'Streamline' 1968 camaro project

[slimjim]

Metro seals arrived, I've only taken the time to replace the trunk seal but it's much better. The Soffseal was also slowly improving but only by compressing itself, so I'll continue with the skim coating asap.
Even while installing the Metro seal it was tight and popped firmly into place, while the soffseal could easily fall out, sometimes just by opening the trunk.
Soffseal on the left, Metro on the right.

[slimjim]

time for an update.
I've spent over 4 weeks working around the clock on the body work on my car, I could have posted daily showing the tiny areas I refined over and over again but figured best just wait. And after all that time, I only achieved to complete the back half of the car...
I've done body work before on imports I've owned but never anything to this scale, I studied a ridiculous amount to allow myself to feel confident enough to tackle such a big job, but I'm happy with the end results.
I decided to use evercoat products only, with a variety of their fillers used for different purposes, Metal 2 Metal for the roof seam, Rage ultra for initial build up, Quantam 1 for skim coating and Easy-sand glaze for finishing. I'm pretty happy with the majority of the body lines and the trunk gap.
Just yesterday I managed to get some 2k epoxy on burn-throughs and areas of interest so it gives a good idea of the results.





I won't get too much more done at this point as the car is going to Charlotte speed shop later in the week for my last few items of fabrication, they will most likely complete the body work and high build the car, if the time and budget allows we may even aim for paint.

[Gmc427]

looking good!

[slimjim]

Wrapped her up because rain was in the forecast but luckily the shop is only 10 minutes away, first priority will be finalizing everything on the firewall and wrapping up some loose ends.
Always a stressful day when the car goes to a new shop but I'm hoping the results will be good.

[Gmc427]

those rear wheels look the goods ,what size are they again?cheers

[slimjim]

those rear wheels look the goods ,what size are they again?cheers

19 x 12's with 325's

[Shawn0331]

awesome! making moves!!

[ryeguy2006a]

Glad to see you're making some solid progress. Dang those are some huge wheels!

[slimjim]

Welp, The car came home today, 2 months away and no work done.

which means I will continue with body work and the firewall myself. I will be very busy with it these coming weeks so pictures will follow.

[ryeguy2006a]

Sorry to hear about your body shop troubles. Seems like a pretty common theme, but glad to hear you are doing to keep plugging away. We like pictures!

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

It's looking good. Can't wait to see it painted. Hope you find a decent body shop.

[slimjim]

The positive side is I continue to learn a number of skills that were daunting just a matter of years/ months ago.

[slimjim]

Pics as promised, I spent the previous few days preparing the garage, storing everything properly followed by protecting it.

Then today I got stuck right into the car. First plan is to hit the whole interior with U-POL Raptor Liner.
months ago I seam sealed the interior so this saved a step, I removed the remaining bits and pieces throughout the car. A bonus to having the 5th gen dash is the support frame unbolts and can be removed entirely!


Then sanding with 80 grit and red scotch brite for what seemed like an eternity.




I already begun taping up some areas I didn't want to sand, just to maintain the clean epoxy.




finished the day with some extra seam sealing since I had very good access to everything, plugs went back in the car for the last time.

Yes, I'm going a little over the top with it, raptor liner will be sprayed inside and underneath the car. but hey, it's a street car and damn it'll be sealed.

Tomorrow, we mask up and start shooting!

[slimjim]

The morning consisted of getting the garage up to temp while taping eeeeeverything up, I thought I was going a little over the top with this but once I got started I was very happy that I did, raptor liner can be messy!







Then, once at 68 degrees, I got setup and got to work, turns out the application and tape removal takes a tenth of the time as the prep...like everything.
Very happy with the results.

[joeko23]

Do you think sound deadener material will have trouble sticking to this since it’s an uneven surface? I also want to spray my inside with a rubberized bed costing but think sound deadener will not stick to it as good as a flat surface

[slimjim]

Do you think sound deadener material will have trouble sticking to this since it’s an uneven surface? I also want to spray my inside with a rubberized bed costing but think sound deadener will not stick to it as good as a flat surface

Once rolled down flat I don't think it'll have any difficulty sticking, I've seen it done like this a bunch of times. Either way, I could get some soon and get a definitive answer. I was going to use a combination of Noico and membrane.

[Motown 454]

It looks good, I wish I had done that to mine.

[ryeguy2006a]

Looking great!

[syborg tt]

Okay, So I have spent the last two day's looking at this thread and I am blown away. You sir are doing an incredible job on your car and I think I will be said when it's finished. However, for now I am just going to look forward to seeing your updates.

Once again Beautiful car and I like that you looked at the Porsche for inspiration on the body colors and the caliper colors.

Plus Porsche has some of the nicest silvers out there.

ps In the middle of my last build I actually bought a Cayman R and I managed to but 10,000 miles on it this summer including a track day at Road America.

[slimjim]

Thanks for the kind words guys, it really helps to motivate me to get to work on this dang car.

Syborg tt, glad you like the style I'm going for, I'm still undecided on color however the Mercedes SLS has a pretty awesome silver at the top of my list.


So while I wait for the weather to get good enough for some primer, I decided to get stuck into the pedal situation now that enough parts have arrived for it.

This was an ongoing investigation which combined the issues of a pre-stamped smoothed firewall designed for the original 68 pedals and a dash structure from the 5th gen Camaro.

After purchasing 5th gen pedals, it was pretty obvious these would be a lot of work.
I figured it easiest to modify the dash structure over the firewall at this point so I picked up some original pedals and brackets off eBay and well...today I got busy on them.

The firewall from ambition road is designed for a flush mounted booster, this meant I needed to cut off the bolts from the original pedal bracket as it would now be bolted in the opposite direction, if that makes sense.



Another feature of the ambition road is the angled clutch master cylinder, after some research I went with the wilwood 260-10372, the machined bracket comes with the firewall for a very compact fit.
I had to slightly trim the MC to fit and it will have a remote reservoir.



After mounting the booster it's almost impossible to see the clutch master.




Behind the firewall will show what I mean regarding the booster mounting, I still need to run out for the 2 hidden bolts for the pedal bracket.



So the biggest surprise came when trying to mount the 68 pedal bracket. I knew it wouldn't have any problem mounting to the firewall after I modified that end of it. but it came so close to the 5th gen location, that with a bit of tweaking, and some small spacers, I got it to bolt together. a huge shock, and not affecting the 5th gen steering column whatsoever.




There's still some odd nuts and bolts I need to pickup to tighten everything 100% and I'll need a new clevis to attach the clutch pedal, but I'm now very excited to install the driver seat and get a feel for their current locations. if it works. it's a huge win!

oh and few days ago I also put. couple bolts in the battery tray, just because.