69 Camaro - 'Pro Touring' build

[JaseSV8]

Finally got to have a solid 8 hours devoted to the car in one hit!

The day before this, I ventured down to my local Supercheap Auto store in search of an engine crane and some other goodies.
Turns out they were having a sale that day and I took home an engine crane for $200 plus a leveller (with chains) for $40! Woohoo!

With a whole day free to play in the garage ... there was no reason now why I couldn't have the drivetrain pulled out.

Removed

• Bonnet
• Bonnet hinges
• Front fenders
• Radiator support panel
• Engine and gearbox

So the day begins ...



Front panels come away easy enough ...



With clear access it was a piece of cake to pull the engine and gearbox ...



Engine perched happily on an engine stand.
It's already sold to a mate, who's going to put it into his HQ.

[JaseSV8]

Only 2 hours free during this day, so picked on some easy targets.

Removed

• Fuse box and body/dash wiring harness
• Front kick panels
• Heater/AC box and blower fan
• Heater box (under dash)
• Glovebox (inner)
• Sill plates

Wiring mess ...



Messy (but now bare) firewall. Luckily I'll be replacing a lot of this sheet metal.



Empty dash!

[JaseSV8]

More goodies arrived!

This lot is a combination of functional parts and bling!

Firstly ... the functional!
Given the style of this build and my requirements ... the braking department will be receiving special attention. I decided early on that I wanted big, bad-ass brakes for this project.
My expectation is that the brakes will perform at least as good as, but must exceed, the brakes on my current road car.
My current road car is a 2003 VY SV8 with the PBR (HSV / Corvette C5) brake upgrade kit. These are two piston fronts on a 330x32 disc with single piston rears on a 315x28 disc. Whilst these aren't anything special ... I LOVE the response and performance (for a street car) that I get.

So for the Camaro, I decided to pick something from the GM stable so that I would have an easier time with engineering and also end up with something that was 'serviceable'. Luckily I need not look any further than the Corvette again. There are loads of braking systems and kits built around the C5/C6 series of brakes. I ended up choosing a kit that will allow me to fit the C6 Z06 brakes (front and rear).
These will be 6 piston fronts on a 355x32 disc with 4 piston rears on a 340x28 disc.
After a lot of research I started talking to Tobin from KORE3 in the states. He has helped me set up a configuration that will give me the braking performance I want, plus a system that will be ADR compliant ... easy to engineer and easy to service.

How does this all relate to the delivery that I just got? Well ... part of the package will involve using a Hydroboost unit in conjunction with a Wilwood tandem master cylinder.

Yep ... the Wilwood master cylinder and proportioning valve just arrived.




The master cylinder is a 1.25" bore, which has been advised for use with a power booster. I'm selecting a Hydroboost unit for two reasons ... one, I don't have to worry about a vacuum unit and two, I think they look much neater in the engine bay.

Secondly ... the bling!
Well ... it's actually functional too but it's still blingy!
I have decided to upgrade the lighting on the front of the car. With the removal of side markers and the conversion of the traditional parker/indicator lights to foglamps ... I need to think of another solution for indication. In addition to this, I want 'better light' than the factory sealed beam units can offer.
In the spirit of the Pro Touring theme, I want a more modern unit for headlights. After searching around I found that a lot of people are now running these new lights that have been designed (initially) for use in Jeeps. The units have an integrated 'halo' which serves as both a parker light and an indicator. In the centre of the unit itself are some nice projector style LED lights. These consume lower power than 'standard' lights whilst providing a much better beam and longer life.

I'll post up some pics a bit later on when I get around to testing them in the garage.

[JaseSV8]

More recently, only had a couple of brief opportunities to tear into the car.

Attacked a couple of random tasks here.

Removed

• Brake master cylinder
• Power steering box
• Front and rear seats

Power steering box removed from chassis rail ...



Rear seat out ...



Front seats out ...



Interior starting to pile up ...

[Jaba]

Coming along nicely mate! I'm building a very similar car myself out of a 70 camaro.

We've also started roughly at the same time. Hopefully we can bounce some ideas and knowledge off each other

[JaseSV8]

This post finally catches me up to 'current day' with this project.

Had a really big day last Sunday removing panels and stripping 'muck' out of the car

With the seats out of the way, I was free to strip out the carpets, underlay, side panels (on quarters) and headlining. Before doing all of this, I also decided to remove both doors in their entirety.

Both doors have got issues.

The right side door was definitely involved in whatever accident has caused all of the damage to that side. It has fitment issues which I believe are partially caused by the fact that the skin is sitting a little 'loose' on the door shell. I can feel the two moving independently when I twist or lift the door and run my fingers along the seam. Not good! Beyond that it's full of bog, dents and who knows what else.

The left side door is very solid by comparison (structurally). However it's so full of dents, ripples, warps and dodgy repairs ... that it'll need a re-skin at minimum.

My thoughts at this point are that I might simply buy two new replacement door shells. Spoke to the guys at Eastcoast Mustang and Camaro (in Lilydale) about availability and pricing. Seems reasonable at this point.
Given that I'm now already committing to replacing both rear quarters, I figure that it'll be a better option to get two new doors and then deal with whatever fitment issues they bring (but at least they'll be straight, clean and rust/bog free!).

With the doors remove and out of the way, I was able to get into the car and strip out the sound deadening on the floor and the roof. What a messy job!
The floor stuff was easy but for the roof I made sure I had goggles, a breathing mask and a vacuum handy. It all came away fairly easily but created a huge cloud of dusty crap!

Here's the door-less shell ...



This is how the roof turned out after I stripped away all the crud ...



When I first 'tidied' this car, I knew there were issues in the boot floor. Nothing major ... just a bunch of pinholes and surface rust from a failed boot lid seal. I just roughly bogged and painted over it ... but it's going to get cut out and replaced too.

Since I have to hack up the back of the car to replace the quarters AND install the DSE mini tubs, it won't hurt to replace this too.



Whilst mentioning those rear quarters again ... here's a couple of shots from inside, where the quarter glass would normally recess into (looking toward the back of the car).
You can see the 'overlap skin' on one side and the cruddy bogged up repairs on the other. On this side, the outer wheel housing is also quite 'lumpy'.



On the brighter side ... once I removed the front and rear windows, the metal work around both of them looked pretty good! The rear window definitely has a couple of small rust issues ... but the front window looks great.



SO ... this is where I'm at as of today.

It's the beginning of December 2016 and I'm now focussing my energy on looking for somewhere to send this car off to for stripping (to bare metal).

I intend to have the shell entirely blasted (with whatever medium is recommended) and then immediately 'e-coated' so that I can bring it home to focus on metal work.

Thoughts at this point are that I'll give 'The Blast Factory' (in Coburg, Melbourne) a call. I've seen their work on the "Resto My Ride" show and it looks pretty good. There's a few more to investigate too.

Also need to determine whether these places need the car delivered on a rotisserie or not.

[JaseSV8]

Originally Posted by Jaba

Coming along nicely mate! I'm building a very similar car myself out of a 70 camaro.

We've also started roughly at the same time. Hopefully we can bounce some ideas and knowledge off each other

For sure! That's what I love about this forum.
I'm keen to share my journey but I'm also looking forward to being involved in other peoples projects too.

[Stealth 69]

Good luck Jase, you've started off on a cracking pace - but quite the adventure ahead of you
DSE Quadralink is worth every penny if you can justify it - awesome for getting power to the ground
But quite the expensive game, pro-touring builds, if you've planned and budgeted ok you shouldn't have to chase up too much extra cash - the hardest thing is sticking to an original plan, newer/better products are always popping up causing us to rethink our current setups (my 'Angelina' is about to hit a new evolution phase)
As I said, good luck with the build, looking forward to seeing it unfold

[zappa]

Good to see another IT guy getting his hands dirty, I feel like a bit of a lone ranger in my office

Project looks great! The most important thing at the beginning is knowing what you want to have in the end, so your off to a great start and already have a good stockpile of new bits! I will be watching this one closely!

For OEM parts its also worth checking out NPD and Classic Ind, they both do really good repo products.

[Nev68]

Originally Posted by JaseSV8

Whilst tearing this car apart, I've been taking notes along the way.

With each part that I remove, I need to decide if it forms part of the final build or not.
If it does ... is it good enough to keep or do I need to replace it?
If it doesn't ... is it good enough to sell or do I 'throw' it?

Well today (early October), the first of my 'replace' items arrived.

I bought some nice shiny new wiper arms and wiper blades.
Combination of polished stainless and bright chrome pieces.

Deliveries like this will be a nice contrast to dealing with all the dirt and nasty surprises during the tear down.

Some advice.
It's so easy pulling a car to pieces, the challenge is putting it back together, so;
Take heaps of photos (another good thing about digital cameras)
Tag & bag everything
Don't throw anything out until you have the replacement in hand.

Good luck with the build, looks like it's going to be a beauty.

[zappa]

Originally Posted by Nev68

Some advice.
It's so easy pulling a car to pieces, the challenge is putting it back together, so;
Take heaps of photos (another good thing about digital cameras)
Tag & bag everything
Don't throw anything out until you have the replacement in hand.

Good luck with the build, looks like it's going to be a beauty.

I second this advice, Tagging & bagging everything (inc every clip, nut and bolt) is a must + will make your life much easier when reassembling, even if it's just to know what size bolts you need to replace

[JaseSV8]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Yep ... already doing all of the above. I've been taking huge amounts of photos as well as detailed notes whilst I tear everything down.
I have all of the small parts stashed away in either ziplock bags (labelled) or those stackable Ikea storage tubs.

Last time I did something like this was the mid 90's, when I did a full rebuild of my VB Commodore. Didn't have the luxury of digital cameras back then and I was definitely no where near as organised as I am these days!

[Frenchy666]

I am quite interested in those Halo's headlights myself.... where abouts did you get these from and do they require much modification to the headlight bucket to fit??

[JaseSV8]

Originally Posted by Frenchy666

I am quite interested in those Halo's headlights myself.... where abouts did you get these from and do they require much modification to the headlight bucket to fit??

There are loads of these available from a whole variety of sources, both here and overseas.

I ended up buying some 'cheapies' off eBay : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/322267708583



The back of the headlight bucket requires modification (with a holesaw) to open it up, so that it can accommodate the additional depth and width of these lights.

I'll post up detailed pics when I get around to fitting them.

[JaseSV8]

One of the biggest changes I will be making to the interior of my car is the dash.

Personally I don't like the '69 Camaro standard dash at all. I don't like that it's made of plastic and I really don't like the 'split' design with the big plastic protrusion in the centre. At a reasonably tall 6 foot 3, I also don't like the angle that they sit at.
I will be replacing it with something aftermarket.

When I started shopping around I was shocked at how expensive the aftermarket inserts can be
My favourite aftermarket setup is the insert that DSE make ... but I it'll cost me over $1000 AUD by the time it arrives here ... and that's before I think about buying gauges!

I really like that way it looks though ... as per Jeff Dupont's Camaro here :


As mentioned above ... one of the other aspects of the dash that bugs me is that centre 'protrusion'. After a little research I found out that '69 - '70 Novas share the same dash architecture as the Camaro ... but without the centre protrusion!
There's plenty of examples out there where guys have converted between the two on respective vehicles. I think this is the way that I'll go for mine.

With that in mind, I stumbled across a build on the Fesler site where they made their own dash insert for a '70 Nova :


This has inspired me.

Firstly I went ahead and ordered a set of gauges.
After a bit of research, I settled on a gauge kit from Speedhut in the US.
I love the 'Legacy' series of guages they do ... so I now have a kit on order, which should be here mid January.

Secondly I figured ... how hard could it be to make one of these inserts?
(Famous last words ... I know ).
When you break it down into components, there's not a lot of complex shapes here.

So ... I've decided to give it a crack.
Worst case is that I mess it up, throw it in the bin and buy something aftermarket anyway.
Best case is that it actually works out and I end up saving myself a heap of money.
Besides ... these seems like a whole lot of fun to me.

I started with the easiest piece first. The main portion of the insert is simply flat surface with a couple of bends. After spending a bit of time determining how much space I wanted for the two areas, I pieced a cardboard template together.



Next I tackled the left hand edge.
For this I used some paper to wrap/trace around the factory piece.



I then took this to cardboard and mocked up a piece to suit the centre panel.



After that it was a case of repeating the same process for the right hand side.



Next step will be to get my hands on some cold rolled steel sheet and start the real work!