Gday newbie....68 Camaro 632 Cube BBC

[cluxford]

Gday guys, just discovered your site.....been on Team Camaro lat-G and Pro-Touring.com...now here.

My dream is just starting, for 15 years I have wanted a pro-street BBC 68 Camaro, almost did it 3 years ago but feel through in terms of buying / getting registered (as I do want street legal)...have since been looking for a good base car and big cube way to get awesome street pounder but legal....

Car was purchased in Nov 06 and is on the boat.....my motor was bought just before Xmas and is being machined and Dynoed this week...will ship soon.

My project summary is:

68 Camaro
632 Ci BBC pump gas (800hp estimated)
Dual carbs with Hilborn scoop out bonnet
New front clip, brakes, power steering etc (probably and Art Morrison Clip)
4 link rear (DSE)
Minitubbed with 335s on rear (DSE tubs)
16 or 17" Budnik Bladerunners all round
Candy yellow with ghost flames
Full custom interior incl full custom metal dash and metal hood liner
shaved everything, flush mounted everything, smoothed and hidden everything
Not going to run bags but want it as low as possible, but streetable.

I am in Melb and will be farming out most of the work due to personal time / committment challenges at work and home, expect build to take 18-24 months.

Hoping to share my project and any learnings you guys have along the way

Rgds
Chris


44

[Tuff39]

Hey Chris, welcome... Sounds mean... love to hear more

[SirGeo]

632 Ci :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: and i thought me thinking about a 512 was going overboard :D

4 link rear and tubbed .. and street legal??

Whats your secret? if you know someone at Vic Roads please share the contact :p

And welcome, looks like a great base car to start with,.. Is it a big Block originally? or are you starting with a SBC like me?

[cluxford]

Can tub legally, can't cut chassis...hence I am only mini-tubbing
Real issue is "track" can't run big rubber so while I will I will have standard + 1" which is legal as back ups.

4 Link not 100% sure yet, still need to do some research but with the bolt in 4 links I am hoping that as I don't have to do any cutting it will be legal...yet to confirm this 100%

I have chatted a lot to the engineer that Castlemaine Rod Shop uses....he has given me my advice so far...will post his name and number.

Car is a 327 small block, mine is a tall deck big block so I am going to have all sorts of clearance issues....headers, steering, wiper, booster and power steering...all can be overcome but will require some work

[SirGeo]

i'm guessing your not doing a RH conversion... you've saved yourself allot of hassles...

Who's going to do the mini-tubbing.. i keep getting hassled to do it, but i see it as something i can do later on if i must... Wish i could go all out now but unfortunately i do have some restrictions :p


And to go big block.. you changing the frame mounts to BigBlock ones? i'm currently going through the hassle of desiding what to do.. apparently we can use the SBC mounts, but more issues arise... i'd love to know what others have done...

[EAT-30T]

Oh booy I can see you and me are gonna get along just fine :D

[cluxford]

SirGeo,

As I am farming out most of the work, I am using Competition Engineering and Stylerod panels in Croydon for almost all the work. The mini-tubs I am thinking of buying from DSE but may also just make fabbed up ones locally

On RH conversion....I really want to, I am yet to investigate it fully till the car gets here, but I'm almost 90% certain I will do it. I plan to move the wiper motor under the dash, the brake booster and master will be "flipped" under the dash, my issue will be power steering ram clearance on my oil pan (as my motor is a long stroke motor) and header clearance.

Like you I am undecided on motor mounts and frame mounts. The SBC ones are 1" higher, the BBC ones are lower but set the motor back. I'm putting in a new smoothed firewall anyway so maybe easier for me to drop in the BBC mounts. I am talking to Art Morrison as they have a new front clip, I am am seeing if they can do custom mounts for me that helps me position the motor on centre with BB mounts...will let you know how that goes.

Did you go manual or power steering?

[EAT-30T]

Can I ask why everyone is going RHD ?

[SirGeo]

Can I ask why everyone is going RHD ?

I did it because the miss's flatly refused to get in the car if i left it LHD... so i caved and got it done.... :( would have been easier to leave it, but aslong as i don't have too many problems i'd say i'm kinda glad i did.

I was given a great article by someone from the team camaro site about the mounts and everything about SBC to BBC conversions.. i'll put it up in a few minutes in a seperate thread.

I found it very interesting, others might aswell.

And i went power steering.. The actual steering box i *think* it's a direct unit from a XF, which apparently is almost identicle to a mustang unit. So parts for it if it goes bung will be easy to get.

Although the rest f the bits and pieces were sourced from an XY...

[EAT-30T]

I did it because the miss's flatly refused to get in the car if i left it LHD... so i caved and got it done.... :( would have been easier to leave it, but aslong as i don't have too many problems i'd say i'm kinda glad i did.

I was given a great article by someone from the team camaro site about the mounts and everything about SBC to BBC conversions.. i'll put it up in a few minutes in a seperate thread.

I found it very interesting, others might aswell.

And i went power steering.. The actual steering box i *think* it's a direct unit from a XF, which apparently is almost identicle to a mustang unit. So parts for it if it goes bung will be easy to get.

Although the rest f the bits and pieces were sourced from an XY...

Fair call..... you know what they say Steve 'A happy wife is a happy life'

Alot of people in fact a good majority of people are scared of LHD for some reason????? It doesn't bother me its just driving to me.... some people can't believe that I would actually drive overseas....:confused:

I like to leave a car in its natural state! I remember reading this article about these guys with a C5 and Callaway corvette in QLD and they refused to convert them because it would mess up the cars originality... They even had rego some how?????

I told ya Team Camaro is a good board! Just don't spend too much time in the Bench racing section LOL

[SirGeo]

Yeah i don't habe a problem with driving LHD, but i can see my miss's points.. and yeah i'd do anything to keep her happy, this was an easy request :p

And i know a few people who have gotten away with leaving newer cars LHD, i think if you can prove it's a special car and you pay enough fees and jump allot of hurdles you can get away with it..

Put it this way.. if it was an original RS or some special version, i wouldn't have touched it.. but changing motors etc.. so a LHD to RHD conversion won't hurt my re-sale ;)

[EAT-30T]

You are right you'll be just dandy :)

[bricho]

Fair call..... you know what they say Steve 'A happy wife is a happy life'

Alot of people in fact a good majority of people are scared of LHD for some reason????? It doesn't bother me its just driving to me.... some people can't believe that I would actually drive overseas....:confused:

I like to leave a car in its natural state! I remember reading this article about these guys with a C5 and Callaway corvette in QLD and they refused to convert them because it would mess up the cars originality... They even had rego some how?????

I told ya Team Camaro is a good board! Just don't spend too much time in the Bench racing section LOL

Bit off topic, but i like the LHD, was weird the first time having the car to the right side of my body and getting the feel for turning from the left side, the winedy snow covered road to whistler sorted me out but, tried to rent a new GT convert stang for bit of fun but they want let them out in the winter at the moment. Will be weird coming back home and changing again....

[cluxford]

I am the same, RHD is a wife driven decision, she will agree if I can show good reason why to leave LHD but reality is whe is very scared of cars as it is (road accidents and safety etc), so I am having to do lots to ensure safety before she will come anywhere near the car and in her mind LHD makes it hard to drive safely...I disagree but it's an argument I have no chance of winning

[EAT-30T]

LOL Yeah I know all about the wife decisions..... once thier mind is made up........well we all know the rest LOL :p

My wife is pretty cool like that she's willing to give just about anything a go when it comes to cars

Hurry up benny boy get your ass over here........

[SirGeo]

Has this come in yet Chris?

[cluxford]

Car arrived in Oz 2 days ago. In customs. Due to be released on Mon.

Engine shipped today, should be here in early April

Chris

[EAT-30T]

Car arrived in Oz 2 days ago. In customs. Due to be released on Mon.

Engine shipped today, should be here in early April

Chris

Oh boy you gotta love importing cars... LOL fun and games for all :p