Gibby's 1968 Camaro Family Ties - Lateral-g Forums

gibby · #1 10-29-2011, 07:58 PM

Hey everyone some of you know me because I have bought a lot of parts off here and received a lot of help from everyone on here.I have been working on my Camaro for about a year and a half I have posted on Team Camaro but due to the help I have received from everyone on here I thought I would start a build thread on here to. Let me start off by telling you why I named my car Family Ties. My Grandpa worked for GM for many years and in 1966 was promoted to the shop Foreman of the brand new Camaro plant in Norwood, Ohio.Also my Dad and uncle would work there in the summers pulling the cars off the line. Since I can remember probably about 15 or 16 years old really I have wanted a first Gen Camaro. The bummer part is that my Grandpa and Grandma have passed so they will never get to see the car. So last summer I saved some money and went on a search for a Camaro I knew that I would never get one because it seemed that everyone wanted a arm and a leg for a piece of crap. I was about to give up when I found this on Craigslist it was 1800 OBO I know rust bucket but it wasnt it was way worse. It had been in a field for 15+ years in Az good right. well I live in the mountains of AZ 7,000 feet it rains and snows a lot its a common misconception of AZ we actually have 4 ski resorts in the state. The guy had bought it to restore with his daughter and sounds like it never worked out so it sat and he was moving to Arkansas and needed it gone. Well I have never done a project before and having more time than money I went for it. While I was there I noticed a Rotesserie sitting next to the car rotting. So I offered him to buy the car if he through it in and delivered it to my house we agreed on a price and it was delivered across town. These are pictures of the day it came home.

gibby · #2 10-30-2011, 10:45 AM

I spent a few days with the kids tearing down the Camaro and getting it on the rotisserie.

Then the task of removing bondo started this sucked.

Found out that the quarters had been replaced by cutting the crap out of the old ones and then hammering the seam down and filling the quarter inch gap with bondo. The new quarter replacement were cut off an old Camaro that was beat up so all the imperfections namely the whole panel was under about a quarter inch of bondo some places more.

Finally on the rotisserie and there more problems were found

gibby · #3 10-30-2011, 01:05 PM

Floor looked decent until I got it on the Rotisserie and found that floor repairs had been done with a street sign and just overlapped. Decided to brace the car and get to work only problem I didn't know how to weld and didn't have a welder so it put my car on hold for over 6 months. One of my buddies who is a member here said lets start trading work days on our cars and I will teach you how to weld. So then my wife surprised me with a welder for Christmas and I started to practice with Nik. We got the floor and toe panels replaced toe panels looked good but they where loaded full of bondo to cover the rust holes.

gibby · #4 10-30-2011, 07:42 PM

So after I dug in and removed the right quarter I noticed how the tailpan was a nice shape of bondo, under it a rusted mangled mess. So I dug into the left side and found it to was a bad patch job so off it came. I found a sock shoved in a rust hole and bondo over the top. As well as both wheel tubs so i decided to tub it with the Dynacorn wide tubs they had just made for the 68. Wish I had the money for DSE there was a lot of fit issues but we got it.

So the clean up began and I POR 15 Silver with metal flake on everything dont ever want rust again. Found some rust under the quarter support so I patched it

gibby · #5 10-31-2011, 02:50 AM

Sorry for posting so fast just trying to get the post up to the point where I am now. I also found that while I was pulling the 1/4's off, the trunk looked like it had cardboard put under it and liquid bondo poured into the trunk to cover the roton floor. Also the trunk drop offs where totaled, rusted and cut by the hack job with the 1/4's.

I cut out the roton part and measured the new pan to fit.

I put the new piece in by myself so I had to be inventive but it worked.

Found a rusted bumper supprt took it off and found the floor under was rusted out.

ProTouring442 · #6 10-31-2011, 06:49 AM

Cool project!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

gibby · #7 10-31-2011, 11:47 AM

So on to the wheel tubs I used Dynacorns wide wheel wells honestly if I could have afforded the DSE I would have preferd it. This is such a budget build every penny helps.
So I started by making my own template to get the cut the right shape. I took black construction paper and white sidewalk chalk and colored the outline of the shape of the floor.

This a pic of my buddy Nik who is also a member here I believe its Nikwho is his screen name. I cant say enough about him he is the reason my car is where it is. So Thank you Nik. This was our how we cut the tub to match the floor.

This was the first try at fitment realized it was hitting the support so we cut it where it needed to be.

This is the tub in had to cut because at this point didnt want to cut my frame but now have decided to due to the new suspension that we are designing. more on that later.

Here it is all welded in

We have made adjustments to these last week when they are done I will post them.These are from 6 months ago Like I said trying to play catchup in the right order. I cut about 1 1/2 inches off the brace and rewelded it got a little crazy with the por15.

strtcar · #8 10-31-2011, 12:13 PM

Nice build. Are you going to add any supports, with most that back half gone id be scared with the body on the rotisserie that thing will sag.

G-Body · #9 10-31-2011, 03:06 PM

It never stops amazing me the extant people go through to own a camaro!
Wow amazing work good luck!

Track Junky · #10 10-31-2011, 09:39 PM

Outstanding effort Gibby!!