When Randy Johnson was looking to make his 1966 Chevelle restoration project the best it could be, he had little trouble choosing a Muscle Up Performance designed bolt-in, full-frame replacement chassis as the core of his muscle car makeover.

"I thought about using the stock chassis, especially since the original car had a really nice, clean frame," said Johnson, a Kewaskum, WI resident and owner of D&Z Customs. "I could do it, but I would have to channel it and move quite a few things around. Then I saw the Muscle Up Performance chassis and a lot of the stuff had already been figured out for me. Also, the rigidity of the Muscle Up chassis was 10 times better than anything that I could get the stock frame to do. At that point, it was a no brainer for me."

While the chassis selection may not have taken much thought, the rest of the build process on Johnson's flawless '66 took plenty of brainpower. Johnson grabbed the original car in Colorado and purchased the Muscle Up Performance chassis branded as a 'G-Machine Chassis' from Schwartz Extreme Performance in Crystal Lake, IL. From there, it took 14 months to complete the car prior to its first official showing at the Detroit Autorama this past March.

"I really like the cars from 1964-1972," said Johnson. "I had built Camaros in the past, but I have two children and Camaros aren't exactly 'family friendly' cars. The main reason I build cars is to go out and enjoy them and I like taking my kids with me. I also didn't want to get into a car that was too big like a Chevy Impala or a Ford Galaxy. I had always like the lines of the 1966 Chevelle and that provided a mid-sized performance platform.

"I tried to keep the car as factory looking as I could with the exception of the wheels, tires and brakes," said Johnson, who painted the car Mist Blue, a 1966 GM factory color. "I cloned it as a 427 SS Chevelle. They never made one of those in 1966 - they only came with a 396 engine. I took the emblems from a 1967 Chevelle. Otherwise, it's pretty much a stock looking car."

Johnson's 66 is no 'Plain Jane' thanks to Michelin 335/30-18 tires on the back of the car and 275/35-18 on the front. The bling is provided by a sparkling set of Kinesis Wheels, which can barely hide the huge Wilwood Brakes six-piston, 13-inch grabbers on the front and the four-piston, 12-inch set up on back.

The tires and wheels glide along the road thanks to QA-1 single adjustable shocks while the drive train features a Winters Rear End utilizing a fully aluminum center section with Coleman Racing axle tubes and driveshaft. An aluminum third member, courtesy of Randy's Ring and Pinion, leads to a 4:11 gear.

"The way the chassis is set up, you could even put air bag set up with air ride technology if you wanted," said Johnson. "I went with the coil over QA-1's because of the way I drive. It's just a matter of using the appropriate shock travel dimensions and you can pretty much use what you want. It's the same with the spring rate. You just figure out what you need depending on how heavy your engine is."

When it comes to what's under the hood, there's also plenty to talk about according to Johnson.

"I wanted to stay true to the theme of the 427 clone but I didn't want to run a big block engine in the car," said Johnson. "I got an LS-7 from Jeff Schwartz at Schwartz Extreme Performance and T-56 transmission from Rockland Standard Gear. It was basically a GM crate engine that came out of the performance division that had replaced the stock pistons with Mahle forged pistons. Other than that, I kept the engine pretty stock with the exception of Stainless Works headers and I made my own custom air intake setup. I also used a Carl Wegner accessory drive so it packages real nicely in the car and a we used a Speartech Engineering engine management harness and computer set up for ease of installation of the wiring throughout the car.

"Bottom line, it puts 440 horsepower to the ground at the tires and also has 404 foot pounds of torque," Johnson continued. "Considering drive train loss, that puts the engine at about 560 horsepower at the crank."

Johnson got a chance to see just what the car would do at a recent photo shoot for Popular Hot Rod Magazine.

"We were at Road America for the shoot and I was able to drive the car around the track for about seven or eight laps," said Johnson of the famed Elkhart Lake, WI road course. "I got to play around and I didn't push the car that hard because the track was cold. I'm not a professional or trained driver, but with that kind of power and that chassis underneath the car, it could way outperform my driving abilities."

Johnson retained the factory feel of the car throughout the interior, which recalls that classic 1960's look.

"I didn't get crazy with the interior of the car because I wanted to stay close to the stock theme," said Johnson. "One of the few additional things is aluminum housing for the gauges from Rocky Mountain Dashes. I put Stewart Warner gauges in it basically because everyone is using Auto Meter and I thought it would be nice to have something a little different."

Johnson - who estimates the car's build value at $125,000-$150,000 - was extremely pleased the project was selected to be in this year's Detroit Autorama, an invitation only show. The Badger State car builder, who has had several of his other creations featured in Car Craft Magazine, knew this car and chassis combination was something special.

"I submitted pictures of the car and I got invited to be in the show," said Johnson. "Everybody loved it. I had the car blocked up and some mirrors and lighting underneath so people could see that I had a different chassis under the car. Initially, they would walk by and see a nice, factory-looking Chevelle and then a mirror would catch their eye. All of a sudden, they got really interested and were calling their buddies over to check it out the frame underneath. Even some guys from GM Performance came over to look at it. Everyone had a big grin on their faces."

Johnson, whose D&Z Customs caters to all types of automotive restoration projects, indicated he's sold on the Muscle Up Performance bolt-in, full-frame replacements and will continue to use them in his future creations.

 "If you figure out all the hours you have to put in modifying the stock frame, the Muscle Up frame came out to be more beneficial to me moneywise to buy one of those," said Johnson. "It pretty much bolts right in. I was also able to sell the stock frame and was able to get some money out of it toward the purchase of the new frame, so when you consider that and my time, I came out way ahead on the new frame.

"Another big advantage of the Muscle Up chassis is that you can keep the original look of the car," Johnson concluded. "A lot of people appreciate the factory look of the GM car from back then and they don't necessarily want to do a lot of modification to the outside of the car. They want to keep that stock look and feel. This chassis definitely allows that to happen. You can be sure I'm going to continue to use this chassis on other cars I build because it is so user friendly and it allows you to maintain the original look of the car."

To see a full photo gallery of this car from initial construction to its display at the Detroit Autorama, please click on the following MuscleUpPerformance.com link - When there, just click on any photo to enlarge.

http://www.muscleupperformance.com/photog/thumbnails.php?album=3

For more information about Muscle Up Performance full-frame chassis replacements, please log on to www.muscleupperformance.com or call 608-754-4545.

To discuss letting D&Z Customs handle your next muscle car or custom restoration, please call Randy Johnson at randy@dandzcustoms.com or call 262-347-9741.