At long last, the fun part of my '78 project is underway! As many are aware, I have been plagued by some really bizarre electrical issues that held me back for pretty much another year. Although I'm not completely certain the gremlins have been eradicated, I'm confident enough (with a bunch of new wiring) that it's time to move forward with the more enjoyable work. I am taking A LOT of pictures and videos of my progress so I can use as a reference and be able to look back at some point in the far distant future and appreciate my efforts. I am in no way a "seasoned" automotive restoration expert and my mechanical abilities are pretty much a "learn as you go" kind of approach. As always, insight and guidance are extremely appreciated as I'm sure there will be many questions. I'm not doing a full restoration to this Camaro, only trying to make it "nice" and "clean" and DRIVEABLE. I'm hoping this project thread can help someone else out with questions they might have with their projects and to prove to others on the fence that this is doable with motivation and some basic knowledge of cars (oh yeah, and the cash!) The cash part is my issue with being able to complete this project quickly, not gonna happen... It'll be a work in progress for quite some time.

Here's some stock pics of the Camaro when I bought it last summer. I'm going to jump forward a bit the next couple of posts and get caught up to where I'm at now.

 

Few more pictures. At the end of last summer I had the rear end work done so that was a good start! Replaced the open carrier that had 2.41 gears to a Detroit Truetrac with 3.90's. I also replaced the dash gauge faces to white and added a tach. I put a new temp and oil press. gauge in the factory bezel and added green LED's to the cluster (my 9yr old sons choce.) It looks pretty good at night I must say.

 

Couple more, the body isn't terrible and overall is pretty solid compared to others I've heard about or seen. The panels all need a little work but the floors are all solid and the trunk is like new still. I'm focusing on the engine swap now and I'm cleaning up all the front end stuff and repainting everthing while it's all apart. Body work will be after the Camaro drives again.

 

This is where I'm at as of today. Should have the engine/trans out and I'm trying to keep the exhaust all in one piece to hopefully sell. It's all pretty much new but is single into the D/O Flowmaster which is not what I want for the new setup. I'm cleaning everything up the best I can without access to a blaster. The core support looks like it's in great shape and should clean up well. My problem is I can't decide what paint to use for the firewall/frame etc.? Will be powerwashing everything first and then a lot of wire wheeling to get things as good as I possibly can before paint.

 

I like satin black. It looks good with any color body, and is easily touched up if you bump it or get any scratches later.

 

I was thinking a satin or semi-gloss black but not sure if I should use POR 15 or Extreme Chassis Black or? Got the engine and trans out today so now I can start cleaning everything up! What a bear doing that by myself but it feels good to have it done that's for sure. I just wish I had a few more days like today with the weather. Now it's supposed to rain and drop about 25 degrees for tomorrow....figures. Oh well, guess I can work on finishing up the port matching and polishing of my intake if need be.

 

That always happens when you don't have a garage, and you start a project. Might want to get a cheap 10'x20' canopy and put it up to keep things from getting wet. I built my whole car in one!

 

I do have a garage Val, the Camaro is in there now. I just mean that I need to get it outside to do the power washing and all the grinding/sanding. The canopy would be nice but I live in northern Michigan and winter is almost here. The snow would make short work of the canopy I'm afraid. I really need to add a small port onto my garage so I have a place to park my truck (winter vehicle) while I've got the Camaro torn apart. I fit 3 vehicles in there last winter but it didn't leave but a couple feet of room on either side of the Camaro. Too hard to work on it like that obviously. I don't even want to think about how long it's gonna take to wire wheel everything. That's really why I need the weather to hold out for a while longer My timinig is lousy, I should've been doing this work back in June. I'm just really glad to be making progress on something rather than losing my mind trying to figure out why the alternator wouldn't charge the battery!

 

I forgot to ask a question about the fuel lines coming from the tank. The return line was blocked off with a bolt in the hose right by the fuel pump, is this normal? I don't really understand the purpose of a return line (excuse the ignorance) but do I need to have it hooked up when I get the 327 in? I'll still be using a mechanical pump with a regulator that I got for the new setup. Kind of a dumb question to be asking now but I was wondering about that today when I was looking at it...

 

Hey dont worry about about putting it off, most of the people on here at one time or another have stopped on their projects more then once and took a breather, i took almost 10 years from the time i parked my car until i started working on it again. Hell i just took an 6 or 8 month holiday on mine.

Cant help with the fuel question but i hope to be able to answer some questions in the future for you. I have an electric pump and dont believe i have a return line if that makes a difference.

Keep up the good work, it would make it a bit easier if you used the IMG code to post your pictures too!

Good luck