1968 Camaro

[Woodsie]

I've been lurking around here since I got this car about a year and a half ago. Since I've got nothing but spare time right now I figure I might as well do this. When I got the car I was looking for something in pretty good shape, that wouldn't need too much work that I would keep mostly original. I found this one and bought it the night I went to look at it. Lesson learned...don't buy a car without looking at it in the daylight. As you already guessed, it had rust. The truth is that I knew better. I had been looking for one for weeks and got impatient. Making the repairs isn't a big deal, it just adds time that I wasn't counting on. This has been a pretty slow moving project and I haven't taken as many pictures as I should, so it won't take too long to get you all caught up. Here it is as I brought it home.
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[Woodsie]

Well it didn't take long at all for me to decide that the 400 small block that came in the car wouldn't cut it. So I found a great deal on an LS3 and TR6060 out of a 2015 Camaro with only 15k miles on it. I guess I didn't take any pictures before I took everything apart. I couldn't believe how much stuff they sent. It seemed like I got half of the car. At this point the plan was still to rebuild the front brakes, add discs in the rear, new bushings and ball joints, etc. Just get it street worthy.

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[Woodsie]

While I was cleaning everything up I realized that the subframe was a little more banged up than I realized. Then when went to install the Global West solid body mounts I saw that it was in pretty bad shape. So out came the subframe. Somewhere about this time I decided that I needed to learn how to weld, so I bought a Hobart 210 MVP and started learning how to use it. Go easy on me, I'm still learning! I made those repairs and welded up all of the seams while was at it.

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[Woodsie]

The floor needed some work. When I started I was just going to do 2 or 3 patches. Then I decided to do the whole passenger side. After messing around with it for a while I figured out that the butt welds were going to be a whip, and I probably wouldn't be satisfied with how they looked when done anyway. So I went ahead and cut the whole thing out and put in a 1 piece pan.174267174268174269174270174271

[Woodsie]

Somewhere along the way my plan for the car changed drastically. I would have really liked to get a new subframe but that just wasn't going to fit in the budget. So here's a list of parts that I went with:

Speedtech GT suspension kit
-upper and lower control arms
-Chicane coilover conversion kit
-Viking coilovers
-torque arm
-trailing arms
-front and rear sway bars
AFX spindles
Detroit Speed 600 steering box
Wilwood Aero 6 front brakes
Wilwood Aero 4 rear brakes
Detroit Speed mini tubs
Detroit Speed sfc's
US MAG PT3 wheels 18x9, 18x11
275/35R18, 315/30R18

Oh, the rear end. I decided to stick with the 12 bolt that came in the car. It will be narrowed with a True Trac, 3.73's, 33 spline Strange axles, and MillerBuilt floaters.

[Woodsie]

Tired of typing for tonight but here's one last pic. I'm very happy with how the wheels turned out. I went with US Mags because I have a longstanding relationship with the manufacturer. Forged, multi-piece, and powder coated the color of my choice, Storm Grey.

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[Smooth67]

Good stuff Woodsie! Going to be a very nice ride and those wheels will give the look for sure!

[Woodsie]

Good stuff Woodsie! Going to be a very nice ride and those wheels will give the look for sure!

Thanks!

[F-Body International]

Cool build! Love seeing the DIY!

[slimjim]

I love a good snowball, it's going to be a great project

[Woodsie]

I'm sure some of this is not in the order that it was actually done. I really wish I'd done a better job of taking pictures and keeping better notes. Oh well.

After making the repairs to the subframe I wanted to get it to powdercoat. One thing left to do before that could happen..the Chicane brackets. I did the cutting and prep work but I really wanted them TIG welded so I got my buddy Justin to help with that. He is very good at what he does and I will be relying on his help quite a bit as the project progresses.

I'm not sure why I'm having so much trouble with that first picture. Tried to fix it several times.

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[Woodsie]

Cool build! Love seeing the DIY!

Thanks! I'm having fun with it.

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I love a good snowball, it's going to be a great project

Yeah, it's funny how that happens. Thanks

[Woodsie]

Next I decided to start on the trunk pan as it was pretty rusty, caused by a bad leak from rust damage around the rear window. After I cut the pan out I decided to pause on that and get started on the mini tubs. Doing that so that I can get the wheels under it so that we can measure for the rear end. Justin will be building it. I had a difficult time getting the correct bend on the closeout for the frame rails so I ended up cutting it into 3 sections. Once I finish welding everything I'll grind it down so it looks good before undercoat or whatever I decide to use.

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[Woodsie]

And this is where I'm at right now. Over the next few days I will hopefully get the tubs and trunk finished. Justin will be starting on the rear end soon.

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[Woodsie]

Can't wait to see these behind those wheels.

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[Woodsie]

I forgot to mention earlier that shortly after I got the new motor we went ahead and put a Texas Speed stage 3 cam in it. Along with their valve springs, pushrods, trunion kit, and Melling oil pump.

[ryeguy2006a]

Love this car and great job with the frame!!

[Woodsie]

Love this car and great job with the frame!!

Thanks! I remember reading through your whole thread a few months ago. Great work.

[Gmachine1911]

Nice build! I’m liking the patina on the car...it’d be awesome if you were able to keep it as you fix everything on the body. The frame’s gonna look great when you get it assembled! Keep up the good work!

[Woodsie]

Nice build! I’m liking the patina on the car...it’d be awesome if you were able to keep it as you fix everything on the body. The frame’s gonna look great when you get it assembled! Keep up the good work!

Thank you! Yeah the thought of leaving the paint as is occurred to me but I just don’t think it will work. Too many repairs to make. And I’ll most likely be replacing the header panel and a fender. And probably the hood as well...I’m not liking the SS hood for this build. I’m very undecided on the color I’ll paint it. If I had to decide today it will either be white or the original Grotto blue. But there’s a good chance I end up going a completely different direction before it’s time to make that call.

[ryeguy2006a]

Nice build! I’m liking the patina on the car...it’d be awesome if you were able to keep it as you fix everything on the body.

I was thinking the same thing, but that last picture I saw where he scuffed it all down. Figured there was more to the story.

[lbsurfer11]

Lots of great progress! keep it up.

[Woodsie]

I haven't gotten a whole lot done on the car over the last 6 months or so. Covid has pretty much crushed my business, so I've been working a 2nd job just to try to pay the bills. I'll try to get back on here in the next few days and bring you up to speed on everything else, but I figured I'd show off the rear end a little. Justin did an awesome job. We used the 12 bolt that came in the car. Narrowed it, welded up the Speedtech brackets, welded up the MillerBuilt floaters, put in a TrueTrac, 3.73's, and 33 spline Strange axles (no pics of those), and got the Wilwood Aero 4's on. Justin wanted to add the bracing, which I think turned out really cool. He built the sway bar brackets into those.

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[kmc3420]

Nice progress, the tire and wheel combo is spot on!! Looks awesome.

[Motown 454]

Sweet job on the rear,beautiful welds I like the way it looks from the back.

[Woodsie]

Nice progress, the tire and wheel combo is spot on!! Looks awesome.

Thanks! I’m really happy with how they turned out.

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Sweet job on the rear,beautiful welds I like the way it looks from the back.

Thank you! Yeah, Justin is by far the best welder that I know. Very talented guy and he doesn’t charge me nearly what he should.

[Woodsie]

Ok, time to catch up a bit. The car had some rust issues in the rear quarters, in the rear window channel, and in the trunk weatherstrip channel. My plan all along was to tackle those when I got confident enough with my welding. Between work and life I just wasn't able to put much time into the car. And then I had a project come up at the house and it was a good time to get the car out of the garage for a while. So after some research I settled on taking the car to Riggs Fabrication and Restoration in Justin, TX for some help. This turned out to be a great decision. Jay and Shari Riggs have a great team of guys. It's a first class operation. The quarters were the main focus. At first anyway...

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[Woodsie]

Then I figured that since it was there I'd ask them to take care of some other stuff for me. First, I had them shave the drip rails. Jay asked me if I wanted them smooth, or with a little ridge. I left that part up to them and I'm glad I did. They put a little "lip" on them. Just gives it a little something extra I think. Then I thought it would be cool if they could smooth the firewall for me. They had an extremely high end Firebird that they were working on and they put a design on the firewall. I thought it looked awesome so I asked if we could do something similar on mine. They asked what I wanted it to look like. Again I left that part completely up to them. And again I was not disappointed.191025191026191027191028

[Woodsie]

They then set the driveline angle, and cut and modified the trans tunnel. I also asked them to go ahead and weld in the DSE subframe connectors for me. They also cleaned up some of my welds on the floor and trunk pans, and gave the same treatment to my welds on the tubs. Then seam sealed everything. Oh yeah, they also replaced a dented outer rocker panel on the driver side.
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[Woodsie]

Last thing was to hang all of the new sheetmetal on the front. No time was spent gapping because that just wasn't in the budget yet. Here it is back in the garage. Now I can get back to work on the stuff I'm more suited to do. And now I'll start saving for paint.
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Oh yeah, stating the obvious at this point but I went with 67 quarters and fenders because I wanted the marker lights gone.

[Jk918]

Looks killer, awesome work

[Woodsie]

Looks killer, awesome work

Thank you!

[ryeguy2006a]

Great progress!! Should be a beast when you are done.

[Woodsie]

Great progress!! Should be a beast when you are done.

Thanks man, I appreciate it!!

[rickpaw]

Looks great. I spied Tx plate, which part of the state are you in?

[Kuhlhaus]

Following along!

Cheers!

[Woodsie]

Looks great. I spied Tx plate, which part of the state are you in?

Thank you! I’m in Fort Worth.

[Woodsie]

Following along!

Cheers!

Thanks!

[CeeBee]

Hey Woodsie- saw your post in the classifieds and would like to talk to you about your Camaro- I am new to the forum so don't have permissions to reply there- is there a way I can contact you directly?
Thanks!
Clayton

[72srcool]

I can't reply to your for sale post. I would like to talk to about a possible trade. You can call me 765 274-6402. Thanks Lance.

[72srcool]

I have a very nice 71 C10 shortbed fleetside with an LS swap that I would consider trading.

[Raffman]

https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/139397-FS-1965-El-Camino-Autocross-Pro-Tour