Idaho 69 Camaro
 

Sorry in advance for the long post. I've been lurking for almost three years and have posted occassionaly, but not often. Mainly been using the site for information on my build. I wanted to start a project thread when I purchased the car in 2005, but after having it blasted, I was embarassed by how bad of shape it was in. I didn't realize that some of the projects on here were as bad or worse. As I stated earlier, I wanted to post progress pics, but this was going to be a long term project and I didn't want to tell you what I was doing until after it had been done. I once heard the saying "don't tell me what you are going to do, tell me what you've done". That's kind of my life's motto. That being the case, here goes.

Anyway, as I started cutting off sheet metal it became apparent the proper way to revitalize this car was a complete new skin. So that's what it got, new quarters, tailpan, filler panel, roof skin, outer rockers, firewall, dash top, both floors, trunk floor, wheel houses, and frame rail ends. Some may say so what, lots of cars do that. True, but I've never done this type of work before, ever. In addition to all the new sheet metal, it received DSE mini tubs, subframe connectors, dash insert, and Quadra-link hooked to a 9-inch with QA-1's. The rearend has a nodular case, Detroit TruTrac, 3.89's and Strange 31-spline axles. For the front, I picked up a Wayne Due C-4 that had the a-arms and spindles ceramic coated with QA-1's again and a Speedway splined sway bar. Other items of interest include Wilwood 6-piston fronts with 13" rotors and Wilwood 4-piston rears with 12" rotors.

To date, I've done all the work myself in my garage with the exception of actually spraying the color, and polishing. I called upon friends to do that. I hope you can appreciate the work done to date. My original plan was to have the car finished in the spring of 2008. As you can see, I didn't make it, and was hoping for spring 2009. As a budget build, meaning I spend money as I get it, it has taken longer than anticipated, but I'm only going to do things right the first time and not come back and redo stuff over.

The final items to be completed are a rebuild of the LT-1 T56, finishing the 420 SB2.2 headed small block, and a Concept One pulley system. Interior wise, it will be gray with matching insert.

From now on, I will post regular updates on the progress.

More pictures.

Great job!! I hope you are very proud of what you have accomplished! Is it painted yet? I like the parts list! Keep the updates coming..don't hold out on us any more!! :cheers:

Last ones for tonight.

nice job
 

thats huge
to do all of that work yourself.....very big deal:thumbsup:
keep us posted ..

tom

Awesome! What color are the stripes?

To get the effect that I wanted, which was a fade from light on the outside to dark on the inside, we loaded up some clear with a silver pearl. With a detail gun we then just sprayed the outside edges until we started to see some color arrive. This took 4 coats. I then masked off the border stripe which is an 1/8 inch, and then shot the color over the main stripe. I couldn't find a candy purple that I liked so we started mixing up something until I got the color I wanted, and then we thinned it down with more clear to make it transparent. After we were done, we got the bright purple over the pearl and the dark color over the black. Once it was cleared it really popped.

Looks great! Nice work!

Looks great so far. You obviously put a lot of time and effort into replacing all those panels. And you learned a lot :yes: Those of us that have done work like that ourselves ,on a hobby level , have a respect for the trial and tribulations you've undergone to accomplish all of that. Keep us informed as to how this turns out.:thumbsup:

Very nice job , your car looks great.

You should be proud, I wish I had your talent & time. Great looking 69.:thumbsup:

Thanks for the kind words. I'm not foolish enough to say that the quality is equal to DSE and several other shops, but it's turning out good and satisfies me. I'm just making sure that what you can see looks as good as possible.

I agree!!!:hail:
Great job and she'll be fun to drive when you're done. Keep us posted!!

A few quick updates. I completed my battery box and got it mounted. I've also completed my clutch master cylinder reservoir.

Getting Closer
 

Here are few pics of the custom plug wire harness and headers I built for the SB-2 and the car on the ground for the first time in 4 years.

A few more pics.

Howdy Neighbor...I am in N. Utah. Great job on the car so far. Looks very nice.

You should be very proud of the work you have done. The car looks not only great, but well thought out. You'll be ready to go in the Spring!

Very nice. Keep up the great work and the updates coming.:thumbsup: :cheers:

Steve, I now believe Idaho has more to offer than good spuds:wow: looking good - REAL GOOD! :cheers:

Steve ,who's headers are you using . I like how nice and tucked under the car they are!! And the BLACK is killer:wow:

doom didn't he say he built them himself. i love this car for so many reasons .it's homebuilt and it dont have a ls in it. now dont flame me for that :_paranoid it's just that one lil thing that will set this car apart from the rest.

Nice build!!!

Way to show 'em how we do it "up here"...

:hail:

Mario

I knew going in no one made a set of headers for a SB2.2 in a Camaro let alone a set of SB2.2 headers. So I started looking for a company that would sell me a set of headers in kit form for a small block to fit a Camaro. The only company that would even entertain that concept was Stahl. I ordered their No. 105 kit along with a set of SB2.2 flanges. Once I received the parts, I didn't like their flange and built my own from 3/8" material. I had planned to use the tubes for 3, 4, 5, & 6 and then modify the 1, 2, 7, & 8 tubes. However, I was only able to use one tube on the right bank, but in order to clear the rack and pinion steering on the left bank, I had to modiy all four tubes.

Thanks for all the nice comments. I appreciate it and have learned alot from everyone else as well.

Thanx Steve! Please keep the pictures coming !!:hail:

Your right on the money with your comment!!:thumbsup:

Fantastic project....digging the out of the box thinking on the motor. :thumbsup:

Awesome job what are the specs on the motor have you had it on the dyno? How much lift are you using ? Nice work on the headers, on everything.

I've always been a small block nut, but wasn't ready to jump on the LS band wagon yet, but will on my next project. When Chevrolet introduced the SB2 series head, I was always intrigued by them. The last engine I had in my circle track midget had an SB2 head. After retiring from racing and purchasing the Camaro, I knew that I wanted a small block with a set of Sb2's just to be different. I also knew that with port size I was going to need as much cubic inch as possible to get any type mid-range usuable power knowing full well that I was sacrificing low end torque and power. I spent a great deal of time searching for a set of heads. The set I finally purchased were an R&D set from Richard Childress Racing that only had dyno time on them. RCR was playing with a smaller intake port for some reason and apparently didn't like what they saw so I was able to pick these up reasonably cheap. These heads feature a 265 cc runner as opposed to most SB2.2's that are 285 and larger.

As I said above, I knew I wanted and needed a lot of cubic inches, so the initial plan was for a 434. However, pistons became a problem. I wanted to stay away from a tall deck block so that spacers were not required for the valley cover and intake. For a 4" stroke crank, the shortest rod length I could find was 6". That meant with a 9.025" deck block, the wrist pin height was only 1" on the piston. Usually not a problem, but the chamber volumn on the head is only 45cc. Therefore, in order to get to 10.5 compression ratio, I needed a piston with a 30cc dish. Both JE and Wiseco would not build such a piston as the top ring would be above the dish and they both felt that the piston would not hold up. The only alternative was to shorten the stroke to 3.875 and use a 5.850 rod. Therefore, I ended up with 420 ci using a stock 400 block bored .030 over.

The camshaft is a Comp Cams piece. They thought I was a little crazy running an SB2.2 head on the street, but they did custom grind a cam to work with the port volume and the reduced RPM range of a street engine. The cam specs are:

Duration - Intake 248 @ .050"
Exhaust 252 @ .050"

Overall Valve Lift using the Jesel 1.6 ratio rockers is .650

I didn't have it dyno'ed, probably will wish I had, but will definitely have it on a chassis dyno when completed. I'll post numbers at that time. Probably next spring.

i bet that thing is going to sound sweet:hail:

Interesting choice for the camshaft. It will purr like a kitten with those cubes. You might be interested in lifting the valves a little more down the road if the power is not quite there. The duration sounds good for the small runner and street use though. I run mine on the street, although it does not really purr with the 278/285 dur cam.... runs great on 94 octane pumpgas and 12.4:1 compression though.

Glad to see another sb2.2 street driven! And beautiful work I might add.

Awesome build. I'm from northern Idaho, I'll have to come check it out next time I'm in the Boise area.

Great car brother!! Love the motor combo--had the same set of heads on the drag car with a 434 sb. Of course, everyone thought it was a big block--believe me---only those in the know will understand what you've accomplished--and my hat is off to you for the combo. I am looking forward to seeing the front end on the car and what those stripes look like out in the sun. I'll bet it looks killer---great job!!

Doug

I've never heard of that type of heads. I though it was a big block until I read your post more carefully. Where can I get more info about those heads?

Awesome car! It looks great and I really like your engine choice too. Looking forward to seeing it all put together.:cheers:

Interior Updates
 

It's been a while since I've posted any updates as the car was in interior jail for three months. Here are a few pics of the finished interior and trunk. The last pic is of the smoothed chrome rear bumper. It came out real nice. There is a small chrome shop in the area that is trying to make a name for themselves. They have low overhead and as a result have some great pricing.

It looks great.:thumbsup:

Congrats on your escape! ;)

That interior looks killer. I'm really digging it. Who did the interior for you?
Keep us posted.:thumbsup: :cheers:

Very nice! Big "chunk" done... Driving it soon? EEEEEEHHHHAAAAAAAAA

I had Chip Knight of Fine Auto Trim here in Boise do the work. Chip's being doing interiors for longer than I can remember. Back in the 80's, Chip was working for Terry's Upholstery in Boise. Terry went all show car with a Chevy stepside pickup and went on the circuit. He won several shows and at the end of the year won best interior. The caveat to the story was that Chip was who actually sewed and did the interior, not Terry. He struck out on his own soon after that.