68 Camaro built in a single car garage!

[Nick]

This is my first post on this site, but I have been a member for awhile and been cruising the different projects and I got to say, WOW, allot of beautiful stuff. Some of the projects here really make me want to spend more time and money on my car....

This was my first muscle car build and although I did not have a big garage, that did not stop me from trucking on. I have been working on the car for a little over 3 years now and I finally started driving it in August this year.

It started out as a 68 Camaro 6 cyl 3spd car with 74K miles on the clock. I have done the body job in my single car garage and my neighbours loved it ;)

Allot of the parts where eBay purchases and wrecking yard searches, this saved me allot of money!!!

I am putting it away for the winter soon and when I take it out again in April, my plan is to complete the interior and enjoy it before the influence of this website hits me and I decide to tear into it for more upgrades.

The major mods include :
6.2L L92 block with LS3 intake and aftermarket Cam from Comp Cam
T56 from a 2002 Z28 with Spec stage 2 clutch
GMPP crate engine LS3 controller kit
8.5" GM rear end with 3.73 gears
Hotchkis TVS kit with bilstein shocks
Global west upper control arms
1/2" drop global west solid body mounts
Custom fitted C6 Z51 brake rotors all around
CTS-V Brembo calipers
Chevy Astro Hydroboost
DSE subframe connectors
Autometer gauges
Magnaflow 3" exhaust

And a few other things I can't think of right now.

Since this is likely a "Never Ending" project, though I would post a thread and update as I go.

Here are a few pictures:

[Nick]

Ran out of space for pics, here they keep going:

[Nick]

More pictures:

[tones2SS]

Very nice Nick. She came out awesome. Enjoy that bad boy!:thumbsup: :cheers:

[strtlegal]

This what Hot Rodding was all about..very nice man!

[214Chevy]

Looks nice bro. Love the color. :thumbsup:

[Nick]

Thanks for the nice comments guys!!

That would be interesting to see in Hot Rod magazine:

"Build a "g-machine" A la eBay!!!!" lol

[melman109]

Nice ride :thumbsup:

[Northeast Rod Run]

Great job for such small quarters:thumbsup:

Makes me wish I had pics of the rented garage I put 75% of my Camaro together in.
With the passenger side hugging the wall, I barely had enough room to open the driver's door, and if the garage door was closed I couldn't even go in front of the car.

I was young and didn't have much money so that's all $75.00 a month could get me at the time. Makes it just that much more worth it

[speedshftr]

really nice car.:thumbsup:

[waynieZ]

Nice project, it looks great. What colors did you use? They look great together. Did you have any trouble fitting the T56 in the car with those 1/2 hieght body bushing? You did a great job so far keep it up.

[70TWO NOVA]

Awesome car man, you did a great job! :thumbsup: I really enjoy seeing people build cars of that high quality in their own garages!

[Nick]

Nice project, it looks great. What colors did you use? They look great together. Did you have any trouble fitting the T56 in the car with those 1/2 hieght body bushing? You did a great job so far keep it up.

Thanks for the comments. Colors are all GM OEM colors. The blue is 2003 Electron Blue and the grey is a Hummer Charcoal grey (but I forget the exact GM name for the Grey:( )

T56 was tight, a bit of massaging here and there, but went in good. I did make a custom tranny mount. Could of bought one for the swap but making one was alot cheaper!!!

Cheers

[Jay Hilliard]

Nice job Nick! Car looks great. Thanks for sharing.

[BBC69Camaro]

Very impressive :unibrow:

[vmatt350]

Nick,

Can you tell us about your brakes? I was looking at doing something like that but don’t know that much about it.

Is it a package you can get from somewhere that has all the brackets?
What size wheels are required?
Do you have a parts list and possibly instructions for the upgrade?

Thanks
Matt

[Steve67RS/SS]

Looks great. love the shot from the front.

[Jano4]

Impressive garage build :)

[Nick]

Nick,

Can you tell us about your brakes? I was looking at doing something like that but don’t know that much about it.

Is it a package you can get from somewhere that has all the brackets?
What size wheels are required?
Do you have a parts list and possibly instructions for the upgrade?

Thanks
Matt

As for parts, used CTS-V Brembo callipers (eBay!) and the Rotors are C6 Vette Z51 rotors all around. I mated everything to the Original Drum brake spindle and hub, and machined custom calliper brackets. For the rear parking brake, I used LS1 Camaro parking brake assemblies along with custom calliper brackets.

As a note, the front drum brake hub needs attention before running the brakes, I needed to turn down the center section a bit to fit the rotors and then machined the rotor mating surface to ensure 0 runout. I had to do the same with the rear axles because they where used units from a drum brake car.

Unfortunately, not a "off the shelf" parts list, but if you have access to a milling machine, making your own calliper brackets makes for a very cheap big brake swap!!

Hope the info helps.

Cheers

[vmatt350]

Thanks Nick! BTW, your car looks amazing!

[SoCal_63 SS]

High Five brotha'... Mean looking ride!:yes:

[67rsssls]

Car looks great! :thumbsup: Do you have any more pictures of the front and rear brake setup you built?

[vinz68]

Nice job! Looks great!:thumbsup:

[89 RS]

Nice ride man. Look forward to seeing more pics.

[Nick]

Car looks great! :thumbsup: Do you have any more pictures of the front and rear brake setup you built?

I can't seem to find pictures of the finish product, but found some of the first rough cuts for fitting in the front

Don't have pictures of the rear. Car put away now, but next time I pull the rear wheels off, I will try and remember to take pictures and post them.

[durrettcustoms]

Man she looks great!

[nvmyss]

Looks good. We need more details.
Looks like you assembled the motor what all did you do to it.
What your wheel combo/spec's

[Nick]

Looks good. We need more details.
Looks like you assembled the motor what all did you do to it.
What your wheel combo/spec's

The motor is a L92 long block out of an escalade, complete reseal with new bearings and rings. The reason I got the engine was because of a scrape in Cyl #7, had a new sleeve installed to fix that, not sure how that scrape got there?? but anyways, everything else on the engine was fine. I removed VVT and the original cam and replaced with a Comp Cam (#54-414-11) with valve springs, installed a Corvette intake & TB and the engine is cotrolled using the GMPP LS3 controller kit. The acessories are LS1 Camaro, wicked deal on that, 75$ box of parts found on local classified and had everything but water pump!!!

Wheels are OEM C6 Corvette take offs, 18x8.5 front with 245/45zr18 and 19x10 with 275/35zr19 rear. As for offset/backspacing, don't remember off hand, I can dig up though. I did use wheel adapters, will try and dig up thickness as well.

Note that for the rear, I used a 8.5" GM rear end out of a second gen camaro. It gave me 2 extra inches in width reducing the required adapter thickness for the vette wheels, and the 8.5 is better than the 8.2 that came with the car.;)

Thanks

[Rhino]

Nick, are those 5th gen SS badges in your nose stripe, or are those painted?

Congrats on getting it buttoned up, it looks great. :thumbsup:

[Nick]

Nick, are those 5th gen SS badges in your nose stripe, or are those painted?

Congrats on getting it buttoned up, it looks great. :thumbsup:

They are badges from a 2007 Cobalt SS, the door badges.

[130fe]

Great job! Just curious, what do you have mounted on the firewall (driver's side) that is behind the fenderwell?

[68MaroSam]

Great looking Camaro. Love the color choices.

[Nick]

Great job! Just curious, what do you have mounted on the firewall (driver's side) that is behind the fenderwell?

You are probably referring to the Hydro boost unit. It is from an Astro van.

Cheers

[Rhino]

I do have another engine bay question for you. Is the box on the passenger inner fender a fuse box or PCM? If it's a fuse box, would you mind me asking what it is? I'm currently looking for an under hood box and can't decide what to use.

[awr68]

Great job! Love the way it turned out and the fact that it's not a 'mail order car'!! :thumbsup: :cheers:

[130fe]

You are probably referring to the Hydro boost unit. It is from an Astro van.

Cheers

Nick, its not the hydroboost. Its in post #3- top row of pictures, the middle one. It looks like it has a red wire next to it? The outer most part of the firewall (on driver's side). It would be hidden when the fender is installed. Just curious. Thanks!

[Nick]

Nick, its not the hydroboost. Its in post #3- top row of pictures, the middle one. It looks like it has a red wire next to it? The outer most part of the firewall (on driver's side). It would be hidden when the fender is installed. Just curious. Thanks!

Oh, that is my siren for the alarm system...

Cheers

[Nick]

I do have another engine bay question for you. Is the box on the passenger inner fender a fuse box or PCM? If it's a fuse box, would you mind me asking what it is? I'm currently looking for an under hood box and can't decide what to use.

That is the fuse box. It is from the GMPP LS3 controller kit. I am not sure what fuse box it is. Maybe contact GMPP and ask for a part # ?

Sorry I can't help you more than that. :(

[irocracer89]

Finished product looks excellent!

[Bobs 67Camaro]

Looks Great!
How do you like the brakes? Do the Brembos share the same mouting holes as 5/C6 Calipers?

[ky69]

Where did you get the piece to mount the hydroboost to the firewall? The aluminum looking piece? Thanks!!

[Nick]

Looks Great!
How do you like the brakes? Do the Brembos share the same mouting holes as 5/C6 Calipers?

Brakes are great!! Sure stops the car on a dime. I am not sure if the brembo calipers share the same mounting holes as C5/C6 calipers. I made custom caliper brackets to mount the brembo to the stock spindle and drum brake hub.

Sorry if I could not confirm, if you need measurements for the brembo mounting holes, I could probably dig up my templates.

Cheers

[Nick]

Where did you get the piece to mount the hydroboost to the firewall? The aluminum looking piece? Thanks!!

Custom made with 1" Al flat stock. I modified the original Astro mounting plate to match the mounting of the Camaro firewall and then made that Al plate with a hole in the center big enough for the hydro boost mounting nut. Let me know if you need more details.

Cheers