The Camaro Club (UK)

Nice work so far ,frightening to see how far rust spreads if left untreated or even worse hidden under poor repairs. When I bought my '73 the rot was painfully obvious [ hardly any trunk floor and rust on the rear fenders that extended almost up to the rear window!]
I kept mine as a running restoration but don't think the MOT testers would let me get away with it now.
Looking forward to your next installment .

Thanks Firebird68, there were plenty of times I thought about throwing in the towel, everyone who saw it thought I was crazy! There's no-way anyone would have given this an MOT!

The work on the wheel arches was progress but I needed to tackle the frame rails, they were beyond repair and like tissue paper, when you pinched them the whole rail squashed and flexed...



Out with the plasma cutter again, didn't take too long to cut out!



The rails actually locate fairly easily, there are the 3 bolts in the shock-well and the locators on the front, all you need do is push it hard up...



Passenger side was much worse..



I got the arches welded up before I finished up the rails, not sure why, think I just needed to get some new metal on!







Even managed to get some of the parts shotblasted and primed up...



New metal and primer always makes you feel better!

Coming on really nicely

Keep up the good work

Seems like there are a lot more parts available for the 70-73 cars than the 74-81, like full frame rails which must be a bit of a bonus. Nothing better than fixing stuff properly by putting new metal in there.

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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.

Hi Everyone, promised I'd keep this up to date and have so far been pretty rubbish, FlakMonkey gave me a nudge about the NSRA swap meet the other day and even that was only a flying visit so I missed everyone there. So I thought I'd try and get this a little more up to date, only about 2 years worth of pictures to update you guys on!

So where I left off was when I was working on the back end of the car when the car was still in Kent, this was the garage I was working in...



With the frame rails I bolted them in place first and checked the alignment. After lots of measuring, tweaking and checking I took the plunge and welded them up.



Again I ground flat the welds and slapped on some primer to protect the steel as a temporary measure.



The fit of the Goodmark rails was near as dammit perfect. One was slightly worse than the other and needed a little more persuasion, however the end product was great. I was surprised how few and far between the original factory welds were, the new rails are more secure than the old ones!

Once the frame rails were on next on the job list was the suspension. In the end I went with Hotchkis sport leafs on the rear with HPS1000 shocks. I was concious that I wanted to drop the rear end a touch and stiffen it up and these seemed to fit the bill. Regardless it should be a significant improvement over the previous owners 'non matching' original ones, which are now on the scrap pile!

These are the shocks I put on...



I wasn't very happy with the factory finish (plus there was some shipping damage) so I rubbed the leafs down and gave them a coat of KBS Blacktop, this way they have a decent weatherproof finish and match the axle.



I assembled the parts and then fitted the wheels to help install the assembly, it was certainly easier to wheel the assembly under than try and jack/lift it in place.



I got the front buckets bolted up and then lifted the axle up with a jack to meet the rear shackles.





Once this was all installed I lowered the body back down onto pallets and blocked the rear wheels up. This way the whole car and rear end was supported to keep the weight of the axle and suspension off the frame rails until I'd stiffened it up with the new trunk floor.

I'll give you guys chance to digest these and I'll post more up over the next few weeks!

Very great progress You sure are getting stuck in there, good to see such level of involvement and detail

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looking good mate are they goodmark panels your useing?

Thanks guys, plenty of photos yet to come, hopefully the photos will help others with their projects.

All the sheetmetal that has gone on the car was from Goodmark, nothing more than the usual few tweeks to get things spot on, very pleased with their panels.

Next on the agenda was the trunk floor, I was originally going to repair using a patch panel but things snowballed as they do and I ended up using an assembly. Unfortunately the reproduction trunk pans have a buldge in them behind the rear seat which was not present on the 1970 models.

I cut out all the rotten metal from the trunk floor but had sufficient left to graft the new floor in. I was able to keep the spare tire hold down bracket...



I took some rough cuts of the trunk and started cutting and shaping the bulge to match the exisiting metal.



I had to weld in some pieces at the far end but it took shape quite nicely.



Before I tacked the floor in place I had to convince myself that the fit and alignment was ok. I mocked up the rear end and clamped it in place to check fitments. All was ok - Phew, measure twice cut and weld once right?!



The final fit with all the folds welded up.



Ready to weld...



Welded...



Close up showing the blend.



Ground flat the welds to smooth everything out.



The finished product, more primer!



This was a massive hurdle in the project, at this point it felt like I'd got some of the hardest fabrication out the way, little did I know!

Next installment...

After the trunk I got the drop offs installed, a fairly easy job in comparisson, until I came to weld them!





And more primer...



A shot of the underneath...



At this point in the build there wasn't much more I could do on the rear end so I made a small start on the front in preparation to repair the roof issues.



Got the cowl panel cut out and was relieved to find the metalwork underneath to be solid. The worst part was the roof pillar bases which I knew about anyway.

I'll post photos of the roof change later!

Thanks for updating here too good to revist all this stuff. I'd partially forgotten that you more or less replaced every bit of sheet metal on this!

_________________
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.