LS7 1969 Camaro SS Convertible - Project "Overt"
 

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I've owned this Camaro since 2005, but didn't start doing the pro-touring conversion until late 2012. It was purchased as a driver, had the typical 10-footer paint job on it. I found the car in Tennessee, it grabbed my attention due to its pedigree. It is an X55 Camaro SS, with the code 72 Hugger Orange paint.

My buddies told me it needed a project name, so I came up with "Overt". It is a play on words, Orange Convertible = Overt. But, I was more intrigued by the definition of Overt:

overt
adjective \ō-ˈvərt, ˈō-(ˌ)vərt\
Easily seen : Not secret or hidden : Open and viewable : Outgoing

The definition matches up well with a bright orange convertible. And, if I elect to, the name will fit on a license plate later.

I'll skip the tear down process, and skip straight to the restoration and body/paint steps that have been completed. This series of pics happened between 2013-2015. There was a year in there that I got burned out on the project, and it sat for a while.

I put the body on a rotisserie, and sent the car to get media blasted. At the time, I was hoping the car was indeed rust-free, and didn't have any horror stories. I had my fingers crossed for a simple repaint. You all know how this story goes...


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Here is what we found under the paint. I wasn't too pleased about it. Just a lot of crappy sheetmetal repairs, swiss-cheese trunk and floor pans, and questionable bondo artistry. This made me regret even tearing into the car, thinking I should have just sold it as it was. This just became a full restoration, because I'm a picky SOB and want things done right.

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Trunk floor = daylight holes.

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hey its only money LOL :G-Dub:

Basically, all of the sheetmetal would need to be replaced, in order to do this build right. Structurally, the Camaro was very good. The rocker panels, frame rails, cowl and windshield frame, all were good. We managed to save the forward trunk panel, as well as most of the dash and firewall. The rest was removed and replaced by GAP Racing ( http://www.gapracingtx.com/ ).

I had GAP do the following work:

-Replace full floor
-Replace full trunk floor
-Replace trunk drop-off panels
-Replace both quarter panels
-Replace tail panel
-Replace trunk lid
-Replace door skins
-Replace both cowl side panels
-Smooth firewall
-Install DSE mini-tubs and new inner wheelhousings
-Install restored '69 front subframe
-Install DSE subframe connectors
-Install new narrowed Moser 12-bolt axle, 3.42 gears and posi
-Install SpeedTech torque arm rear suspension system

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Got the car back from Gap Racing, with all the new sheetmetal installed. Project stalled out for a few months, while I worked on other projects.

Back from GAP Racing, all sheetmetal and suspension installed.

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This past June, I loaded up the Camaro and took it to the paint shop, RF Customs (Spring, TX). I met with the owner, Ray Reitz, and looked at a few of their other projects going on in the shop. They had nice attention to detail, and seemed to only work on classic cars. I didn't want a paint shop that focused on mostly collision/repair work, as those places often back-burner our classic car jobs.

RF Customs would do the final trunk and door gap work, panel alignment, firewall smoothing completion, block/sand and paint the entire car and engine bay.

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Working on trunk gaps:

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The repro quarter panels needed a lot of work, door gaps weren't even close to matching the doors.

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Ray spent a lot of time getting the door gaps perfect, as well as the trunk gaps. I should have the car back by October, which was a month ahead of our agreed date. No paint shop prison, amazing.

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Welded up all the misc holes on the inner fenders, and filled in all the little dimples. I see a lot of high-end builds skip this step, when they shouldn't. Looks much better smooth!


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In the paint booth! Laying down epoxy primer on every surface. I have to admit, the car looked killer wearing satin black. At this point, the car has come a very long way!

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Smoothed the body seam surrounding the tail light panel, as I plan on painting the rear orange. Subtle, but looks cleaner like this.

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Firewall has been completely smoothed, painted in semi-gloss black. Entire engine bay will be this color.

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We have Orange! Laid down a base coat of white to make the Hugger Orange pop more. Car was disassembled to do body work and paint the jambs. Door jambs and trunk jambs are now completed.

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Baking out in the Texas 95F sun.

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Body reassembled for final paint. Getting close...

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Engine updates. I dig horsepower related topics :)

Texas Speed & Performance did the machining and assembly on my engine. It is a 427ci LS7 that was built from all brand new parts, including the block. I went with a relatively mild cam, as this car is a cruiser and I want to maintain street manners. Target is to make 525-550 rwhp.

GM LS7 block
11.1:1 CR
ETP/Mast CNC ported LS7 heads 64cc
TSP custom cam - 233/239 0.595/0.603 113 LSA
Callies Compstar crankshaft and rods 4.0" stroke
Wiseco pistons - part K445X7 -15cc 4.127"
Katech ported oil pump
All ARP hardware
Clevite bearings
Cometic head gaskets
LS7 rocker arms with Comp Cams trunion upgrade kit

New LS7 block:

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Bunch of parts:

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Arrived at my shop:

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Installed a billet valley cover that I had left over from a previous MagnaCharger kit install.

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Intake port:

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Exhaust port:

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I had the sheetmetal intake built by my late friend John Beck, who passed in 2013. It was always intended to be the centerpiece of this engine bay. I challenged him to create some CNC billet runners, forming a cross-ram of sorts. The intake is a work of art, and he will be missed.

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Testing out two different valve covers I had made for the engine. Some fabricated sheetmetal ones which match the intake manifold well, and some billet aluminum ones that are more dressy. I'm likely going to powdercoat the upper hat of the intake, and the valvecovers, thinking a matte gunmetal gray.

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Option 2, the billet valvcovers:

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Height comparison. The coil packs hide inside the taller billet covers.

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Really digging this view the most, with all sheetmetal stuff.

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Replaced all the screws with ARP stainless. Had the lid off, so snapped some more pics of the intake.

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Now I need to decide on which serpentine pulley system to purchase. Leaning towards the brushed Eddie Motorsports kit at the moment, as I like the industrial look. This engine bay will have zero chrome, it will consist of black, gray, and bare metal. That is my goal.

Tony

Car is now painted with the Hugger Orange basecoat. We added the black DX1 stripes today, I laid out the stencils and tape myself. Took me about 3 hours to measure them out and get the edges perfect. The end result was worth it.

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Paint is completed, just needs final wet sanding and buffing. Here is the total:

2 coats black epoxy primer
2 coats white base
5 coats hugger orange
3 coats black for the hood stripe
4 coats clear

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Only work remaining is to paint the underside of the car with satin black epoxy paint. Then it comes home for assembly. Going to be a fun winter :)

Tony

Car looks awesome. Cant wait to see it complete!

Jealous of your paint job...

Great build. Nice to have you back on the forum, it's been a while!

And that is how you do it gents.....well done........Subscribed...


T,

Gonna be an awesome project Tony! You know how to set em up my friend!

That motor is going to look so sweet in there! The paint looks beautiful.

car looks good nice color

Looking good Tony,

I think remember the car. Is this the one you were trying to sell at one point?

Looking good and can't go wrong with the team you have working on it.

The fabricated valve covers seem to match the intake perfectly.


Vince

Tony,

That was the goal when I was planning the engine in my Cougar. I have a variety of finishes, but the colors are in the same pallet.

Personally, I would have the intake and valve covers medial blasted to give them a soft look and maybe even have them hard anodized. One issue with anodizing is that the base metal and the weld may take the anodizing differently which will result in an inconsistent finish. Although it might actually look cool and accentuate the welds. Food for thought.

Andrew

I may have had the car listed 5-6 years ago, I remember posting all my cars up for sale at the same time, and was looking to sell off at least two of them to pay for my shop. The GTO and '68 Vette were picked first. I likely won't be selling this car, just a childhood dream car of mine, along with my '70 Chevelle.

Similar train of thought. I'm likely going to leave them brushed, but powdercoat them in a transparent finish. Maybe a transparent gray, or I might even consider a dark bronze. I want the entire engine to be a similar color. Will paint the engine block gray, bronze, or silver.

Louvers
 

These would look killer on that orange ... and against that black stripe

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Are those the Eddie Motorsports hood vents? I'd like them with black stacks, but the chrome outer ring.

As always my friend...awesome build. Good to see you back at it with some old school muscle.

Really dig the intake and industrial looking valve covers. Very nice setup on a pretty slick motor. Those stripes are super clean and crisp. Well done.

:captain:

Louvers
 

Nope, sand blasted and powder coated stock louvers with perforated SS inserts.
Ya, if your going chrome accents everywhere else that will look great

Cheers
Steve

Awesome Tony. Car looks great and you did it correctly as usual. The std valve covers look better to me, rather than the tall. Nice engine combo also. I bet it meets your HP goal very easy!

Great project Tony. :thumbsup:

looks great Tony, glad to see you on another project,

Nice, im a big fan of orange and black

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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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Final solution:

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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.

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Finally on the car:

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How she sits today.

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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.

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

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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.

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Another Forgeline just to see color. Transparent Smoke center.

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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... :)