The 1967 Chevelle in it's restored, stock state, getting ready for the pro-touring transformation | Classic Performance Product, CPP, was the title sponsor of the inaugural webcast “Week to Wicked” build for Super Chevy Magazine that transformed this 1967 Chevelle from a restored, basic, stock car to a pro-touring beast in just 1 week. This bad boy was featured at CPP’s booth at the 2016 SEMA show, the largest aftermarket and specialty equipment show, held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in early November. This year was the 50th Anniversary and rest assured the builders and vendors pulled out all the stops to make it memorable. Jason Scudellari, Week to Wicked builder and co-host of the W2W webcast, shared how simple a swap can be when you install parts that are designed and built to work together. We caught up with Jason and his team to talk about the Chevelle and SEMA at The Enthusiast Network (TEN) Tech Center located in Santa Ana, California. The tech center is a 10,000 square foot shop that features multiple lifts, a fabrication room, photo studio, and much more. Having this space and all the right tools can make all the difference when attempting something as ambitious as a suspension, drivetrain, and powertrain swap in a week! You get the point! 
Just look at the CPP PTK 4 Plus package installed on this W2W 1967 Chevelle | The Week to Wicked build that was showcased in the CPP Booth at the 2016 SEMA Show naturally started with all CPP suspension, brake, and steering components. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves because this story actually started quite a few years ago when the car made the cross country trek from Florida to take residence here in sunny SoCal. The car had been stripped down to its bare bones, cleaned, painted, and gifted with a lovely new interior a few years ago by the talented crew at Auto Metal Direct in Florida. It was literally transformed or rather returned to its original “like new” state of stock as a big-block 396 SS car before the actual pro-touring metamorphosis began. In fact this car spent a couple of years cruising the Golden State before heading back to the TEN in April, 2016. This is just how some of the builds go. The beautiful 1967 Chevelle you see here rolled into TEN's tech center for a full performance teardown and rebuild. 
LS3 power by BluePrint Engines this 427ci motor puts out a hefty 625hp and 565ft lb of torque | Jason and his Team knew that the A-body’s factory four-link wasn’t up to modern standards for this pro-touring project. After the Chevelle was deemed worthy, it was Classic Performance Products (CPP) all the way coming in with steering, suspension, and brake components to get this ill-tempered old Chevelle to handle. The team used the PTK 4 Plus package from CPP that included everything they’d need from front to rear suspension, brakes, and steering to turn this beautiful stock car into a real track beast. They started up front with upper and lower tubular control arms and drop spindles. Then in the rear they added sway bars, control arms and then added Viking Performance dual-adjustable coilover shocks on all four corners to handle the ride. Energy Suspension got in on the action and provided a set of polyurethane bushings to stiffen up the car for track use. Next they upgraded to a tighter steering box, backed with a CPP column. When it came to brakes they used CPP’s big brake package with a hydro-stop master. 
This “rocket” is backed with Performance Automatic’s ultra-stout Platinum Series 4L80E transmission | While the Chevelle certainly came stock with plenty of muscle. But to truly modernize the powertrain and make sure this new road course and autocross beast of burden would excel, the team would need to swap to LS power. With that in mind the folks at BluePrint Engines provided an LS that dreams are made of! Their 427ci LS3-based stroker, complete with AIRAID universal U-Build-It kit #101-401 puts out an incredible 625 horsepower with 565 lb-ft of torque. They topped it off with an injection system from FAST and a Holley Fuel System. This “rocket” was backed with Performance Automatic’s ultra-stout Platinum Series 4L80E transmission then they added a beefy 12 bolt rear-end. This transmission is chock full of upgraded internals which made it an easy install with the LS motor. To keep things running cool with all that power, a direct-fit aluminum radiator and transmission cooler, with electric fans provided by Flex-a-lite. A front drive system by Eddie Motorsports makes changing broken V-belts a thing of the past and last but certainly not least they added an EFI-compatible steel fuel tank custom built by Tanks, Inc. To get all this newfound power to the asphalt American Legend rally wheels did the trick with some Falken Azenis rubber making everything stick. 
The W2W 1967 Chevelle was a real crowd pleaser in the Classic Performance Products Booth at SEMA | Scudellari and his team didn’t forget that all this modern power needed modern electrical to make everything sing. They’ve installed a complete harness from Painless Performance and a new set of Direct-fit gauges from Dakota Digital that will monitor all the new power. They stuck with a mostly original interior to maintain the early muscle vibe, but added a set of PROCAR by SCAT bucket seats to keep the driver (and whoever is riding shotgun) glued in his seat while out on track!After replacing just about everything you could possibly imagine, they had one more goal in mind, to drive the car on a 1,000-plus-mile road trip to prove its road readiness. Had they done enough to bring the performance of this stock 1967 Chevelle up to par with modern muscle cars? The plan was to hit the dragstrip, the engine dyno, and maybe even a few local cruise-ins then come back to the TEN tech center for a little follow up before they headed to SEMA. 
AIRAID's U-Build-It kit helps the Blueprint Engines 427 breathe easy | For the Week to Wicked Team everything was right on schedule. After the “road trip” the Chevelle returned to the TEN tech center for a little follow up appointment the week prior to the SEMA show. And in typical fashion on Friday night before loading the Chevelle onto the trailer, Jason was out in the parking lot doing a fat burn out, then it was off to SEMA. The guys were on the road to Vegas early Saturday morning and made a quick stop in Death Valley to finish up the Week to Wicked filming and the car performed flawlessly. After a one week performance build, 1,000 plus road miles and track tests, a little check up and maintenance follow up, then Death Valley and onto SEMA, this Chevelle has exceeded the team’s expectations. Jason recalls that by day 6 they were ahead of the game, but in all honesty the 6 person team worked 15 hour days that week. Jason and his team just make it sound and look easy. They spent about 450 hours working to get this car road trip worthy and track ready. But in the end that week turned that mild-mannered Chevelle into a wicked pro-touring beast! |
