'68 Camaro SS - Project 1BADSS

[sginphx]

Nice Job...will definitely be watching this build!

[pittpens24]

Adding a few pics from other posts about shaving my bumpers and making my own front spoiler. Also decided to change out the marker lights from the BIG rectangular stock one's to the smaller 69 style one's. Then added the Vision VF-2 Mirrors for that custom look. It's the little things right?!?

[pittpens24]

Adding a few pics of this past weekend of dropping in the 572 and Tremec T-56. Went with the Vintage Air Front Runner serpentine belt set-up, Ram RTrack dual disc clutch and Quicktime bell. Originally took my time and layed out perfectly where the shifter would be and cut out a 4" hole with a holesaw
Last pic shows I pretty much had to hack out the entire tunnel to fit that bad boy in The things we do for performance mods huh???

[pittpens24]

Finally finished up my tunnel and shot it with the same Raptor liner to match the rest of the vehicle. Decided to make a few quick changes and then send this bad boy off to the restoration shop for prep and paint. The Vision Mirrors I had on the car never really at well with me from day 1 but they kinda grew on me. I liked the way they looked from the front and back of the car but the side threw me - they don't have enough depth to them. Went back to the drawing board and finally settled on '71 Challenger mirrors. Love the lines in them and think they compliment the Camaro body lines very well. The mounting brackets on the other hand had to go. I cast my own out of epoxy resin and came up with my own design for the stalks. They bolt on from the back now. What do ya guys think?

[pittpens24]

Haven't posted in a while. Got quite a few things done. Got my interior worked out. Built my own custom console that runs through the entire car up into the back window. I am very happy with the results and look that I was trying to achieve. Other than that milestone, I can officially say that car is in primer!

[pittpens24]

Well guys and gals, we now have some color flying. I decided to stick with the timeless black color and wanted to do something a little special in memory of my mom who passed away last year of lung cancer. As we all know, there is a color for Breast cancer which everyone knows is pink and everyone is aware of the ribbon as well. After doing some research, I realized there are colors and ribbons for everything out there and the color that represents lung cancer is white/pearl. That being said, I wanted to do the traditional Z stripes so we added a little flair. Went with the white stripes on the black, stretched out some lace and sprayed the pearl through it giving an amazing effect and tuned out to be even better of a tribute than I could have ever imagined. Some may love, some may hate, but for me it is my expression of dealing with something in the only way I know how -

[chuckd396]

Some may not like the pattern but personally thats a fantastic job/idea....Sorry to hear about your mom, lost my mother n law to the same cancer.

Very nice work, I wish I had my Chevelle in that stage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pittpens24]

Thanks soo much! Sorry for your loss as well. Keep pluggin away, you'll get there. I still have a very long way to go lol.

[Mesa Racing Engines]

Thanks for sharing the project your interior pictures help me with some ideas the project is flawless awesome work. Sincerely Laz Mesa

[expensivehobby22]

Awesome build man. Love the pattern in the stripes!

[pittpens24]

Thanks for sharing the project your interior pictures help me with some ideas the project is flawless awesome work. Sincerely Laz Mesa

Awesome build man. Love the pattern in the stripes!

Thanks guys! Very kind of you both.

[Bossed]

Enjoyed reading your story, and watching all of the progress. Always liked the 68 the best of the first generation Camaro's. Pretty neat that you held onto the car all these years. Awesome tribute to your Mom. Best of luck going forward !!

Bossed

[pittpens24]

Enjoyed reading your story, and watching all of the progress. Always liked the 68 the best of the first generation Camaro's. Pretty neat that you held onto the car all these years. Awesome tribute to your Mom. Best of luck going forward !!

Bossed

Thanks soo much - greatly appreciated.

[pittpens24]

Been a little while since I have updated so here goes. Been through a lot of one step forward and two steps back type of issues now that it is all coming back together. New "direct-fit" C&R Racing Radiator would not fit with the Vintage Air Frontrunner set-up. Contacted Summit where I bought it and they got C&R right on the phone in a conference call. Sam explained that the frontrunner set-ups are a nightmare to deal with, but assured me that we would get a rad to fit. After giving him all the parameters and measurements we had to work with, he built me a custom aluminum fan shoud with a single 16" brushless Spal fan in replace of the dual 11" Spal fans. Thank you to Sam at C&R Racing for being soo amazing and coming up with a solution for my specific application and to Summit Racing for their great customer service.
Next issue was the air cleaner. Who actually fits an air cleaner during the initial mock-up? Apparently not me lol. The thickest filter I could get to fit on my car UNDER my 2" cowl hood was a 2" low profile. Not enough air flow. For my 572BB, I needed the equivalent of a 5" filter with a flat bottom carb plate, thicker if I went with a drop plate as you lose the cfm's if you use a drop plate. The only solution I could come up with was to use a carb screen like they use in drag racing from Intensity Racing. Using that in conjunction with an Outerwears pre-filter. If it was a daily driver, I would go a diff route, but since it is strictly going to be driven to car shows, parades, etc, I will be fine. Also had to change the Meth injection set-up at the carb to get the height down. The kit came with a 1" spacer plate the went under the carb. I had to remove the plate and drill and tap the manifold for the injectors in the front and rear of the manifold.
Between waiting for parts, the wiring got completed and I started the rad hoses, power steering pump connections, finished the fuel line connections, got the gas tank in, Vintage Air set-up plumbed and added all the fluids. The rad shroud/fan unit showed up and fit perfectly!
On to the exhaust, I went with 3" stainless from Spintech. We built a custom exhaust that went from the collector to an H-pipe, muffler to a 3-1/2" oval exiting at a 30 degree angle in front of the rear tires with a fishmouth cut.
Tires - bought one of those Wheel-fit tools. Worth every penny!!!! I bought the tires I wanted to fit and used the tool to simulate different backspacing to find the perfect fit and look with no guessing what-so-ever. Got 275/40R/18's to fit up front and 335/35R/18's out back. Ordered my Boze Forged Splitters in a fully polished finish with confidence.
With everything wired and plumbed, we finally fired this beast up and sounds BADA$$!!! Wish I could figure out how to post videos here even though it really doesn't do it justice.

[minendrews68]

That lace pattern brings back memories of the '70's, at one time you could see lace on just about everything from street cars to dragsters...

[pittpens24]

That lace pattern brings back memories of the '70's, at one time you could see lace on just about everything from street cars to dragsters...

Yeah - I was going for something different that I have never seen before - well atleast as stripes on a Camaro.

[minendrews68]

Heck yeah! I think it looks great!

[pittpens24]

Car finally made it home. Got the car up on jack stands, took off those rollers and was finally able to bolt on my Wilwood calipers for a final time. Hooked up the caliper lines to the stainless steel lines I had already plumbed last year, dumped in a little fluid and prayed for no leaks. Since I made and flared all the lines myself and heard nothing but horrible stories with stainless, I was scared especially since I never flared a brake line in my life let alone stainless lines. I also read to tighten and loosen each fitting at least 3 times to make sure you had a good seat. Guess what - No leaks! That Eastwood flare tool rocks!!! New wheels will be here mid week and should be ready to hit the alignment shop by the end of the week or when the weather permits and lately I think Jersey's weather is mixed up with Seattle's lol. One alignment is complete, she will be off tot he upholsterer for the interior. The end is in sight.

[ryeguy2006a]

Looking good! Love the RS grills.

[gator68428]

Very nice!! When are the wheels coming in? Did you order anything yet? (sorry if i missed it) Nice about the tire fitter. Nice and wide tires up front too--Ever think you'll try autocrossing with it?

Good to hear about the Eastwood flare tool. I was just wondering about getting a tool to do custom brake lines.

For videos, the easiest thing is to post them on Youtube, then put the link in the post. There is a button that allows you to embed the video too (look at the buttons in the thread editor and there is one that looks like old film - and is "insert video").