68 Camaro build

[Smitham32803]

So we have another 68 Camaro build thread.

a little background... I use to have a 67 Camaro, that I built 20 but I had to sell it. No mater how many other cars I have had since I always missed my Camaro. Fueling the want was my recent racing hobby. My friend and I built a road racing corvette that we have raced at Daytona and Sebring.

So these two cars are part of the inspiration for my new build. A first gen Camaro that can work on a track.

[Smitham32803]

So after searching I found my perfect foundation. A 68 Camaro with all metal fixed and a speedtech front sub frame.171923171924

[Smitham32803]

Just got the car back from the painters this weekend..171925171926171927

[slimjim]

what an awesome start, nothing but the fun stuff ahead

[Smitham32803]

Made some progress on the build. I picked up a LS1 today along with the corvette brake system.172429172430172431172432

[Smitham32803]

It has been some time since i have updated so I thought I would share some more.

So I found some new wheels, C5 Zo6 wheels (18x10.5 for the rear with 295's and 18x9.5 front with 275's). I think that I am probably going to change the front out to match the rear and when 295 squared on the car.

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[Smitham32803]

Then after getting the wheels it was time to take out the rear end for refurbishment. this is the last of the old part to the car everything else was replaced or cleaned up. Also while working on the rearend thought it would be a good idea to mini-tub the car...

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[Smitham32803]

After I got this all done i thought it would be a good idea to make something safer to hold the car while i worked on it. So i made some wheel boxes. this will allow me to safely get under the car to spray Raptor liner on the entire car. After that is done I will install the new 3" lower rear leaf springs, sub frame connectors and then start running the brake and fuel lines. 190589190590190591190592

[grease]

I like the look of the Z06 wheels, did you have to use wheel spacers to get them to work?

[Smitham32803]

for the wheels I have a wheel spacer in the rear (if I remember correctly it is either 1" or 1-1/2"). Currently on the front I do not have a spacer, I think that this is only possible because of the Speedtech suspension. I still might add another spacer to the front to push the wheel further out to the edge of the fender, but that is more of a "B" priority.

[ryeguy2006a]

Very nicely done!!

[Smitham32803]

I have slowly made progress on the car lately and I know I have not posted for a while (it aligns with the amount of work that has taken place). The next step was to get the rear end all set up properly. I went through a lot of back and forth trying to figure out what to do (stick with Leaf springs or go with 4 link). At the end of the day, I ended up going with a 4 link (the Helix brand one).

I did not document this too much, but I will share my opinion on it. With the low price point I knew it would not be a turn-key solution without any issues. This is a decent starting point to build from and at the end of the day I probably (maybe, if I’m lucky) will still end up under the cost of other systems out there (not counting all of my labor re-doing things).

First off, the brackets appeared to be beefy and engineered well (they all fit as planned and lined up with the frame like they were supposed to). The Links well let’s just say I am only using the links for mock-up. For my car they are almost out of adjustment and too short in my opinion to add any force to. In addition to this the links have one fixed end and one adjustable end. This sucks my new links will have a left hand and right hand treaded ends so you can make adjustments on the car easy and correctly.

The coil overs, well we all know they also sucks (should have bought without them), they are good mock-ups and hold the car up for rolling around the shop and with my track record that will be a little while till I hit the road anyways. Also, the Panhard bar, will the original planned location does not work well, and I had issues with this too, nothing some adjusting, and welding can’t fix, but still not an out of the box solution.

With that all said the car sits nice and is on it’s way.

[Smitham32803]

When I first purchased the car, I came with all of the glass for the car including new windshield and rear window along with all of the trim. My plan was to always have blacked out trim (as I wanted to eliminate most of the chrome on the car), so I started on the trim. Getting it all cleaned upped, prepped and painted black. Then I had to install all of the new studs (or screws to replace the studs) from the new pane installations.

This weekend we made a big cosmetic step and installed the glass back into the car. This was not that hard of a job, but it makes such a large mental jumpstart on the project.202743202742202744202745

[Smitham32803]

For the drivetrain I originally had huge plans. I wanted to have a stout LS with heads, cam and even a turbo all backed up by a Tremec TKX. As time has passed, I have realized that my dreams have out passed my budget (or what I am willing to spend on the car at this time). Since my car has sat for more than a year with little progress, I have realized that while I have been waiting for this dream to come true, I am missing out just experiencing my car and getting out there and driving it so reality has made this more of a 2 phased project.

Phase 1 will be to install a good LS1 from a 2003 Corvette and I am going to stick with a manual transmission. So, to do this I found a good deal on Quick-time bellhousing with a LS7 flywheel and clutch. Next, I ended up getting a good Muncie 4 speed from a friend (this will keep with the sprit of the car since it was always a 4-sped car).

So, we will begin Phase 1 shortly within the next few weeks.

[ryeguy2006a]

That's a great plan! I was guilty of the same thing. Scope creep will really delay a project. I'll be curious how you approach the LS and 4 speed setup.

[NCSU68]

Nice work! Nice Car. I hope you get it running soon!

[SD67]

Great job on the black out of the trim, sure blends nicely. I am considering this myself on my build. Did you scratch the paint on the trim when the windows were installed?

[Smitham32803]

The trim held up good during installation. I was originally going to powder coat the trim but I got impatient and decided jut to paint it. If it gets chips in time i will just remove and powder coat them then.

[TANKMASTERJ]

Looking great. I'm a sucker for a white first gen.
Jason

[flyinhawaiian]

Thanks for the post! Looking good������ Great motivation for me. I have a 68 I started 18 years ago. My plan to to get it on the road by the end of 2023.

[p51mus]

Beautiful car!!!!! But those wheels,,,, just ruin the whole looks of the car, IMO. Vette wheels never look good on a Camaro. 18 or 20" new billet Ralleye wheels with tall center caps would look killer on a white car. But I love the white!!!

[Smitham32803]

So I was able to make a little more progress over the last couple weeks.

Before we installed the motor i wanted to make sure we had the transmission and clutch all figured out before we installed into the car. Since the new mission is to get the car together the initial plan is to install a Muncie 4 speed (will later change to a Tremec TKX). To install the old 4 speed to the LS1 i am using a quick time bellhousing with a LS7 clutch and flywheel actuated by a Tilton throw-out bearing . 203672203671203677203672203678203679203680

[Smitham32803]

Once clutch and Trans was all solved it was time to install the motor and trans into the car. This was a big day and makes a marked improvement on the progress of the project. We installed the motor first then trans from under the car (this went pretty easy since we did a test fit with everything out of the car). Once the motor was in i realized that the trans mount i purchased for my front sub frame was not correct and would not work with my set-up, so we have to build our own. I ended up using round tube to allow the exhaust to run as tight as possible to the floor. 203681203682203683203684

[TANKMASTERJ]

What white is that? As you will see in my build my 67 is white and strikingly close to it yours in color. Needless to say I love your car lol. It's beautiful.
Jason

[eversaul86]

Love the progress. I can’t wait to see updates on this build!
Martin

[C Presley]

Dude, like the stance and the Z06 Wheels! Please keep postings pics with updates.

[Smitham32803]

Jason: Thanks for the kind words, i have followed on your build too (the cars are similar for sure). Regarding the color code that is one of my regrets, i don't have a real paint code i just asked for the brightest white possible. It looks great and is what i wanted but now i don't have a paint code and now it won't be easy to get any touch-up paint.

Everyone else thanks for the support...

[ryeguy2006a]

Congrats on getting the motor and trans installed. Remind me again what ECU are you running?

[Smitham32803]

I plan on running the Holey Terminator X. This is the next major purchase for the car. Once I have that i will jump in on the wiring and get that all installed and set up.

[jrhyno]

Hi, what front end components did you use? Did you upgrade the suspension with a subframe from one of the manufacturers, or did you add specific things?