My 73 Camaro
 

Welcome to my 73 Camaro build. I have been a member of the site for 10 years now (!), and finally have some progress worth putting into words. I have loved the idea of pro-touring cars since I first heard about them, and have always loved 2nd gen Camaros, and now I have the opportunity to start building my own "dream" car.

There are a lot of beautiful cars on this site, and this isn't one of them. I really just want a car that I can get in and drive to work in the morning, or take to the store, or drive back to my parent's house in CA without worrying about reliability, mileage, comfort, etc...

It took 3 years, but I just completed my first 400 mile weekend road trip so I know I'm on my way to my goal. The car rode rough, was clunky and rattled, and pretty hot, but all of that can be addressed down the road.

So starting from the start, I found the car on Craigslist, sent my dad and brother to look at it, they thought it looked good enough and bought it.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1793/...86ce0d6f_z.jpgIMG_0255 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/942/4...8908c18e_z.jpgIMG_0256 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1812/...2a75d1f0_z.jpgIMG_0258 by Mike F, on Flickr

I drove down the hill and loaded the car up and brought it up to its new home in Reno.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/933/4...c852aca3_z.jpgIMG_0260 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1833/...b89f84eb_z.jpgIMG_0261 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/942/4...33fcaea8_z.jpgIMG_0269 by Mike F, on Flickr

The car is rough, the quarters need to be replaced, none of the panels are perfectly straight, the wiring was a mess, it's way too low, etc... But it ran and drove ok, so I started patching up some of the issues and doing some basic things to it over the first winter that I had it while driving it around town occasionally.

DSE subframe connectors, DSE subframe bushings, put some RX8 seats in it that are actually bolted to the floor, fixed some wiring, and did some maintenance type stuff like control arm bushings, brakes, new steering box and rebuilt column. Then just drove it occasionally. It ran pretty rich in the altitude here and I never felt like smelling like gas all day at work so the driving was limited. Even then, reliability was iffy including a water pump that sprung a leak 20 miles from home.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/937/4...eedef8c9_z.jpgIMG_0308 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1831/...19330370_z.jpgIMG_0403 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1831/...f4c55d8a_z.jpgIMG_0408 by Mike F, on Flickr

The car was stupid loud with these single chamber mufflers, those were quick to go.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/928/4...883460c2_z.jpgIMG_0406 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/930/4...dc3f66f6_z.jpgIMG_0411 by Mike F, on Flickr

Pulled the doors apart for new hinges and window parts. Cleaned up all the tracks and put new rollers on the glass. Still not happy with the window adjustments and weatherstrip fitment.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/937/3...5729b1e2_z.jpgIMG_1017 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/932/3...dd2776ef_z.jpgIMG_1062 by Mike F, on Flickr

Somehow the trunk latch had been broken, and there was no key for it. So I put an electric trunk latch in its place.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1817/...2c09580b_z.jpgIMG_1837 by Mike F, on Flickr

And the free ride home courtesy of AAA

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/931/2...a39b5dc1_z.jpgIMG_1862 by Mike F, on Flickr

Family, house, savings, etc... all come first, and being the single source of income for the family I kept spending on the car to a minimum. With nothing pressing to spend my bonus from 2017 on I was able to put some of it towards the car. I have wanted to put an LS in a 2nd gen forever and now I had the chance.

I picked up a 5.3L pullout, FiTech Ultimate LS system, Tanks Inc fuel injection tank, and got to work. This is very basic swap by now so I will spare the details, but please feel free to ask about anything if you want more info.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1772/...3dc6b735_z.jpgIMG_2448 by Mike F, on Flickr

Stripped down and cleaned up. Holley oil pan and FiTech intake.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/933/4...bdb67187_z.jpgIMG_2468 by Mike F, on Flickr

I kept the TH350 for now, T56 is the next big project.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1815/...2e8cdf69_z.jpgIMG_2557 by Mike F, on Flickr

Cleaned up the firewall a bit, mostly just welded all the holes shut.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/938/4...9a76a071_z.jpgIMG_2475 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/933/3...089f1ce2_z.jpgIMG_2566 by Mike F, on Flickr

And then it was in. I bought Speed Engineering headers for $190 that fit pretty good between the frame rails. The passenger side O2 bung won't work as it would hit the floor, but the driver side fits good. They hang a little low but for the price I can deal with them.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1840/...a2573e02_z.jpgIMG_2603 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1820/...01aa698b_z.jpgIMG_2777 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1778/...8ac9a254_z.jpgIMG_2779 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/941/4...0af709ac_z.jpgIMG_2785 by Mike F, on Flickr

Griffin dual pass radiator and C6 fan. I'll build a shroud for this later, and I'd like to get it PWM somehow. This has kept the car cool in the 105* heat without a problem. Runs right at 197* when moving, fan kicks on at 205* and it never goes any higher.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1777/...47a089d0_z.jpgIMG_2781 by Mike F, on Flickr

Speed Engineering bracket for PS and Alt, I bought this hoping to use all of the truck accessories, then needed to switch to a LS1 water pump due to intake clearance.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/937/4...6cd5bdba_z.jpgIMG_2780 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1819/...54bb3ff9_z.jpgIMG_2776 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/936/4...36dc71d5_z.jpgIMG_2778 by Mike F, on Flickr
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1795/...515f32d9_z.jpgIMG_2775 by Mike F, on Flickr

After working through some tuning issues and putting a couple hundred miles on it, I drove it back to my hometown for a local car show. Car ran great and, even with the th350, I calculated 18mpg round trip.

So the car will be like this for a couple years likely while I save for a T56.


https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1818/...ed41c493_z.jpgIMG_2743 by Mike F, on Flickr

little bit at a time... I know it well. I'm into my 27th year getting my 71 where I want it...lol

your 73 looks great.

Very nice, Mike! Enjoy the drive.

Very cool! When we force ourselves to think of these things from the perspective of the average person, as opposed to the car-obsessed motorheads that many of us are, the jobs we do are not so simple; this includes the "basic" LS swap. The LS is nothing but (awesome!) contrast to all the crap I used to deal with in the days of carbonators and points--they will never be missed.

As for the T56, I spent a couple hours yesterday obsessing over the concept of the Nissan CD009 transmission as an alternative. You can get one brand new for almost half what a T56 costs, and they are supposed to be pretty stout. The Sloppy Mechanics guy (Matt Happel) has put one in his latest LS project . . .

Thanks for trying to get this site back on track with the excellent DIY hotrod!

Are you going to put a/c on any time soon?
Good looking car.

Probably no for a while. I need to put tires, brakes, and I want to put a T56 in it before I worry about AC. Windows down cruising is fine with me here in the desert.

I almost never use 6th in my T56. I found it on CL and then had it rebuilt by a race shop, its good for 700hp or so.
But the fit is tight, i did'nt tunnel, but have a high speed vibration i haven't been able to find or fix, but that is for 90+.
On the track i've had it up to 126/128 ish, in 4th with 3:73's, 6500rpm, didn't have enough track for 5th. If i had it to do over, i'da looked more into a TKO500 or 600(can't remember the difference between the two.)
Or look into Hurst Driveline conversions (?), i would def go that route for the total package. After doing my whole t-56 conversion, the price was the same as their's but without the driveshaft!

anyways, just my 2 cents. Enjoyed watching your build...mike