Round 2 Pro Touring 69 Camaro
 

Ok, I have been a member since probably 2008 and have never posted. I originally built this car back in 2007 with the intent of selling it to pay off my house. Unfortunately, by the time I got it finished, the housing economic crash halved the values of these builds. Fortunately, by the time I got it finished, I had my house paid off and fell in love with it. So, I kept it! After driving it for 10 Years, two engines,2 transmissions, and 2 interior redesigns, it started to show some signs of wear (Rust, Road rash etc.) The following photos are from the original build and I intend to document the second round of this car's life. I think you will find it interesting as it turned out very nice.
This car has served as a business card for me and enabled me to start a niche restoration/ customization shop. For 13+ years this site has been a constant source of information and ideas and it is time for me to contribute. Sorry it took so long, and I hope you enjoy!

This should be fun, thanks for posting! :thumbsup:

Liking that 59-60 dash a lot.

Also the Zo6 on the tail panel.

Round 2,
 

Widened the rear tubs 3" to allow for the 11x19" wheels. Already had a DSE "style"(as I stole their design and made my own in 07') rear 4 link. Integrated the wide tubs into the coil over pan and narrowed the frame at the rear. I Would later add wider exhaust "bumps" to allow for increased exhaust room, as this was always a problem with this car. 4 links and tail pipes do not get along well. Also added a fuel pump access door that turned out to be needed after a couple of shake down runs!

The park lamps were recessed to make the factory lenses flush. Not intended to be a full custom Frenching, just wanted a subtle recess. Had to build my own stamp press. turned out great, very little body work necessary to finish for paint. The bezels were ceramic coated black.

The front spoiler was hand formed sheet metal of my design. Notice the fog lamps removed and the opening with the "teeth" cut out of 1/4" aluminum. these would be ceramic coated black when finished. The opening was designed around the need for air flow for the intercooler radiator. The bumper bracket openings were tightened up when the car was originally built in 07'.

Round 2
 

This is the rear diffuser idea that I had been tossing around for a couple of years. Actually, went to SEMA in 18' and saw one similar but decided to put a little more character into my design. By far the most ambitious metal project the I had taken on to this point...F'it, jump in!
Photos speak for themselves, measure, cut, fit, repeat. Took a month and half of nights and weekends. Definitely worth it. honed my metal skills and gained confidence in the rest of the build. Another month of body work to finish.
Intended on making a mold of this for a Carbon Fiber piece but later deemed it too challenging for my beginner skills. If anyone knows someeone with these abilities, I would still like to do it.

Round 2
 

More pics of rear diffuser. Playing around with front quarter side scoop as well. Ultimately decided not to do it as I suspect this mod may "Date" the build. Also started on the rear bumper tuck process.

Round 2
 

More pics of rear bumper area. Curled up ends, peaked center, narrowed and frenched the ends. shrank thickness 1/4". Spent an absurd amount of time perfecting gaps. Intended on having them chromed but decided to paint body color at this point. Also intend on making a mold for Carbon Fiber....Someday.

Round 2
 

Front bumper treatment. Cleaned up gaps, narrowed ends, modified brackets for hidden fasteners. Cleaned up the edges of the fenders to fit the bumper better. Didn't go crazy on the super tight gaps as this will be a driver. I have found that chipped paint on gaps looks bad.

Round 2
 

Not a lot of Engine Bay pics, these are all I have during the build. Smooth firewall, Hidden wipers, dual master cylinder/ clutch pedal set up. Fender wells were extended around the a-arms and all holes filled. Fenders were modified in the hood jamb area to remove some of the ugly. Hidden fasteners and privacy panels fabricated to hid hoses and wiring etc. Hood latch area removed in favor of hood pins. Radiator support was hand fabricated and panels were made to hide the radiator/intercooler/condenser setup. Also, handmade a fan shroud with dual fans, and an airbox for fresh air inlet.
Subframe is stock, sort of... cut the engine cradle back 2" to mount the DSE rack and pinion unit. Custom steering arms mount to stock spindles, Wilwood 6 piston brakes, Speed Tech Arms and Viking dual adj. shocks. Cut the sides of the frame to allow for the 9" wide front wheels proper clearance. Both frame horns from the Spring pocket forward are 2x4" steel in order to mount the front sway bar. Very Unconventional but Very functional! Built a frame jig in order to check measurements and ensure proper alignment specs, turning radius and suspension articulation. I went overboard on this as the geometry wasn't ever "right" on the first build. I never liked the turn radius and the bump steer was annoying. All these modifications Made such a big difference on this car, it really handles/steers/corners Awesome! Hard to explain, it just works!
Oh! forgot the best part. 408 LS, Forged internals, Edelbrock Blower, T-56 with Viper internals Hand built headers, Custom exhaust completely Ceramic coated.3" mandrel, x pipe. 12 bolt rear Custom 4 link, rear sway bar and Qa1 coil overs. Estimated 7-800 rwhp

Dayum.........at last somebody did a sympathetic job of those exhaust humps in the trunk. The "normal" way with the sharp, straight fold is just so wrong when it tries to blend with the bigger radii of the trunk floor. Bravo!

Detroit Speed, there's a niche for a better fitting panel.

......and :omg::omg::omg: you just don't give up do you? Fantastic eye for creating those gently curved surfaces everywhere......just perfect. Especially the diffuser.
FWIW I'm an ex-GM designer :_paranoid

I've just done something similar, but way simpler, on my '68. Simpler cos it's my daily but I had a couple weeks lockdown to complete the entire project (radiator under the trunk). Will post a thread one day when I get some decent pics.

Thanks for the thread.

BTW........do u have a pic of the exhaust outlets in the diffuser please?

Liking where this is going !!!

BIG welcome, pretty awesome start for just a few post

Cheers
Steve

Round 2
 

Cut up a perfectly good L-88 hood because I'm stubborn like that. My intent was to make it a shaker style hood (RIP Bandit) but the engine placement and spacing of the scoop didn't want to cooperate. The shaker insert is a plug for a Carbon Fiber piece that I will show later. This is my favorite part of the car and looks fantastic while driving. Cut my teeth on using an English wheel that I purchased just for this purpose. Amazing the number of subtle curves and bends necessary to make these custom pieces look right on these old designs.
Ironically very few people notice this modification. I guess this is a compliment.
Also found a photo of the diffuser ready for paint.

Round 2
 

Here is the Carbon mold project. Sorry for the lack of photos but this is idea. It looks pretty easy, eh? NOT so, huge learning curve! This is attempt#4. Buried it in clearcoat and sanded out the imperfections. I always thought that Carbon was unrealistically priced until I did it myself.... I get it now. Attempted to make front and rear bumpers and have since abandoned this venture, for now at least.
Only have after photos of the flush mount glass. This is not as easy as "they" make it sound. Definitely not a throw in deal! I have seen cars with the glass installed to factory bodies and the fit isn't right. I had to add metal to the sides and top of the body at the front, also added metal to the top of each fender as well as the cowl panel. The rear took careful massaging of all 4 corners. As my application was a "floating" glass set up, I had to make the entire jamb smooth and paint ready since your eye will carry into the gaps. Also needed to build spacing pads to get the glass to lay correctly relative to the body. It took two tries for the front and three for the rear. I'm no Dave Kindig but I think it turned out nicely.

Round 2
 

Here I started cleaning up the underneath of the car. Sprayed the floor with a bed Liner, repainted the rear end after narrowing it for the wider wheels. This is my rendition of a DES design 4 link. Sorry DSE, we all have to work within budgets! Upgraded to their sway bar though. Wilwood rear brakes work quite nicely. The cast aluminum pan stopped that pesky 80/90 drip.
Just a respray of the dash. The dash was pulled out of a 59 Impala from a tree line in north east Kansas. The top half is original metal narrowed in the middle. The lower half was formed over a welding tank and I used exhaust tubing for the heating vents. I believe I used Billet specialties vents and Classic Industries gauges. This dash has been in the car since 2012 and the gauges were just offered the month before I ordered them. I really dodged a bullet on that one as I hadn't looked for gauge options before I installed the dash. I kind of wished that I would have left the glove box door as it is a nightmare to access the right side of the dash for wiring and A/C box purposes. Looks good though.
Threw in a couple pics of the new rear wheels mocked up and looking sexy!

Round 2
 

Miscellaneous body work photos. Cleaning up all the gaps and edges. Releaded the quarter seams and A-pillar. Notice the lower ground effect as well. At this point I was unsure if they would look right. Seemed to make the car look too thick. I later decided to paint the lower effects Flat metallic black. This made them less dominate visually and really add to the overall look of the car. My trip to SEMA back in 18' was spent researching wheel and tire sizes. My conclusion was that 20" wheels were just too large for what I was building. After 3 days of photos and arguing with my buddies, as I was leaving the main hall, there at the entrance was a beautiful orange 69 with 19" rears and 18" fronts...Perfect!
So, after weeks of constant measuring and discussions with Billet Spec., 18x9 fronts and 19x11 rears were decided on. Yes, I could have squeezed 12" rears in there but at this price point, I just wasn't comfortable making a mistake. I'm old and conservative, I guess.
The floor was sprayed with a Ceramic sound deadener as was the trunk.

:king:

This sucker is coming along great!!

Round 2
 

Alright, now were getting somewhere! This is my specialty. Candy apple red sprayed over a black base, 6 coats of clear. Deep and sexy! 12-hour day in the spray booth, worth every second.

I really like the designs you've incorporated in the car. Great job. Gorgeous color! Thanks for sharing.

Round 2
 

Upholstery is my great white whale. I'm not the best at it but I love trying.
I built the door panels when I installed the dash back in 12'. Using faux leather may not sound exotic, but it sure holds up better than leather. The seats are from a 17' Caddy XT5, I had to do some modifying of the floor in order to get them to fit right. I am 6'4" so I basically built this whole interior around me. Notice how far back the 8-way seats go...Awesome! Sick of having my head hit the headliner and knees bowing out over the console, who needs a back seat, my kids are grown up anyway. Rear seat area was extended with a "waterfall console" and used the basic rear seat foam from the caddy as well. A LOT of fitting, filling, and supporting of these pieces to make them right. Probably should have just started from scratch with bulk foam...live and learn. Thanks to Nick at High Torque Racing Upholstery shop, He did an excellent job matching the leather design on the fronts! Good friends are priceless! The seats are real leather, have to treat them often to keep them soft. Notice the back package tray, sweated over this design for a week, scrapped three other designs half way through. Much wasted material on my floor. Center console remained from the previous build, had to remake the top plate as I moved the engine /trans foreword an inch rendering the shifter bezel useless. Thanks to Leroy Hicks for cutting the shift bezel out for me. I draw a design on graph paper and email it to him, He cuts it on his waterjet table. He also made my throttle cable bracket and steering arms. The guy is awesome and really takes care of me.
One more thing, bead rolled a line in the aluminum sail panels, it's so subtle that I forgot about it. These details where no notices are what makes a car special, IMHO.

Round 2
 

A few Pics of the details.

Round 2
 

Well, here she is. Couple things I forgot. The rear spoiler is where it all started, fiberglass piece of my own design. Love it! This all snowballed from here.
All the chrome pieces were bead blasted and ceramic coated flat black.
I have had this car out since last summer and have been teaching myself HP Tuners, runs like a striped ass ape! after a broken tie rod end, a junk fuel pump and a little trouble with one of the rear brakes, I can finally say it is done!
Handles like it's on rails, turning radius is tight, hooks as well as can be expected, no annoying rattles or wind noises. Very well sorted out car.
This is one good thing that came out of the COVID era, had plenty of extra time to finish it up!
I hope I did this site some justice. Like I said, this is my first post, not even sure if the format is right. Feel free to ask any questions. Hope you enjoy!

Round 2
 

A few I forgot

Very nice...I like it!!

beauty...
 

Great build I really like the rear deck spoiler/defuser you've put together as well as the front spoiler.All around great looking car!

Where does one get a diffuser to start with? is there one out there that is close to fitting and just needs some tweaks? 68 CAmaro

All the ones that I have seen are custom.

Vey well done. Color choices are excellent. So nice to see something different in a pro-touring build, with color. The rear of the car is amazing. I appreciate a build that’s done by the owner, and you’ve done a great job. Only issue I have is that you need to post more.

what are your tire sizes?regards

I love a lot of things you did on it, Very nice!

This is probably a really dumb question, but could you tell me where you found these lights? I've been searching "footwell lighting" and similar terms and keep coming up with obnoxious LED strips from the import crowd. Trying to just find some reasonably-sized fixtures to add a little bit of light when the doors are open. Thanks!

Very nice build!

I think these are it. They come in black or natural finish

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-PC-Billet...-127632-2357-0

hah; I never thought to search for dome lights. Thanks!

Got them from Speedway motors in Nebraska