Project Black Widow

[74 Camaro]

Seats came in. They weren't supposed to be leather, but I suppose Corbeau may have sent these due to low inventory. Word from CWP is that Corbeau is going through some big changes. The leather may not be as good for autocross as cloth, but they are so beautiful I don't mind!

Ideas for door bars

[74 Camaro]

Repairs to sf mount:
Cut out damaged area


Drilled out spot welds and flattened the pieces

Welded the cage back on

Welded the first piece in

Welded the bottom piece in

For a newb, this welder is awesome!

[74 Camaro]

Problem area with fitting the PTFB lowered body bushings. The sharp corner you see here was pinching against the frame

So I cut it

Welded and smoothed

And fit the frame!

[74 Camaro]

The lca not fitting properly due to poor factory tolerances on the stock frame

So I got a solid bar, 1' cut down to 2 3/8" ($10), which I used to beat the openings a little wider

The lca's installed (backwards). Also test fit the strut braces. They will have to be installed permanently after alignment shims are in.

[74 Camaro]

The lca's in correctly. Also steering and sway bar

[74 Camaro]

Drilled out the holes on the axle housing for the u-bolts


Didn't want to pay $120 for a new steering collumn u-joint, so I

Cut out the old dust boot and cleaned out the grease

Then re-greased and made my own dust boot out of a heavy-duty rubber glove

It will get another hose clamp on the larger section, just have to go get one.

[74 Camaro]

Installing leaf spring bushings


Rear end in!

[74 Camaro]

Rear sway bar installed! (upside-down)

Rear sway bar installed! (Right side-up)

Trying to install rear brake calipers, leaf spring interferes with bolt

I have to swing the caliper bracket down to get the bolt in, but the allen key wont fit between the bracket bolt and the axle housing

Cut off a 1/4" drive section from a 1/4" bit, fit that into a 1/4" wrench

And use like this

Finally got everything together and rear wheels on

I did discover, though, that the stock parking brake cables do not work with Wilwood brakes, so I have to order their cable kit.

Moving on to the front- I tried to put the front hubs on and discovered that I was missing some hardware. Tried these, but there is obvious interference. Must require a really low-profile head.

[74 Camaro]

So, here I am at the computer, just updated from over a month ago. Please note that I left out many many details. I have been working hard on this project every day. Every inch is fought for, and everything is a force-fit. Everything requires a new tool or an additional part. Or people forget to ship you part of what you paid for. One thing I should mention is that UPS has lost my freight, which was the fiberglass front end, hood, doors, and rear bumper. I'm being told that they should find the missing freight soon, but it's been over a week now since it was supposed to be delivered. Glasstek says this happened to them once before, and the freight was found a few days later. UPS is investigating, looking through footage for the unmistakably huge crate. Good news is, I have plenty to work on in the mean while!

[74 Camaro]

Over the last four days I have been building an aluminum dash. First, I built some cross bars out of 1" x .125 steel,

then mocked up the dash out of cardboard.

Lay-out how I want the gauges.

Then built it out of .063 aluminum. I ended up not needing the upper steel cross bar, as the aluminum was plenty strong without it.


Ended my day making these chassis-stiffening brackets. You will see the full application soon!

[74 Camaro]

I see that I didn't put an important update here. Important, not because of all the progress I've been making, but because of my current complete lack of ability to make progress. I'm overseas for work again, this time for a year. I'll be back middle of next July, and plan to continue working on the car at that point.

What's left to do:

- Install Wilwood parking brake cable

- Install exhaust

- Fabricate front and rear bumper structures

- Install Glasstek rear bumper

- Install Glasstek front end, fabricate brackets for headlights, grill, and radiator support

- Install Glasstek doors with hinged horizontal door bars, fixed angled down door bar (There will be no side windows, at least for now.)

- Fabricate chassis bracing additional to PTFB roll bar, sf connectors, and g-braces

- Install Speedway Motors 6 gauge kit

- Install Painless wiring harness, complete engine and chassis

- Install aluminum battery box (My plan is the back seat, not the trunk. The back seat is deleted anyway, and this location will give the battery a significantly lower cg, as well as a more centered moment of inertia.)

- Install mirrors, headlights, taillights, blinkers, seat belts, etc.

As you can see, I will have my work cut out for me! I will have 4 months to get all that done, but I'm not working when home, so hopefully I'll be able to knock it all out. The results should be pretty cool, though. The car should weigh about 400 lbs lighter than when I started, so around 3200 lbs. This is a strictly functional build. I want to be fast in autocross. So I don't think I will be getting any painting done. The idea is to have a super rigid and light weight chassis with a lot of tunability on a relative budget. That means aesthetics won't be prioritized, at least for now. I'm running square 275 BFG Rival S tires for now. With the fiberglass front end, I should be able to fit wider tires pretty easily, but I will have to see what kind of room I'm working with once all the fabrication is done. However, I won't mess with that till after I have worn out the set of tires I have now. The important thing is to get some seat time in. I'm hoping to to race some of you guys in CA next year!

For now, I wait...

[F-Body International]

Wow Tim, I’m impressed! I haven’t checked in with you in a while on Facebook. Glad see you’re making meaningful progress.

[Zspoiler]

Very nice build Will be interested in further updates.Here is a picture of my 1979 Z-28 RS .That was inspired by the 1975-81 IMSA GT Camaro road race cars.

[74 Camaro]

Wow Tim, I’m impressed! I haven’t checked in with you in a while on Facebook. Glad see you’re making meaningful progress.

No, that list is all the stuff I HAVEN'T done yet. jk Really, I am happy with the progress thus far. It certainly helped having your prepped frame rather than trying to repair and modify my old one! Can't wait to get back and finish her up!

[74 Camaro]

Very nice build Will be interested in further updates.Here is a picture of my 1979 Z-28 RS .That was inspired by the 1975-81 IMSA GT Camaro road race cars.

I remember your car from when you posted on my introductory thread. I also find those old race Camaros quite inspiring!

[F-Body International]

No, that list is all the stuff I HAVEN'T done yet. jk Really, I am happy with the progress thus far. It certainly helped having your prepped frame rather than trying to repair and modify my old one! Can't wait to get back and finish her up!

I'm glad you are happy with everything. You got an awesome deal! Hopefully one day I can get mine going and we can both hit a track. I've got a bunch of work to do myself though haha.