I'm currently working in Africa, and won't be home in another month. My good friend William (will69camaro) and the wife went and picked up the car from the paint shop today. It is now safely in my shop. Thanks again Will!

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...ro/camaro2.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...ro/camaro1.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...ro/camaro3.jpg

Tony

Glad to help. I'm battling food poisoning so was definitely struggling today.

Glad you got my good side :)

Nice! congratulations on getting it home!!

Wow...lots of pics!! I love it!! That intake is sick. :king: :king:

Looks great Tony! Now the fun begins!

You still have that blown C6Z?

I talked to you about it a good while back on one of the Power Tours.

Great car. I sold it to a local Houston friend about 3 yrs ago. He still owns it today. Been thinking about picking up a ZR1 for a daily driver though.

Work was really hectic last last year. I spent more time overseas in Africa and Europe, than I did at home. Well, at least until the oil prices tanked and I was laid off. Being currently unemployed, I've been spending more time in the shop lately. I needed this time off. :)

First off, I began looking through my massive parts shelves, documenting all the parts I already had, and writing down things I needed. I discovered that I have a bad habit of buying things twice, because I forgot I already bought something. That is what happens when your project spans 10 years. Plus, I've had several 1st gen Camaros, and bought various parts for those cars too, but didn't install them. From now on, I'll keep a parts spreadsheet for each car.

Then, I went through the parts I did have, and found that I'd rather use some newer items on the market to make this job a little easier. So, I sold a lot of stuff (and still more to go) and bought newer stuff. Those boxes that the new stuff shows up in, sure are handy for selling/shipping the old stuff.

Since Hot Rod Power Tour is finally rolling through my home state of Texas, with 3 stops here, I decided to push for completing this car by June. I've built entire cars in 3 months (post-paint) before, so I'm confident I can do it again. I'm sure there will be some late nights, but I am the type that will work on something until I get tired.

First, I tackled the front suspension. The rear suspension was installed by GAP Racing when they did the sheetmetal and minitubs, it is the Speed Tech torque arm setup with a new Moser 12-bolt. But, the subrame was purchased before I went with the torque arm setup, and it was fitted with Detroit Speed uppers and lowers. I'm not known for doing mix-and-match stuff, and I'm too anal for mixing up systems, so I sold the DSE parts and bought Speed Tech uppers and lowers to match the rear suspension. I figure that will save me 5 minutes of explaining what parts are on the car, when people ask me later on. Also went with the ATS/Speed Tech tall AFX spindles. Replaced the Hotchkis lowering springs with a set of QA1 coil-overs while I was in there. I installed all new Pro Forged ball joints, tie-rods, and idler arm. I have to say the quality of the Pro Forged stuff looks great, and they already come with EDP coating that looks nice. Also installed some billet tie-rod sleeves. I retained the DSE/Lee 600 series steering gear box, as those are great units. I also kept the DSE sway bar, as I like how it has the little stopper plates that keep it from being able to slide laterally between the frame mount bushings. It runs very close to the frame during rotation, so I'm not wanting any shifting there.

Before. Using Guldstrand holes, stock type spindles.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...202_135301.jpg

Blasted and painted the bare steel hubs on the AFX spindles, as they were showing surface rust. I'm trying not to install any bare metal parts on this car, is it looks awful later on. Spend some time doing it right the first time, and there aren't regrets later.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...209_125447.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...209_130827.jpg

Blasted and POR15'd the factory steering parts. I find that I use that glass bead cabinet a LOT, and I'm glad I finally took it out of the box and assembled it a month ago. Now I wander around the shop and look for rusty stuff to blast. Restore, not replace, when possible.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...206_132010.jpg

Old (DSE) on left, vs new (Speed Tech) on right. Both are quality parts. Not shown are the lowers that I also swapped. I did like two features on the Speed Tech lowers better. They came with nice Heim-joint linkage rods for the sway bar, and also have adjustable steering stopper bolts. That will be nice to tune out any potential tire rubbing on the inner frame, later on.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...205_144111.jpg

After: Using original non-Guldstrand holes, and tall spindle. Should be better geometry.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...209_145412.jpg

Now that the front and rear suspension were sorted out, I busted open the dusty Wilwood boxes that have been sitting since 2005. And, so began the royal pain in the ass that has wasted far too much time. The problem with buying parts that you can't test fit right away, is dealing with the surprise factor later on. I originally ordered this kit through Precision Brakes Co, before they went out of business (or simply changed their name). They used Wilwood components, but built their own brackets and rotor hats.

Rear kit was designed for GM 12-bolt, and luckily I had no issues there. Except for the external parking brake, which protruded so far back behind the rotor that I think it will hit my mini-tub during suspension travel. Not Precision's fault, as their kit was designed for stock width axles and mine is narrowed as much as possible to get a nice deep rear wheel lip. The newer Wilwood systems have the internal parking brake, which I prefer, but I also don't want to toss a good kit away just to get a parking brake.

Rears: 12.88" diameter, 4-piston.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...209_185413.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...209_181722.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...219_201836.jpg

Now for the front brake "fun". Nothing fit well. The kit was supposed to be for the C6/AFX hubs, but I discovered that they sent me the wrong rotors. I mocked the parts up on the car, took a lot of measurements, did calculations to figure out the proper caliper offset and rotor placements. Then spent hours digging through Wilwood catalogs trying to gather up a parts list that would work.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...213_130715.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...218_141839.jpg

Final solution:

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...218_144244.jpg

I discovered that Precision had sent me four rear rotors, with just different hats. The front calipers are much bigger SL-6 billet 6-pistons, and needed a much thicker rotor to work. How much thicker? 20.6mm up to the new 35mm size. Huge difference. I ordered a new set of Wilwood racing rotors, in 13.06" diameter.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...223_171115.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...223_175154.jpg

Finally on the car:

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...223_173106.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...223_180446.jpg

How she sits today.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...223_180535.jpg

With the brakes in place, I was finally able to measure the car for wheels and tires. I had a slew of wheels around my shop, from various cars, so I had a fun day of sticking things under the car to visualize colors, tire fitments, diameters, etc... I placed my order for a set of Forgeline wheels this week, as I am a distributor/dealer for them and really like the brand.

Yes, this is a 2014 Dodge Viper wheel with 355 wide Pirelli. It fits. But, I'm going with 345 wide to give a little more space. GAP racing did a nice job on notching my frame rails, and moving the mini-tubs in as much as possible. They also pulled the quarter panels out a tiny bit, as we shot for 15" of inner clearance. Nailed it.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...210_122902.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...210_123623.jpg

18" front and 19" rear. 25.5" front tire, 27" rear tire. I like this wheel diameter and tire height fitment.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...210_123147.jpg

Testing a Viper 19" Forgeline GA3-6 up front, to see if I liked the silver finish. I didn't like the diameter, just seemed too big for my taste. Sticking with 18" fronts.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...210_125554.jpg

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...210_125344.jpg

Another Forgeline just to see color. Transparent Smoke center.

http://i466.photobucket.com/albums/r...210_130841.jpg

I ordered the Forgeline GZ3 wheels, since I had some on my '14 Viper and love the spoke pattern. Will share details when they arrive... :)