69 camaro, project bitter sweet

[Rambler69]

Ive been wanting to start a build thread after stalking this website for quite some time, but have been trying to wait until the car was further along so I could pretend my progress is faster then what it is. I feel like my build thread will be more of a long story than most, but hopefully thats okay and anyone who has no intrest can fast foward to pictures.

I bought my 1969 Camaro in 2001 when I was 18 as a substantial project. My dad had a 70,s split bumper camaro and my mom had a white 67 with a bumbleeB stripe back in the day. Mom would always talk about wanting that car back so the more I thought about it the more I wanted to get one. I had always loved old cars but never really imagined the possibility that I could own and drive one myself until then. I didnt know much about working on cars other then changing oil and swapping brake pads. The car had obvious needs; trunk, rockers, floors, inner and outer wheel wells and rear frame rails were toast from rust, and it had some tail pan damage, all beyond the scope of anything I was capable. However my dad used to make extra cash buying 2 junkyard cars and making one real car out of the pair before they started salvage titles and was confident he could do the work! I was excited to have a project to spend time in the garage with my dad since we didnt really bond over anything else. So I commited to this life goal of restoring a car and forked over my cashes.

When I went to pick the car up I was running early so I parked in a school parking lot around the block from the place to wait, windows down enjoying the air when I hear this monster engine fire up, it took me around 2 minutes of thinking "wow that sounds badass" to realize this was the car I was about to go pick up. It took forever to tow it home because the transmission on the little Ranger I was towing it with kept getting too hot. I got to drive the car on the trailor and off the trailor and into the garage. I thought about taking it for a cruise around the block but im glad I didnt as the drivers-side rear drum was the only brake with a line running to it. This was a great memory, and serves as motivation to finish the car.



I knew I wanted to go pro-touring/G machine from the start, but like so many others really got inspired from "the mule" build. Damn you Stielow!

From 2001 to 2005 between me grinding/cutting/buying parts and dad welding we were able to get new floors installed, new trunk, extentions, rockers, outer wheelhouses, DSE leaf springs, DSE offset shackles. I bought a new inner wheelhouse and spent quite some time splitting it and adding 3 inches to get ready for wide tires, only to have DSE release their "deep tubs" about 2 months later. *******s. I bought global west upper and lower a-arms Qa1 coilovers, I was able to get a disk brake kit with drop spindles from someone locally who switched to a big block and this setup wouldnt work for them. I also bought a T56 trans as part of the goal to make it an LSX/t56 car, but I later sold that when life caught up to me.
In 2005 I was laid off from construction management and my project went on hold. I would get little stuff here and there, a fuel pump, highbeam switch, msd distributor and 6al controller, plugs, wires, fuel cell, battery cable, etc. just so I could feel like I hadnt completely abandoned my baby. Even though I mostly had.

In 2011 dads smoking finally caught up to him but he was able to beat the big C. He wasnt smart enough to stop smoking however. With the support of my new amazing fiance we started trying to push forward on the car. I went to mock up aftermarket seats one afternoon and realized they sat wayyy too high to work, after putting the stock seats back in I knew there was a problem. It wasnt long before we realized some of the work my dad had done really wasnt going to work out. When he replaced the floors he just welded them over the old ones before cutting the old ones out. I dont know how exactly, but this translated to very substantial difference from original floor location. It turns out my dad, my hero, had not been the professional I thought. This was a major let down. All the work needed to be redone and I doubted everything I had learned. I am still thankful for the time we got to spend but it has had a bitter aftertaste.
So with a complete lack of confidence in my own abilities in what I had learned I decided to shop around for a shop to expedite and fix things. After calling a few places and getting 250k quotes I felt defeated. Damn people are rich. Finally after many letdowns I found a reasonable guy in Dexter that I believed more than competent. After having to do substantially more then originally expected the sheet metal is about to be 95% brand new. Sucks having to cut out stuff you've already done once and had taken pride in doing but i'd rather it be right. -=/

As far as future plans for the car there are 2. The first is to hopefully drive it before I die, because after 12 years hope disapates some, but I think its possible this summer. Going to try and get the sheet metal finished, Shaved antenna/handles/marker lights/drip rails, bullet mirrors, put it in flat black primer, wire it, toss 2 seats in it, narrow a gas tank instead of running a fuel cell, spend a bajilion on Forgeline rims, intending on 335s out back and 275s with a notched stock subframe up front, and then put some miles on it IF the 327 thats been sitting 12 years fires. Second longer term plan is LS3/T-56 when im rich enough to do it, flushmount glass, Then legit paint. I was loving the subtleness of the graphite/greys/titaniums, with a single wider stripe, but it seems a lot of people lately are going that same grey route. Car passion isnt cheap, which is unfortunate. Anyways Let this be my hello to everyone, and hopefully I can join you at the local shows and more importantly on the road shortly!

So this is the day I brought it home cheesy smile and all, back when I was about 40lbs lighter

She doesnt look too bad in pictures, but trust me she was rough.

[Todd in Vancouver]

Nice to see you here and I think you will find there are lots of good people with a lot of knowledge. Good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing how you proceed.

[Rambler69]

Nice to see you here and I think you will find there are lots of good people with a lot of knowledge. Good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing how you proceed.

Thanks Todd! Yeah I've been trolling the forum for a while now, lots of people with amazing projects and tons of insight.

Heres the A pillar patch, firewall in and floor going back in.


New floor makes her easier to look at and makes me less queasy


hopefully there is enough bracing ;P


Rear floor too?! Christmas come early.


more rear floor going in


you can never have enough clamps for mock ups and installs

[Rambler69]

So Im going to post a few pictures showing progress up to where it is now in the next couple days as I sort through pictures in between trips to the autorama to drool over other peoples rides and hide my envy.
Dismantling at the cars new home

and hooking her up to a frame table

Braced up and gutted, so hard to see like this! But you know its for the best.

With not much left it makes me feel a whole lot better to see tires mocked up under her and picture what will be

[KnightMare]

Yours looks better then mine gutted. I'm knee deep in mine trying to get it together by the summer as well. Good luck!

[Rambler69]

Yours looks better then mine gutted. I'm knee deep in mine trying to get it together by the summer as well. Good luck!

It doesnt get much worse then how yours started! Crazy how decent your car looked to start too. Mine was bad but you win. Keep in mind though these are pictures of the second time replacing everything, the first time had all the rust but i barely got any pictures of it.

Heres the old floor ready to be reassembled and reused.


Just kidding! heres the new floor components being mocked up together


Fitting the firewall

previous firewall mock up

[77thor]

Wow. Bringing a car back from that condition... Kudos to you.

I wish I had the money and talent to attempt something like that.

[KnightMare]

That's one thing I know I need... a billion clamps! You doing quarter skins? I'm guessing your car didn't have a vinyl top like mine to rot the top half of the car as well

[Rambler69]

That's one thing I know I need... a billion clamps! You doing quarter skins? I'm guessing your car didn't have a vinyl top like mine to rot the top half of the car as well

Yeppp, doing quarters also, ill catch up on pics soon just a lot to go through, no vinyl top but i still had a lot of rust in the roof braces so i decided to just replace it all anyways.

A pillar repair


Test fitting doors and fenders makes it look like half a car again!


drivers side


passenger inner quarter repair


And then time to make it hard to look at again

[68lovebuzz]

Great story! Welcome aboard. You will find amazing people here. I think we're the same age as I am 29 now. I feel like I gave up a good chunk of my 20's working to pay for or working on my car. Almost done now and hope to be on the road by summer of my 30th year for some bitter sweet myself...

[Rambler69]

Great story! Welcome aboard. You will find amazing people here. I think we're the same age as I am 29 now. I feel like I gave up a good chunk of my 20's working to pay for or working on my car. Almost done now and hope to be on the road by summer of my 30th year for some bitter sweet myself...

Thanks! Yeah im 30, all downhill from here. Im glad you are in the home stretch, dont fret too much about your 20s. Its better to have worked to pay for your car than to have worked to pay for the bar tab.



Time to start puttin it back together



Fitting all the rear sheet metal

[KnightMare]

Thanks! Yeah im 30, all downhill from here. Im glad you are in the home stretch, dont fret too much about your 20s. Its better to have worked to pay for your car than to have worked to pay for the bar tab.

Haha, I just turned 28 last week. Young guys and their first gen Camaro's

[Rambler69]

Fabbing inner tubs, because Damn the man! Custom is cooler and I will be able to run wider stuff if I get the itch down the road

[Rambler69]

Modifying trunk pan





Drivers side inner tub sexiness



View of inside work

[Motown 454]

Its looking good, Nice work.

[Rambler69]

Its looking good, Nice work.

Its starting to come together some!

Sooo since all the other metal is new you are probably thinking I should just reskin the roof and be done with it forever, but you would be wrong. Just kidding you were right all along.

Removing the roof revealed Rust termite damage to the braces. Little move love and itl all be new.





After this will be Rear end and Rims and a substantial chunk of change to get them. /cry

[KnightMare]

My roof is ate out in that same spot on mine. I guess it's a bad area for water to sit in

[Rambler69]

Sooo, Progress is always a bonus.

Pulled off mocked up quarters to add a bit of protection.




Started to replace Roof Brace Rot






Starting to delete some clutter


Uh oh, Delivery guy brought some serious hardware



New 12 bolt along with some wilwood discs to go all around!

[Rambler69]

Next Extreme hurdle/purchase...


Everyone loves forgeline boxes at their door!
After the extreme light eminating from the freshly opened box faded and all the rainbows flew out it was time to peer inside!




Mocking up Rears for funzies




MMMmmm. Rubber.



Coming back from being mounted



Pretty sexy if you ask meee

[esenior]

Coming back from being mounted



Pretty sexy if you ask meee

Those look great! What size tires are those?