67 Camaro Build

[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.

[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.

[mongocanfly]

Blast cabinet looks great.!..I just picked up a hf cabinet..probably gonna do all the mods before I even use it

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by 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.

Well said, that is our goal for this round of bodywork. I’m very pleased with the results so far.

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Blast cabinet looks great.!..I just picked up a hf cabinet..probably gonna do all the mods before I even use it

Thanks Greg, good call I don’t think you’ll regret that decision. I’m happy with our cabinet, no clogs, good light, mobile, and for the most part dust free. I clean out the shop vac filter after each 4 to 6-hour session. We do catch spent media (powder) in the bucket but some does get by.



Both of our front fenders had a low spot right where the top inner center meets the hood. Don fixed this by repositioning the inner structures (popped the spot welds raise and then reweld). Here are some pics of this hood dialed in.

[Dieselwrencher]

He is doing very nice metal work there!

[7dee2]

Don is killing it I’m really pleased with his work.



There is more to tell on the Camaro heads, so after scoring those NOS 077 heads and doing some more research. I found that the general consensus is that they could use some port work to make them work better. Removing the exhaust port vein (unique to this casting, apparently flowed well on a test bench but in the real world attached to a header it doesn’t really help) and going from a C to a D port configuration in addition to some minor bowl work and a larger intake valve (perhaps). One thing led to another and I located a second set of 077 heads for sale in my area. My thoughts were if I can find a good set with this work already done, I could keep the uncut NOS set in my stash as backups if we run into an issue.

My problem was the seller wanted a lot of dinero, like crazy bucks on eBay money. Long story short I contacted him then waited, contacted then waited some more. Reached out once again in person and talked him into allowing them to go to a local machine shop (Fastlane, more on these guys later) to be checked out. They came back as a good usable set and he promptly updated his ads.

GM 14011077 Big Block Chevy Aluminum Cylinder Heads L88 ZL1 BBC

These are coming off a 489 CI BBC. None of the stud bosses are cracked, no welding on any part of these heads. There is a stamp from Gianino which I understand to be a speed shop out of Chicago. These are serious heads, not junk throw aways. The exhaust ports are 'D' shaped measure 1.90 tall x 1.557 wide and the rectangular intake ports measure 1.77 x 2.46. Valves are 2.25 intake and 1.88 exhaust both with longer stems for the valve springs. Currently the springs are Pacaloy double springs with #240 on the seat. the springs only have 5-6 runs on them. I was running a .775 solid roller cam. The rocker studs are ARP. I have the springs that came out for the Pacaloy. They are #180 on the seat. did not work too good with this cam. The springs are negotiable and I will install the softer springs and lower the price if you want. I had the heads looked over by a local machine shop and all the threads are good, the intakes were new with a complete valve seat regrind. The date codes on the heads are 068711 and 058711. These heads were sold thru GM parts departments as replacements for stock heads. I ran a stud girdle and had to use a spacer for the valve covers to fit, due to the longer valve stem length I think.

Here are some pics from the original ad and one of the stock exhaust veins as cast.

[7dee2]

We didn’t need the Pacaloy springs for the hyd. roller street cam we’ll probably run. The focus for us is to make the heads live in a street car without needing a girdle. Lighter spring pressure (specific to our cam choice and peak rpm) should make that happen. He substituted the springs and we finally made a deal for about $1500 less than his original asking price.

So yes, the heads are stamped “Gianino”, who is that? At first, all I could find in Chicago was a pizzeria tied to the name Gianino. Poking fun I was telling my friends; Yep, when they aren’t making pie’s there’s a room in the back where they port cylinder heads! By sheer luck I did run across an old David Freiburger article on Sam Gianino, “Gianino Racing Engines”, he mentions the 92 Fastest Street Car Shootout in the article. I’m thinking this is probably our guy and that they may have come from his shop.

https://www.yellowbullet.com/threads...ianino.625246/

Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Sam Gianino
https://mmshof.org/index.php/inducte...09-sam-gianino

Kudos to our body shop Perks Auto Body & Custom, Chris & Kelly. Not only did their big red 70 K20 make it to LS Fest West but they came home with the best paint award!

[7dee2]

Last shots of our Camaro with the SS hood fitment, the surrounding panels mate to this hood so much better now. Both doors do latch and fit the door openings as well as mate up to the fenders properly. Don's excellent work is making this stuff fit perfectly.

Next up are the stinger hood, lower windshield molding, lower valance, grill, and both trunk lids.

[7dee2]

We needed an intake manifold to fit this build, decided to try a new reproduction part that I’m impressed with. I’ve got an original 069 that’s been repaired and still needs work to be useable for comparison. The new one needs a little trimming here and there but I’ll tell yah without a real one right next to it, it would be hard to tell it’s not an original GM part.

https://www.thepartsplaceinc.com/pro...-3885069/56368

[7dee2]

Went to look at a new TCI Super StreetFighter T400 transmission and Gear Vendor package for our C10 project. While there I ran across some bbc gold that I just couldn’t pass up. One set was in the original box and the other had just slight scratches and shelf wear. Ha, that's going to lead to a whole Goldmember Moroso phase!!

[7dee2]

Gold Moroso stuff is like speed part catnip these days. Of course, we needed to find a set of breathers and an air cleaner. Hold downs and t-bars did prove difficult but in my search, I ran across a talented guy that gets pretty close to the gold anodizing with paint. Snagged a set of new Moroso chrome hold downs off eBay and had them sent directly to Jimmy for the gold treatment. The t-bars are straight from eBay and are not an exact color match but are gold anodized. Mocked this stuff up on one of the shelf worn covers, not bad they look like they’ll work.

[7dee2]

Yes! After some tweaking and dent repair, the stinger hood is a go. This was a big concern initially, trying to get two different aftermarket hoods to fit the same opening.