70 Camaro LS1 build thread
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 84
Likes: 2
From: Springdale, AR
70 Camaro LS1 build thread Bought a 1970 camaro roller a few weeks back to build for my son. It is pretty rough. Quarter panels are rusted through on both sides and the rear floor pans were gone.
What it looked like when i took it home. Rusty, torn apart, no motor or trans. Most interior missing.
Threw it together to get a good idea of what needs done and get to work. I replaced the rear floor pans and patched a few other places and went ahead and replaced the subframe bushings.
The plan was to piece it together over the next 5 years when I find good deals on stuff. While looking for an engine I came across a 2000 trans am. Well it was owned by a very regular customer of mine(I am an automotive painter) and he cut me a "deal of a lifetime." The car has 219k on it, the engine runs but sounds like hell and needs rebuilt, auto trans no problems. Everything else on the car is great. Ready for what I paid for it? $800.
Swapping the engine, trans, rear end, brakes, seats, center console(converting to floor shift and hand park brake)
Already finished fabrication bracketry for the back seats. The seat back still folds down like in the TA. Welded in supports for shoulder belt mounting. The driver seat is not in position in these pictures, it is just sat in there. I had the interior mocked up with the carpet, center console, and everything else but forgot to take pictures. This is as far as I have gotten in the 2 months I have owned the camaro. I will update with progress as it is made. I will be parting out the TA body when I am done with it.
What it looked like when i took it home. Rusty, torn apart, no motor or trans. Most interior missing.
Threw it together to get a good idea of what needs done and get to work. I replaced the rear floor pans and patched a few other places and went ahead and replaced the subframe bushings.
The plan was to piece it together over the next 5 years when I find good deals on stuff. While looking for an engine I came across a 2000 trans am. Well it was owned by a very regular customer of mine(I am an automotive painter) and he cut me a "deal of a lifetime." The car has 219k on it, the engine runs but sounds like hell and needs rebuilt, auto trans no problems. Everything else on the car is great. Ready for what I paid for it? $800.
Swapping the engine, trans, rear end, brakes, seats, center console(converting to floor shift and hand park brake)
Already finished fabrication bracketry for the back seats. The seat back still folds down like in the TA. Welded in supports for shoulder belt mounting. The driver seat is not in position in these pictures, it is just sat in there. I had the interior mocked up with the carpet, center console, and everything else but forgot to take pictures. This is as far as I have gotten in the 2 months I have owned the camaro. I will update with progress as it is made. I will be parting out the TA body when I am done with it.
wow. $800. That was just about all the parts you needed. If you wanted to you could swap the dash and everything into the 70. That was truly a deal of a lifetime.
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Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 84
Likes: 2
From: Springdale, AR
Finished all the seat and seat belt mounts but forgot to take pictures. I decided to reuse the entire Trans AM wiring harness since the Camaro doesnt have any wiring. Since this is somewhat of a budget build this meant reusing the Trans AM gauge cluster as well. With a little cutting i came up with what i think will be a decent solution.
Mounted the cluster and made some templates.
Cut and molded some plastic pieces. Ordered a dash cover. With the dash cover, some matching and better looking screws and the plastics dyed black I think it will look pretty good.
Mounted the cluster and made some templates.
Cut and molded some plastic pieces. Ordered a dash cover. With the dash cover, some matching and better looking screws and the plastics dyed black I think it will look pretty good.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 84
Likes: 2
From: Springdale, AR
I will also be using the tilt column with the wiper controls and since Im sure my boy will NEVER smoke(here's hoping) I decided to mount the headlight controls from the TA in place of the ash tray. Theres still one in the TA center console though. Maybe I will find something better to mount there too.
Wow, good price. The Trans Am body looks good. You could pull the motor and try and sell the body to help pay for the rebuild. Do you plan on doing a plain rebuild or beefing it up a bit?
I love my 4th gen seats in my 78! When you get ready to do the fuel system, look into putting the 4th gen fuel pump/bucket into the 70 tank. I used a vetteworks kit but you could make the bracket yourself. I recessed the bucket to clear the trunk. End result: much quieter and reliable than an external pump.
The fuel bucket does compress...you may be able to shorten it. I have it compressed as much as possible without cutting bucket or shortening the tubes.
Nice work...keep it up!
The fuel bucket does compress...you may be able to shorten it. I have it compressed as much as possible without cutting bucket or shortening the tubes.
Nice work...keep it up!
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Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 84
Likes: 2
From: Springdale, AR
Completely stripped down the donor Trans AM last weekend. Now I can really get to work.
I think I'm going to go with a little bit of a power build on this LS1 and swap it out with the fresh LS1(Full rebuild about a year ago) in my Trans AM. 350 Hp should be plenty for a 16 year old kid.
The steering column was a little bit of a pain in the ***. Had to make new upper mounting brackets, firewall mounting plate, and 3/4" 36 spline to 3/4" DD coupling. Used the double U-Joint link from the TA instead of the rag and ball joint setup from the camaro. The steering wheel will be replaced with something better looking. In the process of doing the column work I managed to get a large metal splinter in my eye. Had to have it dug out last night so now here I sit looking like a pirate typing with one eye. I will be back to work on it as soon as my eye will let me.
I have a craigslist post with whats left of the body parts if anyone is interested. Due to the size of most of the items I cannot ship though.
http://fayar.craigslist.org/pts/3905761219.html
I think I'm going to go with a little bit of a power build on this LS1 and swap it out with the fresh LS1(Full rebuild about a year ago) in my Trans AM. 350 Hp should be plenty for a 16 year old kid.
The steering column was a little bit of a pain in the ***. Had to make new upper mounting brackets, firewall mounting plate, and 3/4" 36 spline to 3/4" DD coupling. Used the double U-Joint link from the TA instead of the rag and ball joint setup from the camaro. The steering wheel will be replaced with something better looking. In the process of doing the column work I managed to get a large metal splinter in my eye. Had to have it dug out last night so now here I sit looking like a pirate typing with one eye. I will be back to work on it as soon as my eye will let me.
I have a craigslist post with whats left of the body parts if anyone is interested. Due to the size of most of the items I cannot ship though.
http://fayar.craigslist.org/pts/3905761219.html
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Teching In
Joined: Feb 2019
Posts: 3
Likes: 1
From: Centerton, Ar
Yeah i'm the kid, and I am pretty lucky. I turn 16 in about 10 months. The camaro is currently sitting under a tarp in my aunt's backyard and when i get a functioning car for my 16th b-day im going to be doing a lot of trips over to her house to work on it with her. The camaro since these photos has had the engine and transmission put in, the interior put together with the dash and everything, and that's about it... It still needs a lot of work.
