That's a awesome color... how soon until paint?

When it came time to plan the engine in our 1965 Chevelle project, we tossed around a couple ideas, but decided to modify the 350 that came with the car.   It's a parts-store remanufactured 4-bolt 350 V8 with less than 10000 miles on it.   The bottom end is ideal for a mild street engine, but we didn't like the crappy lo-performance cast iron heads and weak camshaft.    So before we turned a single wrench, we turned to our handy copy of Dynomation engine simulation and dyno software to help us build a smooth 400 horsepower version of our engine.    Dynomation helps you select cams, heads, compression ratios, exhaust.. all elements of engine design and then simulate dyno pulls and evaluate parts changes, all without buying a single part.    It's a great way to hone-in on your ideal combination without having to spend extra money and time doing things twice.   

The '65 is coming along.    We've got a bunch of video to post covering the engine upgrades, quarter panel install, Vintage Air Frontrunner install, skinning the doors, and alot more.

We're at the point where we're getting ready for bodyfiller, paint, and reassembly, and we've formulated the strategy for the rest of the car.    There are a million ways to do this, but this time, we're going to finish the bodywork with all the panels installed so the gaps and lines are true.   Then we're going to remove the removable sheetmetal... the front clip, doors, and decklid, and prep the jambs and shoot color and clean on the jambs.   The cowl, doorjambs, and trunkjambs will be shot and cleared at this point.   Then we're going to reinstall the entire driveline, brakes, wiring, and window tracks.    The plan is to get the car running and stopping.  We'll also reinstall the dash and gauges, and the Vintage Air underdash unit and hoses   This way, we can do lots of the install work without risking scratching the fresh paint.    Then, we'll put the sheetmetal back on the car, align the panels, and head to the paint booth for external color and clear.     This will require extra masking for the interior and underhood / undercar areas, but additional masking is far easier than scratch / ding repair from leaning on fenders, etc.    Finally, the car will get buffed, trim and glass install, and interior completion.   Then it's drive and tune time.   

It sounds a lot easier than it is, but that's the plan.    We're open to any tricks to make it easier and less risky along the way!

Adding some new parts to the '65 Chevelle's 350.   The bottom end was decent, so we installed a new Comp Cam, Holley Heads, Flowtech headers, and re-installed the previously added Weiand Action Plus manifold, MSD Pro-Billet distributor, and Holley 670 Street Avenger carb. 

Looks great, you guys!  You have a way of making engine work seem so easy!  Watching you guys breeze through everything is causing me to begin seriously considering performing my first engine build.

Yes, I know everything is certainly more difficult than it appears.  I'm sure lots of "tape hits the floor" in the V8TV "editing studio".  I read somewhere that it takes the guys at Horsepower TV a week of 12-hour days to make one 19 minute episode.  I'm sure all kinds of stuff gets cut from their reels.

Any plans to take this engine to the dyno and compare to the numbers generated with Dynomation?

what are the plans for the tranny auto or manual? looking good, going to follow this chevelle restoration close, this will help me a lot on my M71 project. would like to see bodywork and block sanding steps. Really like paint color nice!

Installing the driver side quarter panel on the '65 Chevelle...