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

[Mattilacken]

Sweet build! That exhaust is sweet and as you say, clearly fits the BB headers!

[Dennis Lacy]

On 3/7/2022 at 7:07 AM, NOBLNG said:

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!?

If the u-joints actually articulated I do believe you are right. But the long-time solution on a back yard build has always been to take a ball peen to it! ?

[bluestringer]

Nice build. Love it. Back in the late 60's we would have something like this, and we would put some cut outs behind the headers for those Saturday night grudge matches at the local dragstrip. 

[geemoney]

awesome!

GO GO GO!

[Dennis Lacy]

26 minutes ago, bluestringer said:

Nice build. Love it. Back in the late 60's we would have something like this, and we would put some cut outs behind the headers for those Saturday night grudge matches at the local dragstrip. 

Exhaust cut-outs have been on my mind since doing the initial work Sunday. ?

[Limeyglue]

Great start. I hope we get the kits in the UK.

[mademan]

great start! Im thinking I might go Big Block with mine also.

[Scott8950]

How does the roof look ? It looks good in the pictures I'm just curious about how it looks once you can physically see it.

Your off to a great start. 

[Dennis Lacy]

On 3/13/2022 at 7:09 AM, Scott8950 said:

How does the roof look ? It looks good in the pictures I'm just curious about how it looks once you can physically see it.

Your off to a great start. 

Roof looks good to me! 

[Oldcarfan27]

On 3/8/2022 at 8:21 AM, Dennis Lacy said:

If the u-joints actually articulated I do believe you are right. But the long-time solution on a back yard build has always been to take a ball peen to it! ?

Or offset the engine slightly to the passenger side for clearance. 

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE! 
 

The priority this weekend was finishing my ‘63 Nova Wagon, which I did. Then I got some unexpected extra bench time so I decided to get some more done on this ‘65. 
 

I filled the front frame rails with strips of .040” Evergreen. This isn’t necessary on the ‘64 kit because the inner fender panels cover the top of the frame but on the ‘65 the panels are deleted leaving the top of the frame in plain sight. 
 

I made the inner wheel rims from generic AMT pieces and adapted the wheels to the kit axle by cutting the ends of the axle off and inserting .060” pins which fit the wheels perfect. 
 

Out back I glued the axle halves together then cleaned up the seams along with the mold seams on the springs. The springs were glued to the axle. Like the front, I made some inner wheel rims from more generic AMT pieces, cut off the ends of the axle and inserted .060” rod. After getting the springs glued to the axle I realized that I am going to need to build some spacers into the insides of the wheel that are flush with the edges of the rims (which is how that kit wheels are done) because as things are now the insides of the slicks hit the springs before the wheels are fully on. I will do this in a way that looks like brake drums.
 

I mocked up the rear axle, springs and one of the ladder bars to show that everything fits with the “aftermarket” exhaust from the sister ‘64 SS kit. The only issue I’m seeing is that the pipes are going to interfere with the shocks so I’ll have to tweak where they mount to the floor. 

 

After mentioning to my pal @Rocking Rodney Rat that I needed to find a proper looking hood scoop he dug through his junk and found the perfect one and put it in the mail. 
 

After getting it I stripped the blue paint off with a bath in Dot 3 brake fluid and today got it fit to the hood. I trimmed off the bulky base of the scoop and had to add a strip of plastic across the rear of the hood hole. I also removed a section of the hood center peak so the scoop would sit flush and this also gave me an alignment point front to back. 
 

That’s where I’m at now. Some solid progress considering I did t expect to be able to work on this project this weekend. Next will be trying to get this thing mocked up onto its wheels and tires and some big block detail work. 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2022 by Dennis Lacy

[Kit Karson]

Setting up to be a real track burner, Brother!

[Bowtienutz]

You should never use those scale concrete blocks to hold your car up! They are very dangerous, one can kick out and your car can fall off the bench and break an a pillar or such. Sorry couldn't resist Carry on, I'm sure you will see the wisdom in my post.

 

[horsepower]

On 3/7/2022 at 7:39 PM, Dennis Lacy said:

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! ?

You mean he EVER talked to him again!? It would have made thanksgiving dinners really strange because I would have just put any food passed to me on the floor next to my chair so I wouldn't have to ask him to pass anything to me.??

[Ian McLaren]

Liking the direction your going, well done

[horsepower]

On 3/8/2022 at 9:38 AM, Dennis Lacy said:

Exhaust cut-outs have been on my mind since doing the initial work Sunday. ?

When I would want to open the exhaust up on my '56 Chevy either for the extra power or just to hear that sound of a high rpm small block all I'd do was unbolt the exhaust at the collectors and move it until it was clear and then bolt it with a single nut and bolt to hold it out of the way. I got busted one day for the open headers on the street and they wouldn't pass it unless I welded the collector nuts to the bolts so it was impossible to just unbolt them when I wanted to. But I had a friend that went through the same thing and we did mine like his, we put a tiny part of a stud into a nut and welded it in place then put everything back together and cut the bolts that went through the collectors and flanges down enough that they would just thread into the nuts enough to tighten them up without bottoming out against the dummy stud inside the nut, and then to make sure that the officer would sign it off (welll, that is what we told him) we welded each nut to the exhaust side of the header collector flanges.  Made the cop really happy since he knew I'd have to use a torch to open the headers. And I was happy because I could open or cap them up a lot easier since the nuts were welded to the collectors it would only take a single ratchet and socket and one hand to uncork'em.??

Edited March 24, 2022 by horsepower

[bobthehobbyguy]

Another great project.

[Dennis Lacy]

On 3/24/2022 at 6:32 AM, horsepower said:

When I would want to open the exhaust up on my '56 Chevy either for the extra power or just to hear that sound of a high rpm small block all I'd do was unbolt the exhaust at the collectors and move it until it was clear and then bolt it with a single nut and bolt to hold it out of the way. I got busted one day for the open headers on the street and they wouldn't pass it unless I welded the collector nuts to the bolts so it was impossible to just unbolt them when I wanted to. But I had a friend that went through the same thing and we did mine like his, we put a tiny part of a stud into a nut and welded it in place then put everything back together and cut the bolts that went through the collectors and flanges down enough that they would just thread into the nuts enough to tighten them up without bottoming out against the dummy stud inside the nut, and then to make sure that the officer would sign it off (welll, that is what we told him) we welded each nut to the exhaust side of the header collector flanges.  Made the cop really happy since he knew I'd have to use a torch to open the headers. And I was happy because I could open or cap them up a lot easier since the nuts were welded to the collectors it would only take a single ratchet and socket and one hand to uncork'em.??

Ha! Great story!!! ?

 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Yeah! That scoop fits perfectly! Carry on.... -RRR

[BuilderX]

Sweet!

[Steve H]

Hi Dennis, this is fantastic stuff. Can’t wait to get my hands on those kits. Always lots of great ideas in your WIP’s, thanks for sharing. Nice to see some more 60’s builds too!! My 1:1 ‘67 Beaumont has the had the ballpean treatment on the headers…

Cheers, Steve

[Cool Hand]

Been a minute, any updates Dennis ??

[dino246gt]

I'm diggin' this thread! Nice mods so far! I'm sure it'll be a real gas! er!!

[Dennis Lacy]

On 4/18/2022 at 8:09 AM, Cool Hand said:

Been a minute, any updates Dennis ??

Unfortunately, no. It’s definitely not forgotten about and progress will be made. A few weeks ago a staffer from MCM contacted me and asked me to do a build-up feature for a future issue of the magazine so I have to focus on that project to meet their deadline. 

[OldNYJim]

22 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

Unfortunately, no. It’s definitely not forgotten about and progress will be made. A few weeks ago a staffer from MCM contacted me and asked me to do a build-up feature for a future issue of the magazine so I have to focus on that project to meet their deadline. 

AWESOME!!!!!  Can’t wait to see that!  Congrats - well deserved!!