What Are You Working On: Aaron Sutherland’s 1967 Chevy Chevelle

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Aaron Sutherland of Silverdale, Washington is working on an impressive build for his 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle. He bought the car just under a year ago, and it was already built with a decent powerhouse: a 710 horsepower, 496 cubic-inch engine with a Turbo 400 transmission and Currie 9-inch Ford rearend. There was just one problem: it couldn’t run on pump gas.

After driving it a few times down the track and spending more than he wanted on the expensive fuel required to run his Chevelle, Aaron decided he was going to take this car and turn it into something a little different. “This car will make 800-900 horsepower when it’s done,” Aaron told us. “It’ll be a nice grocery-getter.”

The Chevelle before any work was done to it (left) and the engine as it looked when Aaron bought it (right).

He says that he is going to drive it as much as possible when he’s done, but what exactly does that look like? Aaron has his plans laid out, and he was happy to tell us all about them. “The old engine had a 13:1 compression ratio,” He said. “The new build has just 8.25:1, but it will make up for it with the supercharger.”

Willing to settle for nothing less than the best, Aaron is working with Brian Macy of Horsepower Connection out of Lake Havasu, Arizona. “Brian is a fuel injection and ProCharger guru,” Aaron explained. “He’ll be able to remotely run diagnostics and program my system to ensure that it runs as smoothly and with as much power as possible.”

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Aaron's new engine build.

The powerplant will remain a 496 cubic-inch engine, but a differently built one. The new build makes use of a new block with a four bolt main, the same crank and rods, but a new, Lunati roller camshaft, Eagle stroker crank, Merlin heads, and a FAST fuel injection system. All of that alone is an impressive build, when you add the Procharger to the mix, it really makes this a true piece of Street Muscle material.

The FAST fuel injection system. Quickly and easily tuned from a digital touchscreen readout.

Since the car was already setup mean and fast, the instruments were ready to go with upgraded gauges such as a tachometer, volt meter, and oil temperature. The interior was also recently redone and Aaron has little plans for change on the inside. The one thing he does want to do is put back in the original center console.

Other improvements on the car include an MSD ignition, a Hughes torque converter, and a 16-gallon fuel cell. The brake system has been updated and includes front disc and rear drum, but Aaron plans on adding the rear disc setup as well. “All it takes is time,” Aaron said. “And that’ll be a someday thing.”

The only real change that Aaron plans on making to the exterior of the car is the addition of a standard hood, as opposed to the cowl induction hood that it had when he bought it. “It’ll look like a regular car,” Aaron told us. “But with a lot of attitude.”

All said and done, when completed this will be a powerful car run only on pump gas. It’s almost done too, and Aaron thinks that he will have it running in a few weeks and ready to drive not too long after that. He plans on taking it to the track a few times, but really just driving the heck out of it. After all, this car was already fast when Aaron got his hands on it, but it wasn’t fast enough and it couldn’t run on pump gas. Now it’s time for a complete do-over, and that’s what these cars were made to do.

What do you think of Aaron’s Chevelle – does it inspire you to get back to work on your own project car? Let us know in the comments below, and if you have a project of your own that you’ve been slaving away at, share it with us! Send us an email and yours could be the next project featured in “What Are You Working On?”.

About the author

Kyler Lacey

A 2015 Graduate from Whitworth University, Kyler has always loved cars. He grew up with his dad's '67 Camaro in the garage and started turning wrenches at a young age. At seventeen, he bought his first classic, a '57 Chevy Bel Air four-door, and has since added a '66 Plymouth Valiant and '97 Cadillac Deville to his collection. When he isn't writing for Power Automedia, he's out shooting pictures at car shows, hiking in the forests of the beautiful Pacific Northwest, or working on something in the garage.
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