The Camaro Club (UK)

Bloody hell, thats a major project!

And peoples bodges never cease to amaze me it really is amazing what people will cobble together then spend more time making it look right rather than doing it properly in the first place and it probably taking less time.

Will be interesting to see how you get on

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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.

A Coke can, damn thats using the old noggin' - pure genious.

The car spent a fair few years in Loughborough from the few old tax discs I have. 2002 was the last year it was taxed (to my knowledge) so there's every chance it travelled in the years until I picked it up in 2009.

ano i couldnt believe what i saw luckly the rest of the car wasnt as bad as that. chances are it could of been the same car how you geting on with yours any more pics thanks shaun

Hey guys, more photos from back when I was stripping the car, I really can't begin to describe how rotten this car was, best way is to let the pictures do the talking...

Got the radiator support pulled. Had to cut this out because the bolts were so rotten.



The rad support was junk, althought the brackets were remarkably solid! The trunk on the other hand had patches on top of patches, completely wrecked, holes all over the place...



The extent of the rot around the rear window, visable with the vinyl gone...



The rot in the pillars...



The rear deck filler panel was made up of fibreglass and filler and came apart in chunks!



Shots of the trunk rot with the tank dropped...



And finally pulling the engine...



I must've been stark raving mad to take this on!

Hi,looks like a bit of work , but worth it when done , those early 2nd gen cars look great and drive really well once sorted out [ wish I hadn't sold my last '73 years ago ]
It really is amazing what the dreaded vinyl can hide
Looking forward to more on this build ,and good luck with it

What i found most interesting is that according to the VIN it came with a vinyl roof, then someone thought no, i dont want that, i want a sunroof, so did that, then someone then thought no, i dont want a sunroof i want vinyl so it went back to factory, except with an extra wooden block and a bit less paint

It's come along very nice and you seem to have got through the bulk of it already!

What's the plan then, factory resto or rebuild? i.e looks factory but modded with suspension, engine, etc?

I feel ashamed of the work done on mine now lol

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Hi guys, plan for the rebuild includes primarily getting the body straight, other than that I plan some minor upgrades on suspension, a slightly reworked engine and just mild tweaks here and there so it still has that classic look and feel. I really need to get it on the road first and then perhaps decide where I want to go mods and engine wise.

Ok so during the demolition I started accumulating parts, heres the rear quarters and tail panel...



With these now in hand I could work out where I needed to cut to and started to tear into the rotten sheet metal...





Off with the tail panel too, I got rather carried away with the angle grinder, but rust must go!



I also started cutting out the trunk floor, I was planning to simply use a patch piece to repair this but as I delved deeper I knew it was going to take more than a patch piece!



In my quest to collect parts I managed to score this donor roof cut from a 79 Trans Am...



The inner structures of the car were solid and the rot seemed refined to the exterior sheets, you can see in one of the photos that at some point the rear quarters were reskinned, the black edp coating of the repair piece clearly visible. I'm guessing that's why the arches appeared so solid! At this point I was really just getting to grips with what I had and what was required to repair the rot. The list of parts required was getting longer and longer, including the need for two new frame rails...

Ok so next on the to-do list was tackle the frame rails. I completely gutted the back end. To be fair it was so rotten I had to tear it all up and start over...



I cut out the rest of the trunk floor and dropped the axle out...



At the time I was doing this I managed to score another Ebay bargain...



I got the axle cleaned prepped and painted...



And swapped over all the supports onto a brand spanking new radiator support.



That pretty much covers the majority of the strip down, after this point I started to make progress, starting with... MORE CUTTING!



First new panel, the rear wheel arch bolted in place ready to weld. Had to start somewhere!



I've got bundles of photos and am still working through some of them but will try and get this thread up to scratch over the next few weeks.

I am full of admiration for what you are taking on and what you have so far achieved here!

The good news - which you may already know, is that 70 RSs are going up in value

Was it an RS/SS or an RS/Z/28? The Cowl data plate should show this.........

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Kind Regards
TopCat
Secretary
Classic Camaro Club
Member of The Association of American Car Clubs UK
Email :tboles@strathnoon.co.uk Websites: http://www.classiccamaroclubuk.com and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhLJtR_ZY4

Hi TopCat, I think that the 70's were fairly unique in their VIN plates making them difficult to decode!

It's not an SS or Z28 of that I'm certain and there is nothing on the VIN to denote RS, but from what I've read I don't think GM stamped the RS code on the VIN in '70 anyway.

Quote...

'To completely prove or disprove the Z22 option, you'll need to see the cars build sheet or original paperwork documenting the addition of the Z22 option. If the build sheet is unavailable, you'll need to carefully scrutinize the car.'

All of the correct RS pieces are there though and original paint can be found on all the RS unique panels which would be difficult to fake. I'm confident this car has never been apart, when I split the RS front end the other day I found the original green paint on all the RS unique brackets.

Unfortunately the original engine is long gone but thats one of those things. It was originally an 8cyl car according to VIN (likely 350). Number matching doesn't bother me, I'm looking to restore this to former glory (with a few sensible tweeks) and am even toying with keeping a white vinyl top to keep it VIN correct!

That's a long way off though!