New Project 68 Camaro LS2,Chassisworks,Fikse,yadda yadda..
 

Before I go into any details about my car and post pics, I want to start out this post by thanking everyone who helped inspire this build. These include but arent limited to:
The guys who started and run Lateral-G and Protouring.com. The wealth of information shared on these sights is a tool anyone building a performance car will want and need. Its priceless, being able to pick the brains of the best of the best. And getting the sponsors on forums, wow. Cant beat that.
Guys like Frank at Prodigy, the guys at Fesler, "Rockdogz" aka Tom, Anvil Auto, C-Ray at Alston Chassiworks, Kolby Enger at Turnkeyenginesupply, Rob07002 here at Lateral g, the guys at Detroit Speed, Jim Fiske, all these guys and more give so much needed information and supply us with the best of the best and do so with an obvious love for what they do. Just look at how many posts Frank at Prodigy Customs has, over 2500!!!!
And I really have to thank Nick Demos over at Corpo Collision, the guys that took on this as a resto and it grew to a huge street machine project. The enthusiasm for what we're creating is awesome, and the work, topnotch. And my wife for putting up with all the time and money burned making this car happen!

So, WTF am I building? Started out with a steaming turd I bought about 10 yrs ago, a black 68 Camaro coupe with a vinyl top and with a 210 HP 327 and a powerglide. Paint was all spidered and it had manual drum brakes all around, but the interior was nice, so I thought it was restorable. I didnt know squat, except for the fact that I wanted a Camaro, preferably 69 because I was born in that year, but on an impulse I ended up with the 68. Stripped it down and had it media blasted, and did the unthinkable, handed it over to Maaco for a cheap paint job and some rust repair. Left it that way for 5 yrs, swapped in a 383 and a TH350 and lowered the gears from 3:07 to 3:73. Then I got cute and had some guy my brother know add 76 Trans Am disks all around and then we put in lowered springs front and rear and put in solid mounts. The brakes were horrible and the car was a bigger rattle box than ever before, and now the tires rubbed constantly. So I ditched the car in a garage for 4 yrs, got married and had two kids and rebuilt our duplex loft in downtown Chicago from the studs in, and still made enough trading to tackle restoring my old heap. And in the meantime, guys like Detroit Speed and Alston and Art Morrison and Wilwood took off from where Gulstand and Hotchkis and Global West started out, and gave all of us a reason to breath life into these beautiful old cars other than concourse restorations. Gave her to Corpo Collision in Schaumburg, Illinois with a referral from a friend who restored cars but was too busy back in October of last year. Was just going to put in a front clip and get the metal restored and painted. They had a 57 Bel Air with an Art Morrison full frame about halfway done, and my imagination took off. The head guy there, Nick, has been helping me since, doing as much research and helping me handpick EVERYTHING down to billet washers. And yes, Im bleeding out. I should have got some sponsors. This is anything but cheap. About two weeks away from paint and a month and a half from getting her on the road after 4 1/2yrs.

Turnkeyenginesupply LS2 w 520 hp and 500 ft lbs trq w polished front runner and carbon fiber intake.
Chris Alston Chassisworks Street Machine subframe w tubular arms,power rack,coilovers w varishocks,13"Wilwood G street Black Dynapro setup 4 piston,billet LS mounts.
Chris Alston Chassisworks G bar 4 link rear suspension, subframe connectors, and Wilwwod Black Dynalite 13" setup 4 piston.
Fikse Profil 5 18x8 f 18x9,5 r, 245/45zr18, 275/40zr18 Michelin Pilot PS2
Hydratech Hydroboost, Wilwood Master Cylinder
Ricks stainless LS tank and Walbro 255gph pump
Ron Davis LS Radiator, w dual fans
Moser 12 bolt rear,solid axle,aluminum cover,373 gears
Tremec TKO 600, Blackjack shifter
DSE closeout, wiper motor,RS headlight kit,shift knob,Optima trunk mount
Painless 18 circuit 1st gen camaro kit
Anvil Auto carbon fiber front spoiler
Modo Innovations pedals and trunk popper
Fesler billet hood and trunk hinges,door jamb vents,strikers, and washers for engine bay
2006 GTO front and rear seats , removed from 3,000k mile car
Marquez doors,trunk lid, and package tray
Isotta Katiena wheel on a Flaming River stainless tilt collumn
Twist Machines billet adjustable 8" shifter (not sure if this is staying)
Ridetech 67/68 billet gas locking gas cap and vent
Vintage Air Gen IV

Always loved the look of first gen z28 stripes, going PPG black w white stripes on all brand new metal (except trunk lid and roof and firewall). Love the look of all blacked out cars, but also love the classic look of the stripes. Didnt want to tub it out, figured 275's were big enough, but it looks like everyones doing it now, so maybe I screwed up. Wife and I love the look of no front bumper, but if I park it once on the street here in Chicago, some chump will use his bumpers on my sheet metal while parallel parking. Life in the big city. Heres some pics of the project, and if any of you have any advice, comments, or criticism, Ill truly appreciate any and all of it, after all you guys are the pros. Plan on taking a few driving courses and trying out some autocross' ASAP, and just plain old cruising in it with my wife and kids. Midlife crisis calmed for now. BTW big influence on this car was Rockdogz 68 Camaro, Bad Penny, Steve Lenning's 69 Camaro,anything from Steilow, Fesler, Prodigy, Ring Brothers, and also Amy and Tom Craigs Z28.

Whoops, BTW my name is Rob. Havent named the car yet.

Also forgot to add that all of us are either freakin nuts or love these old cars a helluva lot, considering that we're dropping enough coin on em to buy a brand new Aston Martin! Without the headaches of building it from scratch!!:cheers:

Welcome Rob, looks to be a killer project you have there. Please keep us posted with lots of pics. :thumbsup:

Welcome Rob.
Looks like a killer project. Good luck and keep us posted.:thumbsup:

Welcome aboard Rob, this is a great site with a lot of very good info and talent. Sounds like you have a great project going there. Glad to hear my 69was part of the inspiration behind your project. Keep the pictures coming and it will be sooo worth it when you're driving it:cheers:

Looks like a bad ass 68!

This is exactly what Im talking about, you guys rock! Each and every question Ive ever asked has always come back with a slew of answers or advice. Thanks for the confidence boost guys. Hope I do ya proud!:bow:

Nice Project! Keep the pictures coming!

Cool project Rob! In the one pic you had the outer wheel well out - was that only for repair? Keep up the great work! That's flattering to think that my car had some bearing on your direction!
:cheers:

Great project and story, Rob. Keep the pics coming. :cheers:

Hey Rockdogz,
Tom, Im the guy in Chicago that you emailed with the response to Chassisworks components. Thanks for all the info. The tubs were out because they replaced them, along with everything but the roof and the trunklid. I should have had them tub it out when they had it ripped apart, but the wheels were already being made by Fiske. Thats a poor excuse from me because it would have been cheaper for them to make em wider before shipping them out than doing it now.
What do you guys think, 275/40/18's too small for a rear tire?

With all the cool components you're putting on the car, I would have to tub it also.

Agreed. Esp if you are running the G Bar.

WOW...awsome project, keep us updated.

Welcome to the site!

Welcome Rob! Nice project! Enjoy it!!

I have to agree with the others...I would have mini-tubbed it. The nice thing about 3-piece wheels is that you can send them back and have them widened! It usually doesn't cost too much either. I vote to do it now, before paint! :cheers:

Looks like Im gonna be the red headed step child here, cuz it looks like it stays with stock tubs, at least for now. We cut in new fenders and inner wells (missed the oportunity there) and already installed the trunk pan and complete g bar rear suspension. The gas tank and fuel lines have been installed, and of course the rear end is in place and all brake lines run. The cost for the tubs at DSE would be around $500 shipped, and the cost to widen the rims runs around $650 shipped. Labor around $1500 to $2000, and the new beefier tires would run about $350 apiece. So $3350 minimum, and I might only autocross it twice a year and beat it up on weekends. Is it that much of a difference between a 275 and a 325 tire? Its about two inches, and Im at 520 hp to the flywheel = 440 to rear wheels. You think theyd cut loose a lot? Or is it mostly asthetics? Dont get me wrong, I love the way all that rubber looks behind from behind. But will I be laughed at by you guys and lower the cars appeal if I stick with my 10" rears with 275's?

BTW, if I keep it like this long enough to kill the brand new tires on it, and I decide I have to be just like the big guns here on Lateral G, then I can always do it over the winter here in Chicago, and I wont feel the $700 loss on the rubber!! Damn, just when I thought I had most of the bases covered!!:willy:

A ten inch tire ain't the end of the world. We're guys - we've been taught that bigger is always better :_paranoid At least you have the option. On my project, I lose the option to put my 'vert top down if I do even minor tubbing so looks like I will be part of the 10 inch tire club as well.

I've actually considered (jokingly) a removable portion of the front of the tub where the soft top drops that I can remove if I want to run the wide tires.......:rofl:

Awesome project. Pretty sure if it was mine, I would burn two sets of tires up before the next winter hibernation. :unibrow:

Don't worry about, it will look fine with the 10's, just figured if you were still at the bodywork stage would be the best time to do it.

Please post a pic of your current 10" Fikse rear wheels as I would love to see how they look.

I dont know what my wife did with the camera, so Ill just post what I had a few weeks ago and update it later. Dsc01746 shows my first mistake, not tubbing it when the time was right. The gas tank pic and rear suspension is another problem, Im not sure if the clearance will be there for exhaust. Its a Ricks tank, and its not notched. My suspension was ordered in December, so I think its the newer version. Another issue is narrowing the rear end, forgot about that! The other pics are the Fikse wheels (wow, gotta love those 76 TA rotors I had on the rear), and to be honest, I think the lip looks too shallow and they look dinky compared to what most of you guys run, and my body guy ordered them and I think theres too much sidewall. Of course it isnt at the right height in the pics and Im sure theyll look better at the correct stance. Do they change the lip, make it deeper, when you widen rims?
I should bite the bullet and just have it tubbed. This probably isnt the best time to skimp, and Ill probably never do it unless it gets done now. Crap, I hate doing things twice, especially now that Im being bled dry! Any of you guys compare handling difference with the wider tire sizes?

Whoops, did I say 10"s, they're actualyy 9.5s!
BTW how do you guys do the AVATAR thing by your names? (even though mine should be a Summers Eve bottle for being a douche and not tubbing my wheel wells!)

Aha! I looked at the Fikse websight, http://www.fikse.com/y_classic.html , and on this page of it it shows a 68 with the same rims and tires (same color scheme as my car too), and it doesnt look too gay!:rofl: Of course its not sitting next to one of the cars on this site!:hail:

Well, finally have the paintwork completed, suspension and mechanical done, and now its getting the custom audio and console work done by Showtime Audio in Chicago. These guys are insane, the West Coast Customs of the midwest. I went with Focal KRX2's in the front stage, Focal Utopia 180w's for the rear stage, JL Audio 12w6 v2 subs, Alpine IVA-W505/P1 with Nav and Bluetooth, Alpine PDX 1.1000 and 4.150 amps, and all this tied together with Marquez door, package tray, and trunk lid panels. Plus a sick custom console/center dash. I really should have done more research on this stuff beforehand, interior details are amounting to almost as much time and effort as picking out suspension components. I guess I was to worried about making this bitch handle right, as everyone on this site does. Next up is upholstery! Cant wait to see what that bill comes to!$:(

Looks awesome. I don't know what will be louder, the engine or the audio?!?! lol
That looks like a very custom interior there.:cheers:

Thanks tones2ss,:thumbsup:
I figured I was going pretty much all out on the car, why skimp on the interior. We did the 2006 GTO seats, getting em rewrapped and the rears cut down to size, and got the dash pad wrapped in new leather instead of stock vinyl. Going with ultra suede on the headliner and on the middle of the custom dash/console. I only showed a past pic of the console, it really looks awesome now with the double din in place and a great new air vent from Clayton Machine Works that Vintage Air sells direct, plus the Twist Machine billet shifter. Of course this was all OVERKILL, but which of the cars on this website arent?!! I cant see myself even coming close to putting my stereo up all the way, and I really hate the dildo's that have the rattle box bass hip hop gangsta rap going full blast down residential streets at 10am with the windows down. WTF! But going through some turns at 100 mph with Rage Against the Machine or Mettalica jamming through the best Focal speakers might be nice. Assuming my two year old and four year old dont have their A B C and 1 2 3 music on!:thumbsup:

Very cool!! Sounds good to me!:cheers:

The car is awesome! Don't even worry about the wheel widths. It looks great and for running on the street it won't make a whole lot of difference. The whole package is great, and the music choice just adds to it. I bet the smile on your face after the first run through the gears with the tunes cranked will last for weeks. Nice work!:cheers:

Looks nice but we need some bigger pictures :thumbsup:

I dont know how to do bigger pics. Steve sent me an email telling me to post em on a server and hotlink them back, so I used Flicker. It still wont allow the bigger size pics, am I doing something wrong?? PLEASE HELP!!!
Thanks for the kind words guys! Im dying to take her first to get Dyno tuned and then off to the Good Guys show in Joliet IL Sep 18-20 for some autocross action. Im sure I'll nail some cones, as it'll be the first time in this car for autocross, but Ill give it a go anyway. Hope I dont screw the paint up too badly. Im looking into a partial membership at Autobahn racetrack here in IL too so I can have a go at some Porsches and Lambos.
BTW, I know a bunch of you guys put in rollcages. How far can I go without having one of these put in, as far as organized racing/autocross goes?
Thanks :thumbsup:
Rob

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2539/...5ace0510_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2588/...37366426_b.jpg

Thanks 70rs! My brother just bought a 71rs Split Bumper with an LS2 from TurnKeyEngineSupply running a Procharger, 600 RWHP!! Things a beast. It was built by a customer of his who ran into some trouble in the market collapse and sold it for peanuts. Lucky for my brother! 2nd gens rock!

Car looking great!!! Your in the home stretch now! Keep up the good work !

Your console looks like it's going to be cool. :thumbsup:

Welcome to the board.

Looks like a great project - Also nice to see a local guy.

What headers did you use with alston sub and ls2?
 

What headers did you use with alston sub and ls2? i have alston sub in '67 camaro and ls1 and cant find headers for that exact combo.

The headers came direct from Turnkeyenginesupply, i just saw the invoice and they are Hooker headers for an F-body. Kolby Enger owns Turnkey, and he's truly an honest and direct person to talk with. I told him exactly what subframe I ordered, and they fit perfectly. :thumbsup:

Your car is coming along great! Did you ever get someone to put up your summers eve bottle pic? :rofl: :rofl:

JUST KIDDIN YA!! You are way too hard on yourself man. Your car is REALLY nice!
I wish I came across a second gen deal like your brother did! Do you have any pics or a link to it or him? Maybe PM me his email address? I would love to talk to him about it.:cheers:

Status?
 

How is this buid going? Is the car on the road yet?

Holy thread revival Batman

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...nca/batman.jpg

Holy crap, didnt see those last posts
 

The car has been raced by me at several events here in the Chicago area at SCCA solo, and at PDX events at Autobahn Speedway and Blackhawk Farms. We took second place (outstanding in class) and first place (Best in class) at World of Wheels 2011 and 2012 in Street Touring Class, which is all pro touring cars. We took first for a few different shows that Showtime Audio put us in. Then my kids started doing travel sports, and I got myself into coaching both Hockey and Baseball with them. So time hasn't been on my side. Plus winters in Chicago suck balls. Ill update the post this week if I have time with more pics and info.
I really feel humbled that some of you even cared after I hadnt posted anything in such a long time, especially with all the great builds here. If any of you guys are local, please ask Jerry about the build at Showtime Audio. I live right around the corner and if Im around, Ill give you a cruise in the car!

Any pictures of the finished interior, especially the console. thanks