69 Camaro - JKnight
 

Intro - I've been around the scene a long time but have never really shared much about my project. There's a lot of reasons for that. One, I don't have a lot of great parts or skilled work to show off. Two, getting through my twenties and the great life events that go with it have often put a stranglehold on the budget. Lastly, the work I have done since acquiring the car in high school (1999) has been mostly bolt on/parts replacement type work.

History - the car was restored and heavily modified in 1983. All of the paint and body is as it was completed at that time. Here's a pic of the prior owner with it at the Car craft nationals around that time, I believe.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...ds/image-1.jpg

Here's one from high school.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/69Camaro.jpg

Current status- The car is 97% assembled and roadworthy, but that 3% is a real issue. The body has issues, no way else to describe it. I'll get into the details of that later. My guess is that every piece of sheet metal from the doors back will need to be replaced at some point.

The goal - I'd like to get the car roadworthy and use it on the street on nice days. Auto crossing is a possibility but not a huge priority.

Here's some recent (and some not so recent)pictures. These were before I lowered the rear with new springs and added the watts link:
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...90909-1909.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...scarSept07.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...wSept20072.jpg
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...ds/image_4.jpg

Ever since I've owned the car, it's had a recurring theme of electrical issues, mostly confined to the charging and ignition systems. As a result, one of my latest projects was to rewire the car from the firewall forward. I went with some components from MAD electrical as it would allow me to leave everything from the firewall back in tact. The way I look at it is I'll give this a shot and if I still have issues, everything will come out and replaced with an AAW classic update.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...ds/image_9.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...ds/image_5.jpg

Let me start off by saying, I'm open to any and all feedback or advice. I'm a finance guy and fully understand that, like Greg, I have tools and one day hope to learn how to use them. So here's my current dilemma...the trunk floor is totally shot. This includes the mounts for the tank straps and the area where the battery currently resides.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...ds/image_6.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...ds/image_3.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...ds/image_1.jpg

So, without revealing my own thoughts on the issue, what do you guys think should be the next corse of action based on what you can see here?

I acquired two new frame rails as the originals both have some rust issues or extra holes and it's apparent the driver side rail received some "adjustment" at some point. I've been putting together a project plan and will post it soon to get feedback and so it can serve as a table of contents for this phase of the build.

I also have new tailpan supports and mini tubs since I'd probably better do that while I'm in there.

I'm lined up to take my Sabbatical from work for the entire month of April 2016. The plan is to spend the time getting the car out of the "jackstand class" and driving again.

Biggest item on the list, and where I need the most advice, is replacing the frame rails and trunk pan. From my Lat-G crew, I'd love to hear any advice on the best way to go about accomplishing these tasks. I bought a good set of spot weld cutters and I'm ready to tear into it, but any tips or even detailed instructions would be welcome!

Jeff I have no advice to give on how to accomplish this, but it's one of those things that is highly rewarding when the job is completed. Post tons of pictures and ask plenty of questions. You know the crew will jump in and offer input.

Have Fun!! :weld:

Wow. I have seen you driving around my neighborhood in that car. I have actually seen you and car on my street...lol. It certainly does sound good. I wish I had some advice for you but I'm sure there is a ton of people with advice here for you. Good luck with it. I hope to see more of it.

Thanks Curtis. I don't really know what I'm doing but I don't mind too much. I haven't known anything going into any other project I've done with this car in the last 15 years so why should this be any different? I'll definitely be taking pictures and posting as I go along.

I guess where I'm a little hung up is the big picture order of operations.

Right now I'm thinking:
Disassembly; Cut out trunk pan; Install minitubs, Install trunk pan (don't weld to old rails); R&R Drivers Rail, R&R Passenger Rail, reassembly.

I figured it's probably a good idea to never have both rails out of the car at once.

Really? Must have been a while ago. Poor car hasn't run in over 5 years. We bought and moved into our house in 2011 and everything car related was out-prioritized by house stuff.

Many have tried... many have filed! LOL

Seriously, good luck with it and post it all up!

:cheers: