1967 Camaro Restomod "Herja"

[TOlsenAK]

I figured now after a year, it was time to make a build thread
Edit: Been at it a while, lot of learning done, still more to learn and do!

Kind of a crazy story behind the car, unsure of where it was between its original sale in 1967, but it was sold out of a dealership in San Fransisco, California and then between then and the 1990s, it made its way up to North Pole, Alaska.

I purchased the car from my friend who got the car for $2500 bucks from an older lady who he was helping with yard work and other things. Her son apparently was working on restoring it and fixing it up until he passed away from Cancer in 1993. Luckily for me and the car, she had a cheap $1000 dollar paint job put on it so it wouldn't rust away. Fast forward to 2015, the car had sat the entire time, until she was having some work done by contractors who offered to trade the work they were doing on the house for the car (which was about $2,000 worth of work). My friend Chris instantly offered her $2,500 cash and she saw that as the better deal. Her condition was that once it was restored, he had to take her for a drive. She unfortunately passed away in 2017 =(

The car mostly sat at my friends for a few years, up until I bought a house in 2017. Before I had furniture even he had it in my garage (as you can see in the pictures from before, he didn't exactly have a good spot to work on it)

His plan: Strip it, rattle can paint it, and flip it for $15,000

I had other plans and talked him out of it luckily.

CURRENT BUILD PLAN:
Paint Color: White
Interior: TMI Products Black
Front Suspension: QA1 Level 2 Handling Kit with TruTurn Steering Package and Borgeson 12.7:1 Ratio steering box
Rear Suspension: Ride Tech 4-Link with narrowed (54.75in) Currie 9in with TwinTrac Diff 31 spline axles
Engine: LQ4 Bored 65 over, stock LS3 rods and pistons, 823 Heads, Elgin Hydraulic Roller Camshaft .585", LS7 Injectors, LS3 Intake
Transmission: Tremec Magnum XL



CURRENT STATE OF THE CAR:
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Here is the car as it was when I first saw it:
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[TOlsenAK]

We got to work, with both of us having no real clue of body work, but are both pretty decent mechanics. I've built a few 400hp+ Subarus and dabbled in stage rally. I work of Aircraft for a living as well. He used to be a heavy equipment mechanic. He's good at making things work that shouldn't work together, where i've got the perfectionist mentality.

After a day of sanding, we decided it was going to slow, so the messy job of Aircraft stripper began.

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We very quickly found out the previous owner also had no idea how to do body work.

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[TOlsenAK]

Don't have a lot of pictures from after, but we tried our best at fixing what was messed up, welded and blended in a few new pieces and they matched, but not to my liking. At this point, I told him I'd buy it for what someone offered him 6 months earlier. While there was some rust, the floors pans were immaculate, the frame was in great shape, doors were for the most part cancer free (was a minor fix on the one) and from what I could tell, very little rust anywhere on the car minus where the drip rails were.


I'll let the pictures speak for the condition of the car.

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[TOlsenAK]

At this point, I was thinking to myself "what in the f*** did I get myself into..."

But i was determined, and have the mindset that I can learn anything if I put myself to the task.

After a week or two of using way too much body filler for things that should have been tackled with body hammers and dollies, it was time to get it cleaned up and primed. (Don't worry, I went back and did that work correctly this year)

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With winter only a few months away, I bought a paint gun and some 2k primer (after chatting and picking the brains of our local bodywork/paint supply store, The guys at High-Tech in Fairbanks are amazing). Though the climate up here is extremely dry, I wanted to protect my new investment.

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[TOlsenAK]

With the car mostly covered in primer, I started relooking at each part, tackling a bit at a time.

Over the winter, I shaved the drip rails, decided that the fenders were too much trouble to try to fix and ordered new ones (OER brand).

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[TOlsenAK]

Before snow hit, I had at least gotten the entire car down to bare metal and got it coated with primer and realized for what I wanted as a finished product (better than off the factory floor), I didn't have the tools or knowledge to tackle it correctly. I had at least learned the proper technique of washing the entire car, wiping it down, washing again, wiping more, then doing the same with wax and grease remover, then coated the car with Nason Ful-Poxy 2k Primer, since I wanted something I could do some filler work over and wanted good rust protection while I worked on the car. Most of the shoddy body work that was getting done was before I decided to buy the car and do it right. I couldn't let it get redneck repaired and sold to someone else. (Love my buddy to death but hes hard on stuff and has never been one to go for a showroom quality fix and is used to broken **** lol).

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As the winter progressed, I had a laundry list of body work that needed to be done and some major issues with the right rear quarter panel, so I decided it was time to step my game up and replace it. This was going to be a summer job, so I saved up until spring hit and bought a Miller 211 and a 60 gallon compressor and wired my garage for 240v outlets.

[TOlsenAK]

With the School semester finishing up, I finally again had time to put some serious attention back on to the Camaro.

This is how it sat over the winter:

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Like I had said before, I had saved up and bought a Miller 211 w/ gas setup and a 60gal compressor that could actually let me use air tools and my paint gun (we had used a 110v 20gal all last summer that was about 20 years old)

Spring to do list:
-Media Blast and re-coat the under body
-Remove Engine and Transmission
-Remove front sub-frame, refurbish
-Replace Rear Quarter Panel
-Remove and Replace front Control arms, sway bar, brakes
-Wire Garage for Welder and Compressor
-Remove/Replace* Rear Suspension

*Still was undecided

As the summer started and snow began to melt, It was finally warm enough to work with the garage door open and not be freezing my butt off.

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[TOlsenAK]

After I decided to shave the drip rails (I still need to do some more metal work to clean the edges up and smooth it all out, more than likely going to weld in some 1/8th inch steel rod to get nice lines and blend it in to the roof line), I decided I wanted to run the flush fit glass kit, which means no window trim. The problem was I hated how the A-Pillars met up with the fender lines, so I made some brackets up to weld in to get a nice transition into the fender line.

Here is before any work was done.
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After making a metal piece for both sides, I welded them in and blended the welds with a flap disk. I used a bit of All-Metal to shape it slightly, as my metal work wasn't 100% perfect.
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More progress to clean up the A-Pillar ends.
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Mostly cleaned up, will revisit to make perfect later, coated with primer:
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[TOlsenAK]

Next, it was time to get started on cleaning up the front subframe, which had about 50 years of dirt and grime on it. Coated it with POR-15 and then painted with High Temp Engine paint I had laying around (I was going to use it on the 327 block that was in the car, so it wasnt going to get used for anything.) Still undecided on the color right now, but it looks cool for now.


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Also installed all new bushings and hardware while I was at it, can't have a single part of this car untouched and made new.
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[TOlsenAK]

With the subframe mostly delt with, I started work on the Right Rear Quarter Panel, spending a good 20 hours at least reading and watching videos about it. Luckily too I had a new friend in the area that knows a thing or two about body work, but I made it clear I wanted to do it, so he gave me a few tips throughout the process and stopped by once to tell me where to trim and drop off some Clecos to hold the panel in place as I fit it.

First though, was making sure my doors were lined up, a process that is quite the challenge when you're working on it by yourself, I got them close enough for what I needed to do, but not quite perfect.

I went to the task of removing most of the old rear quarter panel, bit at a time. Was much easier than I had anticipated, but finding all the spot welds and drilling them out was extremely time consuming.
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I left a good chunk of the panel on since it hadn't arrived yet, and had my friend come verify the gaps and door alignment before removing the door jamb area.
Total Removal time was approximately 8 hours. I found a bit of the frame was rusted and thin near were the drip rails were, and if you look you can see where I cut and patched the frame.

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

It is looking really good, keep at it.

[TOlsenAK]

Thanks! It's been a hell of a learning experience but I'm excited to be trying something new with this rear end idea.

[CliffsBlueCamaro]

Hey! I've also got a 67 Camaro and a WRX ('11 hatch)

Dude, we are like car twinzies...lol

Good start on the Camaro and I can't wait to see your plan for that IRS come together!

[SD67]

Enjoyed reading through this, thanks for starting this thread. Are you still going to refresh that 327 and put it back in? Wolf be great to find an LS somewhere to put in it.

[TOlsenAK]

Got an LS3 sourced already ��

[Motown 454]

It looks good.

[TOlsenAK]

Rear quarter panel replaced, can't believe a year ago I had only a general idea how to do body work and weld.

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[TOlsenAK]

Installed all my QA1 goodies =) Insanely stiff compared to the old suspension, may need to rethink my spring weight and im not 100% sold on the color I painted the subframe, but then it was just some Orange-Red Chevy paint i had laying around, No places to powder coat around here so I may end up going with a truck bed liner after stripping it again and repriming it.


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Notice the size difference in the sway bar. Should handle like a dream.

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[TOlsenAK]

So this is the part of the build that goes off the beaten path some, and so far I've only read about one other person using this rear end and it was in a Ford truck. Basically, I wanted to do something that hasn't been done on this car and a good friend of mine helped solve that problem and my want for Independent Rear suspension. so for $450 + about the same in shipping (Alaska apparently is international) I got this rear end from Iowa. Took about 2 weeks to arrive, but im itching to get to the fabrication work to get this thing mounted to the car.

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First though, we figured it would be easier to get started on tubbing the rear.

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I will say, doing the tubs are more of a pain in the ass than that Rear quarter panel was, just harder to get to everything and a lot of measuring. Unfortunately we got a bit carried away and cut a bit too much, which isn't a big deal, i'm just debating now weather to split and widen out the tubs for more clearance, or just do some closeout plates.

For now though, we cut and made our own closeout plates with some thicker steel to reinforce the rear subframe. Going to leave the tubs out for now to have easier access to making measurements to fab up the IRS mounts.

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[TOlsenAK]

So for right now, the car sits with some clean up work needing to be done on the rear, but I'll wait on that for a bit. Rob (friend who suggested the rear end fab) and I mocked it up a few times, looks like it will be easier than we thought to mount to the car. It's honestly looking like the mini-tubs are going to be more work than the rear end.

Look at the clearance though, those are 225/45R18s with 10mm spacers (mazda wheels that needed the spacers to clear the axle nut)
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Above: Before the closeouts were welded in, but it looks like I could have no problem fitting some 335s even without splitting the tubs.


It is a little tricky since the track width was originally 60" with the stock solid axle, with the new one, it changes the rear track width to 64.9″, in addition to the 5x114 hub pattern change. My plan is to send in my front rotors to get re-drilled (running 2'' drop spindles in the front) to a 5x114, which I've noticed Moser engineering will do for $90 a piece. Having 5x114 for both will open a lot of options up for wheels that arn't 1800 bucks per wheel. The car isnt going to be a show car, but it'll be a nice looking daily so I'd rather not spend 5-6 grand on wheels alone only to have them get beaten up.

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[TOlsenAK]

More progress on the portion of this build that any chevy enthusiest would consider to be Heresy..... The fabrication work to mount a 2016 Ford Mustang GT rear subframe. This is probably the most unique part of my build, as I've not seen it done before and I didn't want to spend $8,000+ for an independent rear suspension set up (I'm sure I could have done a solid axle 4 link set up for cheap that would have handled much the same), but for $450 bucks, this was a steal.

What you see on the pallet is what I got for that price. Spent another $500 bucks on the full tilt boogie racing bushing kits which you can see here the exact reason mustangs get a bad rep for being attracted to crowds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7NWX6rZzdg

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Clamped up the mini tubs (we had cut along the subframe line since we were going to be making mounts for the 8.8 IRS to mount up) in prep for getting all our measurements

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More progress made on getting the rear subframe mounted up, rolled it under the car again and lowered it to get a better idea of where the mounts will be made and installed. I will say its a tedious process of mostly squaring up a 450 subframe, taking measurments, adjusting slightly 1/16 of an inch, remeasuring everything again, repeat....

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In order to give ourselves better access to the area, I made the call to cut a good chunk of the trunk pan out that we'll weld back in later, well worth the time it will take to weld it back in and clean up.

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Once we had the ballpark area and marked on the frame where we needed the mount points to be (within about 1/8th of an inch on the frame) we stripped everything off the rear subframe. Right now waiting on the mount hardware and full tilt boogie bushing kit to eliminate the nasty wheel hop these rear ends are notorious for. Still probably have another weeks worth of fabrication work once I get the bushings and mount bolts in for the rear, but hopefully by the end of august here I'll have a roller again and can start wheel shopping, which I'm very excited for (though my wallet isn't). :)

[TOlsenAK]

Well, been a busy fall and now with college back in full swing, haven't had much time to work on the car. Right now its still sitting at needing the rear subframe mounts to get frabricated and the mini tubs to get finished. So for now im looking at options for steering, still undecided between the rack and pinion style or to go with something like a Lee box set up. Not sure how many follow this but looking for some insight as to which route would be better, budget for that is around 2k total (want a new column too) and will be going with an LS1 engine.

[TOlsenAK]

Just purchased the 6.0L engine =) hopefully will get some work in on it between semesters, 2 more classes to go for my degree!

[TOlsenAK]

Block has been at the machine shop now a month.... finally bored 65 over and rods and pistons on order. Pretty annoyed with the machine shop, is having a block for 1 month a bit ridiculous?

[lobudget]

Very nice project, I'm enjoying watching your progress.

[ryeguy2006a]

I wouldn't say that a month is too bad honestly. I've heard where people have had to wait 3-4 months. But that really is up to the shop in setting expectations.

I'm curious what work they did to get you to the .065 overbore? From what I've read on the internet (has to be true right?) that it's safe for n/a but with boost that the cylinder walls can be compromised because they may be too thin for boost. 4.065 definitely opens you up to a lot of LS3 aftermarket parts, or nice used takeout parts. I'm curious to see how your motor build goes. Body work looks great too!

[TOlsenAK]

Thanks! Just got the block back yesterday! I don't really have any huge plans for power, more wanting a torque build, but yes, staying NA, I may later down the line build a block set up for forced induction (probably a turbo charger). The goal for the first motor build (as i've never done this before) was to build a block that wasn't anything too crazy power wise. From having a 403whp/379wtq Subaru, I didn't feel the need for much crazier power than the mid 400s to start with.


Basically due to some rust spots in the cylinders, they first honed the block, then did multiple bore passes to clean up the walls, then if im not mistaken, he honed it again before doing the final bore after he got the pistons in, I know he went 40 over to get the walls cleaned up then had to bore it again. Total cost for labor was $400 for the bore, $1400 for the rebuild parts (LS3 rods and pistons, all the gaskets, ect.) and another $600 for assembly and balance. I'd say not bad considering I spent 800 on the Gen 3 LQ4 block.

Here is what they started with:

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I will say for the price, I am extremely happy with the attention Rob at Port and Sons in Fairbanks, AK gave my block, despite it being a pain in the ass, would highly recommend them.

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Here is the finished result, I still need to get the rear main cover and seal on and valves installed, but im holding off for now until I decide what Heads to run. I want a torque build, not too concerned with horsepower as I'm sure I'll get 400+ easy and who really uses all of that. I'm more wanting a car that gets up and goes and corners well.

Total cost so far on the block: $3,100 (assembled short block, wiring harness, and ECU from the LQ4 donor)

[TOlsenAK]

Ordered my cam (sloppy mechanics stage 2 setup) and the holley 302-3 oil pan today, since its starting to get warmer out now and with the lift getting installed at my buddies shop, the rear end fabrication can start and then we can finish the mini tub install.

[Sbeck09]

Slick build you have going. I've been singing the praises of the S550 IRS being so cheap, but offering tons of options. Never expected to see it under one of these cars since it's so wide. I was shocked at how expensive it was to replace all the bushings with solid parts too. FYI the diffs in these with 3.73 gears are from the PP1 (track pack) so they came from the factory with a Torsen T2 limited slip unit and bigger 13" rear rotors.

My engine got stuck at the builder for about 4 months thanks to a crank back order so stuff happens. As long as they communicate effectively I don't get upset.

[TOlsenAK]

Yea, I think I dropped about $500 on the rear subframe and diff bushing kit from Full Tilt Boogie, but seeing the difference was insane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7NWX6rZzdg&t=29s

Here is a video of the stock vs. their bushings

[TOlsenAK]

Been at the fun part lately, as the wife basically gave me a 'blank check' to buy parts with to get it running before this coming fall. Trying to keep it under $10,000 total over the summer.

Right now im debating the following:

-Electric Power Steering vs Mechanical
-Electric Water Pump vs Mechanical
-Off the Shelf Trick Flow Heads vs Buying Bare 823 Heads and building them to learn
-AutoRad setup vs. Regular Radiator and Core Support


Major Hurtles ahead:
-Tunnel Clearance with the z32 Trans and 8.8 Ford Diff (its slightly offset center IIR, will have to make measurements)
-Rear Sub frame mount alignment (This is going to be a bitch to square up, im OCD)
-Finishing Mini-Tub Install
-Shortening the rear end wheelbase vs. crazy offset wheels (Stock is 60in, the 8.8 Ford IRS is 64.9)


Anyone know what a decent 18x12 wheel offset fit for the stock wheelbase of 60? Needing the numbers for making some calculations.

[TOlsenAK]

Hurtle Update

Had some free time at work today and did some quick math based off what a lot of people are running with stock axles and no mini-tubs.
I see a lot of 18x9.5 wheels with 5.5" backspacking and then a car with a 57" track width running 18x12s with 5.6" of backspacking. (my center point to WMS is going to be 3.95" wider on each end)
Based off my math if I wanted to run a similar outside distance with a 64.9" axle, I would need to get a 12in wheel at 9.38" backspacing to be the same fittiment. I do plan on rolling the rears to give more clearance. Based on the pictures I've seen though I may be able to knock 1" off the backspacing and have them poke out a bit more without issue.

Any thoughts on how badly I will be abusing my rear wheel bearings with 315/40/18 rear wheels at an 8.38" backspace?

[TOlsenAK]

Got my camshaft in, the holley 302-3 oil pan, and my high volume oil pump, should have the block done up to the heads by the end of the week

Truck oil pan vs the new holley pan. Forgive the rotated photo, seems to happen with phone uploads
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[ryeguy2006a]

May want to think twice about the high volume pump. I've heard where a lot of people have aeration issues and possible oil starvation issues at higher rpms.

[TOlsenAK]

I do remember reading a bit on how the wet sump systems didn't last long on the track without upgrades, which I have planned for later on in the build, im basically warming up to building a track ready engine/turbo combo later on, but for the first few years of the life of the car its going to be a performance street driven car only really so it will be only every so often I get into higher RPMs and only on occasion. I more was thinking in line of the valvetrain chatter for cold starts, as I am in Alaska so even in the spring and fall It'll be chillier than most places. It's the 10% increase volume over stock, but I can see people having more issues running the higher end version thats around a 33% increase over the stock pump.

I will say im still learning a lot of this, as this is my first engine build and the bits I have found and read said the Melling M296 pump would be pretty good for what im going for right now. Would love to read up on the aeration issues if you have any links to resources on it.

[TOlsenAK]

More Progress on getting the rear subframe mocked up before the final installation, lots of adjustments and measurements taken.

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[TOlsenAK]

Been super busy lately with college and wrapping up the semester with a capstone class, but graduation is in sight!

Basically I've just spent too much money in a short period of time, but have had almost no time to work on the car, so I've just gotten to pick away at the engine build:

Engine is mostly assembled now with what I have so far:

Block and Rotating Assembly:
-LQ4 Block Bored .065 over to a 4.065
-Stock LS3 Rods and Pistons
-LS7 Lifters
-Elgin Hydraulic Roller Camshaft .585/.585
-Holley 302-3 Oil Pan
-Melling M296 Oil Pump
-Trick Flow Timing Chain Damper Adapter Bracket
-LS Billet Aluminum Oil Diverter Barbell
-2009 Chevy Corvette Water Pump


Cylinder Heads
-823 Head casings
-PAC-1218 Springs,
-LS3 Rocker Arms and Stands - With Roller Trunion Kit Installed
-ARP Head bolt kit

Fuel Delivery:
-Stock LS7 Injectors

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These are just loosely installed so I can keep track of everything, I still have springs to change out.
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Still much to be done, like mount the heads, change out the springs, get my pushrod length measurements and the right size ordered, and then tighten everything down as required.

It's been a learning experience for sure as this is my first time doing any of this other than the two times I adjusted valves on my 2001 subaru, so big jump in what I'm dealing with.

[TOlsenAK]

Not a final weld in job, but what a great feeling though to have it be able to roll around on its own again after it being on stands most of the winter.


Full Extension of the rear suspension travel:
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Nevermind the body work that still needs to be done on the doors.... (its on my giant list of things to do!)

Next up will be to take a ton more measurements for selecting and mounting the rear coil overs, clamping in the tubs (for clearance measurements), checking for the angles/mounting for the rear diff and transmission, and probably a lot more.

Also have to build the mounts for the front end rack and pinion setup, since I don't feel like paying $1800 for the mount and rack setup when i can build my own and spend $500 on a decent rack and pinion that will work and give me easier replacement options down the road (I'll be able to just go to a NAPA or something and get one if I need it in a hurry vs. waiting for one to ship to me).

- - - Updated - - -

Here is how it sits with the suspension bottomed out all the way (no strut/spring setup installed).

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Still doesn't actually touch anything in the wheel wells.

Excited to get this thing all dialed in and finished with full welds and not just spot welds as we make adjustments.

[Sbeck09]

Well it goes lower than I thought it would when I first saw your final mounting height, but I will caution you to think about how much bump travel you are leaving the shocks when it sits at right height. I love how it looks, but just an area I've seen a ton of people not think about in the past. I take it you don't plan to have it quite as low as some of the other cars on here?

[ryeguy2006a]

Very interested to see what you came up with for a R&P steering setup.

[TOlsenAK]

I'm planning on having it set to have about an inch of wheel gap between the wheel and bottom of the fender which will give around 6-7in of rebound space to travel from what I've measured. Still playing around with the mounting height and may tuck it in another inch or two to give me more wiggle room on the compression travel distance, but i'm still waiting on my bushings for the rear diff to make sure we have proper tunnel clearance for the driveshaft. With that said, the suspension is going to be set up to be pretty tight, so it won't really be a massively comfortable ride compared to a normal car (probably similar to if you took a normal car and put on a set of coil overs on it) but it won't travel a massive amount. keep in mind when I change out the lower control arms it will allow the suspension to travel a little more than what you see for it being completely bottomed out.

Still a lot of work before its finalized in, but for sure a wise word of caution i'll put some more thought into. The coilover set up I have in mind so far will have a fully compressed length of around 14in and a full extended length of around 20.5in. From my estimations (still will be going through and taking more measurements here next week) will probably end up sitting at an adjustment level to have around 2-2.5in of bump travel and 3-4in of droop travel. I'm still doing more research and i might more set it up for a 50/50 split for the travel distance. Though I have read that a good DD rate is 60/40 (rebound/compression) for your suspension setup, so I've got a lot more measuring and dialing in to do.

Lot of what i've been reading shows a lot of coilover setups have around 3.5-7in of travel total, and from a few articles I've read, "Street/strip cars need roughly 40 percent of their shock travel for compression and 60 percent for rebound, as the extra extension assists in front-to-rear weight transfer."

With that said and a 6.5in travel coilover setup, you're looking to have around 2.5in of compression distance and 4in of rebound, which would sit the car about where I want it.

Idea of a few sources I've been looking at that do way better at explaining haha.

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/chassis-suspension/1002chp-how-to-pick-the-right-spring-rate/

I still have a lot to read up on getting my spring rate choice set correctly. As always this project is both me knocking off a bucket list goal and also to learn as much as I can!

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/tech-tips/bump-vs-droop-balancing-act/102407/page1/

https://www.hypercoils.com/spring-rate-calculator/

[TOlsenAK]

Very interested to see what you came up with for a R&P steering setup.

I should have more info and posting here in a few weeks on the steering setup, it seems like a pretty easy task to build mounts to really put any sort of car or truck rack and pinion in, depending on how it goes I may adjust this part of the build, but as it stands it might cost a total of $400 bucks for everything installed from tie rods to the steering column connection.

[TOlsenAK]

Looking like I want to run around a spring rate of around 200-225 for the rear from what I can tell

Used these to get a close estimate:

https://www.ridetech.com/info/tech/spring-rate-calculator/

https://www.ridetech.com/info/tech/vehicle-weights/

[TOlsenAK]

Been putting some thought more into my current wheel hub dilemma and ways to solve the issue and make life easier for me or possibly any future owner of the car if I someday sell it.

Currently, my rear hub pattern is the S550 pattern of 5x114.3, but the front hubs are still at a 5 X 4.75''.

I know I can get the front hubs re-drilled, the ass pain there though is whenever you get new rotors, you have to get them re-drilled or order custom made rotors if you want both rear and fronts to be the same hub pattern of 5x114.3 (which is what I'd rather go as it opens a lot more options up imo.

The other route I was thinking is just ordering later on some custom Forgeline wheels with the fronts having the Camaro 5 X 4.75'' pattern and the rears at the 5x114.3 but again, different hub patterns and they will require different lug sizes, as the 67 camaro stock is a 7/16-RH and the S550 is a M14 x 1.50. Hex Size: 13/16".

Any ideas for simple solutions? Something like a different hub swap for the front that is a more modern style spindle or hub setup that will mount with the stock upper and lower control arms?

[andrewb70]

Thin bolt on hub adapters that also change the bolt pattern.

Andrew

[Sbeck09]

I just ran into this debate when ordering new spindles on my project with an S550 IRS. I ended up with a Wilwood brake kit on GM A body spindles. The advantage here is the included hubs are duel pattern for both 5x4.5(mustang) and the GM 5x4.75. I just set mine up for the 4.5(114.3) pattern and mustang wheels bolt right up. No redrilling of anything required.

I'm personally not a fan of the adapters due to them not being as strong and adding more load leverage on the wheel bearings. But that is the easiest solution as far as bolting things together.

[TOlsenAK]

Yeah, I have no plans on using adapters of any kind, I want strength. I wonder if the A Body spindles would fit the camaro upper and lower control arms no problem and how much they might push the wheels out vs. the stock camaro setup. For now with the last few days thinking about it, I'm probably going to just revisit ideas here later and just get the rotors re-drilled for 5x114.3 until a later date, its about $90 to have a machine shop do it, which I'll probably get around by just always having an extra set on hand if I need to swap out my rotors later.

[TOlsenAK]

Got a bit of time the other day to thinker on the Camaro, finally installed the front brakes and stole a few larger wheels that would fit over the willwoods other than the 14in wheels it had on the front. Got a little more welding done on the rear end and took a bunch of measurements for getting rear coilovers ordered.

I'm thinking I'll end up going with the Ridetech Universal coilovers, single adjustable (not needing much more than that). Will have a 4.1'' Stroke, 10.13'' compressed height, 14.23'' extended with the ride height at 12.5'' extension. I'm taking a guess that for the rear (based off estimations) I'll run a spring rate of 300. Shocks are going to be mounted at a 70 degree angle with an estimated motion ratio of .833 and i'm guessing around 750lbs for corner weight.

I will say im curious to hear or see if anyone has done corner weights on their 67 Camaro, I can always change it out later though easily enough.

I will say i'm glad to have spend the time to help my friend install his lift, it's making things go much faster.
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Still waiting on my aluminum bushings for the rear differential and more progress can be made getting everything mocked up so we can get all the measurements and angles sorted out to get a custom driveshaft made. Will have to do more research to figure out driveshaft RPMs at its highest speed and the critical speed for the driveshaft itself. From what it looks like though I don't see having to do any tunnel modifications other than for the shift lever.

On the other note, It will slow down a bit on the Camaro for the next month or so, as my wife and I got a car for her that I will be trying to get painted and fixed up before her parents come visit us in North Pole, Alaska!
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67 Mustang Coupe with a 302 and 5 speed, will be painting it performance red with white stripes and updating the brakes, steering, trim pieces and a tune up and she'll be a solid clean driver.

[Sbeck09]

Looking good. I'm super jealous about you having a lift to use!

To answer your question, yes the A body spindles do mount right up.

[TOlsenAK]

I'll have to look into that route, no change in where the wheel is positioned in the wheel well with those?

[Sbeck09]

I'll have to look into that route, no change in where the wheel is positioned in the wheel well with those?

I can't promise you that. It would also depend on the hub you run. If you go the Wilwood route like I did, they have all the measurements displayed right on their website.

[TOlsenAK]

Finally another update, got the rear suspension finally installed, ride height is pretty damn close to where I want it for the rear, now all that's left for the metal work is to weld back in the trunk, weld in the mini-tubs, make a transmission mount, and close out everything and its on to finishing the body work and getting started with paint.

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Still need to trim some off the mounts, we built them a bit fat, will probably take another inch or so off them and it'll give me easier access to the adjustment knob.
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Math worked out good with all the measurements and calculations for the ride height, will do some more adjusting later but that was the initial installation.
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Super happy with how the rear end install turned out, still going to add a bit more bracing between the rear two pillars just for extra strength.


Also got some more work done on the engine, its mostly together and just need to paint the valve covers and its basically there minus the accessories!
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Been spending more time on this beast, just about ready for paint. Been a super productive last month or so now that I finished my degree and my extremely patient wife lets me spend quite a bit of time on the cars.
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[TOlsenAK]

Finally have the car back after taking a good chunk of the summer to work on that mustang, learned a ton on the paint and body work aspect of it and it turned out pretty well, sold it a month ago for a small profit. Time to get back to working on the Camaro!

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[TOlsenAK]

Finally back at the grind (literally) and realizing that I need to redo the mounts for the rear sub frame, but luckily for me i'm starting this summer with a lot more tools at my disposal.

Right now i'm going through and removing the last bits of the old full trunk pan now that I have the new one in, glad I am since everything will mate up much nicer in the end and its really been some amazing practice for my metalworking skills.

The downside though is that after spending a few weeks really looking at the car and taking a bunch of measurements, I realized the mounts were not as square as I would like them. The back two are not mounted evenly for that matter (my own fault for not just doing it myself and having a friend weld it up). Not saying his work wasn't sufficient, but i'm a perfectionist for a final product, and hell, why not tuck it up a bit more for better clearance.

Once I get my current list of tedious metal replacement accomplished, I'll toss the car on the rotisserie I picked up and get the sub frame mounted closer to the body, while still keeping the stock trunk pan and fuel tank mounting.

Current Metal replacement To Do:
-Full trunk pan
-LH Quarter Panel
-Outer Wheel House Panels (LH and RH)
-Trunk stiffeners (LH and RH)
-Trunk Lower side panels (LH and RH)
-Rear Body Panel
-Rear inner valance panel

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Hopefully will be doing a better job of posting pictures and progress in the future, last summer I barely touched this thing, but the Mustang ended up with a new home and I got to do a full paint job for the first time ever.

[TANKMASTERJ]

I used real deal steels trunk pan they sell pre narrowed for mini tubs with pre notched frame rails already welded to them. You just install it and then the mini tubs. It worked great

[TOlsenAK]

Yea, I wish I went that route, but with how I reinforced my frame rails it's a bit different so I'd have to probably have trimmed that up as well. Lot of learning going on for sure on this build, but then this started as my first restoration/mod build and has just snowballed into a lot more. I will say I'm miles ahead skill wise from when I started and just now spending a lot of time fixing my initial mistakes haha.

It's all a big learning experience and a really fun journey so far building this car.

[TOlsenAK]

Well, spent the last two days trimming and test fitting multiple times with the full trunk pan, now im slowly added in other panels and temp installing them with Cleco fasteners to see how it all fits together.

Realizing though I need some different clamps (and a lot more of them) to really get the trunk pan installed and fitted right before I weld it in. Also going to pick up/make a few plum bobs to make sure everything is nice and square and make any adjustments needed prior to welding pieces in.

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My plan is (once I have it squared and flushed and fitted right) is to weld in the new trunk pan first, followed by the rear lower valance panel, outer wheel wells, inner wheel wells, Quarter Panel, Trunk deck lid panel, and then last the tail panel, checking for as flush as a fit as possible. So far without even making any cuts or trimming anything off (other than the trunk pan) it all seems to fit together decently.


Would love any good tips or tricks to make this go easier though and if anyone knows a good way other than measuring off the frame rails to check for squareness I'd love to hear em.

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Trunk pan and left Wheel well put into place, clamped and cleco'd in place.

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Test fit of the rear valance panel with the trunk just sitting in (no clamps yet, which will change a decent amount)

[TOlsenAK]

Just used a plum bob and marked on the floor with tape and checked square for the trunk pan against the car. just eyeballing it I was 1/8th an inch off from square, gave it a few love taps and now its right on the money!

Waiting on some long clamps and then will be welding in the trunk pan, Waiting for the weld through primer to dry to weld everything in, so hopefully by next week I will be working on getting the car onto my rotisserie finally and finishing up the left quarter panel.

Any recommendations for those that might read this on what a good way to mount the car to the rear is or have a decent design for a rear mount? not sure if I should use the leaf spring rear mounts or go with bolt on where the bumper mounts go, any pro/con to each style?

[TOlsenAK]

Not too exciting for most people probably, Most of the quarter panels are welded in, the hard part though I've been fighting with has been the new doors, which I hope the results below speak for themselves on the end result (gapping still needs to happen, but they're flush with the quarter panels now!)

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Had to go out and pick up a tungsten carbide burr set to make it happen since the new doors were a bit off on where the metal was cut for the hinge mounts. Took a full day of work it all seemed to click together and I've got way better lines than I expected.
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What Next hurtle will be the shaved drip rails and fixing that mess. Long story short, the drip rails were rusting and I tried to save myself having to do a roof when I first started and had zero ideal of metal working (i've definately come a long way since I started on my skills) The way it sits though I'm not happy with it and want it to look like it was made that way from the factory, so if anyone who reads this has any ideas or insight I'd love a little help on how you might tackle it. It's not smooth or even and im not sure where to begin shaping that into a nice smooth line that follows the body contours well.

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[TOlsenAK]

Made some major progress the last 6 months, took a bit of time off to go get my Commission with the Air Force (now a 2nd Lt) after an 18 year enlisted career.

On to the car though:

Installed a Ridetech tru-turn steering package
Installed a Borgeson quick ratio steering box (12.7:1)
Installed a Ridetech 4-Link setup
Installed a narrowed Currie 9in (54.75in) rear end with 4.11 twintrac diff
Installed rear brake calipers
Test fit engine with stock engine mount perches and dirty dingo slider LS swap mounts

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This week I plan on ordering the transmission package finally to mate up with and make the last few cuts/mods needed to the trans tunnel if needed. Going to go with a tremec Magnum XL 2.66/1.78/1.3/1,0/.8/.63 ratio. Hopefully wont need to do more than cut the space for the floor shifter.

[TOlsenAK]

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[ryeguy2006a]

Looking great, I was wondering what happened to this project. Was the IRS not worth swapping?

[TOlsenAK]

Ran into way too many headaches with the width of it and for how I wanted the car to sit with the wheel and tire setup it just wasn't going to work. with how it would sit in the mini tubbed wheel well area I'd basically be forced to run 20in rear wheels to clear the inside sway bar mounting while still fitting a wheel inside the wheel well lip. I think I have pictures stashed somewhere of it with a mock up.

[BonzoHansen]

Looking good. I do enjoy what appear to be snow tires for rollers. :)

Did you buy the rear housing with the RT brackets already installed?

[TOlsenAK]

I did, I got the whole package through RideTech all at the same time so it made sense and alleviated the stress of having to figure out the angle to weld everything on. Plus there isn't any powdercoating where im at within 300 miles =/


Also, 100% those are snow tires on the rollers :rotfl: I do live in North Pole, Alaska haha

[BonzoHansen]

Love it! :)

[TOlsenAK]

Well, bit of excitement and sadness with this update.

Good News:
My Tremec Magnum XL from Silversport Transmission arrived...
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Bad News:
I cracked the aluminum bell-housing being dumb, ordered a new one, both times when trying to tap in the bell-housing offset measuring tool. Luckily I didn't at all mess with my trans yet. Did manage to at least learn how to do the offset measurements to get it within tolerance (both bell-housings were out of tolerance, was surprised by how much)

Even worse than the cracked bell-housings... I bought the block from someone who said it was from a 2002, turns out it was a 99-2000 LQ4 block, which means it has a longer crankshaft, so I have a crankshaft replacement in my future =/

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For those that are looking at using an LQ4 block, if you have the long crank, you're super limited on what transmissions will fit. Got a work trip next week so engine disassembly time will have to wait, I did at least get it on the stand and its starting to warm up so I'll have more garage space to work with.

[ryeguy2006a]

Someone out there makes a spacer that you can use to go between the block and bellhousing that allows everything to work. Much better than getting a new crankshaft.

[TANKMASTERJ]

Someone out there makes a spacer that you can use to go between the block and bellhousing that allows everything to work. Much better than getting a new crankshaft.
I personally used a .625 custom made spacer. A machine shop friend made for me at 200.00. I did mine for 2 reason
1 i wanted to used the large roller bearing in the outer end of my crank instead of the needle bearing deep in the crank.
2 I wanted an LS9 dual plate clutch with Katech aluminum flywheel conversion from LS7. So because of the height of the dual clutch, the lack of room in quicktime bell housing, and the overall height of the tilting 6000 throw out bearing I need .625 more space. So rather than stack spacers that you can buy I had one machined. Everything fit perfect.
Call me crazy but the mcleod clutch for my car setup at the time was 1200 bucks and 10 week wait. The LS9 clutch was off the shf and about 500+.