Now I am married man, with some free time and evenings again. So I have been working on my camaro. Been blocking the body and the fenders. Primed the spots I went through on. I decided on painting it the original color of the car, cortez silver. So this morning I painted the jambs, under side of hood and trunk lid and the rear spoiler.

I ended up putting some stock 3.42's in from another rear end, just pulled the complete carrier, pinion, shims and all. Transferred it and it works.

At the end of a swap meet I made an impulse buy. I bought a 90mm fast intake that has never been installed that came with hardware and the injector spacers for ls2 rails. I paid $600 for it. Not the best buy considering a 90mm tb seems to be going for $300.

 

Doors are on, frame is wire wheeled, painted and new body bushings installed.

 

core support and 1 inner fender is on. Hoping to get the other inner fender on, fenders and hood this week.

 

Nice progress so far,I am just getting into the final body work and blocking myself.hopefully your ready to go next summer,maybe we'll see you at a show next year as I plan on being done by then myself. It's progress like yours and others that keeps me pushing on,it's a lot of work!

 

Got the other inner fender on and managed to get the driver's fender on by myself. Going to need to grab a buddy to help me with it to finish lining up the bolts and getting the other fender on. Not strong enough to push and stretch all that metal on my own. Then a couple buddies to get the cowl hood on!

Searching for some conversion headers for this swap. My wife wants me to put the 6.0L into her 99 formula and I take her drive train since she daily drives hers and this 70 will not be a daily driver since I need my truck for work. Not quite sure If I agree with her on that switcherooo

 

Got the driver's fender situated and the passenger fender on this weekend with help from a friend.

Now for lining up the front lower valance and getting to the top nose piece on.

Any suggestions for conversion ls long tube headers? Anyone tried f-body pacesetters for these cars? Only asking cause the price is right.

 

I picked up a set of LS1 Hooker super competition long tube headers I found on craigslist for $50. They have rust on them, but with some cleaning they will come out okay. Was told I will have to bend the driver's side. I figured for $50 I mine as well give it a go.

 

A salvage yard I deal with quite a bit called me since they knew I was looking for a 2wd transmission. They got in a 4L80e, looks like it was recently replaced in the vehicle. They want $300 for it. I think I am going to jump on it since the price is right, should be okay with the mild 6.0L that I making, not expecting over 500 hp/tq.

 

Got the nose on.

Does anyone know what throttle body gasket can be used with a 90mm fast intake. I thought a stock GTO one would work, but its actually to big. Having trouble finding one.

 

Gasket for your throttle body:


http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fs...FQeOaQodbFUJiw

 

Thanks, I got one ordered!

 

Nice work so far.... Doing a similar swap myself... Good luck with the build.

 

2 Coats of cortez silver, 1 drop coat for the metallic and a gallon of clear coat later.

I got the driver that I wanted. I know its not a show car (didn't want it that way). I did not want to feel terrible about taking it out and driving it to get groceries or to the local breweries for a pint with my friends. The reassembly can now start in a couple days after everything cures.

Got my tb gasket. Looking forward to putting the motor together finally.

 

Looks great! Look forward to seeing it once back together.

 

Panel gaps look nice and tight. Is the paint really as good as the pics make it look?

What spray gun and paint did you use? Much experience painting cars?

thanks,
Jim

 

The panel gaps are all nice besides the fender to door. Even with OE fenders they are not perfect and could never be perfect without welding/cutting and grinding. I would have to weld beads onto them and grind off other sections to make it align perfectly and I am not interested in doing that for a driver. If this was a show car/Z28 then I probably would have gone the extra length and paid for someone to do that (since I can not weld).

I used trans-star paint this time and autoextra ultimate overall clearcoat(really is sherwin-williams clear coat.) The paint itself is very nice (not all my body work underneath is perfect though). The paint flowed out evenly and was easy to spray. I will tell you that I adjust and paint a test panel (an old 95 camaro hood before I apply paint to the car so I can get a good pattern and travel speed). If you have never used it before, it is a thinner paint since it is a 1 paint to 1.5 reducer ratio (you have to be moving at a good pace and can't lay it out to thick or it will run).

I used what ever cheap gun I can buy for primer that uses a 1.5 to 1.7mm tip (depending on what the primer calls for). My paint guns that I use for actual paint are Iwata's LPH400-LV, 1 with 1.2mm tip, the other with 1.3mm tip. I love my Iwatas and I picked up them for $300. I keep them clean and never have an issue with them, going on 3 years now with them. I started with a hand-me down devilbiss that worked nice, but I just find these to be much nicer. I used the 1.3mm for this job, since the color and clear coat both like that size tip. I will add on a side note for other things (painting in general), I have found spraying clear coat with a smaller tip to come out really nice and not require as much wet sanding time.

Lastly, if you haven't figured out from my lengthy response I do have some experience painting cars. This is my 6th Full car repaint, I have lost track of the number of jobs/panels/half car repaints I have done over the past 5 years that I started with painting. I will tell you I was awful in the beginning and have now gotten good.

 

With some friends, finally got the hood on and so it will close. Ended up having to shim the brackets, elong the holes and take it on and off a dozen times. The side to side gaps are good. The front gap along the header panel is crooked. Both doors open and close around the fenders with no problem and I can not push the passenger fender forward and the driver's rear backwards anymore without making door contact.

Got my 4L80E yesterday from the salvage yard.

 

Might try sliding the radiator support to the passenger side a little.

Stan

 

spent a couple hours yesterday getting everything moved around, got my 10 bolt with 3.73's out from behind a boat and the car in position to get onto a lift as soon as this formula I am working on for a friend is done this week. I removed a disc brake setup from an 99 Z28 rear end. I was told that the ls1 rear disc brakes will bolt onto my 70 10 bolt set up.

Cleaned up the chrome on the grille, put some new black paint on it. Looks good from 10 feet away. Can not afford a new one yet.

Spent some time at home cleaning up the headlight trim. 1 definitely came out a lot more like a chrome finish, where as the other one is like a stainless aluminum it seems. Going to have to try it with another compound. They were probably replaced at some point in its life time.

 

Got some minor things done and put on the 70 camaro the other night. Got the tail lights cleaned up and installed with the rear markers.

Painted the front grill black and cleaned up the chrome trim on it.

Also got the trunk painted with the splatter paint. Trunk and hood latches are installed and are working nicely.

Thinking about selling my 87 IROC that I have had for a over 10 years now. First Camaro actually. 305tpi 5 speed with 60k original miles on it. My father is going to sell his 05 GTO 6 speed, has 140k on the body, complete drive train has been rebuilt with a brand new monster clutch. Has long tube headers, hurst shifter and some other bolt ons. He wants 10,500 for it. I would obviously have to fork over some more cash than the IROC, but debating it right now. GTO is a very nice car to drive.