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    Results 1 to 20 of 55
    1. #1
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States

      1976 'Red Dead' Camaro

      Well this project is a few months shy of a year old. This is the first car I have attempted to build. It all started with a bench racing battle with my girlfriends brother. He is build a 67 f-100 with a 429/c6. He had the typical ' big block blah blah attitude' haha. I decided I was going to try to out due him with a 350 small block. The grudge never really had a specific set of guidelines.... but I have always loved the 2nd gens, so I decided to pick up a cheap one to stick my freshly built 350 into. I had the engine built for a bit over 2 months before I found a cheap 2nd gen I liked. I have always been a very mechanically inclined person, but my limited knowledge of cars got me into what I would consider a nitemare.. The outside of the car appeared to be alright, which at the time was all I knew. I have now learned that the quarters were very poorly replaced, the floor is shot, and the rear torque boxes are non-existent. My intentions were to strictly get it running. I got the front end redone, and the engine set in.
      All my friends consider me to be a very picky person, and more of a type A personality with alot of attention to detail. With this, and my competitions project seemingly going no where... my personality got the better of me, and I stripped the car down to do it the right way. I was a bit over whelmed at first, but my I can do anything attitude, and drive to learn anything, and everything I can I decided to go for it. These updates are all over the last year, so I'm going to post updates over the next few days to spread them out a bit.... The car started out being worked on in my parents driveway an hour from my apartment. It has now moved into their garage beings its winter. So I get maybe 10hrs/wk to work on the car if I am lucky.

      This is the car the day after I got it home.
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      This is the progress I had made before the project took a turn for the best!
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      Tear down began after I got it into the garage!
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      Second Gen F-body


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      Thought I would throw up some pictures of the engine build.

      The 350 short block I picked up
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      Nothing beats a table full of parts!
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      My girlfriends dad, and I assembling the engine. I knew we were in trouble when he said, 'WTF is a roller rocker?' haha!
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      Problem solved
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      fabricated valve covers I picked up. Got the oil fill bung welded in. hole for catch can baffle ready to go
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      Here are the baffle for the pcv/catch can I machined the cnc lathe. This was a one operation part turned and drilled with live radial tooling on the 3-axis. I am a machinist by trade.
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      Engine almost complete. Valve covers done
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      Second Gen F-body

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      Well for a change of pace I thought I would post up my door cards I made. I have no prior experience in interior work. I was cruising the internet one night and stumbled across some youtube videos, and thought it looked pretty easy. I made these in the dining room of my apartment. Luckily my girlfriend was very layed back about having materials spread across the dining room... into the living room..with some crap laying on the kitchen island!

      Old door cards torn apart. you can see a little brain storming with my sharpie.
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      I made a template from the original door panel and cut out these backing boards
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      I made another template of what I was after and cut out the high density foam.
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      Here I have the foam cut out and glued to the backing board.
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      Here I have the panel covered with vinyl. I was going to make the inserts out of foam also, but ditched that idea.
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      I decided I had better test fit them to the door. I did not have the door at my apartment when I was making them, so I had my fingers crossed.
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      Well I got lazy with the camera, but here is the finished panel.
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      Here are the door pulls I machined out of aluminum. The door pulls, and the aluminum trim washers on the flat heads screws that you see in this picture were also made by me.
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      Second Gen F-body

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      Well that will be in for tonight, I'll get some more progress posted in the next few days.
      Second Gen F-body

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Dec 2004
      Location
      Midwest
      Posts
      2,261
      Country Flag: United States
      Great stuff, thanks for sharing! Glad to see you're rescuing a cool car. I like the look you're doing with the machined parts.
      Kevin Oeste
      V8 Speed and Resto Shop
      V8TV
      Muscle Car Of The Week
      V8 Radio Podcast

      All about us:
      https://www.v8speedshop.com


    6. #6
      Join Date
      Mar 2011
      Location
      Columbus, OH
      Posts
      216
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice work so far. I really like the custom machine work and originality.
      1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass S

      http://fivelugs.com

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      I want to throw up a warning now...the pictures from here on out are pretty bad quality. my camera broke so I am forced to use my phone.

      Well onto the floor repair. Considering the floor was shot, and the torque boxes were literally gone.. well 80% anyways. I decided putting a 70-73 full floor in was the way to go. The rear subframe mounts are a few inches farther back because the bracing was different on the 74-81 to fit the cat on the passenger side of the car. I will need to rework the rear mount on the subframe.. no big deal.

      Well here is the stock floor after some cutting...
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      here is the invisible floor. That brace was later removed as the new one is already attached to the floor.
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      The new floor...that took 2 months to arrive!
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      Leveled out the whole car as best I could. Got it relatively level. Should be within 1/32" all the way around. That burned up a lot of time.
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      Fixed the front torque boxes and floor with parts I cut out of my 77' donor.
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      After a few hours of leveling, and making sure the height from my front and rear subframe mounts matched up I started spot welding the sides to the inner rocker. I plan to go back after the rest of the body work is done and stitch weld the entire shell.
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      This is all I have left of the floor. I got the front tips of the rear frame rails welded in that were cut from the donor.
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      Second Gen F-body

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      Onto the firewall.


      First off I cut off everything that potruded from the firewall
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      Here are my templates in progress. I've come tot he conclusion that templates are your best friend in sheet metal work. I went a different direction with the transmission tunnel, it was just to much flat space. If only I had a bead roller..
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      here is what I'm doing with the tunnel.

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      I do enjoy a good template making session!
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      I am so far happy with how it turned out. When I told a few people my plans they thought I was wasting my time, and that it was to much work...so that motivated me more..

      I still need to get the clutch cylinder bracket fabbed in. I am also hoping to do something with the seam at the top of the firewall to the cowl. I am thinking about trimming it back and welding a piece of 3/16" bar stock to the front to blend it in.
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      This is my first real attempt at sheel metal fabrication. I do have a degree in welding, so that was the easy part.. but have never been into the sheet metal side of things. I'm looking forward to doing some more... I have tons of ideas, but the other body work is taking priority, and just have a major overall lack of time.


      My plans for rubber is to do a 275/40-17 on all fours. From my understanding from nastyz28.com... that is my widest option without tubbing. I would like to tub.. but realistically it just isn't in my budget.

      I'm planning on keeping the leafs with a full hotchkis suspension setup. Adding a spring offset, shocks, shock bar..etc would just be to much expense.

      I have been thinking of flaring the quarters to get the width I would really like, but the front would almost be mandatory to look decent..but thats still undecided.
      Second Gen F-body

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      Being an hour from the car, I am always trying to find small things to do at my apartment...so onto the wiring. My other major hobby is rifles.. But I decided to turn my reloading room and bench(spare bedroom) into my small workshop for my wiring.

      Here is the mess I started with. Thats also my nice new trunk floor that its piled on.
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      After studying wiring diagrams I started dissecting the harness.
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      Here's a bunch of useless junk I spliced out. (door buzzer, seat belt buzzer, few idiot lights, etc)
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      Oh yeah, the stock dash was tan and had a lovely interior paint cover up job. I sanded it down and decided to 'flock' it. This is used a lot in race cars wether its rally racing, alms, etc.. Oh this was also done in my apartment workshop!
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      Test fitting my gauge panel and switch panel in the flocked dash.
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      Next up was to finish off the gauge panel. Also started wiring up the harness for the gauges.
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      Then onto the switch panel, switch panel wiring, and also modifying the stock harness to plug into the panel harness.
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      Second Gen F-body

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Oct 2004
      Location
      St.Anne Il
      Posts
      3,924
      Country Flag: United States
      WOW great work..love the big bumper second gens..
      Darrin Stalnecker
      1969 Camaro Convert full pt pr
      2007 Corvette Supercharged
      1968 Camaro LS1 T56
      http://www.fquick.com/dropit69

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by dropit69 View Post
      WOW great work..love the big bumper second gens..
      I appreciate hearing that! Everytime I put money into the car I can't help to think it would be much more worth it if it was a 70-73...but I'm hoping the end result with be something original. The end result should be a 'smaller bumper' second gen haha. Hoping to trim a few inchs off them vertically and horizontally. somewhat like the popular hotrodding 76 g/28 project.
      Second Gen F-body

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Oct 2009
      Location
      New Derry, PA
      Posts
      1,265
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice work. That interior stuff is hard to get right... Liking it all so far!

      Ray Kaufman - Wyotech Chassis Fab and High Performance Instructor. Words of Wisdom from an old master... at Asylum Custom Interiors website

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by exwestracer View Post
      Nice work. That interior stuff is hard to get right... Liking it all so far!
      Yeah thats for sure. If I was to do it all over there is stuff I would obviously do different just because it was my first time, and it was a first time learning experience sort of deal. For now I will live with the tiny flaws that only I know exist.
      Second Gen F-body

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Jan 2008
      Location
      Charlotte
      Posts
      1,295
      Damn - loving the fab work.

      How hard is the flocking process?

      Is that real carbon fiber - or some kind of wrap on the gauges/door panels?
      2005 LeMans Blue Corvette w/ T56 & Z51 & C6Z06 Brakes, Build Thread: https://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?64496
      2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD LLY / Allison
      2014 Chevy SS LS3 / 4 Door

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by bonecrrusher View Post
      Damn - loving the fab work.

      How hard is the flocking process?

      Is that real carbon fiber - or some kind of wrap on the gauges/door panels?
      The flocking process is quite easy. You basically have a basecoat that you brush on. the actual texture is created by applyingfine fibers. There is an applicator tubing that you use to apply the fibers by 'blowing' them onto the wet base coat. kind of like a tar and feathers type situation. The only real way to mess it up is to get the base coat brushed on too thin. You basically mop it on and stop before it runs. check out donjer.com. I got the mini flocker kit for 24.80. If you are doing a dash you will want to have a second person help you with the base coat, and if I were to do it again I would order a second applicator to have a second person help there also. It is impossible to overdue the application of the fiber. just keep blowing it on, anything extra will just not stick and fall off. Only problem is that you have a one time shot at doing it. If it drys you'er out of luck. If you try to do a second layer over it the texture will be course and lines will appear where you overlapped it.

      As far as the carbon fiber, yes its just vinyl. It is 3m brand, and awesome stuff. Search 3m di-noc.
      It is actually textured a bit like carbon. pretty much as close to the real thing as your going to get looks wise. I got a 3' by 4' roll off ebay for something like 45$...so a bit spendy.
      Second Gen F-body

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Dec 2005
      Location
      Birmingham, AL
      Posts
      3,356
      Country Flag: United States
      Any more info on the flocking?
      Stephen

    17. #17
      Join Date
      Nov 2010
      Posts
      1,387
      Country Flag: United States
      this is one cool project!!! You have skills!!! Love all the work so far!! Keep that pace and the interior door handles look amazing
      68 Camaro RS twin turbo
      https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...d-Intent-V-2-0

      1993 Toyota Supra 6768 Built Single Turbo


      Slow Lifted Jeep No TURBO :(

      Randal F

    18. #18
      Join Date
      Nov 2010
      Posts
      1,387
      Country Flag: United States
      and why the name red dead for the project?
      68 Camaro RS twin turbo
      https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...d-Intent-V-2-0

      1993 Toyota Supra 6768 Built Single Turbo


      Slow Lifted Jeep No TURBO :(

      Randal F

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Lost
      Posts
      574
      Country Flag: United States
      Very Nice work that you are doing....

      You are going to love driving it...

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Oct 2011
      Location
      Thief River Falls, MN
      Posts
      74
      Country Flag: United States
      I'm going to be getting rid of the red, and going with a different color. A friend said it one day, and I just went with it for lack of a better project name really...

      A gun metal metallic or darker gray are my plans for the exterior. The bumpers will also be body color to try and blend them into the body. Every other piece of trim will be satin black. My goal is to have no chrome on the exterior. The wheels will be black cragar d-windows, with exhaust that exits infront of the rear wheels. Going to try and have a bit of a trans-am vibe.



      More on the flocking..

      It really is a process you just sort of have to jump into. It's not so difficult.

      It comes with a can of base coat, which will be the color of the fiber you decide to get. I went with black. you just brush this on fairly thick, make sure it doesnt run as you will see each run.

      The kit comes with a applicator. Which is nothing but a 2 part tube with a few holes in one end. You fill this tube about half full of fiber, and from pumping it in and out sprays the fibers out. Keep going at it and spraying fibers on it. Dont stop till you use the whole bag. Then take a minute to carefully sweep up the extra fibers on the ground and refill the tube and keep going at it. Do not stop until you know for sure you have that dash COMPLETELY covered. You can NOT over due the application of the fibers... you can overdue the base coat however. Lay a tarp down so its nice and clean to collect the extra fibers when done. Do not try and do this on your garage floor with out a tarp and start sweeping up fibers to re-use haha. Now that you are done do NOT touch the dash for 72hrs...so make sure you do this somewhere where the dash can sit that long. After 72hrs take an air hose and turn the regulator way down and lightly blow off the excess fibers.

      This is really as detailed as the process gets... check out youtube also.
      Second Gen F-body

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