67 Butternut Build

[zzfranczz]

Wow! it is coming along really nicely.

[sjaroslo]

Having re-read this build thread, I'm going to try to stop repeating in every post "I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted anything...." Wish me luck. Although the time has passed, hands have not been idle. The big impetus for this update was the work that was accomplished last weekend, thanks to dear friends (and ex-college roommates) who drove great distances to help spend a weekend thrashing on my car--one of whom was the same driver from post #1 who helped me tow my first Camaro home, roughly 35 years ago.... Also had the help of my older brother, who has been mentioned numerous times here, as well as another brother who is not as mechanically inclined but is a good companion and eager parts store runner.

As has been mentioned, my focus has predominantly been on doing what it takes to get the motor running some day, but there are a few "guilty pleasure" projects that are just too cool to pass up. There's a lot of ground to cover, so let's get started.

With the headers removed for welding, it made the installation of the Lingenfelter oil pressure adapter a cinch.


Some people should not be allowed near a project with power tools; I am one of them. This is pretty much how the fuse panel opening looked before I got to it (although you can see that I'm already beginning to butcher it slightly)


Then after, having been attacked with Holcutter, reciprocating saw and finally Dremel with a side-cutting bit; hopefully with the engine side connectors attached, my butchery will not be so noticeable


Looks nice from the inside!


One could make an argument that gauges are critical to engine fire-up, so I went to town installing a full set of New Vintage gauges. Since the speedo and tach now incorporate the gauges that were in the console, that makes room for new gauges down there...





They say that the journey of a thousand miles (of wire) begins with the first crimp. Well, here it is:


After re-doing this at least three times, finally got to the point where I felt that the rear harness wiring was "good enough." The installation of the fuse panel was precipitating by the installation of the rear harness which was needed to be able to run the control wire to the vaporworx controller that will be in the trunk; I wasn't sure where the actual connection was made to the rear body harness so all of this needed to go in so that I could be certain that I had left myself enough slack.


Now we're cooking with gas! The first task I threw at friend Brent was the install of the intake (after messing around with my plans for the LS steam vents a bit) and he tackled it like a real trooper; looks good!


Looks like that's all of the photos that I can upload; I hope that's not Forum-wide; just this post. We'll see in a minute!

Thanks for hanging in with me.

[sjaroslo]

Just like from the movie Amadeus, who was accused of using "too many notes" in his composition, I've posted too many pictures during my time on Pro-Touring.com! Hopefully I've cleaned up enough to be able to soldier on.

Turning attention to the engine bay, we were able to get quite a bit accomplished over the weekend. Project #2 for Brent was the installation of the DSE Wiper Motor, and it took a cooperative effort from all of us to transition to the Ring Brothers billet reservoir for the clutch M/C. Also, although you cannot see it, the much belly-ached-about fuel and brake hardlines are installed, if not exactly in place yet...


Here's what we started with from GM regarding the crankshaft pulley


Here's where we ended up with the beginning of the installation of the Wegner system!


Friend Doug dived in where I feared to tread and took on the challenge of mocking up the Ironworks DBW throttle pedal bracket; what I had at first thought was going to be too daunting and potentially rife with peril looks like it might just work out OK after all. Unfortunately, I was left with a pile of parts while I sent the bracket out to get powdercoated


It was worth the wait, bracket looks fantastic and better still, it looks like it is going to be a great fit for the car (we modified the mounting holes early on in an effort to see if we could install without completely dismantling the pedal assembly; we could not):


Doug also bravely manned the enormous Holcutter for the installation of the II Much fuel vent. He spends a lot of time around manufacturing equipment and sheet metal tools and parts, and he declared the Holcutter the "greatest thing ever." It made short work of the actual cutting (after I agonized over the location for an eternity)


On Sunday, after Doug and Brent departed, my brother and I unboxed the Vintage Air equipment for the first time in many, many months. If you've followed the thread, you might remember that while the Camaro was off at the body spa in Florida, I helped him to install a Vintage Air in the 66 Corvette, so he had been champing at the bit to put some of our newfound wisdom to work on returning the favor.


I also spent some quality time at the workbench and prepared the controls for the GenIV system


While I was at the powdercoater, I also dropped off the coil pack brackets, which you also might recognize from an earlier post. I chose gloss black for them, as they will likely end up being mounted to the gloss black subframe; I chose satin black for the Ironworks bracket as I'm just hoping that it disappears up under the dash.


Well, that's about it for now, guys. I appreciate your time and especially your comments and questions. Thanks.

[sjaroslo]

Pretty much wrapped up the Wegner installation today. also did some more prep work for the air conditioning install, like cutting out the sheet metal in the central dash, installing the defroster ducts, and modifying the central stack trim plate to accept the new Vintage air central A/C vent. Fun stuff.

[sjaroslo]

I have been making slow progress while I can. With the help of my brother, the hydraulic system is now in and buttoned up; at some point, I'll gather up enough gumption to actually put some fluid in (and then look for all of the leaks!). Yesterday I ordered some screws that I need to button up the steering column/pedals/DBW throttle portion, so I will be excited to get that done and get the column back in. The console gauges are wired, as is the instrument cluster, and I've put together a harness to run all of the things that will get their power and signal from the bulkhead connector; I'll trim it to length and install it once I'm a little further along with the wiring and dash. Hopefully will be able to take a day off of work towards the end of the year when my brother is here and begin to wrestle with heater and A/C hoses, as well as trying to find a home for the A/C dryer, the coolant overflow tank, and the Norris PCV catch can, all of the while leaving room for the Rally Sport headlight doors to open. Should be "fun."

Another task that I was semi-terrified of was making up the PTFE-lined hoses for the fuel supply and the gas tank vent--it turned out to be very, very easy. Although VERY expensive, I would highly recommend the fittings and hose from Pegasus Racing (I believe Goodridge product?). I went with the black Aramid hose with their black and silver fittings and couldn't be happier with how they turned out.



Now just need to pester my neighbor who has an air compressor to test and I'll be able to button up the fuel system, too.

The length of the list of things that still need to be done is intimidating, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel, at least in getting the motor to fire. Thanks for checking in on my thread.

[Bossed]

Cool story. Good looking car, best of luck with the completion.

Bossed

[Steve68]

coming along nicely......

[130fe]

Great to see some progress Steve. Were you able to add those pins to the GMPP bulkhead connector? If so, what crimper did you use? I am about to start my wiring also.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Great story and cool build thanks for posting it..

[sjaroslo]

Great to see some progress Steve. Were you able to add those pins to the GMPP bulkhead connector? If so, what crimper did you use? I am about to start my wiring also.

Yes, it was easy. I had a crimper with dies for a Weatherpak kit and it worked just fine. The pin is fairly long so I think that you do need a die that is deep and has jaws to crimp both the wire and the insulation (as most crimpers do). I think with the Weatherpak it did not quite crimp the insulation down as small as the wire is but I just gently used a conventional crimper to close that down.

Chris, you got the pins and seals that I sent you, right?

[sjaroslo]

With the help of my friend Doug a week ago we were able to knock quite a few things off of my list:

1. Able to mount up the computer under the right front fender using a Rally Sport Headlamp Door Relay bracket (holds the Rally Sport headlight door relays together usually under the driver's fender)
2. Drilled a Big A$$ Hole through the firewall for the Speartech grommet for the accelerator pedal and OBDII harness to pass through
3. Drilled a smaller hole through the passenger footwell for the AAW positive battery cable bulkhead connector to pass through
4. Drilled a smaller hole still in the same general area for the A/C evaporator drain hose to pass through
5. Devised an approach for mounting the A/C dryer that ought to hold it securely and relatively "out of the way"
6. Played with the very cool Fesler fender struts that I had purchased (not taking in to account that I changed out the stock radiator support and sub-frame, etc.) and came up with a pretty easy fix to be able to use them
7. Still stumped by where to mount my coil packs, but came up with a couple of ideas that could still work (and it helps that Doug has access to metal-working equipment )

I also pulled out for the first time the Spectre Cold Air Intake that I got as a birthday present back in 2011 and looked at what it is going to take to make it work in the car; answer is A LOT! But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, which is still a ways down the road.

Purchased some power steering hose and hose ends from Fragola last week and also bought the DSE Power Steering Hardline Relocation piece, which looks like a nice product but I'm not certain is going to justify its $60 price tag once I get it; I will reserve judgment until it arrives this Friday. Also decided to give it a shot and ordered the Braille B3121 battery and the B&B Classics mount for it. Got the battery but I am hoping that the mount is on its way, as I haven't heard anything from B&B yet. So, all of this takes me a step closer to being able to turn over the motor someday.... Nothing really too exciting picture-wise and since I'm running out of bandwidth for uploading pictures to the site, I'll just let this post stay "text-only." Thanks for reading.

[130fe]

Steve, yes, I received the pins. Thanks a lot! I am also in the middle of wiring. I am taking my time, being really anal about the whole thing. I also sent my car to the same car spa and am trying "fix" some things that were done. The part I hate is when you pay someone to do something a certain way and they don't do it. At least I have plenty of time to do it.

[sjaroslo]

I realize now that I didn't actually put my wiring and connector together correctly :-( I think I had pulled out my DSE wiper motor wiring harness and was looking at it and realized that you're supposed to crimp the wire seal/dust boot on as part of the assembly :-) That's why my crimpers didn't crimp all of the way down on to the insulation of the wire, because it was expecting to be crimping down on to the dust boot. Embarassing! If I can disassemble it I will probably do it over. D'oh!

[sjaroslo]

I have a plan.... It may not be a good plan, it might not be a viable plan, but it is, nonetheless, a plan.... My brother and I tried to install the A/C unit using continuous hoses from the unit through the fresh air vent and out the fan hole in the firewall under the fender, but that did not work out as planned; it was virtually impossible to manhandle 4 hoses and the evaporator and get it through all of the openings with all of the changes in direction and the general interference between the evaporator and the hoses, so I changed direction. I bought a triple black round Synister bulkhead from Restomod Air and I'm going to use that as a junction point right at the fresh air vent--hopefully, this will make all of the routing and connections easier to manage. The whole idea of using the continuous hoses was to eliminate potential leak spots, but sometimes you've just got to say "what the ***" and change your plans. I was inspired by GRNOVA's thread https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/82095-A-C-fittings in which you can also witness more of my trials & tribulations....





I'm planning on using Fragola Series 8000 push-lok hose and Eaton E-Z Clip refrigerant lines, as witnessed by the connectors. I'm planning on looping the hoses around like Tim did (as well as the original DSE inspiration) and mount the heater control valve under there as well. I've verified that the assembly fits into the fresh air opening but I need to mock it up with the evaporator in place as well so that I can be sure everything fits. I guess that I can move the evaporator around a little if I need to, but my nice smoothed firewall is going to look like Swiss cheese before I'm through...

Also, I sourced a carbon fiber sheet and am attempting to locate/mount some of the paraphernalia that is going to exist in the trunk in a somewhat organized manner. The vaporworx controller and fuse and the AAW remote disconnect with Lifeline are all mounted to the carbon fiber, and then the carbon fiber will be mounted to the trunk floor with some nylon spacers/standoffs. I can't believe that I was stupid enough to notch the carbon fiber to clear a bumper brace--I was mocking it up with the CF sitting right against the floor and would have needed the notch for clearance--but I totally overlooked the fact that I was planning on mounting it 3/4" above the trunk floor, in which case the notch wasn't required....


Progress has been slow, and I would like to say that is has been steady, but the reality is that I need to step it up some. I've gotten a little side-tracked on the A/C (because this is the part that my brother has been most excited about helping me with) but I need to re-focus efforts on doing what it takes to be able to fire up the motor--the longer it sits (2+ years now!) the worse off it is going to be. Thanks for reading.

[sjaroslo]

Although much time has passed, much work has been accomplished. A/C Evaporator is in and plumbed inside the car, positive battery cable is run from the trunk to the bulkhead passthrough on the passenger floor, Braille battery and bracket installed in the trunk, much of the wiring for the vaporworx controller and the remote disconnect is done, working on running the ground cable to the chassis and to the front of the car as well, and the driver's side header is finally reinstalled and the exhaust piping is back to being complete. Also filled the oil filter with oil and bolted it up (hoping that will help with building pressure for initial start up). But I don't have any photos of any of that--haven't actually poked around inside the passenger compartment for a while, letting the spiders have their way with it for a bit until I vacuum them all up. Instead I've been trying to put a dent into the engine compartment.

Finally figured out where to put the coils and how to mount them. Ordered some neat hardware from McMaster-Carr, had a local machinist touch it up so that it all fit, and my brother and I went to town with the drill making holes in a crossmember of the Art Morrison sub-frame.


Aesthetics sure go out the window once you lay the GM EFI harness under the hood. In is a tight fit to be able to connect to the computer under the fender and still be able to get on to the #8 injector, among other indignities. I have nothing but respect for the people that have the time and patience to wire these things up without actually showing any wires!


Had to get creative on how to mount and pipe the A/C drier, as none of the custom tube places could bend up hardlines to my spec, so I had to go with the stock Vintage Air pipes for a 67 Camaro and tweak them (since I'm not using the VA condenser or the stock radiator support). Thank goodness I was able to make these work without destroying them too badly.


Found a home for the Painless F5 controller, just need to focus on putting the loom together now.


Installed the 3rd water temp sender under the hood (this one in the passenger head to drive the New Vintage water temp gauge, the stock one in the driver's head to talk to the computer, and the 3rd one in the radiator to drive the F5).


Trying to wrap up all of the hoses. I got every A/C hose/line connected until the very last one--connecting the #6 hose from the evaporator to the #6 hardline to the condenser. I realized a few weeks ago that the hardline had a female fitting, as did the EZ Clip hose end that I had, so I needed to buy a male EZ Clip hose end, EXCEPT that I didn't realize that both the hardline and the fitting I bought had male o-ring plumbing, too. So, I discovered the meaning of the "male o-ring insert" fitting that I had glossed over when ordering the other male fitting. These are $30+ mistakes every time they happen.


This is a nice piece from March that changes the direction of the connections on the compressor.


It's hard to see but I was working on the LS engine steam vent plumbing when I got called from work and had to deal with an incident for 4 hours--more lost garage time! The small black hose with the blue tracer connects to nice Wegner fittings that bolt to the block and replace the stock steam piping. Although I was planning on using Fragola hose and fittings for most things, I COULD NOT get their -4 hose on to their fitting to save my life, so I ended up finding Vibrant Performance stuff from Summit. Although it is made in China, it went together very nicely and I'm happy with it. Still have to cut and terminate the end of the hose that goes into the radiator.


Next on tap are ordering my Firecore 50 plug wires and seeing if Speartech can make me up a custom coil harness to fit the new location. I have both requests all documented and teed up so hopefully will be able to get working on those soon. Need to keep working on the grounding system and create a wire loom for the couple of wires coming out of the horseshoe-shaped fuse panel connector (I have already made up the loom for the front of the car, just need to install it). Also need to put together a harness for the NVU fuel pressure, A/F ratio and oil temperature gauges that I'm putting in my console, as well as wiring in the F5. And about a million other things, but the lists are getting shorter.

[sjaroslo]

Power steering hoses done (for the most part--there was no way humanly possible to get those fittings started once that hose was jammed into that hose end, so I cheated and bored out the end of the hose with a drill in order to be able to at least start the threading. Remains to be seen if it will leak or not).


Custom FireCore 50 plug wires installed



Trying to get prepped to measure for a driveshaft. With the car resting on all 4 tires, I took some baseline measurements--do you believe the pointer, which is showing damn close to Zero or do you trust the iPhone which is showing 4 degrees? Regardless, I've now jacked the car up on stands, and when I'm ready, I'll support the frame in the front but the rear end in the rear, so that the rear suspension is loaded at ride height but the car actually has enough room to work underneath it. I'll do my best to recreate the same angle/tilt so that accurate driveshaft measurements can be taken.

[Motown 454]

I just read the whole thread again. I'm loving what your doing, you have a beautiful build. You've got some amazing parts on this car and I'm pulling for you to get it started. I love that you post a lot of pictures and links to your other threads on single parts of this build, I've subscribed to some of the others too for reference when I get to that part of my build. Please keep the updates coming very interesting.

Wayne

[67goatman455]

pointer. go with the pointer. Lookin good though man!

[sjaroslo]

pointer. go with the pointer. Lookin good though man!

Thanks, that's what I was thinking as well.... Now that I can get under the car I can start to figure out what the driveline angles are going to be, I guess. No shortage of driveline angle threads on the board!

[sjaroslo]

Front lighting/engine bay/alternator harnesses are ready to go in.


Was able to get a quick bracket made out of 16 gauge sheet metal and drilled it and painted it this morning, installed it this afternoon.


Back up in the air again. Planning on bleeding the brakes, measuring for a driveshaft, adding fluids to the trans and the rear end.


Fun, fun, fun!