The PatriotDream.org 68 Camaro project

[4birdman]

Got the front subframe on the AutoTwirler rotisserie tonight. This thing is sweet! I was able to load the subframe and adjust it by myself, I love this tool. :thumbsup:



How many f-bodies can you pot in this picture?

[4birdman]

Did a little work on the taillights tonight. The bezels were in terrible shape and were rusted and pitted. The pictures make it look a lot better than is actually is, but it still came out pretty good. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my powdercoat, so I'm going to block same it to take out some of the small runs and bumps and lay a second coat on it to see if it will fill some of the pits. I'm going to go tomorrow to pick up some stainless hardware for the back of it, too. I changed the lenses from the stockers to a set of LEDs that MuscleRodz hooked me up with.

So it went from this:



To this:



Before and after:

[KurtS]

Congrats, it's moving along.

One comment on the hood.
The car has nice simple lines, why the extra inches on the cowl hood? It looks out of place, IMO. Even the sketch has the standard cowl hood on it.

[4birdman]

Oh, the 4" cowl hood in the pic is not on the car. I have a 2" standard cowl going on it. The pic was one sent to me by the previous owner before I went to pick up the car and he threw that hood on there for the picture.

[KurtS]

[4birdman]

We got some work done last night on the car. First is my beautiful wife and her paintjob on the rotisserie!


And then we move on to the car.

We took the rear spolier off and it looks like it was held on by two studs and a ton of silicon. One more thing to fix. The trunk lid looks very savable, though.


Also got the interior most of the way torn down. The wiring is trash and most everything needs to be replaced, but I want to give Shawn a new car, so I would be replacing all of that anyway.


And the rear axle that a friend gave me for the car. It is only a 8.2", but I'll freshen it up and it should do fine. I gotta use what I can if it isn't donated for this build, so 8.2" axle it is.


And then  we tore down most of the front sheetmetal and all on the car. Gonna try and finish smoothing the firewall and getting it cleaned up soon.

[4birdman]

Today I received a carbon fiber header and cowl panel donated by Anvil Auto! These things are friggin sweet and I bet only weigh about a tenth of the weight of the factory ones!





American Auto Wire is also hooking us up with a new interior wiring harness for the car! All I could think about as I sat there holding the remnants of the car's harness in my hands was "I hope AAW is interested in helping out" and sure enough, they came through for us!

[Brandan]

pretty cool how the wife lets you have the panel in the old living room......looking good.  keep us posted. :-)

[4birdman]

She had just gone to the store when I took the picture. :lol:

[4birdman]

Got some new parts! A friend of mine gave me an LS1 intake and coolant tubes for the engine. I also got in the Bullitt replica wheels that Custom Wheels Market gave me a discount on.



Haven't done much to the car since I just bought some new tools since I broke a few and some of mine just plain sucked. Gotta have the right tools to build a good car! The aftermarket frame is being lengthened for me by Staples Engineering, so once that is done I'll be able to get the back of the car back together.

[4birdman]

The guys over at RotorsOnline.com hooked us up with some Axxis brake pads for the LS1 brake conversion! These guys have been a huge part of making the LS1 brake setup come into place.

[4birdman]

Big day today! Got the tires mounted and mocked up on the car!





We also got a fuel pump in that was donated by Walbro!

[4birdman]

Well, it's going a little slow right now, but things are going on in the background! No photos worth posting though. The engine is being built, the trans is being rebuilt, and I still haven't gotten the frame back, but should have it back by the weekend.

The spindles are going out this week to be modified to fit the LS1 brake setup, and I have modified the firewall and brackets to fit the LS1 brake booster. Once it is done and cleaned up I will post photos.

So that's where I am at. Prothane just donated a total Motion Control package for the car, so I'll be finishing up the front subframe as soon as the POR-15 that was donated gets here.

So as you see, it is slow now, but will hit me like a sock full of pennies in a week or so!

[4birdman]

Comp Performance Group came through huge for us. They hooked us up with a Zex LSX wet nitrous kit and also have hooked Shawn up with discount pricing on any Comp Performance Group part for the rest of his life. They are also going to be putting out a press release about the project and said they'll get us in with a few magazines!

And my little man approves!


Also got the body completely stripped down and the junk subframe off the car. This weekend we'll be POR-15 painting the front subframe and I'll hopefully have the rear frame rails by then as well. I built a little body cart for the front out of some junk 2x4s that were in my way. Worked out pretty well since the back is on casters.

[4birdman]

Prothane has sponsored the build and has hooked us up with a complete Total Motion Control kit. Now we've got all the bushings and mounts we need! We're picking the a-arms up from HRT tomorrow where they tanked and blasted our a-arms so we can powdercoat them. Should have the bushings installed in them next week!