With my 240SX project fully completed save for paint or a wrap, I have turned my attention to my Chevelle. I already went over the Chevelles origin story in my last post so I wont get too into it. Basically I had a very clean 74 Malibu all through highschool and college and I sold it in 2009 at some point. Fast forward to 2022 and I bought it back from the same guy I sold it to who let it sit in his backyard all this time.
The whole time I owned the Chevelle I ran a small block 350 in it with a turbo 350 automatic trans. Highschool me always dreamed of a bigblock with a 4 on the floor transmission but didn’t have the money and didnt know where to start. I had never dreamed of buying a clapped out motorhome to rob of its powerplant until seeing an episode of Roadkill where David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan do just that. Only it was for a Mopar 440 big block that they put into the General Mayhem which is a 1968 Dodge Charger.
I got on marketplace and started scouring for 454 powered motorhomes. I had been looking for motors already out but prices for a clean one are astronomical right now and I’d like to at least hear the thing run before dropping a lot of cash.
Eventually I found a 1988 33’ Fleetwood class A motorhome for $1000. I haggled down to $700, grabbed a transfer plate from town hall and went to pick the thing up 100 miles away.
The interior is trashed so I didnt have to feel bad about taking the motor and scrapping the rest. It sounded rowdy with glasspack mufflers and only 25,000 miles. I felt like I hit the jackpot until I actually started driving this mess home and realized the brakes were fubar. I took it easy the whole way back, parked it, and got to work cutting out the motor.
At this point the motor is out but I need to decide on a flywheel and clutch set to buy so I can assemble the engine and trans. More to come.