Couple old clunker Chevelles.

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MEJ1990TM

MEJ1990TM

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"Hidden Valley", CA
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MEJ1990TM1
The first car is a '70 Super Sport. It was bought new by my dad. He picked it up March 31st, 1970. It originally came with an LS5 454, M22, and 3.31 12 bolt posi. The original engine is awaiting rebuild. Not sure when that will happen. The original transmission is out in the garage. I went through it and completely rebuilt it. Since the car is getting raced we figured it would be best to leave the original transmission out. It currently has an M22 that I pieced together. For a Muncie that I put together for less than $300 I couldn't be happier with it. It's not the nicest gear set by any means, but I used the best synchro rings ,and sliders, that I had. The thing shifts as nice as any Muncie I've run, even when leaning on it. The car still has it's original 12 bolt rear end.

In addition to the original transmission, we have also rebuilt the engine that is currently in it and the suspension. Mechanically the car drives like it would have in 1970. Now we are going to focus on making the car look decent again. It's got the usual stuff. Headers, Holley carb, aluminum intake, and Hurst shifter. The first picture is the first trip to the track with me driving it. The second picture is right after the cam break in after we rebuilt the engine that's in it now. It was taken before the hood was bolted back on.

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The second car is my '71 Malibu. I bought this in September of 2009. When I got it there was a fair number of parts missing. It came with a 350, TH400 and a 10 bolt one legger. Through scrounging around I was able to gather the parts to convert it to a four speed. I knew it was going to get a stick shift before I ever got the car home. We did the change over in May of last year. That was the first time I moved the car under it's own power. I originally put a 2.64 Super T-10 in there. I drove it for quite a while that way, then I eventually put the M22 that is currently in the '70 in this car. While I was driving the car with the first M22 I rebuilt the Super T with a 3.42 gear set. The 2.64 gear set was noisy because it was run low on gear oil before I got it. I was fine with that because I was used to gear whine since I had been driving the '70 with it's M22. After a month or so I put the 3.42 Super T in the car.

I eventually sold the 3.42 Super T. I then put my second M22 in the '71. This transmission was out of a '72 Camaro. It was a real nice original Rock Crusher. On top of all my four speed shenanigans I also pulled the engine out and freshened it up. I put rings and bearings in it. I also lapped the valves in and installed new valve guide seals. I replaced the cast iron intake with an aluminum Holley intake, as well as added a 3310 Holley carb. I originally pulled the engine because the rear main seal had started to leak something fierce. I know they can be changed with the engine still in the car, but I figured I'd take this opportunity to freshen it up. I re-used the factory hydraulic cam.

The last major thing I have done to the car was added a 3.31 12 bolt posi. If I have any say over the matter this car will have a future in drag racing. I've got an LS7 454 out in storage that I am going to freshen up. I am also hunting for another 12 bolt housing. This one I am going to build with 4.56 gears. The car will also get a Ford Toploader wide ratio one of these days. I've always had fun driving ,and tinkering with, these old clunkers.

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The engine bay picture was taken last year. I had the engine out once before now, but I didn't do the rings, bearings, or rear main seal. I should have just done it all at once. You know what they say about hind sight. I always tell people that the HEI, Holley carb, aluminum intake, and headers make it look faster than it really is. It's still just a wheezing 8:1 350 with it's itty bitty factory hydraulic cam.

Here is a short video I made while driving the '71 one night.



More pictures can be found on my photobucket page. Just some old junk. 👍
 
For "junk" I'd say those are pretty decent, even if the '70 doesn't look like a rotisserie resto ;)

Nice pair!
 
Thanks, Donald.

I started driving the '70 regularly at 17 and my friends have always been asking me when we are going to do the body work and paint it. I always tell them, "After the mechanical stuff is done." Sure, with the money that has gone into the car in the last five or so years we probably could have done the body work and gotten it painted. If we did that it wouldn't run anywhere near as well as it does now, it also wouldn't handle anywhere near as well as it does now. I have always figured how the car ran is more important than looks. I'd be lying though if I said I didn't wish for the car to look like it did when he bought it.

The car was wrecked in 1980, and the front clip, and doors, were replaced. That explains the primer. The roof was just so heat checked that it wasn't really possible to get it looking half way decent. The stripes are pretty checked on the trunk lid, but when I have it waxed I think it looks pretty decent for forty year old paint.

I have been thinking about doing the bit of body work that is required on the '71 and then doing a cheap enamel paint job on it. I think it'd look better than it does now. There are various dings, and areas where paint has flaked off/cracked. That picture I posted is the cars good side. When I think about that though I think abou tthe LS7 in storage. I'd really like to get that 454 together.
 
Nice muscle cars, but nothing gets my heart racing like a pro tourer.;) Have you seen the Roadster Shop Chevelle? What. A. Weapon.
 
MEJ1990TM
When I think about that though I think about the LS7 in storage. I'd really like to get that 454 together.
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You're welcome. It sounds to me like you've got your priorities straight. Nothing worse than having a nice-looking, non-running car. Been there, done that, hated it.

Best of luck with sorting it, I can only imagine how nice the thing will be when everything's sorted out on both of them. 👍
 
Paulie
Nice muscle cars, but nothing gets my heart racing like a pro tourer.;) Have you seen the Roadster Shop Chevelle? What. A. Weapon.
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I can appreciate what the Pro Touring cars are capable of, but I have always been a little partial to the Day 2 type cars. Keep them pretty much as they looked from the factory, but add the headers, Hurst shifter, and upgrade the intake/carb.

ozyran
You're welcome. It sounds to me like you've got your priorities straight. Nothing worse than having a nice-looking, non-running car. Been there, done that, hated it.

Best of luck with sorting it, I can only imagine how nice the thing will be when everything's sorted out on both of them. 👍
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The '70 will be just another red and black Chevelle. :dunce:

The one difference is that car was born red with black stripes, and what it is badged as. I've never really cared much for cloning cars, to each his own. The '71 will get a blacked out grill, SS type dash, and possibly the SS type wheels, but I am going to leave all the emblems that say Super Sport off.
 
MEJ1990TM
The '70 will be just another red and black Chevelle. :dunce:
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Maybe you see a lot of Chevelles in your area, but here in sunny Florida, even in the summer there aren't too many running around. So yeah, it may be just another red and black Chevelle but the General's not making any more of 'em. And kudos for not doing another SS clone. I've seen them for sale on places like eBay and cars-on-line.com and wondered why people had to clone the SS. I can understand why, but still doesn't make sense to me.
 
ozyran
Maybe you see a lot of Chevelles in your area, but here in sunny Florida, even in the summer there aren't too many running around. So yeah, it may be just another red and black Chevelle but the General's not making any more of 'em. And kudos for not doing another SS clone. I've seen them for sale on places like eBay and cars-on-line.com and wondered why people had to clone the SS. I can understand why, but still doesn't make sense to me.
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From March to September we have a thing every Friday night called Cruisin Grand. It's a cruise/car show that takes place down Grand Avenue. There are consistently 2-3 red and black '70 Chevelles that show up. One is an original 402 4 speed car, but the rest are clones. One is cloned into an LS5, and the other an LS6. There is also another red and black one I see every now and again that has a 502 in it.
 
MEJ1990TM
From March to September we have a thing every Friday night called Cruisin Grand. It's a cruise/car show that takes place down Grand Avenue. There are consistently 2-3 red and black '70 Chevelles that show up. One is an original 402 4 speed car, but the rest are clones. One is cloned into an LS5, and the other an LS6. There is also another red and black one I see every now and again that has a 502 in it.
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Sounds like you live in a town I'd like to live in, just to see the regular cruises in the warm months.
 
We have Cruisin Grand six months out of the year, and various car shows throughout the year. Not many car shows in your neck of the woods?

I can't wait to take the '70 back to the track. I know the cars all around performance was nowhere near what it's capable of. I re-jetted the Holley, and put the short yellow spring in the secondary diaphram. It had the black spring in it to begin with. From what I have read that means it was not getting to full throttle. The car comes on strong a lot quicker now with that short yellow spring in there. I'd really like to try a 750 double pumper on it though. I think that's what the car would like since it's not getting power shifted.

I was out playing with the '71 tonight. Doing a little shifting without raising on the throttle. Even at just barely cracking the secondaries (Quadrajet) it barked them when I hit second gear. I just don't think I have the nerve to try shifting at any more than half throttle.
 
Not that I've seen. I've seen car shows, but no regular cruises and the car shows seem to spring up randomly. There's nice iron out here but I don't really see it in the wild, that's for sure.

Sounds like your '71 might try to get sideways if you go for a full-throttle shift. Could be fun if you do it right, up until the point you hear something underneath go SNAP!
 
ozyran
Not that I've seen. I've seen car shows, but no regular cruises and the car shows seem to spring up randomly. There's nice iron out here but I don't really see it in the wild, that's for sure.

Sounds like your '71 might try to get sideways if you go for a full-throttle shift. Could be fun if you do it right, up until the point you hear something underneath go SNAP!
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Well, it might try, but I don't think it'd do a very good job. Then again, who knows? Those 205/70R14's on the back dont' exactly grip very well. That 2.20 1st gear isn't real desireable for drag racing, but it sure makes em shift easy. On the Chevelle website I go to I have "The only way to shift a four speed is like you are trying to break the stick off." I like to live by that motto a lot of times. I can't see the point in owning a stick shift if you aren't going to try and break your shifter from time to time.

Some will say that is my age showing, but I know guys in their 60's who are still driving stick shifts. They may not be as fool hardy as they were when they were my age, but they still get ambitious from time to time.
 
I don't think age has anything to do with preference for gear changing. In my opinion I think it really depends on whether someone likes shifting their own gears or not. My dad's 52 and won't consider any new truck unless it's got the manual gearbox; I'm 29 myself and love driving stick, even if it means having to focus that much more on my driving. Nothing like the sound of a downshift with the nice, resounding burble to follow.

Automatics have their advantages, but in normal day-to-day driving, entertainment is not one of them. Some people might argue the brakestanding perspective, but I really don't think anyone goes lighting 'em up at every stoplight. If they do, their trans and rear diff might not have long lives.
 
The automatics do have their advantages. I will admit that, but they are not advantages that will make me change my mind. With an automatic there is no risk of missing a gear while you are showing off to your friends. I did that one time. It made me want to crawl up under the dash and stay there. Now that I think about it that wasn't with my friends in the car, my dad was with me. We were taking the '71 to In N Out one night. I got a little ambitious and went to hit second gear. Heard nothing but that horrible sound I know every stick driver hears every now and again.

The video in my first post is more or less an average of my speed shifting. There are some times where I am really on it, and I can shift faster than that. There are the other days where I am using a bit more of the clutch when I shift so I am slower. I've heard guys express concern about the 2-3 shift on a four speed, but for some reason that has always seemed to be my best shift. I guess I just have to be different.

Now if only I could hold my foot to the floor and really bang some gears. Maybe channel some of that Ronnie Sox essence.
 
My my, how quickly things can change. I know I previously mentioned the farthest I've put the throttle down without raising for a shift was half. I must have been feeling ballsy this morning. I took the '71 out for a little cruise. I was going to make a couple short videos of a little shifting without raising, which I did. I made two 30 second videos. One was at getting to the point where the secondaries would start to open. The second was just into the secondaries just a little bit. I figured that was enough recording and I kept on cruising.

While driving I got an itch to hot dog around a bit. Got on it once at a little under half throttle. No audible increase in RPM. I was really feeling like I could damn near power shift the sucker. My mind was completely clear. I was just focusing on the road, and the car. I was running it from stop light to stop light on a deserted road on the outskirts of town. Well, a spirited half throttle run led to a little more, then a little more after that. The fourth time getting on it I was at about 3/4 throttle. Still no audible increase in RPM, it was just barking the tires on each shift. When I was just about home I squeezed in two more romps. This time my foot was on the floor, and I was banging gears. Man, I cannot say just how great that felt. I don't know which I am more surprised over, the fact I actually did a full blown power shift or the fact I was shifting hard enough to not hear any increase in RPM.

I know this 350 is a stocker engine that doesn't rev real fast, but still. Going from full throttle under load, to that time of being under no load, it just doesn't seem real to be able to shif that fast. I'll try to get the better of the two videos uploaded. Keep in mind the one I will be posting is not at full throttle. I will probably go out some time and make a full throttle video.
 
Sounds to me like you're learning the feel for the old girl, which is good. I'm still working on shifting in my Mustang and haven't quite been able to get it. So, good on you! Sounds to me like you're on a good track thus far.
 
Thanks. I think things are starting to come together for this car and I. It seems like I have got the right transmission, the right shifter, and a clutch linkage that is free of any binding. The nice thing about that close ratio Muncie is the gears are so close together you can power shift them without having to slick shift them. The Toploader I want to run will have to be slick shifted before being able to power shift. From what the local drag racers have told me they only figured about one tenth of a second in difference between a run in which they speed shifted, and one in which they power shifted. To me there has always just been an aura associated with being able to successfully comple a full throttle shift. I'll just have to keep on doing it so I can get better and more polished.

What seems to be the hang up with your Mustang?
 
Still though, that sounds like an accomplishment in and of itself. Nothing more satisfying than mastering the machine!

The Mustang isn't really a problem, it's more my own footwork. Sometimes I'll get the gear changes nice and smooth; other times, it's more of a clutch drop, which isn't good for the drivetrain. If I take my time I can nail each shift, but if I try to speedshift I end up screwing up the footwork.

I've only had the Mustang for a couple of weeks though, so I'm figuring that as I spend more time driving the car I'll learn to shift better. This isn't my first manual trans and certainly not the first V-8 I've owned backed by a manual trans, but it's been about 4 years or so since I last owned anything with 4 wheels that had a manual transmission.
 
The one thing for sure is if we could start out at our best it would not be near as satisfying as it is when we work our way up. I've made several videos of driving the '70 and at the time I used to think my early videos were some real hot shifting. Compared to now I was shifing like an old lady. They say it's like riding a bike. I'm sure it will all come back. I haven't had enough time in the game to walk away from it and have to learn all over again though.

Here is that video I mentioned. Just a short 1/3 throttle jaunt up to around 60 or so. Errrr, I mean 45. :D



Like one of the drag racers told me once. A power shift is just like a normal shift, only a lot faster. When I first started out trying to shift fast it's like I would do five seperate motions. Raise off throttle, hit clutch pedal, move shifter, release clutch pedal, get back on throttle. Then I started working on doing it so all of the actions were basically happening at once. Just something about a four gear I can't explain it's hold on me. From day to day traffic, to driving out on windy roads, and romping it through the gears in a straight away.
 
FEEL the torque! BWAHAHAHAHA!

[/evil laughter]

Nice video.

Well, if I had any advice regarding walking away from it: don't. Don't do it for a wife/girlfriend/significant other, don't do it for a car with better fuel economy, don't do it for any other reason other than not being physically able to drive something that's standard shift.

I'm not lamenting having a hard time getting back in the groove, and I certainly know that there's nothing more satisfying than getting the hang of something. For me, learning to ride a motorcycle at slow speeds was like that...had trouble, had trouble, had trouble, then somehow, bam! it came to me. When it did, it was so very, very satisfying. So yeah, I can relate to that.
 
Made a video last night ,or this morning rather, of some full throttle power shifting. The sound isn't very good. I really short shifted the 2-3 shift. Must have been my sub-conscious trying to safe guard in case things went south. Got to love a dash pad that bowed from heat. It doesn't have a screw on the drivers side corner so it sometimes flops around like you see there.



I guess I was wrong when I said the transmission in the '70 wouldn't take a power shift. While out driving today I hit it with a couple half throttle shifts. It took them without a hiccup. Then in another straight I put my foot all the way in the loud pedal and nailed some gears. It wanted to go sideways when I hit second. :dunce:
 
Couldn't really tell on the dash with the lighting, but that sounded pretty good. Seems like you're becoming quite the driver with those Chevelles!
 
Thanks, again. It is quite fun to be just driving the cars. Even more so when you are trying to break the stick off. And to think, I never would have tried this if it wasn't for that dried up Q-Jet accelerator pump. I hadn't yet bought a kit for the carb ,but I still wanted to "abuse" the car a little bit. I guess nature forced me to evolve. :D

Now if only I could get a decent set of tires, and get proper launching technique down. All in due time.
 
Decent tires are good, but half the fun of ratty old tires is lighting 'em up without feeling guilty :D

I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think it's really all that bad to romp on it every so often. Gotta shake things up a bit somehow. All the time, though, is another story. Just means you get to overhaul the engine that much sooner is all :D
 
ozyran
Decent tires are good, but half the fun of ratty old tires is lighting 'em up without feeling guilty :D

I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think it's really all that bad to romp on it every so often. Gotta shake things up a bit somehow. All the time, though, is another story. Just means you get to overhaul the engine that much sooner is all :D
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Overhauling the engine, sending a once stationary spider gear on a trip through your whole rear end, breaking an axle, stripping gears in the transmission from the aluminum case expanding causing the gears to spread apart, and on a worst case sending a rod through your block ,or dropping a valve. Just little things like that which can happen when things go from good, to not so good. I don't think there is any real risk of breaking drive train stuff when power shifting on street tires. The tires will just give, however with slicks that is when you find out how stout ,or not, your drive train is. Of course I don't know much. :drool:

Just based on how the car handles a power shift really isn't that much faster than a speed shift, but a speed shift is just so much easier on stuff. Not to mention there is so much less to worry about. Namely the things I mentioned above. But you sure don't look as cool when you are raising off the loud pedal. You just have to hope, pray, and channel the spirit of Ronnie Sox so you don't miss a shift. :crazy:
 
Always thought double-clutching sounded cool, if it's done right. That may be the key to helping me with my shifting.

Still, though, powershifting sounds awesome when it's done right. Got to have the magic touch, which it sounds like you have.
 
Thanks for the kind words. I don't know if it so much the magic touch, or the violent one. I'm not sure double clutching would serve any real purpose in a synchronized transmission. Unless we are thinking of two different things. When I think of double clutching you push the clutch in, pull the trans into neutral, let the clutch out, push the clutch back in, and then upshift.
 
That would be correct, from what I've read.

I read up on double-clutching last night. After putting due consideration into double clutching, I decided to give it a go today, since I had to go somewhere and I was going to be on the road for some distance.

Let me tell you, on downshifting, double-clutching made the car shift silky-smooth. Letting out on the clutch I noticed no lurch when going from 5-4, 4-3, etc.

Upshifting is still not smooth, but that's more me than anything. I'm not out driving my 'Stang every day (it requires premium and doing a lot of stop-and-go drives the mileage down quick). However, it is improving, and double-clutching is making an improvement in downshifting, at least. It takes an extra millisecond or twenty to complete a double-clutch shift, but it is possible to do a quick double-clutch shift. I think the driver in the movie Bullitt was double-clutching at the same time he was powershifting during the final chase scene. Crazy!

As for the purpose served in a modern transmission, I read a good article about it in an electronics website article, no less:

http://electronicdesign.com/article/articles/what-s-all-this-double-clutching-stuff-anyhow-6137.aspx
 

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