1968 Chevelle Mild Pro-Touring Build

[theastronaut]

Tracked down a pair of NOS '68 only short fender eyebrow moldings since the car doesn't have side trim. Not easy parts to find!




Since its going to be a driver it needed better headlights than reproduction T3 or new sealed beams. It's very tough to find even decent 5 3/4" headlights since the reflector area is limited. If you get an H4 then the low beam only uses about half of the reflector and lens area to create the low beam pattern, in an already small housing. I did some research and found Hella Bi-focus H1 housings that use the whole reflector and lens to create the low beam pattern.

The high beams are NOS Cibie H3 housings that have a little more peripheral lighting than the usual H1 high beam housing. We didn't want the low beams coming on with the high beams (too much foreground light) so these were a good solution to have enough light to see to the sides better on high beam.

Both lights are hooked up using a 12g harness and German made Flosser relays to take power directly from the battery- no voltage loss at the bulbs this way.

[theastronaut]

We used a Vintage Air kit for the AC. Everything went together easily, no problems with anything in the kit.




KRC power steering pump and remote reservoir.






Hoses zip tied in place.






Checking the wiring to make sure everything worked... no smoked wires!








Champion radiator and fans going in.




Cleaned/detailed the rubber parts under the hood.






Heat/AC hoses zip tied together, AC wire hidden under the hoses.




Grill and headlights installed.




Had a local muffler shop bend a hard pipe for the upper radiator tube.




And outside for the first time.

[theastronaut]

Bumper and hood installed.






Testing the windshield washer.




Hooked up an Innovate air/fuel ratio gauge to help get the carb dialed in. Being able to see how lean/rich its running will be a big help in getting the carb tuned. Should knock out pretty good mileage once its tuned.






Carpet going in.

[theastronaut]

Started it for the first time yesterday.

1968 Chevelle 383 - YouTube

[MP&C]

Sounds like it has a little zip!

[Gus350]

Very detailed and clean build love it.. What distributor are you running in the 383??

[Advanced Design]

Very nice, looks and sounds great!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by MP&C

Sounds like it has a little zip!

Can't wait to take it out and see what it'll do!

Originally Posted by Gus350

Very detailed and clean build love it.. What distributor are you running in the 383??

It had a Mallory, we left it in.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Very nice, looks and sounds great!

Thanks!

[theastronaut]

Last progress shots.

[theastronaut]

And finished. We'll take more pics once it comes back for the final alignment. Wanted the owner to put a couple hundred miles on it to see if there were any adjustments that needed to be made. I think one thing we'll do is add a flow restrictor in the power steering pump; the steering is a little lighter/easier than we'd like.

[carboncrew]

Wow, I love it. I love the original look with all the new stuff scattered in

[LDO]

Beautiful car and very tasteful on the mods done.

68 Chevelle has always been my dream car....one day!!!

[Advanced Design]

Very nicely done! Thanks for sharing the build.

[884x4Sub]

Very nice!! The 68 -9 Chevelle is my fav car in the world . Ive had a 68 and two 69s.

I have a little build going on in this section too.

[flashed]

WOW ,dont know how I missed this build ,68 Chevelle is one of my favorite years ,I sold mine a few years back to restore my truck but we still have the 72 Malibu vert.

[theastronaut]

Thanks dudes!!!

[mild68]

I been on this site for two weeks, since, I bought a 68 Step side.
I just got to this corner of the site.
Nice build on the Chevelle. I've had a 68 SS for over 20 years.
Check for the pic in my sig.

[flashed]

mild68,you have a very nice 68 Chevelle too.