What is the best plan of action to restoring a 1968 Chevy Camaro?

Question

My camaro was sort of bastardized. It has a sunroof (ugh), the interior is gone (as it should be, with a 40 year old car), there is the typical rust in the common areas (rear quarters, under the windshields front and back, trunk, etc), and the floor was cut to fit a 4 speed shifter and the hole is gaping.

Anyone have any advice as far as what steps to take first? I am a weekend mechanic and thusly do not have have all the tools I wish I had. I plan to get a welder and do some of the bodywork myself.

Answer 1

Buy a good mig welder to start with.. Something that will go down to about 20 to 30 amps, and up as high as 120 amps or more.. Get you an argon bottle and have it filled with argon/CO2.

Next if your planning a full restore, I would get an air compressor if you don't already have one. For a weekend guy, it would probbly save 6 mo. or more time in the restore. So much easier to take things off/apart, cut, rivit, etc with air tools.
Being your a weekend guy just shop for cheaper air tools from like harbor freight. Air ratchet, impact, blow gun, air hammer, detail paint gun, full size paint gun, 3" cut off tool, die grinder, etc etc.

On the compressor if you have 230 volt where you'll have the compressor then by all means get a 60 gal, 230 volt unit with 11 cfm or more @ 90 psi.

Now moving on to the car it's self.. Get you a few sets of jack stands (4 sets)

Get to the rust 1st. Cut it out and weld in new panels..

Pull engine if it has one.

Then get the car up on stands, drop the front cross member..

Clean all the underside of car with wire wheels and angle grinder.. Replace brake and fuel lines up to front of car...

Re paint bottom of car, Clean crossmember, replace suspension parts/bushings up front.. Paint crossmember

Install back in to car with new bushings.

Replace rear suspension bushings

You may even want to pull the fuel tank out and have it cleaned on the inside and treated, along with replacing the sender/pickup.

Pretty much after the rust repair, start at the lowest point (under car) and work upwards.

Getting to interior, engine, paint/body last

Don't think of the car as a whole.. You'll get out of heart with the lenght of time and money it takes..

Think of the car in parts..
Rust
Suspension
Brakes
etc etc etc

Get one part at a time done, then move on to the next part.

Try not to jump around too much.. Finish 1 part before starting on another part

Answer 2

I guess the answer depends on what level of restoration you want to achieve. If you want a 100 point show car then start by getting another Camaro because the top restorations all have original engines and transmissions with matching numbres and correct decals and all the other original equipment.

If you want to make a nice daily driver out of it, then my advice is to start with the safety items first. That means the brakes and suspension bushings that are probably rotted out as well as the steering linkage that is all worn out should be the first things to be done. If it has the original drum brakes, you'll probably want to do a front wheel disc brake conversion. Then, if necessary, the mechanical items should be done including rebuilding the engine and carb, and replacing the transmission and differential if they are in need of replacement.

The cosmetics would be last including the body work and interior.

this all assumes that you are driving this while its undergoing its restoration. If you're parking the car during the rework, then you can do the body work first without addressing safety or mechanical issues provided you know what the final configuration for the engine and transmission will be.

the last thing regardless of where you start is the paint and interior. You really dont want to be doing those untill you have a mechanically sound, safe car that has had all the body work done.

hope that helps give you some direction

Answer 3

ok, in case you decide on something cookie cutter common that anyone has, placed a 350 in it. a huge block could be cool in case you like a drag vehicle, yet coping with and mileage will go through! i in my opinion could attempt to discover a 327, they got here initially on your vehicle, ran candy, and could nevertheless get 20mpg once you're only cruising! I even have the two a sixty 9 Firebird and a sixty two Impala wagon, the two with 327s, specially inventory, the two get better over 20mpg only cruising, yet run complicated while ya placed the hammer down! A 350 after 1970 is fortunate to get 13mpg at perfect! A 327/300hp with a rapid 4 hundred is what I even have interior the fowl, and it gets with the image! The wagon has a sixty 9 hi-Torque truck engine it, had small heads and a torquey cam from the production facility, yet is in actuality a vette engine, so upload some 202 heads and an intake and carb, you have a lot of HP. Your vehicle sounds only like mine, I had to place floor pans in it, new rear physique rails and trunk, new springs, an entire new front end, accomplished with poly bushings! Rear quarters and a few paint, she aint a teach vehicle , yet a pass vehicle! solid success consisting of your undertaking, take it sluggish, do as lots of it your self as available, only throw a gasoline cellular up interior the trunk for gasoline, and do the interior like ya choose- I went warm-rod form, all aluminum panels, no lower back seat and racing seats interior the front! That way you are able to throw some huge-*** audio equipment the place the lower back seat was! Make it the way you decide on it, make it yours, do what you decide directly to do to it!

Answer 4

Fix the rust first, you don't want that cancer spreading. Then start working on driveability enhancements.

Answer 5

The same way we built em' !!!! From the floor pan up and the rearend forward ,body wise