Messages

61

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Wheels used on Trans-Am Camaros

« on: April 16, 2011, 04:30:08 PM »

Jon, yeah they made the 8-1/2" D in magnesium but never in aluminum, and the picture of the wheel above is only the second 8-1/2" D that I have ever seen. They are rare as hens teeth..... As for the Motor Wheel Spyder, that wheel first appeared in 1969 and was made through 1972, but I have seen an NOS set with 1974 dates on the boxes. The magnesium version wasn't advertised except a couple times and I believe it was in either SS & DI or similar drag racing based magazine. Those were the only one-piece Spyders as the aluminum/steel versions were two piece. I went back through my vintage magazine ads and only found a slight reference to them being used outside of the drag race world and that was in 1970 which is when I believe the magnesium version was first produced. The ad shows a "road race" type of car but it mentions street or strip use in the text. Here are four different ads for the wheels from 69-72, and there is one more that I couldn't locate which had "Miss Muffet" with Roy Hill in it.....................RatPack....................

***Thanks everyone for posting up the many pics and "tricks" these SCCA guys used back in the day!!! Loving this section more and more.....

62

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Wheels used on Trans-Am Camaros

« on: April 15, 2011, 10:41:09 PM »

Jon, the other supplier of the "D" spoke wheel was Appliance. It was almost identical to the American TTD except for two areas: the machined lip as you have shown, and the lug nut washer recess. The Appliance wheels were machined deeper than the Americans.  Both of these wheels were only manufactured in two sizes: 15 x 6 and 15 x 7, no 8" D-spokes were made in aluminum originally. Excluding the one wheel shown above I have only seen one other 8-1/2" TTD in magnesium. The American wheels have a backspacing of 3-3/4" for both widths, and the Appliance 6" wheels have a 3-5/8" backspacing whereas the 7" wheels are the same as the Americans...............................RatPack...............

***I corrected my measurements as I had posted front side measurements instead of the backspacing. Thanks to a member on here for pointing that out.

63

Originality / Re: D90 Stripes

« on: March 29, 2011, 01:23:46 PM »

Kurt and Rat Pack, have you ever seen a C80 Camaro that actually was sold by an NC dealer in that color?

The car I have shown in the pictures above was sold new out of a dealer in the Asheville area. It spent its entire life in Gatlinburg before being bought in the mid 80's by a guy here locally. It traded hands twice by the time the current owner bought it...........RatPack................

64

Originality / Re: D90 Stripes

« on: March 29, 2011, 03:48:05 AM »

Marty, the Camaro's I have found with broadcast sheets showing the special paint used Dupont formula #96881 which is now referred to as Wedgewood Blue National Fleet color. The mix formula was actually first used in 1964 in the BOP lines under various names: Wedgewood Blue (Buick), Bermuda Blue (Olds), and Skyline Blue (Pontiac). It has been many years since I originally researched this, but I am pretty sure when we scanned the sides of the cowl and a couple areas under the cowl panel this car used the #96881 formula. The other mix formula that shows up in 1970 on some Chevelles is 926-98371 which is what I believe is on Charley's buildsheet for his Chevelle.  I have never come across a documented car that mentions paint code 80 or the Dupont formula number or 5022L/D  on the paperwork, and that color actually has a purple tint to it. I will have to check tomorrow, but I need to cross-reference the 5022L again to see what the 5-digit formula number is from Dupont. From what I have found is that both the #96881 & #98731 were both used through the 80's as fleet colors off and on. There was supposedly a buildsheet found in a 69 Nova that had a Dupont number of 4531L printed on it, which is exactly the same as the #96881, but I have personally never seen it. When looking at a buildsheet/body broadcast sheet, the GM order number for non-metallic special paint should start off with 926, and if it is a metallic it will start off with 927.  I have a buildsheet for a 70 Chevelle with special paint and it reads:    - - PAINT DEPT  1001HA:  HOOD, FENDERS, AND ENTIRE BODY - 926-99616 ORANGE ACRYLIC LACQUER. This car is an LS6 out of the Arlington plant sold new in Broken Arrow OK.  I hope this helps................RatPack......................

65

Originality / Re: D90 Stripes

« on: March 27, 2011, 01:40:13 AM »

I have done lots of research on finding the correct formula for the Carolina Blue that was used from 1967-1971 on all Chevrolet's. Pretty common color here in East Tn as I have seen it on everything except Corvettes, but I wouldn't rule out one being built.......... Trim tag info except body number:

TR  727           - E  PNT
      04C             X22

..............RatPack...........................

66

Originality / Re: D90 Stripes

« on: March 26, 2011, 04:01:35 PM »

Even with special paint the car should have gotten the stripes unless you have docs to prove otherwise. I have never seen a Carolina Blue Camaro that was an SS that didn't have the stripes no matter what year.

The car above is an original RS/SS 396/325hp with a TH400, ps, pdb, D80, console, and the ZL2 air induction hood. As of 15 years ago it still had 90% of its original paint with only the vinyl top being removed, and someone "touching up" the small scratches with Testors model car spray paint to keep it from rusting. The owner that has it now tried to start restoring it about 10 years ago but gave up. Instead he installed another big block of unreal horsepower so he could have a "hot rod" play toy. One night while traveling down a back road he decided to see what it could do....his reflexes were not as quick as those of that big block. He got the car all crossed up and wrapped the left front fender around a small tree. So much for the original paint front fender! Luckily he did not have the original ZL2 hood on the car and that may have kept the damage from being worse than what it was. The driver's fender & headlamp assy, inner fender, grill, header panel, and lower valance were all that needed to be replaced. He didn't even bend the bumper! This car has/had its original D90 stripes on it along with the original fender pinstriping. The stripes did not go down onto the lower fender extension as they did on some earlier cars. Here is a picture of the firewall showing the crayon marking for "special paint", along with picture of the passenger fender. Look closely and you will see the factory pin striping. This car really needs to be restored, but I don't see it ever happening anytime in the near future as the owner will not spend the money to do it right..................RatPack...................

67

Originality / Re: D90 Stripes

« on: March 25, 2011, 05:22:00 PM »

Correct, fender stripes are painted, doors are decals...........RatPack..................

Man I love that Carolina Blue with white top and interior!!!

68

Originality / Re: underhood wire harness extension

« on: March 24, 2011, 07:16:47 PM »

Mark, funny you asked about a 6-cylinder as it made me go to the garage and pull out an original harness from a 6cyl w/o power brakes and it has the extension. When I restored the car we converted it to a small block and I didn't use the extension during the restoration..................RatPack..................

69

Originality / Re: underhood wire harness extension

« on: March 24, 2011, 01:23:49 PM »

This was "supposed" to be an LA plant item only for cars with power brakes, but I have found it on two NOR cars with power brakes. The original GM part number is 6291392. I had talked to Tom at M&H back in the early 90's about this harness and he told me that cars with power brakes really need this to make routing the harness easier. He confirmed that GM showed it to be an LOS item only, but like me he has seen it on NOR built cars also, and all had power brakes....................RatPack.........................

70

Originality / Re: 1968 rally sport

« on: March 20, 2011, 05:34:17 PM »

Sounds like you have some ground issues and even maybe a bad printed circuit board.  I will shoot you an email later this evening. Right now I am going to go enjoy this 75 degree weather!.........RatPack............

71

Originality / Re: 1968 rally sport

« on: March 18, 2011, 07:41:50 PM »

Simple test to do, just ground the tan sending unit wire coming from the dash but DO NOT use a test light, use a jumper wire, as you do not want a drop in the ohms going through the light. Turn the switch to ON, the gauge should peg past full. If it doesn't and drops, then the gauge is bad. If it pegs out past full then the sending unit is bad or has a bad ground. The 68 insturment cluster ground goes from the back of the cluster to the bright light indicator bulb housing then secures to the dash through the center screw in the top of the instrument carrier. See Section 12 Sheet B3 in the AIM for a picture of what this looks like and how it attaches................RatPack...............

72

Mild Modifications / Re: 67 rearend in a 68 ?

« on: March 17, 2011, 02:04:20 PM »

You will have to change the spring perches or make some spacers to go between the top spring and the perch to make that rear work in your car. The center bolt in the multi-leaf springs will not sit in the spring perch for a mono-leaf so you have to install a spacer to get the clearance. I have used pieces of old springs as spacers, or you can make them out of 5/16" steel cut to the same width as the springs. I don't have the dimensions for the length but I make them the length of the rubber spring pad. You will not use the upper pad, but you can still use the lower mounting pad between the bottom of the spring and top of the shock plate. Use 4 u-bolts to hold the axle in place instead of the factory way of 2 u-bolts and 4 T-bolts. I have done this swap many times before and that is the only issue I have run into...............RatPack.........................

73

Mild Modifications / Re: Nova Fold Down Rear Seat Fit Camaro?

« on: March 17, 2011, 01:54:00 PM »

The fold down seat for the Nova didn't show up until 1973 on the hatchback models. It is a totally different design than the first gen Camaro one. As for fitting, I doubt it as it is much narrower than the Camaro fold down seat. Better off spending your money on a correct seat..........RatPack............

74

Originality / Re: 1968 rally sport

« on: March 16, 2011, 01:11:43 PM »

It is your car to do with what you want especially when doing custom work. Something to think about is that if you might sell it sometime down the road you need to consider what a possible buyer would want also. Ghost flames look good if done correctly, but 99% of the people out there would prefer a stock stripe over them or no stripes at all. What is popular today will probably be obsolete in a year or two anyways. I have a friend that built a beautiful 69 convertible that went the custom route a couple years ago, and the car has won many awards at some major "open" shows in the northwest. Now that he wants to sell the car he is having a hard time moving it due to his modifications. Mainly his tastes are out of style and it would take $15k - $20k k to get the car to where it needs to be. It would cost him more to fix his "tastes" than what he would get out of the car. It is a $50k car if it had been done without his modifications, but now it is a $30k car tops. Funny thing is that he painted it HOK Brandywine over Galaxy Grey base leaving the stripes the grey color. Paint is flawless but that custom color is just not right on a convertible. Good luck with your build and post pictures when you are done...................RatPack.......................

75

General Discussion / Re: 67 seatback, which ones for my seats PIX.

« on: March 01, 2011, 01:24:36 PM »

Your seats require the metal seatbacks due to the single mounting tab at the top. The plastic backs use two tabs one on each outer corner. The plastic backs will not interchange with your seats without modification to your backs. Attached is a picture of a pair of 68 Firebird seat backs showing the two mounting tabs. These are the same for all mid-67 thru 70 F-bodies, and mid-67 thru 69 Corvairs. The repro plastic seatbacks are marginal at best, but when you have nothing they are better than what you have. I know of one interior manufacturer that has been working hard to duplicate them exactly as original but it will be a long time before they ever make it into production...............RatPack....................