Slideshow: LSX Powered Chevelle Packs 640 HP

A Way of Life

Nic Chauffe grew up wrenching on cars, and by the time he was a senior in high school, he had completely rebuilt the family's 1966 Chevy C-10 truck. As with any young gearhead, Nic moved on to bigger and better things as he sold the C10 in favor of a then-new 2010 Camaro to which he modded to the hilt with the knowledge he acquired from working as a tech in an LS performance shop. While the Camaro was one bad ride with its fully-forged engine internals, supercharger, and methanol injection that would blitz the 1/4 in 10 seconds, Nic found himself longing to work on another classic Chevy, so he sold the Camaro and set out to find a 1972 Chevelle.  

A Diamond In The Rough

Nic's hunt for a Chevelle eventually led him to Virginia where he found what was once a small-block SS that had been converted into a track car. While the factory build sheet had been preserved and all of the SS badging remained in place, the car was far from original as it had a Reher-Morrison 509 BBC, Strange-Engineering four-link rear-end, and body-tubbing to house massive race slicks. Although it may sound like a clapped-out race car with some high-end components, Nic vows that a lot of thought went into the car and it seemed to have been well taken care of. A deal was quickly made and Nic and his dad hauled the Chevelle back home to Louisiana.  

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Road Ready

Once the SS was back is Louisiana, Nic quickly got to work on making the car road-worthy. The previous owner had already begun removing some of the track bits such as swapping out the race seats and cutting away bits of the cage to make entry and exit a bit easier. The car already had an Ididit steering column, Painless wiring loom, and a full helping of sound deadening material installed throughout that Nic would keep in place. Nic kept things moving in the right direction as he removed the remainder of the cage and door bars in favor of a new 10-point Chassis Engineering setup and added a set of 3-point belts to the Procar seats. 

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A Love For The LS

For the powertrain, Nic opted to begin with a 416 LS3 short block from Scroggin-Dickey that had all the goods including a Manley crankshaft, forged I-beam rods, and a forged set of dished pistons. He then acquired a set of LS3 821 casting cylinder heads and had Hard Head Race Engines port them to the max (approximately 270cc) before sending them over to Met's Machine Shop to have .020" milled off in order to raise compression up to 11.5:1. The intake is comprised of a ported single plane Holley manifold matched to a Holley Ultra 750 XP carburetor. The exhaust uses 1-3/4 Hooker primaries that lead into a 3" system with Flowmaster Super 44 mufflers. All in, the engine makes 640 horsepower at the flywheel which is attached to a built Turbo 350 transmission with a 3,500 stall converter. 

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Old Meets New

The idea of a restomod is to preserve much of the old-school look while updating the car with modern components. Nic followed this formula by updating the front suspension with 2" drop spindles and Ridetech control arms, air springs, and dampers. As mentioned, Nic retained the four-link rear end with 3.89 gears. Brakes have been updated with 11" Wilwood rotors and four-piston calipers. Nic picked out a set of classic American Racing Torq-Thrust II wheels in 18x7" fronts and massive 20x15" rears that wear a set of 31" Mickey Thompson Sportman radials.

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The Finishing Touch

Other nice touches inside the car include a set of AutoMeter Ultra-Lite gauges, a Vintage Air AC system, and Jensen Bluetooth stereo. Nic fancied up the engine bay with various carbon fiber covers that really give it a modern, exotic look and topped it off with a 6" cowl induction hood by Hardwood. The car was then painted by Nic's business partner, Steven Garcia, in a beautiful custom PPG blue paint with white stripes that glistens in the sun. While the car is technically complete, Nic admits that he will continue to make small changes and improvements as he goes. That said, many would agree that this LS-swapped Chevelle is darn near perfect.

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