67 Camaro Build

[7dee2]

Thanks Reagan, since both sets are a low-profile style cover we might need spacers to actually run them on the car. Dang it, I don’t want to shave the poly locks so we will see. I checked Scat’s online catalog and it looks like they are calling the rotating kit a 510 (with a 4.28 bore? ).

Stock 454 bore is 4.25, .030 over 4.28, .060 over 4.31 (Good to go! will be .060 over)
4.28 x 4.28 x 4.375 x 6.283 = 503.54
4.31 x 4.31 x 4.375 x 6.283 = 510.62



We’ve got some factory 8” timing chain covers but needed some oil pans. Grabbed a couple Moroso 20403 kick-out pans, I’m thinking they’ve both got the windage screens in 180˚ backward. ?? One is lightly used, I was told it came off a fresh 540 in favor of an even larger capacity, and the other is new. The plan is to scuff them with scotch-brite and paint them both engine color.

https://www.moroso.com/chevrolet-big-block20403/

[7dee2]

Yep, the parts keep coming in, practically on a first name basis with the delivery folks! ARP bolts for both motors were kind of tough to find lots of vendors were back ordered. Grabbed what I could where I could so several different vendors for those and some of the smaller stuff. Decided to try some new Scat 8” balancers. I’m thinking they are the crank manufacturer's brand, plus our internally balanced lower rpm street engines should be just fine with these. Bonus, they are degreed and look very similar to a stock GM piece.

And the last pic is our missing C10 pistons, they showed just a few weeks after the initial CNC Motorsports shipment along with the 2nd set of rods we needed. Both of the cams we were waiting on from Straub also arrived, they both looked fine no issues. It’s time to load up all this internal big block goodness and take it down to Fastlane.

[7dee2]

Starting to figure out the side glass (vent, door & quarter), looking at what hardware we have and what we don’t, what’s good and what isn’t. Lucky that we have most of this stuff from our parts car and quite a bit of it is good enough to run again. Ran into a small issue with one of the door glass guides. We had one original guide but the other one was missing. Ordered this Dynacorn part that’s supposed to fit a 67 (?), but they don’t work with our AMD or our OE doors (perhaps with some modification ). Here’s a pic I sent to the vendor, they claimed this was the first they had heard of this.

Hunting for the missing window guide sent me to a local guy that has restored lots of 1st gen Camaros. Didn’t find the guide but I did drag home some newish (2014) 15x10 Cragar Rally wheels with the same backspacing (4.25”) as our Cragar SS's. Thinking this could be a good start to a cheap rally wheelset for the Camaro, hoping I can find a matched pair of Cragar 15x6 direct drill?

A few days later I did score a matching window guide. Posted an ISO ad on some 1st gen Camaro FB groups and quickly located one in Las Vegas (Jeff Wheeler). Jeff also had a right rear window mech for us, I discovered the stem that attaches to the window crank on ours was stripped.

[7dee2]

Man, easy come easy go, Mrs. 7dee2 has decided to part with her 2017 Chevrolet SS. I’d just finished getting it ready for another winter nap. That’s when our local Chevrolet dealer made us an offer we just couldn’t refuse. Here it is in the driveway after the final wash and on their showroom floor a couple of weeks later. I posted about us acquiring this car earlier so it seems proper to post it's leaving, still not a big fan of sedans but I’m going to miss her 4-door Corvette. It wasn’t at the dealer for very long, must’ve been a Christmas present for someone (sold last December).

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...7&postcount=84

[mongocanfly]

great score!!!!!

[Troy Sr]

I love those SW green line gauges! I had some vintage ones in my '55 Chevy, being a stupid kid I swapped in some cheap Chinese gauges!! Now that I'm doing a restoration on my '55 I ordered a whole new set of SW green lines, I can't wait to see them working!!!

[KevinK7]

That SW tach looks amazing

I'm not sure where you are at with the window parts (regulators, guides, etc.) but if you run into missing items give me a shout. I do have some parts lying around (ie window guides ...just in case

While we are talking regulators, I'm sure you're aware of the shaft length differences for deluxe vs standard. (deluxe a tad longer, ...due to door panel thickness).


Keep up the great work, this thing is going to be way cool

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

great score!!!!!

Thanks Greg, I agree it was a great score!

Originally Posted by Troy Sr

I love those SW green line gauges! I had some vintage ones in my '55 Chevy, being a stupid kid I swapped in some cheap Chinese gauges!! Now that I'm doing a restoration on my '55 I ordered a whole new set of SW green lines, I can't wait to see them working!!!

Thanks Troy, me too the green lines are some of my all-time favorites.

Originally Posted by KevinK7

That SW tach looks amazing

I'm not sure where you are at with the window parts (regulators, guides, etc.) but if you run into missing items give me a shout. I do have some parts lying around (ie window guides ...just in case

While we are talking regulators, I'm sure you're aware of the shaft length differences for deluxe vs standard. (deluxe a tad longer, ...due to door panel thickness).


Keep up the great work, this thing is going to be way cool

Thanks Kevin, I appreciate your comments and the offer, I’ll keep it in mind.




Talking about glass, now’s a good time to catch up the thread. As mentioned earlier most of our hardware is present and in very good shape. We do have a deluxe interior and as Kevin mentioned the window mechs are unique for that style of interior. We had to acquire reproduction wing window assemblies as well as an all-new glass kit to replace missing, scratched, etc. Since we needed all new glass, I like the factory AC green tint style even though it’s not really correct for our non-AC car. It’s not very noticeable but looks great against a white car (IMO), and might help keep the interior a little cooler.

Here are some pics of the driver’s side mockup. Since the body tub and doors are new, they’ve never had anything fit to them, glass, tracks, mechs, handles, door panels, weather stripping, etc. The plan has been to try and pre-fit most everything I can before paint, not just the body panels. Really trying to avoid any “Oh Sh*t” moments! That being said everything fits pretty close but not quite (whole car statement ), some things are worse than others and occasionally a part just fits, Oorah!

Since we have original side glass ready to go, I decided to use it for pre-fit, then switch it out once I’m satisfied and possibly minimize any damage to new parts. Also, if a problem arises, I know the OE glass fit just fine earlier.

[KevinK7]

Just got back from the Camaro Nationals, I saw this and was thinking of Brett's project

Here's a couple of pics for inspiration

Look closely, there's a bit of an 'anomaly' with this car. It's a '68, but it has no side markers ...

The car itself was awsome, ...but then the trailer, ...sheez

[NONHOG]

Great trip down memory lane. Had a V-gate, M/T 427 valve covers (wish I recalled where they went LOL)
Fun build! Thanks for taking the time to post!

[regan wilson]

Those are some really cool finds on the parts. We had an old Speed Shop in town I would have loved to go rummage through. I never heard what happened to the contents. I bought my first hotrod parts there when I was a kid.

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

You come up with some cool parts!!

Thanks Kirk I’ve been lucky, found almost everything I’ve been after for this project. Kind of hot & cold for an old Lakewood 3-point bolt-in roll bar, time will tell.

Originally Posted by regan wilson

Those are some really cool finds on the parts. We had an old Speed Shop in town I would have loved to go rummage through. I never heard what happened to the contents. I bought my first hotrod parts there when I was a kid.

Thanks Regan, rummaging through an old speed shop would be a good time. I got to work at our local speed shop (FG Ferre & Sons in SLC, UT) for a short time right out of high school. Here’s a link that mentions them and some sponsorships. FG Ferre and Super Shops were the places for speed parts in Salt Lake back in the day. http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthre...-Fuel-Dragster



Yippy skippy, look what showed up, our Orange Headers are here! Packaged very well, no damage, man if these fit as good as they look we’ll be in fat city. Here’s a pic I found of some orange headers in a first gen Camaro (69?) with an aluminum big block (ZL1?), black wrinkle 427 M/T covers, fly-eye air cleaner, whoa, very nice.

[Troy Sr]

I had my headers look like the on my '55 Belair!!! The only problem was it wasn't paint it was HEAT!!!

[7dee2]

Yeah, headers can be a pain, normally I go for exhaust manifolds so much easier to live with but that doesn’t really fit this build. Also, since this is a street car I’ll be insulating the firewall, floor boards, passenger compartment, etc. Upgraded fuel and cooling systems to overcome under the hood heat issues are in the works. I know the orange coating is a ceramic-based coating so I’m hoping it doesn’t burn off immediately. Plus the fact that I’m so looking forward to hearing our big block through these super scavenger headers is making it worth it.




While messing with the glass I did take time to fix the Camaro’s chin, reminded me of Karl in the movie Sling Blade “MMM HMM!”. The inner mounting structure sits too far back and push’s the chin out too far. Repositioning it just a little bit should close the gaps between the lower grill and valance.

[7dee2]

The repro grill mounting hardware uses a nut and bolt to secure the grill in this area. GM used a captive nut clip and a short bolt as you can’t get your fingers or a wrench in there very easily, especially now since we closed up that space. Could that be why the mount was where it was, to give more room? Nah, who knows, looks good now though (before pic #3, both OE or repro valance fit the same).

[mongocanfly]

never seen orange headers before..!!

[7dee2]

Very 70’s, here are some orange headers on both the covers of How to Hotrod Big Block Chevys (https://www.google.com/books/edition...sec=frontcover), and How to Hotrod Small Block Chevys (https://www.google.com/books/edition...sec=frontcover).

Short video of a loud rowdy small block with orange headers, he talks about how the coating turns red when hot. His Mickey Thompson Super Scavengers came from the same source we got ours Sweet Ave. Fabrication. https://youtu.be/GK_SO_n3miQ




Time to fit the rear bumper, filler neck, and cap assembly. Had to give the left outside bumper bracket and body area a little help to line up, but the filler neck pieces went right in. Also checked our fuel tank sending and license plate light wires where these pass through the body.

[7dee2]

The same source that supplied our original Stewart Warner 970-B Green Line tachometer. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=225 Decided to sell his beautiful SW 977-J Sidewinder tachometer, this particular tach has been converted to a modern meter by the same vendor that serviced the 970-B Green Line. It is a direct wire so no need for a monitor, it's designed to work with all ignition systems and has been upgraded with modern LED lighting. After testing this tach (btw, all our tachs read the same engine just a little bit different ) I’m thinking that this converted tach with the modern internals is the one we'll start off with.

[7dee2]

Just another lucky day? Well maybe, cruising the local online classifieds I ran across another 4-bolt core (w/std. flat top pistons & rods), and for just $100 bucks it was worth a look for sure. This one has a 10069286-casting number which is 90-91 454 4-bolt, Mark IV, short deck, the build date stamping is T06020XG T=Tonawanda, June 2nd, 0XG= 1990 Marine 454 310HP Inboard/Outboard 4BBL. As mentioned before these blocks were only cast as a 4-bolt main and are some of the very last factory Mark IVs produced.

Déjà vu we’ve several with this same 286 casting number, our K30 has one and the C10 motor currently at Fastlane Machine is another. Those are both truck blocks where this one is a marine block, the same thing just built for a boat. The plan is to keep this one for a backup and sell the 2-bolt main block we had from the motorhome (with all the flat top pistons, rods, and its original cast crank). If you don’t recall the motorhome block (link), that one looked like it needed a sleeve in cylinder #7. It was acquired at the same time as our 445 “Good to go!” block that’s being built for this project.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=128

I’m not a boat guy but I believe marine blocks usually use lake water instead of antifreeze as their coolant. This can be hard on the coolant passages (rust, sediment, etc.) but with a thorough blowout during the initial inspection, I think this block looks ok and should be a good builder if it's needed.

[7dee2]

Big block motor stands and the big block manual trans mount move everything to the right just a little in these cars. Mentioned this earlier (link), here’s a pic with our complete (heavy) mockup 402 and T10 in relation to the tunnel. Getting up the guts to cut a big hole for an inline shifter in that nice new floor.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=168

When ordering the body tub I requested that they leave the seat pans loose. At the time, I wasn’t sure what subframe connectors or drive line loop we'd run. Some manufacturers (Detroit Speed for example) have you remove the seat pans to install their products and then modify and reinstall them. Prepped ours to be welded after fitting the BMR subframe connectors.

Looking at what'll take to mount this old Lakewood universal style drive line loop that we already have, or. Ran across a newer even simpler designed loop online, whichever loop is chosen it'll hit in the seat pan area. Going to wait until I’ve got a better idea of what is happening for sure before welding in the pans.

[CG]

This is one of the threads Im constantly checking in on. Very nostalgic for me as a kid that lived and breathed cars from the 60's and 70's (Ill be 63 next month). But after saying that I still cant believe I never saw the orange headers before. I have boxes and boxes of car magazines from back in the day. Makes me want to start going through them again, probably should some day any way and put them in some kind of order so when I die and my family tosses them they fall neatly into the recycle bin haha.

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Still watching you accumulate a lot of cool parts. I've got to admit it was kind of sad to see the front end taken back off. Looked so sharp, but you gotta do what you've gotta do!

Thanks Rick that’s nice of you to say, it’s like building the car several times over before the final assembly. I know the body shop sure blew it apart and then put it back together a bunch, partly because some crazy person wanted 2 hoods!

Originally Posted by CG

This is one of the threads Im constantly checking in on. Very nostalgic for me as a kid that lived and breathed cars from the 60's and 70's (Ill be 63 next month). But after saying that I still cant believe I never saw the orange headers before. I have boxes and boxes of car magazines from back in the day. Makes me want to start going through them again, probably should some day any way and put them in some kind of order so when I die and my family tosses them they fall neatly into the recycle bin haha.

Thanks CG, glad you’re enjoying the build. You’ve got me by a few months, I turned 62 last July. I wouldn’t say orange headers were very common, mostly black, white (my 2nd choice, just like Grumpy had) and chrome come to mind. I’ve got a buddy that took his car magazines and dedicated a reading room full of magazine stands and such, it’s pretty cool.




The decision was made, I’m moving forward with a Hurst Ram 4 style inline shifter. Posted earlier was this setup of our Mr. Gasket V-gate on the Muncie (I really like this shifter, btw). What wasn’t mentioned is that I’d also put our old Hurst Ram 4 shifter with a nice new t-handle and reverse knob in the vise (vertically, not leaning as pictured). Both were set up enough that you could work the shifters a little, kind of a comparison deal, racing engine sounds being totally optional. After a few friends as well as my wife tried them out, everyone felt that the Hurst was going to be easier to live with.

Side note; Finding some correct usable boots (a big surprise to me after years of looking) made this a possibility. Also, not mentioned earlier is that Mrs. 7dee2 could not work the V-gate at all. Her lady hands are too small to reach the pull-up lever to actuate 1st & 2nd gear. Not a problem for her with the Hurst shifter.

[7dee2]

And the day arrived, time to cut a humongous hole in the new Camaro floor. Took the shifter apart some so I can use the mounting plate as a template. Thoughts are an opening that's just big enough to mount and service the shifter from above but no larger. After some smaller cuts and some shaping of the opening, it’s getting there. Ha, I’ll tell ya, I’ve seen some really bad openings cut for these shifters.

[72 tigger]

Looks very clean and professional!

[7dee2]

Thank you Kirk, I appreciate the compliment. These shifters are quite infamous for causing tunnel butchery. A good friend recently acquired a 1st gen Camaro that was rumored to have had a V-Gate, here’s what he found when he pulled back the carpet.



And voila, the shifter is mounted in the car for the first time. This is a real love-hate thing, I’m going to love the shifter but not a fan of the hole it requires. Thinking out loud, perhaps I could form a removable panel around the lower part of the shifter (?). Alright, done whining, so a quick test fit of our repro dash pad and Yumpin’ Yiminy went right on and looks great!