All The Right Moves

Rich Bryant turned his 1965 Chevelle into a race car he could drive on the street

Words: Brandon Flannery; Photos: Todd Ryden

The road to building a car is often a winding one. It can be filled with twists and turns, but hopefully it ends up in the right place. After a few detours and a shortcut, Rich Bryant and his Chevelle finally arrived in the neighborhood of his dreams.

Like many folks Rich is a huge fan of pro street cars and ran across a 1965 Chevy project that had already been tubbed. He made the purchase and began laying out a build for a “race car he could drive on the street.”

After digging into the Chevelle, he found it to be in worse shape than he thought. “I got it for a decent price,” he says. “But after poking into it a lot of things had been mudded over and it needed a lot of work just to bring it back to the condition I originally thought it was in. I decided to look for another parts car. I figured I could take two cars and make one.”

He found the car you see here on eBay. It had also been tubbed. In fact, it had been tubbed, the rear end had been narrowed, the roll cage was built, and all of the paint and body had been done. It just needed an interior, the stock front suspension updated, and some running gear installed. The more he looked, the more he found done right, so in the end the first car was sold off and efforts were concentrated on building the silver car.

Rich admits the thought of silver and red wouldn’t be his first choice, but the interior metal had already been sprayed red. Not wanting to do things twice, he went with it. Once everything was in place, he finally understood the previous builder’s vision and he fell in love with it.

In keeping with a race car influence he added a set of black Bomz racing seats with red inserts and G-Force harnesses. He also added a simple factory-style carpet kit and covered the door panels himself. The dash was filled with AutoMeter Pro Comp II gauges in a brushed aluminum dash panel from Classic Dash and topped with a Pro Stock model steering wheel from Grant.

With the interior squared away, attention was focused on the suspension. The rear was already narrowed and on a ladder bar setup, and now rides on a set of adjustable coilovers from RideTech. A set of 4.88 gears spin inside the housing, along with an Eaton Limited Slip unit. Drum brakes are used out back for now, but Rich has plans to replace them with discs.

The front suspension was mostly stock when the car was purchased. It was upgraded with tubular upper and lower control arms from Speed Tech, QA1 coilovers, and Baer’s Track4 disc brakes. Rich says there are hundreds of wheel options and trying to decide on a set can drive a guy mad. However, he already had Schott wheels on his ’65 Nova and really liked their clean design and option to have the lug nuts hidden. He settled upon a set of their Mod 5 five spokes in 18×8 for the front, and 15×20 for the rear. The big Mickey Thompson Sportsman Pros check in at 31x18x20 out back while G-Force tires from BFG were chosen for the front.

“I’ve had a few pro street purists give me a little negative feedback on the modern wheels,” he says. “But I think it’s the evolution of pro street, and a 15-inch wide wheel and 18-inch wide tire is pro street enough for me and most everyone else who sees the car. I understand the whole heritage thing, but it’s the next step. They were using the latest technology, and so am I. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
For power, Rich chose a 383 stroker from Patriot Performance. It’s based upon a Dart block and runs an Eagle rotating assembly. He backed it with a Tremec TKO 600 5-speed transmission and drove the car for about 3,000 miles.

“I’ve always had a turbo setup in the back of my mind,” he says. “A lot of guys build these cars with superchargers poking through the hood, but I wanted something a little more subtle, and sneaky. You don’t see too many muscle cars with turbos, so that’s what I wanted to do.”

With a Stage 1 kit from WrenchRat Inc., he was able to add twin 60mm turbos from Turbonetics with 64mm wheels. The kit makes it easier than piecing everything together and runs 7.5 pounds of boost. Rich did pull the Patriot engine apart to change the heads and drop the compression down to 9.2:1 to accommodate the boost. It’s fed with an Aeromotive A1000 pump and regulator, and uses an MSD ignition to pull timing out under boost, preventing detonation. A FAST dash unit keeps tabs on the air/fuel ratios and allows for easy tuning. Since underhood space is pretty full, a Snow Performance water-methanol kit was plumbed into the boost ports to help cool the mixture in lieu of an intercooler. It’s supplied by a 2.5-gallon tank mounted next to the 16-gallon fuel cell in the trunk.

In street trim and tune Rich says he laid down 754 horsepower at the rear wheels on the chassis dyno on pump gas at the Street Machine Nationals in Springfield, Missouri, and gets 12–13 mpg on the highway.
The impressive thing about Rich’s car is that he did all of the work in his home garage in eighteen short months. Well, most of it.

“I did have some help with the paintwork,” he says. “Right after I finished the car I had it at a car show, and some guy showing off did a burnout and plowed right into my door.”
One can only imagine how infuriating that would be, but with the advice of his friend he was able to remove the keys from the other guy’s car and walk away until the police arrived. He was fortunate enough to find another door, and had the car repaired at a friend’s body shop.

“It wouldn’t have been so bad if I had wrecked it, with my own doing,” he says. “But to not even have any control of the incident was a tough one to process. But I kept my calm and it all worked out okay in the end and it was repaired. I know the other guy’s day was much worse than mine.”

Future plans for the Chevelle include changing the 4.88 gears with a set of 3.73s and upgrading the rear to disc brakes. He’s also going to add dual funny car-style cages to the interior and tidy up a few things. After all, most cars are never really finished, are they?

Gallery

 

About the author

PPN Editor

Power & Performance News is the source for news, tech and products that help you get more performance from your vehicle. If powertrain performance projects and hardcore technical content are your interest, Power & Performance News is the publication designed for you. Our acclaimed editorial staff covers all aspects of engine and driveline upgrades with a mission of presenting information that is both interesting and achievable for the “average car guy”.
Read My Articles

Hot Rods and Muscle Cars in your inbox.

Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from Street Muscle, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE!

Free WordPress Themes
Street Muscle NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

We'll send you the most interesting Street Muscle articles, news, car features, and videos every week.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Street Muscle NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...


fordmuscle
Classic Ford Performance
dragzine
Drag Racing
chevyhardcore
Classic Chevy Magazine

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...

  • fordmuscle Classic Ford Performance
  • dragzine Drag Racing
  • chevyhardcore Classic Chevy Magazine

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Loading