[Wazoo151]

I am going to consolidate my build thread into this new thread - it had been sitting over on Body Shop since a lot of the work was to the body, but I figured I'd pick it up here since the body part will be nearing completion soon and it'll be time to put Alice together.

I am not sure why I chose the name Alice, other than my '67 is a working-class girl, which reminds me of the Alice character that worked at Mel's Diner in the 70's sitcom, and it just stuck.

Summary to date:

In 2006 I acquired Alice here locally in Houston after getting my grad degree, and if I had had my wits about me i would have just kept on looking. After getting the car home and then doing my research (ready, fire, aim...) I discovered that it was missing its VIN tag, its title (which I knew), its trim tag, and needed 95% of its panels replaced. It had no engine, no transmission, and no interior, and the rear end was a disc brake 10 bolt from an 80's vintage Camaro.

As the Camaro was out having panels replaced, I rectified the VIN and title issues, and have since decided that I really don't care about the trim tag. The car was originally a Grenada Gold 327 manual-shift car with a standard black interior, but since it was missing so much I decided it was a license to build the car exactly the way I wanted it.

The first shop to work on the car will remain nameless, but if you look at my post history you can find it. They butchered the car, did terrible work, and I figure the rework alone has cost me 5 figures. If I had it to do all over again, I would have found this site before sending it out and learned the welding from the good folks on here. Next time, next time...

I got disgusted with the car after the initial shop's horrific work, and let it sit for a year. Then at our annual crawfish boil, one of my friends gave me grief for the car being in the exact same state as the previous year, and that spurred me into working on it again. I found a much better facility run by honest people, Kevin's Auto Restoration and Repair in Magnolia, had the rework done, and then sent it on to paint at another very honest shop, Davenport's Customs, also in Magnolia.

All the while I have been acquiring parts and working on restoring the parts of the car not attached to the body. I think I am down to the boring "nuts, bolts, and screws" pieces, having recently acquired the last of the big-ticket items such as the transmission and rear end.

The car will be Marina Blue with a parchment and black deluxe interior with a '69 cowl hood and the front and rear spoilers. Power will come from a 383 built on a 3970010 4-bolt block, with AFR 195 CNC "eliminator" heads, hydraulic roller cam, forged internals, and Doug's 1 3/4" headers. A TKO 600 will deliver power to the 12-bolt Moser 4.11 rear. Wilwood 12.19" drilled/slotted brakes, Global West and Hotchkis suspension, Flaming River rack and steering column, and 18" Rushforth Livewires round out the rest of the car. I know I'm forgetting some stuff, like the Entropy aluminum radiator I just remembered, but there are a LOT of parts in the garage.

I'm sure I'll need some help from y'all when it comes to reassembly, as I am already suffering from "where the hell did this go" syndrome as I restore the center console and instruments.

Here's a little summary in pictures. The car is supposed to be back from paint by this year's crawfish boil, May 5.


She comes home:

Problems arise, and disassembly:

First shop's screw-job, including patch panel placed over the transmission hole instead of the new full floors I paid for:

While it was out I worked on the subframe:

At Kevin's shop:

At Davenport's:

Loads of parts!

It's taken a long time to get to this point, but it's been fun. I hope to have the car mostly completed this year. I will take pics along the way and watch this spot for details on the build and of course questions to y'all when I get stuck, which'll probably be often!

Thanks,

Robert

 

[tkz69camaro]

May have been a bad start but looks like it is coming along very nicely now. Lots of good looking parts.

 

[Wazoo151]

I spoke with the machine shop last night - apparently they're way behind (I'd say, it's been three months!) but will be getting to my engine next week. They say that 500HP is not going to be attainable given the AFR heads' flow rate - bummer, but they say they'll get close. With the rate at which they're working, we'll see if it's even an engine next week.

Robert

 

[ROBS6T8]

I spoke with the machine shop last night - apparently they're way behind (I'd say, it's been three months!) but will be getting to my engine next week. They say that 500HP is not going to be attainable given the AFR heads' flow rate - bummer, but they say they'll get close. With the rate at which they're working, we'll see if it's even an engine next week.

Robert

WOW! Should be real close though. AFR had a 383 with the 190cc heads and it made 471 hp and 501 tq. Keep those pics coming. Looking nice.

 

[Everett#2390]

An appropriate name, Alice.
Very nice surgery being performed on her.
Pictures are great.
Good work, Robert.

 

[Wazoo151]

Rob - I have a buddy who built a similar AFR-head 383 and made 470HP - mine has the newer CNC "Eliminator" heads, a slightly more manly cam, and a larger carb, so I think that the 470 number at least should be attainable.

Everett - thanks! I have more pics that I need to throw up, like the restored center console and gauge cluster - I need to get some guidance as to what goes where in the back of the instruments. I'll be traveling but will post them this weekend.

Robert

 

[Roberts68]

Looks inspiring enough. Count me among your spectators.
Now if only I could figure out a way to turn inspiration into funds, time or both.

 

[Wazoo151]

Ok I got some stuff done this weekend even though I didn't make it by the body shop this week. Nothing ultra sexy but stuff that still had to be done now or later.

Tail light assemblies. The repop red/clear lenses fit fine but the repop bezels didn't line up for crap with my original light bodies. Installed new gaskets.

Center console and gauges. The repop rear light cover did not fit worth a DAMN. I had to file down the top to make it fit in the console.

Instrument cluster. Here I have a couple of questions. I replaced the tach (originally a fuel gauge car) and speedo, the PCB, and the carrier/lens assembly. Where do these two leads go?

And where does this long awkward metal thing go (I think it screws in just above the RH side where the housing screws to the carrier above the lens). Also, WTH is this thing? What does it do?

 

[Wazoo151]

Btw, I rebuilt the clock using one of those quartz rebuild kits. Went together really easy. Well see how it runs though

 

[Wazoo151]

Wow, there are really some production differences in these repop panels. The body shop has been spending a lot of time getting the arches of the two quarters to match each other. Apparently the driver's quarter has a sharper peak to the quarter over the wheel arches than the passenger. They built up the passenger side with allmetal as such:

driver

passenger, after build-up:

This sharper point also continues at the join between the tail and the quarter. The more prominent ridge was evident on the driver's side but not hte passenger's.

driver:

passenger:

Here's the passenger quarter ridge - it's still overly sharp, but will come down with sanding:

Vaughn, 4 year old Camaro fan:

Apparently the differences in these two 'ridges' also affects the slope of the C pillar as it flows into the shoulder of the quarter. The all-metal buildup has also resolved this problem; Albert at the body shop initially thought he'd have to cut and reshape this curve.

 

[Everett#2390]

Alice is coming along nicely.
Good to have the supervisor on the job.

 

[Wazoo151]

He loves going to the body shop - he looks at the other cars and writes his name in the dust on the Camaro's front end. He's a good boy, maybe I'll leave the Camaro to him

 

[Bangcamaro]

Very nice work and good looking project. When I saw the title I thought of Milla Jovovich from the movie Resident Evil. She is called "Project Alice" She is also gorgeous so thats extra pressure to make the car Beautiful. lol. Looks like you are having alot of fun! :thumbsup:

 

[Wazoo151]

Alice is progressing, slowly but surely. It's taking a lot of work (and budget) to get the passenger-side quarter panel right, but I think the effort will be worth it in the long run:

I got a call from the upholstery guy - apparently one of the seat buns that I ordered isn't for a Camaro at all, so while I deal with the vendor, I ordered another one and had it drop-shipped to him. He had finished the back seat, though, and it was looking good.

I started assembling the rear end. Everything went together well enough until I got to the brake calipers (Wilwood), and I'm having some fit and clearance issues. I'm going to start a thread in Brakes to ask some questions...

RCP

 

[Wazoo151]

Alice Lives!

It's been a long time since I posted an update on my 67, Alice. Since the last post, it's been slow but steady progress on the car at the body shop. Apparently I have a reputation there for being picky, as they didn't want to let any small imperfection stay unresolved. We missed the "home by" deadline of May 5, which is probably a good thing in hindsight as we wound up buying a new house last month and I would have had to move the whole thing again.

The shop has finished all the body work, and it's ready to shoot (save for the problem with rear spoiler fitment, posted elsewhere). The large amount of work really shows, as it is as straight as any classic car I have seen.

Older pics, I should have new ones Friday:

Finished engine:

Our new place is out in the country on 2.2 acres, and it came with a Barnmaster barn which is currently configured with a tack office, work area, and 2 horse stalls. I am trying to figure out how to disassemble the horse stalls so I can pour a slab in that area for more work room. The Camaro will fit nicely in the middle of the barn, I just need to mount some more lights and my TV, fans, etc. It'll make a nice Man Cave!

And when it gets too hot, I can just take a dip

So I am hoping for the car to come home at the first of October. I'll miss the goal I had for taking it to the Halloween Nifty Fifties show here in north Houston, but at least I can start the assembly.

Robert

 

[ROBS6T8]

Now you know the phrase "paint jail"! You'll love it when she's done. A friend has his 70 in paint jail and is jealous that I did mine in my garage and she's on the road! Of course she won't look like a show car, but that's not what I was after.
I am jealous of that motor though. Awesome! :thumbsup:
And let's not forget the pool... beautiful. :beers:
Looking forward to more pics.

 

[Wazoo151]

Well it being in paint jail is primarily due to the sheer amount of work required to undo the sins of the first shop. Provided it comes home on Oct 1, it will have been in the body shop for 9 months. 9...agonizing...months. There were a couple of times when the work went idle, as it's a small shop, but I'm confident the results will be worth it!

 

[Wazoo151]

I went out and visited the car on Friday, and it's ready for a final block and then disassemble/spray, so this body shop journey is coming to an end. Hopefully the pictures after these will be the car in color, I know that lots of my images have been the same view, only with slight variations as they worked on perfecting the body

 

[ROBS6T8]

Congratulations must be exciting now. Looking forward to more pics.

 

[Wazoo151]

FINALLY! IT'S IN COLOR!

I was traveling this week for a conference and I got a nice surprise from the body shop - the car has been shot! I only have the two pictures for now but will take a boatload more tomorrow when I go see it in person. It's Nantucket Blue, with the bumblebee stripe in a charcoal gray to match the Rushforth wheels.