67 Camaro Build

[Dieselwrencher]

It's looking very nice! I want to go BBC with mine with 2 hair driers but it might get a junk yard turd instead. I might be getting a chassis for it though. No where near the quality as this beast. Haha

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by KevinK7

You probably already know this, but just to mention. The motor mounts and trans crossmember are different from SB to BB. If you don't already have those details, I'll dig them up and post pics/pn's.

Good point Kevin and thanks for mentioning this. Here is a link to a newer Hot Rod How-To article that covers the BB swap using all aftermarket parts and why you need them for a 67-69 F and 68-74 X body. https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/bi...ne-swap-guide/

These are the parts we are using in this build, well mostly, but you get the idea.

I may not have mentioned these items yet but current exceptions from this article are:

Energy Suspensions black poly mounts for the subframe, motor, and trans replacing the factory rubber style.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/e...maro/year/1967
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ens-3-1120g

Ground Up SS 396’s FMCK-67B-HD. https://www.ss396.com/camaro/FMCK-67B-HD.html
Went this route because I needed pedals (our clutch linkage and the pedal were shot and the wrong application) and aftermarket headers was a concern for the Z-bar.

Hooker Headers instead of factory exhaust manifolds, this pair fit well with the OE manual steering box and the Z-bar from above. https://www.holley.com/products/exha.../parts/2457HKR

Lakewood Scattersheild rather than the factory aluminum style (shown earlier with the M23 transmission). https://www.holley.com/products/driv...parts/15000LKW

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

It's looking very nice! I want to go BBC with mine with 2 hair driers but it might get a junk yard turd instead. I might be getting a chassis for it though. No where near the quality as this beast. Haha

Thanks, wow, that would be some big power with the twins on a BB. Full chassis is a good idea to keep it from tearing it’s self apart.



Fenders on, it sits a little high up front. I’m sure it’ll come down some with more weight, honestly though being a little tall is a good thing for an old skool build. My first time bolting a first gen front clip together and I’ve discovered the inner and outer fender have to go on together. Oops, looks like I’ll be reinstalling the fenders in between the hood swaps, practice makes perfect!

Our SS hood is a very nice stamping and fit the opening very well. Surprisingly it’s not beat up for as long as it has been out of the box, that hood came with the original parts car and was purchased by the PO in 2007, I got it in 2011.

Both front fenders seem low on top in the middle where they meet the hood. Both fenders to door gap need work especially the right, left is better. Both doors are slightly twisted in the openings, got it as close as I could but body and paint are really not my strong suit.

Looking old skool, day 2 to me, booyah!

[Dieselwrencher]

That just looks awesome! Spray the roof with spi epoxy quick would ya so it all matches?

[CG]

Saw this, reminded me of your build. Probably should have checked to see if its already been posted in here =)

[KevinK7]

Looking Good Brett. It's a 'tease' seeing the body together and the car taking shape........only to take all apart again (been there done that lol : )
...CG, ..very cool old pic. I know in the Camaro circles, a lot love the '69, but 67/68's to me are one of the best looking cars out there.

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

That just looks awesome! Spray the roof with spi epoxy quick would ya so it all matches?

Thanks Ryan. Ha, I’m on the same page that gray prime does look out of place.

Originally Posted by CG

Saw this, reminded me of your build. Probably should have checked to see if its already been posted in here =)

Sahweet 68 CG, it’s got quite the rake, very cool!

Originally Posted by KevinK7

Looking Good Brett. It's a 'tease' seeing the body together and the car taking shape........only to take all apart again (been there done that lol : )
...CG, ..very cool old pic. I know in the Camaro circles, a lot love the '69, but 67/68's to me are one of the best looking cars out there.

Thanks Kevin. Seeing it mostly together and almost one color made my day.



Now with all the inner fenders, bits and pieces in place moved on to the stinger hood. This hood also fits the opening but is not as good, it’s going to take some work. We are looking at some minor dents and it’s a little tweaked RF and LR are lifted. Lots of folks assume that new body panels are going to fit perfectly, and I must say they are pretty good for the most part. Joe at Real Deal Steel suggests you plan on approx. 60 hrs. of additional fitment and panel work to prep for paint.

With that in mind, we’re ready for our 1st appointment (fitment & gaps) with a local body shop, Perks Auto Body & Custom. I’ve heard good things about these guys and they didn’t laugh too hard when I told them how I wanted to swap hoods and trunk lids for a different look. They’ve got some cool projects of their own and are car/truck people. Check out the 70 K20 that’s getting close right now on their FB page the red is amazing up close. They are trying to have it ready for LS Fest West in Las Vegas next month. https://www.facebook.com/PerksAutoRepair/

[Dieselwrencher]

I absolutely love that hood! No need to swap them.

[7dee2]

I do too and as time goes on, I’m finding a lot people do prefer this hood.


If you went to Perk’s FB link above you probably saw a few short videos of their Red 70 K20. That paint is so Red, like Fire Engine Red and you would swear they had cut and buffed it already. I’ll tell you when Mrs. 7dee2 sees this in person our Grumpy Camaro could be Red (her favorite car colour)! That wouldn’t be a bad thing here are a few pictures of a Red 67 that I really like. Excuse the shiny, squirrel moment (Ha, I can hear it already just like Grumpy used to have).

Now back to last year, just prior to dropping off the car, while swapping out the Cragar’s for the old Centerline roller set again (it’s body shop shoes). I took some masking tape and marked each tire just to see how centered we have the differential in the car, looks like it’s pretty dang close.

The day came to drop off the Camaro at Perk’s and guess what, I didn’t take any pics, not one dang it! Here’s another FB link to a short video in Perk’s shop next to a 70 Cuda (with a Hellcat swap, btw!) and a 66 Mustang. https://fb.watch/bLgup-2_wJ/

[Dieselwrencher]

Awesome! I love m e a 70 Cuda! By the way, I love the roof on the maro.

[7dee2]

The Cuda is going to be wild, a SEMA build. Ha, you did read my mind earlier, asked Perks to squirt some epoxy to make it all one-color last fall before bringing it back home.


The Camaro was gone for 6 months, you know body shop jail. In their defense, this is a collision shop that’s slammed with insurance work each and every week. Also, they did have some personnel leave unexpectantly and had to backfill those spots. On the upside, those lucky buggers did have the pure joy of me popping in every week expecting progress! 6 months was a long time but worth it to me, as you will see in the bodywork posts coming up. Bonus, it is in the past so it’ll go by quickly in this thread. To keep moving forward I’m focusing on all the parts the body shop needs first (mainly exterior), after that it’s stuff we don’t have or that should be replaced.

When not ordering and receiving parts I had time to refurbish an old HF blast cabinet. This is one of the older models that’s riveted together and still has almost all the original parts. I’m told it's low mileage because the original finish is not blasted off on the inside. Prior to the move, I’d always borrowed a buddy’s cabinet. That’s just not practical any longer, he’s 25 miles away now and did help steer me to this one, hint, hint!

[Dieselwrencher]

I've got a Matco one about the same size and I have never used it. I also bought it used. I really need to get it operational sometime before it is junk. Or maybe sell it. No, that's not the answer.

[KevinK7]

I picked up a blast cabinet years ago when working on the Camaros. They are invaluable with the work you can do with them.

I guess they went up 'a bit', ...wow...I purchased mine at Spring Carlisle, for under a grand, and shipped free. The same unit now, is almost double, yikes!
https://www.tptools.com/Skat-Blast-U...inet,7906.html

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

I've got a Matco one about the same size and I have never used it. I also bought it used. I really need to get it operational sometime before it is junk. Or maybe sell it. No, that's not the answer.

Ha, no that’s not the answer! Already used mine 3 separate times since finishing it and have a date with a Camaro steering column coming up soon. Here’s a good sandblast party, remember this one from the K30 Build?

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=424
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=435

Originally Posted by KevinK7

I picked up a blast cabinet years ago when working on the Camaros. They are invaluable with the work you can do with them.

I guess they went up 'a bit', ...wow...I purchased mine at Spring Carlisle, for under a grand, and shipped free. The same unit now, is almost double, yikes!
https://www.tptools.com/Skat-Blast-U...inet,7906.html

I agree, a must-have tool for restoration work, they pay for themselves. That’s a very nice large cabinet, on another level Kevin!



After watching some YouTube videos and talking to the Tacoma guy I settled on this upgrade kit. https://www.partswasherupgradekit.co...Blast_Gun.html
Blew it apart and started making pink dust. After some minor modifications (1 hole in the hopper door & 1 hole in the front), a few big rattle cans of Rustoleum gloss black and it was looking good enough for my shop.

[7dee2]

Reassembled with LED light tape from eBay (a tip from friends) and electrical hardware from the big box store. Wired the outlets to be hot when the light switch is on, that way everything plugged in is also off or on with one switch.

[7dee2]

It, works, great!!

Already had a dust separator for our chop saw so I used it rather than the one with the kit. After these first shots with the exhaust manifolds, I added a much finer steel mesh window screen under the grate to keep smaller parts from falling through. The positive airflow through the cabinet makes a big difference in controlling the dust and the pedal control is much better for longer blasting sessions. The LED light tape is a win, nice and bright, and doesn't take up any space in these smaller cabinets. Another thing I like after using it a bit is how it goes until the media is used up, add another couple of cups or pints and go again.

Haven’t changed out the media yet but that also looks to be easier now with the large ball valve on the bottom. Found on the internet where someone had Lowe’s cut replacement glass. Did the same as our original was etched and quickly got worse once I started using it. The last pic is current as of a week ago with new glass and casters added earlier, it can easily be set up anywhere in my garage or outside.

[Troy Sr]

Originally Posted by 7dee2

Reassembled with LED light tape from eBay (a tip from friends) and electrical hardware from the big box store. Wired the outlets to be hot when the light switch is on, that way everything plugged in is also off or on with one switch.

Would you have a link to these LED lights? I'd like to try them in my blaster!!

[Dieselwrencher]

Can I send mine to you and have you do it? I am lacking that time stuff. Yours looks really nice!

[7dee2]

Thanks, it turned out pretty fancy for a blast cabinet.



And then there was some Camaro fitment progress (these pics are from Perk’s FB page). This is Don doing what he does, working his magic. His work impressed me, the skill and attention to detail are top-notch. All of the fitment work coming up is Don’s work, he volunteered and was assigned to our car for this phase of bodywork.

As mentioned before this right side was worse compared to the left, the door was slightly twisted in the opening, had poor gaps, and didn’t mate to the fender well. The inner fender (outside lower rear) was off and needed adjustment to mate to the lower cowl extension and fender properly. The lower fender was also adjusted where it attaches to the lower cowl and extension, jeez louiezzz!

[7dee2]

I’ll tell you I’ve got a thing for big block chevy winters foundry (snowflake) aluminum parts. Some would say the earliest stuff is not cast very well and tends to break easily, which is probably true compared to parts made today. Heads and especially blocks can be rare and if in good shape are usually very, very expensive.

One day while checking out the local online classifieds, looking for big block treasure I happened onto an ad for some 077 aluminum heads (NOS, bare, out of the box, no damage, cheap). Tell you what I dropped everything and beat feet right over there, and yes they left with me. Couldn’t believe my luck, these are the improved 2nd design version of the earlier 074 head (L88, ZL1, etc.).

14011077...69-up...rect...OPEN...2.19/1.88…Aluminum, fits MKIV, "C-port" 118cc chamber, GM part #14011076

Pics from the original ad.

[KevinK7]

Great to see progress on the panel fitment, looking good: )
...and nice find on the heads

[regan wilson]

Wow that was a cool deal on the heads. Congrats on the find.

[regan wilson]

You said they were the second design. Do you know what year they were manufactured?

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice score! I had a set of 2nd design ones I broke in half when I broke my last Muncie. Ruined everything on that 472. It was a bad day for about a year and a half.

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by KevinK7

Great to see progress on the panel fitment, looking good: ) ...and nice find on the heads

Thanks Kevin, Don does a great job and makes it look so easy. The heads were a great find, they really are big block treasure.

Originally Posted by Regan wilson

Wow that was a cool deal on the heads. Congrats on the find. You said they were the second design. Do you know what year they were manufactured?

Thanks Regan, it’s hard to find much info on these heads. I called them a second design just because they came after the 074’s. Not sure about the year, what looks like a date code casting# 110082 is confusing. So best guess November 2000 (perhaps), or 1982, or 2011 (Nah, that’s too new I think), or some kind of Julian date/shift code stuff????.

I know they are discontinued and replaced by bowtie head 12363408 (made by Edelbrock) and then the current 19331427. https://www.classicchevroletperforma...oduct/head-33/

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nice score! I had a set of 2nd design ones I broke in half when I broke my last Muncie. Ruined everything on that 472. It was a bad day for about a year and a half.

Thanks Ryan, Holy Crap! I guess a bad day, geez that’s carnage!



Here's some more bodywork progress, these first 2 pics were sent to me from Don about a month after the previous bodywork post. Working the left side, more of the same as the right (door twist, poor gaps, etc.) just not as bad, the inner fender did fit better on this side. The last 2 pics are also from Don, taken about a month after the first 2. Starting to fit the header panel and fenders to the SS hood (the best hood of the two), the center rear of the header panel was spliced and lifted first.

[KevinK7]

Seeing these body pics, slicing, dicing, tweaking, etc. points to some detail work being done. It's inevitable with many repro panels, but a great sign that the shop you're at is taking these steps.
Says a lot about them, and the quality you should see in the end product.