Hi, My name is Glenn Sowley and this is my account of the history of my 1970
Chevelle Super Sport that came from the factory with the legendary LS-6
454/450 hp, M-22 4spd and 4:10 gears.
I've owned this car since May of 1976, it has had a few changes but currently
looks like this but can be switched to stock mode with a simple wheel swap.
I like the nostalgia look the Cragar wheels give the car, although I wouldn't
suggest driving very far with the drag front tires and M&H street slicks out
back!
This car has a whole lot of history, the original owner purchased the car from
William Pape Chevrolet on Long Island NY and after aprox 6 months of street
driving/racing started to turn the car into a radical drag race machine. From
what I'm told the car was a "Killer" street racer that made a bunch of $$ on
the streets of NY City in the wee hours of the evenings.
The car made a local publication in may of 1974 showing its racing modifica
tions of the day. With a racing engine, tunnel ram intake and steep rear gears
the car made some high 10 second runs, which back in the day was pretty
serious stuff. Pro stocks were in the 9's at the time, so a 10 second street
race car was a money maker for sure.
1974 Chevy Power Magazine Article click here ----->KILLER
CHEVELLE
When I purchased the car in may of 1976 the racing engine was history, the
original engine suffered a connecting rod failure and took away the block with
it. Due to an extremely good deal I was presented, I then became the new
owner.
At that time the 454/450 engine was almost folklore already. I was told
they were brutal, nothing can beat the LS-6. I had no idea what that meant.
Most muscle cars of the time ran 14-15 second et's. Even the SS
396 was not much to brag about. The only serious stuff was 427 or bigger C.I.
in lighter body styles like the Camaros, Mopars and some Fords.
Well I started my project with a plain jane 396/325hp, hydraulic aftermarket
cam, headers, etc. Seemed to run good to me? I even beat some cars in quick,
impromptu street races.
Then I got the bug to reequip my car with the original style power, LS-6 454!
I went to my local chevy dealer, Amity Chevrolet, and ordered up a complete
LS-6 engine. At the time the short block came assembled, the heads and all
accessories were separate parts, lots of them too! Valves, springs, oil pan,
etc, etc.
I managed to put it all together and one weekend pulled the 396 and installed
the monster. What to expect, I didn't have a clue! After starting it up, breaking
in the cam I idled it down to my surprize aprox 950 rpm and almost smooth
idle! Did I make a mistake? It sounded, well, stock! Was this the killer engine
or just hype?? So lets go for a road test!
After just accelerating normally I realized the car went much faster on only a
quarter of the gas pedal. I was ready to let it fly!! So finding an open stretch I
nailed it and immediatly from a 20 mph roll in first, the car spun the tires hard,
recovered and pulled like crazy to 6500 rpm and actually spun the tires on the
upshift so bad the car slid each time! The top of second gear felt like a rocket
to me shifting in the mid 6000 rpm range, we liked to call it "the hard pull".
This is what separated the weak from the strong, that hard torque pull and
mph that came with it.
At that time the car had a turbo 400 automatic in it and it worked great! I
remember the smile on my face as if it was yesterday, not 27 years ago!!
The car really was stock except for headers, an edelbrock intake and 850
Holley vacuum carb.
I honestly raced any muscle car that would want some and beat some serious
cars that never expected to get beat. The only few races I remember losing was to
my close friend Rapid Ricky's 69 Z-28 with, thats right, an LS-6 in it, his 70 chevelle
also with an LS-6, we traded wins off and on depending on who got the move first.
At the time my car with slicks ran some mid 12 second et's with 3.31 gears and
stock suspension. That is nothing today but back in the late 70's it would beat
most street cars without a problem.
After street driving the car for about just under a year or so I had an "incident" with
the engine that after the fact found to be my fault. Seems the stock oil pan holds only
about 4 quarts of oil and if the oil level drops to 1 qt low and the engine speed exceeds
6000 rpm, the pan will get sucked dry. This unfortunatly happened and caused a spun
#6 rod bearing. The engine developed a knock and I shut it down immediatly. The
crank was slightly scored and could have been remachined but after talking to my
chevy dealer where I bought the engine, they had me bring it down and had the district
rep inspect it under the 12/12 warranty and agreed to replace the crank, rod and
bearings for free!
Now I'm thinking, lets make the car faster,hahaha.
So I researched an aftermarket
Cam, chose a Cam Dynamics solid with 579/605 lift, 302/312 duration, had the heads
milled and a competition valve job done with the exhaust valve heads back cut as
the "How to Hotrod Big Block Chevy engines" book suggested. I hand fitted the piston
rings to the bores and assembled the engine myself using the stock steel crank, LS-6
connecting rods and 11.25:1 pistons. No cylinder head porting was done, no real
blueprinting, just basically an LS-6 with an aftermarket cam and good valve job. The
machine work was done by Bill over at S&K Speed in Lindenhust LI, NY. I always had
my machine work done by them and was always very satisfied. They had a very good
reputation back in the day for high quality work. The engine had an Edelbrock
Torker intake, 850 holley vacuum secondary carb, cheapo 2" diam. tube blackjack
headers.
The turbo 400 had a B&M transpack installed for firm shifts, a 10" super holeshot
converter (street type) with aprox 3200 stall.
I lost my mind a little and looking back on the racing days selected 5:13 gears for the
12 bolt. At this time I decided to get serious about drag racing the car for a while, no
street driving. The rear had no traction devices whatsoever, just the stock sway bar.
I removed the exhaust system, open headers with headers extensions. I changed the
springs to Moroso's and replaced the upper control arm bushings with racing type and
90/10 front shocks. I also removed the front sway bar. I installed Centerline front 15x4
racing wheels and skinny street tires up front, Crager 15x8 Super Tricks with 11.0x
29 slicks out back. This was the extent of the racing modifications to the car, oh
one other thing, a 3 point bolt in roll bar (was legal at the time) had to be installed.
Full interior, even the rear seat, console with stock shifter and radio too! The car was
heavy, I think it weighed in at 3700 lbs without me in it.
The engine started up and ran very nicely, idled about 1050 rpm and choppy/rough.
I remember having to drill holes in the primary thottle plates to get the idle stable.
Open headers is an awesome sound on a big block with a cam in it. It just sounds
fast!
The first time out to the track was accomplished by flat towing using a tow bar and
free wheeling tow hubs. I had no idea what to expect but was hoping for some 11
second time slips. That at the time was a very serious goal and generally a race car
only expectation. I recall the first pass the car seemed to run strong and layed
down a 12.45 can't remember the MPH off hand. The car spun the tires and since I
had only a few passes down the quarter mile under my belt, I really didn't know what
traction was. The car ran in that area of times that day, I was a little disappointed
but realized the car had a lot more potential. Inexperience and impatience was
my problem that eventually lost out to determination to get the car in the 11's.
That year was 1980-81 and I raced the car almost every sunday the track was
open. Little by little the ET's came down as I tweaked the car. Finally the car
was running 11.50's at 118 MPH, without any internal engine changes. The
steep gear was hurting the car both on launch and at the finish due to high
rpms. I then changed the rear tires to Firestones which were much taller to
help cut down some gearing. One last trip to the track but just about everything
went wrong that day, almost lost the car and trailer due to a bad sway while
towing, then the temps were 95 degrees that day and in the excitement of
the towing incident I didnt realize the parking brake was partially on all day, lol.
I felt the brakes fading after each pass but it still didnt click, the parking brake
was only partially on, but enough to slow the car to 11.90 ET's.
Unfortunatly my racing days were coming to an end. NY National Speedway was
closing its doors due to home development in the area and I was getting bored
just racing the car and not driving it around. The car definetly had at least a few
tenths left in it with better gearing, traction, double pumper carb and a race
converter. I felt 11.30's were within reach, again with no headwork and full
weight! Thats not too impressive today but back then knocking on the 10 second
door was "race car" territory! I was running gutted out, fully lettered race cars
in the pro class with basically a street car.
The next chapter was removing the rear gears to reinstall 4:10's, removed the
cam and installed the second design L-88, a little less radical but still a rough
idled monster. Same converter, full stock exhaust from the headers back ,
(I saved it), reinstalled the stock front springs and changed the head gaskets
to drop a little compression off.
The car still ran strong and saw some more
street action. 440 challenger, 429 mustang, 396/375 chevelle, I even tried to
get something going with a mid 60's 426 wedge mopar, he didnt want any! No
B.S. just fact, the car ran strong. I raced a few bikes even, one kawasaki kz
1000, dont know if it was stock or not but was dead even up to about 100mph,
then I lifted. A Suzuki 1100, but I gotta admit the guy was extra large, I pulled
away from him in second gear, both bike races were from about 20 mph.
I always was impressed with the LS-6's performance, and to this day believe
there was not much that could run with it on the street unless it was a car with
a race engine or very light body.
Today these cars that are legitimate LS-6 cars are too valuable to abuse but
since my original block is history I can still punch it when I feel the need to
"re-experience" the feeling. Now the car is equipped with the Rock Crusher
M-22 4 speed as it was in the beginning.
I freshened up the engine and
lowered the compression by using Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum, rect.
port heads. These are open chamber design with my closed chamber pistons
equate an aproximate 10.1 compression. I also installed a Comp Cams street
roller cam and kit, .600 lift and 270 duration numbers. The intake manifold
is also an Edelbrock Performer dual plane and the stock 780 vacuum sec
Holley carb. Hooker headers and flowmaster 2.25 exhaust with the factory
chrome tips installed. The car runs very nicely on premium pump unleaded
gas, no pinging whatsoever. The rear gear is currently 4:56, but too extreme
for street driving a big block, 4:10's going back in soon.
Some not too distant past street encounters were a certain red 71 nova that at
the time was running high 11's the chevelle did pull away in 3rd gear a car or two,
and a late model (96?) camaro with a stick shift and nitrous that took a whipping
from the all motor LS-6 at least 3 times, hahaha. That car was running some
very low 12's witnessed by myself at the local track.
Thats my LS-6 true story there are many more details, races and other thoughts
after some 27 years of ownership that would just take too long to put here
but the cars future will have a new paint job (same color of course), detailing
and maybe some more engine tuning. I have no intention of selling the car,
ever, and hope to be power shifting the Hurst shifter when I'm 80, LOL!!!
Thanks for reading this time capsule thats stuck in the back of my mind,
I enjoyed remembering these thoughts and for any enthusiasts that can relate
(I know your out there), let me know by leaving a reply in my guest book.
Glenn
I like the nostalgia look the Cragar wheels give the car, although I wouldn't suggest driving very far with the drag front tires and M&H street slicks out back! This car has a whole lot of history, the original owner purchased the car from William Pape Chevrolet on Long Island NY and after aprox 6 months of street driving/racing started to turn the car into a radical drag race machine. From what I'm told the car was a "Killer" street racer that made a bunch of $$ on the streets of NY City in the wee hours of the evenings. The car made a local publication in may of 1974 showing its racing modifica tions of the day. With a racing engine, tunnel ram intake and steep rear gears the car made some high 10 second runs, which back in the day was pretty serious stuff. Pro stocks were in the 9's at the time, so a 10 second street race car was a money maker for sure. 1974 Chevy Power Magazine Article click here ----->KILLER CHEVELLE When I purchased the car in may of 1976 the racing engine was history, the original engine suffered a connecting rod failure and took away the block with it. Due to an extremely good deal I was presented, I then became the new owner.
At that time the 454/450 engine was almost folklore already. I was told they were brutal, nothing can beat the LS-6. I had no idea what that meant. Most muscle cars of the time ran 14-15 second et's. Even the SS 396 was not much to brag about. The only serious stuff was 427 or bigger C.I. in lighter body styles like the Camaros, Mopars and some Fords. Well I started my project with a plain jane 396/325hp, hydraulic aftermarket cam, headers, etc. Seemed to run good to me? I even beat some cars in quick, impromptu street races.
Then I got the bug to reequip my car with the original style power, LS-6 454! I went to my local chevy dealer, Amity Chevrolet, and ordered up a complete LS-6 engine. At the time the short block came assembled, the heads and all accessories were separate parts, lots of them too! Valves, springs, oil pan, etc, etc. I managed to put it all together and one weekend pulled the 396 and installed the monster. What to expect, I didn't have a clue! After starting it up, breaking in the cam I idled it down to my surprize aprox 950 rpm and almost smooth idle! Did I make a mistake? It sounded, well, stock! Was this the killer engine or just hype?? So lets go for a road test! After just accelerating normally I realized the car went much faster on only a quarter of the gas pedal. I was ready to let it fly!! So finding an open stretch I nailed it and immediatly from a 20 mph roll in first, the car spun the tires hard, recovered and pulled like crazy to 6500 rpm and actually spun the tires on the upshift so bad the car slid each time! The top of second gear felt like a rocket to me shifting in the mid 6000 rpm range, we liked to call it "the hard pull". This is what separated the weak from the strong, that hard torque pull and mph that came with it. At that time the car had a turbo 400 automatic in it and it worked great! I remember the smile on my face as if it was yesterday, not 27 years ago!! The car really was stock except for headers, an edelbrock intake and 850 Holley vacuum carb. I honestly raced any muscle car that would want some and beat some serious cars that never expected to get beat. The only few races I remember losing was to my close friend Rapid Ricky's 69 Z-28 with, thats right, an LS-6 in it, his 70 chevelle also with an LS-6, we traded wins off and on depending on who got the move first.
At the time my car with slicks ran some mid 12 second et's with 3.31 gears and stock suspension. That is nothing today but back in the late 70's it would beat most street cars without a problem. After street driving the car for about just under a year or so I had an "incident" with the engine that after the fact found to be my fault. Seems the stock oil pan holds only about 4 quarts of oil and if the oil level drops to 1 qt low and the engine speed exceeds 6000 rpm, the pan will get sucked dry. This unfortunatly happened and caused a spun #6 rod bearing. The engine developed a knock and I shut it down immediatly. The crank was slightly scored and could have been remachined but after talking to my chevy dealer where I bought the engine, they had me bring it down and had the district rep inspect it under the 12/12 warranty and agreed to replace the crank, rod and bearings for free! Now I'm thinking, lets make the car faster,hahaha.
So I researched an aftermarket Cam, chose a Cam Dynamics solid with 579/605 lift, 302/312 duration, had the heads milled and a competition valve job done with the exhaust valve heads back cut as the "How to Hotrod Big Block Chevy engines" book suggested. I hand fitted the piston rings to the bores and assembled the engine myself using the stock steel crank, LS-6 connecting rods and 11.25:1 pistons. No cylinder head porting was done, no real blueprinting, just basically an LS-6 with an aftermarket cam and good valve job. The machine work was done by Bill over at S&K Speed in Lindenhust LI, NY. I always had my machine work done by them and was always very satisfied. They had a very good reputation back in the day for high quality work. The engine had an Edelbrock Torker intake, 850 holley vacuum secondary carb, cheapo 2" diam. tube blackjack headers. The turbo 400 had a B&M transpack installed for firm shifts, a 10" super holeshot converter (street type) with aprox 3200 stall. I lost my mind a little and looking back on the racing days selected 5:13 gears for the 12 bolt. At this time I decided to get serious about drag racing the car for a while, no street driving. The rear had no traction devices whatsoever, just the stock sway bar. I removed the exhaust system, open headers with headers extensions. I changed the springs to Moroso's and replaced the upper control arm bushings with racing type and 90/10 front shocks. I also removed the front sway bar. I installed Centerline front 15x4 racing wheels and skinny street tires up front, Crager 15x8 Super Tricks with 11.0x 29 slicks out back. This was the extent of the racing modifications to the car, oh one other thing, a 3 point bolt in roll bar (was legal at the time) had to be installed. Full interior, even the rear seat, console with stock shifter and radio too! The car was heavy, I think it weighed in at 3700 lbs without me in it.
The engine started up and ran very nicely, idled about 1050 rpm and choppy/rough. I remember having to drill holes in the primary thottle plates to get the idle stable. Open headers is an awesome sound on a big block with a cam in it. It just sounds fast! The first time out to the track was accomplished by flat towing using a tow bar and free wheeling tow hubs. I had no idea what to expect but was hoping for some 11 second time slips. That at the time was a very serious goal and generally a race car only expectation. I recall the first pass the car seemed to run strong and layed down a 12.45 can't remember the MPH off hand. The car spun the tires and since I had only a few passes down the quarter mile under my belt, I really didn't know what traction was. The car ran in that area of times that day, I was a little disappointed but realized the car had a lot more potential. Inexperience and impatience was my problem that eventually lost out to determination to get the car in the 11's. That year was 1980-81 and I raced the car almost every sunday the track was open. Little by little the ET's came down as I tweaked the car. Finally the car was running 11.50's at 118 MPH, without any internal engine changes. The steep gear was hurting the car both on launch and at the finish due to high rpms. I then changed the rear tires to Firestones which were much taller to help cut down some gearing. One last trip to the track but just about everything went wrong that day, almost lost the car and trailer due to a bad sway while towing, then the temps were 95 degrees that day and in the excitement of the towing incident I didnt realize the parking brake was partially on all day, lol. I felt the brakes fading after each pass but it still didnt click, the parking brake was only partially on, but enough to slow the car to 11.90 ET's. Unfortunatly my racing days were coming to an end. NY National Speedway was closing its doors due to home development in the area and I was getting bored just racing the car and not driving it around. The car definetly had at least a few tenths left in it with better gearing, traction, double pumper carb and a race converter. I felt 11.30's were within reach, again with no headwork and full weight! Thats not too impressive today but back then knocking on the 10 second door was "race car" territory! I was running gutted out, fully lettered race cars in the pro class with basically a street car.
The next chapter was removing the rear gears to reinstall 4:10's, removed the cam and installed the second design L-88, a little less radical but still a rough idled monster. Same converter, full stock exhaust from the headers back , (I saved it), reinstalled the stock front springs and changed the head gaskets to drop a little compression off.
The car still ran strong and saw some more street action. 440 challenger, 429 mustang, 396/375 chevelle, I even tried to get something going with a mid 60's 426 wedge mopar, he didnt want any! No B.S. just fact, the car ran strong. I raced a few bikes even, one kawasaki kz 1000, dont know if it was stock or not but was dead even up to about 100mph, then I lifted. A Suzuki 1100, but I gotta admit the guy was extra large, I pulled away from him in second gear, both bike races were from about 20 mph. I always was impressed with the LS-6's performance, and to this day believe there was not much that could run with it on the street unless it was a car with a race engine or very light body.
Today these cars that are legitimate LS-6 cars are too valuable to abuse but since my original block is history I can still punch it when I feel the need to "re-experience" the feeling. Now the car is equipped with the Rock Crusher M-22 4 speed as it was in the beginning.
I freshened up the engine and lowered the compression by using Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum, rect. port heads. These are open chamber design with my closed chamber pistons equate an aproximate 10.1 compression. I also installed a Comp Cams street roller cam and kit, .600 lift and 270 duration numbers. The intake manifold is also an Edelbrock Performer dual plane and the stock 780 vacuum sec Holley carb. Hooker headers and flowmaster 2.25 exhaust with the factory chrome tips installed. The car runs very nicely on premium pump unleaded gas, no pinging whatsoever. The rear gear is currently 4:56, but too extreme for street driving a big block, 4:10's going back in soon. Some not too distant past street encounters were a certain red 71 nova that at the time was running high 11's the chevelle did pull away in 3rd gear a car or two, and a late model (96?) camaro with a stick shift and nitrous that took a whipping from the all motor LS-6 at least 3 times, hahaha. That car was running some very low 12's witnessed by myself at the local track.
Thats my LS-6 true story there are many more details, races and other thoughts after some 27 years of ownership that would just take too long to put here but the cars future will have a new paint job (same color of course), detailing and maybe some more engine tuning. I have no intention of selling the car, ever, and hope to be power shifting the Hurst shifter when I'm 80, LOL!!! Thanks for reading this time capsule thats stuck in the back of my mind, I enjoyed remembering these thoughts and for any enthusiasts that can relate (I know your out there), let me know by leaving a reply in my guest book. Glenn
