Moebius 1965 Chevy II - Kit Bashed Late 70’s Big Block Street Freak! UPDATED 3/20/22

[Dennis Lacy]

Yesterday I ran down the road a few miles to Pegasus Hobbies and picked up the all-new and much anticipated Moebius 1964 Nova SS and 1965 Chevy II Gasser kits. 
 

Even though I had studied the contents in @tim boyd excellent reviews I still had to dig into both as soon as I got them home. And, as I perused all of the parts my wheels started spinning and I had my parts bins open. My original thought  was that I’d build the gasser basically out of the box (at some point) but those of you familiar with my model projects already know that’s an impossibility. I mean, just look at what happened with the AMT ‘63 Nova Wagon!

I know there’s going to be plenty of 60’s era builds based on this kit so I wanted to do something a bit unpredictable and the theme I landed on was a (somewhat privileged) high school kids (somewhat) beater Street Freak with a healthy rat motor. The kind of impractical all-business car a gear head dad would build with his son in the late 70’s/early 80’s. 

A while back on eBay I bought the complete Chevy Big Block engine out of a Revell 1967 Chevelle Pro Street which comes with a dual quad intake, velocity stacks, tuff looking Moroso valve covers and long tube headers. When it first occurred to me to try the BB I didn’t have any expectation that it would actually fit and to my surprise it did! It’s tight, for sure, but it does fit and the slivers of clearance scaled up would be acceptable. In the first picture is the kits front motor mount cross member and you can see (look close) the minimal areas needing trimmed colored with black marker.  Then following is the basic engine and headers sitting in place. 
 

The transmission cross member has a raised half crescent piece sticking up for the kit trans to register on. I removed that and added a .040” thick block then added an alignment pin in the center that registers in a corresponding hole I drilled in the transmission. 
 

Since this car would be a teenagers local driver it couldn’t stay open headers or he’d be asking for constant harassment from The Law. The new ‘64 Nova SS kit builds factory-stock but as we saw in @tim boyd review there are extra parts in the kit not mentioned in the instructions, one of which being a very nicely rendered larger diameter full aftermarket style exhaust system. The extra exhaust is for a later version of the kit and is clearly designed to mate to a set of long tube headers. As luck would have it, the spacing at the front matched the big block header spacing exactly, the pipes just come up a bit short. I don’t care for the way the header collectors severely neck down so I chopped them off and replaced them with some resin pieces from my friend Ed at Drag City Casting. Then I trimmed them to the appropriate length, drilled and inserted alignment pins. The two Nova kits share the same floor pan and just need to have the exhaust system mounting holes opened up. 
 

Then it occurred to me that I should check the fit of the steering gear/shaft. I did the equivalent of denting a real header for clearance by using a round file to make a slight relief on the front tube. Otherwise, it fits perfectly! Here you can also see that the engine clears the firewall just fine.

So that’s all of the actual work I did. As you can imagine it took some time of trying this and that before I settled on the plan. Lastly, here’s the wheels and tires I’ve chosen. The wheels are Cragar Super Tricks found in the restored AMT Double Dragster double kit. The little Pirelli front tires and big M&H slicks come from various modern AMT parts packs. Also a couple of super rough mock up pictures. The quarter panels are going to end up getting trimmed and the slicks will poke out a bit so try and picture that. 

So, other than Tim’s build review of the pre production kit a couple of months ago it looks like I’m the first one on this forum to dig into a production version. 

 

Edited March 21, 2022 by Dennis Lacy

[rightrudder]

Great concept and a solid start on your project! We're fortunate to live near Pegasus Hobbies...I'm about 50 minutes away, but close enough that I go there every couple of months.

[Cool Hand]

Good to see someone finally doing a build thread with the Gasser kit.

Glad you are first up and showing the way and seeing the direction and style its going to be a very interesting build to follow and learn from.

[horsepower]

On 3/6/2022 at 9:25 PM, Dennis Lacy said:

Yesterday I ran down the road a few miles to Pegasus Hobbies and picked up the all-new and much anticipated Moebius 1964 Nova SS and 1965 Chevy II Gasser kits. 
 

Even though I had studied the contents in @tim boyd excellent reviews I still had to dig into both as soon as I got them home. And, as I perused all of the parts my wheels started spinning and I had my parts bins open. My original thought  was that I’d build the gasser basically out of the box (at some point) but those of you familiar with my model projects already know that’s an impossibility. I mean, just look at what happened with the AMT ‘63 Nova Wagon!

I know there’s going to be plenty of 60’s era builds based on this kit so I wanted to do something a bit unpredictable and the theme I landed on was a (somewhat privileged) high school kids (somewhat) beater Street Freak with a healthy rat motor. The kind of impractical all-business car a gear head dad would build with his son in the late 70’s/early 80’s. 

A while back on eBay I bought the complete Chevy Big Block engine out of a Revell 1967 Chevelle Pro Street which comes with a dual quad intake, velocity stacks, tuff looking Moroso valve covers and long tube headers. When it first occurred to me to try the BB I didn’t have any expectation that it would actually fit and to my surprise it did! It’s tight, for sure, but it does fit and the slivers of clearance scaled up would be acceptable. In the first picture is the kits front motor mount cross member and you can see (look close) the minimal areas needing trimmed colored with black marker.  Then following is the basic engine and headers sitting in place. 
 

The transmission cross member has a raised half crescent piece sticking up for the kit trans to register on. I removed that and added a .040” thick block then added an alignment pin in the center that registers in a corresponding hole I drilled in the transmission. 
 

Since this car would be a teenagers local driver it couldn’t stay open headers or he’d be asking for constant harassment from The Law. The new ‘64 Nova SS kit builds factory-stock but as we saw in @tim boyd review there are extra parts in the kit not mentioned in the instructions, one of which being a very nicely rendered larger diameter full aftermarket style exhaust system. The extra exhaust is for a later version of the kit and is clearly designed to mate to a set of long tube headers. As luck would have it, the spacing at the front matched the big block header spacing exactly, the pipes just come up a bit short. I don’t care for the way the header collectors severely neck down so I chopped them off and replaced them with some resin pieces from my friend Ed at Drag City Casting. Then I trimmed them to the appropriate length, drilled and inserted alignment pins. The two Nova kits share the same floor pan and just need to have the exhaust system mounting holes opened up. 
 

 

 

Great looking build, but being one of those kids who built their own street rod, the straight axle big blocks were way out of our meager income of the day. Mine was a '56 Chevy with a transplanted '57 Corvette long block, but with an Edelbrock C3-B intake, T-10 four speed and swap the ol' 30-30 Duntov cam for a little more radical Isky cam and the addition of Cyclone fenderwell exit headers. For most of us a (almost) new Chevy II was just too much money, never mind the cost of the big block.? 

But for one build tip for anyone following along, if you just lengthen the shaft coming out of the column down to where the motor mount is on the frame rail and putting the U-joint back at the end right there then shorten the bottom shaft and adjust the angle between the two U joints the steering angle would work fine, especially with the double type joints used, and I found out the hard way that using a gold or clear yellow on the Moroso valve covers isn't quite the right color, but light coats of clear orange (quitting when you get the right shade) will give you the perfect Gold Anodized Aluminum finish that they used for the original version. My version will be to swap the engine from the Revell '69 Z-28 Camaro and the body from the two door hardtop version to build a replica that belonged to a friend and raced it in C/MP                    (C-Modified Production) class locally and it was seldom beat by anything in its own class and even a lot of supposed "better" cars were even able to best it.

Oh, I almost forgot, since the Revell '67 Pro Street is a 1/24th scale kit, using the engine from the AMT '67 Chevelle Pro Street might not have the slight interference fit., Looking forward to watching this build, keep up the great work and ideas and thanks for letting us watch you do your "magic". Del.

So, other than Tim’s build review of the pre production kit a couple of months ago it looks like I’m the first one on this forum to dig into a production version. 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by horsepower
Oopsie??

[afx]

Another great looking project.

[slusher]

Nice quick start!

[tim boyd]

Sweet!!!!    TIM

[afx]

I like the look with the stock rear wheel openings - might be nice to keep it if you can get the tire clearance you need.

[cobraman]

I just bought this kit so I will be watching.

[Snake45]

6 hours ago, Cool Hand said:

Good to see someone finally doing a build thread with the Gasser kit.

Glad you are first up and showing the way and seeing the direction and style its going to be a very interesting build to follow and learn from.

What he said. I want to do something somewhat similar so will be watching. Drive on! 

[mustang1989]

Nuthin' but the good stuff goin' on here. Looking forward to more.

[Dennis Lacy]

8 hours ago, rightrudder said:

Great concept and a solid start on your project! We're fortunate to live near Pegasus Hobbies...I'm about 50 minutes away, but close enough that I go there every couple of months.

Thanks! It’s definitely cool being close to such a killer hobby shop. I’m only 15 minutes away. 

[Dennis Lacy]

6 hours ago, Cool Hand said:

Good to see someone finally doing a build thread with the Gasser kit.

Glad you are first up and showing the way and seeing the direction and style its going to be a very interesting build to follow and learn from.

Thanks! The kit has only been getting into peoples hands for 2 weeks (ish) but I’m still surprised one or two didn’t pop up immediately after all of the anticipation. 

[Dennis Lacy]

1 hour ago, afx said:

I like the look with the stock rear wheel openings - might be nice to keep it if you can get the tire clearance you need.

The slicks are wider than the pie crust slicks in the kit and the wheels are deeper so I already know they aren’t going to fit. You have think under the circumstances of my back story they wouldn’t hesitate to carve on the car as needed. 

[NOBLNG]

9 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

Yesterday I ran down the road a few miles to Pegasus Hobbies and picked up the all-new and much anticipated Moebius 1964 Nova SS and 1965 Chevy II Gasser kits. 

Wow, you’re not wasting any time on this one. It looks like that big block fits like a glove.? If that u-joint on the kit steering box was angled better, you may not have needed to dent the header tube as much if at all? Nice work so far!?

[chris chabre]

I was gonna basically build the same concept but with a blown big block haha 

[afx]

10 minutes ago, Dennis Lacy said:

The slicks are wider than the pie crust slicks in the kit and the wheels are deeper so I already know they aren’t going to fit. You have think under the circumstances of my back story they wouldn’t hesitate to carve on the car as needed. 

I was a car crazy teenager in the 70s - I remember.  Cut the wheel opening or jack them up high enough to clear the tire.  I'm sure it will be a great build.

[Trendsetta68]

WOWZERS, you're off to a great start...

That BB looks awesome sitting in its home!

???

[espo]

Looks and sounds like a fun build. Good to know how well the parts line up. 

[Modlbldr]

Looks great so far! I'll be watching for updates.

Later-

[Dennis Lacy]

3 hours ago, chris chabre said:

I was gonna basically build the same concept but with a blown big block haha 

The dad in my backstory, while largely irresponsible, couldn’t quite bring himself to turn his teenage son loose with a blown BB out of the gate. Maybe I should build a scale box or crate with used blower parts and set it on the floor board like they’ve just picked up an upgrade kit… ?

[Zippi]

I like me some Gassers. Looking good Dennis.  Waiting for my local hobby shop to get Mine in.

[afx]

5 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

The dad in my backstory, while largely irresponsible, couldn’t quite bring himself to turn his teenage son loose with a blown BB out of the gate. Maybe I should build a scale box or crate with used blower parts and set it on the floor board like they’ve just picked up an upgrade kit… ?

Or Dad takes the car away after to many tickets and installs the blower for himself.

[Dave72]

Another great start to another great build Dennis! Engine mock up looks perfect. Fits like a glove.

[Dennis Lacy]

3 hours ago, afx said:

Or Dad takes the car away after to many tickets and installs the blower for himself.

Along those lines, one of my customers had a 1932 Ford 5-Window in high school in the mid-60’s. Car had a blown Chrysler Hemi, LaSalle gear box, Halibrand quick change, disc brakes and magnesium Americans. He got caught street racing (who’d have imagined!) and his dad sold it as a punishment. He said he didn’t talk to his dad for a month! ?