$100.00 and I drove it home, pic two is where I am heading! The rest is all the boreing in between stuff.
Yes my freinds, all this can be yours, if you just have the guts or insanity as I call it, to do this ...
and this,
You do realize that this story could have been called "how this rusty battery tray restored my car" It was the begining of it all,
Oh and while you are there, why not make it a standard!
... and if you know a guy with a sand blaster big enough, clean it all up.
Oh yeah, before I forget if you take up the carpet, count on replacing part; if not the whole floor!
"Look Mom, new pedals!"
The while you are there's just never seem to end.
But at least the engine compartment got a fresh coat of paint ...
With the fashionable color co-ordinated "Z" box ... OOOO AAAHHH
A "BIG BRAKE" upgrade is out of the budget, but an upgrade none the less.
New sway bar and wonder bar, bushings, bolts endlinks and so on ...
Well, what good is all this stuff if you can't get it to the pavement?
So it's been a while since an update, the warmer weather is here but the car she is still not quite ready, BUT we are getting closer! Another fine job by WW Racing Engines Ltd, a subsidiary of Partiers Inc 1977.
GreezeMonkey's "The Machine" just sent me a hood to give the car the look, thanks Scott! Yes Scotty that is your car, hope mine turns out as well.
Well the project is mmooovvving sslloooowwwllyyy, but moving none the less, lets bring up to date shall we!
You know this did not start off to be show like, the problem is when you modify nothing seems to fit; enter the nice steel hoses! The 6AL is finally hooked up, and the vacuum as well almost. The valve covers are back off to be ... "1968 covers + 1985 emmissions = you guessed it MODIFIED!!"
Well to be honest I have been in an ongoing state of flux when it came to wheels, I do like the stock z rims, but then I bought a set of "Wagon Wheels" and they did look good I felt.
...BUT after some horse trading, I think we have arrived!
Oh no he says, you don't need spacers ... why do people lie? Oh well they will look awsome!
FIRST HEART BEAT RECORDED 7:28:38 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 21 2007, IT LIVES!!!
So it's been a while to get it to this point .... after the installation of the exhaust, sub frame connectors and the repair of some mechanical demons compliments of AJAX MIDAS (thanks Sam)
"LOOK MOM, IT"S AT THE BODY SHOP!" 12/05/07
OK, update time ... still in the body shop, not that there is extensive work to be done I am in line behind another vehicle in a shop that has collision work coming first. 08/06/08
Well, the ride still sits with the plastic "protecto sheet" sheet still on it, like your grandma's favorite couch! The body shop owner, a very nice guy, earlier this year he was diagnosed with cancer. He has been through all his treatments and appears to be on the mend. Maybe I'm too nice a guy but I did not want to kick a man when he's down, so I have left the car in his shop ... it's been a year now, ugh! 12/10/08
Ok on the upside, work does progress the interior panels are being re-done, the original t top head liner out of my doner car was re-covered as well as the sun visiors and sail panel speaker covers. I am in the process of having custom tuck and roll door panels made as well as carpet inserts for the plastic panels.
Well hold on to your programs sports fans ... the body work has begun, maybe it will be on the road this year!!! Nasty phone cam pics for the first three, I just couldn't wait but you get the idea.
DAY 1! 03/09/09
DAY 2, 03/10/09 
Note the rot on the reinforcment bar in the pic below apparently a common issue and just another thing to fix!
I decided to go with the later modle third brake light spoiler with it's longer sleeker profie over the 85's tip up look. I also had the HI RISE on site to see how that would look ... guess it's for sale now ... do I hear a hundred ... who will give me a HUN? 
DAY 8, 03/17/09
DAY 10 03/19/09
DAY 11, 03/20/09 Ok, so maybe a little more work than anticipated, the beggers keep taken stuff off and finding more to do!! Damn Canadian cars.
Day 12 03/24/09 
It's funny how innocent decisions made early in your project can cause you greif later, in the pic below you see the hood now laying on it's back on a stand behind the car. The reason for this is the under side; side rails had to be notched for the new camber plates, I added a one inch spacer to allow for more shock travel to compensate for the lowered ride hight and so on. Anyway the very top edge of the camber plates made contact not allowing the hood to close .... modify! $$$$$$$$$ Oh just as a side bar .. check the Riviera behind the hood, this is a beautiful rust free car out of Califronia. just got to love old cars!
Scuffed and going to primer 03/27/09
Apparently ready for primer dosen't mean ready, LOL! Just a little more to do such as the 3" cowl hood and the rear valance. 04/02/09
So, as much fun as this has been thus far it all comes at a cost, this car was $100.00 bucket that ran and drove reasonable when I brought it home. With minor upgrades to the suspention and tires it ran better, now I didn't have to do all this to it but one thing led to another .... and here we are. At this point the $100.00 Camaro is somewhere in the $8 to $10,000 range even with all the wheeling and dealing and e-bay / Kijiji / Craigs list deals etc.
Cars are not cheap, find the best you can for the money and try to avoid some of the pitfalls I have run into. This has been a fun learning experience for me so far and I have spread the cost over a number of years, I am building this for me; for my enjoyment the cost is secondary (and yes my wife disagree's with that last statement, LOL). This is a metric Camaro as they are called, $5500. value on a good day, that is the reality but some day they will be worth more until then ... the build continues!!
Ok, still trying to work out the paint, what do you think of this????
... I love these guys they take their time to be sure they leave nothing to chance ... the work continues. 04/20/2009
04/21/09 "PAINT WE HAVE PAINT!!!"
Just another last minute modification, or as we call it customization.
Well here it is folks, this is the first part out of the booth, the very next day. There is some cut and buff to do later but I could'nt wait, so I pulled out the brushed stainless emblems to do some "Vantasizing" (... a term derrived from a miss spent youth dreaming of modifications in the back of my 77 Dodge Van, I'm sure the older crowd can relate!) Anyway, Ladies and Gents I give you "VIPER RED"
... and then I thought, yeah let's shave the nose emblem ... not sure if it's the right thing to do but I've dove in with both feet before!
... and so it was written .... and so it was done!
The prep rack is getting full of parts, we filled the GFX mounting holes so the stainless emblems could be used. They now mount to the fender from the back side.
In the booth for final primer 05 07 2009 ...
Time for another update ... the body work has stalled due to a random hail storm, lots of repair work = "NO PAINT FOR YOU!!", so it's interior work time again! After many attempts to find the correct colour combo I have settled for what I call PHANTOM BLACK, ok it's more an ebony or very dark grey but I think it will work. I am using Parasol's Leather Kote interior paint on all the hard plastic surfaces, this also requires the use of a plastic prep as well. This is an excellent product so far and has passed the scratch test. I will be using it on the fourth gen leather as they say it will stand up to the abuse, well we will see but if it gets me through a year that will work.
BEFORE .... 
AFTER .... 
Ok so I was going to use Parasol's Leather Kote on the factory skins but hey when a deal comes along well you know me by now! ThirdGen.org ... another place to find a deal or two! These were purchased by a member out on the West Coast, he did not use them and they fit my sceme so works for me! They were purchased new from Classic Industries they are identical to the factory skins in every detail, I have them off to the upholstery guy JR Custom in lovely Pickering, Ontario (sorry for the shameless promotions that continue in this thread, trust me no kick backs have been realized through this process!)
Front 
Rear
... meanwhile back at Classic Cars ... 
... Dear Lord if you could just see your way clear to hold back on the fire and brimstone and any further hail storms for the next two weeks ....
X your fingers we could be in paint by this time next week! (07 15 09)
....... meanwhile back at stately Welsh manor ........
Well it's the weekend again and time for more fun ... ever ... so I have been looking at the rims; you remember those, well they had a bit of rash on two of them and will need a bit of a spruce up so after a week of stripping clear coat and realizing just why they charge $150.00 a rim to clean and buff them I have them at this point ...
So then I thought in for a penny in for a pound ....
Remember the car is VIPER RED very loud, I think it can handle this I will put a red pinstripe in the valley to separate the black from the polished lip. We'll see how it works, but in the end it's just paint right!
... sometimes it's just good to get it right the first time!(Thanks for the talk Carol) I opted for the full clear coat for ease of cleaning. The P Zero meats will have a nice home!
Alright, this was my first attempt at the red pinstripe, my hand isn't as steady as it once was but this is the first coat, it will take one more for the red to PUNCH but it will look great once the second straighter coat and clear is on. Of course if I were going for that late modle rat look the satin duplicolor wheel paint really does give that impression!
08/05/2009 .... "LET THERE BE PAINT!!"
08/07/09 HAAAALALUYA, HAAAALALUYA, HALALUYA, HALALUYA, HAALAAAALUYAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
This is three base coats of Viper Red and four FATcoats of clear, the lighting in the booth changes the color to look a bit darker and muted, when we took the doors out into the light of the shop I swear they just glowed!!!!
08/11/2009 It's ok ... say it with me now .... "HOLLY CRAP MAN; THAT LOOK'S FRICKEN AWESOME!!!"
The Viper Red has a slight hint of orange to it that the pics don't show, looks really wicked in the light.
Well, it was cold and crappy when she left and a long time coming to get her back home but 3/4's of her has arrived and the assembly work can now proceed ...
She has been home for a couple of weeks now and steady progress has been made on the reassembly, the dynomat has been completed in the floors and the rear compartment. A gallon of ceramic sound deadening from Elemental Design seems to have done the trick for the contours, this product is very similar to "Lizard Skin" and they say is as good as the dynomat, not sure it will make a huge difference in a T Top car but I guess every bit helps!
The rear bumper is in the house ... or well at this point, on the car!
So OK not an original idea, as a matter of a fact I borrowed this from the current master; Mr Foose, I saw him on Muscle Car earlier this season with the boys doing a 2010 Mustang. They used 1000 grit and sanded the tail lights then used a tinted red satin clear over it to give it a different look. Well I took it a few steps further, I sanded my tail lights smooth, removing all the lettering and imperfections. Then I used some rattle can satin clear and coated the lens, following it directly with a misting of black, then clear, then scuff, then black, th ... you get the idea, a little trim paint on the exposed plastics and this is what I came up with.
... looks pretty good I think!
With every project there are the big moments, the paint and body were and continue to be a big splash, but as you can see there are those little tasks that are a kin to having a root canal! Dynomat and insulation are two such components, they are the little steps that when complete make a big difference but geez getting there ..... never the less it has to be done.
This is another part where I may have gone a little overboard, on top of the Dynomat I put a three yards of limo insulation from my local auto upholstery shop. It covers the floor from the fire wall to the rear hatch, you can see it on the wheel house. This is a little added insurance to quiet down the 3" FlowMasters, the factory insulation is glued over that and then the carpet.
So I decided to save a few bucks and picked this carpet up used, it has one wear mark in the rear foot well, I will repair that but in the mean time I find it amazing what you can do with Duplicolor paint. The carpet was out of an older Firebird, so it had some fading going on; a mist coat of Vinyl and Fabric paint restored the rich color of the black, it looks and feels new.
So much for warm and sunny here in the Great White North, so not a lot going on out side on the car but all I need is one good day and I can finish the alignment of the fenders and hood. The front air dam GFX, only has about five thousand nuts, bolts and washers ... yeah I figure twenty minute's no probs!
Anyway this cold snap has allowed me to work on the lower side skirt GFX emblems. I cleaned up the lazer cut edges and added a black hi-light. With that complete a little work with some sand paper gave them that brushed look, some satin clear to protect them and voila!!
... and the beat goes on ...
