[67CamaroConvertible]

Started another big part of the project today, I am off for the holidays and cant drive the car due to the snow. Today I started the install of my Detroit Speed subframe connectors. While performing this install I will be painting the floor and installing sound deadener. This project if gonna take me a while as I have never done this but hopefully I will have it done by the time I go back to work.

I decided to work on the driver side first. As you can see I have already primed the back seat area and put sound deadener across the drive shaft hump.

I was a little worried when I peeled back the rear carpet as there was a lot of surface rust. This area ended up cleaning up pretty well.

This is what the driver side foot well looked like before I cleaned and painted it.

With all the sound deadener removed the floor did not look to bad. I did not get a picture after I cleaned the floor but it looks pretty good after a couple coats of POR 15.

I kept the painting minimal today as it was all of 7 degrees outside so it was not exactly warm in the garage. That and I still need to do a lot of welding for the subframe connectors. I guess I am only allowed to attach 10 pictures per post. I will get onto the subframe connector install in the next post.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

Ok so continuing on to the prep for the subframe connector. The seat brace needs to be cut in addition to the floor.

The floor is all marked and ready for the cut. Now is some nervous moments.

As you can see in the bottom of the previous picture the top of the rear brace also has to be cut to gain access to the rear cross bar within the floor.

After much trimming the subframe connector fits however the front of the tube needed to be notched to clean the front cross brace.

I am very pleased with the fitment around the front brace. This is all the farther I got today, put in 6 hours in the garage. Probably will not get to work on the car tomorrow as it is Christmas. I will post another update as soon as I make some more progress. Thus far I am very happy with the fit and excited to see the final product.

 

[Dr Jekyll]

Merry Christmas!!! I'm interested in how the subframe connectors change the ride of your car. How does the subframe connector connect to the sub frame? Is there a bracket that you have to weld that goes under the existing subframe bolt? I would want to retain the ability to easily remove the subframe without grinding welds. Subscribed.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

Merry Christmas!!! I'm interested in how the subframe connectors change the ride of your car. How does the subframe connector connect to the sub frame? Is there a bracket that you have to weld that goes under the existing subframe bolt? I would want to retain the ability to easily remove the subframe without grinding welds. Subscribed.

Yes there is a bracket to weld to front subframe. You can purchase bolt in sub frame connectors. I however decided to purchase weld in ones, but I will be bolting to the front subframe via a custom bracket that I am going to be making. I will post pictures of this as soon as I get to that point. I would weld the connectors fully but I also want to retain the ability to removed the front subframe as this car is going to be a long term project.

I will also will post how this helps the handling but thats going to be probably 4 months from now as they have already salted the roads around here. Hopefully this threads helps you in your decision thats the reason I'm doing this.

 

[97 CAIVIAROSS]

Progress and 6 hours in the garage. Sounds like a great day.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

I got a little bit of time in the garage yesterday before spending time with the family for Christmas. I am hoping to accomplish much more tomorrow but I figured I would provide a little update.

The passenger side rear floor pan is in a little bit rougher shape than the driver side. It is not something that isn't fixable but I will have to put a little patch in the floor right next to drain hole.

Started this side by cutting the seat bracket, as this is required to gain access to the very front of where the subframe connector will be located. This cut is always much easier than the next one.

I got the passenger side rough cut. I have not had a chance to test fit the subframe connector yet but I will start that process tomorrow. I would like to have both subframe connectors notched, cut to length, an capped before I start welding them in. Once I get this side fit with the connector I will prep the surface for welding. I also have to start working on making custom brackets to connect the stock sub frame to the subframe connector.

I also took this opportunity to prime the front passenger side since I was not going to be able to work on the car anyway. I figured this would give the primer plenty of time to dry since its still pretty chilly in the garage. I am hoping to have a larger update in the next couple of days. I will also be replacing my carpet once this project is complete so if anyone has any experiences with aftermarket carpeting for these cars please let me know.

 

[97 CAIVIAROSS]

I have the ACC Essex in black. It is way nicer than the factory type I had. I did not get the mass backing because I have dynamat on the floor and trans tunnel. I got it at Rockauto for pretty cheap. I did splurge and order the trunk stock carpet with the mass backing since I did not want to put dynamat where you would see it. It is heavy and def helps. I would put sound deadner etc where ever you can I feel it makes a big difference.

Derek

 

[stinger67]

Catching up on your build, nice progress! I also started out with a yellow/black 67 vert with an I6/PG combo. Looks like her twin! This is the day I picked it up with the old owners saying g-bye. Things do change over time.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

I have the ACC Essex in black. It is way nicer than the factory type I had. I did not get the mass backing because I have dynamat on the floor and trans tunnel. I got it at Rockauto for pretty cheap. I did splurge and order the trunk stock carpet with the mass backing since I did not want to put dynamat where you would see it. It is heavy and def helps. I would put sound deadner etc where ever you can I feel it makes a big difference.

Derek

I will definitely look into that. I currently have some Cool It thermal acoustical liner, which is very easy to work with as you can see in one of the above picture I did a little test section on the firewall. I looked at Dynamat but it was too spendy for me. I plan on applying my liner to as much of the floor as I can. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[tp_smith]

I notched my convertible brace. I think your way of notching the connector would be easier.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

Catching up on your build, nice progress! I also started out with a yellow/black 67 vert with an I6/PG combo. Looks like her twin! This is the day I picked it up with the old owners saying g-bye. Things do change over time. View attachment 269911

Thank you! That does look very similar even down to the little damage on the front end. The inner support on my car was bent up pretty good and the bumper had a very large gap in the center when I got it. I put a new support in but have yet to put the bumper back on. I don't want to put it on and risk scratching the bumper until I am ready to drive it. Mine also lived in California for a while when the previous owner was in the military. I am glad you stopped by the thread any questions or comments feel free to chime in! This is my first every build thread, and first time sharing any of my work so hopefully everyone enjoys. There should be more updates to come this afternoon or tomorrow morning. It depends how long my fingers can stand working in the cold garage today.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

View attachment 269922


I notched my convertible brace. I think your way of notching the connector would be easier.


View attachment 269923






View attachment 269924

I am very glad to see that someone else ran into the same things, makes me a little more confident I am doing this correct. I really did not feel like cutting that brace due to the face that its under the car, this was the first reason I did it the way I did. the second was mostly for sanitary fitment as I wanted to minimize the chance of moisture getting in anywhere and causing rust. Your way seems like it looks very clean and appears to be factory. If I would have done this I would have had to re-replate the brace which requires more undercar welding. In my case I can already tell that welding on the car is not going to be much fun as I currently have very little bare metal, so there is going to be a lot of cleaning required for that.

I see that you also have the DSE hydro-formed subframe. How do you like that? I am sure it is a very big upgrade from the stock 50+ year old technology.

 

[tp_smith]

I am very glad to see that someone else ran into the same things, makes me a little more confident I am doing this correct. I really did not feel like cutting that brace due to the face that its under the car, this was the first reason I did it the way I did. the second was mostly for sanitary fitment as I wanted to minimize the chance of moisture getting in anywhere and causing rust. Your way seems like it looks very clean and appears to be factory. If I would have done this I would have had to re-replate the brace which requires more undercar welding. In my case I can already tell that welding on the car is not going to be much fun as I currently have very little bare metal, so there is going to be a lot of cleaning required for that.

I see that you also have the DSE hydro-formed subframe. How do you like that? I am sure it is a very big upgrade from the stock 50+ year old technology.

Welding the floor pan metal to the subframe connector was difficult. You will be welding the 16-18 gauge floor pan to maybe 3/16" thick subframe connector. It was easy to blow a hole in the thin metal. I made a weld pass on the top and then crawled under the car and welded the bottom side. The notched convertible frame was also welded to the subframe connector. The welds were seam sealed.

The subframe is pretty. I do not know how much an improvement it is over the factory. The highest speed I have been able to obtain is 2-3 mph. I cannot push the car any faster.

 

[97 CAIVIAROSS]

“The subframe is pretty. I do not know how much an improvement it is over the factory. The highest speed I have been able to obtain is 2-3 mph. I cannot push the car any faster.”

Now that is funny!

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

I made a little more progress today on the passenger side of the car. The worst part about only having half of a two car garage available is moving everything back to one side as you can see below. This is how currently storing the seats.

The worst part of the vehicle (rust wise) I have found thus far is on the passenger side where the rear seat hooks in. As shown in the picture this area is not exactly strong. I will have to figure out some way to repair this before welding in the subframe connector.

Since there was a little discussion about how I addressed the interference by notching the subframe connector I thought I would show this process a little better on this side. Once I had the material removed to initally fit the sub frame connector. I marked the connector as shown. I made the mark at the end of the brace as the subframe connector still needed to move back about 1/2" when finally installed.

I then drew the section that I wished to cut out of the subframe connector, all my cuts were made with an angle grinder so getting them perfectly square was difficult. I marked the subframe connector 1 inch down from the top and back to the mark I had previously made. I only have to removed about 3/16" during the notch but cutting the sub frame connector away from the radiused edge made it easier to cut and weld.

As you can see the initial cut was not straight, at this point that did not matter much as I still had to grind away the excess material. I squared the piece that I cut off and then test fit many time until I obtained a fit that I was pleased with.

Both subframe connectors fit!!! I started grinding the passenger side to get to bare metal. I then started planning my braces to connect the front subframe to the subframe connectors. I am going into work tomorrow to make the braces so hopefully I will have a update on those soon. I am not making anything extremely fancy but I feel as though it will get the job done for the time being anyway. I also had a little time for primer to dry so I figured that I would clean and prime more of floor. I avoided areas that were either already ground of will need to be ground. The primer makes it look like I am making a little progress. I know applying primer is jumping the gun as I have a lot of metal work left but with primer on the floor it greatly cuts down on the rust dust and makes clean up much easier.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

Welding the floor pan metal to the subframe connector was difficult. You will be welding the 16-18 gauge floor pan to maybe 3/16" thick subframe connector. It was easy to blow a hole in the thin metal. I made a weld pass on the top and then crawled under the car and welded the bottom side. The notched convertible frame was also welded to the subframe connector. The welds were seam sealed.

The subframe is pretty. I do not know how much an improvement it is over the factory. The highest speed I have been able to obtain is 2-3 mph. I cannot push the car any faster.

Welding the subframe connectors to the floor has been my biggest area of concern throughout this entire project. I am sure this will take a significant amount of time. I also have every intention of seam sealing the welds when I get to that point. I am hoping to have the subframe connectors tack welded in a couple of days. At that point the fun begins!

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

Small update as we are getting up to 12 inches of snow today so I cant move the car to the middle of the garage. I went to work this morning to use one of our press brakes to bend up the braces to connect my subframe connectors to my subframe. I still have to drill the holes in the braces.

Each side of the car will require one offset brace and one straight brace. This is due to the fact that the stock subframe is wider than the DSE subframe connector. The stock subframe flares at the end. This means that one side of the frame lines up good the other side is 1/2" offset. This may not be the absolute best way to go about this but I think that I am going to be satisfied with the results.

Hopefully tomorrow I will make more significant progress and be able to give a more substanial update. I am looking to grind the area that needs to be welded on the driver side and test fit these braces. I am thinking to fill the gap between the floor and the subframe connector I will either be using a copper backer or Tig rod as an additional filler. Thank you to tp_smith for that recommendation.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

I made some fairly significant progress today on the subframe connector install. I started out the day with 2 offset braces and 2 flat braces. To start this process I took the offset brace under the car to determine the best location for the holes that I needed to drill. I then laid out the holes and drilled a pilot holes for all three holes. I confirmed that my layout would work then drill my half inch holes.

I marked the location of the brace on the subframe connector as it was set up in the previous picture. I then removed the subframe connector from the car. I transferred both holes onto the subframe connector then drilled them to 1/2" on both the inside and outside. I then drilled holes in the same spot on the flat brace as I did on the offset brace. Yes this will make the other end uneven but with the 23.5 degree bend I only lost approximately 1/8" in over all length. Therefore, this will not make a huge difference and barely be noticeable.

Once all the holes were drill I assembled everything on my bench vise to make sure that all the holes lines up as there was a lot of transferring. Assembling this before hand also made installation easier since I only have 2 hands and was of course to stubborn to dig out the jack.

At this point I am pleased with the results. This is the harder of the two sides as I believe the braces fit better to the passenger side by looking at my initial fit. I am hoping to work on that side tomorrow, hopefully the passenger side goes quicker. I would like to get the driver side floor pan ground tomorrow as well but we will see how the day goes.

 

[67CamaroConvertible]

Worked on the passenger side braces today. Same process as the drive side except the offset is on the outside not the inside of the car.

Don't judge the welding skills too much, definitely not a professional. I pre assembled everything to make sure that all the holes lined up. After a little massaging everything went together just fine.

This side fit pretty good. After drilling the hole in the subframe I discovered that there is a factory hole on the inside of the frame. It is conveniently located where it covers about half of the hole I was going to drill. This is not a huge deal as I will just use one bolt from the inside and one from the outside, it was just not something I expected. To drill the holes on the interior of the frame I will have to get a 90 degree drill from work.

I am comfortable welding the passenger side as this point side the connect is in place and bolted to the subframe. One I get the driver side bolted to the subframe I will be ready to weld the entire thing.

 

[tp_smith]

Your straps look great.

You might want to weld some bushings inside the subframe connector before final welding. the bolts will fit through the bushings. You could weld the strap directly onto the subframe so you won't need to drill any more holes.