Gauging success

Hoping to continue at least a minimal amount of work on my Camaro each week, this evening I dug out all of my gauges and began cleaning them, then wrapping them carefully for storage until later use. This is something I should have done years ago when I took the car off the road.

In the process of removing them from the car, likely due to my impatience, the beauty rings managed to get scratched up, so some touch up flat black paint will be necessary before they actually go back in the car. It would probably be a good idea to wait until I have the dash layout figured out first though, as more scratches will likely occur. After the gauges, my next project will likely to be to clean up the rear glass, removing the silicon, and prepare the body surface for re-installation. Then all that will remain is the front windshield, which I need to buy yet.

I'll probably get started on checking out the wiring harness after that, which needs a couple of repairs prior to re-installation. A few grommets had worn out, and the wires rubbed on sharp surfaces in a couple of areas, nothing major, but they need fixed just the same.

I'm still pondering whether or not to stick with the B&M Megashifter I have, as I always thought it was a very slopping shifter, and have since found multiple other shifters I like much better. One step at a time though, as I have plenty of work to go, and plenty of time to figure out a game plan. Expect updates more often, as while I've said so in the past, this time I really am going to continue the progress on a weekly basis until it sees the road once again..

Full day designated to the Camaro

Well, what can I say? Maybe my trip to a cruise night on Friday had a little bit to do with it, though I had already planned on working on the Camaro on Sunday, perhaps it added a little extra inspiration. I had a game plan lined up before I even headed out to the garage, and I am happy to say that I accomplished everything on my list I had planned.

I dug the exhaust system out of the basement, first hosed it off, then took an angle grinder to it with a wire wheel on it. After stripping the full exhaust system clean, I then painted it with a high temp black enamel. You may wonder why I would bother painting it after all the work of stripping it. Well, between the road grime and automotive fluids that get cooked occasionally on the exhaust, it's been impossible to keep it looking good. I had painted the exhaust with a silver paint in the past, but chose black this time, so it'll blend with the underside of the car.







After that, I did a quickie wash of the car itself, as it was getting really dusty. Unfortunately, it's still got dirt on it, and water spotted. I'll have to make a second attempt when I have time to actually soap it up, as all I did was spray it down with the garden hose. Plus, without any front and rear glass, I'm left mopping up the interior floor pans after each and every wash. At least it looks better now than it did.






Next on the agenda was installing the seats. I did this for two reasons, one, I was tired of looking at them all wrapped up down in the basement, and two, it looks more like a car with all the seats installed. As you can see, the rear seat will essentially be useless, I'm not even sure if the dogs will be able to fit back there or not, as the bars really get in the way. For right now, I think I'm going to keep the backseat, as it makes the car look more streetable than an all out race car.

The front seats I simply put in place, not bolted in. The seats will come out and back in many times before it's all said and done. I still have some welding to do, as the dash needs tack welded in many places from when they cut it up for the cage. I also need to figure out what I'm going to do for a dash, since the stock unit will no longer fit, again, because of the cage. Considering I can only weld good enough to get me by, and I don't own a metal brake, my customization ability is somewhat limited. I've considered buying a metal brake, but will likely try something different. I may simply go with a mostly flat piece of sheet metal, with bezels for the gages and the radio along with switches in the dash. Relatively simple, straight forward, and easy. I'm going for functional, not show winner, judged shows were never my cup of tea.

So as you can see, the interior still has a long ways to go. I need to install sound deadener yet, find some matching plush carpet, cut up my current dash pad, then buy a new one after I've got it fitted, and do the same to it. I need to figure out my speaker arrangement, since the bar went through my speaker holes in the package tray. This car HAS to have a radio, as without it you'll get a massive headache from the 3 inch exhaust and even the shortest of trips. I need a plenty powerful system to drown it out. I also need to put a few more coats of paint on the cage itself, as it's barely been covered. The door panels will be an issue, as there isn't room for the inside door handles because of the cross bars. I'm either going to shave the handles, or perhaps make some custom interior panels with billet handles and window cranks. So you can see, I have my work cut out for me.





Even though I now have my basement fairly well organized, it's still gonna be a real bitch to find where all the parts are. Sure, they are neatly stored away, it's simply finding WHERE they are neatly stored away. Perhaps one night this week I will clean up all my gages again, wrap them up in plastic, and get them all in a box together.

I guess I never really lost interest

At times, I may have accused myself of losing interest in cars, but that would be untrue. Perhaps there have been periods in which I have grown tired, or lost interest in working on cars, yet the passion has always been there. During times, like these past 5 years, when I lived in an apartment for 2 and my house for 3, I really have lacked the means, and then the time, to really work on my cars like I used to. Yet I still found myself picking up the classic car traders on occasion, as well as continuing my car magazine subscriptions. I never miss the Detroit Auto Show, nor the Autorama. In fact, seldom do I visit just once, as 2 visits is usually my benchmark.

Just this past week or so my girlfriend and I were heading to a movie. While on the way I spotted a 3rd Generation Formula like my own. I don't have the money, nor the storage space for another car. Yet I was unable to simply drive passed, I just had to look, just to gauge the condition, see how much, and to check out the options. It had like 145,000 on it, was pretty rough around the edges, though still appeared solid. The price was $2-$3,000 I think. I drove away with the satisfaction that mine was way nicer, and my need to know fullfilled.

Tonight, while shopping, I took a stroll through the magazine section...just to look and see. While I have since sold my 1970 Challenger to my dad, I still have an interest in Mopars, and picked up a copy of Mopar Action to thumb through. After that, I grabbed a GM High Tech performance, which would somehow find it's way into my cart as I walked away. There was an article on a Formula like mine with a turbo charged version of my 350. If nothing else, I had to have that information on hand for later on down the road...just in case.

As I left the parking lot, I knew what I had to do. I had spotted a primer black Mopar along the other side of the road on my way down. On my return trip, once again I was pulled in by the Mopar as if it were some great gravitational pull. She was a 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger, out of South Carolina (so it said), a "built" slant 6 for drag racing, a roll cage (which was actually just a roll bar), and a few other minor details. No price was given, just the situation "Going through a divorce, need to sell it." I think the guy's name was Harvey, I feel your pain Harvey.

While no progress has been made on my own Camaro, I have been slowly stockpiling paints and other materials in preparation of working on it. Some day, I'll get out there and start digging back into it. For now, I'm in the midst of a complete and total change in career path. Quite possibly I will be leaving the auto industry forever, in a quest to join an organization that had me pulled over many times in my younger years, law enforcement. If everything goes as planned, the next few years will be regaining my footing, then hopefully I'll be able to put the money into the Camaro that it needs, getting her once again back on the road and hitting the drag strip and car shows.

Challenger R/T values at insane levels

I haven't wrote an entry in quite awhile now, so I figured I'd drop in for a few. Nothing really to update in terms of progress on my Camaro, as my house continues to take priority in life. My wiring harness continues to sit on my workbench in the basement, as does my rear window, awaiting cleaning and preparation for installation, though that is about the extent of my progress.

Something I don't believe I've mentioned that happened over the past month was I sold my 1970 Challenger R/T. The good news is I sold it to my dad, so I'll not only be the one who does most of the work, I'll get to see my project through to completion, as well as be able to drive it when it is complete. I gave my dad a pretty damn good deal on it, though it all kind of equals out considering how much they've helped me out in life, and always been there when I've needed them.

After the title was switched over he called for insurance. I had the car covered for what I had in it, not it's true value. Considering I have had it in storage now for 5 or 6 years, I simply never got around to adjusting the insured value. I was truly shocked when my dad calls to inform me that he insured it for $30,000, and the agent told him that $35,000 is the book value for the LOW END cars! Now granted, depending upon what options you have, the sky is the limit for the upper values, my old Challenger will be higher than the low end, as my restoration are very meticulous. I'd estimate a realistic value of $45,000-$50,000 if we keep the 383. If I convince my dad to drop a 426 hemi in it, that value will shoot up close to $100,000. Part of me would love to see a hemi in it, yet the other half of me knows that perhaps if my dad did install a hemi, he'd sell the car, since it would be worth so much.

I'll update the project plans as they come about, but you know my track record, so don't be holding your breathe waiting for updates. The Challenger will likely see the road well before my Camaro now, but even then, we're probably looking at a good 2 year restoration. Aside from the ride height, the car will appear stock on the outside, as well as the inside. The under carriage and powertrain will both be updated however for better power and performance. I'll update any progress that is made.

GM puts brakes on rear wheel drive vehicles

GM's on again/off again plan to bring more rear wheel drive vehicles into production has once again been put on hold. Their justification? The government's plan to become more strict on fuel economy and CO2 output has them changing course. Here is an idea, scale back your SUV production since they are your biggest gas hogs and concentrate on your cars instead, making them both more fuel efficient and moving ahead with reviving rear wheel drive. You can't tell me that when you have a car like my dad's 1995 Formula, which is a 12 year old car, that knocked down 27 mpg highway and had 300 hp, that improvements haven't been made to achieve 30+ mpg while retaining the desired level of performance.

GM puts brakes on rear wheel drive vehicles

Where the problem lies is with their refusal to accept the fact that SUV sales will continue to decline. Eventually, SUV's may even go the way of the mini van, with most automakers simply stop making them. I don't care what technology you invoke into SUV's, the fact is that they are super heavy vehicles which will always be less efficient than a car, or even a crossover.

Fortunately for me, there will be plenty of nice, used, rear wheel drive cars in the near future, even if they do cancel these plans. For me, I see Mustangs, Chargers, 300C's, Magnums, Camaros, and Challengers as all possible vehicles to satisfy my desire to continue to own rear wheel drive, V8 powered, American muscle.

I am curious as to how this will effect the styling of the new Impala if the rwd platform is killed. According to my source at GM, the new Impala was kickass! Same styling that will be in the new Camaro, just with 4 doors instead. A trend in which I am surprised that hasn't been reversed, which to me seems the most obvious, is a drive to make cars lighter. In fact, it baffles me how cars have approached the curb weights they are today. Your average family car today tips the scales at around 4,000+ lbs. Now that is simply your average midsize family sedan. Now consider that the full size BOATS built back in the late 60's and early 70's were around 4,000 lbs, and you have to ask where all the extra weight comes from today.

Cars today are filled with aluminum and other lightweight components, where as back then everything was cast iron. Throw in the fact that most cars were full framed cars back in the day, where as today they are unibody, and I'm still left scratching my head. Before just drastic measures such as killing rwd platforms is taken, other options should be considered, such as a means to omit some of the weight making the vehicles so heavy, and in turn, inefficient.

The manila receipt folder

Back when I first got my 1969 Camaro, I bought a manila folder. In that folder I kept every receipt for every purchase I made for that car. If it was something I paid by cash or check, I scribbled the sum on a piece of paper and put it in the folder. I've kept this folder all these years, since getting the car back in 1996. Recently, while visiting my parents, finding the last of my stuff up on the shelf in my closet, I came across this folder and put it among the stuff I'd take home with me. That has been several weeks now, and the folder had sat atop my chest of drawers ever since.

As I began to thumb throught the folder, I realized something, what's the point? So here I sit, shredding about a 2 inch tall pile of receipts. Perhaps one of the least appealing parts of being an auto enthusiast is the amount of money that you put into your hobby. I once added up the total of all these receipts, though it has been some years, and I can't even guess how far along the car was, or whether it was on the road at the time. I do recall that the total was in the mid $20,000 range, and I knew I still had money to spend. Today, that same car sits in the garage, nothing more than a shell with a 12 point cage in it, and several thousand dollars away from being road worthy again. This time around, I'm not keeping track, I'm simply gonna spend what needs to be spent, and never have the agony of looking back at how much it cost. This shredder is about to get one helluva workout.

2007 Detroit Autorama

The latest paint trend seems to be airbrushed flames. Kind of makes the old nostalgic flame jobs look cartoonish doesn't it? I talked with one such artist last year and was shocked to learn that most jobs like this are way north of $10,000, that's if your car already has paint! Still, the effect is just badass isn't it?

I spent two days at the show this year, a show that beats every previous one hands down in my opinion. It took me 4 hours to walk through the event the first day, and almost the same during my second visit on Saturday. Had I not skipped the whole tuner section on day two, I would have been right on par. I've always enjoyed this show, more so than the North American Auto Show, if for no other reason, the originality of the cars. Anymore, the cars featured are mostly of the high dollar variety. The majority of these rides are probably in the north of $50,000 area, with many of the rides up for best of show in the $100,000+ level, with the winner probably in the several hundred thousand mark. Yet what perhaps impresses me most is the ever changing culture amonst car enthusiasts. How new, different, and sometimes even anti-cultures will spinoff and form.

The little details are becoming mainstream, details that most people may not pick up on. This Camaro had every seam welded up and smoothed. The side markers were flush LED's, as were the taillights. The headlights are modern equipment, and the emblems and door handles were also shaved. I did some of these features to my Camaro nearly 10 years ago, now its becoming standard.

One such category would be the Rat Rods tucked away in the basement of Cobo. These crude, often slap together looking rides in a way represent the very beginnings of hotrodding. When people took a car, cut it up, modified it, put engines pulled from the junkyard under the hood, and basically kept things simple. There weren't the power windows, power locks, tweed or leather interiors, or any of the nother NICE-sities that the high dollar street rods have as standard equipment today. These throw back rides look for the more obscure powertrains to install, the dare to be different that often over powers the sensible line of thought. This trend was formed out of protest, protest against the high dollar streetrods that have long since dominated the scene. Cars that are often well out of reach to many. So instead, taking a low buck approach, this new culture, or anti-culture as I like to call it, was formed. A group that is against the mainstream approach, all while perhaps helping to reborn an era where the very culture of hotrodding was born.

A funny car 68 Camaro. Just plain cool. Now, who will be the first person driving one on the street though? lol

This isn't the first time such a change or revolution has taken place amongst hobbiest. In fact, I'd dare to say that it's been going on for nearly 100 years. Anybody who wrenches on their cars wants them to stand out in a crowd. When a trend or fad catches on, there will always be those who break away and head in another direction, simply because once it becomes labeled as "cool," it is no longer cool to them.

While not a big fan of their color choice, this was one nice shoebox other than that!

Another example would be how prostreet was so popular back during the 80's, then kind of fizzled out. Back then, the cars were often more show than go. It was all about the over the top look, though often were nothing more than poseurs, or worse yet, trailer queens that were hauled from show to show. Today, prostreet is alive and well, just in a new and improved reincarnation. The new crowd drive their cars, race them, and even sometimes choose the path of a relatively narrow (by racing standards) 10.5 inch tire to push their cars to insane speeds through the 1/4 mile traps. Now the bragging rights seems to be among those willing to push things a little further. Engines are bigger and badder, 500+ cubic inch big blocks are not unusual, in fact, it has almost become standard. As have even bigger engines, sometimes pushing the 600+ cubic inch size. Power levels are there to match as well, with anything south of 500 hp looked at these days as often insufficient by the most. If you can't measure up on motor alone, then nitrous kits to boost you an extra 300+ hp are not unusual like they were some years back.

One mighty Mopar!

I'm sure that just as with this craze, another will pop-up, or perhaps it already has. The big cubic inch big blocks already being challenged by big cubic inch small blocks. Fuel injection seems to be more popular than ever, as are turbo and supercharging and nitrous injection, now often multiple stage. Every trend in car culture reaches a peak, where upon those who were the early pioneers of the trend begin to search for something new. Just as the high dollar car builders are beginning to hire professionals to build their own Rat Rads, and spending tons of money in doing so, the original Rat Rod crowd will likely spin off once again, finding something else that is cool, though perhaps only cool to a few pioneers.

Sweet little 392 Hemi powered Ford Roadster. Sweet little blonde too.

What mine would look like...put together.

Nice lil supercharged 34 Coupe

Rat Rod style

One awesome Dodge wagon! This would be the only family truckster I'd own and drive with pride.

I took nearly 300 pictures at the event. While I've posted some here, the majority can be found here:

2007 Detroit Autorama pictures

2009 Corvette SS taken for joyride by

About 30 miles up the road a worker at the airport stumbled across something rather special, the 2009 Corvette SS prototype. The article states it was being shipped over to Germany for testing.

Shutterbug took 'Vette for joyride

Now I don't know about you, but given the opportunity that this individual was faced with, I think I would have probably did the same thing he did. After snapping some pictures, I'd take this baby for a spin around the parking lot. I mean seriously, if you're working in the loading docks at an airport, do you really think you'll ever be able to afford a 650+ hp Corvette that is rumored to cost north of $100,000 when it comes out? This was a once in a lifetime chance, and this guy took the bull by the horns and went for a ride. Yeah, he lost his job, but years from now he'll be able to look back and tell stories of the time he took one of America's baddest super cars for a spin.

As for the car itself, the spy shots really don't show us much. The average Joe would say it's just some Corvette, as most of what makes it special lies under the skin. The shots that are floating all over the net now were obtained from Jalopnik. It seems that GM hasn't pressed charges, so the extent of his headaches may simply be the loss of his job. Given the fact he'd likely never in his life have a chance to drive such a car, I'm sure he can live with finding another $8 an hour or so job.

That's what I'm talkin' about!

The video says it all.

My Formula on steroids

One of my friends from college picked up this car a year or so ago. It's an '88, but aside from that, nearly identical to my Formula, though it is a hard top. It only has like 30,000 miles on the odometer. While I paid $5,700 for mine, he paid $5,000 for his with a siezed up engine. The engine siezed a short time after it's install, but I told my friend that the parts alone on this car are worth more than the $5,000 he paid, even if the engine was trashed, which is very unlikely.

This car has everything done to it that I would do to mine, if it wasn't my daily driver, and money was no object. I'll start with the engine. While I don't know all the specifics, I recall it has some serious aftermarket rods and an industructible crank. The block I believe is a bowtie block, the intake is a custom built one off piece, as is the dual air intake made from carbon fiber. The cubic inches are 400 for this build.



The transmission that backs up the engine is a T56 out of a Dodge Viper, is it was stronger than the version that came in the Camaros and Firebirds. The rear end is a custom built 12 bolt to be bullet proof as well, with 3.90 gears. All four corners have disc brakes that appear to be the 1LE setup. The suspension is all aftermarket, konis, lowering springs, and poly bushings. The chassis is all tied together via a 10 point cage, one of the tightest cages I've seen in terms of fit and form. The trans, rear, and cage alone would probably surpass the $5,000 he paid for the car.









He also has a 73 Chevelle Laguna which he bought about 7 years ago. His first car at 16 was a Laguna, and like me and my desire to buy another Firebird like my first car, he too wanted another Laguna. While I didn't much care for the car and it's styling at first, it has really grown on me, much like my friend's Fairmont he is building.




This car initially had a lowly 307 power plant, but it has since been replaced with a healthy sounding 454, reminds me a lot of the way my 454 in my Camaro rumbled. You can tell that it puts down some major power to the tarmac. He also swapped on some 17 inch rims and wider tires, and there ya have it, it was transformed into a serious street machine right before my eyes, one in which I thought was pretty damn cool now.