Project reForged

[V8240Z]

Project reForged:
Well I guess it is about time to introduce my project for the last three years. Hers is a story of sadness and rebirth. So let’s start at the beginning.
In 1977 a young kid in high school (me) spent all the paper route money he had acquired to buy a1967 Camaro. She was red, loud, and mine. Over the next 30 years she went through many transformations, streetracer, drag car, and even show car. Over those 30 years she never left me stranded. In 2005 I parked her at the side of the garage at my new house awaiting yet another restoration.
Then in 2007 the California wildfires came….she wasuninsured!
The engine was salvageable, but not much else. I could not afford another 1^st gen and quite frankly none would ever compare to her and the good times we had shared. Then on Craigslist I found a great rolling 73 Camaro.
Thus Project reForged had begun.

[turboclevor]

the pictures dont work. it just says "page not found"

[wellis77]

Project reForged:
Well I guess it is about time to introduce my project for the last three years. Hers is a story of sadness and rebirth. So let’s start at the beginning.
In 1977 a young kid in high school (me) spent all the paper route money he had acquired to buy a1967 Camaro. She was red, loud, and mine. Over the next 30 years she went through many transformations, streetracer, drag car, and even show car. Over those 30 years she never left me stranded. In 2005 I parked her at the side of the garage at my new house awaiting yet another restoration.

Then in 2007 the California wildfires came….she wasuninsured!


The engine was salvageable, but not much else. I could not afford another 1st gen and quite frankly none would ever compare to her and the good times we had shared. Then on Craigslist I found a great rolling 73 Camaro.

Thus Project reForged had begun.

[turboclevor]

thanks Will, and V8240Z i hope this starts to make up for the fire

[4WardInv]

Sorry about the fire, good look with the 73!

[V8240Z]

The Camaro came to live at my house about three years ago now. Prior to me the last 2 owners combined for 11 years as a rolling project, but I will finish her. I began by finishing the work on smoothing the firewall and reapairing the small amount of body work. She had a new front clip, and the paint code indicated she was originally white. I was delighted as I wanted to pay tribute to my fallen first gen.

[V8240Z]

I also began rebuilding the salvaged 327 form my original car. Keep in mind this engine had never let me down in 30 years of ownership. It recievd a complete bottom end rebuild, new cam, new aluminum heads, roller rockers, air gap intake, and a Demon carb. Now in retrospect I should have gone LS.

The blue on the engine is also an hommage to the flames on the first gen.

[V8240Z]

Being a former drag racer, the original plan was to have a set of big n littles and go for a bit of the pro street look. As body work progressed, I stubled on to a web site called NastyZ28.com. Theere I learned of the 'b' body front brake upgrade, and things began to change. but first how about a few more pictures...

[V8240Z]

Yes I did paint her at the side of my house. I used an epoxy primer followed by a sealer in white and then a single stage polyurethane paint.....came out decent. Then with the help of my wonderful wife and daughter the engine got installed.


While I was pleased with the progress, I had begun learning about making muscle cars go around corners. I found out about this website and began contemplating a new direction. My wife surprised me with the QA-1 coil over conversion for the front and the transformation began. I purchased upper control arms manufactured by PTFB from Keith at Customworks Performance. Followed shortly by solid body mounts, subframe connectors, solid LCA bushings, Landrum rear springs, and a rear adjustable sway bar. These are some of the pictures of those parts being installed.

[aps63]

Great progress so far.
Keep the pictures coming.

[V8240Z]

Here are a few more pictures of the front suspension and engine.



I also made the Guldstrand modification to the front leaf spring mounts and added poly bushings there

[compos mentis]

Nice to see your family involved in it as well...car is looking good.

[V8240Z]

Thanks Skip,
It certainly heps when the family is interested. My wife and I attended the Return to the Coast a few weeks ago and went for a few rides. We are both anxious to get this car on the road. I am hoping to make it to the SCCA autocross here in San Diego on November 18th...... we'll see.

[V8240Z]

Just a quick note, if anyone is contemplating using a 1967 or earlier block, the Mr Gasket canister to spin on oil filter adapter sucks! I have had 2 leak at the block o-ring. The edge is sharp and the o-ring is not captive. The Trans-dapt one from summit is far superior, and my oil leak woes are passing. I got the coil overs adjusted up to raise the nose slightly and she may move under her own power tomorrow. This car has been a project for 14 years with three owners. Here's a few more pictures:
I saw the subwoofer installation on Dale Jr's car that DSE built and liked that idea:

I used a prefabbed box with a JL Audio W8 sub and Infinity 6x9 speakers:

the entire interior is lined with FatMat:

and then I fabricated a rear package tray with custom grilles:

[V8240Z]

So I opted for the Summit brand seats to replace my originals. They have decent support and adjustment and were really inexpensive.

Then took my back seat to Jim's Upholstery here in san diego and had the rear seat done to match, and my center console was redone with the same stitching

[Glenn]

WOW! What a great looking Camaro, I really like that year.

[V8240Z]

Thanks for the encouragement Glenn.

[aps63]

The back seats look awesome!!!!!

[68400BIRD]

Looks great. Seems were on the same build plan. LOL Have a car burn down start over again.

[V8240Z]

I certainly learned to insure every car, it would have been a whole lot easier to just buy another than build one. I am surprised how long this one has taken with the onset of age, family, work etc...