91 Camaro

[toomany]

I hate to ask the obvious but with all these small issues adding up how good of shape is the parts car shell?

Snapped a few quick pictures earlier. Interior is full of parts from the good car so I can't easily get floor pictures.

This is the driver's side lower control arm mount. Would be under the rear seat bottom if you're sitting in the car. Usually when this area goes, the lower mount isn't far from ripping off.

Spare tire well.

Passenger side quarter and rot starting down by the control arm mount.

From a quick glance underneath, the driver's floor was about like mine, but the passenger side had a sizable hole in it. Driver's A-pillar has rust bubbling under the paint too.

I'm not afraid of floor or body work. Once you start getting into dissecting the layers to fix rust/rot is about where I draw the line on these cars. GM dipped them before paint, but that only goes so far. You can see in the under body picture that they didn't even paint the bottoms.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Yeah. Like I said I just know I've gotten into a project and just jumped ship when the parts vehicle ended up being a better choice. I just wanted to throw it out there lol.

 

[toomany]

I've been casually looking for rollers or clean v6 cars to start with. The what you pay vs. what you get ratio isn't very good around here. Initially I planned on using the parts car as the shell to build with. Eventually deciding on "**** it, I'll use what I've got".

 

[toomany]

Started on the quarter.

Piece I'm working with. First step was to remove everything I didn't need. Knowing that my rocker was in good shape still, I chose this as my baseline.

Eventually trimmed a little more than this off. I absolutely despise spot weld cutters. I've tried them all and they all suck. Not every spot weld is a perfect circle and you end up with an unnecessary hole in your base panel when done. Instead I prefer to use a grinder and grind out the weld and surrounding material. Using a thin cut off wheel and a steady hand you don't get into the piece you are trying to save. In this case I worked from the inside out, cutting off the wheel tub and rocker.

Initial cuts. Need to reshape the wheel tub a little before I can clean up the top edge and door jamb areas. Used the same method here, just from the outside in this time. Got a little carried away with my first cut along the wheel arches, will weld that up before panel goes in.

Using the rocker as my reference point was the easiest way I could see doing it. Knowing that location is the same on both pieces helps ensure the wheel arch/body line/striker hole ends up where it needs to be. Will also end up with only one real visible area that requires filler work...not real critical if the jamb area doesn't look perfect.


Edit: Can't tell from that picture, but I left the inner striker plate on the car and ended up cutting it off of the new piece.

 

[toomany]

Reshaped the wheel tub. Got most of the wrinkle out of it.

Welded up the accidental slices I made and hit it with some zinc primer.

Spent way too long looking for my sheet metal clamps. Wheel arch and area over the striker plate got drilled for spot welds before going on.

Tacked in.

Stopped here for the day. Probably going to hang the door back on before going any further. Just by looking at it, it looks correct, but I've been burned before by not fitting the adjacent panel.

 

[toomany]

Donor door on. This is with the striker centered in its hole and no real adjustments to the fore/aft of the hinges.

Quarter is out a tiny bit at the front edge. Maybe 1/8" at the bottom/ worst spot. It's a little tight in the middle too.

Going to play around with some shims at the hinges (that need to be rebuilt) to see if I can get it any better. Other than that, the body line is spot on. I'm not going to stress over it too much trying to get it perfect. Even from the factory they didn't have the best gaps. Planning on painting it a somewhat darker color so that will help hide the gap as well.

 

[toomany]

Welded in and ground down. Close enough for a little bit of filler work.

I think my SFC's are showing up tomorrow. Not sure if I'll move on to those or deal with the holes above the gas tank next.

 

[toomany]

Cut the windshield out tonight. It was broken and needed to come out eventually.

Going to deal with the SFC's before tackling the extra holes in the floor.

 

[toomany]

Started on the SFC's today. Got the passenger side 90% in then I ran out of gas in the welder.

Went with Detroit Speed Engineering ones. I've used other brands in the past (UMI, Hotchkiss, Jegs). These differ in that they don't hang down bellow the rocker panel any. To achieve that, you need to cut a section out of the floor so the bar can sit up higher.

Ran out of gas while putting the rear closeout plate in. Need to finish welding it along the pinch weld and install the front closeout plates.

Got the other car out last night. Buddys daughter made homecoming court and wanted to use it for the parade.

 

[toomany]

Still working on this. Last month or so has been busy. Two trips to the sand dunes, birthday weekend out of town, camping trip and dealing with yard work before snow hits. Was only getting 30min here and there to work on it. This last week I've been doing 2hr or so after work.

Driver's side connector is in along with floor/rocker patches.

 

[toomany]

Cut some pieces out of the donor car earlier the week.

First up was patching the way too big hole for the shifter.

Once I get the transmission back in, I'll cut the hole again. Hopefully a little smaller so a shift boot fits.

Next was the hole above the gas tank.

Unfortunately, the donor had already been cut for fuel pump access. Not nearly as bad and they atleast screwed a patch over it.

I left most of the original floor. Only cut off the pieces that were flapping around.

 

[toomany]

There were some stress cracks on both sides behind the front seat mount rail. Welded those up and put some reinforcements over top.

Did the last of the floor latches (where the connector goes through the floor by the rear seat mount).

That  should be all the reapir work for the interior. Knocked the high spots off some of the welds. Will clean up the rest of the floor and get some primer on the bare metal. Seam sealer and probably brush on some paint after that.

 

[toomany]

Found a couple more cracks in the floor when I was vacuuming it out. Around the seatbelt buckle for the passenger rear. They had the exhaust hanging off of it underneath is what I think cracked that area.

Welded that up and shot a little bit of zinc primer before seem sealer. Did underneath along the connectors and floor patches.

Going to try getting some paint on the floor tonight.

 

[toomany]

Didn't make it out there Monday night, but got a few hours in tonight.

Brushed on some black Rustoleum. Went that route for a few reasons. Zero masking or overspray being the main ones. I also think it flows out and deals with the very little prep work I did.

It'll most likely get covered with some sound deadening before the carpet goes back in. Didn't even really need to do it, but I find when doing big projects being able to see big changes along the way helps. It's easy to get burned out on stuff when it seems like you're doing a bunch of work but seeing no progress.

 

[Levigarrett76]

**** yea, engage the mullet

 

[toomany]

Moving on to the engine compartment next.

For the most part this area should only need some clean up to get it ready. I don't think I'm going to mess with any of the wrinkles in the wheel tubs. They don't affect anything other than cosmetically. I did briefly consider going with a tubular front end which would get rid of all of my bad areas and drop some weight. I don't think this car really needs that. Unless there is a stupid good deal for black Friday I don't think thatll happen.

Dropped the springs/struts/spindles out. Dropping the crossmember out, I'll need another jack to balance it or use the cherry picker to lower it down I think.

 

[toomany]

Not much of a visual change, dropped the front crowd out and dug out some of the old seam sealer. Hit the loose paint with a wire wheel.

Pulled the rear axle out as well. Pretty much a bare shell now.

Going to try getting out there again tomorrow to give it a quick sanding and some new seam sealer.

 

[toomany]

Got out there for a few hours today.

Started by pulling the weather stripping around the A-pillars and roof, mainly so I could get the drip rails off. Moved on to cleaning up the windshield frame. Got all the old urethane out of there. Did a quick patch on the driver's side battery tray and gave everything a quick scuff before new seam sealer.

Grab a picture of the numbers the PO had written on the strut tower before sanding them off.

I should have some color on hand tomorrow, but I think I talked myself into doing the engine bay black. I generally don't like engine bays not body color. Going black will hopefully hide some of the damage I'm not dealing with. Touch ups are way easier after any modifications later on too. That and I really don't want to mask and get overspray all over everything right now.

Going to think on it a few days before doing anything. First chance I'd have to do primer/color/clear would be close to two weeks from now. VS black I could rattle can primer/paint or even brush some areas again.

 

[toomany]

Laziness and practicality won out for the engine compartment.

Had the wood stove going early this morning to work on my buddys truck. Once he left I decided to throw some paint at it. Sprayed around the edges real quick then brushed on the rest. Most of it looked like it was flowing out well before I went in for the night.

With that out of the way, a few things can go start going back on. I'd really like to get the motor back in so it's out of my way. Same with the dash and some of the interior pieces that are shoved over in the corner.

New door pins should be in sometime this week. Going to re-hang doors and fenders and start body work.

 

[toomany]

New door pins installed in the hinges and doors back on the car. I forgot to order new roller pins for them. The passenger side still has a real bad creak when opening, but it doesn't sag now.

Was able to get good fitment on the driver's side.

The fit on the passenger side actually got worse with the new pins. I think there was enough slop in the old ones that I was able to shift the door forward. Now it's hitting the quarter at the top. Tried opening the holes in the hinges up some to cheat it forward some. That didn't help much at all, and going too far with that would mess with the front fender/hood/bumper fit.

Will probably re-work the edge of the door, trimming a little off. The inside structure doesn't hit the jamb, only the skin above the body line...which ironically is the part that didn't get replaced.

 

[toomany]

I started sticking some sound deadening on the cowl/firewall. But in the time I brought it out to the barn and me actually starting in it, it got to cold and stiff to easily work with. Brought it back in the house when I came in for the night. Outside temp was 9*, barn was 40ish when I went out and started the stove. Apparently the hour or so I spent doing other stuff was too much for it and it got stiff.

 

[toomany]

Took the flap wheel to the door edge to open up gap some. Doesn't hit and is good enough to move on with the rest of the body work.

Put the hatch back on and removed the center spoiler section in preparation for the high rise wing. If you're not familiar with 3rd gens, 91/92 Z28's got a new spoiler. The RS kept the old style that was pretty much the same since 1982. I think the 91/92 ground effects go better with the taller wing and it'll help balance the 4" cowl on the hood I'm using. I don't even remember where I picked this up at, it's been in my stash for quite awhile.

Only bolted on in the center supports for now and I need to fine tune the holes a little bit to get it where I want it.

With that out of the way, filling in the old spoiler holes and the cracks at the roof in the B-pillar are all that's for metal work.

 

[Rttoys]

I always liked that spoiler and ground effects. It just finished off the car nicely.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Those and the iroc hood were always things I would spot when I was looking at these cars. Despite all the mullet jokes you will get they are a nice platform. Just let down by bean counters. "Oh sure heres the 350 you wanted.... Oh automatic only sorry." If I was building one right now with my own money a nice 5.3, T56 and maybe 3.55-3.73s would be sweet. That and stiff sway bars but near stock springs and shocks.

 

[toomany]

Picked up a set of 1 7/8" headers and 3" dual exhaust. Both are from Speed-Engineering and were the exact parts I was going to buy when I got to that point. Seller was moving to a turbo setup and no longer needed. Exhaust kit is for a 4th gen and needs a few mods to fit the 3rd gens, which he already did so it should be a bolt on for me.

 

[toomany]

Tired of tripping over the gas tank every time I walk past it, I wanted to get that back in the car. Painted the bottom of the floor. Again with brush on Rustoleum. Can was about 45* when I started so I just kind of slathered it on there.

When I initially got the car, it had an external fuel pump that only put out about 30psi. I removed that and installed a pump from Vortec truck. Debated on installing the new sending unit I had stashed away. Ultimately decided to put it in mainly in an attempt to get a somewhat more accurate fuel gauge. The old one worked but was more of an educated guess at best for what was in there.

Shot a quick coat of paint on the tank before installing the sending unit. Need to get some foam or rubber for the straps before I can put it in the car.

With the bottom of the car painted, there are some more parts that can go back on. Big one is the tank though. I always managed to catch myself on the filler neck.

 

[toomany]

Tank back in. Changed a belt on an ISB6.7 earlier in the week and used that to line the straps with.

Filled my spoiler holes in.

Took care of the cracks in the roof while the welder was out. With that done, I believe that's it for metal work on the body. I haven't really looked at the fenders much to see if they need anything though.

Going to start sanding and maybe some filler work next time I get out there.

 

[toomany]

Drilled the rest of the holes and finished fitting the high rise wing. Gutted the doors.

Hit it with some 180 grit on the DA for the first round. Both doors are from the donor car, quite the difference in what was painted with single stage vs what was BC/CC.

Brought the fenders in. No real issues on those. The driver's side has some surface rust, but it's under the ground effects. So it'll get taken down to metal and treated which will be good enough for where it is.

Next warm-ish day I get, need to try pulling the body side molding off the old drivers door to use on the passenger side along with the piece on the quarter. I don't mind the look without them, but I think it helps break up the long slab of door.

 

[Blacksheep10]

Score on the initial buy. Bought it less than cost of engine/trans, good deal.
Trans should be 2500ish around here (KCish) for an LS T56 with upgrades.

I wish I’d ever learned to do body work, might be time to start soon on the current project

 

[toomany]

Score on the initial buy. Bought it less than cost of engine/trans, good deal.
Trans should be 2500ish around here (KCish) for an LS T56 with upgrades.

I wish I’d ever learned to do body work, might be time to start soon on the current project

Transmission is easily worth what I paid for the car. Guy I got it from sent me the receipt from when it was bought. It was too good of a deal to pass up, I had to buy it.

A few years ago I an LT1 T56 and Tremec TKX for $2200 from a speed shop that was closing down. T56 still had the rebuild tags from Tick and had never been installed back into anything. That's sitting under the bench waiting to go into something. Sold the TKX for $2100. From what I remember on that one it had a weird set of ratios with 5th being 1:1. Guy bought it for an F100 project.

Growing up, Moms boyfriends Dad owned a body shop. Spent quite a bit of time there, mainly getting yelled at that I was doing it wrong. Bodybwork itself isn't hard. Metal work is just get it fit in there correctly and taking your time welding it in. Filler, 95% gets sanded back off. Painting is where the skill comes in and I still struggle with it sometimes. I'm able to get acceptable results that I'm happy with. I've seen some real bad work from some shops and figured I couldn't be even that bad at it.

I've lost track of how many I've painted over the years. I really didn't want to get this far into this car. But the rollers I was looking at pretty much all needed some kind of body/paint work so I figured I'd just use what I had.

My square body I did. This was done with single stage.

More recently, my 70 Jimmy. This was done BC/CC.