Body dropped 69
 

Hey guys decided to start a new thread on my Camaro as it's taken a new direction after being half done twice now. It's on the right track and hopefully we can continue with the momentum we're on.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...9/DSC03718.jpg


I bought it about 6 years ago from a guy in Colorado who assured me it was all good. No rust etc freshly built 572 Donovan blah blah blah. Turns out the motor was junk. #7 piston was toast and all the bores heavily scored. Ended up selling it. Oh and no visual rust, just nicely hidden with bog and fibreglass!! Lesson learnt.

It sat in the shed for about a year before I decided what to do and what parts etc to use.

The car was started by a shop in the US and had a rear chassis clip which upon inspection looked pretty ordinary. So the decision was made to cut everything out and start again with stock floors with deeper tubs. Sold off what parts I could.

Ended up getting into contact with Jay at Speedtech and ordering a complete Track Time suspension kit along with Bear brakes , Auto Rad new floors and rails and a host of other parts.

It sat for another year or so before I got stuck into getting the new floors and tubs done. Completed this at home in the shed with the help of a panel beater. All looking good I eventually got it back on it's wheels some 2 years or so later and that's when it went down hill.

I sent it off to a so called "professional" to get the car nearing completion. Flat firewall, mount column, pedals and finish any fab work that was needed. Well the guy did a poor job and after telling me he had sold his shop and closed his business I was told to come pick up the car.

Got it back in my shed and it became apparent that I'd been taken for a ride. I was probably more disappointed in myself than anything for not being on the ball from day one when I sent it to him.

Moving along, my mate Cheyne Speak stepped up to the plate and got involved. We came up with a game plan and got started.

Started on a flat firewall and when that was 90% done stood back and decided we needed to make this different to the other 69 Camaros around town. Right then and there it was decided to body drop it. We removed to subframe mounts lowered the coilovers as much as possible and removed the rear coilovers to get it diff on chassis. This gave us a rocker height of about 100mm which will be ride height.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps8ll08qoi.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psyibzgfgy.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps1z7ackam.jpg


http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psyl19f2bn.jpg

Sooo back on the phone to Jay to order all new floors and rails. Picked these up a couple months ago and began the work.

Chopped out all the old new floors and began the body drop. Raised them about 60mm from original height. We also decided to straighten out the rails to avoid doing the notch in them when fitting larger tubs. They still mount in the factory location at the front.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psflyfjmwm.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psv5q5ehvo.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psvirnlvtu.jpg


http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psr98nd7ei.jpg


So that pretty much brings it up to date. Floors are in final position. Will be sacrificing head room but have a few ideas to get us the room needed. Cheyne is working this week on the new tubs which we have lifted about 70mm from stock height to get us the clearance needed above the wheels. Next week will be onto filler sections between the inner section od the rockers and floor and also to weld up the rails.

As it sits the subframe is above the pinch weld on the floor with the body mounts in place. Trunk floor is raised a bit but this can be lowered back down between rails to give more room. Outsides will be boxed in to house the battery on one side and tool kit on the other.

Once all the structural mods are finished we will then begin the wide body on the front guards. This is necessary to give us turning circle without front wheels rubbing. We are working on a 50mm wide body.

More pics later in the week.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps6myafe13.jpg

Quick run down of the specs so far:

LS engine possibly LS3
T56
Speedtech track time suspension
Bear brakes 14" front 6p
Baer brakes 13" rear 6p
CCW 18x12 and 18x9
BFG KDW 335 and 285
Ididit column
Wilwood pedal set
Wilwood masters
Billet reservoirs
4" carbon tailshaft
Autorad radiator
Push button start

That's all I have as of now. Will need to get seats and rails soon so we can start on them. Fuel tank will more than likely be custom built. Dash will be fabricated and covered as I'm going to RHD and will most likely be a Racepak display. Pretty sure the orange paint will be going too. No idea on colour yet but I am liking these battleship grey colours that have been getting around.

Cheers

Luke

Kinda cracks me up when an Aussie does things to make his first gen Camaro different from others around town. You ought to try that here, mate! :thumbsup:

Although what you're doing on your build would certainly stand out here in the states anyway.

How long does it take to get parts shipped, like your brakes? Does it have to go through customs and all that? I would think it sure would encourage planning things out well in advance. Here we're a bit spoiled - we can order things by Tuesday and they arrive on the doorstep in time for the weekend.

Love what you've done and the direction you're headed.

Cheers mate. I hear ya on that front. Not trying to reinvent the wheel just trying to be lower than ones getting around here. I think we managed that haha.

Shipping parts by sea takes about 2-3 months. By air usually about 5-7 days parts can be on your doorstep from time of order so pretty good. Just expensive.

Cheers

Outer tubs starting to take shape. Made these so we could get maximum clearance at the top outer edge as the stock ones roll in too much. Should have these completed with inners welded on in the next day or so.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psjmgur78f.png

Need to shorten the diff about 20mm each side as we are a bit tight for room now it's so low. Will give us about 10mm clearance at full travel.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psxebg70ro.jpg

Nice metalwork and fabrication skills.

Are you going to be able to turn at that height with the front inner fenders you're designing? From the angle of the photos it doesn't appear you have much turning radius.

I'm with you, I don't see how he will have any room.

To each his own though!

Sorry should have mentioned they are the outer rear tubs just sitting on front wheels for the pic.

Aaaahhh!!! THAT makes more sense. I was wondering why they were shaped so oddly and I could still see a bit of the inside tire. Hahaha.

Is this a pure race car? You must have amazing roads in Australia!

Andrew

Street car. Why do you ask that regarding our roads? It has full suspension travel and 100mm ground clearance so it actually has more clearance than just a normally lowered Camaro.

Great to see it moving forward, again, again.

Haha I see what you did there! Yep it's on the move and hopefully can keep on track and get it finished. No more deviations. Quick question for you Blake. Can I run a 7" back space on the front without any clearance issues such as rubbing on subframe or hitting sway bar?

One hundreds mm of ground clearance won't make it in a parking lot with speed bumps...at least in the US...

Andrew

Speaksy got a bit more done this week. Rear outer tubs finished up with 5mm rod welded on outside lip.

Pie cuts in rails all welded up and put a small notch in rails too. Welded in a sleeve where the bolt location is on the front hanger for link arms. This will allow us to be able to remove the arms without the need to remove leaf spring pocket too. Will weld pocket to the floor once in final position.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psiujp14ol.jpg


http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...pswmglj1vh.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psvm2tjsnx.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psi9ezasnr.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps17vbdddy.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps8wp5r5w3.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psjhqzxowe.png

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psfg4hy7cg.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psu4dkl0f1.jpg

Very interesting build, looking forward to seeing the progress with this one!

It looks great! More pictures please?

Time for a bit of an update!! Speaks has been putting in some good hours lately and finished of the tubs. They were quite a big job in the end. About 12 pieces and 6m of tig weld in each!! Tubs are sitting about 70mm higher than standard.

They are welded in place now along with the rails in their final place too. Have removed the rear leaf spring section and lengthened them to meet up with a new rear section running on the inside of the beaver panel.

He also made up a simple bracket to connect the hinge to the tub. Simple but neat.

Fabbed up a killer coilover crossmember with his 1mm plasma cutter (grinder and disk). This was crucial to allow the coilover the height needed to maintain the ride height. Pretty happy with his efforts here.

Here are some progress pics.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psxdvatunv.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...pshroblflr.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps2mqrjcz4.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psuzi4h6os.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psf6eqg4wv.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psxdvatunv.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psseknz10c.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps9w14nw8v.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps472orh8c.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psabpg5sh0.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psubwgdmlm.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psjfsatutu.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psvuknlpii.png

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psej39wn4r.jpg


Cheers

Looking good!

Cheers Dave. It's getting there slowly but that's ok. Hopefully get it back rolling by the end of the year.

Nice job on the Shock mount, Heck on everything your doing!

Beautiful!

Hey guys time for a small update. Speaksy has been putting in as many hours as he could and we managed to get the Camaro back on it's wheels just before xmas which was where we wanted to be time wise so happy with that. Progress is going pretty good.

It rolls 20mm from ground to sills with full clearance in tubs at rear. Obviously still need to do the wide guards on the front for turning clearance but if I was to put it on shockwaves I could drive it this low. Ride height will still be around 80-100mm for street duties on coilovers.

Sills have been boxed in to the pinch weld with 3mm steel. Subtle mod that I think makes a huge difference. You would really have to look for it to notice anything was done.

Tunnel has been made and clecoed in place. It's 50mm higher than standard right the way front to back. That will be welded in place in the next week as well as the floor filler sections on the inside where the raised floor meets the sill.

New real panel made and clecoed in place. Will bead roll this to give it strength as well as make up a new parcel shelf.

Construction of dash will begin in the next couple of weeks as well as mount column and pedals.

Anyway here are some pictures of the progress.

Cheers.

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psjxiouvlg.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps9womhqrm.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psw9fjyef9.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps9yej4qv7.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psnihxtzur.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...pscfxbexes.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psttwrtqxk.jpg

Just mfn insane :thumbsup:

Doesn't matter how many times i see this thing sitting on the ground I drool everytime....

Just flat out badass bro. I've bodydropped numerous trucks and had thought about it for my 69. Makes we wish I had. Nice work. Can't wait to see the final product. What you gonna run for air suspension?

Thanks Zoomin.

Says the guy with two killer cars in his shed haha

Cheers mate. Running coilovers at this stage. Haven't decided if I want to run bags yet. If I do decide on air suspension it will be Shockwaves controlled by Accuair.

Couple more pics. Firewall is 100% finished now. Speaksy also made up some nice fender mounts as the old ones wouldn't work with the body drop. I think these are a bit better!!

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps72j2cbka.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psmpm7fm3j.jpg

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/z...psbtcmgaw3.jpg

That's what I'm rolling. Shockwaves and AccuAir. Not done buying parts yet but that's my plan. Just sexy I tell ya

/\ /\ /\ Me too. I had issues with the RT ECU so moved to Accuair - works great with their elevel.

Now I just need to switch over to their new endo-cvt tank set up with the integrated pump when it comes out this summer.

They sure make some slick stuff!

This car is wicked!!! Love how you've made is so low.

Your build is top notch man.

Since the steering is going to be on the right side, make sure you swap the speedtech motor stands. The taller one should be installed on the driver side and the shorter stand to be on the passenger side. By swaping the stands, the engine will move by 3/4" to the passenger side to clear the rack and pinion.

Thanks Tim. It's certainly not what I pictured a few years ago.

Cheers man. Yep came across this problem a few weeks ago. We were going to make some new mounts to centre engine but may not be able to. Mounting steering this week so will know in the next week or so.