I need more projects, like a hole in the head! But my neighbor/buddy has had a '68 Camaro SS convertible half finished for at least 6 years now, and asked if I'd help him complete it. It was originally a smallblock car, but he located a 1967 427 BBC engine rebuilt, and swapped it in the car. It also is a 4 speed car, and has a Super T10 4 speed. The 12 bolt rear was narrowed, and 4 link installed in the back, with coilovers. The front suspension is tubular A arms, and coilovers, and the frame has had a lot of work done to beef it up, including subframe connectors welded in, and all new floor pans installed. Since the rear is narrowed, they also tubbed the wheelwells as far as the folding rear seat, and convertible top would allow, so 10" wheels and 325-15 tires would fit under it.
The brake and fuel lines have already been done, and the conversion to 4 wheel discs done, along with new CPP polished master, and chrome booster. The car sits so low there's no room for exhaust, so custom headers that exit into side pipes were built, and then ceramic coated black. Two piece, and need to be reinstalled at some point.
The whole interior, gauges, wiring, body panel alignment, all trim, glass, hidden headlights assemblies, radiator, etc. need to be installed. Dash needs the top replaced, as it's rusted along the bottom of the windshield. Minor body work and paint need to get finished also. A ton of interior and under hood work to get it ready to drive! The part I really enjoy is already done, as I usually like the fabrication the most! Hope I can fit in a couple days a week to get him going, and ready to hit the street by this fall!

 

You should do him some good.
Pictures of it would be nice.

 

I've agreed to give him two days a week of my time, so Tue. and Thu. will be working on it. I'll take my camera along to get some pictures of where it's at today.

 

Feels better giving than receiving.
My hat is off to you..

 

Well I'm not really giving him my time for free. I told him I'd work for a small hourly rate, just so it wont be a case of using up too much of my time, like it might if I was free labor.
Today we pulled the front clip off complete, and then pulled the windshield, as I saw some rust at the bottom of the dash, and wanted to investigate. When the windshield was out, I got a sick feeling. The dash top was cracked about halfway across, and rust holes in it! Got the wire wheel out, and began cleaning it, but found half an inch of bondo on top of old rust! Someone had just filled the dash top, and not repaired it!!!
We have a local dealer who sells classic car parts, so we ran over and grabbed a '68 dash top to replace the rusty one. Drilled all the spot welds out, and prepped the new dash top for plug welds, and installed it. Went pretty easy, and it's a lot nicer looking with new dash!
I also pulled both doors, and aligned them to the rear quarters, so once we break the front clip apart and shoot the inner fenders, and inside of the front fenders, they can be put on and aligned to the doors. I'll shoot the jambs while the doors are accessible also, so they wont need to be pulled again for final paint.

 

What support has he added to handle the 427? These rag tops are about as ridged as a wet noodle. He does have the original center support? Many car are missing them. I assume he has it because that is the main reason exhausts will not tuck underneath.

Here is a fun trick. If he has not added any supports put a floor jack under a lower control arm and start jacking note how high that tire gets before the other front tire leaves the ground. Compared to modern cars it is comical.

With your skills you should box in some nice frame connectors or build a tubular sub-frame then make a second one and ship it to me

Hotchkis Kit but I'll bet you could go better.

 

As I mentioned previously, all the chassis work has been done. Along with the tubbed rear, the whole rear was back halved with Comp Engineering frame rails, and custom built subframe connectors welded into the floors and rear rails, which attach to the original front subframe. So it's basically got a complete frame under it now. The car lost a little floor space in the backseat area, as the connectors sit into the rear floor drops about 3.5", so what little space the backseats already had, is less now.

The reason the exhaust wont fit under the car is the crossmember that is welded between the frame connectors to mount the front end of the 4 links. With the lowered stance, and that crossmember, it's just not possible to find room for exhaust. His custom built system is similar to what the Shelby Cobras run. Headers into short sidepipes, that end just ahead of the rear door opening and turn out. They're ceramic coated black, and internally baffled. My guess is the 427 and those pipes will be about as loud as a 427 Cobra is too!

 

I fully understand.

 

Back on the '68 Camaro today. Got the under dash area rattle can painted satin black so we could mount the vintage air heater unit. No AC, just heat, as it's Oregon, and AC wouldn't help much in a convertible. Plus he doesn't want the compressor load on the engine. Got the heater installed, and that plumbed, but no wiring. Also got a couple small patches done on the under side of the cowl, where water must have built up in the drains at the bottom of the drops.
Here's a peek at the old dash top with entire edge rotted off. And the new dash top installed. And another of the engine and front suspension.

 

Got the front inner fenders and jambs cut in, and remounted the fenders back on the car. Since the headers go into side pipes, we had to mount them on the engine first, as clearances are too tight to install without removing inner fenders.
After getting the fenders mounted and aligned, I got the new fuse block/harness mounted, and we began routing wiring to it's final locations. The new Speedway harness uses a later column electrical connector, so the local guy who supplied the tilt column is building us a plugin adapter to go from the '68 plug to the new harness. When we get back on the car Friday, we'll finish assembling the front sheet metal, and then begin connecting all the wiring to the various components.
Need to prewire all the new Autometer gauges for dash, and console pods, so we can install them and just do a final point connection at that time.