Mistakes happen, I was very happy that they accommodated me on my tolerances and the salesman found a piston that let me hold a real tight tolerance, worked out for the best in the end.


Yep torque plate and also brought the block up to temp then bored and honed it. Only real machining I didn't end up doing myself. I was lucky the teachers knew a great machine shop to send it out to.

Thanks for the compliment :thumbsup:

Still plunking away. Took a TIG Welding class and narrowed rear seat frames. Used the instructions found in this thread as a baseline:
https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=28606

This is what I started with:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...tFrames002.jpg

Ended up touching up all the spot welds since some of them looked pretty shakey. Also added a few extra bars for reinforcement as well. Now the frame is nice and solid.

One of the welds:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...tFrames003.jpg

Powder Coated:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...tFrames005.jpg
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...tFrames006.jpg

In the car with Arizen Racing seats (front) and matching rear cover:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...arseats003.jpg
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...arseats002.jpg

Bad news is found out later I was losing my job of 10 years. So budget for anything car related pretty much dried up, thou I have lots of time now lol. Slowly trying to finish up electrical (have most everything done now except rear wiring taillights etc).

Decided with all this time to polish this 4" aluminum "L" bracket that I am using to mount fuses, cut off switch etc to in the trunk. This is what I started with:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...Bracket003.jpg
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...Bracket001.jpg

And ended with:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...Bracket006.jpg

1. Used a flat disc set of grinding pads in 60/80/120 on my air die grinder.
2. 180 emery cloth down to about 600 or so.
3. Back with 300 wet sanding down to 2000 grit.
4. Switched to coarse rubbing compound with dual action sander with a coarse bonnet, then to medium and fine (bonnet + compound)
5. Ended up getting the finest microfiber cloth I could find and used Mother's Billet polish by hand to put the final finish on.

Got to the point where I was putting more scratches in than I was taking off so I basically called it quits then. Spent way too much time on it but never had tried polishing aluminum like this. Ended up having it powder coated, which dulled the finish a bit but it is now pretty durable, hardly anyone but me will every see it anyways.

Good news ended up getting a really good new job so now I'll have money again but little time, but I am so close now to having electrical done I'm hoping momentum will carry me to starting it up.

Nice progress and congrats on the new job. :thumbsup:

Glad to hear you got a new job. Good luck. Nice job on the polishing.

Thanks Skip!

Thanks for the kind words Waynie :thumbsup:

Good on you that your doing it mostly yourself with what your learning! :thumbsup: Keep it up.

WOW!!,This is amazing build thread.There is a ton of super nice and very hard work put into this great build.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thanks guys!

Well been a long time since my last update. My new job really hasn't left much time for working on the car, but to be expected in the first year, gotta prove myself. But it has been a rough year, my dad ended up dying, but got through it all.

Had been contemplating a new 5th since they came out. Wife finally decided for me that it was time to jump in. A few years ago I had given her, her dream car around Christmas (Suby Outback), so she returned the favor:

2013 Camaro SS2/RS - 1LE in Ashen Grey Metallic with NPP performance exhaust and nav:
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps72c45815.jpg
http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps96aecbc4.jpg

Car is such a blast and fun to drive and really a head turner. Picked it up a week ago last Friday and already have over 350 miles on it and on my 3rd tank of gas.

Already some stuff mostly appearance (blacked out emblem kits etc), and a Bluetooth ODB-2 reader so I can use torque on my Android phone. Trying to get a good feel for the stock vehicle before I start with engine and suspension mods.

I'm a little torn, I swore to myself before I wouldn't get a new 5th gen until I had my 69 Camaro vehicle on the road. Basically all the electrical is done just been hunting down gremlins (oil pressure gauge doesn't work, fuel leak), but it has been started in my garage just haven't gone around the block yet.

On my todo list for the 2013:

Appearance/Interior/Misc:

• Window Tinting
• Some sort of BA amp upgrade swap with a sub (been looking at Subthump's offerings)
• Heritage Grill and ZL1 Rockers
• (Maybe) afterburners or sequential taillights (been looking at Apex's offering)
• Some sort of custom license plate frame, but can't figure out a good saying yet

Performance (once I get used to the '13 and after the '69 is on the road):

• Cold air induction with washer relocate and new scoop
• Shorty headers (not sure whose yet)
• Ported Intake and possibly ported throttle body
• Some sort of tuning software (HP Tuners?) to take advantage of the increased breath-ability of the CAI and headers, intake and TB.
• Pedders Rear sub-frame bushings and front radius arm bushings
• (Maybe) Pedders rear 32mm bar and switching over to their magic 19" Forge-line wheel setup with 305s all around with coil overs (far off, plus really liking the ZL1 wheels).
• (Maybe way down the road)Supercharging

Be nice to start going to some autocross gatherings try my hand a bit.

Sorry to hear about your father.