Very new to this site in terms of posting, although I’ve been watching since Jan ’21. I’ve already told a bit of the story of how I acquired my ’68 Camaro, so anyone who wants to review, please visit the New Members Area. I’ve also been active a bit on the 1st Gen pictures sticky, but I’ll recap here. I bought my car for $3K in 1979, and drove it every day for five or so years, after which I parked it in a garage with the best of intentions to give it a full restore. Then, life happened. The good news is I kept the car, which I had named “Ricky Camaro” in honor of the high school hot rodders from my youth in the late ‘60’s, that those of us who could only afford 1957 36HP Karmann Ghia’s called “Ricky Racer”. My family always named our cars for some reason, so my Ghia of course was named “Gutless Wonder”. Anyway, the years clipped by at what now seems a frightening pace, and I woke up last year to the thought I should do it now or not do it. I also realized that my Camaro’s issues exceeded my capabilities, so I enlisted the help of a restoration company to do the work. Here is a picture of the car soon after I bought it, and there are stories to tell of those years on the road:


Anyway, Ricky Camaro left my home one day a few months ago on a hauler, and commenced tear-down. Once the front fenders were removed, it became obvious that this car had sustained MAJOR damage prior to my ownership, artfully concealed but now revealed… The front subframe was no longer a rectangle, but more like a parallelogram, both horizontally and vertically. Also, rust was everywhere and had done me dirt, literally. So, the journey began. At one point, it looked like this:


Fortunately, this status is way behind us, latest picture looks like this, and includes 6 layers of high-solids DTM primer, and by now, 2 coats of sealer, while it is regaining its new front subframe and rear end, abandoning the rotisserie, and becoming once again a “roller”:


I’ll continue this story with intermediate details if there is any interest, otherwise, I’l just post further progress. However, I’ll at least include a picture of the subframe below, which is now populated with new control arms, new disc front brakes, and fully reconditioned power steering box and steering gear. Also, parenthetically, we added an Eaton Detroit Trutrac differential and new Ring ad Pinion at 3.42. We’re having fun now, sports fans.

 

Man that's going to be a great car,seems your resto guys really know what they're doing but I'll mention it anyway.
Not sure if it was the motor mounts I used or that's just the way it is but when I swapped in a 427 to my '69 I had to do a little hammer work on the firewall for clearance of the distributor since I used an Accell dualpoint that was a bit bigger around than the stock GM dizzy.
That HEI is a lot bigger,I discovered the problem when I got on it hard and the motor torqued over enough to break the dist. cap.
Back then it was just a hotrod and first gen Camaros were still dirt cheap so putting a little BFH on the firewall was no big deal.
Anyway something else to take note of. Looking forward to seeing the finished product and entirely envious.

 

Oh great. I was just worried about whether air cleaner would clear the 396 hood. Now I have firewall issues to worry about... Ha Ha. These guys will do whatever it takes, and we should know in the next week or two, when they install the front sub-frame and extenders. The deal is, this car is in no way original, although original in intent. If they have to cut a notch out of the firewall to clearance the HEI guy, so be it. That mod will in no way effect my enjoyment of the ride, and maybe one day I'll swing by Yacolt and remind you how magic a 1st gen ride feels. "Fundamental" is a term that comes to mind. I can remember driving it down I-5 at 70 mph, and the steering wheel was vibrating in my hands, dancing to every variation in the road, the 327 steel tube headers and glass packs were singing, and I was saying to myself, this has to be the best car stereo ever made. And I was on a stupid freeway, not speeding, and yet having an ADVENTURE. Now, we move up to 396 big block joy, Hooker Headers with FlowMaster F40 series cans on 3" tubes, and oh Lordy. Someday, when my son inherits this car (if it survives me) and assuming there's still gasoline around, he'll have the same goofy grin on his face. And you and I both know the joys of Washington and Oregon back-mountain roads, and how they're made for us to go play. God Bless the Pacific Northwest!!!

 

Looks like your popular today. Y2Keglide, Gorn and others have been very helpful the past few months, so your in good hands.

They did nice work on the quarter panel. Was there any rust repair need when the ragtop was removed?

Also, every one keeps telling me to upgrade my suspension, but I'm keeping original. Not sure your goal for original, but I notice you got the stock control arms. Did they talk to you about going tubular or other upgrades to the front suspension for a more modern ride?

 

Well if you get down this way I'd be thrilled for a ride in it to take me back to the good old days and as stated we have some great rodas up here.
I remember the steering feel of the old '69,no power steering so you felt every little thing and oh how I loved the rumble of that Rat motor.
Here's an old pic the old beast just after I dropped the rat in when I was just in my early 20's,the stock hood wouldn't close so I had to get first a scoop and later a cowl hood.
That and a picture from my place,we're on 5.5 acres up a dead end road a couple miles out of Yacolt town, come on down.

 

Only surface rust on the roof! I got lucky there. The reason the roof is black in the picture is that Jerry worked on it quite some time ago and went ahead and put two coats of sealer over its ospho/etch primer/DTM primer to lock out moisture. The rest of the car was still drying from the sixth coat of DTM (Direct-to-Metal) Primer when I snapped that picture. He let it cure over the weekend and started final block-sanding on the following Monday prior to the rest of the car getting its sealer. Finally, he went ahead and sprayed the three parts that make up a complete Lizard Skin application to the non-painted portions of the interior, and I think it's about to go across the yard to the restoration shop to regain its sub-frame, steering column, and rear end/springs and once again become a roller.

So, a LOT of thought went into the planning for this project, once it was stripped and substantial damage and rust were revealed. I specified a near-stock but balanced and blue-printed 396 (although the cam manufacturer indicated it won't really want to idle as it is a Stage 4 cam grind). I had them go through a Muncie M20 I already had, elected to leave it wide ratio, and had them purchase a brand new Hurst Competition Plus shifter. Also put in a very nice McLeod clutch/pressure plate/flywheel to keep it all happy. While we talked about a restoration of the original positrac, we decided to modernize in that instance to Eaton's latest and greatest, a Detroit Truetrac differential, and we chose 3.42 gears to compromise between burning rubber vs keeping the RPM's real at freeways speeds with a 4-speed. So, staying true to the design as much as possible was an element of choice that I made, not for financial reasons, but just for my personal standards. I have a modern car, and a modern pickup track, if I want a modern ride. But I gotta say, a modern ride has no soul compared to driving a rude crude 1st gen Camaro with primitive power and design. That's just me, and my own opinion. We all know about opinions, and the fact that, like a rear end, a) everyone has one, and b) they're usually fully of crap. But it's my car, and I vote "Original". Mostly.

 

12 bolt? I had a 12 bolt with 3:90s and a wide ratio Super T-10,worked out pretty well I thought.

 

I use an RPM calculator that uses tire diameter, rear gear ratio, and transmission gear ratio to determine RPM. My tires are 26.5" in diameter, and so 3.42's show 3035 RPM at 70. 3.90's show just under 3500. I'm probably OK from a longevity perspective with either RPM but I believe I will appreciate 3000 more over time. Also, the other solution, driving slower makes me concerned about causing traffic backup's from all the rubber-neckers trying to sneak a peak at that "old" car making all that noise. Hah!

 

Well, Robert Zimmerman (aka Bob Dylan) once said, in #8 of his 11 outlined epitaphs: "If it rhymes, it rhymes, if it don't, it don't. If it comes, it comes, if it won't, it won't". This quote has gotten me through some tough times, similar to broken distributor caps. Tomorrow morning, RIcky crosses the parking lot to acquire his front sub-frame, and Jerry assures me if there are clearance issues, he goes right back onto the rotisserie, and about five hours gets consumed in dishing the firewall to provide clearance. These guys are the best in the west!!

Boy, still learning about this posting business. I was trying to insert a quote, but apparently failed miserably. Maybe someone can give me instruction to guide me?

 

Right on,keep on truck'n.