Project Obsession

[Todd in Vancouver]

This all started for me when I found this site and I was looking for some direction on how I could flatten the firewall and jazz up the build on my Camaro. I already had an idea of what I wanted out of this car but once I saw what some of you guys are building and the fact that some of you guys are doing these build right in your own garage I thought, "what the hell I can do it too".

I've decided to call this project Obsession because when I looked up the definition it fit exactly how I feel about this build. The definition is "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image (https://www.pro-touring.com/browse/image), desire, etc." and since starting to use this site and think about what I am going to do with this build it is on my mind 24/7 and keeps me awake at night thinking how I can proceed and what I should do next.

So here is a few pics and a "re-do" of what I had in my previous thread;

I bought a '67 camaro right in the middle of building a V8 S-10.
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The engine is already built and ready to go;
355 SBC
10.8:1 compression
Steel crank, Eagle rods, forged pistons all balanced
Edelbrock RPM Performer heads
Crane roller rockers, chrome molley P/rods
Voodoo Solid roller cam
Stealth Ram MPI Fuel Injection

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Mated to this is a is a TKO600 trans to a 12 bolt rear diff.

I've started collecting parts and pieces for the car like a complete TCI front clip set-up

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I've started dismantling the car and getting ready to flatten the firewall. The whole reason I came accross this website;

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I've stripped down the firewall and get ready start some welding;

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Time to test fit the TCI front clip and make sure it lines up before it goes out for powder coating;

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[Todd in Vancouver]

The first thread was a re-do to where I was on the earlier thread. Today I picked up a few tools I needed to proceed with Project Obsession.

A few basic hand tools that I somehow have managed without my whole life;

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and, the piece de resistance I have seen numerous times so fanally brokedown and bought a rotisserie;

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I finally start cutting out the firewall making the next step to start welding in new metal;

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[scherp69]

Looking good Todd...keep the pics coming.

[Rybar]

Looking good, from another local guy.

[Todd in Vancouver]

Looking good, from another local guy.

Nice ride it looks really awesome. Maybe we need to have a BC get together of the locals and talk some car stuff. I'm in Burnably weekly for work and I'd love to pick you brain on your build as I am just getting started.

[Rybar]

Nice ride it looks really awesome. Maybe we need to have a BC get together of the locals and talk some car stuff. I'm in Burnaby weekly for work and I'd love to pick you brain on your build as I am just getting started.

I actually did organize a few cruises this past summer. Shoot me your contact info. - Ryan

[astroracer]

Nice job. I'm glad to see the site inspired you. I think that is very cool. What do you have planned for the rest of the build?
I was in Vancouver for a week last year visiting my son. He got his Masters @ UBC and is now working out there. Doesn't plan to move back to the States any time soon.
Mark

[Todd in Vancouver]

Nice job. I'm glad to see the site inspired you. I think that is very cool. What do you have planned for the rest of the build?
I was in Vancouver for a week last year visiting my son. He got his Masters @ UBC and is now working out there. Doesn't plan to move back to the States any time soon.
Mark

Thanks Mark my goal in the end is to have a car that at first look will appear to be a stock '67 SS with different wheels on it. But I plan on lots of subtle changes and that the car drives and handles with all the comforts of a new car. I basically want my cake and to eat it too. UBC is an awesome school and glad your son was able to find work here because Vancouver is a great place to be. Unless you are trying to buy a house.


I actually did organize a few cruises this past summer. Shoot me your contact info. - Ryan

PM sent and please do let me know next time you are arrranging anything


Looking good, from another local guy.

Thanks for the feedback and it's nice to hear from some other locals. That Camaro of yours is killer and I would love to see it sometime.


Looking good Todd...keep the pics coming.

Thanks and I really appreciate the comments and it is amazing how motivating they are. Also have to say I really like your Acadian build and I keep referencing it as I go along on my build.


So I continue my quest to flatten the firewall so I picked up some 18 gauge to start making my own template and weld in piece.

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After looking at a bunch of other builds on Pro-Tour I took the jig saw to my firewall and swiss cheesed it.

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Starting with some cardboard I built a template for the tin so it would match the firewall how I wanted it

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Traced out the cardboard template onto the tin

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Voilà I have a rough metal firewall layout

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A little trimming to get it to fit how I wanted and drilled a couple holes for the fender mount bolts and it is ready to weld in

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Family coming for the Thanksgiving weekend so all comes to a grinding halt for a bit, pun intended. Next week I will get the fasteners into the new firewall tin, do a little custom bending where the tin meets the bottom of the firewall where it bends and then start welding. :cheers:

[Todd in Vancouver]

The firewall is ready to be installed and it's time to start welding it in. As I haven't done any welding in a long time I thought it best to take some of the sheet metal cut offs and do some practice welds before I start on the car.

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Once I was warmed up I started small stitch welds around the new firewall;

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I am looking at purchasing a used Vintage Air set up from another member here on Pro-Touring. What I am not sure of is how it connects into the factory heater controls and how other builds have managed to hide the underhood connections while having a flattened firewall in the engine compartment? Anyone have pictures on how they did this or a link to some websites showing this? Thanks in advance :confused:

[Todd in Vancouver]

Over the weekend did some more welding on the firewall. As someone else stated on their build this is great practice for the parts that are more obvious.[/SIZE]
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Started laying on the mud

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Next step is to shoot some primer after a couple more rounds to straighten out the sheetmetal and then one more test fit of the TCI front frame before it goes out for powder coating.

[Todd in Vancouver]

Today I hit a bit of a milestone in my build. The firewall is nearing completion and the TCI front end did it's final test fit before it goes out for powder coating. I wanted to get the firewall near completion and do one more test fit to make sure nothing has shifted during all the welding that I did on the firewall. To my surprise nothing has moved and the TCI frame fit and was in place in just moments once I got the procedure right in putting the bolts through the frame into the car.
After my last sanding I am overall pretty happy with how flat it looks.6629866299

Here the TCI front is going in

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HINT : When installing the new TCI frame start with the rear bolts under the seats and move forward

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This is the best stuff I've ever come accross and all the in body nuts got a good dose of Gibbs before I put the frame in. I used this stuff when I took the everything apart and didn't break a single bolt. Amazing stuff.
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The final holes will get drilled and secured when the frame goes in for the last time as I still have a bit of finishing work to do. I am amazed how well put together this TCI front frame is. Someday I will weld this well.

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Little more sanding to do when I take the frame out and send it off then I'll shoot some primer on it.

[66larkgs]

looking good and glad to see you building it yourself. It is a great feeling to complete one of the things on the "LIST" of things to get done. Keep up the work and keep the pictures comming..

[Todd in Vancouver]

Made some progress on the firewall and decided to shoot some primer on it. For my first time doing a firewall and doing it in my garage with a cheap-ass 120 volt MIG, over all I think it looks OK. I'm not toally happy with the crispness of the line where the firewall meets the cowl and makes the 90 degree corner. I have applied a thin layer of bondo and sanded the top and side at a 45 degree angle with a long block numerous times trying to make a clean, crisp line accross the top and although it is close when I paint it I'm afraid it will look crappy. Anyone have any thoughts on how to make this line??
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[70lslark]

Very nice, great job! Keep up the good work! I filled and welded my openings then floated with filler...I like it better with one sheet of metal like you did. It will be nice and smooth.

[jlcustomz]

Todd, just posted on the bodyfiller thread again & viewed your link. The usc all metal filler is superior for an initial coat of filler in welded/ less than perfect areas, such as the top line you want crisp. You could have to stiff wire brush back to bare metal near the needed area to use it. It's basically a fiberglass/ ground aluminum formula, requires a bare metal base , does not apply or sand as easy as some finishing product & will need a skim coat of quality filler/ glazing for a final coat.
As far as sanding &shaping the upper edge , you just have to apply extra filler to the edge, block from 1 direction, then the other keeping your sanding stick flat near the edge till you achieve a square edge. then you have to carefully remove some of the squareness, which is the most artistic part of the job. A basic paint stirring stick can be a good basic sandpaper holder if you don,t have a fancy selection of stuff. At the end of the day , your skill itself is the most important tool.
You may be just fine continuing with the filler you're using, especially if you welds are continuous & solid. It just won't be as solid in a thicker area, especially if if gets hit with a falling wrench or something,your call there.
Hope this helps you some .You can pm me if you need to.

[dug]

good info jlcustomz!

[Todd in Vancouver]

Todd, just posted on the bodyfiller thread again & viewed your link. The usc all metal filler is superior for an initial coat of filler in welded/ less than perfect areas, such as the top line you want crisp. You could have to stiff wire brush back to bare metal near the needed area to use it. It's basically a fiberglass/ ground aluminum formula, requires a bare metal base , does not apply or sand as easy as some finishing product & will need a skim coat of quality filler/ glazing for a final coat.
As far as sanding &shaping the upper edge , you just have to apply extra filler to the edge, block from 1 direction, then the other keeping your sanding stick flat near the edge till you achieve a square edge. then you have to carefully remove some of the squareness, which is the most artistic part of the job. A basic paint stirring stick can be a good basic sandpaper holder if you don,t have a fancy selection of stuff. At the end of the day , your skill itself is the most important tool.
You may be just fine continuing with the filler you're using, especially if you welds are continuous & solid. It just won't be as solid in a thicker area, especially if if gets hit with a falling wrench or something,your call there.
Hope this helps you some .You can pm me if you need to.

Thanks jlcustomz for the great information :twothumbs. I've decided to take a break from the firewall and then go at it again later on to finish it off. Here is the body stuff that I used on the car so far.
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And here is the primer that I used;
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My only other thought is to use a filler primer when I get close to painting it but that will not be until Spring, I also watched some YouTube videos of guys shooting some black guide coat and blocksanding to find the low spots. I am now getting the car on the rotisserie and will start working on the bottom;
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Last week I sent my TCI frame to the powder coat shop and should have it back in a couple weeks. After that my 350 goes to Richmond Engine in Langley to get broken-in and Dyno tested and then I can start the assembly on the drivetrain. Updates will now start coming much more slowly as it really isn't very interesting to see me cleaning and scraping the bottom of the car. In the Spring I'll order the TCI rear suspension and hopefully get the car back into rolling status.

[jlcustomz]

Sometimes a break from a certain item is the best thing to do.
As far as the Body supplies you have , the one part glazing putty is one item to stay away from if you're trying for quality work, ok for rush insurance type jobs , not for longterm quality show work.
Another option for rounding off most of the upper fire wall area is to make a short mostly 90 degree sanding block with the radius (approx 1/8" ) that you need. The only problem with that method is putting a line in your flat sections from the tool.
Ps, i have stick on sandpaper rolls in 80, 120, & 220 grit from the local Woodcrafters store, which is nice for certain sanding block tasks.

[Tango68SS]

The firewall is ready to be installed and it's time to start welding it in. As I haven't done any welding in a long time I thought it best to take some of the sheet metal cut offs and do some practice welds before I start on the car.

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Once I was warmed up I started small stitch welds around the new firewall;

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I am looking at purchasing a used Vintage Air set up from another member here on Pro-Touring. What I am not sure of is how it connects into the factory heater controls and how other builds have managed to hide the underhood connections while having a flattened firewall in the engine compartment? Anyone have pictures on how they did this or a link to some websites showing this? Thanks in advance :confused:


Todd,

You can use the VintageAir reroute kit. It brings all four outlets thru the firewall, then turns them 90degrees so you can route the lines under the fender....https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/IMG_7797JPG-1.jpghttps://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/IMG_7337JPG-1.jpghttps://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/IMG_7339JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/IMG_7441JPG-1.jpg

[Todd in Vancouver]

Bit of an update. The TCI frame is back from powder coating and Kevin at Mayfair Signs and Powder Coating here in Chilliwack did an awesome job at a really reasonable price. I will be getting together some more parts to take over to him for powder coating.
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I did a bit of welding and made some rear mounts for the rotisserie that bolt to the original rear spring mounts and to the original arms of the rotisserie. Hint; ALWAYS check fit before you do your final weld, I spent over an hour undoing some welds from some bad measuring.

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The Camaro is now hung on the rotisserie and I've started removing the final few parts of the interior and will remove all the glass. The final cleanup on the body is getting near and then the mini-tubs and new quarter panels. I'll also start assembling the front suspension on the TCI frame and the plan will be to assemble the complete front and mount the engine and trans after the SBC gets back from the machine shop for it's break-in and dyno test. It may be coming slow but atleast I'm making progress.

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[WS6]

I like the engine choice. Solid roller with a Stealth Ram intake. Should make good power and sound mean. Good luck!

[gordonr1973]

Any updates? Looks great so far!

[Todd in Vancouver]

Any updates? Looks great so far!

Thanks Gordon but it's been slow going and I'm doing the really uninteresting stuff like gutting the doors, removing all the glass and stripping off the last of the original rear suspension. I've also not been feeling well the last few weeks along with some really hectic travel and working hours. So nothing really worth posting about and other than having the car mounted on the rotisserie it doesn't look to much different.

But, there is some cool news as I posted a picture on the Camaro Performers facebook page about installing my TCI frame and it is in this months edition of Camaro Performers firing back page. (note; Penny is the Facebook name that my wife and I share for our facebook account. Penny is actually our rescued Pit Bulls name)

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As soon as I'm feeling better I will be back on the car 100% and will start getting some pictures and updates posted. Most likely over the Christmas break.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New year to all. Hope Santa brings some new car goodies for everyone.

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[Todd in Vancouver]

Today thanks to the advice of a few of the very helpful other Pro-tour members I picked up a pair of rear quarter panels from a local guy who also happens to be a member here on the PT website. These are original GM panels that he has had sitting for 20 years. Sadly I had to shift the money from my budget for my TCI rear suspension savings but I just don't think these kind of items come along everyday.
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Now I just have to get this baby back on its wheels so I can start cutting off the old skin and installing the new. :6gears:

[icemanrd19]

I hate to tell you this but that 1207 on the sticker is not correct. That means the panels were made in december of 2007. Sorry to break the news to you :(















OK ok i kid. Nice build and great find

[RBEAST]

Your project is looking great so far! keep those pics coming thx

[ronker100]

Your car looks great Todd, hope tyhose quoarters work out for ya, I did as you said and posted my car on this site....Thanks again and it was nice to meet you....
Cheers, Ron

[HotRod47]

You will never regret spending the money for NOS quarter panels.

Nice project!

Glenn

[Todd in Vancouver]

Nice sunny day here in Vancouver for January so got some stuff done on the car. Worked on finishing the pre-assembly of my TCI front end and do the guys at TCI ever build a nice set up. Everything has gone together without any hassles.70358

I really like the brake set up that they sold me with my front end kit70359

didn't install the tie rods as I still need to lube everything before final assembly 70360
Thats it for today, and tomorrow I'll start getting the car car ready to flip on the rotisserie so I can clean the bottom side and get ready to order more goodies for the build. Also, started a new "Todo" list and what I need to take to the powder coaters that I forgot to take last time.

[WICKED_SS]

Nice project, looking forward to this build!

[Todd in Vancouver]

Here we go with a small update. The Camaro is on the rotisserie and I'm finishing stripping the last of the interior out and getting it ready to spin so I can start working on the bottom. I thought I was at this stage a while ago but there seems to be an endless supply of little stuff to keep going.

So I started with pulling the rear glass out and all is solid around the rear with no hidden surprises;
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Then I pulled out the windshield and somewhere along the life of this car someone thought it would be a good idea to metallic tape over the rust and then bondo and paint it black.

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How is this for a chunk of bondo?

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And they did it all the way across the lower part of the windshield

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Dropped my SBC off at the Dyno earlier this week so I hope to have those numbers this week.
That's it for now and I'll be back at it tomorrow and hoping to get her flipped on its side and start scraping off under coat. Yay :)

[Todd in Vancouver]

Jim at Richmond Engines just called me and my 350 SBC is running and they've done some light pulls. I'll be stopping in there tomorrow morning to do some full pulls and see what this little fella will do.

Anyone want to guess what this little 350 will put down for power?

[gardnerme]

Todd,

"Very nice build" back at you. I am curious of your impressions of that TCI front subframe. It is a trick looking piece.


Anyone want to guess what this little 350 will put down for power?

I will play along. Not knowing the exact specs on the cam, I will give a conservative guess of 420 HP at about 6200 RPM and 380 ft. lbs. of torque at about 4500. I say "conservative" only because my gut tells me a solid roller cam may be a bit big for the RPM heads and also have a tigher LSA than what would work best with EFI. That being said, I would love to hear I was too conservative and you get much better numbers! Let us know!

Mike

[Todd in Vancouver]

Todd,

"Very nice build" back at you. I am curious of your impressions of that TCI front subframe. It is a trick looking piece.



I will play along. Not knowing the exact specs on the cam, I will give a conservative guess of 420 HP at about 6200 RPM and 380 ft. lbs. of torque at about 4500. I say "conservative" only because my gut tells me a solid roller cam may be a bit big for the RPM heads and also have a tigher LSA than what would work best with EFI. That being said, I would love to hear I was too conservative and you get much better numbers! Let us know!

Mike

Hi Mike,
I also had concerns as I didn't want to be another one of "those" guys who over cam and over carb my car and wonder why it doesn't perform like it should. I did lots of homework before I purchased this camshaft and here are the specs on it. And, yes I will post the dyno sheet as soon as I get it in my hands from the shop. I'm hoping I'll be able to post some video as well once I figure it out tomorrow night.

Solid roller, rough idle. Good cam for high performance street or mild strip applications. Needs 2500-2800 RPM stall speed converter, 9.5:1 or better compression, aftermarket exhaust system and 3.73 rear gear ratio.
•Advertised Duration (Int/Exh): 267/273
•Duration @ .050 (Int/Exh): 237/243
•Gross Valve Lift (Int/Exh): .566/.578
•LSA/ICL: 110/106
•Valve Lash (Int/Exh): 016/016
•RPM Range: 2500-6800
•Includes: Cam Only


Part Number: 40120731
Previoius Part Number: 60131

The TCI frame has been awesome to put together and the fit and finish was excellent. I've installed it twice checking the assembly and so far it's been all easy sailing. It will be a while before I can drive it and give any feedback but from everything I've read it performs very well and from what I see won a lot of races in the TCI '68 Camaro.

[scherp69]

Looking good Todd. Everything is coming together nicely. Keep the pics coming.

[Todd in Vancouver]

OK so I went to Richmond engine today and Jim ran me through the process and we did some engine pulls to see what my little 350 could do. In all fairness I was not expecting to much and my guess was that I would be in the 425hp range as there is really nothing at all special about this SBC other than I spent to much money on it and I could have bought an LS for what I have into it. All that being said I did use really good parts and the little beast should last without having any reliability issues.

Drum role on what it did...

473 HP & 433 F-lb Trq

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Here is a video (if I can get it to work) of the dyno run.

http://youtu.be/1paieB0khEE

So overall I`m a happy boy with this little engine but I would never recommend someone do this as I said in another post you could have more LS power for what i spent but it easy to work on and a guy could, in a pinch, McGyver this thing to run if you got stuck. I will look at changing this over to a 427 LS down the road if nothing else just to change the emblems on the car from 350 to 427. there is a few more HP to be had with additional jetting and fine tuning but we had to call it quits at some point and this was more than what I was expecting so this was the best pull we had. I will get some more pictures posted when I have the engine and trans assembled in the TCI frame on my garage floor in the next couple weeks.

For now, back to scraping off undercoating :cheers:

[gardnerme]

Holy cr@p, Todd - not bad at all!! Glad to know that cam works so well with the fuel injection setup. After looking at the specs you had posted, I realize it is actually a little smaller that the hydraulic roller I have for the FI 406 I am building. I bet that thing sounded killer at 6,700 RPM, yes?

[gardnerme]

I watched the video after I posted my last comment and see that you did the dyno run with a carb. Are you going to re-run it on the with the fuel injection setup on?

[Todd in Vancouver]

Everyone I talked to recommended breaking it in with the carb and making sure everything was good. I decided not to run with the FI right now as the computer while being brand new is outdated so after much investigating I'm going to upgrade to new Holley HP system. It's self learning so I will switch it over when in the car.

Sounds real cool at 6,700 eh?

[Todd in Vancouver]

FINALLY! the car is flipped on the rotisserie and I've started working on the bottom of the car. It's another step in the progress of the car because now that I'm working on the bottom I will be starting to get the car ready for the rear suspension and mini tub install which means I'm actually starting on the assembly of the car. Everything up to this point has been about taking the car apart, planning and prepping.

From this point forward my work will be about fitting and assembling the car. It's really great to have reached this point and it feels like getting a jolt of motivation. Here are a couple pictures of the car flipped on its side;

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[68400BIRD]

Great numbers on the engine. The HP Holley set up will be very nice. I hope to get one next year. Your at the point where the build starts to get fun. I remember being there, even though I'm not much past it. Brings up memories. LOL
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/11/DSC06968-1.jpg

[Todd in Vancouver]

Wow I had no idea how much work it was going to be to clean the undercoat off the bottom of my '67. I'm using these to chip off the undercoat and a heat gun when needed to get the hard spots clean. It's actually chipping off easy but it as a big chunk of area to cover with these.
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I've also found some damage under the undercoat in my floor as it looks like the car may have at one time drove over something and damaged the bottom.

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Overall the floor is not bad but the driver side is not looking great. I'll have to decide if Im going to put some time into fixing them or just cut them out and replace the drivers side.
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Here are some new parts for the mini-tub that I picked up from a local supplier who has a good amount of goodies in stock and giving me some decent pricing.
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Hoping tomorrow to get the car flipped around and I'll be starting the other half of the bottom. Living the dream my friends, living the dream :machine:

[lftnwhls]

I 100% agree with your statement bellow. Its an addiction just like drugs. Nice to see another Canadian build. Keep up the good work.

The definition is "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc." and since starting to use this site and think about what I am going to do with this build it is on my mind 24/7 and keeps me awake at night thinking how I can proceed and what I should do next.

[rfalker1]

Wow nice. I love the firewall. I want to send my camaro to you know lol!! But good luck with the rest and great numbers on the engine. should be fun to drive todd

[Todd in Vancouver]

FINALLY I'm done scraping off undercoat. I've found a guy to do the sandblasting for me but he is twice the money I've been quoted and is booked weeks in advance. The Camaro will be going to him in April with big factor being when I finally got him on the phone (he was always in the shop when I called) he took the time to answer my questions and he even had the right answers. I did my homework and did some reading on here before I started calling people and even went to a couple shops to see their operations. Sadly most of the guys I talked to were clearly not very knowledgable on sandblasting older cars and their bad/messy/filthy looking shops just eliminated them from my list. I only have one '67 Camaro and I'm not about to let just anyone blast away at it.

On to the updates;

Ive stripped all the glass and interior out of the car, when I got down to the bones I found the dash was rusted and had been covered up so I wanted to replace it. My local jobber has a guy who is into and knowledgable on old cars. He has given me some great advice and showed me that I have some options when it comes to getting some replacement parts. Not to start a battle with anyone, but from what I see there are some options when it comes to buying replacement panels. My guy, Thanks Rick, showed me that C2C gives you the option on USA made or off shore. I've picked up some US made stuff and the metal is thick and it fits very well, I'm a happy camper and its well worth the extra couple bucks to me.

http://c2cfabrication.com/gm/chevrolet/camaro/

Thought I would share a little on how I took the dash out of the car. Please feel free to send me any suggestions you have as I will be taking on my quarter panels and some floor work in the future. Hope this helps someone with taking on their own project as it really isn't hard stuff if you just take your time.

Here is the damaged dash that has been patched and bondo over the rust by a earlier owner
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First I found the "dimples" along the dash where it was spot welded at the factory
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Then I used a small sharp drill bit to put a small pilot hole in the centre* (*that's how we spell center in Canada)

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Then I used a stepped drill bit to drill through the pilot hole while using a screw driver to apply light pressure up on the metal until you feel the metal pop loose

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Here is a short video I shot so please excuse the shaking and the out of range shots. What I was trying to show was how the multi stepped drill bits work for drilling out spot welds. When I use this bit it goes in the small pilot hole I've already drilled and I ususlly use my other hand to hold the screw driver to lightly pry up on the weld so when the stepped bit makes a big enough hole the metal pops up. Really nice and simple and makes just enough of a hole to take out the spot weld.

http://youtu.be/5INrhOp0K-k

I got sorta lucky with the rust doing most of the work along the front of the dash so I just used some tin snips to remove the little bit of metal along the front of the dash.
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The upper cowl metal was in relatively good shape so will just do a light grind along the upper cowl and a little metal repair and I should be good to go and install my new dash upper.
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Here is the old upper dash out of the car and it was super easy to do. I will post some more updates when I install the new upper dash.
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[Todd in Vancouver]

Also, a great picture comparing the pilot holes and using the stepped drill bit to drill through the spot welds.

Sorry for the flipped on its side image but seems to be an iPad only issue for me
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[Todd in Vancouver]

Not a lot to report as I continue to get the car down to just the sheet metal and planning out my next steps. Hopefuly the shell will be going for sand blasting in the next couple weekends. The good news is the guys over at TCI have sent me some more goodies.

These headers are killer and I'm really happy with all my TCI products;


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And, check out this rear suspension set-up;

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That's it for now and hoping to post some more pics soon with some welding done.

[rfalker1]

Engine looks good... but why did u go with the Stealth Ram MPI Fuel Injection system over a carb??

[Todd in Vancouver]

Engine looks good... but why did u go with the Stealth Ram MPI Fuel Injection system over a carb??

I've run carbs on every car I've built and even had two on a polished tunnel ram on my last Camaro. I'm wanting to use this car all the time so FI just makes sense. Its more user friendly with weather changes and on cool damp days which we see lots of here. The tune ability is much better and I can program it to work in the parameters I feel necessary. Not to Mention the better mileage and smooth idle and it allows me to do something different then I've done before.

Did I mention it looks Bad Ass?

[rfalker1]

^^^ yes I understand that. I might go efi or something in a year or two or 3!! Hopefully the price will drop and I can get a system that improves my power and still works with my vortex heads. I have seen a couple of crazy setups! But yours looks good! Keep up the work todd!!

[Todd in Vancouver]

It's been a while since I've done some updates so I will try and get caught up although doing these updates from my iPad has become a bit more of a challenge than using my PC. The pictures are not as easily formatted and may appear a bit more wonky than before but I will do my best.

So to start I tore out the dash because it was a giant mess that someone had covered in bondo before. They must have thought that because it was under the windshield that it doesn't matter. Well, I'm very picky so it does matter so I took it all back to good metal and started again.

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And after it was removed

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The new metal goes in and is looking better already

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[NovaPilot]

Awesome build! I am in the process of putting a TCI subframe in my 68 Nova. I'm curious to know what you are planning to use for your steering column. I have found out the hard way that the stock length will not work with the TCI subframe. This is not highlighted in the TCI instructions and i'm curruntly waiting on a response from Sal at TCI on this. I ended up having to take 3" off the 32" column i originally started with. I can get into more detail on this if your interested.

[Todd in Vancouver]

Thanks for the information and the compliment. I just picked up an Ididit column to go with the TCI frame. I'm behind on my updates and I need to go through the whole thing and reduce the size of the pictures as I've hit my limit. Unfortunately I'm also battling some health issues and its really slowed me down as I was planning on having the car back on its wheels by now.

The good news is I'm not in a rush for the car so it will get done but just a bit later than I'd hoped. I willmtry and get some pictures up this weekend as I have in-laws coming to visit so that's my time to escape to my garage and get some work done. I've got the whole front end done, engine and trans assembled and mounted in the frame and I'm half done one side of my mini-tub so it's getting done, just slowly. I will also get some pics of the column and part numbers, it was what TCI recommended so I'm not expecting any issues.

[javelin66]

FINALLY! the car is flipped on the rotisserie and I've started working on the bottom of the car. It's another step in the progress of the car because now that I'm working on the bottom I will be starting to get the car ready for the rear suspension and mini tub install which means I'm actually starting on the assembly of the car. Everything up to this point has been about taking the car apart, planning and prepping.

From this point forward my work will be about fitting and assembling the car. It's really great to have reached this point and it feels like getting a jolt of motivation. Here are a couple pictures of the car flipped on its side;

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71495whos rotiserie is that /what company make s it please

[NovaPilot]

what length column did you get?

[Todd in Vancouver]

Javelin66
The rotisserie is a Auto Twerler Plus and I got it from here;

http://www.kmscarparts.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=20000000_20010000_20010200&products_id=883

I picked mine up for $1,100 but I've seen them as low as $999. I'm really happy with mine and I can't imagine doing an in depth project without one. But as I've stated I'm getting older and not as healthy as I use to be so I've got to find some ways to make this easier on myself.

Novapilot
I will have to look at the paperwork in my office on Friday. I went with the one TCI has listed on their website for the TCI clip but got it from Summit as TCI was out of stock. Also, I ordered my headers from TCI as well and go figure they fit perfect. PM me if you still want the actual part number and I will answer the PM when I'm catching up on paperwork Friday. Also, will try and spend some time catching up on this thread and loading pictures/resizing them. I'm halfway through the mini-tub project.

[DJW32]

Todd,

Your build looks good. I have a question about installing the tci front sub. I thought you had to grind/cut the two tabs that are sticking out of the body where the pads get bolted too. In the pics you posted, I see that you still have them in the stock location. Do you need to cut grind those tabs flat? I hope that makes sense...

[flamebroiled]

Hi Todd, great looking build! From another car crazed local. We too are building a 67!!

[Todd in Vancouver]

It's been a while since I've done some updates so here we go on what I've been working on.

With the old dash metal removed I installed the new metal,
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But the new dash didn't come with tabs to weld to the A-pillars. So, I made some and welded them in because I do not want any squeaks or vibration noises,
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After the dash I started on the Mini-Tubbing. On the first side I used a cutting wheel and a grinder on the first side but after getting it done I went and purchased a plasma cutter for the second side and it went so much faster. I asked a few people and even here on Pro-Tour and there were mixed opinions on what was better. In my opinion the plasma cutter does a nice clean job quickly and frankly at this point in my life I'll spend a few bucks on new tolls if it makes my life and the job easier.

here you can see where I had marked out the pattern for cutting.
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[Todd in Vancouver]

With the installing of the mini-tubs on my '67 I needed to narrow the frame. The kit I used came with filler pieces but I ended up building a few parts myself so I could make it reinforce the way I wanted. Again with the plasma cutter I was able to pick up some plate steel and fabricate what I wanted.

Here is the filler kit that came with the mini-tub kit;
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Here I marked out the part I wanted to cut out;
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then the cutting starts;
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Here are the filler pieces;
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Here is the long filler piece and it required a little curve at the end to close in the frame. Amazing what a good hammer and an old drive shaft can do to make the exact curve I needed.
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then the part that I cut out with the plasma cutter and welding the frame up and cleaning the welds.
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[Todd in Vancouver]

Once the frame was welded and reinforced the way I wanted it then I put the tub in and secured it with some vice grips.

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And now for the money shot and why all this work is worth the effort. I've now got 15 1/2" of inner wheel space for some HUGE rims and tires
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[Dave Pratt]

Todd I just read your thread from start to finish...great work so far.I'm relatively new to the forum as well as my 69 Camaro I just picked up in April.This build of yours is an inspiration to a newbie like me but I'm getting there.The suspension and brakes on my car are getting done this winter with lowering springs front and back as well as new rear end.Now that appears to be the hard part finding a decent rear end to start building.My 8.2 is living on borrowed time!...cheers from Pitt Meadows

Dave

[Todd in Vancouver]

Well it's been a while since I've done any updates but the facts are I really haven't gotten to far. While getting the ZL1 was a great idea to start developing more driving experience, and it's been a blast, it's also taken some time away from building my '67. Well enough of the excuses.

So what I've managed to finish is fabricating the frame plates for the drivers side and cutting the floor pan and making room for the Mini-tub. Tonight I tack welded the new plates in place and did a final fit of the mini-tub housing and it looks like this;

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So the next step will be to finish welding in the plates and grind and clean up. After this is done then I'll start on installing the TCI rear suspension. I've got some holiday time coming up with plans to spend a week in the garage getting back in touch with my sweet little SS and hopefully a step closer to getting it on it's own wheels.

[Todd in Vancouver]

Just realized I never posted the pictures of the assembled front end and engine with trans bolted on. What an adventure learning to clock the bell housing to the centre of the transmission. I had to go buy a magnetic base set up to find the centre and then install adjustable dowels to get the trans in just the right spot.

There are some great YouTube videos on how to do this so I highly recommend them as the directions were very confusing. At least to me.

Here is the assembly to find centre

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Getting that reading just where I wanted it

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TKO600 installed and torqued down and hopefully never to be removed again.

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Engine and trans installed with everything powder coated and painted and ready to rock & roll

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[bonecrrusher]

Todd was your car featured at the Riders section of an episode of Gearz?

I think I just saw it on Youtube...

[driveit]

Looking good so far. Love what you've done with the firewall. I am still trying to work out a way to hide my wiper motor and such so I can clean mine up for my Chevelle.

[gordonr1973]

Todd, anything new on the build?

[Todd in Vancouver]

Hey All,

Been gone a while and have been neglecting my build page so I will give a quick whats up and and try and get some pics. Two major things with the first being my purchase of my ZL1 and going out and getting involved in the local race scene. What a blast with AutoX and drivers training and track days I have learned a lot, but mostly that I was an above average drag racer but I have a lot to learn on road racing and car handling and dynamics. That has eaten up a bumch of time. Second , as I have mentioned I've been working through heath issues for over two years which leave me frankly without the energy to do much car fabing and work. My rheumatism had gotten really bad and two years of Chemo to try and control it finally reached a peak where I was just done with the fight and continued exaustion so I forced the hand of my new rheumatologist and they upped me to new stronger meds and dropped half the ones I was taking. Within 6'weeks it felt like a fog lifted and a lot of the pain went away so I'm finally feeling like working on the car. Please take a side piece of advise, if you don't believe what your doctors are telling you and your gut says he/she is not right go see someone else. YOU ARE YOUR BEST ADVOCATE.
So here goes onto the car;

It doesn't look any different but the the mini- tubs are in and I've layed out all the rear TCI suspension beside the car on the ground. I'm planning out the install and will be working on it this week and I will snap some pics along the way. One challenge I have with posting is the switch to an iPad and my pictures are too big on it so I'm having to transfer to my laptop and downsize the pics to use on here or they're giant whole page pictures. If anyone has suggestions please do say.

Thanks for all the foolow up posts, it is motivating to see people checking my build and I will be getting pics up this week and watch for some future updates on the car. My goal is to be back on my wheels by Spring.

[Todd in Vancouver]

Todd was your car featured at the Riders section of an episode of Gearz?

I think I just saw it on Youtube...

Yes that was me and the folks over on WAYWO were really, really nice people and treated me well. There was one error and they showed a picture od one of the replies on this build page as my car (blue car with LS engine) but all else was good. Even have the plate frame on my ZL saying I'm a gearhead.


Looking good so far. Love what you've done with the firewall. I am still trying to work out a way to hide my wiper motor and such so I can clean mine up for my Chevelle.

There are a number of companies building hidden wiper motors so it shouldn't be to hard to fab one into your car so nobody can see it. Even upgrade to intermittent wipers. Can't recall the one I looked at but it was Rain something or other and the motor went on the inside of the firewall under the cowl.

Todd, anything new on the build?

Thansk for the note Gordon, and yes soon more updates.

[no go nova]

Just went to this thread great build keep fighting until it pays off.

[Motown 454]

Hi Todd nice project, I just went through from the beginning. Looking good!

[OneOffDAN]

Looks Great man !

[xsboost90]

looks great- very similar to my stang build- cant wait to see it all done.

[Poopy]

Looks great! nice to see another BC car. ;)

[Todd in Vancouver]

Hey All,
Been a while since I've tuned in, a long while actually, so thought I'd do a quick update. Firstly I've been sidelined and turned down a few offers on the car and am determined to finish it. Someday. I've picked away at what I could then made the decision to install a hoist hoping it'll make it easier to work on, and it is.

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Currently the front end is done and installed, mini-tubbing is finished, rear suspension mounts are installed along with the subframe connectors. I've trial fit the rear diff and got all my measurements for narrowing the diff ( after hours of prep and measuring it was exactly what TCI recommended, go figure).

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Should get my 12 bolt dropped off in the next couple weeks for narrowing and then it'll become a roller.

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[Todd in Vancouver]

And these babies are going to look AWESOME. I Re-love these wheels every time I look at them, such an beautiful set of wheels from Jason at Rushforth Wheels.

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Even better on the car...

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And one more....

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[Peter Mc Mahon]

Keep plugging away Todd. One day at a time

[Todd in Vancouver]

Been a while since I've updated my thread and unfortunately there hasn't been a lot of movement. Health continues to hold me back so I took to just doing some small easy mods on my ZL1 with plans on doing some more racing in 2017 but I've only gotten out once. The '67 had the diff narrowed after measuring it what seemed like a 100x and I must say it turned out great.

12bolt GM diff with 3.90:1 gears, Auburn carrier, big Ford bearings and eliminated C-clips, 2.5" narrowed each side, Dutchman axles, diff was put in a jig and straightened with all the my brackets welded on. Moser cover installed and set up.

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And this past Winter the Z got lowered 1.25", camber kits installed and all the front bushings replaced with Polyurethane and a lot more aggressive alignment. Sticks like glue in the corners and is so much more fun. And mods making 630whp definitely help.
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More updates soon as I hope to get the diff installed soon and tires and wheels mounted making the 67 a roller again.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Glad your still at it and waiting to see more!

[gator68428]

Awesome thread! Just got caught up. Looking forward to seeing this thing on the road. Nice choice on the chassis!

I'm intrigued by the mention of the hidden wiper motor. Some of my next mods include engine bay sprucing up--my D&E score at Optima needs it. I didn't see the pic. Maybe i missed it?

[scherp69]

Nice to see you're still plugging away at it Todd. I know how you feel. I finally got back to line after two years.

[ragz]

Hey Todd, had to dig your thread up to see how you are making out, when i was looking for ideas on building my car, your thread influenced me greatly in my suspension choice, so thanks, and hope things are good.

[chiva]

Any updates? I hope you’re feeling good enough to work in your car.

Rob

[callofgeorge]

I'm interested to see how this is coming along. stumbled across it while searching how to mod the TCI torque arm suspension to fit mini tubs for a mustang.. very nice build. love the wheels too. curious what they ended up running you roughly? would love a cheaper alternative to some Forgelines..