Project First Car (68 Camaro)

[paulgurley]

First off i'd like to say thanks to everyone on the forum for all their knowledge and help! I learn a lot from everyones builds and knowledge.

Quick Story
I bought this car about 4 years ago when I was 15. (I wish i had the pic because I was like 5' 2'' and now I'm 6' 3'' but i can't find it) My dad is a general contractor and i worked for him every summer since i can remember and saved my money for something good. so i got my dream car (well almost) this 68 Camaro and bought it for $3800 bucks. I split it with my dad and it sat for awhile until i had more money to fix it up. this was the first car i bought but i didn't drive it till I was 18. I drove a 91 F-150 my grandpa gave me in the mean time.

I've been on here for awhile and only posted a few things and my car is very low budget so it will be a slow build, but i love my camaro and the pro-touring movement and i would really like to get involved and hope to learn ALOT with some help from members on here



I had my engine, trans and rear end built by my dads friend Craig http://craigshighperformance.com/ but i was too busy with baseball to be involved in that part of the build so i didn't learn anything
350 small block
turbo 400 trans
10 bolt posi 4.11 gears

now i'm done with baseball and just work and go to school. So i have plenty of time for my car
which leads me to my build.

DSE mini tub
ridetech 4 link with single adjustable coilovers.

I did the mini tub with the help of my dad and wow it is a ton of work but totally worth it!

Heres how my car sits now, it drives completely different its a whole new car and I'd like to say thanks to DSE and ridetech for engineering such great products!

[paulgurley]

Here's some more pics

[paulgurley]

And here's some pics of the build (all cell phone pics sorry don't have a camera, and not the best photographer) also like to thank everyone for taking the time to take pics of their builds!

The rear quarter is pretty bad don't know what happened thats how i got it.





Out with the old and in with the new, you can see how much bigger they are!

First time using a plasma cutter, super cool!!!

[paulgurley]

Learned how to mig weld and plan on taking a welding class next semester!

[paulgurley]

I live in SoCal and really want to compete in the Return to the coast in October. I went to the one earlier in the year as a spectator and it was awesome! So i have a few questions on whether or not i can go.

This will be my first event if I go, and any help from you guys would be awesome. and if you guys think i should get further along on my build before i compete go ahead and tell me.

My car is structurally fine i just have some surface rust and in the rear quarter panel in the bottom left of the wheel well there is a rust whole as well as in the front right fender on the bottom left (typical rust spots) but would this not allow me to pass inspection?

And i need new seat belts and was thinking of getting a 4 point harness from Crowe seat belts and I don't have a cage so if I bolted them to the back seat belt bolts would this be ok for inspection too? (the rear seat is gone too)

Any input would be great and if you guys have any suggestions that would be great too.

Thanks

[paulgurley]

and now i have enough coin saved to buy upper and lower strong arms, spindles and front coilovers from ridetech.

or i could buy a complete disc brake kit from cpp for about $1500.

which should i buy first? or any other suggestions would be cool too.

[srh3trinity]

I would get the ridetech stuff first and then start saving for some C5/C6 or LS1 brakes. What I like about them is they are big, you can find used setups for relatively inexpensive and you can buy pads and rotors at the local parts store in a pinch. Not sure about CPP availability.

[CruizinKev]

nice project! good work!

[paulgurley]

I got new ridetech stuff just in time for return to the coast

[paulgurley]

I had a blast at return to the coast, it was my first event and the first time i got to drive my car hard! All the ridetech suspension kicked ass and I can't wait for the next event!
Here's a few pics




Now i need big brake kit