And here is some pictures of the "ugly" during the teardown.:sad:

This will be quite the journey. Likely a slow moving one considering family and work priorities. But this is my dream car, so if it takes 10 years it WILL get completed!:yes:

 

Wow Matt you are taking on a giant project I felt bad the car I'm working on had a broken bolt that holds down the drivers seat. Got to use an easy out. That's it no other rust and only 1 dent. After seeing what you plan to do I'm thrilled with my little problems. You said this was your dream car what did you mean? It cost less to buy a done car than do one yourself especially a rusty one. Good luck with your baby!

Mike

 

After seeing the snow tires on it, I'm not surprised at the rust.
Good luck Matt...

 

I've already started by building a jig, as recommended to me by a friend. I'm currently in the middle of the jig, and once it is completed I will put the car onto it and begin the metal replacement. I'm looking for a good starting point, figuring on working from the front to the rear. Would anyone agree that I should start with the dash top and upper cowl? Any advice other than that? My metal sources will be NPD (less than an hour away from me in Michigan) and Summit Racing (2 hours away) for the AMD panels.

Here is some pictures of my jig progress.

 

Lol....Nice eagle eyes Joe! I had forgot those were on there. They were the first to go...took lots of heat and a BFH to get them off.

 

Welcome aboard the long road of a restoration Matt! Hopefully you will move along quicker than I have. An SS too! Nice find! This will be yet another thread I must subscribe to. (over 100 threads now!)

Have fun, be careful, and take LOTS of pics! :yes: :beers:

 

100 threads Todd?! Holy Cats, how do you keep upl

I certainly appreciate all the knowledge available in your build threads. Hopefully when I'm fitting my repop panels (there will be many) I can get them to fit as well as yours:thumbsup:

 

Great attitude Matt. Many have taken much longer than 10yrs. Wherever possible do yourself a favor and find GM panels/parts. The savings in frustration is worth a little extra coin. If you must go with aftermarket do your homework. Don't limit yourself to only 2 vendors. There are a lot of supporting vendors on this site that will have parts drop shipped to you at reasonable rates. Good luck with the build.

 

Michigan definitely molested that. Good luck with your project. Just remember, you're going to get depressed about it at some point, just keep chugging along....1 panel/part at a time.

 

Michigan definitely molested that. Good luck with your project. Just remember, you're going to get depressed about it at some point, just keep chugging along....1 panel/part at a time.

Jason this cracked me up last night! Michigan did definitly molest this Camaro. :yes: I'm here to make the wrongs right again.

 

Matt, your jig looks good. Looks like you got what it takes to do this project. Just keep after it. Keep the pictures coming.

 

Thanks for that Randy. I was surprised how quickly my welding skills came back since I havn't done any welding in about 6 years. Now if I could only get through the 7 12's that I'm working so that I can finish it! :sad: I told my wife that I'm catching the Camaro fever....

 

subscribed!

not sure if you mentioned it but is this a X55 car?

 

subscribed!

not sure if you mentioned it but is this a X55 car?

Not sure how I missed this earlier. Sorry!

This car is an early 69 .... pre X-code. Has all necessary SS equipment; front power disc, rear fender louvers, black body sill, SS hood. Have orignal 12 bolt with posi and 4 speed (match the vin). Car has never been re-painted, which is more and more obvious as I'm tearing it down. So, everything matches for SS. I could not sell it at Barret-Jackson as a no-doubter, but I don't think I will ever sell it anyway. I also came across an old service sheet in the trunk that I can get some partial words from, and I think I can figure out the dealership name on it. Plan on contacting them (hope they still exist) to see if they might have record of selling this VIN. :yes:

 

So you beat the tires with a hammer to break the rust between the rim and brake? That did not work, then you broke out the torch? :thumbsup:
I had to do the same thing to my Indiana rust bucket. :beers:

You asked about what is a good starting point:
Take photos.
Mount the body on the jig. Buy a notebook. Measure everything. Write the measurements in your notebook will little sketches of the points you measured. Take more photos.
Look at your car. Make more measurments and take more photos.

A unibody is like an onion. The sheet metal is put on in layers. Examine the rockers closely. Examine the frame rails. The rockers and frame rails are the center of the onion. You will notice that the rockers are suprisingly acessible since your floor is rusted. I think the F body coupe has an inner and outer rocker. They could be replace first if needed. If the frame rails need replacing, it might be easier to cut out the floor, frame rails, and trunk pan as one big piece. Keep all the old metal. They are a perfect example how the car was constructed.

Some people cut out all the rusted parts at one time. You could do that since your car will be on a jig. I cut out one or two pieces at a time. I was afraid that if I cut too much, the car might colapse.

You are the boss. Do what you feel is best.

If you want to replace the cowl area that is good place to start. Just rememember in order to replace the cowl area the front part of the jig brace will have to be removed. The only front support will be the four subframe mounting points that might be rusted out.

 

So you beat the tires with a hammer to break the rust between the rim and brake? That did not work, then you broke out the torch? :thumbsup:
I had to do the same thing to my Indiana rust bucket. :beers:

I actually was a master auto tech for a few years before I finished my Engineering degree. I gave those things the old "mule kick" and moved the whole car. I've been there before, so whipped out the torch and got them hot. Then it still took a BFH to finally free them from the axle hub and drums.:boxing:

 

Another Michigan Car! I have bought quite a few parts from Heartbeat City in Shelby Twsp. They are about 10 miles from me. Also there is CARSinc & Sherman both Michigan companies. Good Luck - Dave

 

Another Michigan Car! I have bought quite a few parts from Heartbeat City in Shelby Twsp. They are about 10 miles from me. Also there is CARSinc & Sherman both Michigan companies. Good Luck - Dave

Thanks for the tips on local companies Dave. I will have to check them out.....:beers:

 

Best of luck with your rebuild.
I am having a hell of a time, back edge of the repop fenders vs door interference. Though I mocked things up 2-3 times (classmates and teachers marveling at my patience), with paint on now, things are not fitting. grrrrr. So some advice; triple fit everything, then test a few more times! Also, the less reproduction stuff you use, the better!

 

Go get em, Matt! It may take awhile but don't give up. Sometimes it helps to just walk out there and do something little to keep moving..

 

Thanks to everyone for the comments and suggestions so far. I was able to get a little more jig work done (see pic) and I am finally off that terrible 7 12's shift! :hurray: Most of my big tools (welder, air compressor, etc) are still at my parents farm because of the available utilities. Of course, I have discovered that trying to build a Camaro there is not going to work because of the limited time I would be able to spend with it. THEREFORE this weekend I will be installing the 50A 220 circuit in my garage panel at home. My uncle is a journeyman electrician and has walked me through all the steps. I hope to have this installed, the welder and air compressor and all my jig parts moved to my own garage this weekend. :wacko: Wish me luck!

 

Well, didn't get my wish list done this weekend. I did manage to get the 220 outlet wired in the garage (works great!) but that was about it as far as Camaro related progress. I spent most of the weekend working on repairing some rotted out siding I found on the side of our 3 seasons room. Sheesh! The joys of being a homeowner. :sad: Still have a little bit to finish and then paint.

 

Well, I was able to get in a little Camaro time last Friday. Jig is now close to being finished. :hurray: I was getting ready to mount the body on the Jig and found that there is not a single bolt that is going to come out of the rear suspension mounts or the subframe mounts. :sad: Going to have to torch everything out, but that will be a battle for this weekend I hope!

 

What is the center line of pins where the rear of the rear frame rails will sit?

 

Matt, the jig looks really nice. Good job!

 

Matt

When you take the backseat out behind the upper seat portion on the bulkhead you may see in yellow crayon an X-?? this may be some sort of documentation for you. I was not aware of this but lucked out and caught my X-3 in some pics I had taken as mine was an early non x code z.

I saw your pics and had to look where you were from was not surprised to see Michigan. Lived in Cadillac and Brighton from 2004-2011 cars were total rust buckets by the time we left. Other than that an awesome state.
Best of luck
Jim

 

Matt

When you take the backseat out behind the upper seat portion on the bulkhead you may see in yellow crayon an X-?? this may be some sort of documentation for you. I was not aware of this but lucked out and caught my X-3 in some pics I had taken as mine was an early non x code z.

I saw your pics and had to look where you were from was not surprised to see Michigan. Lived in Cadillac and Brighton from 2004-2011 cars were total rust buckets by the time we left. Other than that an awesome state.
Best of luck
Jim

Jim

Huge thanks for the tip! :beers: I knew that there was a bunch of glue still on there, but it looks like I may have it in one of the pictures (inside red box). I will have to get a real good look when I get home tonight.

 

Also, does anyone know what this is inside the red box? It looks like chalk but I think this portion of the dash is not covered by the dash pad. I don't remember seeing it when I was taking the car apart. ??????

 

Red box: MA? I don't know.

Your jig looks great! :yes:

I had to cut one of the leaf springs with a torch because my shackle bolt would not turn. I also had to cut a rear shock. Be careful if you have the same problem. As you know, shocks can catch fire. I removed the gas tank before using the torch. The front subframe's 3/4" captive nuts might spin when you try to turn the bolt. Try to wedge something in between the captive nut. The two under the seat perch are hard to see. If they spin, it might be best to just cut the floor sheetmetal in that area. One of my subframe's bolt really did not need to be removed because the subframe's round hole was so rusted the bushing would just push through it. I hope that you do not have the same problems.

My car was so rusted I though it might have settled and out of tolerence. I mounted the body on the jig before adding the additional bracing. My thought was the jig would move the body's mounting points back to the correct position. Then I added the extra bracing to the car.

 

Patrick, I had the same problems. The mount under the drivers seat support just pushed through so I let it be. I had to cut every mounting bolt out of the rear suspension, and put major heat on the front subframe mounts to get them apart. Whew! :boring:

I want to duplicate your jig modifications for grabbing the seat belt mount on the rockers as I start cutting. Should I be worried about the apparent body tweak I have? It makes me wonder if the rockers are still in the correct place or if I will have trouble going back together if I use them as a jig mount. Any thoughts?

 

I may have a riddle for you guys that needs solved. In my working on Jim's X-5 hint, I was also working on decoding the trans, diff, and trim tag. Some of the dates don't seem to make sense, but everything matches the vin. I need to do more research first. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

Matt

Congratulations!! Glad I could help a fellow Michigander. I know the feeling when your able to find some type of proof of what you have on your non X code car. The X-5 find is great compared to the X-11 as it is a huge step toward your "real SS" car. Make sure you protect it so it doesn't accidently get sandblasted away.......yup I made this mistake.

Matt take some pics of the trim tag etc. and post. I am sure your riddles will be answered.

 

OK, I have done enough reading to make my head spin. All it did for me was just "madden the madness" to quote Jack Sparrow. :wacko:

My 6 digit sequence in the vin code is early, starts with "50...." which leads me to believe car was built in 68. But the trim tag looks like the later style. One of the attachements is right over the date code so all you can see is "0A" which I assume is first week of October...but 68 or 69? Then there is the absent "X" code that I verified thanks to Jim's tip.

Now to really muddy the water. The Muncie M20 trans is stamped "P9M14" Or August 14th 69. The serial matches the vin so I know it is original to the car. The diff is really hard to read until I get it out and cleaned well, but from what I could get it was definitly August build.

I have read that Muncies built in 68 could be stamped with a 9 if they were going into a 69 model year. Is this true? I'm just wondering if the car was built in october of 68 or 69??

 

Had a productive weekend Camaro-wise.

It is now on the Jig, which I mounted all by me onesee. Did'nt realize how scary that was until I was to far into it , and I won't be doing it that way again!!

This car has lived a tough life. Someone has been racing it, all the leaf springs were broken on both sides. Also, there are 2 points on the jig where it doesn't line up. Driver side rear subframe mount, and passenger side front subframe mount. I'm guessing that the racing and general poor condition of the floor resulted in a tweak. Should I be concerned? All of these points including the framerails have to be replaced anyway.