hOLMS

Hi guys, been at it with couple more mods....u know, chop, cut, rebuild. Posting some pix, sorry but they r a bit blurry. Trying a new camera dial-in. One day I'll finish this SS!!! I've changed the front air dam, added more angle (front and sides) so that now I'm only five scale inches from the 45" max from centerline of frt wheels. I went ahead with adding to the sides to help match the side skirts a little bit. I've replaced the hood bulge yet again and I think I'm almost satisflied with this one. I made this from two cut wedge sections from an old hood in the parts box, not sure what the hood went with...kinda thinking is was the WJ Olds? Been doing some finishing/blending on both sides, those are close. Also, added some detail to the rear bumper. I used some 3/32 rod and sanded a flat on one side to .035/.040 thk for a half-moon shape, then placed. Still needs finishing. Was flexible enough to follow the bumper curves. Thanks for looking!!

Great job so far...all is looking awesome. Out of curiosity, what CAD are you using? BTW, nice concept with the printout/overlay. Keep it going man!!

Super clean build....looks great!!

Hey Tyrone, Everything is coming together awesome (x2). Your car is looking great! I like what you've done to the front rims. The extra bumper work looks great too. Looks like you're headed for the home stretch. Love it!

Alright guys, this Chevelle body seems to be inching closer and closer to being finished, this process of the build is close to seeing the light. I've now got the scratched rear bumper roughed in. I think I've somewhat achieved my 4 main goals for this experiment. I've achieved an aggressive wedge shape, brought the roof line into the aero world and close to having the narrowed, lowered and bullitt shaped nose complete. Number one goal was to keep the '69 identity, what an outstanding car and certain to always remain a standout. I can honestly say I now look at this body style different than b4 I started, with a sincere appreciation for the people who made this car happen. I have some more processes to do, though most of the shapes will not change much more...1)Finish the front air-dam lip 2)Massage the headlights and hood 3)Finish the rear bumper/trunk lid, including wheelie-bar clearance 4)May open rear fender well a bit, looks a little bit tight 5)Scratch the rear wing and 6)Minor frt and rear bumper detail. Once I have all that, it will be time for double-checking/adjusting heights, window treatments and smoothing it all up. I'm probably a long way from paint, if this one sees paint at all...lol. A big thanks to all who have followed and commented, I've enjoyed this one extremely....maybe chassis work is right around the corner? It would be great to have the wheels back on this one. Included some before/after pix.

Great looking work so far...love these resoration builds. Thanks for sharing, look fwd to more.

Oh yeah....lookin good. Knock it out!!

Thanks for the comment guys....really can't say enough how much I appreciate you guys looking and the positive reaction from this body experiment!! Well, been a semi-productive week so far, been on the rear of the car quite a bit. I have not met my goal of a bumper yet and there is a major reason why. We've undergone some surgery this week, I'm pleased with the results so I thought I would share with you the problem and my remedies to fix. I sorta knew there was a slight height issue in the rear of the car for some time now. Hoping and wishing it would go away didn't fix it. So, into the surgery room under the scalpel we go. I've included pix with desc's of what I've done. I picked up the problem while measuring corresponding surfaces left to right with a drop gauge, body and gauge on flat surfaces. I marked points on both sides in same locations and started measuring, anything over .010 out was addressed. All was well in the front, but picked up a problem starting on the right rear of the roof which directly showed up also at the height of rear tail lights, only magnified. That section of the roof was low by 1mm and the right rear tail light was low by almost twice. I've never fixed a problem like this, that being said, my method is not concrete...just the way I went about solving. I've spent to much time trying to make this Chevelle great and I feel this was a no-brainer...had to be done and glad I did so. Anywho, maybe you guys have run across a problem like this before and had success with the fix, don't know? Anytime I've ever seen a problem like this, I always throw it into the wall and say, done with that....lol. I'm rambling...one other thing, I had to be careful and try to pick where my cuts needed to be as to not screw something else up that could have been un-fixable. Just try to think about what will need to be done in later steps and determine if that's feasible. Thanks for looking and this time I've learned some things!!

Hi all, Been able to do couple more mods, couple new pix. I've got my tapered side skirting in place, filled the rear fender lips and trimmed a bit on the rear fender behind the rear wheel, still have this to do on the other side (any of you ever have a favorite side you prefer on your project? Left side for this one, Maybe it's just me...lol). I've also changed the hood scoop in favor of a rounded, raised bullet style. I still hope to make the rear bumper this week. Sooner than later, I would like to start modifying the firebird pro stock chassis, probably several more weeks though. Thanks for the comments and looking.

oh yeah....this is bad to the bone!!

I really like the way this is turning out....nice, nice work Mr. Teresi.

Thanks for the comments guys....means a lot to me! (Richard, checked out your Nova on the other site....cool! You'll finish one day??) (Went to 4-wide Q3 & Q4 Saturday......just incredible, incredible!!!!! The "Sarge" did 326mph in 1000ft, amazing. John Force and Jason Line were quick...can't wait for P/M in Houston!) I've been able to get some work done other than the front area this week.....been holding out a while now to do so. I did spend a little while bringing the bullet shape in a bit more, mostly the area over top of headlights again. I also worked on the first phase of the hood scoop, pretty minor so far though, may turn into somekind of dual teardrop shape...not sure. I then moved on to filling/smoothing front fenderwells. I've also started what will soon be the tapered flares/spoilers running along the bottom of the sides. From there, I've started some of the rear fender work (fenderwells and some work behind rear wheel). I've cut out the old rear bumper....that one is history, and hope to start a scratchbilt bumper toworrow, nothing that strays to far from stock other than longer horizontally and vertically. Once I have the rear bumper made, I can then start to finish up the rear fender shapes. Thanks for looking!

Ditto to the little green box above....man, everything is so crystal clear and sharp! Love it.

I'm with you.....Leave the extreme aero to the funny cars, I'm only thinking a very small amount more for this nose, probably not even enough to tell. I prefer building cars without an identity crisis but still have their own style, flare, aero, etc.....and that for me is Pro Mod. They are awesome. Seeing them in person is absolutely amazing....2500/3000hp in a 115" w/b...crazy!! Anywho, I may get a chance to see them this weekend @ the four-wide race in Charlotte, NC. Not sure if they are running (they did last year). If not, my next fav is pro-stock. I think a pro-stock will be my next build, its all I can do not to start another build though....lol. Thanks for the comments and glad you are liking this build! (ps....I may be wrong and sorry if so, have you posted any in awhile, what u working on?)

Way up the chart on creativity....this is cool!

Hey Richard, i meant to ask....u gonna post these 2 builds? anxious to see their progress!! Good luck with your P/M bodywork!

Brett, Richard and Michael....For the bezels, I had an extra bumper/headlight section. I cut the h/lights out of the extra one, then ground from the back until they were about 1mm thk. I ground them just enough for the actual h/light to no longer be present and that's when they became 4 seperate bezels. I then marked which came from where (LL,LR,RR,RL) and ground flat spots where they meet individually. I glued them on a flat surface with a gage block across bottom to keep them straight (wish I would have scaled them down a bit, may still do that?). Lastly, I reworked the inside of the body where they fit nice and snug, lowered them to sit on the bumper and basically eyeballed the placement. I did all this because they were not following the lower lines I needed in the front. I could not use what was there because all that had to be ground away first, could not work that area with saw. Yes, that is a big cutout in the hood. A 2500 hp monster needs a nice, big home....right? LOL. No really, that cutout is a little mis-leading. That will actually be a raised taper area 1/16" tall at the highest point (where it will meet the lexan). Thanks for looking guys!

Thanks for the comments guys. Posting couple more pix.....I've made the hood scoop cutout, smoothed out the front end a little more, raised the stance .5mm (.020") all around and made it back to full primer to see whats next. I think i'm getting close on the nose, and I say that loosely. I still want to make it closer yet to a real pro-mod nose, the main objective being not to lose the 69 SS character while being accurate to their current molding processes and the actual construction of these bodies (you know....the whole nose being solid fiberglass or carbon fiber, then picking out the detail with stickers). I really want a more narrow, longer, lower and bullit shape...not sure if that's a go yet though. I'm just rambling, I'll get back to work on this and see if I can make it better without screwing it up....lol. Thanks for looking.

Hello All, Still on the front of the Chevelle and really looking forward to working a different part of the body, that will come. I've made some more mods to the front: 1)Added bumper ends 2)made the hood 3)lowered the headlights 4)made the start point for grill and 5)blended transition between top of body to top of headlights. I must say I am truly enjoying this body experiment and the changes it has gone thru. Much more to come as I hope to move to a different part of the car very soon. Thanks for the comments and looking!

Awesome, awesome, and awesome. One of best looking dragsters on the site! Great work...

I always liked this car....something about the colors, and you my friend, have an awesome build here. That paintjob is slick. Good job!!

Awesome build.....love the stand too!! I'll have to try one of them.

I am a diehard NASCAR fan......but I mostly build drag cars only, just fascinated with how they look. If I bought one of those 01-06 kits, I would probably try cutting it up to match what they are racing now....lol. Got several drag cars going right now and really need to finish them. Maybe later this year. Post some of your builds, I'm sure everyone would enjoy looking them over!

I could not stand it no more!....went ahead with 1st primer coat, albeit a little early, maybe. Body was so busy, needed some fresh life to see where this goes next. Things are still quite rough, most of this coat is "Good as Gone", but I think we are on the right track. For this week, I will (hopefully) get the headlight area massaged (sure does need it) and make the grill. I plan on finishing the front fenderwell flares, figuring out the blend needed down the sides and maybe move on to some hood treatment. Thanks for looking and commenting!!

Excellent choice for the nose....that will be sharp. Looking fwd to seeing that!!