New Member - 69 Camaro project

[tracy]

Hi, my name is Tracy Edmonds. I am relatively new to this site and I have been quietly watching and reading. I am also new to pro-touring but I really like what I see going on and I am now getting into the game myself.

A little backround on me, I am 43 years old and I have always loved GM muscle cars. When I was 7-9 years old my father was the new car sales manager at a large Chevy dealership in Florida and I can remember getting to ride in the Camaros and Vettes on Saturday morning and nights when they got brought out for display and put away for the night. These were new 69-71 cars back then...They made a lasting impression on me to say the least.

I built a 69 GTO convertible when I was 18-19 and I worked as a mechanic for a couple of years. Then the cars went by the wayside when I ended up going to college and then later building a career as a computer engineer.

Now I am living in the SF Bay Area in Morgan Hill and I am ready to build some cars.

I have learned quite a bit from reading this and other forums like pro-touring. I have also spent time talking with people like Tony Huntimer after reading his awesome book on the subject. I have received a trememdous amount of help from Ben Chase at Speed Merchant in San Jose.

I knew I wanted to focus on 69 Camaros and I decided for my first build, I was going to start with a nice car that had already been largely restored, rust free, along with some other redeeming qualities.

I found a really awesome car that is the perfect starting point for my project. I have had this car for a little over a month now. I have most of my plan in place and I have ordered many parts already.

The attached pictures of my car represent it exactly as I bought it. It has a really beautiful paint job, a straight body and floor pans which are not only original but are clean enough to eat from.

This car also has a professionally built 396 bored 030 over to a 402. It has a full Eagle forged rotating assembly with H-Beam rods, JE pistons (9.5:1) and a really nice Comp roller hydraulic cam and roller rockers. It has stock oval port heads, Edelbrock Performer intake with a 780 Holley, Hooker Super Comp headers, ceramic coated with 2" primaries. This is all brand new with only about 300 miles. There is also a Muncie 4 speed and a 10 bold rear with an open diff and 273 or so gears.

I am preparing to treat this car to the following:

Drive Train
AFR CNC ported heads (oval or square are TBD)
EFI (possibly Accel DFI ram jet style setup bu I am still looking)
Ron Davis radiator
T56 built to Viper specs

Rear End and Rear Suspension
DSE Quadralink
Moser 9 inch with aluminum 3rd member, 33 spline axles
QA1 Coilovers (instead of the DSE standard issue Koni's)
3.73 gears with a True-Trac setup
DSE mini tubs
Wilwood 13" 4 piston brakes with E-brake
DSE weld-in subframe connectors

Front Chassis and Suspension
Global West upper and lower control arms
QA1 coilover setup
Global West 1 1/8" sway bar
DSE 600 Steering Gear plus DSE power steering pump
Wilwood 13" 6 piston brakes
Subframe will be removed, smoothed and powder coated

Body, Interior, and misc.
Marquez Design Billet Taillights, side markers, front turn signals, CID emblems
DSE Halogen headlights
DSE electric RS headlight cover actuators
Firewall cleaned up with DSE weld on plate, DSE 7 speed wiper motor
Possible Marquez Design interior if it is available
Recaro or Corbeau seats in black leather, matching back seat
Ididit tilt column with ignition switch

I intend to fully document the build on this site and as such I will provide more details later.

Thanks to everyone on this site for all of the amazing information...

I look forward to interacting with many of you.

-Tracy

[tracy]

I have a couple more pictures to add.

[zbugger]

Welcome to the site Tracy. Good to see another local onboard. I wouldn't mind seeing your rides in person. Oh, and Tony is a good guy. His car is cooler than he makes it out to be.

[Sales@Dutchboys]

Welcome to the site....Nice car.

-Paul

[jannes_z-28]

Nice car to start with. Wouldn't take to long time to turn it in to a G-Machine.

Welcome to the site and good luck with the build.


Jan

[Smack_talker]

Looks like quite a nice car and will make a sweet G-machine. Good Luck and have fun with it.

[Rybar]

Welcome aboard, nice looking car you got there to start with. :thumbsup:

[XcYZ]

Cool, should be a fun project. :thumbsup:

[tracy]

Thanks for the positive feedback..I am really looking forward to diving in except for the fact that I can drive it now but once I start that will end for a while.

Also, I would be happy to show my cars to the bay area locals. I would love to get some other input.

-Tracy

[jonny51]

Ever think about bringing it to a Goodguys show?A good amount of members usually go to those.

[tracy]

Well, I am planning to go to the June Goodguys show but I was planning for that the car to be apart at that point. I may have it back together for Hot August Nights. Do many of you make the trek to Reno?

[rwhite692]

Hey Tracy, Welcome, another Bay Area member! Nice car(s) you have there.

Hot August Nights? ...well....The "Hot August Late Afternoons" are still nice, but a certain element, the "gin n' juice" crowd, shall we say, tends to take over, the later it gets...Still it's a nice little getaway and not too far of a drive. Primarily rods and customs but in recent years there have been more musclecars showing up...

[tracy]

Yes there are 2 camaros in the garage...I am trying to focus on one project at a time so that I can work on one and still have another to drive. This is why I did not highlight the other one yet.

I did not know very much about the Hot August Nights show...does not sound as great as I hoped.

Tracy

[6D9]

Good looking car Tracy! That 396 with the AFR's will be a screamer for sure. I am pretty close to you as well(Stockton). Hope to get to meet alot of you guys in the near future at some shows or events.

[tracy]

Thanks 6D9. I am currently trying to decide between a ProCharger with the stock heads or just going with the AFR heads.

I would really like to meet up with other folks at GoodGuys in June. Is anyone already organizing anything like this?

-Tracy

[jonny51]

Tracy,I don't think anybody is organizing anything for that show.Feel free if you want to go to the events forum and make a thread.