71 camaro

[mad68rs]

It’s been a long time, and a lot has changed. This project has taken much longer than I thought it would originally. This is probably due to two things: going to school full time to be a mechanical engineer, and saving up enough money to finish the car. I calculated that I would finally have enough money to finish the car right before I would be transferring from my junior college. I would also not be taking summer sessions at school for once, so I would have more spare time to work on the car. The plan was made to finish the car before I moved away to college.

I lost a lot of photos on my old computer when it quit on me. I will try my best to document what was done on the project. I did everything on this car myself.

The car got a full hotchkis suspension and baer brakes.

I’m currently a mechanical engineering student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I’m on the Formula SAE team at school. It’s a cool project, and we will be using a 450cc single cylinder turbo charged engine running on e85.

This where I started in the summer:

Painted the firewall and the bottom of the car



Getting the rearend squared away:






Painted the engine:

Lots of orange


Front Clip:



IMG]http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b581/mdutra34/12-7-12CarDoc044.jpg[/IMG]


Engine in:

Can't believe I don't have more pictures of it going in.

[mad68rs]

Put in a Mark VIII fan:




I've since changed those bolts on the water pump pulley.

Fabricated a Cover: I dont have a picture with it completed though and painted.



Fabricated a coil mount:




Dakota Digital Guages:



Exhaust System I fabricated:
I had to MIG wed everything because I can't afford a TIG machine, I do know how to tig weld.






Took the car on it's first drive around the block:



My parents who have been very gracious letting me take up the garage besides being great parents.



My dad and I



Test fitting all the panels and the car before I blew it apart for paint:

[coolwelder62]

Lookin good.Mig welds are ok for exhaust work.

[mad68rs]

I painted the car myself in my home garage. These are few pictures after paint. First time I painted a car.





Sadly this is where the project stopped before I had to leave for college. I lost about a month of my summer vacation time because of a surgery I had to have to remove all my wisdom teeth and school obligations.

I just completed my first quarter at Cal Poly and will be going home in about a week after I complete some work on the Formula SAE project. I will then have about two weeks to hopefully finish the car and bring it with me to Cal Poly.

I'm near the end of this project and because I have been removed from it, I tend to reflect on it more. I have a lot of project seperation anxiety. I have learned a lot from this project. I honestly don't think my father thought I would finish this car, or make it this far when I first started the project. He didn't even trust me to work on his car lol. He has never taken on a project of this scope, and hasn't done many of things I've done on this project. Because I wanted to prove I could do it to him, I told him not to touch my car lol. As the project went on, he became a believer and has been very supportive. We have grown a lot closer because of our love for cars. I hope that we can complete a project together someday from start to finish.

I was in high school when I found this site and began reading about Mark Stielow. I was inspired by his builds and his job. I think that's what has inspired me to build my own camaro and go school for mechanical engineering. I've really enjoyed it.

I would also like to thank the members on here that have documented their builds, modifications, and answered questions. I have learned directly and vicariously through your efforts, and a lot of this may not have happened without you.

[mad68rs]

Originally Posted by coolwelder62

Lookin good.Mig welds are ok for exhaust work.

Thank you very much. I have enjoyed many of your builds by the way.

[WSSix]

Looks great, congrats! Good luck with school.

[glassman]

Very well done. Love the color too.

[mad68rs]

Thanks guys!

[NOPANTS68]

Bitchin car. Love the engine choice and the colors. Doing it all yourself is huge and you deserve that great payoff that's right around the corner. Congrats.

[intocarss]

^^^^^What he said ^^^^^

Plus we will need video