For sale - for sale - for sale - for sale
 

In 1997 I bought a 67 Chevelle convertible to use as my daily driver. Sold my Ford Ranger and went full Chevelle. In early 98 I came across an almost new but wrecked 1998 Camaro with an LS1-4L60e and without even thinking I bought it and started the swap.
At that time there were zero parts available for this swap. I would call people and they would say it couldn’t be done. I knew it could because a saw a 55 Chevy in a magazine that had an LS1 and then saw an early Impala bubble top with one at a Goodguys show.
It took me about 8 months to get it done but everything worked great. I drove that car almost 100k over the next 5 years. I sold it in 2004.
So when I got the itch again, I decided to do a 66 Chevelle and go for max mpg. I started looking around for an engine and again found an almost new Camaro (2013) with a 3.6 liter V6 and a 6 speed auto. It was wrecked with 525 miles. The project was on.
Here are a few pics of the beginning.
Out with the old engine/trans.
The new engine as it arrived.
First attempt at fitting it in.

Once it was determined that the engine wasn’t going to slide in I decided to remove the body and do the entire chassis.
I ended up cutting and boxing the front crossmember to clear the oil pan.
Then I had to build motor mounts. How many of you knew that the front crossmember mounting surfaces were 90 degrees from one another?

As it turned out, the sides of the LFX V6 are perfectly parallel to one another. So I built a wood box the same width to start with the motor mount fabrication. Way easier than swinging the engine in and out a hundred times.
This pic is of the engine box mounted to the Camaro sub frame with the Camaro mounts. This way I knew it was correct.
I built the engine side plates out of wood and then transferred it to steel.
I tacked them together than pulled them for finish welding.

Loading up the frame to take it to be powdercoated.
The frame came back and was ready to assemble.
Full stage 4 Hotchkis suspension, front and rear.
Wilwood discs front and rear.

Having the body off made it easy to set the engine/trans. I was also able to run the brake and fuel lines. Also added the 17x8 and 18x9.5 rims and tires.
The exhaust down pipes (Manifolds are built in to the heads) from the Camaro lined up perfect with the humps in the stock Chevelle crossmember. Pure luck.

To set the body back down I had to enlarge the transmission tunnel. The new trans is huge and mounted a little higher for ground clearance and the proper driveshaft angle.

Once the body was back on the frame I could start with the wiring. LOTS of wiring. I bought rolls of wire color and stripe combos to match the factory harness.

I used a Wilwood master for manual brakes.
I wanted the stock Powerglide shifter so I had to make a new detent plate that matched the required throw of the 6L50e transmission.
Mock up of a power steering line.

I had to realign the upper water neck. It was aimed down in the Camaro
The drive shaft now has a CV joint on the front because the trans has no slip yoke.
The trans cooler lines from the Camaro cleared everything. I just needed to extend them a little to reach the trans cooler in front of the radiator.
New steering wheel and Dynamat.
Notice, no gauges in the dash...

Dash board without any gauges, ash tray or a glove box.
The next owner (grandson) asking “what this is for Papa?”
I did a complete color change on the interior from black to red.
New ProCar seats.
Painted seat tracks to blend in more with the carpet.
Registration back on after 20 years off the road!!

Air intake plenum behind drivers headlight.
Pypes 2.5” system with 50 series Flowmasters.

I’m playing with a front spoiler design. This is still a work in progress. I put it in a jig and heated the crap out of it. It helped some but I probably needed to be more aggressive with the bends and heat.

So after driving a few thousand miles and lowering the car a little more, the driveshaft rubbed the floor when carrying a passenger. I had already enlarged the trans tunnel and the forward part of the driveshaft tunnel but didn’t go back far enough.
So I’ve gutted the interior again and cut the floor out from the trans output flange all the way back to where it kicks up to the trunk.

Cutout all the way to the back and now the tunnel is going back in. The tunnel under the back seat is flat topped to make the seat frame mods easier. Hopefully.
The complete tunnel will give me just under 3” more inches of clearance.
I’m still working on this so I’ll post more pics as I progress.
I still need to build a mount for the shifter and a mount for the custom console. A stock console would never fit these new floor boards.
And I’ll need to strip the rear seat back down to a bare frame and modify the frame to clear the new larger tunnel.

I have literally 1000’s of additional pics if anyone wants anymore detailed photos of any aspect of my project. Or just questions...

I’ve carefully removed the upholstrey from the back seat to modify the seat frame to clear the new taller driveshaft tunnel. The frame is 3/16” rod so I fab’d up some pieces 2” taller and welded them in. The front edge where the upholstrey attaches with hog rings I fab’d up by shrinking, stretching and welding a piece of 18 gauge.

Added Dynamat to the new sections of tunnel and i’m starting the carpet process. The new tunnel is so tall I had to cut the carpet down the middle otherwise it wouldn’t reach the door sills. I’ll seam in another piece forward of and behind the console.

Buttoned up the carpet and custom console. Ready for a front end alignment and back on the road.

Looking good there.

Finished up my front air dam.
I made plates to mount it behind the bumper. I thought it would look better back a bit from the bumpers edge.
It also peaks in the center and fades back to the sides and wheel wells.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted it black or body color so I sprayed it white with peeling paint. More like a lower valance. I can peel it off it I didn’t like it.
What do you guys think, black or body color?

I like the black..

Yeah, I’m thinking black too. It kinda disappears that way. The white stands out to much.
I guess I’ll start peeling....

I had an annoying rattle in the dash so I pulled the dash back out, refastened everything, put jute on every surface so if any wire does wiggle loose it won’t hit anything.

New Shoes
 

New tires and wheels

God that is nice. My first car was a malibu 327 with the black stripe between the tail lights factory. I am real old I had chrome reverese with Dog dish hubcaps.

As did I. Before I graduated to slot mags.

Finally added a 9” with posi
 

I recently bought a Quick Performance 9” rearend with posi and installed it. Here are some pics of the installation.
It came UPS with some assembly required. Got a free Menards bucket out of the deal too. Pretty ingenious way to ship the center section.

I have a two post lift so I just lifted the car up and set it back down on wooden stands. I disconnected everything and lifted the car off of it. Pretty simple.

I had to put all of the studs in the housing. They’re knurled and I just used a nut and some washers to seat them.
Then I cut half circles in the ends of a couple pieces of plywood so I could use the same wooden blocks to hold the rear end while I assembled it.
The upper bushings were already in the housing when it arrived.

Next come the brakes. I couldn’t use the discs from the old 10 bolt so new discs came with the rear end. Ford uses a much better axle retention system than GM. The brake shoes are for the parking brake and are inside the disc hub. Axle goes in first then the disc then the caliper.

I put a roll over on the tank vent. Keeps gas from coming out.