The Camaro Club (UK)

Thought I would finish a bit of painting and fit my axle today, but found a couple of rust spots on the inside of the inner quarter that were hard to get to. So as I needed to repair the quarter panel and rocker anyway I thought I'd investigate the extent of the work required....

Imagine my suprise to find lots of bondo, and not much metal underneath...





So after all that was cut out there wasn't much left at all. I've gotten as far as repairing the internal structure ready for painting tomorrow. Then I'll get on with some of the other sheet metal repairs while the weather is holding out.



The rest of the rocker looks to be in reasonable shape, and the lower and inner sections are very good.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Too windy to do any welding outside today so I repainted the inside of the car. Did the Herb Adams mod on the new set of front leaf spring brackets after finding the original ones didn't fit the bushes for some reason. Tried drilling out the broken bolt in the passenger side rear shock tower, which went badly... Ended up drilling and tapping new mounting holes for that shock. Stuffed the fuse box back in, and will start tidying the wiring up over the next few weeks and adding a load more circuits in ready for fuel injection. Easier now than when the dash is in.

Tomorrow, weather's looking mixed so I am planning on getting the axle in, if everything goes together as it should....

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Dave

i had thought you had finished with the "cutting and gluing" stage

Not quite Andy, still have some bits around the trunk to do and this work on the drivers side. Underside is finished though.

Well it didn't rain today...

Yesterday I made some stainless crush tubes for the rear polybushes, I know of several instances with steel tubes in vunerable positions rusting up and siezing the bushes up or making a mess of them. So stainless tubes seemed like the way to go.

Got the springs on the back axle and it hoisted into position. Actually was pretty easy with 2 people and 2 trolley jacks. That was a pleasant suprise at least. Shocks went on ok, other than a struggle with the lower nut, new bushes made getting the nuts on a PITA. Only thing I didn't do is torque the front bush bolts, I'll do that when its on it's wheels.

Shocks are Monroe Sensatracs and the springs are heavy duty ones, no idea on make or how it will all sit...

Fitted the brake backing plates, after opening the bores out a bit, didn't quite fit for some reason (~1/8" too small), though they are earlier model back plates, still off a 10 bolt though. Reassembled the brakes with new cylinders and shoes and the original hardware as it was all good.

Then put the sub frame connectors on, torqued it all up and and after smacking my head on the axle a couple of times (not intentionally!) called it a day









Quite pleased with how the SFC's tuck up under the car.





ETA: ignore the manky old diff cover, got a new one to go on eventually....

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Been working on sorting the new front discs. They needed redrilling with the correct 4.75" PCD and some small lugs on the back removing to make way for the new studs. Put them in the lathe last night and turned the lugs off, then marked them out and drilled them tonight. Just need to counterbore the back face otherwise the studs arent quite long enough.

Simple job and it was worth the effort for improved braking. Total cost about $100





Comparison of old and new discs



I need to make some spigot rings as well, the wheels centre bore is too big to locate properly. Don't like relying on the studs.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Been messing around for the last couple of days doing odd little bits here and there.

Swapped the front spindles and brakes over and fitted the front shocks. Just need to make the front lines now and its sorted.

Made the rear brake lines today as well. Stainless braided flexi lines etc.

Got the column back in as well, soon going to have it rolling and moveable again.

Tried the new wheels on as well, couldn't resist... Fit really well, thankfully! Rears are 17x9. Yeah I know that rear quarter is a mess, another job on the long list of body work to do...

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Well the car is rolling and I pushed in into our main workshop last weekend. Finished off connecting the brakes up and set about bleeding them this weekend. Only to find I have a knackered master cylinder, so now have a new one on order, annoying as it means bleeding the whole system through again.

Also spent a bit of time messing around with the electrical system. I think I have most things planned out now, so thats time well spent. Need to fit the addtional fuse and relay boxes on the firewall then wire everything up.

The current plan is to get all the bodywork done before Christmas, then it's a waiting game on the weather to warm up so I can prep and paint ready for next summer!

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

That's a bugger, as I'm gonna try and get my rear disc kit fitted any week now, which needs a disc/disc master, and you have had my old nearly disc/drum master for nothing....

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Thanks, unfortunately too late The master cylinders are the same disc/drum or disc/disc its just the proportioning valves that are different

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

I think the reservoir size is different as the rear drum section is smaller than the disc version... and proportioning valve is different...

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”