Big progress on Chris Burns's 70 Chevelle since our last update. The short version: the car ran, it ran properly, and now it's wearing paint that would hold its own at any show in Australasia. Here's how the last few months played out.
Proven on the Dyno
First stop was the dyno in Hamilton, where Gavin worked his magic on the engine tune - dialling in the fuel injection alongside the supercharger and water-meth injection. The goal was simple: make sure the engine was safely set up before we asked it to do anything serious.
Shakedown at Hampton Downs
With the tune sorted we headed to Hampton Downs to bed in the brakes, clutch, gearbox and rear end, and to make sure there were no gremlins hiding above 100mph. There weren't. Once we knew the car was good, it came straight back to the workshop for a complete strip-down.
Into the Booth at High Impact
The body went to Willy and Karl at High Impact Car Painters here in Tauranga. The complete body was spritzed and block-sanded for days, then disassembled, with the main shell first through the booth.
SS Stripes You Can't Feel
The SS stripes sit in their factory positions over the bonnet and boot, and here's the party trick: run your hand across them and there is zero change in contour. You cannot feel the transition. There are multiple coats of clear on the car, with the final polish saved for when the build is complete. Having seen the top level at Australia's biggest car show last year, we'd happily put this paint alongside any of it.
Chassis, Cert and a Custom Dash
The Speedtech Performance chassis has been stripped bare, crack-tested and reassembled, and the firewall is dressed and ready for the chassis install. We're now working through the LVVTA certification process - this chassis is the first of its type in New Zealand, and while they've been raced in America for over six years with design awards to show for it, the process still has to be done properly.
Mark Stokes, our certifier, has been a huge help right through the five years of this build. Before the chassis slides under the body for the last time, we're finishing the dash and centre console while access is easy - Chris wanted right-hand drive and a modern, stylish dash, so it's a design-and-fabricate-from-scratch job.
Next milestone: chassis under body, for good. More soon.
