Nice Closeup

What can I say

I just liked the way this looked

So Close Yet So Far

I'm so close to setting the car back

down on four wheels that I can taste it!

Low $$$ Wheels

I know these are not top of the line wheels but

I still think they look killer. Looks much better with

discs showing than when the drums were installed.

Minne Me and Minne Her

Here's the pit crew admiring Dad's handy work

Was It Worth It?

More time and effort went to getting to this point than I'm willing

to admit. Either way, the car sure needed it. Daniel seems to be

awed by the kickin' disc brake setup and Analisa just loves all

things shiny that say "Hotchkis". I love my kids.

Finished Subframe

Here's my crew chief Daniel with the finished front

suspension featuring the Hotchkis TVS and the

disc brake conversion from Matt's Classic Bowties.

I sure hope this thing handles and stops better!

When Space Is At a Premium

Here's what I had to do when painting my subframe.

It stood on its side amazingly well all by itself.

Notice what little overspray POR 15 gives when sprayed

I love this POR stuff

Check this stuff out. It goes on much better when sprayed.

The only thing that can rival this stuff is powder coat.

Though it's about $130 per gallon I think it's enough to cover my whole car!

All Completed Components

Here are all the major suspension components that I POR'ed.

I gotta say, they mean it when they say "self-leveling"

The bushings are Energy Suspension brand polyurethane and I had them pressed in at my local Pep Boys. They charged the cheapest around here at a nice $100 per hour for a grand total of $215.

OUCH!

I Sure Have a Lot of Neighbors!

You know, you never really know how many neighbors you

have until you start a project like this. Some keep stopping by

when they see progress like this and some just like

to hate all the noise my air tools make.

Hmmm... Oh Well.

Screaming for Assembly!

I could swear I hear these pieces yelling at me...

Put me back together again!!!!!

Boy am I itching to do it.

A Thing of Beauty

Yeah... whatever!

Tell me this don't look like powdercoat or paint!

Nope... I didn't grind down one single original weld or mistake.

Just sandblasted it with my spot blaster (yes it took forever

with a spot blaster but it's all I had) and sprayed on POR 15.

I imagine this looks as close to new/original as the

day it was manufactured.

Money Shot

I love this shot. I'm going to try to recreate this shot

after I have all the suspension components installed.

Ohhhh... I'm so close to setting the car back

down on its own wheels again.

Second try at welding ever!!!

Thanks to my buddy Julio at work who lent me his mig welder I

finally got to try some welding. The left fender was my second

attempt ever. Can you see where the seams are?

(lower right corner in blacked out area)

I Loved welding!!! Thanks Julio

First Welding Attempt EVER!

Here is a pic of the right fender. This was my first try at welding.

A little rough but nothing a thin coat of filler can't fix.

Another Right Fender Weld View

It's amazing what you might accomplish just by trying. Can you imagine how much I would have paid to get these things fixed?!?!?! The holes in the metal were about 4" long and oblong. I use nothing but tips provided by my buddy Julio and "Musclecar", a show on Spike TV's Powerblock on Sunday mornings. Everyone told me I was nuts to learn welding on this car. But the way I saw it was... the fender is trash anyway, if I make it worse who cares and if I save it I save big bucks, keep my original part AND learn something really usefull. Plus satisfy my urge to create.

Next BIG Project

I keep flip flopping. Paint the subframe and upgrade the suspension or move on to the engine. What to do... what to do?

Close up

Here's a close look at the end product of

underhood black made by Eastwood Co.

40 years of Dirt

Was it a surprise when I popped off the chrome trim. There was sooo much dirt packed in there that the tool had a hard time finding the attaching plates. It's actually FAR worse in person than in this picture. You should see the rust holes... FABULOUS!

Leaks, Leaks, and More Leaks

I think this engine sprung a leak from every major gasket

both engine and tranny. This is gonna suck!

Surface Prep

Surface prep consisted of wirewheeling the entire firewall, then sanding followed by hand sanding with scotchbrite pads, then cleaning.

Taped Off

Low budget masked and ready to spray some rust preventer.

POR 15 Covered Firewall

Two coats of POR-15 will hopefully protect this ride

for many more years to come. Dang!!! this stuff is shiny.

I don't think this stuff would make for good paint.

It shows everything.

Side view

Here's a shot of the firewall covered in nothing but POR 15.

What a difference from the original look.

Extreme Closeup

No this isn't going to be a show car. No firewall smoothing here.

Underhood Black paint to come.

My Helping Hand

Here's my son Daniel. It's nice to have a pit crew that gets paid in Oreo's and chocalate milk.

Just a Little Rust

Luckily, from what I can tell it's just surface corrosion.

A Little Rough

This thing looks so rough under the hood it was hard to believe it ran like a top.

No Makeup

It's like seeing a woman with her

makeup off for the very first time.

A little rough huh? Like the saying goes...

Love covers a multitude of sins

First step

This is probably the first time the Rally package

has come off since installation in '66

Peekaboo!

Turns out the left headlight motor is burned out...

there goes another hundred or so bucks!

A dream project car!

40 years young and only minor surface corrosion to show for it.

My wife's Grandad sure took care of this thing.

Exhausting work

It took 6 hours to get to this point...

even with the Camaro restoration guide book!

Hey!... You try doing this by yourself!

Space, the final frontier

It's amazing how much space removed components, like fenders, can take up.

I think it's time to kick the wife's new car out of

the garage to make room for the 40 year old jalopy

Mean... Mean... Mean

Even without it's nose on, this ride STILL looks wicked.

New Shoes!!!

Yes! The long awaited moment has arrived.

You know what they say...

"It's the wheels that make the car"

17x8 American Racing Torqlites (front and rear)

255/40R17 Federal SS595 (rear)

235/45R17 Federals SS595 (front)

Nice Fit

Yep! They seem to fit just right.

What a difference a day makes.

Damn I love the tread pattern on these Federal tires

Ride Height

Hmm... Not quite what I had in mind.

Just a few more tweaks and it will be perfect.

And the wife said no one would ever be able to see the fancy new rotors!

HA! MUAHAHAHA!!!!

Shiny, Shiny, Shiny

There's just something to be said about polished aluminum.

Now to try and keep them shiny.

Hotchkis TVS (rear)

Here's a close up of the Hotchkis TVS system installed.

I was going to leave the bottom with the shiny POR15 showing

but it looks better in flat black

• Rear anti sway bar
• Rear 1.5 inch drop multi leafs
• New poly bushings for long life
• Shocks are Monroe Sensatracs
• Disc brakes are a conversion from Matt's Classic Bowties
• New brake lines also from Matt's
  

Final Product

Finished!

Well, except for the gas tank and the muffler being gone.

Who needs a muffler anyway?!?!

Kickin' Setup

Doesn't it just look as though it's already
doing a million miles per hour?

Rear Disc Upgrades

Can't wait to hang this monster!
Now... all I need is a decent set of wheels.

Uprades!

Here is what a cross-drilled, slotted and zinced disc brake conversion kit from Matt's Classic Bowties (mfg CPP) does for a 67 10 bolt stock posi rear end after it's been painted with POR15.

25 Hours of Sweat!

Well, here's what results after hours of sweat during a hot Las Vegas summer

The Miracle Rust Cure!

After a lot of cleaning up and some sanding/scuffing of the metal, 2 coats of POR15 sprayed with a common siphon sprayer looked MUCH better! (I tried to use something called Zero Rust because it's much cheaper and does the same thing but I clouldn't find it locally.)

All Original

That's right folks... 100% original parts and look how little rust after 40 years!