'Streamline' 1968 camaro project

[slimjim]

Yes. The upper corners are spot welded on. Food for thought...I really understand your concerns for carpet and appearance, but would offer this advice. When thinking about appearance, try and remember that interior components will have to be placed somewhat proportionally to 5th gen locations. This is most obvious for correct 5th gen appearance, but what is not so obvious is component functionality. For example, the 5th gen seats are much wider than the 1st gen. they are also significantly taller, critically at a the base. This causes two issues. 1. If the 5th gen seats are just mounted to the original (unmodified) seat pans, in between and unmodified tunnel or inner rocker (path of least resistance), most drivers of average height will have their heads in the ceiling and knees hitting the steering wheel...2. The seats will be so close together in the center, the console itself will be wedged in there (really tight) interfering and deforming the seats upper and lower side bolsters. appearance wise this may be acceptable, but functionally it will put significant stress on the motors and jack screws of the seats, and eventually break the cheap ass tabs holding on the console side covers (we broke just mocking that scenerio, just operating with nobody in the seat).
"On your hope to narrow tunnel towards the back" We carried the 5th gen tunnel width the full length of the upper corner braces, and tapered it down to 1st gen width beyond the braces. Reasons for this were many, e-brake handle and cable components underneath, upper module mounting (we are using all 5th modules), and "FUNCTIONALLY" for the size of the transmission tail housing/shaft flange which requires a CV type driveshaft (much larger than traditional yoke components..and will be complicated more with 6l80 girth). We may eventually convert to A6 trans, so we planned ahead. Most using A6 have ground clearance concerns with the pan..... so as much as you can get it into the tunnel, the better off you will be. Also when installing driveshaft, shifter components, exhaust, etc..You will be happy you went that far. Our projects have the benefit of the proper interior for that tunnel height, so i would recommend looking at it that way. We have actually dropped 5th gen molded carpet in there (with all padding removed) and it didn't fit bad at all. Based on rough measurements we have done in critical areas, an OEM 1st gen carpet will also work if sliced down the middle leaving the center of the tunnel under the console bare. Last resort is let interior guy sweat over it (which will probably be us anyway..LOL). Time will tell. PM me when you get back in town, and i'll send my number and we can talk more in depth about all the approaches we have already explored, and why they were implemented or dismissed. might save you some time and money, which is why i created the build thread in the first place...to save others time and money of the known/unknown..LOL

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply. It certainly does make me rethink things a little, and at the end of the day I need to remember the entire purpose behind my build being functionality and modern comfort..(hence streamline). I certainly am not going to be in all out autocross wars, or show'n'shine comps, though i'll give them a run for their money, but I want more than anything, to be able to drive to the next city, or up through the mountain ranges... and I certainly don't want my head hitting the roof(I'm 6'1") or my elbow rubbing on the console the entire time.
This is how i chose the 2 big options for my car.
1. to have great, and more importantly, proven suspension geometries, hence the speedtech subframe and torque-arm with a 9" rear-end
2. the interior, braking and driveline from a 5th gen, all mated together to work like a modern Camaro does.



Regarding the carpet, I had considered both options, but was leaning more towards the latter, of slicing 1st gen carpet down the middle and concealing it, but again, like you said, its a future problem that isn't too difficult to resolve.
I'll certainly give you a call when I'm back in town as I plan to knock this over and get my car out of the shop so I can work on it myself for a while.