1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS LS6 454 – Freak of Nature

back in 1970 things look great the muscle-car craze which is 1964 GTO started was in full swing for 1970 horse power displacement were up and there was a muscle car that fit everyone's tastes from all the different auto manufacturers unfortunately high insurance cost and legislative action we're catching up with a muscle car the low performance error was right around the corner and by 1975 performance in most cars would die since its first model year 1965 the Chevelle SS had grown in popularity by the late 1960s in the Chevelle SS with its strong faithful following was one of the most popular muscle cars for 1970 even better things were in store for the Chevelle SS due to an internal ADAC at GM only full-size cars and the Corvette could have engines with displacements larger than 400 cubic inches because of the edict the 1965 to 1969 Chevelle SS only came equipped with a 396 cubic inch big block v8 however by the late 1960s Chevrolet did get around this edict by allowing a central office production order or COPO for short program to offer its full range of big-block 427 cubic inch v8 including the l88 to customers whose special ordered COPO Camaros chevelles and Nova's though COPO allowed the production of some legendary 427 powered chevrolet muscle cars total production was very low only a few in the know racers and performance dealers such as Yenko use this program to get around the GM edict GM decided to lift the edict for the 1970 model year and Chevrolet's response was the introduction of the 454 cubic inch v8 as a 1970 Chevelle SS option the 454 v8 is a member of the chevrolet mark 4 big-block v8 engine family the first mark for engine was a 396 v8 which first saw duty during the 1965 a year in 1966 the mark for 427 v8 joined Chevrolet's engine lineup alongside the 396 for 1970 the 454 was not only new to the Chevelle SS but also to Chevrolet the legendary 427 big-block v8 was the largest displacement Chevy v8 in 1969 for 1970 Chevrolet decided to increase the 427 stroke which increased the displacement at 454 cubic inches the 4.25 inch more and 4.0 inch stroke of the 454 our numbers that bring a smile to any muscle car fans face Chevy fans at the time cheered the increase in displacement since larger displacement met more horsepower and more torque Chevy provided 2 separate SS options for the 1970 Chevelle the Z 25 SS 396 option and the C 15 SS 454 option with the SS 396 option one could choose from to mark for 396 cubic inch v8 the L 34 which was 350 horsepower and the L 78 which was 375 horsepower Chevy's little secret concerning the 396 for 1970 was that it no longer displaced 396 cubic inches but rather 402 Chevy added a point zero three zero inch overboard on the 396 block pushing its displacement up to 402 cubic inches for some unknown reason Sherrie decided it was best to call the 1974 o2a 396 the SS 454 or Z 15 a mid-year auction gave the 1970 Chevelle SS fire two powerhouse 454 VA to choose from the LS 5 and ls6 the ls5 454 was rated at 360 horsepower in the 1970 Chevelle SS but 390 horsepower in the 1970 Corvette the reality is that the LS 5 in the 1970 Chevelle SS is identical to the 1970 Corvette LS 5 the 1970 Corvette was slated to have a 465 horsepower LS 7 454 as his top engine option however Chevy changed its mind and canceled the LS 7 before it was produced the 1970 Corvette was then stuck with the LS 5 as its top engine option the ls6 with its 11.25 2:1 compression ratio was factory rated by chevy at 450 horsepower and a whopping 500 pound feet of torque helping to make this impressive power were solid valve lifters a Ford steel crank TRW forged aluminum pistons forged connecting rods an aluminum intake manifold and an eight hundred CFM Holley four-barrel carburetor getting the power to the wheels was the job of two available transmissions a Muncie m22 rock crusher four-speed manual transmission and a three-speed turbo hydraulic 400 automatic transmission a few different performance rear axle options were available for the 1970 Chevelle SS ls6 the most performance oriented being a positraction 410 rear axle on paper the LF six was the most powerful production engine during the muscle-car golden era the Chevelle SS ls6 consistently obtained 13 second range quarter-mile times in magazine tests back in the day which is extremely impressive when you consider a ls6 Chevelle SS has a weight of around 4,000 pounds with driver and fuel the fastest ls6 quarter-mile time recorded by an auto magazine back in the day was in the November 1969 issue of car craft magazine car craft rocketed the bone-stock 1970 Chevelle as ls6 through the quarter-mile in thirteen point one two seconds and a hundred and seven point zero one miles per hour the 1970 Chevelle SS LS six was also no slouch around the turns with its heavy-duty f41 suspension which not only included heavy-duty suspension components but also 14 by 7 inch wheels and f70 tires even though it was a meteor option the pricey 1970 Chevelle SS ls6 454 sold pretty well for a low production car with four thousand four hundred and seventy-five units sold this was out of a total of 62 thousand three hundred and seventy two 1970 Chevelle SS is produced helping sales was the stylish new look of the Chevelle SS for 1970 it was essentially a carryover Chevelle body style that was first released for 1968 but did have a new front and rear end design the new front and rear styling provided a very muscular look that matched the performance under the hood even the chrome tip dual exhausts added to the style of the 1970 Chevelle SS the 1970 Chevelle SS 454 could be ordered in two body styles the two-door coupe and convertible the real news for the 1970 Chevelle SS was the new optional cow induction hood the ZL 2 option which had a solenoid operated flap that opened to provide cool air for the carburetor via the air cleaner assembly by 1970 most muscle cars were leaving the dealer Lots loaded with many factory options a far cry from the stripper muscle cars of a few years prior the Chevelle SS LS six with its many available options was no different it was not cheap it started at around four thousand five hundred dollars and the price increased as more options were added back in 1970 the average family in was around $10,000 making a Chevelle SS ls6 454 an expensive purchase for the average buyer however it was worth every penny the ls6 454 returned again in 1971 but it was only available in the corvette where it produced 425 horsepower the horsepower loss was due to a loss in compression all GM engines in 1971 suffered a substantial compression ratio drop in order to meet new federally mandated unleaded fuel standards the party was now over and the new race for auto manufacturers was to see how fast high-performance engines could be detuned or eliminated after 1971 the ls6 454 left and never returned and soon after the 1973 Chevelle SS became the last Chevelle to wear the SS ambulance every once in a great while a freak of nature occurs something so different from the average or norm that it blatantly stands out in 1970 the Chevelle SS ls6 was just that a freak of nature it was the complete apex of an error of skyrocketing horsepower ratings when it seemed like the sky was a limit looking back now it's quite clear the 1970 Chevelle SS LS 6 was the Mount Everest of the muscle car of an error

Channel: OldCarMemories.com

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Keywords: 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, Chevrolet, Chevy, Chevelle, SS, L78, LS5, LS6, 454, V8, 402, 396, 350, 302, Camaro, COPO, Z28, big-block

Id: HqeRwzUt2t8

Length: 10min 43sec (643 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 28 2017