Long Awaited 68 Camaro Build

[rickpaw]

Don't have personal experience with these guys, but a couple of folks over lateral-g.net have had good luck with HK Racing Engines in Houston.

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Thanks for the recommendation, just did a quick look at their website and it looks promising. Later this evening I will go over to lateral-g.net and check out what they have to say, and maybe give HK a call, if they answer... I'm much better off than the last shop. I googled the distance and its only about a 3 hour drive, definitely driven much farther for much less important parts

[SRD art]

Glad to hear things will start rolling on this. Another old car back on the road is a good thing. Keep rockin' it!

[rickpaw]

Good luck with your engine rebuild. Check out the posts by "rybar" & "69x22" over lateral-g

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Well progress is being made... slowly but its going. Main issue was I was trying to get my old truck fixed up so I could put it up for sale to aid in funding of the camaro.

Motor comin into shop...


Ahh... now I know why it was so cheap... It had water... I wish I knew more history on this motor, most of the internals looked mint, near perfect condition, as was the intake (which wasn't even bolted down, just sitting on top.. possibly newly rebuilt or VERY low mileage... but one cylinder looks like it had trash in it that fried it pretty good... Almost wondering if someone had installed a roots blower, it detonated BAD or broke off a spark plug, locked it up then they pulled the motor and let it sit in their back yard... Regardless, I'm replacing the whole bottom end with forged equivalents!

[LUV2XLR8]

ohhh chunky monkey.... any plans for the motor?

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Reason for slow progress on Camaro... This truck was my hunting/fishing/beat to hell truck for 8 years so needed a lot of bodywork and paint before I could sell it for decent money... Too bad I never got around to the 5.3 swap... But the Dana 44 axles were a huge improvement. Hopefully i'll get enough from selling this to order the last of the necessary parts for the car!

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

The last two weeks, I sourced a T56 from a 2001 Camaro and dropped it off at Texas Drivetrain Performance for their stage 3 "viperized" rebuild. Also, the motor is at the machine shop getting the bottem end gone through. The good news is everything was straight, no cracks, crank was in perfect condition. But the one cylinder with the damaged piston had some staining on the sleeve so the machine shop recommended just going 10 over hone which means this block will be at it's max and can't be honed again. I guess I'll deal with that in as many years as it takes me to blow it up, lol. All the bottom end parts are ordered including the 10 over diamond pistions and everything should arrive next week.

Passenger side tub is done... So I had to get some pics on how the tires fit... that was big motivation to finish up the driver's side which should be done by this weekend.

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

ohhh chunky monkey.... any plans for the motor?

Machine shop said the bottom end was good to go, no damage and cleaned up well. There was some staining in the #5 cylinder that he said would clean up completely with a 10 over hone. So that is what I'm going with. Crank polished out beautifully and just about everything else is getting replaced.
I've got forged rods and pistons on the way as well as ARP head studs and all new bearings to get the bottom end complete. Hopefully have it all back in about 2 weeks. Same goes for the T56, should be complete in about 2 weeks.... as long as I can find a good deal on a bellhousing by then. Still trying to decide between a stock replacement and the quicktime.

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Also, a bit of an update on the legal nonsense with the first machine shop which was way up north in WA. Lawyers found out he still had the complete Supercharger kit I sent him and he agreed to have it in the mail by last Wednesday. I have no idea whether he did or not because he won't answer my calls but I have my fingers crossed it will be arriving shortly.... and apparently he can't pay me back because he has no money.... yet his shops facebook is constantly showing pics of new monster builds... VERY fishy.... Gonna cost about $500 but it is getting to the point to where I'm gonna have to fly out there, find all the parts I payed for and mail them home to myself....

ugh.... I still can't believe shops get away with this... I've got my short list of shops I deal with now and completely trust... I'll say it again, DO YOUR HOMEWORK before dishing out any money!

[meenaggie]

I know you already have the LS2 but I would suggest just buying a complete package from one of the reputable companies like Wegner Motorsports if you want supercharged or Texas Speed if you want naturally aspirated. In the end it will be a system (assecory drive, harness, ECM, etc.) that works together and will be less money than paying a machine shop hourly to build something with what you have. I know a friend in Houston who have had a great 383 stroker built but had over 10k in the motor alone after the parts and labor at a local machine shop and still did not have a warranty. Just my $.02.

[motobob1000]

Also, a bit of an update on the legal nonsense with the first machine shop which was way up north in WA. Lawyers found out he still had the complete Supercharger kit I sent him and he agreed to have it in the mail by last Wednesday. I have no idea whether he did or not because he won't answer my calls but I have my fingers crossed it will be arriving shortly.... and apparently he can't pay me back because he has no money.... yet his shops facebook is constantly showing pics of new monster builds... VERY fishy.... Gonna cost about $500 but it is getting to the point to where I'm gonna have to fly out there, find all the parts I payed for and mail them home to myself....

ugh.... I still can't believe shops get away with this... I've got my short list of shops I deal with now and completely trust... I'll say it again, DO YOUR HOMEWORK before dishing out any money!

If I can be of any help, I am in Washington. email me with the shop particulars at [email protected] I work in the parts department at one of the largest Chevy dealers in Wa.
Bob

[LUV2XLR8]

good deal!... eager to see how it turns out.

Machine shop said the bottom end was good to go, no damage and cleaned up well. There was some staining in the #5 cylinder that he said would clean up completely with a 10 over hone. So that is what I'm going with. Crank polished out beautifully and just about everything else is getting replaced.
I've got forged rods and pistons on the way as well as ARP head studs and all new bearings to get the bottom end complete. Hopefully have it all back in about 2 weeks. Same goes for the T56, should be complete in about 2 weeks.... as long as I can find a good deal on a bellhousing by then. Still trying to decide between a stock replacement and the quicktime.

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Meen,
I know what you are saying. 3 years ago I definitely should have done that over allowing a shop I found on ebay to screw me over. I had more money to put towards the build then. But now I am really sticking to a tight budget on the motor build and have been collecting parts for the last 2 years a piece at a time. I'm only spending $300 in the machine shop for the cleaning, honing (with torque plate), align honing, rotating assembly balancing, cam bearing install, and assembly of short block. The rest I am putting together myself. The machine shop is very military friendly so that has been helpful. Putting it together a piece at a time has been easier on the wallet and I have also been able to trade for quite a few parts so I am only going to be about $3000 (not counting SC) into the motor when it is all done. I was actually able to sell the intake and heads that came with my LS2 for $150 more than I bought the long block for. The supercharger was kind of an impulse by while I was in Afghanistan and kind of wishing I had just gone with an n/a stroker... But now I really just can't wait to hear that whine.

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Motobob,
Thanks a lot for the offer! How big are your thugs?? haha. Just do me a favor tell all of your customers to steer clear of shops in Kennewick! I am not looking forward to spending $500 on a flight to try to go deal with this guy who wont even answer my calls, let alone the state attorney general, the better business bureau, or my lawyer... It's been fun...

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Mini tubs are finally done... Except for the rear seat braces.... It was time for me to move to another project for a week or so. But all in all it really wasn't that difficult, the first side took forever due to me going to the computer or the directions every 5 seconds to make sure I was doing it right, but the second side only took a weekend.... even with having to take care of the "honey do list"

Parents were in town all last week so I didn't get much work done then.

The motor is still in the machine shop. I had to go 10 over hone on the cylinders to clean up some staining in one cylinder so the oversized pistons are taking a little while longer to get here. Also, looks like my transmission rebuild should be finished by the end of next week.

But the best news is the attorney generals office has helped get that shop to at least send me my supercharger (only 27 months late)... Well, he dropped it off at fedex and gave them my phone number to get payment of $136... But at least it's on the way. Looks like I have to take him to court to get the rest of my money back though, this should be fun!

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Been a productive week. Attempted my first piece of true bodywork deleting the openings for the rear quarter lights. I think they turned out pretty good for a novice sheet metal welder.

Hope no state inspectors see this... I just like the smooth lines better on the sides of the 67's.



I was so worried about warping I probably went WAY slower than I actually had to but its only going to require a very light skim coat of filler.



Passenger Side

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

Now on to rust repair on the cowl... Something I had been dreading and putting off. I knew I wouldn't like what I found underneath the upper dash panel where it goes over the cowl...
The upper dash panel was original style and the replacement panel that came with my car looked like an overseas piece and was noticeably different. The one in the car wasn't too bad so my initial plan was just to replace the badly rusted corners with patches from the Taiwon panel to keep the original dash intact with the vin tag in place.


But the bottom lip had me nervous, it was pitted and I was afraid of what was underneath so I cut out a section of the bottom and sure enough the channel in the panel under the upper dash panel had several small areas rotted through. It wasn't terrible but needed patching up. I replaced all the areas with bad pitting or weakened metal.
Just about done with patching up the rusted sections.

Tomorrow the plan is to media blast the area getting covered by the upper dash panel, epoxy prime, seam seal and then install the upper dash panel. Or do you think it would be smarter to use POR15 in this area? It will never see daylight, I'm just looking for the best way to keep any rust from coming back... I've been going back and forth...

Also, the original seal looked more like a rope seal... Is it necessary to replace with a seal like this or will 2 part seam sealer work just as well?
Thanks

[BeerB8AmmoGRITS]

The best news from this week though......


The Supercharger is here! Everything appears to be there, most of the items were never even opened... Josh at OTTP was able to help me out with ensuring all of the parts were there and even walked me through how to check it out to make sure the guy hadn't tampered with it. He was very helpful even though it was over 2 years ago I bought it from him!! It's great to know there are still great businesses out there.

[bonecrrusher]

That blower is going to go Wooo Wooo!