1968 Camaro Resto-mod 6.0/6 speed; Project Penny Pincher

[ryeguy2006a]

I made a small bit of progress buttoning up some little tasks. It was one of those nights where I found myself not staying focused on one task. I started by painting the inner cowl's with a Rustoleum product that is similar to POR, but is oil based. I like it more than POR15 because it is oil based, but the one drawback is it takes several days to fully cure. I just need to clean up the kick panels now and add some sealer puddy and then I can install the ebrake lever assembly.



Next was cleaning up and reinstalling the Astro Vents. It took me a little while to get everything lined up, but I got them re-installed and they look good. I'm planning on making a purchase to National Parts Depot very soon and I think I'm just going to get some new vents. These are very faded and some of the "chrome" is lifting. Although I need to prioritize what I NEED verse what I WANT. The chrome vents would be a quick and easy upgrade down the road, so I may just pass on them.



Next is my attempt at saving some bucks. I saw how many people just buy the BBC heater core and flip them in the heater box, then trim a hole in the outer heater box when doing the LS swaps go give a little more room. I got to looking at my heater core and it had both of the tube that had the solder broken but otherwise in good shape. I thought, well how hard would it be to just make my own tubes from copper and solder them in place of the stock ones. Then I could save $75 bucks rather than a new heater core. After a little measuring and a trip to the parts store, I decided to give it a try. I started with this.

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First tube in place. It's definitely promising.







I used several pictures of the stock BBC heater cores as a reference of how to bend my tubes. Once the tubes were in place, I decided to solder the top tube in place and see how it fit. That way if I need to adjust I only had to move one, not both.



Not a great picture of the solder, but here is that as well as the retaining clip that needed to be trimmed slightly.





I made this little holder from cardboard on where I thought the tubes should be to hold the lower tube in place since it wasn't soldered.



Then it was time for the first test fit. I honestly couldn't have been happier with the initial fitment. Nothing touches and it lined up perfectly. Very pleased with that. Keep in mind the lower isn't soldered yet, so it looks wonky.







Here is both a picture of the soldered lower section and a pinhole from cracked solder that I found after filling it water.



Here is my super high tech method for checking leaks.







I was running out of time and didn't get a chance to finish, but I did have one tiny leak on the opposite side that I need to fix. I also bought some parts to build a pressure tester. I've been wanting to build one of these for a long time and what better excuse. Basically some fittings from the hardware store and an old Round-Up sprayer. It builds pressure to 10 psi, but I have a leak somewhere and didn't get a chance to fix that either. I think I need a check valve in the round up container. I think that's where it's leaking. Originally I picked up that old sprayer to use as a cheap version of the "Mighty Vac" for bleeding brakes. But I've adapted it for just building pressure.





Not a car post, but I thought this was pretty cool. Don't shame me, but I was getting a burger recently at McDonald's and when I was looking at my receipt I noticed that my number in line was 1320. For anyone that doesn't know, that is how many feet in a quarter mile. I guess the car gods are telling me that I need some drag slicks! At least maybe that's how I'll explain it to my wife.



Cheers for now,
Ryan