1969 Chevelle Build

[Andy Friar]

Fabbed an on-off switch for working on the car, transporting or when it is just sitting. Wired the alternator to the battery side post. So it will truly kill all of the electrical.

Bought and tried to install a Powermaster Alternator kit. Not impressed. Early 90's GM 1 wire truck alternator with crappy spray paint, cheaply made brackets and equally crappy mounting hardware. Not to mention expensive. We flipped around the bolts just to make it work, cut off one ear of the alternator, ditched the stamped fan and shimmed it out from the block for alignment. At some point when this motor comes out, I will dissemble the alternator, get the case powdercoated, speed hole the crappy brackets and get them anodized black, along with the pulleys to match the high quality Meziere water pump. I will swap out the hardware for ARP too.

[Andy Friar]

Laying out the shifter location and making a 'lift kit' for it. Trimmed and welded up the Summit Driveshaft loop. Hit it with chassis paint before install. Installed a pair of 2.5# extinguishers right behind the seats with these super rad billet Eddie Motorsports mounts. High quality and well made.

Sealed off the cage holes with flexible adhesive backed modern OEM noise insulation rubber, then 3M foil tape for strength over top. Blue thick mylar tape to hold the wiring in place under the sill trim.

[Andy Friar]

My favorite fab project on the whole. The Moroso switch panel holder. We did not want to mount it to the cage overhead since I am 6'4" and I was worried about my vision being blocked. My Dad is 5'9" so I also couldn't mount it way out of the way, or he wouldn't be able to reach it. We also do not like every cutting up a car to install stuff. I figured out a way to remove the ashtray and have this path through that space and support the switch panel out in front of the dash, but up out of the way. Definitely happy with how it turned out. I have about 25 hrs in the whole part, if not more time.

[Andy Friar]

Switch panel mount finished up, painted and installed. I used 10-24 weld-nets around the face frame. I used riv-nuts in the cowl for the vertical support bars went through the knee bar structure of the stock dash. I used 1/4-20 riv nuts for angle mounts brackets from the tray. The big hole through the middle of the sheet middle is for sliding all of the metri-pak connectors through. The cover can be removed to inspect the switch connections. Or the switch panel can be removed. The whole bracket and support structure can be removed without removing or even having to loosen the dash or IP.

You can see the shift light installed with 3M industrial velcro, so we can move it around if needed. The 3 spoke Eddie Motorsports steering wheel is light and super high quality. With the the line lock button tucked in on the left side.

[Andy Friar]

We finally FINISHED and we couldn't be happier. This whole deal coming together was way bigger than just me. My dad is responsible for providing the great shop to work out of and was there right next to me for every dirty, frustrating, expensive, exhilarating & dead tired moment. We are so lucky to have so many willing, helpful & knowledgeable friends that deserve boat loads of credit.

The last week (Oct 18-25) of the build was a thrash. Car started on Monday, but wasn't fully assembled. Initial tuning on Tuesday and make a new return spring bracket at the carb. Transbrake hits on the jackstands, line lock tests, carb tuning etc on Wednesday. Drove under it's own power Friday night, out of the garage and into the trailer. Belle Tire Alignment Saturday. (First time we towed with our new trailer and 13MY Chevy Z71 ext cab. It was a pucker ride if you know what I mean. Moved the car forward, added shims to the hitch/ receiver interface, got better, but still need to get a sway control. We were out of time and money at that point.) Loaded the trailer saturday afternoon, slept maybe 2.5 hours out of excitment/ nerves and went to Milan Sunday to race and make test runs.

[Andy Friar]

With less than 24 hrs notice we had 8 of our family and friends show up and help, support and enjoy our initial day out racing this car. Pretty awesome and special to say the least.It was a perfect 65 degree late fall day. It was a day I will NEVER forget. It was my 1st day ever driving a race car or any car for that matter, down a drag strip. I have ripped off 11.0's on multiple harleys and customs, but no cars until that day.

[Andy Friar]

Made 7 total passes with the car. Signed up for Pro and Test N Tune. Best et was 11.97 @110 with our 40 yr old stock eliminator motor. It is the same basic stock flat top piston, stock rod motor Jim Endicott raced to the I/S record in 1973/74. But with a GM 140 Cam, 850 holley and as cast Turbo 292 heads. As a newbie driver I had the usual flubs, no smoke burnout, asleep for all 4 of my time trial runs, etc. But when it came time to run 1st round, my daughter put her prized Bunny into the passenger seat and said that it was for good luck. Well, it worked.

.009 1st rd light and the WIN!!!!

-.021 2nd rd red light, but still consistent. Then a .040" time trial light to round out the day. I couldn't have been happier. Over winter we are going to update the driveshaft, starter and trans cooler lines. We need to fix the always on parking lights and build a 13.5:1 thumper of a small block to keep going bracket racing. I just need the seat time. I plan to run the wheels off of this car next year around Michigan and maybe one trip to Norwalk for their no-box Bonanza in June.

Thanks to everyone on hear for all of the support, knowledge and advice.