to remove the whole thing and check it out.  I have the distributor in, wires on, the billet aluminum valve covers are on, radiator is in.  The radiator looks sweet!!!!  I love it. 
Here's a pic of the fan controller.  Wish I could have found a way to make 90° connections. for the wires.  Power and ground are 10 AWG wire, the power, manual on, & manual off are 16 AWG.  The temp sensor wires are 20 or 22 AWG.  Not sure.  I covered the whole thing with heat shrink tubing to protect it.
This is a shot of the Alumitech aluminum radiator, with the dual 12" fans attached.  The aluminum brackets I made myself to mount everything tool.  I am happy with the result.  I would have liked to had better tools so that I could trimmed the edges and rounded the corners more.  But, all in all a successful result.
   
   
   

 

In high school I owned a 1970 Chevelle that was my first car.  This lit the fire on Chevelles for me.  Here are a few images of my old Green Mist Chevelle.

               

My second Chevelle looked like this

Finally, check out these other muscle cars my father owns!  A 1965 Chevelle El Camino and a 1968 Pontiac LeMans coup