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  #11  
Old 07-19-2014, 10:37 PM
JoeLightning JoeLightning is offline
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Great story. Keep posting up as I want to hear more
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  #12  
Old 07-20-2014, 05:18 AM
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Very nice work so far,it sure feels good when you do the work yourself.keep updates coming.
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  #13  
Old 07-20-2014, 11:53 AM
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SlowProgress SlowProgress is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frankv11 View Post
great story
you will definitely learn a lot by doing your own work and appreciate the people that do it for a living. the only drawback is once get better you'll want to redo some of your previous work.
Yes I agree with you. I have done some work over already and seriously thought about digging deeper and replacing the right quarter. I can be a perfectionist to a fault so I am trying to get better at drawing the line and accepting work that is not perfect but good enough. I can have a ton of fun with this car when it is running again !!
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  #14  
Old 07-20-2014, 12:45 PM
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I had been putting nickels in my piggy bank for some time and honestly I was just hesitant to spend it. The economy, family issues just seemed to keep me stalled out. Finally after settling on the wheels and tires I ordered some of the first pieces needed. This was a relief because it set the direction and it also allowed me to commit.



I had a simple plan to install Tru Turn system from Ride Tech and drive the car around a little. The plan was to motivate me and also find out what sort of sheet metal mods I needed in front. Ride Tech had just built the 48 hour car so I just ordered the kit and wheel backspacing to match, along with their Muscle Bar. I had run my hand over the fender lip at Goodguys and had a pretty good idea how far I would have to roll/flatten the wheelwell.

In the mean time I ordered the brakes and all the DES rear suspension parts in order to have that ready. I also picked up some Ring Brothers hinges. Their designs are really nice and I knew from previous years that the Camaro hood always sits high in the rear after closing. I am hoping to eliminate that and walking around the car manually pushing the rear of the hood down every time I shut it.





In the process I found out that all the vendors I was working with were really good to deal with. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Rushforth, DSE, Ride Tech, Ring Brothers or Baer to anyone.

Having the tires mounted up was super cool. I just had to post the mandatory new tire versus old tire photo. I settled on 325s with 12 inch wheels. The thought process was to reduce the front/rear stagger (a little), knowing I could only get a 275 up front with the factory clip.


Last edited by SlowProgress; 01-22-2021 at 12:03 AM.
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  #15  
Old 07-20-2014, 01:19 PM
HBRod HBRod is offline
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Wow, you really did make a commitment. Good choices and lots of fun ahead. Really like the picture of the tires. Can't think of a better statement of intent then that pic. Was wondering who's hood hinges you decided to go with? They look nice in the picture. This will be a thread that I will continue to follow.

Rod
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  #16  
Old 07-20-2014, 09:03 PM
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I had fun bolting on the True Turn kit and muscle bar in. It is always nice to work with clean parts. It was good to finally be able to mock up the brakes and wheels.



I started rolling the fender lip.



It was excited to see the body sitting lower over the front tires and all the Baer brakes parts installed as expected. I still have quite a bit of work to get the front fenders finished and the final ride height worked out. I need to set the camber and really dial in the front end. It is going to be close but I am pretty sure it will work out.



I started working the inner wheel tub by first cutting a donor piece out of an old fender laying around for spare parts.
The plan for the part I cut out is to flip that piece around and weld to the inner lip and make a connection with the inner tub. It made a great window to look through and see what all goes on in there.



I cut the part of the inner tub that is stamped down toward the wheel so I can make the whole tub as tall as possible. A good sheet metal person probably would be more clever but I decided to work with what it have. The idea was to figure out the left side and then copy it on the right.



You know how when things are going well something always happens. In this case I had to get a car running for my son to go to college. Some neighbors gave us a car several years previous and now I had procrastinated my time away and needed to get it running. I spent several weeks off-and-on getting the old Pontiac running and was a little distracted by the whole preparing my son (and myself) for college. It was hard to get anything done while the garage looked like this.



I finally got the Pontiac running and reliable for the school commuting. The Camaro had been sitting for a couple months and the Pontiac was in the way, but at the same time it sort of forced me out in the garage and got me accomplishing things again, which was good. Playing around with all the sensors, swapping parts, fixing harness issues and changing the tank mounted pump also got me thinking about how nice it would be to have an LS engine in the Camaro. Now I was thinking just two more cylinders and basically the same process, but I was committed to the big block for the short term !

I jumped back in planning to finish the front fenders and go for a victory cruise with Tru Turn installed. I pulled the old high compression big block that I first built in high school in 1978 to put on the shorter pan.



I had already purchased the pan and flipped the engine over to install it.



I did a quick fit check and was about to work some clearance issues with the oil windage screen when I noticed the crank scraper was bent. Looking around I found a piston skirt laying in the engine. Dang ! so much for reusing the old big block without a rebuild !



To say I was discouraged is pretty accurate. But I decided to set the engine aside and work out some of the sheet metal projects to keep me busy while I figured out what to do for an engine.

Last edited by SlowProgress; 01-22-2021 at 12:04 AM.
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  #17  
Old 07-22-2014, 12:28 AM
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When you’ve blown up your favorite engine, it’s time to buy a welder. I had been looking at the 211 for some time and realized I would need it for building up the back end of the car.



Since my MIG skills are even worse than my poor TIG skills, I decided to build something easy as a confidence builder. I may not know a lot but I know that thick metal burns up slower than thin metal, so I started putting together a simple body cart to give me a chance to practice with the MIG. I bought some telescopic tube online and had it delivered to my door. That stuff was great and saved a bunch of heartache trying to get tubes to slide together.







I bought the good urethane wheels. Don't do that if you want the cart to roll. When I switched to the metal wheels I can move it around with one hand now. I also pulled the 12-bolt out to prepare the axle ends for the Quadralink brackets.



Since I knew the ends were going to be changing it was pretty easy to just cut them off and grind all the welds flush. Easy is a relative term I probably have about 3-4 hours in that grinding. The RH perch had been stick welded back on so it was obvious the wreck that caused the RH quarter to be replaced had also damaged the perch. Good time to straighten everything back out correctly. That perch was hard to remove because they stick welded every square inch. It came out in a bunch of pieces.







Having the car up on the cart really helped and with the rearend out I was able to really get going finally. Cool weather in the Spring helped also. Working with the garage door open is nice.
I got started on the upper 4-link pockets



I also cut out the LH tub. After drilling all those spot welds I realized I should have just cut them out. Guess I should have watched a few more videos on Youtube. Probably doesn’t hurt to be cautious the first time anyway.



It was super cool to get the tub up in the wheelwell the first time. This is one of those big milestones in the whole back end project. This was installation #1 of about 100 test fits.





Or course it didn’t take very long to shove one of those 325 up in the wheelwell. This car had tires sticking outside the wheelwell the last 40 years. What a huge improvement in the looks to have the tire up inside the wheelwell !!




Last edited by SlowProgress; 01-22-2021 at 12:05 AM.
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  #18  
Old 07-22-2014, 10:59 PM
tombar67 tombar67 is offline
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Huge improvement indeed! Looking great
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  #19  
Old 07-23-2014, 12:07 AM
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It felt good to get some progress on the tubs and closeout panels.





I also spent some time working the lip around the wheel opening. I know some people with experience don't event do this part, but I decided it would make the car a little stronger and I felt like it would make it easier for me to weld in the tubs.





The RH side went a little smoother because I knew the steps and what to expect.




I mocked up all the filler panels on the RH side and welded them together on the table.



I saved a little bit of time doing this but it really didn’t come out any nicer than the LH side. MIG welding thick pieces to thin pieces that are covered in zinc just isn’t my specialty.



In the end I was more of a grinder than a welder on this job.



I finished the closeout on the LH tub somewhere along the way.



Finally I cut the trunk floor for the cross-member. This was surprisingly more stressful than I thought it would be. I guess because the back of the car was starting to look like a disaster and I was wanting some things to be going back together by now.




I had been throwing all the bits and pieces in a tub and decided to lay them out to take a photo. I ended up drilling all the spots around the outer wheel house to take the old flange off. If I had to do it over again I would not have done that, too much work for almost no benefit. There was no rust or anything in there and it would have been a fine surface to weld to. But looking at all the pieces reminds me of all the time I spend in the trunk !



During the Christmas break I spent a few hours actually planning out what to do next. I decided what order I was going to work in and the best way to get started. I decided I was sick of burning paint and flaming seam sealer. Step 1 would be to get the car ready for media blasting, so that I would have a clean body to weld all the parts back to. I figured the cost was worth it, so I started getting the body, sub-frame and rear axle housing ready for media blasting.



I found a local wrecker company that was used to hauling cars to media blast. The cart came in handy for this part. He did a great job getting it there and back.




Last edited by SlowProgress; 01-22-2021 at 12:06 AM.
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  #20  
Old 07-23-2014, 08:12 AM
HBRod HBRod is offline
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Default Courage above all else

That is great progress you are making. It takes a lot of courage to cut out the tubs when you feel the uncertainty of how it will turn out. Looks great so I think you are making great progress. I am following your build to learn what to watch for when I do my project.

So thanks for the posting of the many pictures. It does take time to maintain the build thread an I appreciate the time you are taking to update all of us that are watching.

Good luck on the next step.

Rod
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