Newbie, building a 68 Camaro for my bro-in-law in Iraq - Page 6

That is looking pretty cool.  Keep the photos coming along.  I like cruising these photos at lunch time at work, especially when I don't have time to him my own garage.
 
J.

How long is ur brother in law been over there?

Lookin good my man... You have a lot of work to get done before the LT gets back...
 
YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

He was over there for 14 months. He actually got fast-tracked and got home last week. It is still a secret and we're hoping to have it finished by mid July when he comes back to NC on block leave.

Messed around a little more with the car tonight. I thought I'd work on getting the body together so we can start figuring out and contact issues we're going to have. I just loosely put them on for now, once we get the engine and trans mounting all figured out I'll get everything straight and bolted up so we can see how everything goes together.

More work for today! A guy contacted me last week via email and wanted to help us out. He donated a 12-bolt with an Eaton posi, 3.55 gears, and it was pretty much brand new. PERFECT rear axle for the car! Not sure which forum he found us on, but he definitely had some nice toys in his stable at his place. So thanks a ton, Tim!

My brother-in-law (different one!) came over to help today. We cut off the spring perches since our frame rails are aftermarket and narower. Then we bolted up some new adjustable ones that would make it easier to adjust the axle once we get it on the car. After that, we yanked the axle shafts and bolted up the new LS1 rear brakes with some backing plates I got from a friend of mine, pads and rotors from Rotors Online (pads not installed yet), and some Triangle Musclecar powdercoated calipers.

Came out killer, don't ya think?

Nice rear end... I meant the axle...errr... awkward...

Wow, that looks really good. I can't beleive the progress you've been making in such a short amount of time. Keep up the pace and thanks a ton for all the pics and updates. Makes me happy to know that at least someones car is getting closer...

Looking F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C-!!!.  I have another you can fastrack when you finish that one next week or two (At that rate).  I love to see sheetmetal start back onto one of these projects that has been apart awhile.
 
J.

I worked a little tonight getting the old inner fenderwells out and getting the rest of the rusted trunk floor cut off. I hope to finish that up this weekend and get my templates finished up for the trunk so I can fabricate the trunk and rear seat area.

But in the meantime I powdercoated the intake and put the fuel rails on it. I'm going to run it over to Joel at HRT Performance to have him do the AN lines and all. :)

Looks AWSOME!!!
 
I see fuel injection in the future on my car......
 
By the way, It's a great thing you are doing there.  Most of us don't show our troops how much we appreciate them.
 
J.

More updates! I got the new engine mounts and got the mockup engine and trans sitting in the car with the intake and all:


And then I finally got the old inner fenders chopped out and ground down and the new ones tacked in:



And then hit the front fenders with the grinder and found this mess. The fenders looked good from the back, but huge globs of bondo hid the horrors from the front. Ouch. Looks like more work I didn't count on, yet again.

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I had some fun tonight! After much careful planning and measuring, I welded up some braces for the fuel cell to mount to and got it sitting in the car. I mounted it so it will sit under the floorboard and I can use a 45deg filler neck and fill kit to mount at the stock location. I'm thinking of going with the Jaz kit with the 2-1/2" external cap, but I'm not sure if it will fit in the stock location. I guess I can always cut and trim to make it fit, not like anything on the car is stock anyway.

Here it is, though.

i love your project. i am doing the same thing. i am building a 67 with a new gm ls3 and 4l65e auto. i need to know where to donote to your car. i have my best friend and his brother that did two years and are home. i feel your endurence to get it done. my question is...you are using the iroc steering box. what steering column and pitman arm are you using for that steering box?

http://img263.imageshack.us/content.php?page=done&l=img263/2780/ls3resizemockup2vq8.jpg

VERY NICE man! Looks really nice and clean!

I am using the IROC box with a Flaming River column and Billet u-joint. The pitman arm is a stock 1st gen power box pitman.

I'll PM you the donate info. Thanks, man!

No pictures, but just wanted to give you all a quick update. We're working on the templates for the rear trunk and seat area. We've got them almost finished up. Shawn's brothers are getting some sheetmetal so we can fab them up and get the trunk in the car.

Also did some more work getting the front fenders cleaned up. The passenger side is good and we're going to use it.

The driver's side, however........is TOAST. I got to the point where I was about to weld in some new metal for the hole I found, but decided to do some further grinding to see if there was anything else. What I found was about 1/4" of bondo and a severe smack in the front part of the fender that was VERY well hidden with bondo. They even smoothed the BACK of the fender to make it look ok.

So if anyone has one standard driver's fender we can use, or two RS fenders, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

We're also going to be using Scorpion coating on the underside and firewall of the car. I have a new business starting up once the Camaro is finished, Triangle Specialty Coatings, and I'm going to be the Raleigh area OEM for Scorpion, so I am going to colormatch the undercoating and then spray the firewall black. Should turn out really cool and show off what Scorpion is all about! Hopefully I'll get all my training done and my dealer package in so I can start on the car as soon as the trunk is finished up!

What a great idea!!  I have a brother serving over in Iraq also.  I would love to try and do this for him, how did you get started?  Can you please tell me who got you started in this and how I can do the same for him??

update please.

wow dont you feel like an archiologist with all the digging for bondo?...lol. I know we did for a long time. Still discovering parts that you think are good are bent and cant use them. Keep up the good work man.

Since it has been forever and I don''t want you guys to think it was dead.

We had a little change of plans. The project was dragging on and on, and really was going nowhere. We still had a lot of money to spend on the LS1/T56 swap and then the guy who had donated the T56 sold it out from under us. Rather than spend $1k on a trans that needed a rebuild, and then have to buy all the expensive swap parts, we''ve decided to sell off the LS1 and T56 parts and go with an old-school 327 and Super T-10 4-spd.

A local serviceman heard we needed an engine, so he gave us a complete running 350 and 700R4. HRT Performance is going to turn it into one mean little 327. We sold off some of the LS1 parts and bought a rebuilt Super T-10 4-spd that is headed our way now. A guy came by the house to pick up some parts and heard we decided to go to a 4-spd, so he gave us a 4-spd crossmember and driveshaft.

All we need now for the swap is a 4-spd bellhousing and the shifter and linkage. All we really need for the engine is an oil pan, good intake and a good carburetor.

We are headed in the right direction and can see real progress for the first time in a while. And do not worry, any sponsor donated parts we have will be sold and a comparable replacement for the new drivetrain will be bought from the sponsor. We will make sure all of our sponsors are taken care of and will do everything we can to make this project come to fruition!

The new engine is sitting in the back of the truck right now, headed to HRT to begin the build tomorrow! 

 
 Crappy cell pic, it came to work and I took a pic before I took it over to HRT.
 
 286HR Magnum cam, springs, locks and retainers thanks to Comp!

And yes, my office is a mess.

Got the new axle in the car finally! 12-bolt with 3.55 gears and an Auburn posi, new axle shafts, etc. I converted it to LS1 brakes, too.

Transmission is here! Super T-10 4-spd, SPEC traded out the T56 clutch and flywheel they donated for a ST-10 clutch and flywheel, and Hogshead Trans Am parts donated a bell housing. I''m working on Hurst to see if they''ll hook us up with a shifter and linkage, should find out tomorrow.



We had a good week with the project. ARP donated all the engine bolts, Flowmaster donated a complete exhaust system, Harland Sharp donated a set of 1.6 roller rockers, EPN donated a set of stainless 2.02/1.60 valves, and I''m working on a few header companies to see what we can score there.

IT IS COMING TOGETHER!