Well I guess it is finally time to start my own build thread. This will probably be the slowest moving build thread in the history of LS1 tech, but that's OK. This car takes a back seat to the TA build, so you will notice big lapses in work being done to it. I have already had this car for about a year and a half, and I am starting to make some progress on it worth seeing. I am still not 100% sure what I am going to do with this car other than it will be a race car. The general plan will be stock suspension, drag radial, LS, TH400, and as light as possible (as you will see). So let’s get started at the beginning, back on 5-27-2011...

The car is a 1996 Camaro "RS" (according to the title anyway). It started out as a hard top, 6 cylinder automatic car. It had power windows and locks, with a cloth interior and 111,000 miles. I bought it off of a young girl who couldn't afford to fix the blown head gasket(s) and just needed it gone. So I paid off the remainder of the loan, and showed up with the trailer.







The car had been sitting for about a year, so as soon as I got it back to the house I cleaned it up real quick.












I won’t clutter up the thread with a million "before" pics, but suffice to say it was pretty damn clean. It cleaned up real nice with a quick once over, but it would have been pretty mint with some time if I cared. Since it was all garbage to me I cleaned it real quick, filled it with water and took it around to beat the snot out of it The motor was pretty worn, and it couldn't even do a burn out. The trans was good though and seemed to work perfectly. The brakes were scary, and the suspension was shot, but again for the money not too bad.


7-2-11

Fast forward a couple months, and I finally got it back in the garage to start doing some work. Once I was able to get it up in the air I could finally see that there was more rust than I had hoped for. All of the important parts seem OK though, it’s mostly in the floors where it should be easy to fix. All of the suspension mounts look good, and that is what I care about. So I started draining the oil, I did mention the head gasket(s) were bad right...



Then we pulled the exhaust, panhard bar, and gas tank



Then it was time to go inside and rip it ALL out




8-27-11

I cant remember that far back, but that was about all I got out of the car that weekend. It went back outside until the following month before it came back in to get the whole interior taken out.



First signs of rust inside the car (not the worst though)





Rust is worse on the passenger side



Started stripping the motor as well



Here WAS my mint dash pad



and here it was a couple minutes later...



And here is the interior mostly stripped. You can see the rust in the floor up front too, as well as the aluminum HVAC plate from AEI-CNC.



Headliner is out as well



And here is most of the wiring




11-26-11

Again the car went away for a couple months this time until it was time to pull the motor and trans, and the last few pieces.




We tried to take the easy way out and leave the trans attached while taking it out of the top. Too bad for us that we forgot to drain it first...

The start of the mess



Here it comes!



Whew what a mess!





Once that was out of the way, I stripped the engine bay



The last of the interior **** is out now



Here it is before being put away again



Starting to look like a proper 4x4




8-18-12

Nothing really happened for a long time, I was just saving money and we were working on the TA pretty much every spare minute. After a while I finally started to order some parts.

Wolfe minitubs



Racecraft 17" strutless wing, and hood Dzus rails with all of the needed hardware





Kirkey pro seat with cover




I had also ordered up the Wolfe through floor subframe connectors, and Wolfe aluminum door panels. I ended up changing my mind and I returned the subframe connectors, and I never got pics of the door panels for some reason.

Also after almost having a tree fall on the car, and realizing that the cover that was on it was doing nothing, Chris bought me a Cover King outdoor cover which is AWESOME!



I also got a VFN extended sunoco hood somewhere around that time, but again I don't have any pics of it right now.

 

11-17-12

Next up I snagged a motor on a whim. I wasn't really looking, but a complete 5.3 came up for a really good price so I jumped. Just like the car, only a select few things are going to stay with it and all of those pieces are in great shape.





Getting gross...





SLUDGE!!!



But the cylinder walls looked good, as did the pistons and bearings



Under the pan was the worse, here is the windage tray



But the crank looked great!




11-24-12

Now we are just about caught up. This all brings us to last weekend, and the start of the main work. I started on the mini tubs and also preparing for some rear tin work.

BUT FIRST, my aluminum mid plate and motor plate came in from AEI-CNC!!!






OK now that that is out of the way, I had to assemble the tubs. I thought this was going to be the worst part, boy was I wrong! It isn't very hard, just tedious.

Chris gave me a hand forming the top as I hammered over sections every few inches.




Once you are all the way around, you just have to work the areas between slowly so it doesn't wrinkle. You can see the claw hammer I was using in the background which is why they aren't perfectly smooth.



Finished in that area



Here they are sitting in the car before I started any cutting



The start of the cuts




I was able to get the driver side in one chunk after doing the passenger side a little at a time. I had no idea how much I needed to cut so I was going easy.



Early shot from the front, you can see how bad the rust is here



Started getting a little nuts



Driver side before the fill piece and tub go back in. This was just the main cut, I haven't started to clean it up or fit the tub yet.



Here is the passenger side. I had it mostly finished up but not 100% in this pic



Here is the pile of metal from the first round of cutting. This doesn't include the 5lbs of rust, dirt, and shavings that were on the ground!



This was also the first time in a long time that the car got to stay in the garage! Those are the Wolfe door panels leaning against the front, that’s the ONLY pic of them!




12-1-12

Now we are finally all up to speed, and have arrived at this past weekend! As you just saw/read I was working on the mini tubs last weekend, so that is where I started THIS weekend. I was hoping to get both tubs at least tacked in, and do the finish cuts on the rest of the rear sheet metal so I could measure for the tin work. Unfortunately for us, after fitting the passenger side tub and welding in the reinforcement plate we ran out of gas in the MIG. Chris had to work Saturday, and it is damn near impossible to fit the tubs alone so I moved on to removing brackets and trimming metal.

Here is the rear mostly trimmed up. I made the final cut to the passenger side outer metal after this pic but never got a shot of it. Again keep in mind that we only got the passenger side tub fitted, so the driver side is just the rough cut.



Passenger frame rail all cleaned up



Here you can see the rear panel final cut



Driver frame rail all cleaned up



Removed the big bracket for the center console. Please ignore the massive rust!



The rear seat brackets removed. If you look close you can also see the reinforcement plate welded in.




And here is the pile that was removed this weekend




WHEW!!! That was a lot of info, and a lot of typing!!! Hopefully next weekend both tubs will be fully installed and I will have a good start for the rear tin work. I plan on doing a good amount of sheet metal work over the next couple of months in preparation of taking it in for a cage. So for the next few weeks or so I should have some decent updates. Once the cage is done it will probably slow down again though while I recoup money for the suspension and rear end. Thanks for taking the time to check it out!


Sean

 

Damn that thing is rusty!!! j/k. Great work so far!!

 

I know I know!!! Why do you have to point it out It will all get fixed in due time though, don't you worry. Thanks though


Sean

 

After following the work on the t/a I can only imagine how well this one will turn out. You guys have done some nice work and look forward to seeing the progress on this one.

 

What a rot box!!!




















J/K, lol. Good work though! I think next winter I'll do what u did and remake the entire *** end of the car.

 

Nice work!

Mike

 

This realy inspires me to start something with my Camaro but I just got it and kinda wanna keep it together somewhat lol.

Nice work so far. Love a good Build thread with excellent pictures of stuff

 

looks good so far cant wait to see the finished product

 

I know Nothing I hate more than rust! It could be much worse, but still I wish there was none.

Thanks for the kind words guys! The one good thing is that I have more time than money, so I can make everything exactly how I want it. It should be pretty nice as it comes together.


Sean

 

What were u guys going to do with the 5.3? PT88? Looks good so far bro.

 

Thanks! Really I am not sure what I am going to do with the motor. A turbo makes the most sense, but I am slightly against it. For one we already have a turbo LS car, the TA. I would rather try something different (for us anyway) and go nitrous or procharger. I would really like to do a gear driven F1X, but I probably cant afford that for a long time. I think to get the car out and make passes I will throw a carb on it with a plate kit. I know that I will for sure do the Kurt Urban front drive distributor, I don't want to mess with coil packs. That is pretty much the only thing I have decided on so far.

I guess we will see what I end up with



Sean

 

Both are good options.

 

I say slap an F1C and take it to some Real Street stuff

 

Real street?! Sounds slow . There will be nothing "street" about this car when I'm done

Sean

 

Nice build. Is there a build thread for the TA? Id like to see info/pics of it.

 

Here is the TA build thread

https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...lots-pics.html

It is still alive and well, just throwing my car into the mix too I was able to take on one of the larger projects since the TA is in a holding pattern right now. Chris should be dropping the motor off at Legend Racing to have some work done to it this week, and then the new piping has to go to Q.C. Coatings to make it all pretty. So we have a few weeks to get some work done to my pile of rust.


Sean

 

To hell with that. Run the coils with the msd box to run them with a carb. Got one for sale if u need one?!

 

If I had the coil packs and the wiring with the motor I'd consider it, but since I don't. I just cant see spending the money on that when I know I will have to upgrade it later. So, even though its a lot of money, I will go with the Kurt Urban distributor set up, MSD coil, and MSD box and I should never have to change it again no matter how extreme the motor gets.

Sean

 

lol real street has is a 8.40/.50 field! Sean build looks good, is the lil 5.3 making it over to LRE too?