'Streamline' 1968 camaro project

[slimjim]

G'day fellas,
I've been snooping around the site for a couple of months and finally decided to show you my project.
I moved from Australia late last year to live in Charlotte NC, jumped on a 68 camaro shell quite soon after and am having it built at Quarter Mile Muscle in mooresville.
The shell had been blasted and showed bad cases of rust, and since I always want to have the option of one day taking it back to australia, the option of buying a dynacorn shell were not an option for the strict import laws for classic cars.
so right now the car is going through full fabrication to make it as good as new.
Aiming at a full pro-touring car estimated to be on the road early to mid 2016 and although the car is having a lot of work done at the workshop, I am still heavily involved supplying all parts and working on certain projects of my own.
The plan for the car is to end up silver, no chrome whatsoever, stinger hood, a lot of custom details in the bodywork, modern interior and of course, an LS engine. More of my ideas will be revealed as they're executed on the car, so sit tight..

JULY 2017, PHOTOBUCKET DECIDED TO CHANGE THEIR TERMS, RUINING ALL PICTURES IN MY THREAD, I HAVE UPDATED IT AS BEST I COULD, BUT THERE ARE NO LONGER AS MANY PICTURES, AND SOMETIMES THE TIMELINE IS NOT PERFECT. FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS OR MORE INFORMATION OF CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE BUILD, JUST ASK.













These above pics were taken back in may when it was stripped down





Slowly replacing all major steel, as you can see, DSE tubs are going in soon.

I've also been ordering a lot of major parts during this time, including a set of Boze wheels




18x8s up front as we'll be running the standard subframe(for now) all with aftermarket suspension of course, however the rears are 19x12s, Backspacing of 4.75", and fully brushed



225s wrapping them for now, these should clear the 2013 ss brembos going behind them.
So for now and the next few weeks, the car will continue in fabrication, hopefully we can begin some of the custom work, meanwhile I'm working on a new grille.
Always happy to discuss the build with anyone, whether its positive or negative I want to hear it, this is my first american build so be gentle,
If anyone is in NC I'd love to meet you, talk cars and have a beer.

[rchaskin]

Welcome from Hildebran.

Don't get to the big city much....

There will be several locals at the Goodguys Charlotte event. It is a really fun event.
Look for me in the autocross pits. Blue Nova with a white top.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Cool setup! Local too

[2ABodies1FBody]

What model of Boze wheels are those? They are gorgeous! Looks like the car is coming along nicely.

Clint

[slimjim]

What model of Boze wheels are those? They are gorgeous! Looks like the car is coming along nicely.

Clint

They're Boze Pro touring, brushed centers AND hoops, to keep with the 'No chrome or polished' look i want for the car.
They're also surprisingly light weight for such big wheels.

[slimjim]

A bit more progress on the car, panels are all being aligned and starting some work on the firewall, went with the DSE firewall panel for the passenger side but we'll do our own thing on the driver side.

[slimjim]

front end is coming along, time to start cutting into the stinger hood!



Soooo, I've had a drastic plan change... I'll be getting a full subframe now, going to go for a full package, including 4 link or torque arm setup with rear end included... now to decide which brand/ which frame suits my needs...

[slimjim]

Well just like that, a track time speed tech suspension package is ordered...

also, just putting the finishing touches on my grille, inspired by roadstershop.

[2ABodies1FBody]

Where did you get the mesh material you used for your grill? Looks sweet.

Clint

[slimjim]

Where did you get the mesh material you used for your grill? Looks sweet.

Clint

Its actually off of eBay, theres a huge mesh supplier. Roadstershop managed to make theirs out of aluminium which would be ideal but I made this more than strong enough

[RobNoLimit]

Well just like that, a track time speed tech suspension package is ordered...

also, just putting the finishing touches on my grille, inspired by roadstershop.

The grill mesh looks great. is that some material that you bought? very nice.

[slimjim]

The grill mesh looks great. is that some material that you bought? very nice.

Straight off eBay, I'll maybe be incorporating it into my stinger hood also

[Smooth67]

Well just like that, a track time speed tech suspension package is ordered...

also, just putting the finishing touches on my grille, inspired by roadstershop.

Let me start by saying great project!! Love all the mods and the knowledge sharing (like the rear bumper mod, etc) is very cool of you to do! One question I wanted to ask was when you did the custom mesh for your grill does it sit on the very back of your grill or does it actually sit inside of the shell itself? I’m assuming you use some sort of epoxy to attach it with? I’ve been knocking around the same idea for my 67, but my first attempt it’s going to be trying to use the factory grill and just add a piece. If I can’t do that then I will probably look at some mesh material similar to what you used.

[slimjim]

Let me start by saying great project!! Love all the mods and the knowledge sharing (like the rear bumper mod, etc) is very cool of you to do! One question I wanted to ask was when you did the custom mesh for your grill does it sit on the very back of your grill or does it actually sit inside of the shell itself? I’m assuming you use some sort of epoxy to attach it with? I’ve been knocking around the same idea for my 67, but my first attempt it’s going to be trying to use the factory grill and just add a piece. If I can’t do that then I will probably look at some mesh material similar to what you used.

Thanks for the kind words. I never considered what I was doing as knowledge sharing ha, The beauty of old cars is they can be done several ways and all I've tried to do is show what I did. If you've read the whole way through you'll even see the mistakes I made, the changes I made, what worked and what didn't.
As for the grille, I mounted the mesh behind the grill and yes, used an epoxy(or something similar, I don't quite remember now, maybe plastic welding) to do so, saying that, it seems weak. when I finally dig around to pull it out of storage for final install, I actually planned to lay a thin strip of fibreglass or similar to strengthen it.

Now for yours, I don't quite know how you'll mount the original mesh but I'm sure you can make it happen. one piece of advice I never mentioned previously, is to mount it on the car BEFORE mounting the mesh, just to ensure you're not distorting the opening or anything like that, I believe I got lucky with mine but could see it being a big problem for others. I hope that makes sense.

[Smooth67]

Thanks for the kind words. I never considered what I was doing as knowledge sharing ha, The beauty of old cars is they can be done several ways and all I've tried to do is show what I did. If you've read the whole way through you'll even see the mistakes I made, the changes I made, what worked and what didn't.
As for the grille, I mounted the mesh behind the grill and yes, used an epoxy(or something similar, I don't quite remember now, maybe plastic welding) to do so, saying that, it seems weak. when I finally dig around to pull it out of storage for final install, I actually planned to lay a thin strip of fibreglass or similar to strengthen it.

Now for yours, I don't quite know how you'll mount the original mesh but I'm sure you can make it happen. one piece of advice I never mentioned previously, is to mount it on the car BEFORE mounting the mesh, just to ensure you're not distorting the opening or anything like that, I believe I got lucky with mine but could see it being a big problem for others. I hope that makes sense.

Yep I got to actually read through everything yesterday. All part of it - I’ve started a build thread but I don’t have the touch, lol! Plus I usually don’t take enough pictures.

As for attaching, I came across some videos yesterday where you take some plastic (old grill section), break it up into small pieces then mix them with acetone to make a “plastic glue”. So epoxy for strength and some small welding rod/wire on the back across the joints for strength, the should be hidden by the grid. The slurry mix would be to fill in any gaps, etc. then after all that and if it looks like crap I’ll go with a similar mesh material like you used, lol

[slimjim]

a couple more small updates, panels are aligning without too much difficulty.

tubs are in


dummied up my grille


and some nice big boxes can only mean nice big presents

[slimjim]

The car is towards the final stages of fabrication now and we're looking to start fitting some of the major parts, both tubs are installed, just waiting on a few things and then we can test fit the rear end and ensure the wheels fit without too much hassle, also waiting on the subframe to return from powder coating before we fit it along with the brakes and wheels up front. anyways, here's pictures:-





and after a lot of research and part sourcing, I believe I've found a way to fit these brakes.. up front anyways

[Motown 454]

Great progress, its coming together nice. I like the grill and the way you have the SS off center. Very Nice.

[Bozeforged]

Looks great!!! Thanks for choosing Boze Pro Touring wheels. I'm looking forward to seeing more images of your build!

[slimjim]

Looks great!!! Thanks for choosing Boze Pro Touring wheels. I'm looking forward to seeing more images of your build!

Thankyou, I'll actually be giving you another call down the track, decided I'll get wider front wheels. No rush for them but a shame I changed my mind on the subframe after buying wheels