'68 Camaro - Another one?! Again?! Really?

[Leroy Rochester]

All right... And with that, I'll start my project thread about my '68.

As some of you know, a number of years ago I built and infrequestly raced a '67 Camaro NASA AIX/Vintage car. I was a member of a number of other boards as "PAI Racing" although I don't recall being a member on here before and didn't find my user name in the list. So, I've newb'd up and here we go!

The '67 was painted to resemble my '68 street car and as a homage to the Penske "light weight" '67 that was ultimately re-assigned a '68 identity.

Ultimately the '67 will get it's own sort of retro-active built thread, but the long and short of it is the car was (regretably) sold to a racer in Australia where it lives and competes to this day. (http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?p=544181#post544181)

As a formal introduction to Lateral-G, here they are together 10 years ago.

[Leroy Rochester]

I'll add a link here to the thread about the '67, once I finally get it posted up.

I love the '67, but I'd always had one hang up about the car... I didn't build it myself. And as awesome as it was, I always felt like I should have been capable of building my own car and so there was always that little pit in my stomach everytime someone complimented me on the car.

My '68 and I have very long history together. And in reality, I suppose I should have just turned the '68 into a race car in the first place... I can't sell the car, ever. So I would have been stuck with what I had and it would have kept me out of a lot of past and future trouble!

You see, I'm the second owner of the car. The first owner was my grandmother, who bought the car new and then passed away in 1969. I have had the car in my personal possession since I was 17, but never really did much with it, maybe out of "repsect" or maybe because I subconsiously new I'd make a mess out of it back then...

Anyhow, the car was purchase new in the spring of 1968 from Kennedy Cheverolet in Marcellus NY. It was the first non-big block, non-SS, non-convertible, non-B body, my grandfather had purchased for my grandmother since 1962. But she saw it, loved it and just HAD to have it!

According to my mother, it's the first car I ever crashed. Her version of the story is that when I was 4-5 years old, she left me in the car for "just a minute" to run into the store (that was totally cool back then, right?!) and when she came out, I'd put car in N and it rolled down a hill and into the back of another car.

According to my father, it's the 10th car my mother crashed and he never believed a word of the "rolled down the hill story" as he likes to call it (it was his mom's car).

Here's me with the car in 19741975-ish... Obviously I was pretty fond of it even then, even with a 250/glide power train with the deluxe interior and trim.

I will not put up the white tux with red tie and cumberbun photo with the car from my senior prom, but I will tell you that a) I did have a mullet, and b) I matched the car, not my date!

[Leroy Rochester]

When I moved to CA in 1997, I left the car with my buddy in NY. He stored it and took care of it for me until 2003-4 when I finally shipped it out to CA.


Hmmm, should I drive a whipped on old granny six '68 or a big block SS '69...

By the way, The '69 is nearly through a 6 year long nut and bolt resto now and it looks amazing!

[Ron in SoCal]

Awesome Lee-roy. Look forward to more. :cheers:

[Leroy Rochester]

Thanks man! Got to end this procrastination session for a bit, but I'll get back on my horse a bit later tonight!

[Leroy Rochester]

Actually, one more thing I need to get off my chest early before I sign off...

The stripe.

Yes, it's horrible. I still have nightmares about it and I still hate it...

Not the fact that it has the stripe, but the B/S repaint version. In NY it seemed like everyone had a "body and fender guy" that would do little spring refreshes on your cars. Paint, rust proof, dent and ding repair.

For years my grandparents and parents used a guy named Willie Clemmons down off of Salina St. in Syracuse. Willie was a nice guy and hell, you get what you pay for right?! Over the years, the car took on sort of a multi-colored, wavy appearance as a result of this ad hoc annual bodywork.

When I was around 17 or 18, I talked my dad into trading some accounting work for a repaint from one of his clients. The car went to Hawk Frame and Collision in the south eastern suburbs or Rochester (can't remember exactly where) and was introduced to a concept that I've never fondly referred to as the "paint car wash".

It came home with many insteresting acts of aggresion that could loosely be referred to as "bodywork" but the real touchstone for how half-assed it was was that horrible, mis-aligned, unbroken nose stripe.

So now you all know that I know, and you all know why. Ahhhh, feels better to get that monkey off my back! Until a few weeks ago, it was a standing source of embarassment. As of now, the car is virtually stripe free, but that's a story for later!

[67zo6Camaro]

That's so cool. Great set of pictures.

[intocarss]

Very cool story. I love cars with history behind them.

[Flash68]

Killer cars. Great story and photos! Glad you're on board. :thumbsup:

[Leroy Rochester]

Thanks guys! Yeah, feels good to get a little internet inspiration to keep moving on this thing!

Brett, I'm going to have to come up to your shop sometime and look around. So much interesting stuff on your website! And I'd have to imagine that in-cabin radiator really kept things comfortable and fog free on chilly Mojave mornings up at Willow!

[Leroy Rochester]

So, back to the story... But first another quick interjection about the '67, since you guys got a kick out of my '68 being a "family" car. If any of you guys know Ryan Flaherty from NASA, you'll enjoy hearing that his mom bought my '67 brand new and I dug that car out of Ryan's grandparents back yard in Tarzana back in 2001.

Anyhow, since I already had a road-race Camaro, I began to flirt with the notion of cloning a 396 SS with this car. My wife actually came with an all original iron head, solid lifter L71/L72 427 when I married her (ain't she cool?!) so that made its way into the car, backed by a Muncie 4 speed I had kicking around after I sold my '66 Impala convertible as a roller).

But before long, I developed a bit of a fantasy about possibly using the car for some sort of drag racing, and it begain to take on that persona, with a bit of "Aloha Bobby and Rose" thrown in for good measure.

At the end of the "big block drag car" posing phase, it had a TH400 in it instead of the 4 speed.

I couldn't find any good underhood pictures with the 427 in the car, other than a close up of the lifter valley... After I blew up the 427 out on PCH acting like a 13 year-old (the pictures with the radials and the black hood were taking immediately after it came screeching and rattling to a stop across PCH from Bolsa Chica State Beach).

[Leroy Rochester]

So with the motor blown, my '67 and my boat sold (boat nonsense it a whole different episode of Jerry Springer) I decided to do something stupid and rebuild the car to corner based on the random spare stuff I had kicking around...

I still had the CCWs from trying DOT radial race rubber on the '67 (yes, I was wearing arm restraints in that pic, hated the window net), I still had a 570" Merlin wide rail block motor from the boat and my buddy had a pretty slick looking T101A kicking around... Sounds like fun to me!

At one point, I even decided that I was going to cage the car and picked up a fiberglass front clip, doors and truck lid!

I'll admit it, I was still kind of trying to "find myself" and a direction on this project!

[Rick D]

Wow very cool story, I just the back story on our cars!! Can't wait to see where it goes from here.

[214Chevy]

..... I will tell you that a) I did have a mullet!

Somewhere...somehow, during the course of this build thread, we gotta see the infamous "Joe Dirt" styled mullet. :popcorn2: :rules:

[Ron in SoCal]

:rules:

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac52/flash911/Build%20Thread/joedirtTB063012_zps0409e666.jpg (http://s885.photobucket.com/user/flash911/media/Build%20Thread/joedirtTB063012_zps0409e666.jpg.html)

[intocarss]

Keep it coming Sean!! BTW did you ever live in Tarzana?

[Leroy Rochester]

Kids baseball all day today. If I can stay awake I'll add some more later.

I didn't live in Tarzana. My wife is from Van Nuys though and my buddy responsible for the T101A had a effects shop up in Van Nuys as well.

[TimeWarpF100]

waaay cool story!

[Leroy Rochester]

It was really more of a Kelly "F-in'" Powers mullet than Joe Dirt, truth be told...

[Leroy Rochester]

All right, I actually just found some "in progress" pictures that I can add as we go, but at this point I think it's probably time to explain what the overall goal is for this project and what my plans are. Ya know, so a year from now, when I'm doing something completely different, we can all come back to this post and laugh at me!

As I said, the car has been pointed a number of different directions before finally setting on a return to my first-love, the road racing theme... I will say that when I finally decided on this direction, it felt "Right" and I'm glad I finally got back to this.

When I had the '67 built, I stripped the car down to the tub myself, in a three car deep, one car wide garage under my apartment in the Sunset section of San Franciso (California and 17th if anyone is familiar with the area). Then I loaded it on a trailer and the car (and large stacks of money) dissapeard for about three years.

With that perspective in mind, I really wanted to do the '68 project in phases to minimze downtime and kind of develop how the car was going to work and what I was going to do with it as I went. That's stil an overriding philosophy of this project, even though it has taken an astronomical amount of time to get even part way through this first phase.

I wanted to use as much "off-the-shelf" upgrades as I could on this project.

I wanted a "real car" that I could drive every day if I wanted to.

I wanted to do most of the work myself.

So my expectation is that the car isn't going to be anything radical, but should be fun to drive, look decent and give me the ability to make relatively simple short term upgrades over time.

[Leroy Rochester]

Phase 1 -

Drivetrain, suspension and brake upgrades.

Rust repair and bodywork necessary to effect the upgrades.

Goal - running driving car and a platform for future upgrades.


I know, I know... You guys are like "Dude! A 570" big block and a T101A aren't exactly what I'd call 'daily-driver' stuff..."

Initially, I wanted a cool weekend bomber I could run up and down PCH with and have a little fun laying tire in then neigborhood along with a Saturday morning swing by Adams Ave. Donuts occasionally. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to drive the car like a "real car". So obviously the Merlin had to go.

I am still very attached to running the T101A in the car, although popular opinion is I will want to shoot myself after a month of driving it with the dog-box. I just miss my Jerico from the '67 and haven't been able to get over that yet.

About the time I'd sobered up and decided the 570 wasn't the right direction, another buddy decided that he didn't want to go ahead with the LS2 project in his '67 Chevy pickup. This ended up at my house...

[Leroy Rochester]

OK, so get to the point right?! What I'm actually doing to the car in Phase 1.

This is the current powertrain/front suspension parts list. I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff. I'm sure I'll get some "ugh" responses to some of this stuff.


LS2
T101A
McLeod Hydraulic Clutch kit for 1st gen F-body
SPC upper control arms and Global West lowers
Ride tech musle bar
Wilwood 6 Piston front brake kit
CCW 17x10 front 17x11 rear wheels
Hedman/Musclerod stepped headers
Dirty dingo sliding motor mounts
QA1 semi-coil over front spring/shock
Ride Tech TruTurn


On the bodywork side, this is what's either been done or coming down the pipe (need to finish the front so I can turn the car around and start on the rear - wait, that didn't sound right?!)


Stock replacement subframe blased and powered coated
stock inner fenders (minor modifications) blasted and powder coated
rust bucket / bondo filled orignal front fenders replaced
firewall cleaned an repainted
trans tunnel modified for T101A shifter
trunk floor replaced
Mini tubs (75-25% to do it or not)
new fuel tank with in tank pump for the LS
Replicate the '67 rear wheel openings to cover the rear tires without being overtly flared and without doing full quarter stretch
Inboard rear shock mounts


Again, I'm sure there's a buttload of stuff I'm forgetting but that's sort of the overriding list of things for this phase of the project.

I'm likely going to do a Fay's watts link in the rear as well. But still sort of sniffing around on that. The car also already has bolt in subframe connectors, a 12 bolt rear with Tom's KA axles and rear GM style single piston discs.

As you'll see in some of the photos, I wanted to use a Unisteer rack conversion (given to me by my buddy with the LS2) but ultimately wasn't happy with it. I'm not going to complain or bag on the company because I never went to them directly to try to remedy what I didn't like (since I didn't get it from them) and ulitmately, I'm actually overall happier with using stock style power steering, given the overall drivability goal.

At the end of Phase 1, I want a car that I can turn the igintion key and drive to work, to the store, to lunch... Expectations regarding comfort and "drivability" would be equivelent to my recently departed '87 C30 dually or my '95 F350 PSD. So I'm shooting for "effective" not "perfect".

[Leroy Rochester]

Back on page 3... Dang, that ain't cool. I'd better get off my butt and get some more pics up.

OK, so as I said, the car had a 427 in it for a while. The 427 had a bit of a bad day and had to take some time off... Here's the starting point.

And yes, that is duct tape on the MSD box. No worries boys, it's not holding the box onto the car! It's covering a hole in the box... I know you're all pretty impressed so far! Ha ha.

[Leroy Rochester]

So with some help from my buddy John (who will feature prominintely in this project... a bit of a spoiler alert, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up finishing the car when the F-it button gets pushed at some point in the future) the cat got skinned.

For those playing along at home - John is one of my closest friends and is nearly always involved in my vehicular shenanigans (cheeky and fun, I assure you). John is a very experienced and meticulous fab guy... Me, not so much! His handywork can be seen over at Steve's Nova Site, where he's doing a really nice resto-mod rebuild on a '67 Nova wagon.

So simple point of refrence... Nice and well thought out = John, halfassed or slapped together = me.

[intocarss]

:hello: :thankyou:

[Jr]

Cool.

17x10 on the front? How wide of a tire are you going to run?

[Leroy Rochester]

Cool.

17x10 on the front? How wide of a tire are you going to run?

Yup. 275 Hoosiers seem to fit up front. Rear is 17x11 with 315.

Thanks guys. More to come!

[Leroy Rochester]

That was the original, 40 year-old NY salty fresh subframe that came out of the car. The tails were a bit rough, but all in all the Turbo-Thrift Leak-o-Matic rusts proofing seemed to do its job pretty well in keeping a lot of the underside, slimy, grimy and relatively rust free!

Still, I picked up a nice solid subframe locally and had it blasted and powdercoated the perfect Penske-poser-grey...

[FETorino]

Still, I picked up a nice solid subframe locally and had it blasted and powdercoated the perfect Penske-poser-grey...


Cool stuff Sean. I keep seeing people call you Sean so I guess that's right.

Did you weld up the seams in that sub after blasting or do any clearancing mods?

[Leroy Rochester]

Rob, it's Sean. Leroy Rochester is what it says on the NYS Thruway exit (47) that you'd get off to go to my parents house if you were coming from Buffalo or points west. Always thought it was hilarious...

I did some fairly arbitrary seam welding on the subframe. Didn't really do any mods for clearance becuase it wasn't done on my '67 and those wheels worked fine. The factory welds on the sub were (are) horrifying... It's honestly the worst I've seen. I had half a mind to cut them all off/grind them and start over, but then I figured they were on there for 40 years and haven't broken, I'll give them a shot...

I think ultimately, if I decided to get a lot more radical with the car, I'd go with a fabricated subframe rather than polish this turd much more.

I'm always at something of a crossroads about what I "really" want to do with the car. Sometimes I want it to be more hard-edged and sometimes I want it to be a cool street car I can pass on to my kids when the time is right... Day to day on that one! Fortunately the time won't be "right" for a long time!

[Leroy Rochester]

Initially, I also did my little tribute to Uncle Dick... But I've kind of moved away from running it and figured I could pick up the difference with the adjustable upper arms, ball joint and some mondern spindles, etc. like the ride tech kit.

[dug]

I applaud GM for such pretty welds in that last pic……

Cool story and I'm eager to see this one roll along.

[Flash68]

Phase 1 -

Drivetrain, suspension and brake upgrades.

Rust repair and bodywork necessary to effect the upgrades.

Goal - running driving car and a platform for future upgrades.


I know, I know... You guys are like "Dude! A 570" big block and a T101A aren't exactly what I'd call 'daily-driver' stuff..."

Initially, I wanted a cool weekend bomber I could run up and down PCH with and have a little fun laying tire in then neigborhood along with a Saturday morning swing by Adams Ave. Donuts occasionally. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to drive the car like a "real car". So obviously the Merlin had to go.

I am still very attached to running the T101A in the car, although popular opinion is I will want to shoot myself after a month of driving it with the dog-box. I just miss my Jerico from the '67 and haven't been able to get over that yet.

About the time I'd sobered up and decided the 570 wasn't the right direction, another buddy decided that he didn't want to go ahead with the LS2 project in his '67 Chevy pickup. This ended up at my house...

I'm bummed you tossed the 570 but at least you kept the T101A. :thumbsup:

[Leroy Rochester]

I'm bummed you tossed the 570 but at least you kept the T101A. :thumbsup:

Yeah, the 570 would have been bitchin' but that was the motor out of my race boat. It had been blown up and reassembled repeatedly. I finally got to the point where I decided that I was tired of paying idiots to put it together for me, so I got an idiot to do it for free... That's the first four stroke motor I ever assembled myself. Last I heard, it's up in Yuba City in a street race car now...

And I'll admit, I'm on the fence about the T101A on the street, but I miss my Jerico sooooo much! I have to give it a shot. I can always do something different if that doesn't work out.

With the race car, I had a tripple disk 7.25" clutch and basically slipped the rear tires rather than the clutch anytime I left in the car...

You have a Jerico in your car right?! What was it like driving it on the street?

[Flash68]

You have a Jerico in your car right?! What was it like driving it on the street?

I have a T101A also and loved every minute of it on the street and track. I plan to continue to do so. :bigun2:

What I am really excited/worried about is the Tilton 7.25 triple I will be using for the first time... that will be interesting.

[Leroy Rochester]

I have a T101A also and loved every minute of it on the street and track. I plan to continue to do so.

What I am really excited/worried about is the Tilton 7.25 triple I will be using for the first time... that will be interesting.

That's what I ran in the '67. I don't remember it being all that bad to modulate, but then like I said, I did quite enjoy slipping the rear tires rather than the clutch anytime I left in the car. But that could just be proof that even though we have to grow old, we never have to grow up...

[Flash68]

That's what I ran in the '67. I don't remember it being all that bad to modulate, but then like I said, I did quite enjoy slipping the rear tires rather than the clutch anytime I left in the car. But that could just be proof that even though we have to grow old, we never have to grow up...

I think we speak the language. If it ain't buckin, chirpin, makin all kinds of bad noises, then I ain't happy.

[intocarss]

I think we speak the language. If it ain't buckin, chirpin, makin all kinds of bad noises, then I ain't happy. YEAH BABY YEAH, MAKES YOU FEEL ALIVE!!! :military:

What little time i had with my Jerico and Tilton 7.25 triple .....I LOVED IT. But I wouldn't want to drive it in traffic.. Just spin the tires to get her moving.. We'll be together again soon :hello:

[Leroy Rochester]

All right... Was out in the garage today for a bit, a hour or so under the car made me realize I had to undo the last 6 or so hours of work I've put in on it... But here's some more "and then..." photos from a year-ish ago.

The firewall repaint was done with and eye towards "not going to paint what you can't see" and the notion that this will all eventually come apart and be done right sometime in the future, or it will end up being a racecar afterall, and then I can invoke the 50-50 rule and go have a sammich!

[Leroy Rochester]

I guess I should mention that at that point, I was still planning on running the big motor, so there was a fair amount of test fitting. Bought a really bitchen pan from Stef's so I could run the wide rail block in the stock stub. The motor is gone, but I still have the pan!

I was also still planning on running manual rack at this point.

[Leroy Rochester]

Good example of me = crappy / John = nice...

The trans tunnel modifications for the T101A. I made the hole, John covered it.

[Flash68]

Awesome. Great work.

[Leroy Rochester]

I guess I could cut out some of this baloney strokin' and show you guys how it sits today huh?

it's got the new clip on, the motor, trans and headers are in for test fit... As soon as I take the front clip off and put it back on, I'm going to turn the car around and start working on the back of it... Wait.

Oh yah, and a couple of pics of the bondo loaded OG fenders so you can enjoy the fact that it currently sits like I'm going to run rallycross with the car...

[69Z28X11]

Love the history and story behind the car! Looks like she is coming along great! Gotta love a little bondo! That front clip and deck lid is going to lighten the car up a ton! Congrats on the final decision/path for the car.

[Leroy Rochester]

You know what's really interesting about posting progress in a public forum... I can go back to the date of my last post and see that even though I'm telling myself "It's got to be close to a month since I touched the Camaro" the date stamp on the last post tells me it's actually been two months!

I've been buried with work, and more so buried with my son's baseball team (they won their division championship in Pony ball, woot!) and now their all-star team...

So, I haven't done a dang thing to the car in two months. I am taking half of July and August off from youth baseball and really hoping to make some progress on the trunk, rear wheel openings and rear suspension during that 4 week period.

Until then, it's just going to be chipping away at little things as I get time, assuming I can avoid getting distracted by my other small, non-car, non-baseball addiction... Hey did I tell you guys I just picked up an old school style BMX side hack?! Oops... What was I saying about that other addiction?!

[Flash68]

Distractions.... FTW! :lol:

[ArisESQ]

There's something I really like about this car - color combo works really well. Looking forward to watching the build!!

[Leroy Rochester]

Distractions.... FTW! :lol:

I have a not so secret bike addiction. 43 years old and I still ride BMX bikes (and dirt jump and MTB). You know what they say... You have to grow old, you don't have to grow up!

There's something I really like about this car - color combo works really well. Looking forward to watching the build!!

Thanks man. I'm looking forward to seeing it done! I really want to grind it out and make some progress this summer. Car has been off line too long. I just sold off one of my other vehicular projects ('95 F350 crew cab with PSD) to reduce my level of distractions a bit. So hopefully, I'll be able to get this old boy moving again.

[Leroy Rochester]

On break from baseball (we played over 100 games in 2014) and trying to make some headway on the Camaro.

Got a big box from ATL yesterday and a nice big box from Jim Fay today.

I cut the trunk pan out last weekend. No worries, it was Vatican approved... I mean man, it was holy!

So, next stop is to install the watts and get the cell and upper shock mounts located.

Here's hoping everyone's having a good new year!

Shoot, completely forgot I started experimenting with the rear wheel openings. I'll have to post that circus up later, once I get it a bit more sorted...

[Vince@Meanstreets]

welcome back!!!!!

[Leroy Rochester]

Thanks man! I'm here lurking a lot, but hadn't made much headway on the car during summer and fall.

[Leroy Rochester]

Rainy day in SoCal gave me so time to mess with the car a bit. Got the trunk rough cut to install the fuel cell and started mocking up the watts link.

I'm moving the shocks inboard by flipping the spring plates, so I wanted to make sure all of the Fay's stuff would clear and line up properly. Everything seems to look good so far. Feels good to make some progress.

I was going to upload some pictures from my phone for you guys, but they appear to be too large for the site to resize, so I'll have to do it later from my pc.

[Flash68]

:gitrdun:

[Leroy Rochester]

:gitrdun:

Thanks bud! chippin' away at it!

[Leroy Rochester]

Wow... 7 months since my last post and I can say I have the Fay's watts link in the car and less enthusiastic to admit that I have the fuel cell mostly installed.

The big upshot is that I have developed an abject hatred for nutserts or rivnuts or whatever the hell you want to call them. Ah well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Ah well our baseball team is on break so I finally have time to get some stuff done on the car.

Update pics tomorrow.

[Leroy Rochester]

Ok, couple updated pics. The cell is in. Obvious will all have to come out to put in the floor and paint.

[Leroy Rochester]

And a shot from outside.

[Flash68]

22 gal? Or bigger?

[Leroy Rochester]

22 gal. I forget the model number, it fit really well in the space that's available.

going to try to get the trunk enclosed next and deal with the shock upper mounting points, then on to the rear wheel openings.

Of course baseball starts up again in a couple weeks so my free time will be back to zero... But the kids are only young once and the car has been with me for 28 years, so a few more years of it being second banana won't kill anyone I guess.

I have vowed that I won't build anymore bikes until the trunk is don't though. So that's a step in the right direction.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

looking good!!

[Leroy Rochester]

Thanks! Long way to go, but it feels good to get something accomplished.

[Sonar Chief]

Nice progress w the fuel cell ... question, the flanges on the top of the tank appear to mount on the side of your support. I thought the tank slipped into the support/cage from the top w all the hardware on the top ... maybe wrong.

I was thinking about a cell too ... what are the measurements w your cell?

Michael

[Leroy Rochester]

Nice progress w the fuel cell ... question, the flanges on the top of the tank appear to mount on the side of your support. I thought the tank slipped into the support/cage from the top w all the hardware on the top ... maybe wrong.

I was thinking about a cell too ... what are the measurements w your cell?

Michael

Thanks!

The bolts that run parallel with the axles bolt in from the top the ones that bolt in perpendicular do go in from the side.

It's ATL #SP122C - 34"x17.5"x9.75"

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/abt-sp122c

Fit really nice. In the trunk low, but doesn't hang way down so it will go over speed bumps, etc.

[Leroy Rochester]

Some additions progress today and some lessons learned for next time...

I guess I should preface this by saying that a number of years ago the car had a big block, TH400 and drag radials. To make room for the tires, I had to cut the inner lip of the wheel opening and then roll the lip up into the outer wheel tub, because the metal was pretty dang thick (0.040). So as I was working towards making flares to cover the CCWs, I had to deal with those cuts, one way or another.

I have a habit of subconsciously identifying the most difficult way of doing something and then diving right in...

[Leroy Rochester]

(Having issues uploading more than one picture per post.)

It's probably obvious to most, that I'm making it worse at this point.

[Leroy Rochester]

Then again, they say there's nothing that can't be fixed with duct tape...

(Handy for keeping kids from slicing themselves as well.)

[Leroy Rochester]

So I decided to weld in some steel rod to give it some structure (so I could get a grinder on it and get the paint and crap off, which I should have done beforehand... I know, I know).

[Leroy Rochester]

Welding gloves are great for smothering out burning paint. I should add that at this point, I was pretty thoroughly convinced I'd be cutting off the quarter and attempting a stretch job instead.

[Leroy Rochester]

I think I can only post one one pic because my phone names them all "image"... Anyhow, not looking as crappy as I thought it would.

[Leroy Rochester]

Welded on, but before all the hammering and grinding. At this point I realized I should have cut off all this crap and welded in new, flat sheet metal instead of deafening my self all afternoon.

[Leroy Rochester]

Ok, last 3... Basically have the shape I want at this point and think its salvageable...

[Leroy Rochester]

You guys better go out and buy stock in Bondo.

[Leroy Rochester]

I think I have a good idea of how to replicate this on the other side of the car and make it easier as well.