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has anyone out there swapped the original antenna on a camaro for a hidden antenna and welding /patching the old hole on the fender?

I'm thinking about doing this and was wondering who supplies the antenna that will be hidden from view?

thanks

nick p.

[or]

This might be a really stupid question but I have my camaro stripped to bare metal. Im in the procrss of "fixing" what needs to be fixed body wise.  My question is in reference the first primer that will go on the bare metal and inevetably the body work.

Im pretty sure Im going to go with an epoxy primer over bare metal and I was wondering if this initial primer can be block sanded ? This way I can continue to "fix" the low and high spots or should I immediatly use a high filler primer and then start block sanding?

My inital thoughts was to shoot the epoxy primer over bare metal and sand..then fix as necessay . Then shoot a high filler primer and sand again, fix spots and again as necessary.

then, finally shoot a primer/sealer and wet sand?? 

I guess my exact questions are: 1. Can I sand the first stage epoxy primer or should I wait to sand the high filler primers?

2. If at the sealer stage I find spots that need additional putty filler, can this beover the sealer primer just prior to taking it to the paint shop for the base coat?

I have read a ton of different articles but It gets confusing with so many different views?

thanks for the help..

nick p.

All,

My camaro has really bad fake woodgrain cover over the lower passenger side dash that holds the glovebox door ..ect.ect. I want to do something about this but I have not seen any replacement parts for the glove box door or anyhting?

Any clue as to how I can restore this to standard interior black? I guess I need to strip the old fake woodgrain cover off of it and sand down but since I cant find replacemnt parts for this piece, Im affraid if I royally screw it up, Im stuck with crap ??

any hints. I did restore the instrument panel and it looks great, but along side of the fake woodgrain does not do the work any justice!

thanks,

NickP.

All,

My '69 camaro has original air but is in need of a rebuild. I was hoping on getting this thing (air) running by this summer (Texas). I was debating on a total new kit or piece by piece replacment?

I see several reproduction kits and several aftermarket upgrades out there which only confuse matters.

I wanted to keep the cost around $1000.

From what I can tell, the condenser is in good shape, the compressor is long gone, the evaporator core and poa valve is shot but the case is in very good condition. I have a small block and the heater works great if that means anything?

I was really hoping to get each part by part and rebuild it but I dowt want to spend the money only to realize the air quailty sucks or Im missing more key components that would jack up the overall cost of the project?

any help and or links to some good info will be much apprecialted. Texas summers come real fast !

nick P.

All,

I need to fill in several small holes around my drip channels , corners of the trunk drip channel ect. ect.

I really dont think I need any welding done to replace the sheet metel. I was going to attemp to do some simple metal work using the new metal rods available that are "supposed" to be easier to use than lead. Available by Eastwood.

has anyone ever done this type of metal work to fill in holes and any advise would be greatly appreciated.



Nick p.

All,

I have a 69 camaro I bought last year and now I'm at the point of needing it stripped, possible body work (who knows what lurks under that paint) and painted.

I was planning on stripping the paint and taking as much off the car myself as possible and then handing it over to a good body man for any work needed and eventually painting at the same place or by the same person??

I can't go crazy with spending but I have a good ideas of what I can and cant do and the level of paint I can afford.

Any help for the DFW area in references or anyone out there wanting to take on the job I 'm ready to start this project.

Thanks

Nick P.  Lewisville , Texas.

okay..I did a disc brake conversion (front only) to include replacing all brake lines on my 69 camaro. I finally get through this after several weekends and the darn line that goes from the front to the back (two piece) and goes into that valve type thing mid way,will not seat and leaks every time I attempt to bleed the brakes. Ive tried everything to get the bolt and flare to seat and seal into this darn thing but its still leaks no matter what I do.

I cant even find the part on line (which I dont know the name of ).I cant find it in any part book or the complete disc set I have for origional camaro parts either?

does anyone out there have any idea on how I can get this new front brake line to seal into this junction piece that links the front to the back line?? so I can bleed these brakes and get on the road again..I'm going through withdrawl  its been so long since I've been in my car..

help.

nickp

This is going to sound really stupid but I'm going to upgrade my drum to disc in the front only. the brakes will be delivered in 10 days so I figured I would pull out old articles and get he ball rolling. I disconnected the master cylinder and booster but the booster wont come all the way out.

do I need to get under the dash and disconnect any part of thre brake pedal to the booster. I cant find any article that addresses this..everything is simply telling me to unbold the booser and take it off of the firewall. it s not that easy ?

anyhow, I didnt want to yank or force the booser off.

I'm having a close friend do the actual conversion and show me how when the parts come in next week,

any help to get me started would be great. maybe point me to a good tech article. i have read them all..i think??

nick p.

Im about to replace the bushings on my 69 camaro's front end.

I know the graphite is an upgrade and has drawbacks in terms of squeek, but will the stiffness help with the overall handling once I replace the other suspension components in the future??

also, does the squeeking eventully go away as the bushings "break in" over time?

any help will be great.

np

I'am to upgrade my drum to disc and was wondering what the real benefits of gettting a 2" drop spindle would do for me?

Everyone I talked to about it says not to and go with standard new spindals.


thanks

Nick P
any help on this ?

I have minor problem with my 69 Camaro.

When I accelerate fast, I get a slight miss or backfire. It started to occur recently as far as I can tell. It's very noticeable with heavy acceleration standing still even after a long warm up period.

I recently started to add Octane booster to my fuel and was wondering if this could be the reason?

If not any ideas and any thought on these octane boosters in general?

FYI...the engine not original and and the car now has a 406 ci.

Thanks for the help again!!

If anyone has the same issue and can offer some advice please let me know:

Basically, my headers seem to hang really low. Specifically the driver side. I want to upgrade my brakes and possibly lower the look about 1-2" but It seems impossible due to the low hanging headers. I have bottomed out on a bumpy road a few times and that scrap sound is tough to handle if you know what I mean!!

My initial thought is to get some advice on headers that sit higher at the collector gasket point and put a good pair of disc brakes and a lower spindle?

Any help on the header problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick

I can't quite put my foot on it. I have a 69 Camaro with a 406. I'm getting a heavy tick/ping when I start to accelerate at low RPM's and its getting louder. Here is what's happening:

1. Slight ticking at low idle but gets louder with Rpm increase at stand still. Sounds like a deisel engine.
2. Worst when engine is not fully warmed up it seems?
3. When I start to move, it becomes louder until a certain sweet spot is reached on the gas.
4. If I put the pedal to the floor or accelerate quickly and pull the RPM back and cruise, it goes away.
5. The clack appears at the low end and high end of the RPM band, but when I  cruise and hit that sweet spot the engine sounds normal.

At first I thought it was collector gasket or exhaust issue but I'm not sure anymore?
Also, after a bit more investigation myself, I'm wondering if it can be piss poor premium Gas??

I always add a bottle of octane boost but might have easily not done it the last time I filled it up??

Anyone have similar issues before? Any advice would be appreciated.

I Pray its not a huge valve job issue??

Nick P.

I posted this earlier and tied it to my restoration of my dash. I'm hoping to get a few tips on the " maintenance" forum.

I disengaged the speedometer cable from the speedometer and now my assembly drips transmission oil from the side of the tranny where it attaches to? even after I reconnected the cable back into the speedometer?

Anyone have any tips as to what I need to do to stop the bleeding would be very helpful. I have yet to even touch the transmission so I'm a real newbie at this.

Nick p.

Question for anyone that has had the same problem:

I recently took off the entire dash and cleaned and refinished it and put it back into place over the weekend. Unfortunatly, I noticed that the speedometer was pointing straight down as opposed to the zero mark.

I have three questions.

1. did I break something internal in the actual speedometer or will this fix itself when I get the car moving again? 

2. Actually it has always been "off" by about 12 MPH. If I drive the car and the speedometer shows 67, then I'm actually going 55. How do I adjust this is the above question is not a major problem?

3. I noticed when I detached the cable from the speedometer, my transmission leaked. did this loosen the connection to the side of the transmission and do I need to do anyhting special to ensuree it does not lean any more?


I just reattached everything last night and hopfully reattaching the cable stopped the leak??

thanks a ton for any help. I hope I dont need to replace the speedometer !!


Nick p.

I have two real quick questions involving the restoration of my instrument panel.

1. I can't seem to be able to get the front light knob off. Does it unscrew??
2. I can't get the entire left "astro vent" mechanism to release. I can't find the screws?

Any tip on actually taking the entire instrument panel display off so I can clean and restore it and putting it back on would be a huge help.

Thanks,

Nick p.

Any good tips on cleaning the seats, specifically the "hounds tooth" style?

I was going to use something similar to saddle soap but thought that this would be difficult to get out of the small crevices in the design?



Nick p.

I desperately need to improve my suspension in my '69 Camaro.  My car springs up and down the highway like my 3 year old bouncing on my lap and every time I hit a  Texas bump, I scrape the pipe!

The question I have is what the heck do I need to get to keep it from spiraling out of cost control and still have a descent handling car?

I really don't care to keep everything stock, I have leaf springs (multiple) on the back and I was told to replace those with a coil over set?  So how do I know which height to get so my car maintains the same stance in height? I don't want it much higher and I don't think it can go much lower. I simply don't have the clearance room because of the low headers.

Any advice and favorite links to vendors would be appreciated. The magazines have so many adds I cant think straight!

Nick P.

Question for anyone out there:

I plan on touching up some interior pieces of my camaro. mainly the kick panels and the cerenter consol?

the question is do I use a black dye or a lacquer finish. aslo what prep work can I do to ensure a good stick?

any Web site links would be appreciated too.

thanks

NP

I have a oil leak via my fuel pump on my '69 camaro. I was going to do this job myself (first timer) and possibly replace the entire fule pump?? Mechanic wants 172.00 for the entire fix!

Any thoughts as to replacing the pump?
Any special do-not's or any special upgrade in fuel pump advice would be appreciated.

thanks again,

Nick p.

Anyone, please help with my '69 camaro.

Okay, I had a short in the aftermarket radio and I thought it was constantly draining my battery. My mechanic said the alternator was shot and replaced it. Then the batteyr simply wore down andIi replaced it based on the mechanic's testing it and it not holding a charge. Two days later I go to fire up the car and it barely will turn over. After 2-3 attempts, not a single spark until I jump the car.

Any help in finding what can be draining my battery in the -69 camaro would be a great help. Any procedure I can perform to narrow down the issue. Mechanic is has too mcuh on his late to actually spend time with my car. I'm tempted to broing it to a camaro only shop in Dallas area that charges 60  bucks an hour, but the pockets are wearing thin this month.

So the alternator and battery was replaced (internal volt) and after the car sits for a day or two the battery is drained?

thanks for the support ! 

Nick p.

Okay..I have yet to actually id my engine to verify that I was told it is a 406 small block? I had no idea Chevy even made a 406 small block or maybe the seller is blowing smoke up my exhaust? 
Can anyone help here?  How can really identify my engine? Is there a master data base I can find that will match block id numbers?


thanks for the help..

Nick P.

I recently purchased a 69' Camaro that had no choke that sputtered and dieed until fully warmed up. I just had an electronic choke put on it and the engine runs much better and smoother. BUT, the first few seconds after starting the beast, I usully have to keep a slight increase in RPM to prevent it from sputtering down. Again, after a minute or two, the beast runs pretty good.
Any help or suggesstions would be greatly appreciated.
FYI:
I set and replaced the plugs. Put on new cables and had the engine timed too?

Nick P.