Leviathan

[Blake Noble]

Soon, I will awaken a sleeping giant.

Edited November 10, 2012 by black-knight

[G. David Felt]

Z90??????

[Turbojett]

yeah, whatchu cookin' up?

[z28luvr01]

That looks like a mid-70s Camaro headlight bezel in the lower left

[G. David Felt]

Good catch, you are right it does look like the drivers side headlight bezel.

[ocnblu]

Wait, is that a french curve in the photo too? Maybe it's a Citroen 2CV.

[G. David Felt]

Wait, is that a french curve in the photo too? Maybe it's a Citroen 2CV.

Remember, we no longer have French Fries, they are Freedom Fries. So that would not be a Vrench Curve but a Freedom Curve which means only american metal!

[Robert Hall]

Wait, is that a french curve in the photo too? Maybe it's a Citroen 2CV.

Remember, we no longer have French Fries, they are Freedom Fries. So that would not be a Vrench Curve but a Freedom Curve which means only american metal!

That is so 10 years ago...

[Blake Noble]

Sinister and subdued.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OeW2xGajogQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YRdzLWX_ejw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Edited November 9, 2012 by black-knight

[ocnblu]

yikes

[Blake Noble]

<p><strong>yikes</strong></p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4jwy8xyjS2U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm surprised that car rusted out so bad, believe it or not. Hardtop second-gen cars are better about keeping themselves together.

[G. David Felt]

wow that is an amazing sad end to an awesome car. Talk about rusting out big time.

[Blake Noble]

I'll be honest, it's really hard for me not to spill the beans on this. Maybe tomorrow.

[G. David Felt]

I'll be honest, it's really hard for me not to spill the beans on this. Maybe tomorrow.

Come on Puke it up if you know what else is going on with the car.

[G. David Felt]

Found a comment that the Engine and tranny went into a 78 T/A. Any new pictures or video on this and is it the truth?

[ocnblu]

Only thing I can say on the vid I posted, Mr. dfelt, is to click on the poster's name and see if he has any other vids on YouTube that deal with the Rusty Bird. Also, the vid I posted has nothing to do with Jacket's project.

[FAPTurbo]

If it's another rustbucket that will dissolve if it comes within a foot of a puddle, then I predict your future will be filled with White Accords.

[Blake Noble]

Well, here's the bottom line: I did some trading around and wound up with a '75 Camaro Sport Coupe. More details to come later.

[FAPTurbo]

Refer to this post for my response:

[ocnblu]

Awaking a Leviathan, indeed... I heard you had an earthquake. Was that you?

[Blake Noble]

Refer to this post for my response:

http://www.cheersand..._40#entry715202

Oh, you ...

Awaking a Leviathan, indeed... I heard you had an earthquake. Was that you?

Not quite.

Speaking of that quake, I honestly didn't know an earthquake had happened until I had gotten a phone call and a few texts asking if I had felt it. I was outside vaccuming some crud out of the Camaro's floorboards when it hit. The epicenter was a few miles outside of Whitesburg, which is roughly about 85 miles away from where I'm at. Apparently it was enough to rattle dishes and shake a few walls here for a few seconds, but nothing major.

[ocnblu]

So, what are you saying, we should let go of his ears, he knows what he's doing?

[Blake Noble]

So, what are you saying, we should let go of his ears, he knows what he's doing?

Uhh, well ... I'm not quite sure how to answer that one.

I know that I know what I'm doing here, if that counts, and yes, my ears burn when someone is trying to constantly tug on them.

Anyway, here's a preliminary photo of the Camaro.

See? It isn't the rotted out rustbucket I bet most of you were betting on.

More details later.

[ocnblu]

aw hell naw, those rims gotta go, son

don't look too bad from here, otherwise. Pontiac seats?

Edited November 12, 2012 by ocnblu

[Drew Dowdell]

those wheels the wrong offset?

[G. David Felt]

Nice but needs a paint job

[Blake Noble]

aw hell naw, those rims gotta go, son

don't look too bad from here, otherwise. Pontiac seats?

Yeah, the rims are absolutely terrible. They're ugly beyond ugly. That's why I'll be replacing the rims with a set of these soon:

I've always liked Year One's 17" Rally Rim reproductions and considered buying a set for my old black Turdmaro. That's what will be going on this car.

That's a seat from either a late '90s Grand Prix or early 2000's Impala, I believe. Yes, I said a seat. The previous owner started to replace the original worn out ones and stopped at the driver's seat. I still have the original driver's seat, but I'm not sure I'm going to reupholster it, the passenger side seat, or the rear seat bottoms.

I'm open to criticism here, but I'm thinking a set of Recaros out of a Cobalt SS may be what I use to replace the front seats, if not at least a set of seats out of a fourth-gen F-Body. Of course, they'll be recovered with more factory-style coverings.

I do plan on reusing at least the back of the rear seat.

those wheels the wrong offset?

I'm afraid so. I have no idea who in the hell made those things, but I'd like to hope that they've went out of buisness.

Nice but needs a paint job

We'll get there sometime this winter I hope. So far, I'm planning on painting the car black and adding a custom hood and lower body side graphics, although I'm also considering a few Holden-sourced paint options as well. As far as the body goes, it's 85 percent straight and 85 percent rust free. None of your typical F-Body rust has gotten to the rocker panels or any of the rear sheetmetal. The floorpans do have some very mild rust issues (which second-gen F-Body car doesn't?), but that's no big deal. I can spend $200 bucks on so on a new set from Camaro Central, which is luckily located about 15 miles away from me (and that also means I'll get to save a buttload of cash on shipping working on this car).

Edited November 13, 2012 by black-knight

[G. David Felt]

aw hell naw, those rims gotta go, son

don't look too bad from here, otherwise. Pontiac seats?

Yeah, the rims are absolutely terrible. They're ugly beyond ugly. That's why I'll be replacing the rims with a set of these soon:

I've always liked Year One's 17" Rally Rim reproductions and considered buying a set for my old black Turdmaro. That's what will be going on this car.

That's a seat from either a late '90s Grand Prix or early 2000's Impala, I believe. Yes, I said a seat. The previous owner started to replace the original worn out ones and stopped at the driver's seat. I still have the original driver's seat, but I'm not sure I'm going to reupholster it, the passenger side seat, or the rear seat bottoms.

I'm open to criticism here, but I'm thinking a set of Recaros out of a Cobalt SS may be what I use to replace the front seats, if not at least a set of seats out of a fourth-gen F-Body. Of course, they'll be recovered with more factory-style coverings.

I do plan on reusing at least the back of the rear seat.

those wheels the wrong offset?

I'm afraid so. I have no idea who in the hell made those things, but I'd like to hope that they've went out of buisness.

Nice but needs a paint job

We'll get there sometime this winter I hope. So far, I'm planning on painting the car black and adding a custom hood and lower body side graphics, although I'm also considering a few Holden-sourced paint options as well. As far as the body goes, it's 85 percent straight and 85 percent rust free. None of your typical F-Body rust has gotten to the rocker panels or any of the rear sheetmetal. The floorpans do have some very mild rust issues (which second-gen F-Body car doesn't?), but that's no big deal. I can spend $200 bucks on so on a new set from Camaro Central, which is luckily located about 15 miles away from me (and that also means I'll get to save a buttload of cash on shipping working on this car).

Sounds Very Cool,

I would like to suggest you keep a running blog here with pictures so we can all lust after this baby being brought back to a high standard of BAD!

[Drew Dowdell]

aw hell naw, those rims gotta go, son

don't look too bad from here, otherwise. Pontiac seats?

Yeah, the rims are absolutely terrible. They're ugly beyond ugly. That's why I'll be replacing the rims with a set of these soon:

I've always liked Year One's 17" Rally Rim reproductions and considered buying a set for my old black Turdmaro. That's what will be going on this car.

That's a seat from either a late '90s Grand Prix or early 2000's Impala, I believe. Yes, I said a seat. The previous owner started to replace the original worn out ones and stopped at the driver's seat. I still have the original driver's seat, but I'm not sure I'm going to reupholster it, the passenger side seat, or the rear seat bottoms.

I'm open to criticism here, but I'm thinking a set of Recaros out of a Cobalt SS may be what I use to replace the front seats, if not at least a set of seats out of a fourth-gen F-Body. Of course, they'll be recovered with more factory-style coverings.

I do plan on reusing at least the back of the rear seat.

those wheels the wrong offset?

I'm afraid so. I have no idea who in the hell made those things, but I'd like to hope that they've went out of buisness.

Nice but needs a paint job

We'll get there sometime this winter I hope. So far, I'm planning on painting the car black and adding a custom hood and lower body side graphics, although I'm also considering a few Holden-sourced paint options as well. As far as the body goes, it's 85 percent straight and 85 percent rust free. None of your typical F-Body rust has gotten to the rocker panels or any of the rear sheetmetal. The floorpans do have some very mild rust issues (which second-gen F-Body car doesn't?), but that's no big deal. I can spend $200 bucks on so on a new set from Camaro Central, which is luckily located about 15 miles away from me (and that also means I'll get to save a buttload of cash on shipping working on this car).

Sounds Very Cool,

I would like to suggest you keep a running blog here with pictures so we can all lust after this baby being brought back to a high standard of BAD!

Speaking of that... we have a new blog feature here that would be a great way to do that.

[Blake Noble]

I've considered doing something interesting documenting the build of this car ... which reminds me, it's something that I rarely see other automotive websites and blogs doing outside of places like Hot Rod Magazine's website, etc.

Anyway, in other news, I'm seriously considering letting Maaco paint this car since it's difficult to find an independent shop around here that's willing to do work outside of insurance jobs for a reasonable price. That and it's apparent that the guy I've been considering to do the job, although he would've been fairly inexpensive, isn't going to get around to my car any time soon. I'm well aware of the horror stories about Maaco, but I'm starting to chalk them up mostly to morons who went in and bought the cheap $300 package without having any sort of prep or body work done. Maaco will do the prep and body work for you, but for an additional cost of course. It seems that I can expect to spend $1,200 or so going this route (that is, having Maaco do all of the prep and body work and spraying). Still, that's cheaper than what most places charge and I'm not exactly looking for show-quality paint here. This car will be built to be a driver's car and hopefully a decent autocross car (that's a hobby I'd really like to get into), not a show queen. An expensive paint job would likely wind up getting chipped and so on.

I'm also thinking that I should have the floorpans replaced in time for Christmas.

Before I forget, I'll go ahead and reveal the thinking behind the "Z90" name. Basically, since Chevrolet dropped the Z28 package for 1975, it wouldn't make sense to build anything like a Z28 clone out of this car. But, I also don't want to return the car to stock condition -- when this Camaro was new, it was almost as barebones as you can get (which don't get me wrong, I like that; but as far as I can tell, the only options that were ordered were power door locks, a chrome decor package, and the 2bbl 350 SBC) and painted shit brown with a shitstain brown interior. So, realizing the absolute stupidity in taking either direction, I envisioned what would happen if Chevrolet replaced the Z28 package with a new SS option for '75, and what that car would be like if it were modified. Of course, it would be almost as stupid to slap SS badges on this car as it would be to slap on some Z28 decals. So, considering the fact that the Rally Sport's RPO code for 1975 was Z85, it seemed logical that the RPO code for a '75 Camaro SS would be somewhere between Z86 and Z90. I chose Z90 for two reasons: a.) it has a better ring to it, and b.) I was born in 1990, so it makes this particular concept that much more personal.

I'll also add this as an footnote to what I mentioned above: I haven't finished the concept sketch yet, but the fact that I want to essentially build a '75 Camaro SS doesn't mean I'll be putting dual SS Rally stripes on my car. I mentioned custom graphics earlier, and for that I'm doing a design that transitions the Z28 graphics for 1974 and the Z28 graphics for 1978 (with a passing nod to the T/A's screaming chicken hood graphic).

Edited November 16, 2012 by black-knight

[Blake Noble]

I guess I'll also risk ridicule here and mention that I discovered the water pump is probably shot. But you know ...

It's an easy job to replace a water pump on a SBC and it's cheap. It also gives me an excuse to get in there and to try and repaint the engine myself.

[ocnblu]

Jacket, oh my. It's not necessarily prep work at issue with MAACO, it is the paint materials they use. Does this Camaro need to be done lickety split? Or is it a car that you plan on holding onto for a while? With MAACO, "black is black", so any paint repair work that might become necessary in the future will never match the MAACO color. There are many different colors of black. Just a note of caution.

[wildmanjoe]

For $1,200 you're probably going to wind up with a single stage enamel paint job, which isn't going to be nearly as durable as a proper base coat/clear coat job.

If you're on budget and don't want your car sprayed with glorified Rustoleum, I would strip the car yourself, have the body work and paint done by a pro, then reassemble and buff it out yourself. It'll be a load of work, but it'll save you money and you'll get a paint job that won't peal off within a few years.

[Camino LS6]

Like the wheel choice.

[Blake Noble]

Jacket, oh my. It's not necessarily prep work at issue with MAACO, it is the paint materials they use. Does this Camaro need to be done lickety split? Or is it a car that you plan on holding onto for a while? With MAACO, "black is black", so any paint repair work that might become necessary in the future will never match the MAACO color. There are many different colors of black. Just a note of caution.

For $1,200 you're probably going to wind up with a single stage enamel paint job, which isn't going to be nearly as durable as a proper base coat/clear coat job.

If you're on budget and don't want your car sprayed with glorified Rustoleum, I would strip the car yourself, have the body work and paint done by a pro, then reassemble and buff it out yourself. It'll be a load of work, but it'll save you money and you'll get a paint job that won't peal off within a few years.

Interesting input guys. Thanks.

The Camaro doesn't have to be finished in a real hurry, but I still have to be sensitive to how long I take on doing the bodywork. I am working against time here. The car is mostly solid now, but I know that whatever rust is there won't allow that to be the case for much longer. What might be trivial bodywork now could be major work by this time next year, and bodywork is more than half of the battle with this car to put it back in driver status.

It's my understanding that, while Maaco does use single stage enamel on their cheaper paint jobs, they use DuPont base-coat/clear-coat paint on jobs that cost over the $1,000 mark. Granted, it isn't top of the line DuPont paint, but it and the work is also guaranteed for three years.

I've been thinking of another approach here, not unlike what you mentioned WMJ. I could have whoever welds the floorpans back also do the bodywork and put the car in primer (small note: I'm thinking I'd like to go with Mar-Hyde here; the guy I was considering to do the job also uses Mar-Hyde and I think it's one key to how his work comes out looking pretty nice). I could strip the car myself (the paint that's on there is really thin it seems) or let that be a part of the aforementioned job. From there, I could buy my own materials and pay a place like Maaco to spray it.

Nothing is really off of the table at this point.

While I'm aiming to acomplish the bodywork (outside of the floorpans) over the winter, it wouldn't be the end of the world if it's pushed back to spring, or summer at the absolute latest.

Like the wheel choice.

Thanks Camino.

You know, I think they would look real nice on an ElCamino, too ...

Edited November 16, 2012 by black-knight

[G. David Felt]

I have to say that MAACO does a decent job if you go in knowing what you get.

I have had a number of auto's done by them. I went in and removed all chrome, trime pieces that they would tape over, etc. then I block sanded the whole auto myself. For small dent, I got Dent Wizard to do the no paint pull out and then any major body work, I either replaced the parts myself or where real quality body work was needed. Took it to a good body shop and then brought it home to continue my work and later took it to Maaco and paid to have a specific color, multiple paint layers with clear coat done. The work is great and I have not had any problems, but I did go in knowing what I wanted and the work I would do myself.

[Blake Noble]

I should have a new set of floorpans (and possibly doors) coming in either sometime this week or next week after payday.

I've also been researching how to get this car into paint ... and I'm still in limbo. Nothing seems too sure footed. Getting decent results (again, not expecting show quality here) on a shoestring budget seems to be next to impossible for someone who doesn't have a spray gun and a garage (I knew the "favoritism" here before hand so to speak, but even still, there has to be a way).

Edited November 24, 2012 by black-knight