67 Camaro Build

[7dee2]

Shortly after the initial fitting of our shifter to the car, I put the word out on FB (a Day 2 Muscle Car group) that I was looking to increase my Hurst Ram 4 collection. Bang, we had 3 more shifters for a total of 4 within days and shut the request down. One really cool early style (left) and three later style shifters including our original (still taped up). The main differences between the early and late are the rod buttons (nut instead of a clip), the reverse stick (flat instead of round), and a minor change in the pull-up handle and lower pull-up linkage.

Spare parts for an out of production 50-year-old shifter is a good thing, a horde even better. If that wasn’t enough, I placed an order with Scott the Shifter Doc for a re-chromed stick, NOS sleeved rods & levers, buttons, bushings, and HD clips. Oh yes, with all this stuff the plan is to build as close to a NOS shifter as possible.
https://www.shifterdoc.com/productca...categories.asp

[regan wilson]

Cool pile of parts there. What a Hoarder lol. You must plan on really bangin' some gears.

[7dee2]

Thanks, yeah it might have gotten away from me just a little. The early shifter is nice and appears to be low use, it came in a 2-for-1 deal that I couldn’t say no to. That one I’ll leave alone, the other 3 are fair game to build the best one, then 2nd best, etc.

Here’s an old article from Hot Rod Magazine back when this stuff was still new in 1971. A friend just happened to have an extra copy of this issue he gave me to add to my collection. Here’s a link to the article and the rest of the magazine for those with Motortrend+, nice surprise that they added the entire Hot Rod library. https://www.motortrendondemand.com/m...d/issue/571370

Some exhaust system progress! Having our car stance stock or a little taller I’m thinking will be a good thing, not a lot of room under there for the big pipe.

[7dee2]

Tage wanted my approval on the right rear section so he could build out the left side to match. I thought he nailed it, just what we had discussed. He's such a fan of the orange headers that he wanted me to do the whole exhaust system orange. Nah, I told him the plan is to just leave it natural.

Mounted the front spoiler to our lower valance, I want it easily removable when we are going for a non-spoiler look (requiring a trunk lid swap also). Decided a button head bolt and clip setup should work well. The clips will get installed carefully after paint and remain in place with or without the spoiler.

[7dee2]

More 511 short block pics from Mike at Fastlane Machine. These .060 over Mahle forged pistons have an 18cc dome. With our 077 heads, we’re shooting for a pump gas friendly 10.25 – 10.3 compression ratio.

[7dee2]

This was interesting, after a long wait (supply chain issues from Holley Days 2021) we received a new Holley carburetor for our C10 build. It’s for the second engine that’s been waiting its turn at Fastlane Machine (Our first rule in government spending, why build one when you can have two at twice the price 489. ). It’s an 850 CFM Classic with Electric Choke & Vacuum Secondaries just like the one I run on our K30. Well, that’s what I thought when I bought it but turns out Holley has changed that carburetor (the link below still shows the old carb). Materials, gold dichromate plating (not as good btw), main body, fuel bowls, wow you name it it’s a little bit different, reminds me of a gold Brawler carb. Is it a better carb, could be, it does have many updated features from the old carburetor.

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel.../parts/0-80531

Gave Holley tech support a call when we received it, they had no idea what was up and requested pictures. Below are some of the pics that I emailed them, my question was “Is this the end of the old-style Holley carb that I grew up with, is it no longer available?” To date, I’ve never heard back from them and last week I did bolt this carb on our 489 for a break-in, dyno-tune session. I don’t want to get too far ahead of the timeline but the carb performed very well out of the box with only minor adjustments and a secondary jet change.

So that makes 2 for Holley, what is pictured may not be what you get. 1st was the clutch disk that came with our Hays clutch (link) and now this carburetor. Good, bad, or somewhere in the middle I’m not really sure, time will tell.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=251

[7dee2]

The exhaust is done, took a few pics outside coming home from the muffler shop.

[joesscamaro]

Exhaust looks perfect in my book and just how I'd want to run it if it were mine.

[7dee2]

Thanks Joe, I can’t wait to hear it!



Final installed pics before I started removing stuff. The exhaust needed to be removable so there are some hidden v-band clamps up high in front of the differential.

[72 tigger]

Getting exciting!

[7dee2]

You betcha, it’s starting to become a car.



Degreeing the camshaft, Mike is so close to having the short block done. Here’s the cam card for our Straub hydraulic roller (ground by Clay Smith Cams), it should be fairly street friendly and easy on valvetrain parts. Yes, I’m leaving some horsepower and torque on the table with our Winters (snowflake) heads, dual plane intake, cam, and carburetor choices. The old school L-88 type parts with a little modern reliability are what I’m after for this build. Besides, it’ll still have gobs (oh yes, gobs ) of power for the street.
https://claysmithcams.com/hr-9202-7-...rpm-5800-6200/

[7dee2]

The cam was ground with 3 degrees initial advance. Mike opted to pull that 3 degrees as you can see if you look at the pics of the crank timing gear and the 2nd pic installed. 3rd pic is showing the supplied oil galley plugs with weep holes. These are the last pics before the oil pan and timing cover went on, short block is done!

[7dee2]

A look at the exhaust system outside of the car, Tage really did a great job! He supplied a set of straight through Street Max mufflers as a lower cost Magnaflow alternative/knockoff.

https://www.jegs.com/i/AERO-Exhaust/...11259/10002/-1

The only thing I’m not a big fan of is the rear hanger placement, I would’ve preferred that he’d not gone through the trunk floor. In his defense and after spending just a few minutes looking at it I didn’t find an obviously better location either. At a minimum sending the bolts through the other direction would be better. I’ll probably put in a trunk mat so being flat would be better. Current thinking is to remove all the added nutserts (including 2 in the spring pocket areas), fill the holes in the trunk floor, and deal with it after paint. There’s got to be a better way to support the rear tailpipe extensions.

[7dee2]

Another quick round of shifter fitting was needed. When we left off the 3-4 shift rod was just barely rubbing the inside of the tunnel in the 3rd gear position. That required removing the mockup motor and trans, shaping the tunnel a little bit more, and then trying it again. Glad it only took one round of this until I was satisfied. It does clear now but I’ll probably give that area an extra smack (for good measure) when it goes on the rotisserie for paint.

[7dee2]

Here’s something, the slots for the rear inner window felts (fuzzies) are not stamped out. I could poke fun about this virgin steel missing the fuzzy slots but, Mrs. 7dee2 says let it go.

After taking a minute to figure out how to cut them in without messing anything up. Ended up taking a small piece of scrap angle iron and drilled a 1/8” hole at a 45° angle. Then clamped this little fixture and with an extra-long 1/8” bit created the required slots, easy peasy.

[joesscamaro]

Thanks for the updates...always good catching up on this build and watching the progress.

[7dee2]

Thanks Joe, I’m enjoying documenting the build and appreciate your kind words.



Factory-style reproduction firewall insulation for the 1st gen Camaro is not the greatest these days (cheapo quality, thin crap). With that said I went ahead and grabbed what is available. I’m thinking in conjunction with a butyl type of product (Dynamat, FatMat, etc.) and maybe some jute, glued into the right areas should do it.

While everything was out of the way I stuck the insulation on the outside and marked it for future trimming. During this stage, I’m also looking for any holes that need to be filled (taped) and any missing ones (silver sharpie). Need to add a 1” hole below the wiper motor for the speedometer cable. This along with some clips gives the correct right-side speedo cable routing for a Muncie.

[72 tigger]

Good catch on the missing slots- would have been scary post paint

[7dee2]

I can’t take the credit on that one, if I remember correctly a friend spotted it a while back. After getting a few suggestions from folks on how to remedy this issue, the fixture and long drill bit idea came to me. You're right that would’ve been a gotcha moment for sure.



The front clip is mostly back on the car and the car trailer is in front of it, what could this mean? Ha, Mrs. 7dee2 is having some car trouble is one reason, it’s always something.

[7dee2]

The other (main) reason for the car trailer is that the Camaro has got another date back at Perks Auto Body for round #2. We still have some fitment issues that need to be addressed, front and back glass and the trim needs to be checked, etc., etc. and of course paint, oh yes paint.

I’m working to fit the front bumper to the car before it goes. Prior to hanging the front clip back on the car, it needed the frame horns straightened (earlier pics of both sides that were pulled slightly outward). The subframe bumper bracket mounting holes will also need some attention, especially the forwardmost holes. I took pics to reference the areas that’ll need to be filled when the subframe gets restored.

Earlier Van Nuys subframes are unique as they don’t have the large tie-down holes (comparison pic taken from http://www.pozziracing.com/first_gen...s.htm#Subframe), also fewer core support holes and the bumper bracket mounting holes are not slotted (no adjustment).

[7dee2]

Here’s what the bumper looked like, pretty straight and the gaps are close enough from side to side. New OER outer brackets fit, the OER inner brackets could have fit the OER (premiere) bumper better. When completely installed they do distort the bumper slightly, found the lower bolts were stripping on disassembly. Overall it works, perhaps with some bracket tweaking on the final assembly they could fit better, back in the box for now.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Originally Posted by 7dee2

The other (main) reason for the car trailer is that the Camaro has got another date back at Perks Auto Body for round #2. We still have some fitment issues that need to be addressed, front and back glass and the trim needs to be checked, etc., etc. and of course paint, oh yes paint.

I’m working to fit the front bumper to the car before it goes. Prior to hanging the front clip back on the car, it needed the frame horns straightened (earlier pics of both sides that were pulled slightly outward). The subframe bumper bracket mounting holes will also need some attention, especially the forwardmost holes. I took pics to reference the areas that’ll need to be filled when the subframe gets restored.

Earlier Van Nuys subframes are unique as they don’t have the large tie-down holes (comparison pic taken from http://www.pozziracing.com/first_gen...s.htm#Subframe), also fewer core support holes and the bumper bracket mounting holes are not slotted (no adjustment).

Now I am gonna have to go put my 68 on the lift and look at the subframe. Its a LA built car and I dont recall seeing those holes. It probably has them but I have never paid much attention to that area of the subframe. I know its the original one to the car. It was never a point of looking, the car is a mid year car so it was fun figuring out what was stock or not as it has some mid year changes, but not all.

[7dee2]

It's an early 1967 thing so your 68 should have those subframe holes I’d guess. Congratulations on your truck of the year win, you got my vote. The rally wheels and red lines are a nice touch.



The heads are done, the only hardware reused were the new 2.25/1.90 (11/32” +.100 long) valves that they came with. As mentioned earlier these heads have had some mild port work done including removing the exhaust veins (links).

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=194
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=195

Decked block, milled heads, and now a new reproduction intake. Mike has the intake sitting right and is ready for the next step.

[7dee2]

You probably guessed it port match was next. Our “Good to go!” 511 needs to breathe as well as it can with these old school parts (originally designed for the smaller 396/427). The reproduction intake needed a bit of runner work and Mike did a great job from the as cast version we supplied.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=197

[7dee2]

The day came and the car is loaded up and taken back over to Perks for what is sure to be some big progress! You know, I almost cleared my to-do list with just a few small jobs left.

Ha, somebodies new Benz was photo bombing these shots.