Holy crap dude. Why don't you just move in to my house? That way you'll get real time updates and not have to rely on other people. Plus I'll give Suzie and G2 visiting privileges. It'll also speed up your LatG updates :lol:

Love you Bro :cheers:

The correct answer is --- it will cost way more than you planned -- and take years not months to construct.


LOL -- Dead serious.

I can attest to the decade + time frame. My project started out in 2003 as a t56 swap, then got caught up in a death spiral of "since I'm in there I might as well" combined with life. I might be able to finish the wiring and plumbing this summer, but probably not.

C6 Z06 Corvettes are going for less than the $75k of your budget. Its the benchmark for most pro-touring builds. Personally, I think I'd have more fun with one. You might want to consider going that way, and just restore the 68.

Nah. Norcal > Socal. :stirthepot: :D

And who are these "other people"? I'd like to meet them. :tv_happy:

Did you think you were the only one around here who is also a member of the Corvette Forum? :bitchslap: :lmao:

Yep!

Okay so here is my thoughts.

You have the 68 Camaro - Great

First mod I would do that would give you greatest impact is Brakes, Wheels, Tires & Suspension. Personally I would skip the mini-tubs and do a square set up on the car with 275'w all the way around (bigger isn't always better) .

Chassis

Suspension - look at DSE because it's the best bang for the buck as you can keep the factory leaf springs and lower the car 2" or 3" with a 1" lower block. The offer a very nice bolt on front suspension and once again you can do it in your driveway and not take the car out of service.

Brakes - call Tobin at Kore3 as you get get a complete brake package for under 2 grand and then call DSE for the bolt in Corvette Brake Booster and then you have a no fuss brake set up that is designed to work together.

Wheels - Look at a forged wheel vs a billet wheel as once again they are 1/3 the price and you can get a nice deal on a 18 x 8 & 18 x 9 set up.

Tire - Tire Rack & Discount tires are your friends and it’s easy to shop the size you want and save some money.

Ps the stock 10 bolt is plenty strong enough for 99% out there. Don’t get sucked in the fact that you need a 9” rear differential.

Interior

Next modification I would do is the interior which you can also do in a weekend if you know where to look.

TMI Interiors - sells do it yourself interiors that are very nice and fairly inexpensive. They have more fabric and material options then you can shake a stick at.

Sound Deadening – While you are swapping out the carpet, door panels & head liner install some DEI sound deadening to reduce the road noise. It makes a huge difference and it helps to make you feel like your in a much safer car.

Saftey. – Put in some 3 Point seat belts as they may just save your life.

Dash Cluster - swap out the Guages to give it a nice updated look.

Intermittent Wipers – If you plan to drive the car this is a worthwhile upgrade

Electical

Honestly the car is 40 plus years old and it may be time to yank that old crap out and install some new stuff. If you are not comfortable doing it then hire the right guy.

American Auto Wire – great guys and they kits are very self-explanatory.


Engine Bay

If your good with that factory small block wow are you going to save some money here. Do you really need an LS motor to look cool. If you do I will add a sub section.

Firewall – Cosmetic Upgrades
Firewall – Clean it up and wrap the wire in a Black Nomex wire wrap, Scrap all of that black plastic crap and don’t hang **** on the firewall (msd box) like they did in the 70’s.
Wiper Motor – Buy the DSE unit it looks and works great.
Brake Booster – You already bought and installed this with your new brakes.
Battery – Replace the Batter with an Optima and buy the Rad Rides remote shut off kit

Inside of the Fenders – Tape them off and touch them up
Inner Fenders – Yank them out and paint them.
Fender Brace – Upgrade them it looks like you actually like your car’s engine bay
Hood Hinges – Billet one’s give big impact and look great (finish should match the fender braces)
Underside of Hood – Steam Pipe wrap the underside of the hood’s opening’s (nice detail)


Actual Engine – Stock Motor - remember this is not your daily driver !!
Valve Covers & Air Cleaners – Machined finished is cheap and give a great look.
Heads – leave them bare Aluminum so people can see you upgraded them.
Headers – Stainless Steel Headers are great but don’t buy long tubes as they hang to low
Timing Chain Cover – Dear God don’t buy a chrome POS but a nice billet one.
Front Drive – Billet Specialties & Vintage Air make beautiful setups and then you get air
Plug Wires – Use bright colors as it attracts the eye
Plug Wire Boots – DEI makes High Temp boots in various colors to increase the impact.


Not sure if you’ve noticed but you have yet to disassemble the car and prevent it from going back together in more than a couple day’s which is the way you should build your first car or any car that is on a budget. What is great is you can take your car to the local cruise night you can show people what you’ve done. And if something happens you can sell the car as a driver and get a good chunk of your money back if you ever have to.


Paint & Body - if it's a 10 footer leave it alone
State your goal with the paint in advance. Do you really need a perfectly gapped car (5 to 10 grand) if you don’t then do yourself and don’t go crazy. Have an experience body shop do a nice paint job and put a set of stripes on the car and accent the car with small details. Look at Steilow last car Hellfire and it has insane Red paint and is accented with Carbon Fiber. The trim is also has a silver /gray finish that really increases the impact of the car.

Details
Engine Bay – should be all black why because every color goes with a black engine bay.

Color – Pick your favorite color and Paint it

Stripe – Put whatever stripe you want on the car and if you want to save money do it with a wrap. Why because if you get bored just peel it off and have a new one put down for a couple hundred dollars.

Accents – Front Spoiler, Mirrors and rear Spoiler paint them black or if you have the budget buy Carbon Fibers ones.

Wheels – Hopefully you picked a wheel that looks good with the color that your car is now painted. If not ship them to the Powder coater and change the color.

.... And this is how you build a car on a budget and have a car that you can be driving while you modify it.

added this to my post because it needed to be added

I've done it both ways build vs bought. It's way cheaper to buy a finished car and update/repair what you don't like. The disclaimer is you have to look the car over well or pay an inspector to do so if you don't have the knowledge to do so. I bought this car off of this site for $75K https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=36673 although it wasn't without some problems none of them were what I would consider major. I've probably put another 7-8K into it but a lot of that has been updating it to be able to withstand the abuse my wife subjects it to while racing it. She beats it like a rental car! :confused59: :drive:

^ That was a good buy Tim. Nice example.

Marty, thanks for the detailed post.
There is a LOT of good information in this thread.

I am an average Joe way out of my league on this site. I scratch and claw to have something nice.
One thing to remember, is no matter how much money you throw at something, someone else is going to have something nicer anyway. Build a car to satisfy what YOU want. Be realistic on what you'll be happy with driving.
Clean the car up REALLY nice. Fit and finish is the most important quality of a car regardless if the parts are stock or custom - that will keep you busy for a while, and cost you plenty of money. You can always go back and add performance components a little at a time. Besides, the bolts will always come back out more easily the second time anyway. Don't just blow your whole car apart and sit there for 3 years waiting for money.
I just traded a custom Hotrod I built from scratch on a very modest survivor Z28 with mild performance upgrades for handling, maybe about $20k worth. ZZ4 crate, 200r4 trans, Hotchkiss kit, Wilwood brakes, poly bushings on everything. The car handles great for what I want to do with it, I love the car, and I know better than to get obsessed with pouring out the money and making it better than the next guy's.
There's nothing wrong with observing those "target cars" for examples, but don't bite off more than you can chew.:snapout:
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...pshcookq7v.jpg
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/b...psuzia1xlu.jpg

Dirtmod - I went back to my post and added your comments below to my post. I hope it's okay.