Does anyone know of a vendor that sells the rubber boot that goes on the oil sending unit for the idiot light? No junkyards even now will let be buy just that wire and break the harness up, and I can't find a boot anywhere outside of buying a whole new harness, which  don't need.  Any tips would be greatly apppreciated  . Thanks.

Thanks, guys! The VIN shows it was a V-8 for sure--Phil's explanation of the springs sagging gets rid of any 6-cyl doubts either way. As for the M-21, in retrospect it was probably retrofitted, too. The car had a Mr. Gasket Vertical Gate shifter and some idiot had mangled the transmission tunnel to get it to fit, i.e. gaping damn hole patched closed with some light tin and rivets. As for my 327/210 3-speed guess, I've never seen a 2bbl car with any manual transmission but a 3-speed and all had single-leg 10-bolts and mono-leafs. I think a 4-speed L30 car would have had multileafs and a 12-bolt, but you guys are the experts (chuckle). It's a Norwood car, RJ, but thanks for the tip. It was originally turquoise--I know because I've stripped every inch of the car to bare metal--and I found the vinyl top holes then, Phil. Surprisingly, my wring harnesses were in remarkably good shape and could be saved with some new sockets where the splices could be hidden in the tape. I had to replace or replate some of the fuse clips and terminals in the fusebox because of surface rust, but that was no big deal. The car has been a hotrod from Day One and will still be, but I've become almost fascinated with the original aspect of it. Thanks, guys!

Not matching #s--not even close. The car had a small-journal 327 with a 4GC Rochester out of an Impala, what appear to be weak 6-cylinder front springs, but V-8 rod throttle linkage. It had a single-leg 3:08 10-bolt with mono-leafs. One of the curious things is it had an M-21 with the factory backup light harness, the blind nuts for a console under the carpet, and finned brake drums.  From all indications it was a factory Plain Jane stripper (exactly what I was looking for), probably a 327/210 2bbl with a 3-speed, but it had a vinyl top and perhaps a console and Muncie transmission. A console and 4-speed don't jibe with a 2bbl 327, do they? The front springs were so weak with the 327 that the previous owner had installed spacers to keep the ride height tolerable, and it STILL had a forward rake. The car is a definite bastard--no doubt about it--but a fellow wonders how it was when showroom fresh. Phil, you should be pleased to know it will be painted Butternut Yellow!

  My '68's trim tag was missing when I got the car--is there any way to trace back to GM records by the VIN and find out how it was optioned? It appears to be a base 327/210 manual transmission car with few options, but some of the things I found upon disassembly don't make sense going by the RPO codes. Would appreciate any help finding this out. 

Dang things are bad about that if the windshield leaks...sorry, GS. You might want to check the bottoms of the fenders at the cowl and the front lower corners of the doors, too. Boy, have I been there! Good luck.

The '68 Assembly Manual (blue and white cover) gives excellent details and part #s, Phil. The '68 ashtray lights were also fiberoptic and drew light from the heater control light socket. Last time I checked, the fiberoptic cable for the ashtray was still available from GM--I have one for my '68. I think Rick's sells repro stuff. Hope this helps.

Outstanding original trunk--I'm jealous! If you decide to strip it, Auto Zone carburetor cleaner will melt the spatter paint so you can easily scrape it off with a putty knife. There is some chemical in the Auto Zone stuff that no other carburetor cleaner has--it'll even blister regular paint. You guys probably know better ways than me, but it worked on my '68. My 2 cents.

Hey, Lake--would you Phil from Modern Muscle by any chance?

   I've seen a lot of restored '68s in magazines that have the "Paint, Trim, Body" letters stamped on the firewall above the heater core. Did all 1st-Gens have these markings? Any trace of these was long gone by the time I got my car in 1983, so I have no idea if it had them. They look trick in the pictures, and I've got old magazines from '67-'68 that show them clearly. But I also know the factory deviated on a lot of things! I've read that they all had them...the colors were different according to the assembly plant..etc. Help me, experts!     

Can't make it, Lake, but it's quite a show! The 1st time I went was back in the mid-'80s, and it was a thrill to walk up on the 2nd turn of the track and actually FEEL how steep that thing is banked! TV doesn't do it justice. I went looking for an Edelbrock TM-1 Tarantula manifold and found one. The number of vendors is staggering--it took a whole day just to walk around the race track infield looking at all the stuff! Who are you with?

Dunno about '69s, but according to my GM books, any '68 Camaro 327 over the base 4bbl engine (327/250hp) should have had multi-leafs, and that also meant it had a 12-bolt, but they were rare as hen's teeth. No 2-barrel 327s seem to have had multi-leafs. I've seen a 327/275hp 4-speed '68 with a 12-bolt and multi-leafs, but only 1. Every 2bbl car I've ever seen had mono-leafs, '68 or '69. I guess it's possible, though.

If yours are worn out you can still get the gray phosphate hinges from GM, but the supply is running low. More and more are coming through painted black.

When I finish my '68 it'll be driven regularly to work unless bad weather is predicted, with lots of cruising and drag strip time thrown in--no Trailer Queen for me. I want to DRIVE it--high gas prices be damned. My daily driver now is my '87 IROC, but it ain't a '68 and never will be. I've owned my '68 since May of 1985, and it was my daily driver until 1992, when I acquired a mortgage which is now paid off and I can dance again. I've raced it, gotten laid in it, been profiled by the cops--the whole shooting match. We've all made memories in our Camaros--good and bad--and I'm living for the day I can turn the switch and hear that 406 blast alive with a ragged idle and the promise of even more good times!

My '68 did the same thing, and after replacing everything and even running a temporary contact switch under the dash for a Band-Aid, I found the problem; the contacts in the plug where the purple wire runs through the firewall had corroded, and the switch wouldn't energize the solenoid. This one about drove me nuts! I cleaned the contacts and the car starts fine. Hope yours isn't this complicated, SS. Good luck.

I used Energy Suspension urethane bushings throughout, too--including the rear spring pads and all shock bushings. My A-frame bushings squeak but the engine is not back in the car yet, and they will "settle in" after the car gets the full weight back on the front end and it's driven for a bit. Squeak or not, urethane beats rubber hands-down in my opinion because it won't dry-rot and eliminates virtually all the deflection that rubber bushings have even when new. The car will ride a bit more stiff, but Camaros never rode like a 98 Olds anyway. Unless it's a by-the-book restoration, I vote for urethane. My 2 cents.