Another Moneypit '68 Camaro

[nebdrummer]

Well, I'm getting back into the game. I've tossed around enough money into my old '50 chevy pickup, and its time to do something different. This is the exact car in high-school, I never thought would leave the hands of my best friends dad. It was his childhood hot rod, a solid roller big block that spins "8200rpm" that was built in thr late 70s. lol. In the early 2000s, he traded a 55 chevy sedan for a pretty decent paint job, they dropped the big block in, and there it sat since then. I had actually planned on driving to Detroit to pick up another 68 with all new sheet metal for a steal of a deal. He got wind that I was picking one up, and I gave him crap for making me drive 1500 miles round trip to pick up the same car he's got. He was pretty intoxicated and his son, my friend, pushed the subject of me just buying his for a few grand more. Lol so he called me and offered it. I was ecstatic. So, I turned around, loaded it up, and now its mine with a ttitle in hand!

Pretty sure the big block is coming out as I'd be changing everything about it anyways. But its in real good shape with just a few tiny pinholes in the floor pans. As cheap as a full floor is, I might just go that route.


190489190490190491190492

[nebdrummer]

Plans are going to be pretty repetitive for what you guys are used to, but a fun 68 that can have fun at the track, and cruise all day long on the interstate with a stereo and air conditioning has always been a dream.

I talked with Rodney Prouty with Suspension Geek, and he pretty much sealed the deal on what its getting.

-Ride techs rear bolt in 4 link kit with the viking double adjustable coilovers,
-DSE deep tubs,
-ride tech front suspension as well with the tru-turn front end.
-big brakes brakes front and rear
-275/30/18 and 18x10 fronts
-335/30/18 and 18x12 rears.
-500ish hp LS and a T56.
-vintage air
-not sure on wheel brand, but Forgeline gA3 would be the No.1 choice, but man! $$$.
-smoothed firewall, possibly a new full floor,
-lizard skin sound and ceramic spray
-stock deluxe interior
-paint, will probably stay purple until last as I love purple (as you can see from my 50), but I'm letting the wife decide a bunch of the stuff on this one.

[oldschoolmuscle]

you mean your not keeping the rear wheel setup and airshocks lol ? looks like a solid start for sure.

[nebdrummer]

Lol, I'm surprised they still hold air! This next week I might try to fire up the big block just to see what it sounds like. Then, the front clip is getting taken off, motor out, subframe off, and ill start on some of the metal repair to get it ready for undercoating.

[thumper877]

Mabye it shows my age but always loved side pipes. :)

[Motown 454]

The Camaro looks pretty nice, The paint on the 50, Wow nice.

[nebdrummer]

Thanks man! The 50 has been with me for just over 20 years now. Hopeing to be done spending money on it, and start tuning and enjoying it. I have a set of 12.88" wilwoods that ill be throwing on over winter though.

Little rundown, fully forged 370 lq4, custom TKM cam, 417 motorsports air to water intercooler, holley EFI, rmvb th400, rear mount billet s491 forced inductions turbo, e85, and planning on a conservative 1000whp, but should have 1300+ capability. It cruises around like any other hot rod, its just really too loud.

[Steve68]

You HAVE to leave those sidepipes on there!!!

Really nice truck,

[nebdrummer]

Got about 10 hours in on this thing. Made a cradle tomroll around the body, but quickly found out I'm gonna need to get it on a rotissary. Oh well, now I can fit all my toys in the garage. Motor, trans, and side pipes are gone and sold, the front subframe is square and clean. I got the floor all cut out. Spot welds all ground smooth, and its got a coating of weld thru on it awaiting the new floor. Ill be ordering the full floor, seat supports, firewall, and the dse deep tubs probably all today. Just need to find out who's got the best price and availability.

[Camarox11]

Call Kim at Matt's Classic Bowties - 866-628-8746 They are are pleasure to deal with.

[nebdrummer]

Yep, I talked with a lady at mcb. She was great to talk with. She actually suggested calling classic industries for the floor because they don't stock the floors currently and their shipping price makes it almost double of classic industries.

[nebdrummer]

Sheetmetal showed up!! Full floor, seat supports, AC firewall as that was the only one in stock, and some dse tubs.

191820
191821

Floor is in and welded, minus the frame rails. Ill wait to weld those after I get it on the rotissary to undercoat it. I stitch welded the top of the floor for added strength of a weld in more places than just the spot welds. Firewall is 90% cut out, and i should have that welded back in fully yomorrow. Then on to the tubs!

191822

[nebdrummer]

Got a set of 315s for mock up and roll around.

I REALLY wanna make these fit the FRONT. And get a set of 335s for the rear. I know cpp was in the process of making a weld in kit for making a 315 fit the front of a stock subframe, but scrapped the idea. Anyone know why?

I will be going with the full RideTech True Turn. I'm down to cut and fab some tire room if need be, but is it that simple?

I've also seen guys on the 67-68 camaros fit 335s in the rear with dse tubs, but they say something extra is supposed to be done. Any tips to prepare for there?

[ill steez]

If you trim the entire fender lip on the rear (and reinforce it with round stock) you should be able to fit a 335 in the rear. I'm fitting 335 on the rear of a 67 without any issues.

[nebdrummer]

Good to know. Might try to cut the lip down without having to do any paint work. Gonna try to leave the body and paint alone for a few years and run it this way. As its a 20 footer. I will end up doing at least thr passenger rocker and a hood when the time comes, but I just wanna make this thing curve while staying fairly budget minded.

Firewall is fully welded in with the seam fully welded. I just gotta make a patch for the factory ac hole.

191845191846


Its looking like BC Forged LE10 or TD01 will be the wheel choice. Still gotta decide on wheel widths.

The Wilwood 12.88" 6R fronts and 4R rears just showed up, but I gotta hit the road for a few weeks, so I can't play with those.

[Jaden Young]

This classic car is slowly getting back to life. I can't wait to see its wheels mounted in the new set of tires

[nebdrummer]

Well, I've been gone for a while, so progress is minimal. But, I did get the brakes in. Wilwood 12.88", 6 piston fronts with the 1pc rotor, and 4 piston rears with the 2 piece rotors. Should be more than enough to get things started.

Also started on the deep tubs today. Only a few hours in, but hopefully ill have em all cut out and the new ones ready to go in tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Also found out today that the guy who did the body work on this completely botched the quarter repair. So, when this gets a paint job, it will be getting both quarters, both outer wheel tubs, both outer rockers, and a roof skin. Smh. Pig in lipstick.

[ryeguy2006a]

Looking great! Wow you work quickly! Take a bunch of pictures if you can when you install the DSE mini-tubs. I'm planning to do mine this winter.

[nebdrummer]

Thanks! I try to get a good 3-4 solid work days every month. The tubs are sure taking longer than I'd hoped, but I'm taking my time not to rush it.

Still have some minor trimming to do on the rear slope of the shock tower, but its close. When I clamp the tubs top pinchweld to the factory pinchweld, theres almost 3/16 gap from front to back. So that will be perfect when I weld in the 1/8" plate patches. Currently as it sits, theres roght at 14.5" of clearance from the tub to the inside lip of the wheel well.

Only part I dont care for is how huge the gap turned out to be at the rear corner. I followed the template and directions to a T, but theres about an inch gap at the corner ill have to fab up. And the fitament front the underside at the rear pinchweld is kinda wonkey, but I'll make it work.

[John McIntire]

Nice work! Love to see all the progress pics. Looks like you started with a pretty nice candidate.

[nebdrummer]

Thank you! Yeah, it definetly looks better in picture than in person. Notice in the wheelhouse picture with the tape measure, there are no spot welds. I didn't notice that until 3 days ago. The outer wheelhouse is all rusted to hell, and whats left of the outer wheelhouse is just urethaned to the outer quarter skin, which is also a crappy repair on the lower half and wheel well arch. Smh. It will do for now as it doesn't effect any of the inner work that I'm currently doing g. It will all be replaced when I redo the paint job down the road. As long as the outer doesn't fall off. Lol

[nebdrummer]

Nothing has really gotten done on the camaro as of lately because we're listing our house for sale this week. So if any of you are looking to move to the Omaha nebraska area, and have a badass garage, hit me up!

I did however finally get to the dragstrip with the old pickup. I ran my first 5 in the 1/8th mile and drove it home round trip of 75 miles, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Especially with it being almost 4200lbs. Shes a hefty pig.

193677193678

Hoping to still get the tubs in, and floor coated in qnd out, and maybe even the rear suspension in, so I can put it back to a roller until our next home is built. I hate moving.

[ryeguy2006a]

Really sweet truck man!

[nebdrummer]

Really sweet truck man!

Thanks man! And thanks for the seats!! One slow step closer to a dream. House sold in 3 days, which is awesome and ****ty. All projects get to be put on hold for a year until the next house is built. But, were building the next one on 10.5 acres, so a decent shop will be in the works too.

Set of deluxe buckets to be recovered!!

[ryeguy2006a]

Those are a great looking pair of seats! Glad that they are going to a good home.

[Alwhite00]

Car is looking great. Great fab work. I can't help but wonder why you just didn't get the Detroit all new metal car over this one seeing as it sounds like you are now planning on replacing all of the metal.

Great build thread.

[nebdrummer]

If youre talking about a dynacorn body, i thought about it, but

1, I'll still be into this one (without the quarters), new floor and firewall, tubs, for around $12,500, with bumpers, glass, grill, light fixtures, seats, a 12 bolt, front frame, and pained to where I can enjoy it before tossing quarters on if and when I do.

2, I've heard stories about people thinking the bodies are **** overall, and not being able to title them properly, and sell them properly.

And 3, this one has a little bit of sentimental value as I worked on it in high-school.

[Alwhite00]

No. You said in the beginning you were buying a car in Detroit with all new metal for a steal of a deal then this one became available.

[nebdrummer]

Ahh, I gotcha. Yeah, it was kind of a spur of the moment purchase when i found the one in Detroit, and 2 days after that, I was leaving for work for 2 weeks. So, the almost 30hour round trip and fuel, for right around the same purchase price, and picking this one up litterally across the road from where I parked my enclosed trailer, and the sentimental attatchment. But yeah,, I didn't know how good or bad the prior repair work was on this car. I figured I'd do a floor and tubs, but then the firewall toe boards was a lot more Swiss cheesed when I started digging into it. My friend, his dad, and myself didn't even think about the quality of the quarter work, because it was a fairly local guy with a good reputation. So ultimately, the paint job, and the high-school connection got me here. So, all in all, it probably would have ended up a little cheaper option in the long run.

[Alwhite00]

Gotcha. I've been there myself unfortunately numerous times.

[nebdrummer]

I forgot to post up the little progress I did before this all went to storage, but got the drivers deep tubs almost all the way in. Just need to dress the welds and move on to the other side.

So I'm pretty sure in gonna give up the 3xx series front tire idea with the stock subframe, so I'll pry just play it safe with the 275 and a 10" front. Still wanna go with a 335 on the rear though.

[TANKMASTERJ]

That part of my build was fun however I'm sure glad that and paint jail are past and now I'm assembling.
Keep up the good work slow and steady
Jason
Tankmasterj

[nebdrummer]

Nothing really new yet as all my stuff is still in storage.

I've been collecting a few parts though.

I now have a sbe aluminum gen 4 5.3
799 heads
Leash electronics street strip wiring board
And I was able to snatch up a brand new in box LSA blower upper and lower from GM for a good price.

Gonna reinforce the brick, get the nice billet water neck from dedicated motorsports, solid isolator, and a 2.45" pulley. Basically I'm gonna see how far I can push this SBE setup. Gonna go with as wild of a cam that I can get. Good johnson lifters, btr spring kit, and the btr shaft mount rocker setup, and have fun with it.

Gonna keep collecting parts while we are waiting for our house and shop, so not much excitement for a while.

[nebdrummer]

So plans are changing a little. I'm selling the LSA setup. Picked up a set of stock ls7 heads, and the plan is to shoot for over 2hp per cube, on a pump fuel, stock casting block and heads, and still using a hydraulic roller setup. So, a L8t forged crank at 3.858", and a 4.125 bore, makes 413cid. It's gonna be pretty rowdy and I have a good few guys in my corner to help make it work. All in all, it should honestly end up being close to the same price as the whole LSA setup I had planned. Nothing too exotic is planned for the parts either. I also snagged up a Holley Dominator. Still not sure if I'm gonna toss it in my 50 chevy, and swap the terminator x into the camaro, or keep the dominator for the camaro. Some more sheet metal came in too. I just pulled the trigger on a bunch. Both full quarters, roof skin, outer wheelhouses, both full outer rockers, and most of the big trim pieces to make this have the RS front end.


204681204682
204683
204684

[nebdrummer]

Also, the full ridetech front and rear kit, with true turn, subframe connectors, and sway bars, showed up from Rodney @ suspension geek. Kinda excited to get that rolling on this thing too.

[ryeguy2006a]

I could be wrong, but it looks like those heads have been CNC'd. Really nice parts update! That should be rowdy with 800+ HP!

[nebdrummer]

Yeah, I guess news to me, ls7 stuff is factory cnc'd. I had no clue! Kinda cool, and crazy to think there's so much more to be had across the flow numbers on these heads.

Talked with Tick today on transmissions. Seems like the ultimate magnum F road race t56 is gonna be the best bet for longevity and reliability, until someone starts making optioned stuff for the TKX.

[nebdrummer]

Few more goodies ordered and on thr way. Twin accufab 4150 throttle bodies, aviaid external wet sump, wegner front drive with AC.

Couple things were doing to make the power and rpm were asking out of this thing. We got the runner sections and furl rails off a BTR manifold, and are having a custom made plenum made to fit under a short cowl hood with air cleaners, and still have some runner length.

Next is getting some tsp LS7 roller tip rocker bodies, and toss in some CHE bronze trunions, and put them on some comp full shafts that will be forced oiled.

205234205235205236205237205238205239205240

[nebdrummer]

Well, almost all the engine parts have showed up, and the last of the engine parts are gonna be ordered Monday. .903 Johnson tie bar lifters, crower shaft mount rockers, a BIG boy cam, head studs, main studs, and upgraded rod bolts. I also got rid of the BTR intake idea and grabbed a texas speed 2 pc intake for cheap. So now the top plate to mount the 2 throttle bodies should be considerably cheaper. Found a set of ls9 rods and pistons for $450, so that helps with the bottom line of the motor.

So, next month or two, the parts will all be going down to 2jmfab in Texas for machine work and assembly. 4.155 bore sleeves installed in the 5.3 block, lifter bores cut to fit the .903 lifters, true up the block, and a bunch of work to the heads. Cam designer says this engine may end up over 900hp. Lol so, we will see if it's gonna be too much for what I'm wanting to do with the car.

Also sounds like the road race 5 speed Jerico is gonna be the transmission of choice.

And, got all the sheetmetal replacement panels. Both quarters, roof skin, both full rockers, both outer wheel tubs, lower front valance, and a radiator support.

Gotta love what a good paint job can hide. Smh.

Everything is still in storage, but our house should be done in the next 2-3 months. So, maybe see some progress after that.

In the meantime, I just did a local 2 day drag and drive event in the 50. Day 1, it snowed a bit an hour before the track opened up. It was 45* and almost 20mph winds. My old man went with and he was shaking. Lol. So, the day didn't leave a lot of time for passes. I was trying to slow it down for the 6.50 class but went 6.23. Day 2, it snowed for the first hour of driving and got in the 20s after the sun came out. No heat and 70 year old door seal designs weren't too fun. But, I managed a personal best of a 5.722@123mph. Ended up 6th overall with a terrible first day for trying to go fast.207274207273207275207276207277207278207279