Project Nighthawk 1969 Camaro - Ground up rebuild

[Amit]

Thanks... You've seen nothing yet..

[Amit]

Just a minor update so you guys dont forget me

I would like to say a big thanks to II Much Fabrication for hooking us up with their fuel and diff vents

As you guys know by now, I am a sucker for great engineering. Even on the most minute part of the car. These are designed to vent the fuel tank, and diff case, allowing the systems to breath without odur and leakage.

I will be using two of these, one to vent the diff case, and one to vent the fuel tank.



We are a long way off installing these, but hey, collect the parts and the project will continue.

Hopefully back soon with some more drawings, and fab pic of the front end

Amit

[Amit]

A little more progress to report.

Victor has done a great job sketching out some of my ideas. We are heading in the right direction, but not there yet.

Some of these are a little wild, but gives a flavor of the attack car I want to build.

Middle left is my fav front end, with the centre grill slats, and middle right is my fave rear/side view.

Retropower have a lot of work ahead



In the meant time Jason @ theGMR.com has completed the front uprights. We just need to get them shipped over to the UK so we can continue with the chassis build

The fabricated front uprights are based on the Corvette C6 uprights. Being made from steel, they are much stronger than stock and aftermarket parts made from ally. They dont suffer from deflection during hard cornering. Also they only weigh 1lb over the stock items.. but strength is way up

Jason starts with a load of machined parts. The hub face and upper and lower ball joint mounts


All the parts that make up 1 pair of uprights


One unique feature of theGMR uprights is they have matched the stock lower ball joint taper perfectly using a custom built reamer. They will not disclose the exact taper but we can assure it is not either of the standard 7 or 10 degree tapers.Their uprights matches the stock taper perfectly to ensure quality fitment with the stock GMR components.


1.5" thick steel tooling is used to ensure there is no deflection of movement during the welding process


The fully welded uprights


As you can see, only 1.1lb heavier than stock but so much stronger


The uprights can accept stock GM hubs, or the awesome GMR hubs. Guess what we are using on nighthawk


The completed upright with the calipers and discs bolted on



Fully completed fabricated GMR upright and hub, with brakes installed


Hopefully we will have more updates coming soon. In the meantime, like the facebook page to keep up with my musings and other great projects I find.

[uk68327]

I love the sketches - bottom left (front view) looks killer!

Nice looking spindles!

[Amit]

That bottom left is just a little too much for me.

Looks too much like a modern audi or Merc.

I want something a bit in between

[KnightMare]

heck send me one of those grills for my 69! They look great

[Vdubwardo]

wow! this is sick! keep up the good work!

[Amit]

Who knows.. I might put some parts into production if there is interest once the car is done.

Thanks for the comments

[jtm311]

Amazing work, really nice.

John

[KnightMare]

Who knows.. I might put some parts into production if there is interest once the car is done.

Thanks for the comments

Throw in a rear diffuser too

[Amit]

progress update

The roof skin is finally on and the exterior body restore is almost done.



You can see the full step by step pics here with the commentary

The Body Rebuild

Now we can start on the custom work This is where it gets interesting. The rear end and front uprights are on their way from the US, and the boys are itching to start work on the custom chassis.

But thats not all folks!

unfortunately victor also had to pull out of the design team :( but the good news is, Mike Gillett our original designer is back with his pens blazing!

These are almost final sketches pending any changes needed due to actual build constraints. The rear lights are still work in progress

The front grill and hood vents will be open and closeable at the touch of a button.




The rear diffuser is a double decker design. The top slot will be vented to the under side of the car, and will also be blown with hot gases from the exhaust. The feed slot and exhaust bypass will be motor controlled so I can shut them and reduce downforce when not needed. ie cruising. Most of the aero features on this car will be deactivateable to reduce drag under light duty. With an 800bhp V8 and current fuel prices, I need all the efficiency help I can get



You can see the full journey of how we got to these sketches here
Concept Drawings

Thats all folks until next time

[craigs73]

pretty sweet project.........anymore progress?

[Amit]

Thanks Craig

We have been waiting for the axel and front uprights to arrive in the uk. That happened a few days ago.

Chassis design and fab will start soon.

In the mean time, the design of the rear lights have been finalised on my fb page.

Should have a better progress update in a couple of months

Amit

[Rag-Rat]

Great job of patience and saving that Camaro. I have worked in the parts retail business previously. Being that my extended family is from the UK I used to go to great lengths to help people get speed parts for there projects over there. I'll continue watching for updates.

[MCMLXIX]

Can we get an Annual Update ... its been a little over a year....