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The painted body has finally met the rebuilt frame.
If you’ve been following along with our Home-Built Hero Series, you have obviously seen the previous installments (introduction article and first update), involving Michael Downing and his LS5-powered 1970 Chevelle convertible. According to Michael, “The project is coming along great, and everything has been painted, wet sanded, and buffed.” As you can see, the painted pieces all look amazing, and we can’t wait to see the finished car. Michael also tells us, “There are two coats of base color, and three coats of clear on the car, with one coat of clear probably sanded off in the buffing process.”
Michael had the engine ready to go for quite some time, but he did have to change the intake so it will fit under the hood. The wiring is installed, and the interior is almost completely refurbished.
Michael is quick to acknowledge when he gets help from friends, and credits Emmet Williams and Tim Parsons with doing an excellent job on the body work and painting of the car. The engine bay is almost ready for the rebuilt LS5 big-block. 
Michael tells us that he did have remove the air-gap style intake manifold that came with the rebuilt engine, as it was too tall to fit under the cowl-induction hood system. He replaced it with a single-plane Edelbrock Torker II intake, and is happy to report that now everything fits perfectly. Knowing his limitations, Michael is happy to admit that another friend, Ron Raney, is installing all of the wiring, as Michael admits that the maze of wires intimidates him.
Michael did tell us that he and the guys will soon be firing the engine for the first time, so they can actually hear noise coming out of the manifolds.
With the use of Parts Unlimited Interior’s (PUI) Platinum-series interior, the interior restoration is well underway, and while the rear seat is done, the fronts are still being worked on, and should be finished soon. Again, Michael and his band of Chevelle rebuilding buddies know their limitations, and Michael says, “The top is ordered, but were going to have a professional install it.”
Finally, it’s not hard to believe that Michael and the crew are getting excited as they can now see light at the end of the tunnel. We are positive that this will be an awesome ride when the guys finish the work, and we are anxious to see the finished product.
All of the pieces of this large, three-dimensional puzzle have been covered in the proper shade of Medium Red metallic, and the parts look great.
Do you own a Home-Built Hero? We want to hear about it. Since we’ve started the Home-Built Heros series, we have received more than a few candidates, but we still need more. If you want to see more cars built by you the readers, send us a few pictures of your car with all of the pertinent information, and we’ll make you Internet famous. You can send your submissions to [email protected].
