67 camaro project

[Mike Hall]

Well after buying and selling a number of camaros and novas I have picked the car Im going to start with. This is a 99.99% rust free 67 camaro that I picked up a few months back. I stripped the car down to what you see in about one hour. LOL The front clip is ultra easy to remove when every bolt turns with ease. The car has already been stripped to the bare steel by the PO but I plan to totally strip it again. I will be building a body cart tomorrow as long as my casters make it in. Below is a list of the planed mods for this project.


DSE speed kit 2
DSE quadra link
C6 ZO6 big brakes
Rack and pinion steering
T56 behind a Custom twin turboed LS1 with upgraded rods, pistons and fuel system. Im shooting for a mild 650 rwhp.


I'm thinking about doing all the turbo piping in flat black as well as the intake and valve covers. The idea is to have a blacked out engine bay to go along with black paint and interior. I think I will also get wheels with black centers. and call this project Blackout. LOL Now If I could just get a nova sold I can get some big parts on the way. I already have a very low mile 02 LS1 with T56 so I just need to get some DSE parts in so I can get to cutting and welding.

Mike

[Mike Hall]

Here are some pictures of the floors. Im blown away and the fact that this car has 100% no rust on the floors or trunk. The only touch of rust it has is a small hole on the passenger side fender. Its nice starting will all original sheet metal that is rust free.

[ahowudoin]

Looks like a great foundation to start with!!!!!!! Keep us posted.

[coolwelder62]

Wow; Thats nice. All most as nice as winning the loto. Mike I am jelous, my car was all rust. G :) ood luck

[Mike Hall]

Well it would help some if I could win at least a small loto. LOL

Mike

[Mike Hall]

I was told this was a original 300HP 327 4sp car and this is the original engine. Can anyone tell anything from this picture? The engine turns over by hand but other than that im unsure of the condition. I was told it was a running engine before the PO started the restoration.

Mike

[Rick D]

Cool car, where did you find such a clean car? That is as clean as the Nova i'm doing right now.

[Mike Hall]

Funny thing is the car came from Michigan but was an original California car. The guy I got this car from also had a 68 RS that was almost as good of condition but he wanted $10K for it being it had all new parts to restore it. I got this car for $5800 and I think its well worth it. LOL

Mike

[awr68]

Mike it looks great and well worth the price!! It's nice to see another 67-8 being built!! Keeep the pics coming!! :thumbsup:

[Mike Hall]

I sold one of my Novas this past weekend and I will have some DSE parts ordered tomorrow. Im getting the speed 3 front kit and the quadra link rear along with deep tubs.

Today I stripped down the subframe and gave it a good media blasting to get it ready for the coil over kit. I guess I will follow what lots of you guys do and weld all the seems and grind them smooth.

Mike

[Mike Hall]

I have been getting my subframe ready for the DSE coil over kit and I was wondering what mods if any would be good to perform for an LS1. I remember seeing something about the AC compressor needed a notch out in the frame but im not sure about that. I want to mount the motor as low and as far back as I can so if you know of any mods that the sub will need please let me know.

Thanks
Mike

[Payton King]

67 camaro motor has and oil fill tube on the intake and the vent it as the back of the block up top. Sometimes people will block it off with a freeze plug and use a regular PVC vavle and a different manifold. But you should still be able to see the hole

Not sure of your welding skill so I will say this just in case. You need to weld small spots at a time and not right next to each other. If you try and run a continous bead the frame will warp.

On a side note, I use to live in Helena, Al. I will be in Birmingham on the 20th of October for the weekend to help a friend get his 67 rs/ss back on the road. If you can get free come up and say hi. His house is off of the road next to he Caddy dealership.

[Mike Hall]

Payton, Thanks for the info on the engine. No clue what this engine is out of but it is a High HP 327.

I got the bottom side of my frame totaly welded without any issues. Im going to be building a custom C5 subframe for my car so this sub will just be sold. Its all ground down and ready for the DSE coilover kit. I will update on the subframe as I get it finished up.

Mike

[RickM415]

hello Mike ... I see you got your project going hehe good luck and fwd me some pics of the build please

[Mike Hall]

Well I got the body on a cart to move it around when needed and started on the sheetmetal work I wanted to do. The tail pan was not rusted but did have some bondo around the gas filler cap and a little around the drivers side tail light. I had the old tail pan off in like an hour. The Key is to predrill all the spot welds with a small bit then go behind with a good quality spot weld driller. I also cut the tail pan in 3 sections and once I had the welds cut behind the bumper and on the upper quarters I could just bend the pan down and the lower welds just poppped apart. Anyhow I have lightly blasted behind the tail pan to clean it up and remove any rust and then sprayed it with weld through primer. Check out how well the Goodmark pan fits with little to no hammering. Im not sure but I may do the mini tubs with the tail pan out so I can get inside the trunk easier. What do you guys think? The issues with the very minor quarter rust around the wheel housing lip will be easy to fix. I got some goodmark quarter skins for $25 each from the local goodmark guy and I will cut what I need from them to fix the rusted areas. After a good blasting the rust is not bad at all and should be easy to fix.

Mike

[Mike Hall]

I have the tail pan ready to weld on but Im having a problem with the fit on two areas. The pan fits very nice other than the spot in Picture below. I have the pan lined up dead on with the bolts holding it tight against the trunk pan and there is nothing that can be done to get that area anywhere close to fitting right. Any ideas on what I need to do? I guess i will have to cut, bend and weld until its right. :(

Mike

[Mike Hall]

I got a little more done on the camaro today. I had a small section of drip rail that was rusted out which I fixed with a new section I fabricated from some 22ga steel. It sure turned out a lot better than I was thinking it would.

I started welding the firewall seem up but stopped and made template to make my own firewall filler panel. I was going to try to get the firewall done today but I had no luck finding someone that has sheet metal open today. :(

Mike

[awr68]

I have the tail pan ready to weld on but Im having a problem with the fit on two areas. The pan fits very nice other than the spot in Picture below. I have the pan lined up dead on with the bolts holding it tight against the trunk pan and there is nothing that can be done to get that area anywhere close to fitting right. Any ideas on what I need to do? I guess i will have to cut, bend and weld until its right. :(

Mike

I had the same problem, and had to cut and reshape that area...looks fine now but the last thing you want to do is take time to fix brand new panels, I guess thats what I get for not spending the money on NOS. :)

Actually mine (68 camaro) didn't fit as nice as yours at the side/quarters and took a lot of metal work to make them right...that should make you feel better!!

[Mike Hall]

Yeah I know how to make it look right but Im not going to do that until the tubs are installed. It is odd that the panel is off by so much in that area. Seems like they would fix the tooling but maybe its not that big of deal to most people.

Mike

[fletcherscustoms]

What a bucket!!! You need to burry that thing!! Why don't you bring it over here and I'll dig a big hole for it


Hey man really looking good!! Sometimes you can impress me a little bit. :unibrow: :unibrow:

[RockNBling]

Nice work, I can't wait to see it further along.

[Mike Hall]

Got some 16 ga sheet today. I plasma cut the panels to shape making sure to move the plasma fast so I didn not heat the metal and warp it. I have everything tacked for the most part and will start running a nice beed all the way around the panels. The panels are somewhat flat when holding a straight edge against the firewall but then again Im not to worried as my engine compartment will be satin black.

Mike

[Mike Hall]

I got most of the panel welded and ground down smooth. The firewall should be finished tonight with ease.

Mike

[Mike Hall]

WOW, I was telling myself today that i needed to drill those holes and Look what I did. I FORGOT TO DRILL THE HOLES. Time to send a fender on and locate the holes. LOL Thanks for telling me as I would not have known until the car was getting put back together.

Mike

[Mike Hall]

Other than getting the firewall filler panel all welded up without the fender bolt holes I get the drivers side rear lower quarter lip repaired. It has a small section of rust out on the lip and in the outer wheel housing. I used parts from a quarter skin to fix the quarter and the wheel housing. The results turned out great. I got tired and did not finish grinding the welds down. LOL Here is a before and after. I cut the panels back to good clean metal and then primed every before welding it all back up.

Mike

[Mike Hall]

I was worried about the fender holes so I ran out to the shop in my underwear and took a look. LOL I Think I can get a small air drill inside the cowl and punch a pilot hole and then I can drill the hole out using a hole saw and then weld around the hole to the firewall. I think its all going to be OK. Sure would have been nice If I would have remembered to drill those holes in the first place. :(

Mike

[ricksvt]

Mike, looks like you are coming along on your project. I need to start tearing mine apart so I can catch up with you.

Rick

[Mike Hall]

Thanks Rick, Its moving right along. I cant wait to spend a few days in the trunk installing those minitubs. LOL

Mike

[Mike Hall]

Rick, I got the parts in today. I was at a total lose when the box showed up. I had no idea what it could be as I had forgot I got the parts from you. Thanks for the awesome deal. I did not know you included the poly motor mounts. Thanks once again.

Mike