1968 Camaro Build

[Brad C]

New member to this forum, but I've been poking around posts for over a year while thinking about doing a project car. Tons of great info here, so big thanks to all who've taken the time to share.

I finally decided to pull the trigger a few months back and picked up a largely rust free 68 Camaro rolling shell. I wanted to go that route vs. a tired complete car just because I didn't want any big nasty surprises as I tore it apart, and I planned on replacing pretty much everything anyway. I've always liked the 68 from back when I was a kid. My parents had a 67 and I remember how mad at them I was for selling it to get an ugly brown station wagon when I was 8 or 9. With the obligatory wood panel stickers on the side of course.. ugh.

I'm a couple of months in to it so far but just decided to do a build thread. Thought it would be a cool way to document the process and maybe be useful info for someone along the way.

I want this car to be a driver with all modern components but a mostly classic look. I ordered the suspension and rear end last week. Here's what I went with after a bunch of research and input from a friend who knows a lot more about suspension than I ever will:



ridetech level 2 coil over front suspension with Tru Turn steering linkage
BMR torque arm rear suspension
Moser 12 bolt 3.73 rear end with Truetrac posi
Wilwood brakes - 12" 4 piston rear and 13" 6 piston front

Engine and trans will be the Connect and Cruise LS3/T56 430HP package but I'll be ordering that later.

Pictures and updates to follow!

[Brad C]

Here's the car as purchased. All original metal except for the tail light panel. Not sure why or when it was replaced but they put a standard panel on an RS car. That's ok though because I like the standard front end better anyway so I'll go that route with it.

At the time I couldn't find any rust beyond a small spot at the corner of the rear window which is really common anyway. I later found more under the windshield but it was nothing major. No body filler beyond a light layer at the wheel arches from repair of big bolt on fender flares it used to have. I used a filler depth gauge to check it over before I bought it. It also used to have a roll bar in it so the rear seat support and package tray were out. The support/tray in the image was a hack job someone took from a donor car just sitting in there. Not even remotely usable but not a huge deal to fix.

Should I keep the 198x IROC wheels (or whatever they are) and bald tires??






At home..

[Brad C]

First thing after removing all the glass and a few interior parts was to get the interior media blasted and epoxy primed. The place I took it has the metal spray process for rust repair so I went ahead and let them fix the problem areas around the front and rear glass. Pretty cool process and not too expensive. They had it 6 weeks though just because of their workload so while it was gone I spent some time practicing welding (been 20 years) and ordered some this and that parts to keep busy.

[Brad C]

This weekend I tackled the rear seat support and package tray replacement. New metal parts from AMD. I wasn't exactly sure of the location for the side brackets so I had to try and figure that out from pictures online. I bought an original SS hood in perfect condition off Craigslist (ditched the flat hood it came with) and while I was there I just happened to take pictures of the guy's 68 with the interior stripped out. I was able to use one of those higher res pictures later to scale the gaps. It's pretty straight and even now. It's not like these cars were precise from the factory anyway.

Not the prettiest plug welds in the world but definitely good penetration and strong.

[trevor572]

New member to this forum, but I've been poking around posts for over a year while thinking about doing a project car. Tons of great info here, so big thanks to all who've taken the time to share.

I finally decided to pull the trigger a few months back and picked up a largely rust free 68 Camaro rolling shell. I wanted to go that route vs. a tired complete car just because I didn't want any big nasty surprises as I tore it apart, and I planned on replacing pretty much everything anyway. I've always liked the 68 from back when I was a kid. My parents had a 67 and I remember how mad at them I was for selling it to get an ugly brown station wagon when I was 8 or 9. With the obligatory wood panel stickers on the side of course.. ugh.

I'm a couple of months in to it so far but just decided to do a build thread. Thought it would be a cool way to document the process and maybe be useful info for someone along the way.

I want this car to be a driver with all modern components but a mostly classic look. I ordered the suspension and rear end last week. Here's what I went with after a bunch of research and input from a friend who knows a lot more about suspension than I ever will:

ridetech level 2 coil over front suspension with Tru Turn steering linkage
BMR torque arm rear suspension
Moser 12 bolt 3.73 rear end with Truetrac posi
Wilwood brakes - 12" 4 piston rear and 13" 6 piston front

Engine and trans will be the Connect and Cruise LS3/T56 430HP package but I'll be ordering that later.

Pictures and updates to follow!

I totally get what you're doing. I love the classic factory look but with upgraded everything. Looking forward to seeing some pictures and following the build. Cheers Trevor

[Brad C]

Thanks Trevor. I'll keep updating as things move along.

Front suspension is supposed to show up today and rear end next Monday. This weekend I'm planning to get it up in the air, pull the rear end and sub frame, and start on cleaning up and painting the bottom. It was stripped already before I got it fortunately so not much dirty work to do there.

[meenaggie]

Might as well remove (i.e. weld in a patch piece) that center grille for the dash speaker while you are fixing the rot. The center speaker is not used in many pro touring cars and it cleans up the look of the dash. Did that on my 68 Camaro.

[Brad C]

Not a bad idea. Hadn't thought of that, thanks. The rot is fixed already but still could do that easy enough.

[meenaggie]

Found a pic, hope that helps…

[rohrt]

I want to see a pic of that awesome hood.

[Brad C]

Found a pic, hope that helps…

That does look nice, thanks for posting. I'll have to think about that.

[Brad C]

I didn't get much time on it this weekend but I did get the suspension pulled. First chance I had to inspect the under side close up. I was able to crawl under it on the ground before I bought it but I couldn't see full frame rails, etc. It looks good, no problems. Whew. Next will be cleaning up the bottom a bit and painting. I will be using the SEM trim black.

[68400BIRD]

What a great car to start with. Your years ahead of most of us who had all of the rust repair work. I had the same idea about leaving the outside of my 68 Bird looking somewhat factory but doing upgrades on everything else. I did not go the extent that you are but I have upgraded C6 brakes, QA1 shocks, and a more comfortable interior (seats) and safer with three point belts. But I'm still using factory drivetrain. Good luck on the build, I plan on watching this one come together.

[Brad C]

What a great car to start with. Your years ahead of most of us who had all of the rust repair work. I had the same idea about leaving the outside of my 68 Bird looking somewhat factory but doing upgrades on everything else. I did not go the extent that you are but I have upgraded C6 brakes, QA1 shocks, and a more comfortable interior (seats) and safer with three point belts. But I'm still using factory drivetrain. Good luck on the build, I plan on watching this one come together.

Thanks. It was definitely fortunate to find such a clean starting point. It was local to me here too which was nice. It wasn't the cheapest one I found when I was looking but I think it will pay off not having to mess with tons of metal work.

I bet the brake upgrade on yours was a big difference. Which master cylinder and booster did you go with? Still trying to decide on that.

[Brad C]

Rear end showed up today. Pretty nice!

[Brad C]

Ok, I have a new favorite tool! I needed to strip the build up out of the rear wheel wells. I made a little progress by hand but decided to look around for a better option. A trip to HF and $30 later I had an air needle scaler. Very cool tool. It took me about 20 minutes each side to strip the build up off. It went through it like nothing. A little more time with a wire wheel and a coat of POR15 and it looks way better.

[RogueFab]

This doesn't look like your first car build. Excellent start man. I don't care for the 198 wheels, my vote is ditch them

That needle scaler is interesting. I've never heard of one.

[Brad C]

This doesn't look like your first car build. Excellent start man. I don't care for the 198 wheels, my vote is ditch them

That needle scaler is interesting. I've never heard of one.

Thanks. I guess I wasted my time polishing up the IROC wheels huh? I even shined up the huge screw that's in one of the tires. Oh well.. ha.

I saw that scaler on another thread about removing undercoating so I thought I'd give it a try. I hadn't head of it before either. Definitely a keeper.

[Brad C]

Half way done with the painting. I really hate painting. I made a booth in the garage out of PVC and drop cloths. It definitely contained the over spray but the fumes still got in the house. My wife may just leave me for this one. I had a shop vac pumping air outside or it would have been really bad. I got the under side, sub frame, and firewall done and it looks pretty good. I plan to give the body a once over with the same black just to give me an option of driving it for a while before I have it painted. I ran out of paint though so that will have to wait a few days.

[68400BIRD]

Thanks. It was definitely fortunate to find such a clean starting point. It was local to me here too which was nice. It wasn't the cheapest one I found when I was looking but I think it will pay off not having to mess with tons of metal work.

I bet the brake upgrade on yours was a big difference. Which master cylinder and booster did you go with? Still trying to decide on that.

I used a Wilwood master cylinder and prop valve. I had a 8" CPP booster. I talked with Tobin at Kore3 for my braking questions. http://kore3.com/ I would highly recommend giving Tobin a call.