AWDPete
05-25-2010, 06:25 PM
Hello all, here is my story :yes:
I bought this car in 1979 for $650, I was 15 at the time and this was my first car. It was originally a 327 3-speed car with no options - just a base model. Shortly after I brought it home I found a '69 Yenko Camaro for $950, the original motor was out of the car but everything was there. It was dark green with a black interior and a turbo 400. Being 15 and just spent all my money on the '68 I did what any 15 year old would do........I asked my dad for the money - he said no. :faint: Every year I inform my dad what they are currently selling for. I tried to locate the car a couple years later but it disappeared, but I digress....
About six months after getting the '68 home I sent it off to get new quarters and get the body work done, it came back to me in primer. At this point it was decided to completely tear it down. The picture with the body on the snowmobile trailer shows how I got it to the sandblaster, he blasted the bottom and firewall. Those pictures are what it looked like before it got blasted. (link at bottom of post)
I wasn't sure what I was going to use for a motor at that point but a swap meet find a little later helped me with that decision. My buddy Jim and I (now 16 with a license) found a set of Winters castings, rectangular port with a closed chamber that had been used on a alcohol dragster. A quick call to my engine builder (Carl Wegner) confirmed they were a good buy - $450 in 1980 money. Carl built the .030 396 around those heads after doing $900 worth of porting work to them (again 1980 money). All totaled I had $3500 in the motor.
While the motor was being built my buddy Jim and I rebuilt the front subframe, everything was blasted and painted. There wasn't many choices in suspension components in those days so I used the best (only!) parts I could find: Moroso a-arm bushings and solid subframe mounts. This along with the 6-point cage and new multi leaf springs as the mono springs were both broken under the axle perch. Solid aluminum spring bushings were pressed in and some shorter shackles added. Moroso subframe connecters helped tie it all together. A 12-bolt with 4:56 gears and posi was located and installed, did I mention I was building a drag car? With the M-21 bolted to the Lakewood scattershield and aluminum flywheel I was ready to go racing - but then I foolishly discovered girls! Got married had 2 kids, got divorced and in '94, when the rest of those pictures were taken, decided to pull it out of storage. The m-21 was replaced with a Coan turbo 400 and the 3-1/2" centerlines and 10" slicks got replaced with some rallies and 235/60 and 295/50 BFG radials and KYB gas shocks. I put maybe 200 miles on the car that summer and met my current wife - car back in storage.
Which brings us up to date. It still has that 12.5:1 big block and those 4:56 gears! Not sure where I am going from here or how I am going to get there as money is non-existant at the moment.
PeteH
Baraboo WI
http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/garage_vehicle.php?do=view_vehicle&id=121
I bought this car in 1979 for $650, I was 15 at the time and this was my first car. It was originally a 327 3-speed car with no options - just a base model. Shortly after I brought it home I found a '69 Yenko Camaro for $950, the original motor was out of the car but everything was there. It was dark green with a black interior and a turbo 400. Being 15 and just spent all my money on the '68 I did what any 15 year old would do........I asked my dad for the money - he said no. :faint: Every year I inform my dad what they are currently selling for. I tried to locate the car a couple years later but it disappeared, but I digress....
About six months after getting the '68 home I sent it off to get new quarters and get the body work done, it came back to me in primer. At this point it was decided to completely tear it down. The picture with the body on the snowmobile trailer shows how I got it to the sandblaster, he blasted the bottom and firewall. Those pictures are what it looked like before it got blasted. (link at bottom of post)
I wasn't sure what I was going to use for a motor at that point but a swap meet find a little later helped me with that decision. My buddy Jim and I (now 16 with a license) found a set of Winters castings, rectangular port with a closed chamber that had been used on a alcohol dragster. A quick call to my engine builder (Carl Wegner) confirmed they were a good buy - $450 in 1980 money. Carl built the .030 396 around those heads after doing $900 worth of porting work to them (again 1980 money). All totaled I had $3500 in the motor.
While the motor was being built my buddy Jim and I rebuilt the front subframe, everything was blasted and painted. There wasn't many choices in suspension components in those days so I used the best (only!) parts I could find: Moroso a-arm bushings and solid subframe mounts. This along with the 6-point cage and new multi leaf springs as the mono springs were both broken under the axle perch. Solid aluminum spring bushings were pressed in and some shorter shackles added. Moroso subframe connecters helped tie it all together. A 12-bolt with 4:56 gears and posi was located and installed, did I mention I was building a drag car? With the M-21 bolted to the Lakewood scattershield and aluminum flywheel I was ready to go racing - but then I foolishly discovered girls! Got married had 2 kids, got divorced and in '94, when the rest of those pictures were taken, decided to pull it out of storage. The m-21 was replaced with a Coan turbo 400 and the 3-1/2" centerlines and 10" slicks got replaced with some rallies and 235/60 and 295/50 BFG radials and KYB gas shocks. I put maybe 200 miles on the car that summer and met my current wife - car back in storage.
Which brings us up to date. It still has that 12.5:1 big block and those 4:56 gears! Not sure where I am going from here or how I am going to get there as money is non-existant at the moment.
PeteH
Baraboo WI
http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/garage_vehicle.php?do=view_vehicle&id=121