newbie checking in.
Thread Starter
|
Newbie
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 4
newbie checking in.
Hi there fellow Camaro enthusiasts from Ft Smith ARK. My Aunt bought this car new with 19 miles on the odometerwith slight hail damage. She drove it for years without hardly doing anything except basic maintenance and radio/speakers. My Dad (her brother) took over the car after she got married and started to not drive it anymore. He had always had a soft spot for camaros of all kinds and since he had always had a job GM related he didnt pass the chance to run the car for a while himself.
The car is a 68K mile driver with stock 305 and all. Dad passed away in 2004 and while my bro's,sis and I were getting his belongings ready to be sold or auctioned off they agreed to give the camaro to me in hopes my soon to be driving teen son Ryan would gladly take the keys. At the time the car had sdat for a few more years without being driven and the interior dash,rear floor boards and more took their toll damage wise.
The car had really been unmolested while in the possession of his sister and himself and still sported the original blue painted wheels and spare that had the 6 holes and large center caps. When I went to take possession of the car,I bought a new battery,aired up the tires,and filled it full of gas to actually drive it away.
I was soon met with a very leaky rear main seal,and rotted exhaust along with dry rotted tires. I took the car to where I worked,(Tire/Mechanic shop) where I placed a new rear main in and removed the stock exhaust off and replaced it with Hedman headers and dual 2.5 exhaust pipes and flowmaster mufflers. I also added 15x3.5 and 15x8 Weld Drag lites with 185/15 and 275/60/15 tires. I also bought partial floor pans replace the rotted stockers behind bith frt seats. The seats are all in gret shape except the drivers lower cushion and the dash has numerous large cracks which I covered with a temp dash topper.
Right now the car has been started and drove monthly and fluids changed/checked but still hasnt seen much street time......the tires I got new in 2004 still have the **** still on them.
The plan for the car was to make a Z/28 replica while sporting a stout smallblock for the occasional strip trip. This car is so complete and un molested I have had tons of offers to buy it but cant brng myself to let it go,especially to those who want to make a circle track car out of it. My plans have recently changed when I heard y little bro had gotten his old 355 drag race motor back from my older brothers 68 camaro bracket car. The 355 was built from a large journal 68 327 sporting well built double hump heads,12.5-1 comp pistons and a large solid flat tappet cam which put the 68 camaro in the low 7 teens in the 1/8th mile.
I know have the complete 355 from carb to oil pan,along with an old 8" stall convertor from my 68 Nova drag car,and a full built th350 from our green 68 impala that was featured on Pinks All outttakes from Shreveport last year.
I will be swapping the new 355 in next week along with adding a gear/posi amoung other items to make the car streetable as well as dependable since I live less than 10 minutes from work at this time.
The car needs paint bad,and the interior is coming around as I have new door panels,package tray and am almost finished with the floor board patching. I am also looking for some replacement parts and add on parts to make a Z looking car.
Anyway,sorry for the long intro,I have been a member of many forums for the last 8-9 years and found this site to be very nicely laid out and thought I would share my Camaro project here as well and keep the site up dated on the progress.
Since the car is a sentimental item,low mileage and a survivor if you will,I plan on not destrying the car by saving all the parts removed for future rebuilding if necessary,but for now I am going to start finally having fun with the car,ad I know Dad would have wanted to drive it with me riding shot gun if he were still with us today.
Brian
current
current
just after exhaust and wheels/tires
Our PINKS All OUT ride'
The car is a 68K mile driver with stock 305 and all. Dad passed away in 2004 and while my bro's,sis and I were getting his belongings ready to be sold or auctioned off they agreed to give the camaro to me in hopes my soon to be driving teen son Ryan would gladly take the keys. At the time the car had sdat for a few more years without being driven and the interior dash,rear floor boards and more took their toll damage wise.
The car had really been unmolested while in the possession of his sister and himself and still sported the original blue painted wheels and spare that had the 6 holes and large center caps. When I went to take possession of the car,I bought a new battery,aired up the tires,and filled it full of gas to actually drive it away.
I was soon met with a very leaky rear main seal,and rotted exhaust along with dry rotted tires. I took the car to where I worked,(Tire/Mechanic shop) where I placed a new rear main in and removed the stock exhaust off and replaced it with Hedman headers and dual 2.5 exhaust pipes and flowmaster mufflers. I also added 15x3.5 and 15x8 Weld Drag lites with 185/15 and 275/60/15 tires. I also bought partial floor pans replace the rotted stockers behind bith frt seats. The seats are all in gret shape except the drivers lower cushion and the dash has numerous large cracks which I covered with a temp dash topper.
Right now the car has been started and drove monthly and fluids changed/checked but still hasnt seen much street time......the tires I got new in 2004 still have the **** still on them.
The plan for the car was to make a Z/28 replica while sporting a stout smallblock for the occasional strip trip. This car is so complete and un molested I have had tons of offers to buy it but cant brng myself to let it go,especially to those who want to make a circle track car out of it. My plans have recently changed when I heard y little bro had gotten his old 355 drag race motor back from my older brothers 68 camaro bracket car. The 355 was built from a large journal 68 327 sporting well built double hump heads,12.5-1 comp pistons and a large solid flat tappet cam which put the 68 camaro in the low 7 teens in the 1/8th mile.
I know have the complete 355 from carb to oil pan,along with an old 8" stall convertor from my 68 Nova drag car,and a full built th350 from our green 68 impala that was featured on Pinks All outttakes from Shreveport last year.
I will be swapping the new 355 in next week along with adding a gear/posi amoung other items to make the car streetable as well as dependable since I live less than 10 minutes from work at this time.
The car needs paint bad,and the interior is coming around as I have new door panels,package tray and am almost finished with the floor board patching. I am also looking for some replacement parts and add on parts to make a Z looking car.
Anyway,sorry for the long intro,I have been a member of many forums for the last 8-9 years and found this site to be very nicely laid out and thought I would share my Camaro project here as well and keep the site up dated on the progress.
Since the car is a sentimental item,low mileage and a survivor if you will,I plan on not destrying the car by saving all the parts removed for future rebuilding if necessary,but for now I am going to start finally having fun with the car,ad I know Dad would have wanted to drive it with me riding shot gun if he were still with us today.
Brian
current
current
just after exhaust and wheels/tires
Our PINKS All OUT ride'
April 2011 ROTM
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 22,007
From: Tokeland, Washington
ROTM Winner's Club
so is that a 427 impala? pinks all out eh. cool. need to sand that surface rust off and prime it before it gets any worse. nice car. so are u upgrading the motor? welcome to the forum.
Thread Starter
|
Newbie
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 4
Thanks for the welcome.
Yes the engine/tranny are coming out tomorrow as a matter of fact and getting replaced with the 355 I had mentioned. As for the 68 Impala,it was an original 327 car but a built aluminum headed 427 was installed and then later converted to a 14-1 aluminum headed 468 (using the same 427 block).The car runs very low 11's/high 10s on good days but we ran a wounded 11.44 @ 119 at Pinks and was far away from the 9.85-9.89 field.
Yes the engine/tranny are coming out tomorrow as a matter of fact and getting replaced with the 355 I had mentioned. As for the 68 Impala,it was an original 327 car but a built aluminum headed 427 was installed and then later converted to a 14-1 aluminum headed 468 (using the same 427 block).The car runs very low 11's/high 10s on good days but we ran a wounded 11.44 @ 119 at Pinks and was far away from the 9.85-9.89 field.
Thread Starter
|
Newbie
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 4
Thanks for the welcomes. I plan on keeping the car and passing it down to my sons who are 19 and 10 years old. Again its not really a special car,just special memories which means the world to me.
The engine/tranny combo is in the car now along with most everything hooked back up except the front of the engine and ignition. I am placing an order for the aluminum radiator and a few other small items in the morning. I am also mapping out the fuel system and gauges. Hopefully by mid next week the car will be moving under its own power again like it was Tuesday morning when I drove it to work,much quicker I will say though.
A few parts I will be needing to search for to make the whole package perform best........a new beefy rear,traction bars,sub frame connectors,all new shocks,and a few other goodies. Exterior wise I am looking for the 3 piece lower spoiler/side flares for the front nose,fender louvers/vents,and the lower grille insert ( which I have had no luck).
Updates soon and maybe even a YouTube vid of the new engine running.
Thanks again,
Brian
The engine/tranny combo is in the car now along with most everything hooked back up except the front of the engine and ignition. I am placing an order for the aluminum radiator and a few other small items in the morning. I am also mapping out the fuel system and gauges. Hopefully by mid next week the car will be moving under its own power again like it was Tuesday morning when I drove it to work,much quicker I will say though.
A few parts I will be needing to search for to make the whole package perform best........a new beefy rear,traction bars,sub frame connectors,all new shocks,and a few other goodies. Exterior wise I am looking for the 3 piece lower spoiler/side flares for the front nose,fender louvers/vents,and the lower grille insert ( which I have had no luck).
Updates soon and maybe even a YouTube vid of the new engine running.
Thanks again,
Brian
Thread Starter
|
Newbie
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 4
A little update as of late.
The engine and tranny are in and I drove it back home from my work Saturday. Its radical to say the least but I cant get the full potential YET due to the big stall speed convertor and a stock gear and peg leg........the 2.56 gears make the stall way way way too loose so a rear end and gears are now being checked into.
I am working on a little Youtube vid which I may have as soon as this weekend for a little display of whats to come.
It appears its going to be a real quick fun ride.
stay tuned.
The engine and tranny are in and I drove it back home from my work Saturday. Its radical to say the least but I cant get the full potential YET due to the big stall speed convertor and a stock gear and peg leg........the 2.56 gears make the stall way way way too loose so a rear end and gears are now being checked into.
I am working on a little Youtube vid which I may have as soon as this weekend for a little display of whats to come.
It appears its going to be a real quick fun ride.
stay tuned.
Newbie
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 20
Hey Brian, I sure wish my project was being done as fast as yours. Sounds like you are doing a great job with the car and I would never in my life sale it either.
I used to live in Ft.Smith years ago. I worked for the Overhead door company down town and I still have some good friends that still live there.
Anyways congrats on the car.
Jeffrey
I used to live in Ft.Smith years ago. I worked for the Overhead door company down town and I still have some good friends that still live there.
Anyways congrats on the car.
Jeffrey
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
