Darn, when you're right, you're really right. Everything looks good here:


But from this angle, not so much...

So, noting the red mark on the firewall, that is where it is now cut out and a 1" deep cup is being welded in, then painted. This next week the car FINALLY become a roller! I made the mistake of saying, at the start of this project, "I would rather have it done right then done fast" and this being a very small shop, in a fairly small town, Ricky gets stacked up in queue. But that's fine. It is getting done right!

 

Well glad I mentioned it,project is looking sweet,can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Does look great. Your a couple months ahead of my work. Gives the inspiration I need. It's been a over a month since I've been able to work on mine. The usual kids, wife and life get in the way, but worth the wait.

Will you have room for the heater box and hoses out of the firewall. Looks a little tight there too?

 

Yes, the shop has purchased brand new big-block heater core, which places the hoses close to the fender, well away from the engine. I'm not sure if you've seen prior discussion we've had on this subject. You can find by either viewing list of my small number of posts, or just going to the 1st Gen sticky titled "Let's See those Pictures" or something like that. My posts and answers are about half way down page 63, and extending onto the start of page 64. Then I moved to the Projects area where we are here. If you go there, you'll also see pics of my Chevrolet motorhome, a unique individual in a world where Chevy never made a motorhome as far as I know. Still, the title says what the title says... One of those pics shows my "in-tow" package of Ricky Camaro on my car trailer behind the motorhome. A road warrior on job transfer.

 

Sometimes the shop lingo is a little out of my league, so I'm sure I saw it and did realize that is what you were talking about. I admit giving some advise that does not make complete sense or asking questions already answered.

And yes, that motor home is one of a kind. The front almost had a freight train look to it... love it.

 

I remember you saying the 396 is out of the motorhome,have you repowered the motorhome with something else?
A 6.0 LS (Vortec) would be sic in that thing and would also be a lot better on gas mileage I'm sure.

 

Yeah, the Streamline Chevy was home to me and my wolf-dog for many years, with Ricky in tow. Targus in the passenger seat was a sight!

I especially like the oversize Bow-tie on the radiator grill. A Chevy-lover through and through, that's me. I thought I might continue on with the restoration story concerning a non-standard part of the process. A while back, the restoration shop owners came down to look at Ricky and examine his condition, with an eye toward providing a broad-gauge estimate of cost. We attempted to list the line items that would represent sub-tasks needed to reach a fully-restored ’68 Camaro, and one major item was the pan. I placed a trouble-light under the car, and once lit, we viewed a remarkably close simulation of the Milky-Way galaxy from inside the cabin. So, once they started the project, and we decided to replace both rear quarters, and ultimately the passenger-side inner-fender, I was told that those line items had to be done first, before removing the pan. The structural integrity of a uni-body is very dependent on its floor, and once the pan is removed, everything wants to fold in on itself, thanks to its attraction with Earth Central. We finally, after a great deal of work, arrived at a point where Ricky had new rear quarters, and a new inner fender on passenger side, and it was time to remove the pan, spanning from the front edge of the trunk to the bottom edge of the firewall. Before doing this, the body-man welded in an X-brace from front opposing corners of the cabin. Once that was done, and the pan was surgically removed, we arrived at this point:



Interesting to view the inner surface of a roof from underneath a car… In any event, Ricky did not stay bottomless for long. Soon, the bottom looked like this:



Next steps involved work both on the top and bottom of the pan. All original metal underneath (such as bottom-side of trunk) was taken to shiny metal, and then sprayed with Ospho, the residue buffed off and then sprayed with ‘etch’ primer. Then, the entire bottom of the car was sprayed with truck bedliner, and came out looking like this:



Up inside the cabin, several further operations were required. Seat supports needed to be welded in, and then the entire perimeter and other welded seam were seam-sealed with Tiger Seal UPO728 adhesive sealant. Once this was done, the cabin looked like this:






The Grateful Dead once recorded an anthem called Truckin', which has served to some extent as a theme-song for me through my long years. And the recurring line, familiar to any Dead-Head reading this, is "What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been." Any study of Big History bears this out.

To be continued...

 

Well, I'm sorry to say the Motorhome hasn't been started or driven for a bit over 30 years, and is parked at my nephew's homel. The entire time I owned it, I had rebuilt the 396 and it resided in my 1973 1-ton GMC pickup. That is another story, since GMC maintained there wasn't enough room to stuff a big block into those pickups. We disagreed, successfully. Anyway, the motorhome had and has a 350 4-bolt from a 1973 ton and a half truck. Nice motor, and the creator of the motorhome had his mechanics port and relieve the 202 heads and balance and blue-print the motor. It REALLY likes to rev. and we needed to, in order to have enough torque for the next gear, once I had Camaro and trailer in tow. My trailer is made from 2X6 box tube, and even with aluminum tempered diamond-deck cladding, weighs 2000 pounds pre-Ricky, so we would make that 350 work getting up to speed or climbing a hill... Life in the slow lane when the road went up... Smoky times, so it really didn't matter to me... No hill was going to beat my granny gear. Hah! But out on the flats, we would cruise at 70 all the wind-slippery day.

 

I bet,cool dog!


I saw Jerry and the boys many times over the years.



Mine has a 454.

 

Very nice. I am partial to 454's! My truck was '73 with a 350 and a crap turbo 350 tranny when I bought it. We rebuilt the 396 from the motorhome and I bought a Turbo 400, fully rebuilt with this nasty shift kit in it. To put it in the '73, we needed to move the frame member that held the transfer case back 3 1/2" , shorten the rear drive line accordingly, and have a new front drive line made, and bought an adapter for the back end of the Turbo 400 made by B&M that allowed it to bolt to the transfer case. Major pain in the rear, but when the dust settled, I had a big block and a bullet-proof tranny in this:


Recalling that I name my vehicles, meet "Big Truck". He came with a third gas tank that someone built behind the seat, so I carried 63 gallons of gas, and could go a long way. 4-ton Warn winch with brush guard even with top of front hood, trussed axles front and rear, dual shocks on front, and 3/4 wolf on the seat next to me. A rare package to be sure. Even an awning at the rear of the canopy... That was a cool truck, and I really miss it. My next truck was an '88 1-ton dually, again with a utility box and the same winch moved over. I called it my "4-truck": 454, 4-speed, 4-wheel drive, 4 Me. Needless to say, his name was "Son of Big Truck" or "SOB Truck for short. He looked like this:


SOB Truck was a very cool ride for the years I had it. Now, I am resigned to my fate: a 2016 Silverado 4X4 'LTZ Plus' that transcends "excellence in design."