Performance

Engine : Original 327. TH350.  Isky 256 cam.  Qjet carb.  Air conditioning.  I rebuilt this engine in my garage when I was 16...some 20 years ago, and she's tired, so very tired.  LS1 swap is sometime down the road, when budget allows. I love the idea of an aluminum fuel injected, clean engine thats 200lbs lighter than the current iron small block.

Exhaust : Magnaflow stainless 2.5" exhaust system (www.magnaflow.com #15896) .  This system is sweet, its stainless steel, has a stright thru design which is great for power, it mounts in the stock locations and is mandrel bent.  It sounds great on throtle without the annoying drone and resonating that many cheap systems have.  Stainless steel construction means it lasts as long as you have your ride.  

Chassis : Front and Rear sway bars. Rebuilt front and rear suspensions with all new poly bushings. Replaced all 6 body mounts. Hotchkis lowering springs in rear (rear is now a full 3" lower than stock). Heidt's 2" lowering spindle in front.  R&R'd gas tank and replaced all rubber, repainted tank.  Gas gauge still works!

Wheels/Tires : 18x8 front, 18x9 rear Boyd Coddington Junk Yard Dog 2-piece aluminum wheels, powder-coated in flat black. Toyo Proxes 225/40-18 front and 275/35-18 rear.  You'll notice the red stripe on the wheels, its $5 pin striping tape from Pep Boys (Classy huh?), I put it on to see if I would like it and it looked cool so I'll leave it for now.

Brakes : 2000 Corvette C5 disc brakes, 13" front and 12" rear rotors, drilled and slotted.  I also used the 2000 Corvette aluminum master cylinder and brake booster, the only thing left from the original 4-wheel-drum brakes is the hard lines.  The C5 master cylinder is aluminum so it wont rust and blow out the seals, and the master cylinder reservior is plastic and clear so you know just by looking if you are low on fluid.  Got the whole set on eBay, entire swap cost about $1100 for front AND rear.  The guys at Kore3.com can help with the brackets and brake lines.  The front aluminum GM PBR calipers and 13" rotors are 5 lbs lighter per corner than the old cast iron caliper and 11" rotor, pretty amazing. The car really brakes well now, and the pedal feel is amazing, super firm with great feedback. No more crappy 40 year old technology discs or drums trying to slow her down, this thing stops!!

Steering : Fast ratio 12.7:1 high effort steering box from 85-93 IROC-Z Camaro (We pulled this at the junk yard for $50, super easy to find and remove, look for steering boxes with the XH code, the ratio is faster but the stop points are the same), this transforms the steering from super slow 3.5 turns lock to lock to 2.5, and the steering box from the IROC is a "high effort" box which means its not over-boosted like the boxes from the 60's, so you can actually feel the road and get some feedback...what an improvement.  Now I just need a little more caster! 

If anyone is interested in doing brake or steering swap let me know as I'd be happy to help. Both are relatively easy, and are excellent because they 1) Use OEM parts which are cheaper, and better than aftermarket because 2) GM parts are engineered by GM engineers (and not some guys in their garage like the aftermarket stuff...we are talking brakes and steering after all!), 3) GM parts will be easy to service years in the future cause the parts will still be available (cant say the same for most of the aftermarket parts, who knows if they will still be around in a few years when you need parts), and 4) GM parts are easy to find in junkyards, on craigslist, and on eBay, so they are cheaper.

Safety : Airbargs? No.  Side impact door beams? No.  Shoulder belts? No.  ABS? No.  Stability control? No.  High strength steal in key areas of the structure? Not even close.  Front and rear crumple zones...please? No.  Headrests at least? Its gotta have headrests.  Sadly, No.  It has a padded dash tho!

Exterior

Paint : Corvette Torch Red.

Body : Front and rear spoilers (probably would not do the rear spoiler today but I thought it looked cool when I was 16 so it stays).  Tinted the windows with the lightest UV tint they had, again to make it look a little meaner and to help protect the interior.  Did all the body work myself, 95% of it when I was 16 and 17...I had much more time than money back then.  Added passenger side outside mirror. 

Stance : I tried to get the stance just right; wheel diameter & width, tire diameter & width, wheel offset, amount of the lowering front and rear, its something to really consider if you are starting a car, do your homework...most old muscle cars sit way too high.

Trim : I really wanted to keep the essence of the original design, I didnt want to change what the original designers came up with back in the 60's.  Thats why I kept all the original exterior trim: bumpers, wheel arch modlings, grille emblem, etc.  Yes, I lowered the car, added spoilers, and added big wheels (for the big brakes), but otherwise the body and trim is 100% stock. 

Horn? : Replaced stock horn with a triple note horn from the biggest, longest, most luxurious Cadillac I could find at the junk yard...just follow nature's rule of horns: the bigger the Caddy - the better the horn!  It sounds excellent...another cheap fun swap.  Most Caddy's have a triple note horn so be sure to grab all 3.  People move out of the way when they hear this horn.

Interior

Black Standard Interior with deluxe steering wheel. 

Concept : My concept for the interior is "Time Machine", I wanted it to be just like 1968 when you get in the car...like stepping back in time.  So its 100% stock, all the way down to the original skinny steering wheel and AM radio.  Interior is all original except for front seat covers and carpet.

Audio : Has stock AM radio in place, and it works.  I had to send the 4x10 original dash speaker to a guy in Arkansas to rebuild it.  I've hidden an Alpine iDA-X200 stereo in the glove box with Alpine RUE-M1RF radio frequency remote.  6x9's in rear.  150 watt amp mounted under rear shelf in trunk.  Will add a 10" woofer someday too.   

Background

I am restoring this car for the 3rd time with my dad, who is 76, this time around I am doing all the things I never had time or money to do when I was in high school.  I've owned the car for 22 years, bought it when I was 15 for $900 off the original owner, had to tow it to my house cause it didnt run.  I still have the original window sticker (see pic below) and the build sheet that was under the rear seat. I drove her as my daily driver for 9 years, all through high school and college.

I never sold it cause I had so many guys tell me "I used to have one of these and I sold it, don't ever sell it!"

It now has 190,000 miles. 

If she were a RS or SS I would have restored her to stock condition but she's just a base model 210hp 2-barrel carb V-8 with a 2-speed Powerglide automatic transmission so I went with a slightly modified look. 

Ya gotta love old cars, they creak, they rattle, the seats offer no support for even mildly sporty driving (you don't really sit in the seats, more like on them), the car has virtualy no safety equipment, the rear solid axle and leaf spring suspension is an absolute joke by today's standards (or even by 1968 standards?), the lights dim when I honk the horn, the turn signal blinker speeds up as the car speeds up ...they say they dont make em like they used to...thank god.  But they really are fun to experience and enjoy, with more character than a million new cars!

She's basically done until I can afford the LS1 swap.

All original interior (My concept for interior was "Time Machine"...like going back to 1968):

This is how I stop now...I used to just pray, for 9 years I used the praying method.  : )  Of course to use 13" brakes you'll need bigger wheels, 18's, although I think the C5 brakes will fit in some 17's too

Rear / Front wheels and Brakes

The original 1968 window sticker (The 68 Camaro, with standard outside mirror and backup lights!): 

What she looked like when I towed her home in 1988.  Notice the torn vinyl top, cracked windshield, bald tires, rusted out rear window, 14" wheels, rear quarter panel dent...and no, she didnt run).  Interior was super clean tho, like new. 

Whats old is new again:

To see photos of the first restoration click to page 2: