1972 Chevelle SBC combo

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

I do recognize your handle now ..Is it Scott then?
What meant by newbie was in regard to ladder games. Only a few that are really good at it. Would hate to see you have to worry about it all the time.
A couple of things that a few of us have been talking about regarding tech ,as a Stocker. First ,there's the hood, of course. You also need the rubber strip that seals it against the cowl.
The firewall will probably be okay, if not too extreme. Hard to tell in picture.
The air filter top is not legal.
Rear suspension ? Post some pics, if you can.

Since it's an SS hood on the Chevelle (it is an OEM steel GM piece), even though it's a small block Malibu, I thought that would be legal. It is on some of the Camaros correct? Sorry, had to throw that in for fun.

The rear suspension currently is stock. Lower control arms have been boxed but nothing as far as suspension aides other than CE adjustable shocks. I know there are some quality aftermarket bolt-in options out there that would be legal.

Yes, we aren't interested in playing the ladder games just to avoid heads-up runs. If we aren't fast enough at this point we aren't fast enough. That's why I was inquiring about combinations for this car since, for whatever reason, there aren't a ton of Chevelles running Stock so I wanted to see if there was an engine choice that landed it in a less-populated class. My wife and I are just interested more in the travel and the friendships to be made with other car guys and gals. Most likely will never be fast enough for Indy and don't plan on that serious of a financial investment; wanted to see if I could put something together in my shop on my own and run the number. I understand it won't be a dime rocket but I also don't want to mortgage the house to build a serious engine.

Scott

[Greg Reimer 7376]

You're wise to ask questions first. The major acquisition you already have-the car.It looks very decent, and would make a good Stock E project. You would have to put in a five point bar and a harness, carpet the back seat area and all that, but a good fab man could make a bar that would be removable at a later date so as not to forever alter the car. Assuming it has a 12 bolt, there is another costly obstacle overcome. A ring and pinion and axle and spool with C clip eliminator kits from Strange or Mark Williams or whoever is about half the cost of a whole rear end. Suspension pieces,shocks and springs are readily available,and are not difficult to install. Any 350 block that's decent to start with will do, a Dart block is nice, but a little costly. Cylinder head cores are very common even still,the 993,882, and 487 heads came on a lot of engines for several years between'71and 76, the intake is a one year part, #751,still common,you want the 9207 Q-Jet, get a Deano, a Holroyd, a Hedworth, there are a lot of excellent carb guys out there, the 350 trans would be a good place to start, for gears, 5.13-5.38's are an excellent place to start, just take your time and collect parts as you go along. I've raced small block Chevelles for some time, it's a consistent and user-friendly car. Good luck on your project, don't get in a hurry and buy stuff you don't need, and don't let somebody push their worn out junk parts on you thinking they will take advantage of a newbie.Oh, yes. In '72, the Chevelle SS was available with a 350. Your hood is legal with that combo if raced as an SS.

Originally Posted by Greg Reimer 7376

You're wise to ask questions first. The major acquisition you already have-the car.It looks very decent, and would make a good Stock E project. You would have to put in a five point bar and a harness, carpet the back seat area and all that, but a good fab man could make a bar that would be removable at a later date so as not to forever alter the car. Assuming it has a 12 bolt, there is another costly obstacle overcome. A ring and pinion and axle and spool with C clip eliminator kits from Strange or Mark Williams or whoever is about half the cost of a whole rear end. Suspension pieces,shocks and springs are readily available,and are not difficult to install. Any 350 block that's decent to start with will do, a Dart block is nice, but a little costly. Cylinder head cores are very common even still,the 993,882, and 487 heads came on a lot of engines for several years between'71and 76, the intake is a one year part, #751,still common,you want the 9207 Q-Jet, get a Deano, a Holroyd, a Hedworth, there are a lot of excellent carb guys out there, the 350 trans would be a good place to start, for gears, 5.13-5.38's are an excellent place to start, just take your time and collect parts as you go along. I've raced small block Chevelles for some time, it's a consistent and user-friendly car. Good luck on your project, don't get in a hurry and buy stuff you don't need, and don't let somebody push their worn out junk parts on you thinking they will take advantage of a newbie.Oh, yes. In '72, the Chevelle SS was available with a 350. Your hood is legal with that combo if raced as an SS.

That's why I stopped in here! To get these types of questions answered. Thank you. I didn't realize that the '72 SS could be purchased with a SB. Our hood is a factory, steel SS hood (sans cowl induction) so it indeed should be legal.

I know it's hard to see from the pictures but the car already has a very nice 8-point cage. Front seats are factory bucket and the rear seat is still in the car. I have new 5-point harnesses on both front seats (OEM seat belts have been removed).

It also has a 12-bolt in it now with Strange axles and a c-clip eliminator kit so I'll most likely just need a spool and gear.

The 350TH is a nice piece with billet internals and a low first gear. No, not as nice as a 200 but I don't have to worry about it breaking.

Thank you for the post again and I do believe that collecting the parts along the way is a good plan. I already have a nice electric water pump, headers, ignition system, etc.

Scott

[Alan Nyhus]

Scott, you don't need the SS stuff to run the cowl hood on a '72 Chevelle. The hood also came on the Heavy Chevy option which didn't have any functional cowl induction components. -Al

[Pinballer]

It looks like the firewall in the initial picture on the post appears to have been smoothed out or modified in some way. Is this an issue before this guy gets started?

[Larry Hill]

I have a steel hood for the car, I don't remember if its a SS or not.