Page 1: Car Progress.
Page 2: Parts and Prices Detail.
Page 1: Car Progress
~Most Recent Picture 7-5-09~
1977 Camaro LT
When i found this Camaro it looked as though it was in it's final resting place.
or should i say final "rusting" place.
April 11, 2009
May 2nd, 2009
I picked the Camaro up and here are some pictures of when i picked it up.
Many Thanks to my cousin and the seller of the car for helping me load it up with out them it would have stayed in its rusting place. (I am not in these pictures.)
May 3rd, 2009
I took the car off the trailor.
Here it is in the Garage ready to be torn apart. That will come another day, I'm beat.
And the long awaited picture of the engine. not much yet, but previous owner has removed the AC and its a 350,(EDIT ITS A 305) with a 4 bbl carb, and edelbrock intake man. so hoping i can reuse some parts.
Well after dinner i felt i hadn't done enough today, so i went down and took the hood off, and sprayed some liqid wrench around.
May 5th, 2009
Today i took off the front bumper, and took eout the Radiator and other misc. parts in the front end, slowly but surely the rust is coming apart. Also took a pic of the holly 4bbl and the long tube headers, might see if i can reuse them.
May 6th, 2009
Today i took of the drivers side fender and inner fender and radiator support. heres a pic of the fram rails, ones a little worse than the other. and the passenger side inner fender is gonna need serious work.
Heres the cowl, its not in bad shape at all.
And heres after my work for today.
May 7th, 2009
Today i took off the passenger side fender and inner fender, as well as the starter, the drivers side exhaust manifold, and also unhooked a good bit of the wiring harness from the engine compartment.
The exhaust manifolds arent in bad shape at all, just surface rust, im going to sand them down, paint and wrap and reuse the headers.
Also finally got to see the coding on the block, GM5.0LG, Which from my searching is a 305 not a 350. which sucks. im going to look around for a 350 to drop in it, if i cant find any cheap enough ill just use the 305..... or put the money up for a crate engine.
May 10th, 2009
Today i pulled the motor and trans out of the car, finally got to see the rest of the casting numbers.
The engine is 14010201, GM5.0LG, E 18 3
This means the engine is a 305 out of an 1980-1985 chevy, its a 2 bolt main. and was casted on May 18th, 1983. which obviously is NOT the original motor.
After finding its not the original motor i decided to check out the heads which looked oversized to me. head casting is 14101081, G2960. which means the heads are off a 1987-1995 chevy 305, and being that the motor is a 1983 casted motor, these obviously arent the original heads on the motor.
Also checked the casting on the Transmission, which i found GM44, 8640489, 6260203, and L156 Which tells me its a THM350 casted on December 15th, 1976. so it IS the original Transmission.
So after my work was done for the day here is what i ended up with. Also i found a 350 for sale for 150 bucks, so im picking that up this week and will be rebuilding that rather than using this tired old 305 again.
May 12th. 2009
Today i took out the rest of the seats, the package tray, and the carpet, as well as the AC box from the firewall.
and heres pics of whats left of the 3 piece mouldings, i had no clue were hard pieces to get, and i misplaced the quarter pieces, hopefully theyre around here somewhere, so i can help someone out who wants them.
May 13th, 2009
Today i went and picked up my 350, its pretty dirty and such, but the block is good and thats all that matters, tore into it right away, now its just a block and heads.
May 14th, 2009
today i took off the front sway bar, and started at the steering system and ball joints, but with rust and road grime i didnt get too far.
May 15th, 2009
today i took off the upper control arms and steering, and spindles, so only thing left on the front end is the lower control arms and brake system. i wasnt going to replace the brake lines but they are in bad shape so i gotta find a company that sells them.
Here is the frame rails wire brushed and sprayed down with purple power "De-Ruster" its supposed to convert the surface rust back to steel, im going to let it sit for a day or 2 and see how it works.
May 17th, 2009
Today i finished taking off the lower control arms, and the brake lines, as well as the brake booster and master cylinder. Yes thats a little primer, i couldnt resist wire wheeling a spot and seeing how it would turn out. It turned out looking very well.
Also i happened to notice that the rear window wasnt even sealed in, apperantly the guy before me took it out and just left it sitting there, im lucky that it didnt fly out when i towed the car, and im lucky the trunk rust isnt worse than it is.
May 21st, 2009
Got a bunch of parts in today!
May 22nd, 2009
Scrubbed down the firewall, cowl and frame rails today, and primered the cowl and firewall.
May 23rd, 2009
Today i started painting the cowl, firewall, and frame flat black. this will also get a flat clear coat when done. also cleaned and rubber coated the trans tunnel.
Ran out of flat black, thought i had more here but apperantly i dont, getting more later, also got the control arms and spindles cleaned up a little bit.
Had some trouble with the brake caliper bolts, so i took the one that i was able to get out and welded it to the back of the others and tapped with a hammer to break them loose, worked like a charm.
got cleaned up and decided to run to the store for paint tonight, so i can start fresh tomorrow morning, but i noticed advance auto didnt give me the rear upper control arm bushings so i told them about it and they ordered a new set, gotta head in to pick them up tomorrow as well as borrow a ball joint press and make a bushing press. busy day tomorrow.
May 24th, 2009
Today i got the lower control arm bushings pressed out and the old ball joints pressed out and the new ball joints pressed in.
This one was a little too big to use the press on so i had to use the old fashioned all thread method.
Here's pictures of the firewall, cowl and frame painted flat black, will get another coat and clear coats tomorrow. And the steering shaft will be painted aluminum metallic.
May 25th, 2009
Today i got the lower control arms cleaned up and ready for rust fix and paint, i got a second coat and clear coats on the cowl, firewall, and frame, and got the underside of the frame rubber coated.
I also got the springs rust fixed and painted blue.
May 26th, 2009
So today i tried the air hammer trick for the upper control arm bushings, and of course had no luck. im going to have to keep myself busy with other stuff while i wait for my new toy to come in the mail.
I ordered a control arm bushing press from amazon.com for 75 bucks.
May 31st 2009
I used my new bushing press to press out the old UCA bushings and press the new ones in. The old ones were hard to get out since whoever replaced them before felt they had to put red lock-tite on them, which isnt necessary when they are pressed in bushings.
I also painted the LCA's
Painted the UCA shafts aluminum, As well as the spindles.
And the UCA's are aluminum too.
Heres the new upper ball joints, posting these so i can get info on how specifically they are installed.
And this is what i see when i go downstairs to the small 1 car garage. yes its a mess.
June 1st, 2009
Today i finished installing my upper control arm bushings and put the upper control arms on the car, also got the steering box on and connected. gonna get a spring compressor tomorrow but im not sure if im going to look at a set of rims or not yet.
June 4th, 2009
Got the springs in today and spindles on, gonna finish the struts tomorrow.
June 7th. 2009
Today i got the dust shields on the spindles, the brake rotors, wheel bearings, pittman arm, and tie rods all on the car as well. Also got the sway bar painted blue to match the springs.
I was not able to find replacement seals for the pittman arm, so i went to lowes and got rubber washers the same size and cut the hole bigger to fit. turned out well.
I also bought a bunch of stainless bolts to get started on front end pieces.
Heres a picture with the pittman arm installed.
And here the tie rods ready to be put together and installed.
And i think these pictures just look sweet.
June 8th 2009
Today i got the sway bar installed and also custom fabricated my own reinforcement bar for the front of the subframe.
Heres the sway bar installed.
Ok for the custom reinforcement bar that will go in place of the rear front bumper bolts, first i started with (2) 6 inch pieces of 1/2 inch all thread. and one 48 inch 1 inch diameter steel bar.
The 48 inch bar was cut down to 40.5 inches to fut just inside of the existing holes in the frame rails. then i cut (3) 1.5 inch slits in each end of the 40.5 inch bar, inserted the all-thread so that 2.5 inches was sticking out of the end of the bar and tapped the bar down tight against the all thread to hold it in place. i mocked it in place to double check my measurements and it looked great.
Next i welded the all-thread in place on each end of the bar, and also welded up the slits that i previously cut. (while welding the slits i made sure to weld the bar to the all-thread inside these slits for extra durability. and i grinded the welds down smooth.
Next i sanded the bar with 150 grit sandpaper and cleaned off any oils or dirt with carb cleaner. Next i painted the bar Aluminum, and clear coated it.
Now i let it dry and slid it into the existing hole in the framerail. (please note that the outside hole on the frame rail needs ground out about 1/2 inch for this new bar to fit)
See how the bar just barely clears the steering box, perfect fit!
June 11th, 2009
Went and got a used set of rims and tires today, they are american racing outlaw II's, 14x7 which is the exact same as the stock rims, which is what i was looking to get. They look pretty good, tomorrow i gotta get back to work on the car and install my new solid body mounts.
Heres a pic of one of the PTFB solid body mounts along with the subframe connectors.
June 13th, 2009
Today i got the brake booster and master cylinder in the car, as well as the left to right brake line.I also got one side of the PTFB solid body bushings in. Got the calipers painted and started on making my "AC box" a "No AC box" cause im not paying 150 bucks for a premade one when i can do it myself.
Heres the old body mount, and the new one installed.
heres the brake calipers painted with black ceramic coating.
The new brake booster, master cylinder, and brake lines.
Now to learn how to make your own AC delete box.
First i cut off the sides of where the AC used to sit, then fiberglassed them over. I cut the sides off first so that the top would hold it together and hold its shape.
Now that the sides are fiberglassed, i was able to cut the top off and glass over that hole. The fiberglass is curing now, i will post pictures of the final product tomorrow.
June 14th, 2009
Today i finished fiberglassing the AC delete box, it just needs a final paint. also got two of the rims cleaned up and re-clearcoated. Got the brake pads, calipers, and stainless steel brake hoses installed. also put the front wheels on.
heres the heater box after first fiberglassing.
Had to sand, smooth and fiberglass 2 more times, then some filler to fill small holes, also had to recut a hole for the heater core pipe and test fit.
Then some more smoothing and filling, and some primer.
while waiting for fiberglass to cure, i was going inside to put on the brake pads, calipers, and SS brake hoses.
And cleaned the front wheels and put a fresh clear coat on them and put them on.
June 22nd, 2009
Today i went to the junkyard after work and searched for a radiator support, i arrived there at 4:30, and they were to close at 5. So i had to hurry, i found a nice on in a 1980 Z28, and after a lot of busted knuckles, i had it out of the car and on my way home by 5:30, luckily the junkyard guys didnt mind me taking extra time. I got this sweet part for $50 !!!!
Heres a couple F-Bodies rusting away at the Yard.
And i found this wonder, i believe its an 80 Z28, looks like it got a broken spindle on the passenger side and they just junked it cause the rest was in great shape.
And heres the Rad support in my garage when i got home, its a great find and now i feel at ease that i finally found one after weeks of looking.
Heres an idea for the paint, im thinking of a Charcoal base, with Midnight blue flames, with a Pearl coat on top.
July 1st, 2009
Missed this section in the post, so im coming back and psting the pics. i got the radiator support back from the bead blasting, drilled out the spot welds for the 78-81 ears, then selded the holes shut and grided the welds down, then primed and painted.
July 5th, 2009
Havent updated in a week or 2, got the driveshaft out, got the floorpans repaired and painted, cut out the area behind the backseat to allow the back seat to fold down for larger hauling area. also mounted the heater blower relay and resistor. and mocked up the radiator support to get it off the floor and out of the way, didnt tighten it down yet, cause the motor needs cleaned and put back in first.
The plan is to clean up the 305 that was in the car and put it back in for the time being, that way it will buy me some time until i can buy a 350 crate motor and trans later down the road.
Heater Relay and resistor installed.
area behind backseat cut out for extra space when backseat is folded down, also reinforced this to make up for the metal i cut out.
I got the hinge cover off of the trunk hinges too.
