tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Great job on the wiper switch. The back glass looks good. You are moving right along and will be road worthy before you know it. Still no black marks???

Jimbo1367

Good idea on the wiper switch. I'm glad you did your glass and documented it. Good thing this won't be street driven, I'd be affraid someone would steal it after all the hard work you are putting into it. Where did you say you live again? LOL

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks man. Yeah, no marks yet, but I promise I'll get ya some soon. That is.....if this pig can do it. Maybe I'll have to wait till it rains.

Thanks Jim. But make no mistake....this car will be driven on the street.....I just won't be parked on the street!

coolmarocrzy

iTrader: (11)

Holy crap my eyes burn from reading through all 22 pages in the last hour, but it was well worth it! Great info and pics, keep them coming!

Jimbo1367

Oh...... I thought .this was a strip car only.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks man. I'm glad you enjoyed my thread enough to look through the whole thing. Stay tuned and I'll keep it coming.

Yeah Jim, I can see why you would think that. My emphasis for this car is drag strip performance. But I dont' think I'll ever own a car I can't drive on the street. That just isn't my cup of tea. I'm not saying it'll be an innerstate cruiser by any stretch of the imagination......but it will be streetable.

I saved yesterday's updates to combine with today's since yesterday was a fairly lazy day. But as it turns out, today was an even more lazy day, so not a whole lot got done. Yesterday I spent a little time polishing up the chrome heads of my rear bumper bolts with a Dremel and some Mother's polish. Then I re-attached my newly painted bumper brackets to the rear bumper. I probably should have coated the back side of the bumper with POR-15 to discourage the little bit of rust I have going on back there, but I guess I can pull it back off and do it some other day when I've got nothing better to do. It should be perfectly fine for now.



Then I installed my newly painted license plate bracket and license plate, followed by the bumper. The location of my battery tray in the trunk proved to be a little problematic for accessing and installing the passenger side bumper bolts from inside the trunk, so I had to remove the tail light assembly to gain access to them. I guess it would have been a little more "ceremonious" if I would have saved the license plate as the very last part to be bolted on before the first full test drive.......but oh well, this makes things look a little more complete.





Next I moved on to the dash bezel. Since I had all the gauges out from building my wiper switch mounts earlier, I took the opportunity to give the aluminum a quick polish followed by some wax to try and keep the finger print tarnish marks to a minimum. Then I reinstalled all of the gauges and made an attempt at cleaning up my home made wiring harness by wrapping it in electrical tape and labeling the wires with my wife's label maker.



Today I finished off a little wiring inside of the car (trans brake, trans temp gauge, and dash lights) and temporarily reinstalled the dash panel. I also took the time to label all of the wires going to my lower switch panel as well since all of those wires are either red or black.



Once the gauge bezel was in place I pulled the car out into the street and tested the function of the trans brake and the MSD box's 2-step feature for the first time. So far so good on all of that stuff, but despite all the time I spent labeling gauge panel wires, I managed to cross the fuel level gauge and trans temp gauge sensor wires. The reading from the trans temp sending unit must have been too much for the fuel gauge to handle. It buried the needle way past full and now that I've switched the wires back to their proper locations, it'll no longer read any fuel in the tank. The trans temp gauge is giving me reading that I think are accurate, but I'm not sure I fully trust it just yet. Oh well.....ya live and learn (to pay attention).

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Now thats badass!!! My first 69 Camaro was primed in black and I loved it!

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks dude! I'm thinking I may never paint this car. I've always dug the flat black look on muscle cars and this one is really starting to come together now that I'm bolting some shiney stuff on it. I MAY finish the body work someday and just respray another coat of epoxy on it, but for now I kinda like it's "I don't care f#@k how I look" attitude with all it's dents and holes. I started out wanting a really nice (paint and body) street/strip car but it's evolving into more of a clean but rough brawler.

Oh, and I really did try to get you some black marks today but my street is the most hatefull excuse for blacktop I've ever seen. It's more like tar with volcanic rock stuck to it. I can spin em just fine but all it does is cheese grates the tires and digs little pebbles up off the road. No real marks to speak of.

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

No worries on the black marks! Wait till it goes to the strip and the 1/8 mile John Force burnout will suffice.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Can do!

MillsMotorvation

Dang Ive missed a lot, you have been really getting it done! Track time soon?

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks man, but I've actually slacked off a lot lately. I haven't touched the car since the end of May, so it's been almost a month now. I took a few weeks of vacation out of town from the 1st-15th of June. Then, when I got back to AZ, this damn wildfire was burning out of control and threatening our house and Fort Huachuca where I work. So, I've been working pretty much non-stop since getting home from vacation. This is actually my first real day off since then and of course it's 101 outside and 92 in my garage. So, I hope to maybe get out there and get a few small things done after the sun goes down, but I won't be moving very fast.

There's still a lot left to do and limited time to do it in, so my current goal is to be able to drive the car and possibly take it down the track by October. Of course it will still be in primer with no body work done, but I at least hope to be able to drive it and start working out the bugs. Keep checking back. I hope to have some sort of progress to report soon, but the pace will certainly slow down with this heat!

Razor

Car is looking good. I hope to start my LS swap when I get back to Tucson if my the checkbook allows!

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Seems you have been busy! Its always a toss up with time and money on these projects. You have the money then time is an issue, if you have the time money is the issue. Its been that way for me for the past 17 years since owning my car. Good luck to you I am sure it will be all you want it to be when the time is right.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks Razor. What is your LS going into? Just like most things with cars, the checkbook always gets a vote! Good luck.

Yeah man....real busy for sure. But I probably needed a break from the car anyway. Money and time.......time and money.....always a conflict.

Well, despite the heat, I went out for a few hours yesterday and today worked on the car for the first time in nearly a month. I managed to get the entire lower dash reinstalled and everything (wiring and vaccum) hooked back up. Since the ciggarette lighter was on the dash bezel from the factory (right about where my transbrake button is now) I relocated it under the dash, just beneath my switch panel. I don't smoke, but I wanted to maintain the 12V outlet for things like the voltmeter that's plugged in there now, or possibly a portable wideband for tuning in the future.

ls68firebird

Man i like this car. My daughter wants her car a flat or satin black. you're not that far from me. when you get it done, i would love to bring my daughter down and show her that car if it's alright. but i will say it again, Man i like this car!

Razor

Going into this...

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks a lot for the compliment. Where in AZ are you? Depeding on your definition of "done", that day may never come......LOL......but you're certainly welcome to come by and check out the car anytime you'd like. Every October there is a big car show (well....big for here) in Sierra Vista called "Cars in the Park". My goal is to have the car assembled and road-worthy enough to drive it to that show. I won't be entering in the show, but I'd still like to drive over there in the Camaro. Maybe if you haven't had a chance to come by before then, Cars in the Park would be a good excuse for a trip to Sierra Vista.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Very nice! I guess a closer look at your sig would have answered my question, but a picture is worth a 1000 words. Good luck witht the swap!

Wire guy

I have to say I am pissed. I have been following this build and love it. I love 2nd gens and the flat black with new wheels and tires is kickkin. What I am pissed about is you show us pics of the new tail pipes and don't include a video of how the car sounds with the pipes. Come on man you killing me give me some sound and when you rev it leave the camera about 15 feet behind the car not 3 like most people so we can hear it without pegging the mic levels in the camera.

Thanks for your cooperation,
Doug