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My 67 Camaro time line.....

66K views 149 replies 40 participants last post by  Joe Harrison 
#1 ·
I never started a thread about my 67 from start to they are never finished :D I thought last night that I will start one and post up a little history from when it arrived in my driveway to the current updates and little projects.

I don't have any pictures of it when it first came off the trailer. I bought my 67 from the second owner in 1995. He he bought it in 1972 repainted it red with the black stripes in 1972, the original color was butternut yellow.

We dropped it in the driveway and it sat for a little while. It had not run in about 5 years and the people wanted to get rid of that pile of crap in the driveway....I bought it for $500.00. I was told the engine and trans were rebuilt built but something had happened and it will not run and it was parked, 5 years later it became mine.

After some clean up:







 
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#2 ·
A few months later I decided to see what had "happened" to the engine and why it did not run. First thing was to pull the intake. I found the first hint when I pulled the first valve cover, some broken valve springs and some bent push rods. I pulled the intake and found that it had lifters that were out of the bores and just laying in the intake and of course the other side had more broken valve springs and bent push rods. The intake had not been removed, it was sealed very well. I have no idea what some could have done to get the lifter out of the bores....a possibility they used lifter tool from and reached from the head into the valley and pulled them out?

It had 4bbl cast gm intake and big double pumper holley carb. I was at the swap meet (regular home stuff and junk) and bought a 2 bbl carb and intake for $10.00. I brought it home and rebuilt the carb, bought a new set of lifters after inspecting the cab lobes that appeared to look good and I found enough push rods in my collection of engine parts along with valve springs and put it back together.

I ran a compression check and the 327 had some very good numbers in the 160 PSI range and hardly any variation between cylinders.

I fired her up and kept the revs up to break in the cam to the new set of lifters. I had reused the old plug wires, plugs etc and she ran fine....actually very well. The trans did not need any fluid and she went into gear. My biggest expense was at the time about $35.00 for the lifters $10.00 for the carb and intake. Carb rebuild kit was about $15.00, gaskets and some ultra black, oil and filter. So for less than $100.00 she was running and running pretty good :hurray:

This is what it looked like after it was put back together on that budget.

 
#3 ·
A few of the troubled spots on the body from over the years, typical rust:

The 67 was in San Diego all it's life in the El Cajon area, I lived in Lakeside at the time just few miles away so this is Ca inland rust......;)









 
#4 ·
Over some time I made some improvements. The old 2bbl carb split and the fuel line intake of the carb so I upgraded to 4 bbl and edelbrock intake that I painted orange.

From 1996 to 2005 I put about 125,000 miles on the 67. I drove the heck out of it. It was my daily driver and that was with the same engine and trans I pieced together. Over the years I replaced a few valve springs...and some push rods. Typical oil changes and tune up parts but never anything major.







 
#5 ·
A few shots of the outside and what ever else I can find. I rebuilt the entire front suspension, used hotchkiss front springs and sway bar and some e-bay koni shocks. I had upgraded to disc brakes at some point but drover her with 4 wheel drums for many miles. I had job offer in Arkansas and moved from San Diego to Arkansas. The company shipped the 67 for me.









I also had this 69 SS396 I bought with me from San Diego...the company shipped it also.

 
#7 ·
I decided the subframe would come out for some paint, a full rebuild of steering parts and new bushings. I thought I would finally pull the engine apart. The engines original heads 2BBl heads has rust in the water jackets and the corner bolts were pulling out because the heads were broken from internal rot.

When I pulled it about I found it had been bored .030 over, it has flat top forged pistons and steel crank, it had also been balanced. The crank was perfect and just needed polish. The pistons skits were very nice and cylinder walls still had very nice cross hatch and very little wear. I just gave it power hone and replaced the rings and of course all new bearings including cam bearings and put it back together.

I bought some vortec heads and performer RPM vortec intake. I bought a GM 327 350 H/P blue print cam that went back into it. It also got a turbo 350 trans I found for free from running driving car 75 Nova along with the 8.5 3:43 posi rear end. I just had to pull it all, it was going to be dirt track car.









 
#8 ·
After getting the 67 back from paint....that 6-8 months turned into 3 years, I realized the paint was coming up from poor prep. I sued the painter and won but was now stuck with 67 that looked good put would have paint coming off in year or two.

It was painted 2002 Prowler Pearl Orange. The painter also just flat screwed up the stinger hood paint and stripe. It was supposed to be a single stripe just on top of the cowl like a Vett....this guy was an idiot!!







 
#9 ·
Fast forward a year or two, the car is Little Rock Arkansas being redone and this time she comes completely apart to redo it, why I don't know??

Chis Branson treated me right. It took some time and I had to pay here and there but he worked with me and I would come up to work on the 67 to help out. The body was reworked in some areas, the paint came totally off and down to metal as it was thought there might have been a reaction with a mix and match of products.

The floor pans and trunk pan in these pics are the original GM sheet metal!!! They need very little work in just couple very small spots.











 
#10 ·
As time marches on wholesale changes start to take place in what I originally planned for looks and paint.

Remember that orange engine :D







 
#12 ·
Some various paint and body pics, we played with a two tone that I liked very much!!



Look close and you will see some of the body redo that needed to be done at the rear 1/4 and sail panel area.








A new All steel stinger hood with functional cowl induction!!





 
#13 ·
Well Chris was doing great and really treating me right. I was going to Little Rock ever few weeks to work on the 67. I was going to get transferred by my company from Arkansas to Tucson AZ. I was able to give Chris about 3 months notice. The thrash begins to get some color on her all the while he one man operation and has a number of other projects going. I started helping with one of those doing s little mechanical work to help him out while he worked on mine. Chris is a great guy and with out his help picking me up from the airport to work on my car and letting me spend the night and lunch, dinner and beer buys going back and fourth he got it done and delivered my 67 to the house we were moving out of in Arkansas 120 miles away from his shop 2 days before it was to be shipped to Tucson!! Thanks Chris....you are an awesome guy!!

What Chris accomplished over a week!! While working other projects in his shop!!

The color changed to 2010 Camaro Inferno Orange.









 
#16 ·
Some shots of her at HOME!!! Well for a few days until it gets on the road to our new home in Tucson. She does not run at this point there was not time to even think about that so she's a pusher :(

That is the least of my worries. She was transported in the moving van, they made an enclosure in the back so it had its own little mini cocoon for the trip to Tucson.











 
#17 ·
We arrive in Tucson and she goes into the our new homes 2 car...which is filled to brim with other stuff. It's rental so we will not be in this place for much more than 1 1/2 years so my dreams of shop and the man cave will have to wait a little little.

The first thing I score is vintage 1967 Arizona license plate. I took a few shot for insurance because they needed to see the car the house and that it was actually there.







 
#18 ·
I will be adding some more later until I get up to date with where I am at. Big week coming up.....going to be grandpa for the first time on Sept 4th.
 
#19 ·
Cograts Joe. Feeling old yet? lol
You were a man on a mission here today. I posted in the first page and when I looked at it you had already posted some more! :)
I'm liking the color and that window molding looks familiar. ;) That definitely looks like an Arizona yard with the rock on the side! I remember as a kid picking up the dog mess in the back yard with rock,:angry: was not fun. lol

Keepm coming!
 
#23 ·
Sine we have been in Tucson we have been busy with visiting San Diego and our daughters there quite frequently and as you can see from some of the posts above we are expecting a grandson very soon. Between work and trips to San Diego 2 or more times per month it does not leave much time to work on the 67.

I get little done here and there. I have been working on getting the under hood things buttoned up like the plug wires ran. I still have some work to do here but have done most of it.





I routed my heater hoses for my vintage air through the original heater box. I had these done prior to paint but had to do the heater hoses and the heater control valve. I mounted the heater control valve inside the car and need to route a vacume line to it. The heater hoses come from where the fan used to be and route inside the fender and come out to connect to the engine. I still have work to do and get brackets painted and connection point fittings painted and cleaned up. Those bolts on the thermostat housing will be black at some point..:D











 
#24 ·
Some of the hoses routed and checking fit and rub points. Still some work to do here for bracket paint and hose routing.





I also have been working on my fuel line. I bought an insulated clamp and that would hold a regular fuel filter that would bolt to my vortec head. I then ran the line from the pump to the filter and from the filter to the carb. Took me a little time to find some stuff that would work together and look right under the hood while still being easy to service and with a part available anyplace if needed. Past experience has made me carry an extra fuel filter. It seems to be the part on a daily driver that has caused the most issues over the years. Not sure why I have gotten such crappy gas or junk in my line?





 
#25 ·
My other little projects have been working on my grill trim. It was pretty smacked up with little dents and bends. Before going with a polished and black trim I wanted to see what it would look like black. I figured I could ping out some dents and use a little filler and some glazing putty to fill in where the trim was all banged up. My head light bezels where in pretty sad shape so the same thing was done to them and they got some coats of black paint and then some clear.

Still thinking on what I should do with the grill. My thoughts are maybe just some clear to brighten it up??



I scored my spoiler for free and mounted it up also. I will use the braces because I like the look of them, I guess I will call it an industrial look for lack of better wording. I still need to paint them also. I love a spoiler on the 67-68 with no front bumper but those bumper bracket slots need to be filled in. I have some old brackets that I need to have cut trimmed and painted and then install them. Ran out of time for this at paint...:beers:

 
#26 ·
My other projects have also included fitting my shifter. My son in law made me a mount that we bolted the shifter to with and then I mounted that to the floor pan so it's nice and solid and flimsy. He also added a slick little brace to keep the shifter solid, it's the round stock. The bottom is bolted in from the bottom and the hole is counter bored.





Note the dash center section that would normally have polished outer trim is painted gloss black like the rest of the dash lower section. The top is low gloss so it does not have glare from the sun.

 
#27 · (Edited)
This is the current state of my project. I just bought all the fluids but since the 327 has not run in 6 years and it's been about 3 years since I put in the new cam and lifters I have decided to pull the intake, pull the lifters and give them a new coat of cam lube before attempting to start it.

So I need to finish up all the hose routing details, clamps and some paint and install my pass side header again and then do the cam lube. It's getting close to running. When she does it will be hot wired and i will use a remote starter since I don't have the harness in the car. I will make it run first and then do the wiring. I am thinking of a new American Autowire harness but really sure if I will need it. My old harness is not bad but I need to give it an inspection.

I will also need to do exhaust....need to start saving more cash!!
 
#28 ·
BTW all comments are welcome. If it's not your style that's cool your not going to hurt my feelings everyone has different tastes. If you have ideas or suggestions please post them as with any project help, ideas, suggestions of course accolades are always welcome.

If you have a specific question about what I did or used maybe I can help you?

More to come for sure!!
 
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