MTBSully's First Restomod: 1969 Camaro LS Build

[MTBSully]

1st Real post here. I'm active on corvette forum, ls1tech, SVTperformance and others, but this is my first classic car so here we are. I've got a twin turbo C6 Z06, that build is over on corvette forum as well as my youtube channel if anyone wants to check that out.

Anyways, I always wanted to do a 1969 LS swapped camaro. I started poking around this summer and found a great deal locally on a 1969 Coupe with a big block and a 4 speed. It was a driver quality car, but the paint and body had a lot of flaws and some band aids that I didnt want to deal with long term.



Overall it drove great, looked decent and did what it was supposed to do. So I decided to cruise it for the summer, have fun with it, but not dump a ton of money into it. I blacked out the front end and bumpers, added the chin spoiler, new headlights, LEDs all around, tinted windows, 2 stage paint correction as well as some 17" race stars I picked up locally. I loved how the car turned out for very little money invested.



As fall moved in I decided to list the car and it sold relatively quickly. I made a decent profit, but much like the housing market, I was now back in a pool of buyers driving up the price of 1st gen camaros. It took a few months, but I picked up my replacement last week.



Its fresh restoration with around 800 miles on it. Shaved drip rails, molded front spoiler, bumpers, rear spoiler, and tail lights, shaved antenna hole, shaved marker light holes, fresh metallic gray paint, etc. Full TMI interior including seats, door panels, dash pad, dakota digital gauges, custom center consol with kenwood double din radio and speakers, all 4 power windows, fully finished trunk with custom panels, new headliner etc.

Also has a whole bunch of spension goodies including wilwood 4 pistons on all 4 corners, power brakes with wilwood master, ridetech 4 link in rear, ridetech upper and lower A arms up front with coilovers, swaybar etc. Custom exhaust with electric cutouts, vintage air.

Previous owner spent a lot of money on the car except in 1 area. The motor and transmission. It has what I beleive to be a 307 and TH350 with saddle grip shifter. It has an aluminum edelbrock intake, mild cam and holley carb and some other engine dress up items, but its nothing special. This is all fine with me since im wanting to do an LS swap anyways. Im not crazy about a few of the body items, specifically the front molded spoiler and molded tail lights. Mainly because I worry about cracking and it also prevents you from ever being able to replace or change those parts, but for what I paid for the car it was easy to overlook.

So, my plan is a LS swap and 6 speed transmission. For now my throught is to find a wrecked 2010-2015 Camaro SS and yank the ls3 and tr6060 out of that and sell any other good parts to recoup some cost. The car still has what I beleive is a 8.5 10 bolt, so I am also considering a 9" and mini tubs. I am looking for suggestions, pointers and opinions from those who have been down this road before. Looking for suggestions on brands for motor and tranny mounts, and any other components I might need. I know some of the common trip up areas are:

- driveshaft for tr6060
- tunnel clearancing for tr6060 or t56
- What accessory drive are people running? C6 corvette? GTO?
- Im hoping to do a low mount AC compressor, so I plan to notch the crossmember as well.

I plan to use holley terminator X for the ECU. The LS3 or whatever LS motor I get will be getting a cam, longtubes and maybe a few other goodies for now.

On another note, what is a recently refreshed 307 with some goodies and TH350 worth? SBC casting number says the block is a 68 307 with 2 bolt mains. Wondering what to list those for when the time comes. Car runs and drives perfectly.

I also plan to fully document the build on my youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuF...4Q8TjFsGDUEP3A



Looking forward to any suggestions on parts, and suppliers where I can find the best deals! Thanks!

[MTBSully]

First parts i need to order are subframe connectors and engine and tranny mounts. Any suggestions? I know CX racing and holley make parts, any others I should be looking at? Appreciate the help!

[MTBSully]

Ole 307 is out. Only took about 2 hours. Not bad for a chassis i'm not really familiar with.



Going to take this time im searching for a motor to clean up the engine bay and get ready for an LS motor. I beleive this module on the right is my wiper motor and washer fluid sprayer. Whats weird is that some of these wires went to the distributor/carb. Can i get rid of these? Anyone had a good source for 1969 camaro wiring diagram?

[MTBSully]

First project video is up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qimnrKJ9nvM&t=233s

Anyone have recommendations for subframe connectors that are compatible with a ridetech 4 link?

[ICrombie]

Welcome! I happened to buy your mantic clutch from corvetteforum and noticed your name sounded familiar!

If you're sticking with the stock subframe and ridetech control arms the hooker blackheart motor mounts and trans crossmember for LS swaps is a popular choice and seems like a quality piece. I think most here tend to go with aftermarket accessory drives since the low mount AC is an issue (though I think dirty dingo and others make one off brackets to relocate the AC). Holley again offers a pretty reasonably priced high AC kit compared to some of the other more expensive ones like Wegner and DriveJunky.

On subframe connectors I opted for the through floor weld in ones from speedtech (DSE is another other option here for a weld in), but if you want true bolt in connectors I'd go with ridetech since it's likely to fit with their 4 link.

[jaybee]

Very nice car.

[MTBSully]

Welcome! I happened to buy your mantic clutch from corvetteforum and noticed your name sounded familiar!

If you're sticking with the stock subframe and ridetech control arms the hooker blackheart motor mounts and trans crossmember for LS swaps is a popular choice and seems like a quality piece. I think most here tend to go with aftermarket accessory drives since the low mount AC is an issue (though I think dirty dingo and others make one off brackets to relocate the AC). Holley again offers a pretty reasonably priced high AC kit compared to some of the other more expensive ones like Wegner and DriveJunky.

On subframe connectors I opted for the through floor weld in ones from speedtech (DSE is another other option here for a weld in), but if you want true bolt in connectors I'd go with ridetech since it's likely to fit with their 4 link.

Thanks! Hope the clutch worked out well for you, I always loved that clutch.

2nd build video is up! Holley parts are on the way as well as Mcleod master and some OEM clutch and brake pedal assembly. Still on the hunt for a donor car for the drivetrain.

[MTBSully]

New seats are in:



Some holley parts have rolled in as well. Still looking for a drivetrain lol

[slazisme]

Are you looking for a crate engine or a drop out from a wrecked car or a engine to rebuild? What kind of power are you looking for? 5 or 6 speed?
I ended up going with a base 6.0L iron short block then added some LS3 heads, this way I could pick the parts I wanted like the internals, pan, cam to suit your taste.
To make things easier when you install the clutch pedal hydraulics, keep the dash bare and take out the drivers seat and steering wheel. Its not fun working on your back under the dash. I ended up using the Mcleod set up.
I'd be interested in the dash carrier if you want to split it up from the Dakota digital stuff. Simon.

[MTBSully]

Are you looking for a crate engine or a drop out from a wrecked car or a engine to rebuild? What kind of power are you looking for? 5 or 6 speed?
I ended up going with a base 6.0L iron short block then added some LS3 heads, this way I could pick the parts I wanted like the internals, pan, cam to suit your taste.
To make things easier when you install the clutch pedal hydraulics, keep the dash bare and take out the drivers seat and steering wheel. Its not fun working on your back under the dash. I ended up using the Mcleod set up.
I'd be interested in the dash carrier if you want to split it up from the Dakota digital stuff. Simon.

Hoping to find a wrecked 2010-2015 camaro and swap the drivetrain. That way I can sell some other parts and recoup some cost. Ill do a cam and supporting mods while the LS3 is out.

Seats are just roughly bolted in and the steering wheel is out as well. Should make replacing the pedals and wiring off the holley a little easier.

[MTBSully]

Waited a while for my Mcleod hydraulic clutch setup. Finally got that in. Ended up modifying my stock brake pedal.




New video is up as well



Got tired of looking for a wrecked car on copart. Hunted around and ended up finding a 2010 2SS LS3 6 Speed camaro with cosmetic issues for dirt cheap down in baltimore. I caught a 1 way flight on friday after work and drove it back 8 hours to NH. Got home at 3:30AM. Its a shame i'm going to tear apart such a nice car but for what I paid for it you can barely touch a wrecked salvage title one.



Ran absolutely perfect the entire way home. Going to start pulling the motor/tranny tonight. Might try to sell the car as a complete roller to save myself the time of parting it out.

Still need to order:

- Fuel tank/fuel system
- Headers
- Cam Kit
- Accessory drive? Has anyone used the LS3 camaro accy drive? I see most people use GTO or c5 corvette drives. Any reason why the stock stuff wont fit?
- Radiator

Open to suggestions on these parts needed.

[ryeguy2006a]

I'd pull the fuel pump out of the car and get a kit from vaporworx that converts it to run constant fuel pressure and get a Ricks Restomod tank. That would take care of your fuel system. You should be able to run the LS3 accessories, or at the least modify them slightly to work with your frame. I'm very happy with my Summit 8715 Cam, but it's better for a boosted application. But if you want to add an LSA down the road, it would make a good N/A cam for the time being. Small, but works great.

Headers, I'd suggest sticking with ones that will work for the mounts you plan to run. IMO, I wouldn't do anything other than the Holley system. It worked so well in my car, I would 100% do that again. Only thing I would do is try running Speed Engineering headers rather than the stainless ones from Holley.

I'm very happy with my Auto City Classics LS swap 67-69 radiator. Price is right and it would look totally stock if you painted it black.

Good luck with the tailshaft swap!

[MTBSully]

I'd pull the fuel pump out of the car and get a kit from vaporworx that converts it to run constant fuel pressure and get a Ricks Restomod tank. That would take care of your fuel system. You should be able to run the LS3 accessories, or at the least modify them slightly to work with your frame. I'm very happy with my Summit 8715 Cam, but it's better for a boosted application. But if you want to add an LSA down the road, it would make a good N/A cam for the time being. Small, but works great.

Headers, I'd suggest sticking with ones that will work for the mounts you plan to run. IMO, I wouldn't do anything other than the Holley system. It worked so well in my car, I would 100% do that again. Only thing I would do is try running Speed Engineering headers rather than the stainless ones from Holley.

I'm very happy with my Auto City Classics LS swap 67-69 radiator. Price is right and it would look totally stock if you painted it black.

Good luck with the tailshaft swap!

I was wondering if the speed engineering headers fit. They definitely seem like a good value. A couple reviews online says that they should. Thanks for the suggestion on the radiator.

Planning to run the AC down low, so i think i'll need to notch my subframe and run a dirty dingo bracket. Not sure if the ls3 alternator will clear or not. Time to get to work doing some test fitment!

[Sinnister69]

Waited a while for my Mcleod hydraulic clutch setup. Finally got that in. Ended up modifying my stock brake pedal.




New video is up as well



Got tired of looking for a wrecked car on copart. Hunted around and ended up finding a 2010 2SS LS3 6 Speed camaro with cosmetic issues for dirt cheap down in baltimore. I caught a 1 way flight on friday after work and drove it back 8 hours to NH. Got home at 3:30AM. Its a shame i'm going to tear apart such a nice car but for what I paid for it you can barely touch a wrecked salvage title one.



Ran absolutely perfect the entire way home. Going to start pulling the motor/tranny tonight. Might try to sell the car as a complete roller to save myself the time of parting it out.

Still need to order:

- Fuel tank/fuel system
- Headers
- Cam Kit
- Accessory drive? Has anyone used the LS3 camaro accy drive? I see most people use GTO or c5 corvette drives. Any reason why the stock stuff wont fit?
- Radiator

Open to suggestions on these parts needed.

Take the fuel module out and get a tank from ricks and controller from vaporworx

I have the holley midmount system on my camaro its basically a water manifold with all of the accessory brackets molded into it and uses a c7 vette pump

[Alwhite00]

Now THAT'S a donor vehicle. Nice work. How many miles on it?

[syborg tt]

Very cool project. Looking forward to more updates.


MTBSully. So are you a mountain biker ?

[MTBSully]

Now THAT'S a donor vehicle. Nice work. How many miles on it?

127k. Barely broken in!

Very cool project. Looking forward to more updates.


MTBSully. So are you a mountain biker ?

When I created my first forum username back in 03-04, i was obsessed with mountain biking! Now cars have more or less taken over, but I still enjoy it and the username is here to stay.

New video is up!



Got the motor out on Thursday night. More updates coming soon. Need to order a cam/valvetrain

[MTBSully]

Motor is out. Roller is already sold which helped me to recoup most of the money invested in the motor/tranny.





Anyone know if the LS3 alternator will clear the stock subframe without clearancing? I plan to run a dirty dingo low mount AC setep and clearance on the passengers side. Wondering if I will have to do the same on the drivers side.


Ordered a Tanks Inc notched tank and Fitech fuel module with 340lph pump. Will be building my own fuel lines and fuel system from there probably -6 feed and return with a regulator mounted near the fuel rails. Going to order a cam and supporting mods today. I think im going to give the speed engineering headers a shot at fitting as well.

Will be tearing down the motor this week for cleanup, painting accessories and test fitment. Parts are showing up daily and the build is picking up speed. Im happy the drivetrain is finally here.

[Sinnister69]

Before i went with the holley mid mount i had my alternator on the drivers lower using ict billet bracket and it cleared fine

[MTBSully]

Before i went with the holley mid mount i had my alternator on the drivers lower using ict billet bracket and it cleared fine

That looks like an aftermarket subrame, no?