67 Camaro Autocross Build

[Spyke427]

I have a few minutes where I can't work on the car, fix anything on my house and am not at work so I'm going to try and start the build thread I have wanted to make for a long time. The car is a 67 Camaro my dad gave me when I was a kid. it was a 327 manual trans car from the factory and unfortunately spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania rotting out. I have replaced a lot of sheet metal and there still is more to do but little by little It is getting back to road worthy. I hope to rebuild this into an autocross car that can be drive to the track and go to a cruse here and there.
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[Spyke427]

The car has come a long way from when these photos were taken. I will do my best to get the photos loaded up and provide some notes as to what was being done.

[Spyke427]

Here is where the upper control arms got relocated. It took some work to get the Global West control arms to clear the mount.21847221847321847421847521847621847721847821 8479218480

[Spyke427]

Not Long after getting the sub frame sandblasted and doing the Guldstrand mod I got a new job Opportunity in Tennessee so I bolted the car together enough to have it shipped to the new home. Here i took a photo of the bottom of the car when it was up in the trailer. I was so concerned it would be the last time I saw it. As if anyone would want that rotten rust bucket.218481218482

[Spyke427]

A couple years later in the new to me shed I had the opportunity to get back into the project. 218483218484218485218486

[Spyke427]

I started seeing builds like Bad Penny and Red Devil and I knew I wanted to build something like them of my own. It was about this time I added the front sway bar.

[Spyke427]

I originally intended to rebuild the leaf spring suspension to keep costs down and get the car going in short order. Unfortunately, the amount of rust under the car really became the deciding factor in favor of a much more involved project that has gone way out of control. I found out just how bad when my jack collapsed the rear passenger side frame rail while trying to jack the car up. Rebuilding the rear stuff became replacing everything.218487218488218489218490218491218492218 493

[ryeguy2006a]

Looks like a fun project and reminds me of the early days rebuilding my 68. Keep up the progress and you'll be driving it. Pick something to do each week and try not to be tempted by scope creep.

[BonzoHansen]

Love it!

[Spyke427]

Thank you for your encouragement. Unfortunately or fortunately, the project has gotten way out of hand. I will try and dump as many photos as possible tonight so I can show how much work has gone into this thing over the last few years.

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[Spyke427]

I ended up replacing framerails which led to replacing the rear seat pan and torque plates. I'm not doing a good job putting these photos in order. I am trying to find the photos I took of all the measurements and the templates I made so that I knew the new rails would go in correctly.

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After the frame rails were replaced, I did a minitub using the Dynacorn wheel wheels. I also replaced the trunk floor and rear seat pan.

[phtcbra]

Awesome work, love seeing the older stuff get rebuilt and brought back for another 30-40 years. Keep up the progress.

[Spyke427]

Thank you. This is the first time I have looked at the photos since they were taken. I am happy with the progress. I am frustrated with my lack of file keeping skills though and so I am spending a little time organizing my photos so that I can do a better job of posting them in order.

[Spyke427]

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New minitubs installed. I bought the cheap ones on eBay and they did not come with all the small bits and frame inserts needed to notch the framerails. I ended up making all the parts from scratch. I think if I was to do this part again I would buy the DSE ones.

[Spyke427]

Now with solid rear frame rails I got to start some of the fun stuff.

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[Spyke427]

I attended Chaffey Colleges old racecar program back in the late 90S under Kent Fisk. Ever since then I have wanted to build a Watts link, so this was the perfect opportunity to do so. Here are some of my early Solidworks drawings trying to figure out the proper lengths and locations.

[Spyke427]

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[Spyke427]

After watching Chad Ryker in his awesome 68 Camaro and Steve Rupps Bad Penny I decided I wanted to take a little from both of their setups and build my own. The Torque arm is a poorly made TCI knock off that will likely be replaced by my own design soon that will shed a lot of un-sprung weight and the Wattslink is very similar to the old Lateral Dynamics unit.

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About this time was tax return time and I was able to get more toys.

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Here is a problem I still (2 plus years after posting about this) have not figured out what is wrong. The drivers rear caliper hits the disk and will not mount using the Wilwood supplied spacer bracket. What I have done for now is to use washers instead until i figure out what I did wrong or mill the bracket down about 1/8th inch.

[Spyke427]

With the rear end somewhat back together I then needed to update the front some. I had previously added globalwest front upper control arms and had solid Delalum bushings installed in both the uppers and stock lowers.
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With some good parts in the front and the back i decided to fix my first stillborn attempt at subframe connectors. 218619

[Spyke427]

About 15 years earlier I had tried to make subframe connectors that went through the floor. I never finished them and the car sat in the side yard for years with animals and the elements. This time around I decided to do my best at a Detroit Speed su frame connector look alike. If anyone has been paying any attention to my posts they will see two things about me. One is I am having a hard time posting photos in order and even right-side up!!! While the second thing is I like to make things myself.

[Spyke427]

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[Larry Callahan]

Nice build!

Thanks for sharing!

[ryeguy2006a]

We all love pictures, so keep them coming! Looks like some solid fabrication and nice parts too!

[Spyke427]

218797I modified my trans tunnel for a t56. I just used a cheap stock type patch panel and some sheet metal as well as using most of the factory tunnel.

[Spyke427]

218800218799218798I picked up this T56 on craigslist a couple year or so ago. It came out of a 96 Transam with a LT1. I am sticking with a small block and so this LT transmission was just what I was needing.

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The guy I bought it from gave me the wrong bellhousing and no clutch fork. I have since sourced the correct ones that cost way more than any used clutch fork should cost.

I thought the last photo showing the size difference between the Muncie 4 speed and the T56 really gives you an idea of how much more room this transmission takes up.

[Spyke427]

I was able to get a swayber I had modified and installed over the last few weeks. The rear suspension is nearly done. I just need to make a better middle link. I will be running tail pipes, so I had to make trunk cutouts and installed the bar over and in front of the axle so I had room.218923218922218924218925218926218927218928218 929218930

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[Spyke427]

I have been busy working on the car over the last few months and haven't posted any of the work yet. The project has come along well though.

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I had the rear seat covers in a box from the supplier for over three years. The crease I hope will come out with some warm summer days

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I had to cut into the seat frames. I spliced in some steel where needed and did some pretty poor welds to tie some of the frame together just enough to still spring and move.

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I bought a hog ring kit on Amazon and batting from the fabric store. Once I had the stuff to do the job I spent some time at YouTube University and then jumped into getting the rear seats done.

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One thing that stopped my progress was this fabric covered wire needed to help support the hog rings in the fabric and not pull through.

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[Spyke427]

I modified a cheap ebay fuel sending unit. Added a 1/2" line as the new supply and made the stock 3/8" the return. The fuel pump is a Holley sniper. I tig welded the lines but because my welds suck I used fuel safe epoxy to make sure it all seals well.

[Spyke427]

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I placed the battery in the trunk and used a small plastic box to mount a breaker, shutoff solenoid, inertia switch and fuel pump relay.

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I don't have a better photo it seems but here you can see the battery as it sits now. I decided to use an aluminum mount bolted to the top of the crossmember that runs between the frame rails. This puts the battery closer to the center of the car and I think makes the battery have less moment during turning.

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[Spyke427]

Started the exhaust system but ran out of argon. The pipes are stainless steel 3in universal kit and I decided to go with Blackwidow Venom 250s. I will have to get more gas to get the rest of the tail pipes and a balance pipe in.

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I got these Braum Elite seats to replace the old 80s era seats I had. These seats are super nice feeling and the bolsters are nice. I had the make seat brakets to adapt these into the car. I think the quality of these seats look to be of a high quality assembly
I have Recaros in my Focus ST and these seats feel as nice as the Recaros. I guess my only complaints would be I wish the bottom bolsters could be a little taller at the thigh and the seat sliders are kinda cheap.

[Spyke427]

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I took a coupe of days off of work and with a lot of help from My dad, my wife and our kids we were able to quickly bolt together a great deal of stuff on the car. These long days of work rewarded us with being able to get the car on the ground and out of the shop for the first time in years.

[Spyke427]

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[Spyke427]

Here is how it looks so far. I also have started driving it a little. I'm happy with the ride and suspension. The car feels solid and confident. The front tires rub only a little if making a 3 point turn backing up. The old T56 goes though all gears without and hassle or drama so I'm grateful for that. The clutch slave had to be modified because there was not enough adjustment to let the clutch fully disengage. Still even with all the problems I am running into and things popping up that I didn't do right or even think about before I'm still very happy because for the fist time in my life it is a whole car and I can enjoy and share my love for cars with my family.

[BonzoHansen]

nice update!

[Aschle]

Very cool ride !!! It's always nice when these cars get driven and enjoyed, not just collect dust.


Good job !!!

[ryeguy2006a]

Dude, you nailed the stance of your car! Glad to see you out driving and working out the bugs.

[Spyke427]

Thanks, I am so happy to be able to take it one the roads around town. I picked up my son from his work yesterday and that's the first time i have gone into the main part of town with stop lights and traffic. The car is running super rich but it ran and idled fine at the stop lights. My son was surprised and happy to see me with the car and that was the best part of the trip seeing him excited.

[NCSU68]

Looks Great. Enjoy!