ne challenge that everyone faces when making the move to an LS or LT engine is the accessory drive situation. Whether you’re installing a new-out-of-the-box engine or scoured the junkyard for a donor, the accessories will come into play soon.

If your donor engine came with brackets and accessories, chances are you’ll be hard pressed to make everything fit in your classic Chevy. Depending on your project, interference from the A/C compressor or power steering pump with framerails are nearly imminent—not to mention, the stock components were never designed with aesthetics in mind. Those are just a few of the reasons we turned to Vintage Air (VA) for an all-encompassing solution to our accessory drive needs on our LS1.

We were familiar with VA’s original Front Runner serpentine system that is centered around a precision billet machine bracket assembly, but their latest offering for LS/LT engines is completely different. All of the accessories, including the power steering pump, alternator, and compressor, mount to a unique cast-aluminum water pump assembly. This assembly has the mounting bosses for each accessory, the heater hose outlets, thermostat, and a cartridge-style water pump.

hevrolet had a good thing going when it spruced up the Chevy II platform in 1966. Even though the early cars were stylish and cool, the two-year run in 1966 and 1967 had one of Chevrolet’s finest body styles. However, there were quite a few carryover items from those earlier designs that made it into the redesigned platform. One of the major items is the front suspension, which features a coil spring that rides on top of the upper control arm. The real drawback to this design was the lower control arm, which was a very small unit with only one mounting point on the chassis. It was braced by a strut rod, which ran at an angle to add strength to the otherwise-flimsy control arm.

1962-67 Chevy IIs have a reputation for darting under braking and other unfavorable characteristics, such as inconsistent suspension alignment. The flaws of this design are amplified by age, as worn or cracked rubber bushings allow the front suspension to flex and provide unpredictable handling. Our ’66 Chevy II project car had all of the signs of a worn-out front suspension, and it was time for an upgrade. We could’ve easily replaced all the bushings with stock equipment and been back on the road, but we wanted a long-lasting upgrade that would eliminate a major problem area. For that, we called Classic Performance Products (CPP) and ordered a MINI Sub-Frame Kit, which includes a custom 1/4-inch steel crossmember and tubular lower control arms to improve the front suspension geometry and remove the pesky strut rods altogether.

BY Ryan Manson Photography by The Author

hen it comes to rewiring a classic Chevy, oftentimes other items need to be rehab’d, restored, or otherwise modified to make the restoration job complete. These can include new bulbs, headlights, lenses, gauges, or even entire climate-control systems. Recently, we were plugging along on a rewire job on a ’55 Chevy Bel Air when it was decided that our heater system as well as the gauge cluster could use a little love. Simple enough. With a Danchuk catalog in hand, we ordered up the appropriate parts from their website, and in short order had what we needed to complete the job.

Restoring our gauge cluster turned out to be a pretty simple affair as all it needed were some new lenses and light tubes. Once that was complete, we buttoned it back up and proceeded to wire the back side of the cluster using the provided harness and pigtails provided by American Autowire as part of their Classic Update Kit for Tri-Fives.

here are certain skills that every car guy worth his ⁹/₁₆-inch end wrench should know how to perform. Drilling holes in the proper place, cutting threads, and general fabrication skills are not difficult. High schools used to teach these lessons in metal shop, but not anymore. So this new generation of car guys will have to learn it on their own.

The skill we will concentrate on today is creating a leak-free tubing flare. There are actually several different angles that are used as well as metric bubble flares used on import cars. We’ll maintain our focus on the two most popular standards, the 45-degree flare and the AN 37-degree flare. These will require different tools, and we’ll cover that as well.