1970 chevelle rebuild

i have a 1970 chevelle malibu with stock 350 and 3 speed auto stock transmission. pretty much stock. I would like to swap for a bigger engine and to manual transmission. suggestions would be appreciated. thanks for your help

Welcome the AF!

Many people have done exactly that. Most "serious" Chevelles have 454's and 4 speed standard transmissions. Google "1970 SS 454 Chevelle"

It really all depends on how much you wanted to spend. You could just leave it pretty much stock and rebuild the motor with HP upgrades. You could build a 70 SS clone with a 454.

With the resto value on a 70 chevelle IMO i would resto the body and make the 350/350 it has an all out rat motor and keep the stock trim on the motor.

IF you're Malibu has the 4-wheel drum brakes, I would suggest against doing the big-block swap. A big-block weighs a lot more than a small block, and will affect handling, braking and ride. I had the same car you have, and had it in the low 11's with the 350/auto combo. Unless your heart is set on the "OOOH" factor of the rat motor, build what you have, I think you'd be way happier overall. And don't get me wrong, Big-block Chevelles are the cat's ass, but a small block car is a better daily driver.

Very good point on the brakes.

I put a 454 into a 70 chevelle in place of a 350. It actually got slower...That was a pretty much stock 70 chevelle 454 engine compared to a maxed out 70 chevelle 350 engine.

I had the same car you have, and had it in the low 11's with the 350/auto combo. And don't get me wrong, Big-block Chevelles are the cat's ass, but a small block car is a better daily driver.


Well, considering it will be a daily driver for me through the rest of highschool and college, ur probably have the right idea. But the 350 that is in it now has 115k plus miles on it. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good replacement 350.

Get some details on the block you have. It might be worth rebuilding.

Replacement? At only 115K? That's silly, unless something catastrophic has happend to the engine.

I'm in the middle of a rework on a '72, from the original this:

http://72.19.213.157/files/72ChevelleEngineBay.jpg



To this:

http://72.19.213.157/files/72ChevelleTPI-LH-02.jpg


It should make a good daily driver. Even though it ran very well with the carb, the EFI system can't be beat for daily driving reliability.

If your car has the 300 hp factory 350, it's the same engine my car had. I basically put an aluminum intake, Holley 650 CFM carb, headers, performance roller cam, lifters and rocker arms and had a bulletproof 400+ Hp engine that pulled to 6500RPM and got 17+ mpg. A 2500 stall converter, 3.73:1 gears (stock) and a shift kit, and it was good to go. I miss that car, still feel stupid for selling it.

well blue bowtie, i dont want to tame the beast with an efi, but what would be some good hp ugrades i can make( already have good headers)

Heads. Get rid of those marine engine factory heads. A different cam profile will help a little, but that vintage head flows like a constipated hamster. What's probably worse is that they have chambers which don't help the static CR much. 64ccs were about all that were available.

Better heads will respond much better to a cam replacement.

"Tame" with EFI? This ran upper 15's all last season. I'm guessing it should easily break into the 14s with only the EFI installation, and will run a lot cleaner, start/run more reliably, and will have better mileage to and from the track.

This one worked out much the same:

http://72.19.213.157/files/57BelAirTPI.jpg

(I down-sized the photos - I didn't realize they were quite that large.)

All depends on what you want to do with the car. Since you want to make it a daily drive yes some bolt on upgrades should do the trick. Aluminum intake, matching cam combo. maybe a HEI ignition....etc. All good choices.

However I have to dis-agree with the SB to BB swap, mine handles fine. I did the swap from a 69 chevelle 307 car w/PG trans & open 10 bolt rear, to a 396 L-78 w/T400 and Poly boxed lowers & 12 bolt 3:73:grinyes:
Of course you have to change some stuff, Radiator & shroud,Exhaust, Front coil springs, poly sway bushings......but in my case it was a fun do-over and yes the car still has 4 wheel drums. I have a front disc set up from a 70 monte carlo, but have yet to install it.......

Before.......
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e223/aclineman/Chevellepassside.jpg

And after.......
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e223/aclineman/Chevelle0022.jpg

Who wouldn't like a 4-speed in these cars? And it may get one some where down the road.

If your really set on putting in a four speed drop me a PM, I have plenty of guys I know that have them sitting around, plus some at my website.
like others have mentioned above, a decent running SB is great for your needs.
My car is not my daily driver.

Good luck