Mikespeed's 72 Drift Camaro Build

[mikespeed95]

Hey guys. The last 5+ years I've been looking for a smallbackwindow Camaro to play with, but being broke didn't help. Well found my dream on Craigslist, sold a car I got for $500 I was driving, and used funds to pick up this 72 Camaro. This is the moment after I got it outta dude's garage.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs499.snc3/27235_10100256530562574_8356319_63064702_2436949_n .jpg

Rusted floorboards, lower quarters, lower rockers, but the roof is super solid. Had a 10 bolt in questionable condition, no drivetrain, original 4 speed car with some bodywork I'm gonna have to redo and resprayed yellow. Was originally the olive drab green type of color, but basically a rusty roller. Drove it home from Dallas, and went home, have a broken hand so couldn't really get it off the trailer myself, which sucks but whatever.


Went to my shop today, my cousin JC and several friends came today to see it, and my friends Jason, Jonathan and Robby heled me a good bit today get the shop organized a bit and this car off the trailer and was finally able to really check it out. This car is totally awesome. It has personality, character, it has [i]style[/b]. The doorpanels are a piece of leather with a piece of aluminum breaking up the materials, the dashboard is laid out awesome, obviously different guages are needed, but i love the stock bezels. Threw an old Sparco in it to see how much room, the whole car just fits like a glove, I love it. So much cooler than the boring mass produced stuff nowadays, granted I loved my 240, and it looked awesome, but this camaro is just gonna blow it outta the water, I'm really excited about it. I
ve seriously spent 5 years looking for it, and its perfect, exactly what I wanted. 4 Speed car, a lotta rust in repairable places, cheap, roller, love it. Came with everything exactly how I wanted, no turn signals on front, the spoiler, its so awesome.

Dash:
Iphone and LED shoplight
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs493.snc3/26955_10100257593717004_8356319_63117914_2826130_n .jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs493.snc3/26955_10100257595932564_8356319_63118053_4798300_n .jpg

Doorsills, its so cool the stamps people took pride in stuff back then, now everything is purely marketing, this is soo cool to me.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs513.snc3/26955_10100257594320794_8356319_63117950_1856378_n .jpg

I cant wait to put these on:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs513.snc3/26955_10100257594744944_8356319_63117968_6694885_n .jpg

Still have broke hand, but gonna go ahead and do what I can taking some stuff off. One the things I'm excited about is I'm gonna take some these parts I'm not using to a swap meet, I just need to find one to go to. I've always wanted to go to one.

This is so fun for me, this is what playing with cars should be all about and I'm super thankful the opportunity to play with this happened. Sooo stoked.

Plans are to put my Ls1 / t56 / Magna Charger on it, build some suspension for it, keep it streetable (read: turn signals/doorpanels/dash/radio) but build it as a full blown caged racecar. This is gonna be a lotta work, and a whole lotta fun.

[ItDoRun]

Looks like a fun project. Keep us posted.

[waynieZ]

Nice project keep us posted with pictures.

[mikespeed95]

Now that I'm actually getting to work on this I'll start posting again.

So I was at the shop doing something besides organizing today. Recently me and some friends got the shop next door as well, so now were at 2,000 sq feet. Been re-arranging and cleaning a lot.

Not today.

Well today, for about 3-4 hours. Built a ghetto wood tire rack, and organized the new shop.

Then to the American Icon in the making.

Over the last couple days and about 6-8 hours worth of work this is what has happened.

About 3-4 Days ago.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs016.ash2/34140_10100319592505934_8356319_65451585_4531260_n .jpgp

Then i dedided to glance at the rearend, remove the wheels, and gander at it. I bought a steering wheel at Game Stop from my awesome girlfriend, and it was twofer Tuesday at Double Daves, so needless to say, motivation to work on Camaro wasn't really there.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs127.snc4/36716_10100319643528684_8356319_65453872_2638062_n .jpg

Then today. Met Derrick up at the shop early evening, and after my friend Jonathan helped clean up the other shop (it is finally all organized mostly, yay) he headed home, and I decided to start cracking on the Camaro. Removed the front clip, more body stuff, chassis harnesses (which are actually in decent shape and I like the simplicity of the connectors, may reuse) and the glass (40 year old glass is a lot easier to cut out!). Rust really isn't as bad as I thought. Still a bit sketchy but not a big deal. Was able to benchbuild and get a lot of ideas having the car down this far though, pretty stoked about it.

This is how I left it tonight after about 4 hours of on/off working on it. Most I've done so far.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs126.snc4/36679_10100322061238574_8356319_65537593_670960_n. jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs038.snc4/34262_10100322061627794_8356319_65537610_3651466_n .jpg

I'm excited about this.

[bonecrrusher]

Whats DK stand for... donkey kong?

LOL... jk.

I like your plans for the car... I need a blower too.. Ughhh. :thumbsup:

[mikespeed95]

Little update on the Camaro, not anything huge yet, still stripping down.

Had to use the plasma cutter (which is soooo awesome) to cut an access hole to get to the subframe washer/bolt dealie, then got that off. Just been bench-building, and did a 60k service on my friends truck today.

Was tryin to shave some weight, and will be using an OEM Aluminum spindle with some custom control arms, gonna start playing with that tomorrow, as well as the rearend setup a little as well.

This rust is becoming a huge pain, finding all of it is annoying, also looking to take the tub somewhere to have it blasted, am extremely open to suggestions here.

Some pictarz, but not any huge progress.

Mostly bare tub:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs170.snc4/37838_10100324911985654_8356319_65644031_615826_n. jpg


Subframe, with rusted non removable bolts I have to cut out:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs222.snc4/38444_10100324914171274_8356319_65644067_1484223_n .jpg

Will hopefully get some more progress made tomorrow. 'Tis coming along though.

[mikespeed95]

Didn't get much done today.

Went to Woodlands with my friend Garrett, wound up doing this:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs180.snc4/38344_10100326724523314_8356319_65710133_1405051_n .jpg

I got to take the controls a couple seconds after this picture, and I really wanna learn how to fly. Its friggin cool.

Spent the hour I was at the shop trying to remove 3 bolts that were stuck in the LCA's. Big hammer? Nope. Sawzall? Nope. Had to get pretty creative but eventually got the bolts out of the way and got the LCA's off. Gotta be up early in the morning so called it a night pretty early. Madman Derrick is still at the shop working on his super-overcomplicated headers for his silly little woman car.

Derrick is awesome, and had these laying around, which will wind up on the Camaro. OEM Aluminum Spindles, win. These are everything I could want designwise, and they're an OEM application. Win!
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs040.snc4/34374_10100326716264864_8356319_65709858_5468335_n .jpg

Gonna redrille the Vette hubs to 5x114 so I can fit my large quantity of Foose wheels off the 240 on here since they're awesome and free, then we're gonna start mocking up suspension stuffs. Plan is to run a 18x8 with a 225/235 up front and absolutely no smaller than a 275 out back. I'd like to run a 235/305+ stagger but theres no way I could afford tires for the thing as is, so I'll just run 275's for now.

Small progress. Not much, but progress none the less.

I also ate steak fingers at Wings N More today. +20 American points for me. STEAK FINGERS.

[coolwelder62]

Look's good.Keep postin the photo's. My 72 is in about the shame state as your's:thumbsup:

[Ravenous70]

subscribing to this one

[mikespeed95]

Got some progress made tonight.

Cut rust out with the plasma, now to get it blasted, and start patching.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs199.snc4/38307_10100336846423944_8356319_66079404_2692446_n .jpg

Also had to cut some access panels to get the front leaf braket's locknuts, which were just spinning inside the unibody. Finally got it out, check out this cutting edge technology right here. 40 Year old rusty nuts kept getting caught in my sockets though was kinda annoying

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs083.ash2/37481_10100336828719424_8356319_66078495_3023487_n .jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs075.snc4/35102_10100336842861084_8356319_66079274_3302729_n .jpg

And here's where we're at. Not one bolt left on the unibody. Need to blast/prime this thing, kinda wanna dip it but don't know where to go.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs115.ash2/39067_10100336843045714_8356319_66079277_1677694_n .jpg

Gotta lot of work ahead here. Movin' along slowly but surely.

[SS1156]

Subscribing.

[mikespeed95]

So said goodbye to the Camaro today for about a week. They said they wanted to wait till the weather was perfect to do everyting so I just dropped it and told them I wasn't in a hurry.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs250.snc4/39821_10100337230738774_8356319_66096389_4137044_n .jpg

At the blasting place. Guy on the Tractor's name is Bubba. Bubba has a 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd gen camaro rotting away outside at his blasting place.


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs168.snc4/37741_10100337270314464_8356319_66098088_2345441_n .jpg

Bubba's office is an old school bus.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs218.snc4/39239_10100337853575604_8356319_66126401_840763_n. jpg

Bubba is my hero.

[mikespeed95]

Sorry for the lack of updates,

So the sandblasting guys are dumb. So dumb so so so dumb.

"$275 blast whole care down to bare metal and prime" WHAT A DEAL!! Yeah too good to be true. Didn't even blast the car, idiots then gave me pictures of car before priming with paint on it, then the guy who did it admitted he didn't even blast it, he just primed it. Taking them to court, I'm not paying for work that wasn't done, especially after their employee admits he didn't blast the thing. Ugh. "I dusted it and primed it" Thats not quite whole car down to bare metal....luckily had a lot of friends tag along for pickup/dropoff, and we got the agreement on video, guy admitting he "had his guy blast hte whole car down to bare metal" then the guy who did it telling us " I didn't even blast it, I just primed it like my boss said to". Dumb rednecks. In other news, I bought a sandblaster and am back to not trusting anyone to touch my car except people I've known for a long time, like myself, although Derrick will be helping with a lot of the fabwork, and I'll probably try to ask some other people to do some things that I can't do as well. Its just tough trying to stay motivated becuase there is a lot to do, although I'm mostly done with all the boring stuff like welding holes shut/blockoff plates/firewalls etc etc. Its important stuff, but man its kinda boring and when you're done with it its not anything where your like "WHOA THAT IS COOL!!"

Anyways.

So I've been watching and building the following:

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Pulled the good old 240 project I just can't get rid of in, and started doing all the safety stuff. Some pics of progress on making front clip, sealin off firewall, lowering floorboard/removing hump with hammer/patch panels and simple safe and functional fuel cell mount, minus straps that I havent made yet.


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs272.snc4/39956_10100353029003924_8356319_66687238_4096698_n .jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs309.snc4/40788_10100354689097084_8356319_66763205_2580065_n .jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs149.ash2/40797_10100354694087084_8356319_66763386_2060847_n .jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs298.snc4/41217_10100356426560194_8356319_66826535_2123720_n .jpg

[will69camaro]

Keep up the good work on the 72 man. Seeing you build it is getting me excited to work on mine again!

Let me know if you find a blast or dip place as I am in the market as well. I need to get to stripping down the 69 so we can get to work.

[YenkoSC]

Shame about the blasters but this will be a top car when finished. Did you by any chance own a 69 Camaro from 2006 or earlier?

[mikespeed95]

The 69 Falken Tire Camaro was owned by some guys from Arizona, I never had anything to do with it. Cool car though.


If you're still reading this you're probably thinking a couple things:

- Mike is all over the place
- Mike is never going to get anything done

Probably accurate.

So two days ago my friend Jonathan showed me a Camaro he found while looking for his own project. Derrick was offered an e36 project to build for our friend Aaron for the upcoming Fabricated Motorsports 2011 Texas Drifting Series (fabricatedmotorsports.com), both were in Dallas, and I have a two-car trailer.

So at 5am Sunday I got home. Got back to the shop around 3pm and this is what we got.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs125.ash2/39599_10100396259175314_8356319_67925859_2994420_n .jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs301.ash2/58088_10100396892715694_8356319_67949293_3117080_n .jpg

The guy I picked this Camaro up from was a ultra-nice guy. Check this out, he bought it to build for is SON IN LAW. Talk about awesome.

Story on the car was a friend of his located it after a local owner of a salvage yard died in Nowhereville, West Texas, an estate sale was had, and this Camaro was supposedly in a building he had for projects that were his own, and it just sat for about 20 years. It honestly has no rust on it. The guy told me over the phone that the 1st person who actually saw the car would buy it, and he was 100% honest. There is a little bit of bondo in some random places but the car is super solid. Its also a 70 so has the lower floorpans on the rear seat.

This will get me by since the other Camaro is tied up with the BS the sandblasting place tried to pull, so now I can just take them to court and use the legal system to give them the running into the ground they deserve on my time, since I'm in no hurry to get the Camaro back from them now.

Basically its like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhahJVkehUc

Anyways, heres the gameplan. Found out I'm super lucky and get to go to SEMA this year, as well as XDC Phoenix (http://www.xtremedriftcircuit.com/). So I'm going to attempt to do these things before SEMA.

-Finish the new LS1 S13 suspension, and fabrication, and attach all body parts to where it just needs a cage, and drivetrain. Push outside, install car cover.

-Strip parts off of Rx7 I picked up for donor engines for the Brat, then sell.

Post SEMA:
- Get Camaro to status of just needing a drivetrain and rollcage
- Build engine that runs on both rotors for the Brat


Want to get all this done by December, then I'll go from there depending on how much work I can do to earn some money between now and then. We've also got an e36 LS1 project for the 2011 Texas Series, and some other new stuff that will be popping up. My friend Jonathan also FINALLY got a project car, went with him tonight and we picked up an 85 mustang GT that is now chillin at the shop, gonna help him build that up, which I'm also excited about because I've always wanted to play with building up a Fox, and he is pretty excited about doing it. Plus its always fun to help one your friends get into cars.

On a side note, my new trailer tows AWESOME with the gooseneck and 3 axles.


So if you're still reading, heres what you're probably thinking now

-Mike is really all over the place
-Mike is never going to finish anything
-Don't mess with Texas.


Any you LatG guys going to SEMA? I have been not really over here because thinking about the Camaro/Sandblasting deal just pisses me off, but would love to check out some of the awesome builds on here in person if they are going to be there.

[mikespeed95]

Heres some of the subpar quality projects I've been doing, nothing holds a candle to the stuff you guys normally put on here, but a lot of this is my 1st time at attempting some of this stuff.

Being 6'2'' normally makes it hard to sit straight up in a car with a cage, so on the 240's I've always had my head near the cage. Never liked this and it was hard to motivate myself to build a car knowing I wouldn't have headroom.

Or wouldn't I?

Got ambitious after the hammering/patching didn't work, so just went for it. Worst case scenario I'd learn something, and have to redo it.

Grabbed the Plasma cutter, and went for it.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs693.snc4/63336_10100388321093294_8356319_67730307_921949_n. jpg

Cranked the welder down to 1, and didn't burn any big holes. This is my 1st thinner sheetmetal project, and I was pretty careless with it as far as measuring. Normally I'd just cut the approximation I needed, and hammer something to make it fit. I know this car is going to get stuffed into a wall, and its just another lame LS1 powered 240sx (everyone has one nowadays), and its under the seat, so I had a really really difficult time trying to force myself to care, because on this car I didn't. If it was the Camaro it'd be a different story, but I have a real love/hate relationship with this 240, haha.

Got the 1st piece in, and test fitted the seat, and I had about 3'' of clearance with a helmet on. This seemed like it was going to work.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs708.snc4/62861_10100388321367744_8356319_67730309_339686_n. jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs671.snc4/61113_10100390225960924_8356319_67782873_7746154_n .jpg

I got reallly lazy on the other side as I put the seat in, and had a ton of room, and some scrap metal laying around. Cut the piece a tad too short and didn't want to waste any good metal on this car, so one side has a nice 90* meeting of panels, and the other is one that is bent. Like I said, its all under the seat and I didn't care, and its my car so I'm allowed to cut corners on making it look perfect. Will function absolutely fine. I'm only trying to justify myself because normally the work on this forum is top-notch, and by some of the work pumped out here, I am not sure if some of you have any lazyness that might result in this, haha.

Here is a comparison of what it looked like before/after with the passenger side. I made a lot of room to lower the front and also by moving the rounded edge on the trans tunnel into a hard 90* that helped a LOT.

All of that crap you see is bondo, that I realized after I mixed, had just put resin hardener into. Couldn't figure out why it was the wrong color...

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs330.ash2/61013_10100390763059574_8356319_67802245_692299_n. jpg

So I got to make a huge friggin mess.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs702.snc4/62259_10100391372333584_8356319_67819363_3917696_n .jpg

Then decided that it was again, under the seat, who cares. Threw some primer over the welds, and declared victory on the task of creating headroom.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs010.ash2/33857_10100393533148294_8356319_67868193_1507364_n .jpg


Also decided to try to play with filling in cracks on a dashboard. Still got a lot of sanding, but it seems to have worked. I just plastered some on the other day to fill the last of the rough spots and haven't had a chance to sand it down yet.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs011.snc4/33905_10100390762500694_8356319_67802230_5673348_n .jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs653.snc4/61290_10100393562489494_8356319_67868981_5132139_n .jpg

Lastly, I bought some new things for the shop.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs330.ash2/61037_10100391092304764_8356319_67810785_5024245_n .jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs656.snc4/61655_10100393562743984_8356319_67868998_6054591_n .jpg

If you're still reading NOW, congrats! Suprised you made it this far!

And yes I know, the shop is a mess, and its kind of embarrassing.

[will69camaro]

Who did the blasting for you again? Was it Camaro Country? If so I found lots of bad reviews If you still need it blasted call up Environmental Cleaners. I'll search for the number as I have it somewhere. A quick google search should bring it up as well!

William

[mikespeed95]

Some good old boys in Huntsville called Quality Sandblasting.

S T A Y A W A Y.

I just bought some equipment myself, 20$ gun at Tractor suppy, its gonna take forever and make a huge mess, but at least I can do it.

Are you still out in Midland? Might wanna see who does some of the oil companys blasting, as I hear they often have their equipment blasted to clean it.

[will69camaro]

No I'm in Woodlands/Conroe area. Been here for about 3 years now.

Place I'm likely taking mine do does it for a few restoration shops around town. Has TONS of good reviews. Pricey (~100hr) but dont have the desire to make a huge mess in my garage.

[mikespeed95]

Oh wow I didn't know that. PM me your number, we can brochill sometime.

The guys on BVSB know a place in Navasota, and I know the owner of a place called SPAGS autobody in the woodlands, and he says he knows of a place. Just call over there and ask if you can talk to Anthony, tell him what you're doing and tell him your Mike Peters, drifter guy from huntsville's freind and ask him about the blasting place he told me about.

Guy is super nice/awesome and he has done a TON of oldcar stuff, but I cannot remember what the place he reccomended was. He also has a couple 1gens at his shop that are pretty rad, including a 6.0 powered daily he is building. Really cool guy.

[will69camaro]

Cool I'll PM you my number. I know where SPAGS is, it's right down the street from me. Most my stuff (2010 camaro) has gone to Kustom Werx, which is just across the tracks from SPAGS. Most restoration shops seem to use "Environmental Cleaners" as I mentioned earlier. Camaro Concepts does I know as does a few others (believe they're on Spring Cypress).

There is a big resto shop over there but they're big money restorations. Mo' Muscle. Right near SPAGS as well.

I'm planning to do most the body work myself (panel replacement, etc).

William

[mikespeed95]

There is a big resto shop over there but they're big money restorations. Mo' Muscle. Right near SPAGS as well.


I drove by that place. My pants seemed to shrink a lot as I drove by.

I didn't know you lived over there, ironically I may have flown over your house in a helicopter, haha.

[mikespeed95]

So I got pretty bummed/annoyed with the whole sandblasting gone wrong deal, and started rebuilding my 240, even though to me it was boring because everyone has one now.

Came across a C-Prepared car for $3500. Has a case of the uglies but figured it would save me a lot of time, and get me motivated. Traded a car we got in trade for some work at the shop to a freind, and picked this guy up.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/mikespeed95/Camerica/22140483-075-C-Prepared-Autocross-Camaro.jpg

Has a Big Block Olds, Muncie, 3 link, 12 bolt and a cage. Also came fully packed with a full Stewart-Warner guage setup, pretty excited about that. Its a really dirty racecar that has been sitting, but theres not really any rust on it at all, and it also had an Accusump, and some other little goodies on it already. I could have saved some cash buliding up mine, but I bought this as a rolling test-bed for when I go all out on the 70 chassis I now have.

The goal is to debut this thing all prettied up with my 383 Magna Charged LS1 setup with the new Holley EFI engine management at Holley LS Fest, and I'm really really excited about that.

Anyways, pulled it into the shop, and chopping away at it amist customer cars, spending about 4-5 hours a day on it. I haven't posted anywhere, but I figured I could post here because you guys would have some cool advice.


My freind Chase took these the night I got it in the shop, which was like 2-3 nights ago.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/mikespeed95/Camerica/16d4d89a.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/mikespeed95/Camerica/53ac765a.jpg?t=1310058553

Then started tearing into it

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/mikespeed95/Camerica/7f74c49a.jpg


Last night I got this front/rear mostly fitted. Waiting to get my 72 back to cut the panels off to fill in the gaps and do the rear window properly.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/mikespeed95/Camerica/82b4b567.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/mikespeed95/Camerica/3fdcd6d0.jpg

Going to mount an LS1 in a customers 240, and get that all looking nice then get back to work on this thing today.

Does anyone know some good Fender Flares for a 2nd gen?

Looking for something like this but not as big and pointy on the back:

http://www.genefeltonrestorations.com/pics/genes_rides/1975_mo_carter_camaro_daytona_24.jpg

Looking forward to actually building something non cookie-cutter with some style. The simplicity will also be nice with the rear axle setup.

[SS1156]

No I'm in Woodlands/Conroe area. Been here for about 3 years now.

Place I'm likely taking mine do does it for a few restoration shops around town. Has TONS of good reviews. Pricey (~100hr) but dont have the desire to make a huge mess in my garage.

I was looking at moving to the Woodlands from Florida. I have a friend that lives in Conroe and I really like it there.

[mikespeed95]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/mikespeed95/Camerica/34292a36.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/mikespeed95/Camerica/be0275ee.jpg

Had to go get some more fasteners yesterday, and waiting to hear back about a VFN frontend, and gonna get some advice from a friend of a freind who owns a body shop on the tail panel. But its looking pretty cool so far. Using vynil for now to mock up and decide how I wanna do the fenders height wise.

Still need to get my other chassis to cut the window panels out of for the back.

[badbu68]

I dig it!

[mikespeed95]

So I hate hate hate school.

Had the absolute pleasure of cruising out to Holley LS Fest back in September, and met some really really awesome guys out there during their Autocross, and got me excited about building the Camaro again.

Finally had some freetime so stripping the old CP car down, and swapping parts over to my 72 chassis.

12 bolt out of CP car
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/388036_10101249910371474_8356319_77129662_13015246 18_n.jpg

Now what're y'alls thoughts on the shocks as a 3rd link?

I'm going to use the leafs just to see if it can work, I know there are better ways but there is nothing *horribly* wrong with the leafs that I feel a home made set of caltracs can't fix with the 3rd link.

Thoughts?

[mikespeed95]

Nothing mind-blowing, got the old CP car stripped down, and got my 72 in the shop, which really really really gets me excited about building this thing now that I can finally do it!!

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/321541_10101266366099064_8356319_77291103_10896709 41_n.jpg

And being the juvenile delinquents that me and my friends are, we decided to play with our Pit Vehicle some. We started with this awful contraption this morning

http://images.craigslist.org/5V25Z45W63kc3ob3l0band1dc73a39c681322.jpg

The fuel tank was recently stolen, headlights quit working, previous owner spray painted it, yadda yadda yadda. We got bored, decided it would be a great idea to have the most amazing track support vehicle ever.

So about 4 hours later, a new bed is in the works, some new lights were on, straightpipes off the V-twin, and most the spray paint/silly camo stuff was off. Haha.

http://hphotos-iad1.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s720x720/307758_10101267669881274_8356319_77308933_92321961 5_n.jpg

"Oh you stripped a screw? I have a cordless sawzall, 'Merica"

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/309618_2569754725086_1290775752_2989023_1667362084 _n.jpg

Seriously though, excited to get the Camaro in the shop and ready to make some real headway on it soon.

Someone stole my stock fuel tank?? Well, I have some fuel cells laying around...


http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/390398_2569755045094_1290775752_2989026_1764544099 _n.jpg


Yeah, our pit cruiser has a fuel cell. Because Racecar...support vehicle.

[mikespeed95]

Forgot to post the lame updates of our mule, will be pretty cool for cruisin' the pits at the track

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/383073_10101298883194544_8356319_77484032_54092022 1_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/303164_10101298889297314_8356319_77484083_96516995 3_n.jpg

Still need to make the fuel door, and wetsand/buff a couple areas, thats it.

I didn't realize at all how late I was at the shop last night till I glanced at my watch and it was 4am, haha.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/392302_10101392116414424_8356319_77883075_16613776 15_n.jpg

Just laying things out, have a TON of room compared to the 240, its rad!!!

And this is just incredible. No cutting fenders, measuring 3-4 times plenty of room for control arms and no steering interference, this is gonna be awesome!

Should be able to get about this much angle no big deal

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/377905_10101392179318364_8356319_77883104_51269315 3_n.jpg

This is where I left tonight, pretty excited!!!

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/391808_10101392179163674_8356319_77883103_14279916 78_n.jpg

Tomorrow gonna try to watch SHSU go 13-0, and get the rear end mounted and start mocking that all up and if I can find some parts around the shop maybe start tryingt o formulate a gameplan for connect the dots.

Super stoked!! Was really worried about some aspects of this but it seems like it's going to be a cakewalk compared to what I thought! Still going tob e a lot of work, but having a 70 Camaro that I can do anything from cruise to Taco Bell, rev my engine all sick at a street light, drag race, drift, autocross, take to track days will be sooooooooooooooooooooooooo worth it in the end.

[mikespeed95]

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/378517_10101396881934284_8356319_77900856_20577014 6_n.jpg

Way cooler than that lame done-a-zillion-times or copy-random-jp dude crap they're diong over at Hectors garage before racewars. Bo-ring.

I don't know what spring rate these leafs are, they're Global West, and they are going to rip harder than a ZZ Top concert in 1983.

Indestructible 12 bolt, check.
Shiny wheels that look baller, check.
Everything fit decent? check
Lack of care for overcomplicating this sideways burnout crap, double check.

Gotta find some cheap calipers now that will work on the back and front, and order 3 left and 3 rights. Going to be some good times ahead here.


Oh, and SHSU, 13-0. Sup. At least this school doing something right!

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/376454_10101396871590014_8356319_77900795_27712328 3_n.jpg

So excited to finally be done with stupid school, making money, and playing with my Camaro at night.

[mikespeed95]

Painted the inside really turned out incredible I think!

Here is a video of shinyness

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10101413161544814

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/388323_10101413135502004_8356319_77959944_98969443 0_n.jpg

[DIGI-TAILS]

Good Luck!!! ;)

[onelapduster]

No cage?

Really good work up to this point, keep it up!

[mikespeed95]

The cage was an interesting hold up. Guy I used to consider a friend and helped out for nearly 3 years, bought him a bender, he said he'd help on a cage and some other stuff, instead he never fullfilled his end of earning the bender, took it, and yeah. The reason for the paint before cage is over the years I've learned once the cage is in it's near-impossible to get to some areas, so I just paint twice now. Once before cage, and that gets all beat up and scratched, BUT gives you a base coat anywhere you can't get to very well, then a final painting after cage is in. Plan on rocking white interior mostly, haven't figured out what I wanna do on the floorboards, red cage covered in American Flag stickers everywhere that wouldn't make a tech inspector angry, red seats, etc. Basically all red/white on the interior, and blue paint on the outside. I do love me some red/white/blue.

One my Florida buddies just moved here with me, and we're tag-teaming the shop. I can do light fab work, but I just never have the patience to do cages, and he's rocking and rolling on it.

I'm gonna try to post here more now that something is actually happening other than me being ticked off about it, haha.

We're aiming to have the car rolling, painted, and hopefully running within 50 days :yikes: Car will make its 100% complete debut at Holley's LS Fest, which is INSANE fun, YOU SHOULD GO!!!

And we'll have it doing parking patrol at Formula Drift Las Vegas from what I understand if that doesn't fall through.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.434609203239917.112177.176115965755910&type=3

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/182500_434609909906513_1194438939_n.jpg

You can follow progress along also here:
facebook.com/theawesomeshop
facebook.com/mikespeeddrift/

For once on this build, I'm pretty excited!!

[mikespeed95]

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/530536_10102660179336164_1829774391_n.jpg

Got a new job and no free time, and bought another one to cruise around and look cool.

Excited.

[coolwelder62]

It's to bad your friend didnt hold his end of the deal.But looks like your moving along.:thumbsup:

[mikespeed95]

Yeah, been bummed out about how I've been to nice to some people, but took a new job working at Hennessey and just moving forward.

[mikespeed95]

Got an opportunity to work at a pretty cool shop, some of you may have heard of it, so closed down my business and moved down to Houston to work at Hennessey. Ever since I was little I've wanted a 70 Camaro like Mr. Guts in Gumball Rally, so while looking for a couple of spare spoilers for a race car, I stumbled upon and bought Ronald Mc Donald's personal project.

It was a 70, no noteworthy rust, super straight, ran, drove, super slow, but it was a 70, split bumper Camaro, and dangit, it looks cool.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/68655_10102686767049174_384900759_n.jpg

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/598509_10102712181982444_1375637416_n.jpg

After eating a lot of McDoubles and McRibs, kinda got tired of ambitiously waiting on a weekend to paint it myself, so I dropped it at the local paint shop.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/2953_10102860621802854_1166150123_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/487749_10102867889568194_235186232_n.jpg

Turned out okay.

Finally got my wheels on it too. Took this before taking John Hennessey drifting in it.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/581278_10102966558564734_336132107_n.jpg.

I've got a 383 LS1 and a blower on an engine stand, trying to decide to swap that in it with a T-56 that I have from my old race car, deciding on 12 bolt or 9'', and my buddies at Oversteer Garage (http://www.oversteergarage.com) are going to help me get the suspension all sorted. We're probably going to widen the track an inch or two and put some small flares on it, and lower it a lot, and I'll have a pretty awesome car I can daily if I want to, and take to Texas World Speedway on the weekends or go drifting with. I dunno. No free time.

The Jackstand Champ is probably going to get an iron block with some LS3 top end parts, and try to build it to be American Iron legal, and use it for some fun wheel to wheel, drifting, and autocross.

Anyways, those are my updates on moneypits. Pretty thankful to have them, and as long as I don't have a wife or a girlfriend I'll keep chipping away at them, after that I'll probably be screwed.

[mikespeed95]

Can only post so many pics/post. Finally took it to the track for fun. Went up to a pro-am in Oklahoma to help judge and it was super-fun. First event I've driven my own car by myself at since September 2007. Was a good time.

Loaded up at work on Thursday afternoon, and took my first day off in 7 months to drive 600 miles to Stroud, Oklahoma, which was a surprisingly cool little town.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/533970_400044610102480_399344309_n.jpg

Here's a video of our little course layout we made the day before. (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=442523695834165)

Got some pictures too

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/430325_401101243330150_374364451_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/17286_401237123316562_650461971_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/528167_400992746674333_751692790_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/3571_526494297407547_1668957026_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/417820_526494507407526_1441658732_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/20887_526494540740856_762012405_n.jpg

Was a good time. Learned what needs to be upgraded on this platform, should work in a very simple fashion. Going to put an Aluminum Radiator in blue car, and try to get some more angle and a couple other small changes.

[mikespeed95]

Well I've been really busy moving into a new house, closing my shop, moving everything out of the 2500 sq ft shop I've accumulated in the 5 years I owned a shop, getting settled in over at Hennessey, and just a lot on my plate.

I sold the blue car above because I just didn't have the time and space for two of them and needed to focus on finishing the original project.

One of my buddies started a shop and has been busting his butt to get it going, so I let him update my cage and add some provisions for the third link, I ordered some carbon stuff from a company called "Feather Carbon" 9 months ago and it was a huge headache to get my stuff but it's finally here( I was supposed to have it all in September), so now I'm getting the chassis all ready and together.

Third link mount:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/1978698_555303137909959_632608543_n.jpg

Got everything to the house working on mounting the dash, seat, and just cleaning everything up. This thing has been sitting untouched for about 2 years. Spent all day yesterday unpacking looking for my clicos so I can measure the quarter panel area to cut out.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1/1966809_557396637700609_763634730_n.jpg

World's largest carbon hood

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/l/t1/1898067_557396677700605_2107675948_n.jpg

And I got the interior ready for paint and the dash mounted. I'm spacing the dash back to clear the cage and also so I can have some more room to hide some things in there if I decide to add ventilation or anything. Dash will be dzuz'd on with a small bulkhead for all the electronics so everything can be exposed on a flat panel with the dash hiding it, but still keeping it easy to service.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1970722_556653804441559_2069412373_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/12386_556653831108223_1174147572_n.jpg

Also really excited about these quarters, I don't know when I'll get the other one but I have a lot to do in the mean time, but this thing is going to look exactly like what I was wanting to do and hopefully I don't see anyone else with flares like this before I finish my car.

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1900098_556653781108228_2092983017_n.jpg

Anyways that's my lame little update. Spent the last year and half moving and just having life happen, and consolidating into a two car garage, which I think I've got set up pretty awesome.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1/1920596_557352781038328_1290749709_n.jpg

Goals are have the suspension all done by the end of April, I'm taking it over to my buddy Todd's shop to have the third link done, and I'm going to work on a lot of other little things in the mean time. I'm really excited that two guys I've known about 10 years now will be helping with the suspension (Todd Farris and Jeff Stroh). They have a CP car that has won the national championship recently and I'm really thankful to have access to the knowledge they have on getting this thing ready to play with.

This is their car, if you've run solo2 at nationals you've seen it.

http://oversteergarage.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/616949_10152055250090394_908958639_o.jpg

Anyways, hopefully will start posting cool stuff with this again now that I'm all settled in for the first time in a while.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Looks good, You can squeeze another 3/4" out of the quarters by raising the lower sections where they mount.

Nice work on the cage!!

[MikkoV]

Haven´t look this thread ages.

Niiice progress and im bit envious about those carbon parts.

Keep it going, can´t wait to see another 2gen drifter.