Help me with my 70 chevelle ss

Alright....im 18, i am just getting my first car....and i have always loved muscle cars....im thinking about getting a 70' chevelle ss. That has been my dream car forever. But what i wanted to know, is if a 502 big block will fit under the stock hood of my dream car....i would appreciate any tips for restoring cars, cuz im a noob, and i dont have lots of money...thanks a lot everyone....

nick

The engine will fit fine. The 502 is a bored-over 454 and the 454 was one of engines available in the '70 Chevelle as with the more common, 396 which has the same block as well.

Now finding an affordable '70 SS with the 454 that is in any kind of decent shape is near impossible so here is what I would recommend.

Look for a Chevelle with the 396 and the automatic, they're much cheaper and then you can take the money that you saved and get a 454 from a truck around the same year and drop it right in.

It's a very simple and straight forward process.

Now is a 502 exert more hp than a 454?

And also, if i get a 396 with an automatic, wouldnt i have to replace the transmission if i wanted it in manual?

And also, if i get a 396 with an automatic, wouldnt i have to replace the transmission if i wanted it in manual?
You'd have to get a new tranny. If you can find one with a manual, you'd want to make sure it could handle the extra HP of the 454 or 502. The 454 would be easier and cheaper to find and buy. There are a lot of 454's out there. I'm not sure of the 502 since it is mainly a crate motor.
Jeff

personally i wouldnt get a 502.. the 454 is a better street motor. it has a shoter stroke for the huge bore that the 502 needs which gives more torque. plus the 502 will be very expensive and need and expertiece to build a really fast one. plus it would give u more power than u even want and waste more gas. a 454 is a fine decision and if u want a manual then yes u will need some modifications. all u need to do is cut a hole in the floor, the brake pedal needs to be changed since the clutch mounts off the brake pedal but thanks to good ol chevy the brake pedal with or without the clutch mounts exactly the same so there are no worries, u just need to get the right one. also u will need to get the linkages for the clutch and it will need a new starter since a flywheel and a flexplate uses dif starters. it would save u trouble if u just get a chevelle that has a stick in it or did at one time, but gtr2b was right the auto will be much cheaper but is it worth the work......??

-GearHead

Why take out the 396!? That was a very good engine, you can get just as much out of a 396 than a 502. And the time it took him to get the 502, his 396 could have just as much hp as the 502 stock.

Muscle cars need automatics.

actually z28, im sorry to disagree, but the 396 is one of the slowest revving big blocks made. in the 60's when chevy put them in the SS's they were nicknamed Super Sled for years becuase it was just a heavy aengine without enough power to handle itself, do not go witht the 396. now im not sayin its entirely a slow engine, but u would be more happy with a 454 and if u can afford it, the 502. and personally i think a muscle car isnt a muscle car until its equipped with a stick, it just makes the drive even more fun, but were all entitled to our opinion..

-GearHead

not to mention 396 parts are starting to become harder to find and dollar for dollar it will probably be cheaper to build a 454 over a 396.

I stand corrected, probably why a lot of them got bored out to 427, and completely rebuilt. I forgot they are getting harder to find, that's why i was told not to get one for my 66 Chevelle i'm restoring.

I think a better idea would be to find a Chevelle with a good body and interior and don't worry about the motor for now. Save up and build a wicked small block or build a 454 in your garage while you cruise with the stock motor. Stick shift cars usually cost 3-5k more and are hard to find. A stick conversion will cost about 2-5k. Most of the cost is in buying a manual trans that will hold the torque of a big block

Your right, buy the chevelle ss without the motor and trans if possible, its cheaper. also try and find a chevelle ss that has some rust and some interior problems (only if you feel like restoring it, it would be cheaper and more affordable for you), a bit of advice, if you are looking into going this direction of finding one with rust and maybe some interior problems, just make sure the quarter panels are in good shape because they are a bitch to replace. it all depends on what you want and what you can afford. iam currently looking for a 60's camaro, but the problemS im running into is that they are hard to find and are very pricey for a decent one in good condition (no rust, etc). i dont know about you but i want to do a frame off restoration and build my 454 im gunna put into it, and since i want to do this, it makes the price of the camaro a hell of a lot cheaper because i dont need the engine or transmission, im fine with rust (cept quarter panels), and im fine with interior work. i do highly recommend you to find a chevelle ss taht needs restoration and with no engine or trans. its just alot easier and cheaper to find and afford since us teenagers are not made of money.

i agree with ya musclecarfanatic as far as getting one with no engine and trans, i mean if your going to replace it anyway, why get one. they are actualy alot cheeper with no engine and trans, usualy. but like me i will get it either way. i have 3 engines sitting around right now. its always good to have something to tinker with. oh yeah, just a head up, you know the camaro was only made for the last 3 years in the 60 right? thats one reason they are hard to find. they didnt hit the market until 67. one of these days i want to get my hands on a first gen camaro. but like you said they are hard to find for a reasonable price. well atleast what i concider reasonabl. but there are lots of parts for them on the market. not used parts but many many companys cary and manufacture parts for them.

...they were nicknamed Super Sled for years...-GearHead

I know that the jargon of those times is hard but there was nothing wrong with a "sled'. The term comes from rocket sled. You are probably confusing it with the term "boat" as in a stone boat.

The 375 H.P. 396 is legend and already a crazy powerful engine for a Chevelle. A high output 454 (>400 H.P.) is crazy squared. If that is not good enough then the 502 would not be much better and I strongly recommend the Allison V1710. There are lots of them still in mothballs and they are real motors as opposed to these dinky toys of which you speak.

Why settle for only three digit horsepower in something as big as a Chevelle when four digit is so readily available? Think outside the box.

Your completely right Murray, but im talkin about in the 60's, back thenthe power of a 396 was very good, but there were a lot more powerful that u could get very easily. A fast car is more rare now'a'days, so the 396 seems a lot faster today than it did 30 years ago. dont forget the 396 is also the same engine as the 427 with a smaller bore so teh 427 has a lot more power and was always the chosen engine over the 396. the 350 only has a bore .096 inches smaller than the 396 and a much smaller stroke giving u more torque and faster rpm's witht he same power, also resulting in a faster engine.

to tell u the truth i have no idea y they called it a super sled to mean its slow, but they did, lol. i guess its cuz a sled is such slower than a car..... whatever


-GearHead

Hoo boy. I'm talkin about the sixties and I was there when it was happening. The SS396 375 H.P. was one groovy movin machine. Even with 325 H.P. the thing would still fly.

Both the 396 and 427 were derived from the big block 348 but the 350 was a small block derived from the 265 originally (I think). It went 265-283-327-350 as far as I can remember. At any rate 90+% of the big block engines made had hydraulic lifters, fairly mild camshafts and did not turn much faster than 5000 rpm. The 396 was not particularly slow turning as I recall and it was more than enough engine to launch a 3500 pound vehicle like a rocket.

It is easy today with all of the talk about the hot cars to think that these were common back then. That simply isn't true. The best selling muscle car was the GTO and in its best year I thing it sold 100k units. Compare that with more than a million each for many other ordinary cars. Truth is, there were more Ramblers with flat-heads than there were Goats and more Nash Metropolitans (a rare care in its own right) than Charger Daytonas and SuperBirds combined.

Back then it was pretty much only men between 18 and 25 years old who could buy hot cars. Its not that the dealers wouldn't sell them to other people its just that the hot cars were incompatible with most wives. Buy one and you got wife shaped tooth marks on your buttocks and an ultimatum, "Either it goes or I do". That was always followed by "you do what you want" which in wimmuns' talk means the case is closed.

It really was happening in the sixties and old timers can tell you what IT really was.

Feelin' groovy, da, da, da, da, feelin' groovy. Peace, man!

I think a better idea would be to find a Chevelle with a good body and interior and don't worry about the motor for now. Save up and build a wicked small block or build a 454 in your garage while you cruise with the stock motor. Stick shift cars usually cost 3-5k more and are hard to find. A stick conversion will cost about 2-5k. Most of the cost is in buying a manual trans that will hold the torque of a big blocki need help with buying a 70 ss chevelle.Is it whorth to get with no motor.

Any SS is worth buying, but if you get a 70 I would make sure I put a Big Block back in there. As a general rule, engine work is the easiest to do.