Eric67
12-26-2009, 07:41 PM
I posted here a while ago introducing myself, but this time it's to introduce my car. It's a 1967 Camaro, originally a Granada Gold V8-4sp car with black standard bucket seats and a fold down rear seat. Luckily I was able to get this info from the trim tag as I don't have any other information on the car.
When I got my car, it had a really nice running 396, it wasn't really fast, but it ran beautifully and sounded right through flowmaster mufflers. It had been painted black and has a Richmond Street 5-speed and a 12 bolt.
I bought my car from an older guy who needed to get rid of this car because he always wanted a 67 Corvette. ALL the rubber bushings were completely shot and I spent a few weekends replacing them all with new poly ones. Finally I could drive around and not rub tires on fenders. However, when I removed the subframe bushings, I had the one on the drivers side front break the nut loose. After much cursing and swearing I was finally able to get the bolt out, but it never tightened right after that.
After a number of years driving it around and enjoying a great cruiser car, I managed to spin a rod bearing on the once great running motor. So, I yanked it out to rebuild it and decided to remove the drivers fender to fix the subframe nut. I was contemplating cutting a hole in the floor for easy access to the nut, so I peeled back the carpet in this spot. Lo and behold, there was quite a bit of rust, especially at the seam between firewall and floor. I then decided to check the other side, and it was just as bad. I pulled out the carpet and seats and found more rust over the leaf spring front perch.
I had been lurking around this site for a while and decided to ask which way I should go. Patch all the pieces in or do a one piece floor. I am also NO body man, and I was also wondering if I should try this myself or trust it to a professional. I hesitate to trust any "professional" as the one who installed my trunk floor did a TERRIBLE job, and I am fixing his work myself. Anyway, I got numerous responses to do the one piece floor and install it myself. So I did! I had never welded anything in my life before, so there was quite a learning curve (I'm still on that curve) but I wanted to try. The first cuts with a sawzall on my pride-and-joy were quite difficult, but once there was a growing pile of sheet metal behind my car, I knew I was past the point of no return, so I kept going. Eventually, the floor was out and all the edges were prepped.
This was about the time I discovered the hack job the guy who installed the trunk floor did. I would have gone back to have words, but he went out of business. Go figure. I guess he got what was coming.
As you can imagine, one thing led to the next and the car was completely disassembled and I even built a rotisserie for it. I just finished welding the inside of the floor today, and soon will mount it to the rotisserie and flip it upside down to weld on the bottom.
Here is my dilemma.... I would like to make it handle a whole bunch better than original, hence becoming a member of this site. This is a question I'll pose in another section, but I'm debating between rebuilding my 396 and installing an LS series motor, probably a truck based LQ4 / LQ9. Funds are tight in this economy, so I'm leaning towards rebuilding the current engine, and saving up for another mill later. I'm also considering installing all the convertible bracing along with the DSE subframe connectors I already have.
Now for the pix. Before I broke it.
When I got my car, it had a really nice running 396, it wasn't really fast, but it ran beautifully and sounded right through flowmaster mufflers. It had been painted black and has a Richmond Street 5-speed and a 12 bolt.
I bought my car from an older guy who needed to get rid of this car because he always wanted a 67 Corvette. ALL the rubber bushings were completely shot and I spent a few weekends replacing them all with new poly ones. Finally I could drive around and not rub tires on fenders. However, when I removed the subframe bushings, I had the one on the drivers side front break the nut loose. After much cursing and swearing I was finally able to get the bolt out, but it never tightened right after that.
After a number of years driving it around and enjoying a great cruiser car, I managed to spin a rod bearing on the once great running motor. So, I yanked it out to rebuild it and decided to remove the drivers fender to fix the subframe nut. I was contemplating cutting a hole in the floor for easy access to the nut, so I peeled back the carpet in this spot. Lo and behold, there was quite a bit of rust, especially at the seam between firewall and floor. I then decided to check the other side, and it was just as bad. I pulled out the carpet and seats and found more rust over the leaf spring front perch.
I had been lurking around this site for a while and decided to ask which way I should go. Patch all the pieces in or do a one piece floor. I am also NO body man, and I was also wondering if I should try this myself or trust it to a professional. I hesitate to trust any "professional" as the one who installed my trunk floor did a TERRIBLE job, and I am fixing his work myself. Anyway, I got numerous responses to do the one piece floor and install it myself. So I did! I had never welded anything in my life before, so there was quite a learning curve (I'm still on that curve) but I wanted to try. The first cuts with a sawzall on my pride-and-joy were quite difficult, but once there was a growing pile of sheet metal behind my car, I knew I was past the point of no return, so I kept going. Eventually, the floor was out and all the edges were prepped.
This was about the time I discovered the hack job the guy who installed the trunk floor did. I would have gone back to have words, but he went out of business. Go figure. I guess he got what was coming.
As you can imagine, one thing led to the next and the car was completely disassembled and I even built a rotisserie for it. I just finished welding the inside of the floor today, and soon will mount it to the rotisserie and flip it upside down to weld on the bottom.
Here is my dilemma.... I would like to make it handle a whole bunch better than original, hence becoming a member of this site. This is a question I'll pose in another section, but I'm debating between rebuilding my 396 and installing an LS series motor, probably a truck based LQ4 / LQ9. Funds are tight in this economy, so I'm leaning towards rebuilding the current engine, and saving up for another mill later. I'm also considering installing all the convertible bracing along with the DSE subframe connectors I already have.
Now for the pix. Before I broke it.