'Streamline' 1968 camaro project

[slimjim]

Ok I was curious, I've got about 640 paid hours of labour involved... and now I'm sad. approx 250 hours left in paint and body.
I do a lot of work myself, but the two areas I won't dabble in is putting a welder to body panels and then paint and body

[slimjim]

while waiting for my engine to come home for what seems like forever, I've started collecting a lot of the Aesthetic parts for my attempt at making the LS stand out.
The heads took longer than expected due to the Christmas period so I've got a little extra time on my hands.
The slow and expensive transition to ARP bolts has begun and I got my valve covers back from powder coating.
I know the tall slant GM covers have been used a thousand times already but they're hard to beat if done right.

[Jimmy]

Looks good to me!

[67SSDan]

Those valve covers look sharp man!

[Motown 454]

They look nice.

[ryeguy2006a]

Looking great, can't wait to see the engine all back together.

[slimjim]

Thanks fellas, I've also refinished the water pump in black wrinkle finish, I like the factory sort of look and didn't need it standing out underneath all the black accessories. needless to say, I am very anxious for the engine to be reassembled(4 weeks overdue) so I can get it painted and start throwing on this pile of shiny parts!!

[slimjim]

I finally got my engine back and didn't waste any time cleaning it and prepping it for paint. I decided against putting it back into another shop and chose to do it myself with Eastwood 2k engine paint. It was recommended by a couple people with similar builds and it didn't disappoint, after some curing time I will get stuck into the accessories.

[slimjim]

I am very happy with this!

[Motown 454]

It looks good!

[67SSDan]

Oh yeah man, that turned out great!

Dan

[slimjim]

Since I had no use in leaving the engine in the middle of the garage I decided to drop it in place, It can stay there until I come across a clutch and transmission. It fits like a glove and looks real nice, will look even better with a satin silver engine bay.

[ryeguy2006a]

Wow, that motor looks fantastic in there! Love that cog drive.

[Motown 454]

The coged belt make it look rugged!

[67SSDan]

Nice man!!! That cog drive looks tough for sure. I dig it

[Gmc427]

looks mint, you aussies love your toothed drives!

[slimjim]

looks mint, you aussies love your toothed drives!

Man that's so true, and this was just a huge coincidence that this piece came available to me for a great price, I hate to continue the stereotype haha, all I have to do now is buy a set of 20" Simmons wheels

[slimjim]

A quick time-lapse I made throwing all the fun parts on my block.

[slimjim]

I have begged the car gods for forgiveness and I have promised to devote more time(and money) to my build starting....late June...

I had to put it on the back burner for a brief period but I am now finally married! so until our bank accounts are linked I will pump out as much on my car as I can ha!

I can't physically work on it right now due to work, followed by a month long trip home to Australia in late may, however I can do what I do best...Buy parts online!

I am currently researching, researching, researching everything for my electrical system, from trunk mounted battery and the protection required for it(this forum is awesome) to the engine harness and body wiring. for the ECM I plan to keep it simple, most likely a PSI harness and remapped E38 computer, as advised by the shop who'll be doing the tuning. I aim to have all of these soon as we will finalize the firewall at ambition road starting in July. I aim to have this thing paint ready by the end of the year at the very latest.

I was considering relocating the coil packs down to the subframe (I still might at a later date) but for now, and since I had the proform mounts, I will keep them on top of the valve covers for simplicity, functionality and most importantly to move on to the next department needing attention.



If anyone has experience with aftermarket pedals on custom firewalls I'm all ears, my aim was to keep it all wilwood but I'm open to others.

[joeko23]

Great build. How did you fill in all the holes in the inner wheel wells and the radiator support. In the pics it looks like you just bondo over them. Did you weld them in or use something else?

Also for the pedals, if you want a budget friendly solution that looks custom go with stock Camaro pedals and buy zl1 pads along with zl1 gas peddle. PSI can make the harness to accept the zl1 pedal and programming pcm as well. It’s what I did. You will have to trim the pedal pads slightly but I’m sure you will figure it. Very easy. Here’s how it looks: