My first car (a long overdue project)

[JDODDS187]

Let me start at the beginning, I bought this car (My first car) when I was 18, on December 7 1991.







(1991) It had a 327 (four bolt main not sure what it originally came out of) and a TH400. about a month after I bought it I had a bigger cam put in it along with some better heads (2.02/1.60 valve and 64cc) and a aluminum high rise intake, factory GM off an early vette, and replaced the quadrabomb with a holley 650 double pumper. That lasted about 2 years till I blew out the bottom end and ruined the block and heads, about this time I had my first son and this was my daily driver and all I could afford to do was to put a 305 out of a 77 camaro just to get me back and forth "For now"...

(2001) By this time I now Had 2 kids and the Camaro took a back seat to more pressing matters.By this time the TH400 gave way to a TH350 (out of the same 77 Camaro) and I had just put in a brand new crate 350 from GM. Still a daily driver and Not much else has been done to it other than a disc brake upgrade, and polygraphite body mount and suspension bushings.

(2003) I finally break down and buy a new car in order to park the Camaro and really go to town on it. and this is how it sat till 2015.....

[JDODDS187]

(2015) Day one: By this time the car had become little more than a storage shelf and my garage just became a catch all. so after two weekends of cleaning and organizing got it up on some W10x33 I Beam stands I made. I am currently working 6 days a week so this will be a slow process.

[JDODDS187]

The tear Down: I brace up the trunk and interior with some .120 wall square tube, I will be attaching it to a rotisserie and I don't want to risk any flexing











Building my own rotisserie

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[JDODDS187]

[JDODDS187]

My harbor freight sand blaster, Does an okay job, not really great for this big of project I came to discover







I did discover more rust than I would have liked, at one point in this cars life it had a left rear quarter re skinned and not a very good job at that, lots of gaps where water had leaked and rotted out panels (some due to bad weather stripping too)

[JDODDS187]

Now with the trunk floor swiss cheese and wanting mini tubs I decided to just so a new complete trunk floor and buy a pre-notched one at that. UPS Day !!!






the trunk floor and outer wheel houses are from Classic industries and Mini Tubs Detroit Speed. RH wheelhouse I can already see a bit of an issue with the fit. On initial fit up found the issue was with the outer not the Detroit speed peice, Left side went together effortlessly.

[JDODDS187]

On to the body cart after I came to the conclusion that my sandblaster isn't enough to even get through the seam sealer and most if not all the rusted panels were going to be replaced, I did how ever finish up the sub frame and the under side, I will do the inner part of the quarters once I remove the old quarter panels. and just the rest as I go along, mean while i will use a wire wheel and air sander on the areas that I'm working on as I go.



Got it on the body cart and square and level, then realizes that I'm not at the ride height, was so concerned about square and level that that slipped by......

Back to cutting :

[JDODDS187]

Turns out this trunk floor wasn't notched deep enough,





at this point I'm wishing I would have just done a patch to the bat part of the trunk floor. Live and learn

[FLYNAVY53]

awesome build...even better story to go with it! Whats the end game plan?

[JDODDS187]

Originally Posted by FLYNAVY53

awesome build...even better story to go with it! Whats the end game plan?

Well, my end game is basically a cruiser that will hold its own in autocross, I have friends that do a lot of autocross and would like to do more than sit on the sidelines.

As far as what the plan is:

Drive train: Going with an LS, will most likely be a pullout that I will build, it will most likely be a truck pull out 6.0l. Trans will probably be a four speed simply due to the fact I work with a ton of dirt track racers and M-21 and M-22s are common with them and I can probably do some horse trading. T-56 might be in the future but who knows.

Rear Suspension: I will be doing a 3-link and watts link in the rear, I will be building it myself. I have build many components over the years for friends and have access to all the equipment between work and home. working a deal for a 9" at the moment in trade for the TH350 that I pulled out.

Front Suspension: So far not sure, I still need to do my homework. I'm probably just going to fix the geometry on the stock sub frame with changing control arms and going to coilovers. I have not settled on any one kit, it would have to be one that allows wider front wheels (10").

Chassis / Body: I will be tying the sub frame of course, Roll cage will most likely be nothing too major, no 12 point. Paint will most likely be black ( although over the years I have been all over the place with ideas) I seen this car and other than the wheels I think this is what I'm going for. I would like a mix of modern and classic styling.



as far as wheels probably rallies



Interior: Possibly red leather to look like the factory deluxe option. But that may rest on what color I decided on.