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View Full Version : project..My dads 69 camaro



chevnut55
02-08-2012, 07:52 AM
I talked my dad into letting me do some upgrades on his..our 69 camaro this winter.
He bought it off a used car dealer in our hometown in 73 the year I was born. It was a 6 powergilde but swaped to a 327 at the dealer (probley to sell it) He put on some chrome wheels, sidepipes and he drove it everyday year round until he got into custom vans in 77 ish ,then it became my moms car for a few years until the early 80s .
they sold it for $500.00 to some neighborhood kids ,I watched them paint over the metallic maroon with blue house paint and a roller.
I kept a eye on it and it was sold to a guy on the next street that put it in a underground garage that caved in and thought it was gone..a few yeares later when I was in my senior year of highschool it showed up in the back of restoration hackshop I was working in. It was painted white and had a dead 305.
we talked to the guy over a few years and he never did anything with it,I had no money to buy it and just bought my 1st house and shop .
I had to talk my dad into buying it back,he did not care or want it but we made a deal for $3,500. he owned it again in alot wose shape!
but I had restore it to look like it was and it would be 1/2 mine .
I got it back to look better than when he bought it and I drove it and took it out for weekend rides and won some shows.
I bought my own projects and cars and built a few nice camaros and after building a pro touring 67 the 69 sat for the last 5 years.
So we updated it with some torq thrust wheels to replace the rallys but the single leafs were sagging so bad it sat sideways and thought the tires would rub so a year later ..now I brought it to my shop ditched the non posi 10 bolt and sinle leafs for a built 10 bolt posi with 3:73's rear disc ,hotchkis springs, polly bushings,and new polly body mounts because the originals were not there anymore.
after removing the original carpet I found someone repaied the floor with a tin panel, so I just orderd a new floor ,carpet, sills,console gauges, big sway bars front and rear and a few othe parts that were hacked.He still doesnt want me to touch the powerslide trans or the stock steering box,but it will get done .. atleast it will get driven again...if I sell my 72 camaro and cobra Im throwing money at it!55259552605526155262

chevnut55
12-10-2013, 09:18 AM
The Camaro in 1973, just before dad installed the side pipes.
(trying to upload build and finished photos).

chevnut55
12-11-2013, 08:02 AM
After selling my 72 Camaro and having the $$$ The wife and I ripped out the old 307/glide and the mess began.
I shaved the firewall and cleaned fabed and repainted.
I bought a 10,000 mile 01 corvette, found a 4l60e trans that turned out to be bad and replaced it with a new mad dog 4l65e.
The harness was sent out to be regretfully dieted, the 69 also needed a new harness, New gauges, new dash, new shifter.
A tanks in pump tank was installed, dynatech headers, dirty dingo mounts, and a vintage air kit installed.
It fired up first try but the ecm re-flash was bad even after 3 different programmers it still needs to be done correct.
I also decided to tighten up the gaps and correct some of the body flaws and re-paint it in 2010 buick majic red, also the parking lights were replaced with driving lights and hidden marker/blinkers were fabbed.
The c5 brakes also were used, All the new stock style 4 wheel disc were removed and the vetts brakes system installed

RichUSAF
12-11-2013, 05:47 PM
Nice work on the car man! Was the vette you pulled all this from salvaged? Curious how you managed to find a 10K mile vette as a donor... Also, whats the plans with the steering? Did you upgrade the gear box?

chevnut55
12-12-2013, 06:06 AM
Thanks, I actually bought the c5 donor car to build a factory 5 gtm, The only good thing about new England cars are they only get driven a few months a year and if you know vette guys they keep a eye out for deals.
I decided to sell my cobra and just buy a new grand sport instead of building another kit ,so I sold the unused parts to another gtm builder and used the motor, brake system in the Camaro.
For steering I used a variable ratio agr box and rebuilt the rest . I also used polly bushings and body mounts when I found were missing.
I used cpp upper and lower tube a-arms, hotchkis springs,kore3 c5 adaptor kit, bmr subframe connectors.
I did everything by myself with my only help my wife Kathy with a 6 month deadline because we put our house/shop up for sale to move to Fl. its been 12 months and still waiting.
Thanks babe for all your help.

Motown 454
12-15-2013, 04:14 PM
Your making some nice upgrades its looking good. Best helper you could ever have. Now if I could get her to talk to my wife for me.

chevnut55
12-27-2013, 07:18 AM
She's great, I need to find a 68 firebird for her next.
Heres some suspension comparisons note the broke spring!, I Installed the drilled and slotted stock style disc only to remove them for c6 brakes. look at the sway bar size difference...I was able to bend the stock one to remove it.
The bmr subframe connectors fit great. the car use to flex so much you could watch the windshield move side to side, now its like a solid full frame car.

elwaupo
12-31-2013, 08:02 PM
What a journey for the 69, nice story and progress

chevnut55
01-09-2014, 07:28 AM
Had to re paint it , it got a few dings and scratches , also I know I could do better body work after 15 years.
I tightened up all the gaps, new door pins, fixed anything that was not done correct last time and sprayed it in a Buick prototype color magic red.
found a pict of it with me and my brother in the mid 70's ..like the sidepipes?

chevnut55
01-09-2014, 07:45 AM
Finished picts. (for now)
I made a cowl induction air cleaner/cover, installed a retrosound stero.
It looks like the same car but better , it sits perfect, the color is much better, it handles great, stops great, sounds great. I had lots of problems mostly with anything I could not do myself like the wire harness and it still needs to be tuned on a dyno.
I took my dad for a cruise ,while doing 90 on the highway he says its not the same car anymore its now a new vette .
To me it still feels like the old Camaro but drivable like a modern car.

Tango68SS
01-20-2014, 07:35 AM
AWESOME! Looks great! I love the color... and the airbox is killer! How did you do that?

BTW, where in Fla are you moving to? We are in Central Fla on the coast.

STROKED
01-20-2014, 09:21 PM
Looks nice love the paint! What are the rim tire spec?