I got the frame and suspension parts back from the powder coater the day before Thanksgiving. Prior to that I spent many hours cleaning, priming and painting miscellaneous parts. The chassis and suspension parts are powder coated semi-gloss. I used Eastwoods detail gray for the steering box, linkage and coil springs. I painted the Koni shocks a color close to the color of the car.

Below are some pics of the current state of the project. Notice where I have my Hurst roll control mounted. It's a pretty stealth location ;) I ordered a new front disk brake kit from Wilwood. I' trying to offset some of the weight that I'm putting on the front of the car (heavier Bowtie block and relocating battery back to original location) with this lighter brake kit. Hopefully the kit should be arriving today. Once I get the front discs and inner/outer tie rods installed I will put wheels/tires on the car and install the engine and transmission. I've got a 3.5" Dr. Gas X pipe laying on the floor. Lemons is building me a set of headers that should be here this week. I also ordered two 3.5" Magnaflow stainless mufflers. I hope to get the exhaust system installed next weekend as well.

The body shop is supposed to be painting the car this Friday. I'll take the rolling chassis to them next week some time so they can set the body on the frame. Man, I never knew just how much work a frame off restoration would be. I think it's going to be well worth the effort.

Sweet, not a vette but sweet, kidding. I love Chevelles.

Looking great Kenny :thumbsup:

Below are some pics of the current state of the project. Notice where I have my Hurst roll control mounted. It's a pretty stealth location ;)

Looks good....

Do you think the headers will clear it where you mounted it? It might be a little tight there.

looks good, what color are you going to paint the car? I went through the frame off on my '69 3 years ago, and I hear you, it is a bunch of work....it was fun though....my 555 in is the machine shop jail, should be getting out of there soon and then planning on getting a paint job in the spring...

keep the pictures coming...

Looks good....

Do you think the headers will clear it where you mounted it? It might be a little tight there.

Yes, I've actually been running it in that location for the last 5 years. This was the first time I could get a clear shot of it with a camera. Just wanted to show an alternative place to mount a line lock that's out of clear view.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

That looks great! Where did you get your brakeline kit from or did you bend them up yourself?

looks good, what color are you going to paint the car? I went through the frame off on my '69 3 years ago, and I hear you, it is a bunch of work....it was fun though....my 555 in is the machine shop jail, should be getting out of there soon and then planning on getting a paint job in the spring...

keep the pictures coming...

Thanks yanniz, haven't seen you around for a while. I haven't been posting much here lately either. This project has been taking ever moment of my spare time. The factory color for my car is Regal Red and I'm going back with that color. Every time I see pictures of Chip's Chevelle I wish mine were an original Marina blue car :)

That looks great! Where did you get your brakeline kit from or did you bend them up yourself?

Thanks. These were hand bent. Stainless steel brake lines are a little tough to work with, but they look good and should last a lifetime.

Hey Ken was wondering how the project was coming along .....takes forever doesn't it ...... looks great , you just need all the "resto" factory dab marks :) ...what did you decide to do with underbody ?

Ken - It looks just like the typical great work that we have come to expect from you (and many others on this board). At this point, I'm just envious of anyone making any kind of progress.

Hey Ken was wondering how the project was coming along .....takes forever doesn't it ...... looks great , you just need all the "resto" factory dab marks :) ...what did you decide to do with underbody ?

Hey Bill,

Thanks. I'm still torn on what to do with the underside, but I had better decide today or tomorrow. The painter recommended some sort of undercoating seeing as how I intend to use the car (drag racing, water box burnouts, plus street driving). The undercoating he recommended isn't the typical spray can stuff. It's something that you laydown first and then go back and paint over. I just hate to cover up all the nice sheet metal work that I've paid through the nose to have done (new floors, trunk pan, etc...). Remind me again what you did with your? IO know your's has a durable texture and still looks very nice too.

Ken - It looks just like the typical great work that we have come to expect from you (and many others on this board). At this point, I'm just envious of anyone making any kind of progress.

Thanks, Roger. I will be glad when this project is over so I can get back to what I really enjoy...RACING! ;)

Wow that looks sweet :thumbsup:

Hey Bill,

Thanks. I'm still torn on what to do with the underside, but I had better decide today or tomorrow. The painter recommended some sort of undercoating seeing as how I intend to use the car (drag racing, water box burnouts, plus street driving). The undercoating he recommended isn't the typical spray can stuff. It's something that you laydown first and then go back and paint over. I just hate to cover up all the nice sheet metal work that I've paid through the nose to have done (new floors, trunk pan, etc...). Remind me again what you did with your? IO know your's has a durable texture and still looks very nice too.


Yes a shame to cover up the expensive body work .but now after one season of using the car I would do the same over again .....used tintable box liner with body color added in, very fine texture , black in rear wheelwells ..... extremely tough but more importantly washs real clean and easy, no streaking etcetc .......a friend did correct factory epoxy primer and already is marked and does not clean that easy everything sticks to the primer .....US cars were black or grey primer underneath so you may not want to tint yours red, but any contrast sure makes it bright to work under car ..... did I say how tough it is !! just dont have the body shop spray it on too thick .fine texture .you still see all the body seams etcetc Pic in my showroom ......

I cant stand the way undercoat looks when it gets old and nasty. Sandblasted mine (underside of body)and sprayed POR-15, resisted the urge to spray the body color as Im sure reg paint would eventually chip - God forbid you get an oil leak....
Totally worth the trouble, looks sweet!

Looks great Ken! :thumbsup:

Can't wait to see it coming back together. It's been a long year, but 2007 should be a great year for you getting it back together and running again. Looking forward to hearing how it performs next season.

Have you thought about how you'll handle touching up the powder coating where you have to grind it off to attach the cage to the frame?

It looks great Ken. I'm jealous!!!

very nice dude! good to hear from you.this wil be one bad ass "restified" ride!

Thanks for all the compliments everyone. I've added a few additional pictures of the Wilwood setup. The package arrived today and I had everything installed in ~1 hour. This kit is really neat. The pads slide in from the top of the caliper and are retained by a cotter pin. Both sets of pads could be changed in a couple of minutes. According to my crude bathscale calculations this set (Dynalite HD) is ~32lbs lighter than the OEM setup it replaced. Each caliper was ~10lbs lighter and each rotor/hub assembly was ~11bls lighter. The Wilwood kit uses an aluminum hub that mounts to the cast rotor. I would imagine the drilled/slotted kit would be even lighter. The kit I had on there was one I bought from SSBC about 6 years ago (single piston caliper). It worked fine and stopped the car good, but I'm just trying to save a few pounds where I can without compromising the integrity/appearance of the car.

Damn.. That thing is gonna be too nice to race. I hope your track isnt full of class 5 like ours :sad:

Ken, everything looks great!

I'll be interested in your impressions with the exhaust note, as that's the same setup I'm running.

Nice work Kenny.

Thanks, Hoff. I've struggled with whether or not to race the car after doing all this work. After much thought I've decided I will. I'm putting a roll bar (not cage) back in the car. If it has some 9 second passes in it they will be made at some renegade tracks :) Aside from the water box and God forbid an accident, I really think that the track is kinder to a car than the street (well, maybe not to the drivetrain).

John,

Thanks. Are you running the 3.5" DR. Gas and 3.5" Magnaflows? If so, how do you like the sound? Are you running tailpipes or dumps? I didn't have an X pipe on the old setup. I was running Straightline Performance 3" mufflers. I *think* those were a relabled Magnaflow. I liked the note they produced. I really like the sound of my friends 67' Camaro. He has my old engine and runs an X pipe. It sounds like he's turning 10k RPM when he shifts. I've never heard another BBC (or really any other engine) that sounds like his. That's one of the reasons I decided on an X. Dan Lemons also said that he felt an X pipe would pick the car up a little as well.

Thanks, Garrett!

Ken,
Looks fantastic! If you want to take even more weight off the car with the brakes, the Wilwood rear drag only brakes were worth 40lbs over stock drums.

Ken,

Did you go with the vented rotor like the stock ones, or the solid thin rotors?

I'm planning to do Stranges race discs on all four corners. I weighed my stock brakes with the G-body rotors, calipers, bearings, caps, pins, etc weighed 53 lbs for both sides. Out back I have stock GM 12 bolt drums which the complete setups including drums, backing plates, wheel cylinders, shoes and springs/hardware weighed 35 lbs. Weights verified on two difference bathrood scales here at home. Each scale read within 1.5 to 2 lbs of each other.

According to Stranges catalog, their front kit weighs 33.5 lbs and the rear kit is 23.70 lbs.

That works out to roughly 20 lbs loss for the front and 11 lbs loss for the rear for a total of roughtly 30 lbs.

The shop I purchased my QA1 shocks through felt the Strange was one of the best quality for the money and also the lightest due to it's construction even though the hat was steel, being lightened it wasn't heavy. I'm trying to figure what's what as they also "claimed" a potential weight loss of up to 8- lbs over my stock brakes. Stinking stock brakes don't even weigh barely 80 lbs.

Brian,

Do you remember what the front & rear Wilwood kits weighed each?

Ken,
Looks fantastic! If you want to take even more weight off the car with the brakes, the Wilwood rear drag only brakes were worth 40lbs over stock drums.

Thanks, Brian. I upgraded from the factory 9" drums to the 11" drum kit offered by Master Power Brakes a couple years ago. At the time I was having trouble holding the car in the lights when I stalled the converter high enough to get decent reaction times. The 11" drum kit fixed that. In hindsight I should have gone with a rear disk kit as I swear I think that rear drum kit added 50lbs of weight (at least the weight is in the rear of the car, but it must still be turned). I run Moser c-clip eliminators. I'm not sure if anyone even makes a rear disk kit to work with those?

Todd,

The kit I ordered was part #145-2285-B. Is uses vented rotors, not the thin ones. I was able to get a pretty good deal using my racer discount with Jegs. The kit normally sells for $649 IIRC, I paid $541.19 to my door :cool:

In order to get a racer discount with Jegs you need only have a valid NHRA membership number. Well worth the price of the membership which I've had for years anyway.

Nice work, keep it up!

John,

Thanks. Are you running the 3.5" DR. Gas and 3.5" Magnaflows? If so, how do you like the sound? Are you running tailpipes or dumps? I didn't have an X pipe on the old setup. I was running Straightline Performance 3" mufflers. I *think* those were a relabled Magnaflow.

Ken, I'm running the 3.5" DR X with 3.5" MF's (14" ovals) with dumps. I do like the sound. It's much more pleasing to my ears than the Flowmaster setup it replaced. If I had my choice, I'd be running the old large case Straightline mufflers, but those aren't made anymore.

Very nice, very very nice. No need to respond Ken :thumbsup:

Ken, I'm running the 3.5" DR X with 3.5" MF's (14" ovals) with dumps. I do like the sound. It's much more pleasing to my ears than the Flowmaster setup it replaced. If I had my choice, I'd be running the old large case Straightline mufflers, but those aren't made anymore.

Hey John,

The mufflers I ordered from Magnaflow are essentially the same as the old Straightline Performance mullers except 3.5". The are 5"x11"x22" (28" length overall). The are part# 12909 in the 5"x"11" over section towards the bottom of the page:

http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/shopdisplaycategories.asp?zone=main&id=301

I think they will keep the sound moderate, but I'm sure they will be heavy just like the SP mufflers were.

Thanks Rich and Steve!

Ken,

Did you go with the vented rotor like the stock ones, or the solid thin rotors?

I'm planning to do Stranges race discs on all four corners. I weighed my stock brakes with the G-body rotors, calipers, bearings, caps, pins, etc weighed 53 lbs for both sides. Out back I have stock GM 12 bolt drums which the complete setups including drums, backing plates, wheel cylinders, shoes and springs/hardware weighed 35 lbs. Weights verified on two difference bathrood scales here at home. Each scale read within 1.5 to 2 lbs of each other.

According to Stranges catalog, their front kit weighs 33.5 lbs and the rear kit is 23.70 lbs.

That works out to roughly 20 lbs loss for the front and 11 lbs loss for the rear for a total of roughtly 30 lbs.

The shop I purchased my QA1 shocks through felt the Strange was one of the best quality for the money and also the lightest due to it's construction even though the hat was steel, being lightened it wasn't heavy. I'm trying to figure what's what as they also "claimed" a potential weight loss of up to 8- lbs over my stock brakes. Stinking stock brakes don't even weigh barely 80 lbs.

Brian,

Do you remember what the front & rear Wilwood kits weighed each?


yeah:
Rear drum brakes, complete assembly – 30lbs each 60lbs total
Wilwood drag rear brakes – 10lbs each 20lbs total

-per my bathroom scale, which accurately weighs my skinny ass.
Its strange that they came out to even numbers, but its not becuase of rounding up or down.

Aerospace component brakes (per side) 19lbs
Wilwood front brakes (per side) 17lbs

do you have aluminum drums?

yeah:
Rear drum brakes, complete assembly – 30lbs each 60lbs total
Wilwood drag rear brakes – 10lbs each 20lbs total

-per my bathroom scale, which accurately weighs my skinny ass.
Its strange that they came out to even numbers, but its not becuase of rounding up or down.

Aerospace component brakes (per side) 19lbs
Wilwood front brakes (per side) 17lbs

do you have aluminum drums?

The numbers I stated for what parts I weighed were for both sides. No aluminum drums, just the stock 9 or 9.5" finned cast iron drums. Are you running 11" drums like Ed, or the stock 9 or 9.5"?

Ken,
I dont know how much more money you want to pile onto your project (i know how that goes! hehe), but i bet they make a disk brake kit for that setup.
Brian

Looks real nice Kenny :thumbsup:. We know its gonna look great, cant wait for the on track performance.

The numbers I stated for what parts I weighed were for both sides. No aluminum drums, just the stock 9 or 9.5" finned cast iron drums. Are you running 11" drums like Ed, or the stock 9 or 9.5"?

Stock 9", non-finned drums. I've never really had problems holding rpms on the starting line, and the disks work fine for it also.
Can hold 2400rpms on the 2-step real easy, and i've gone to 3000+ with this converter, and almost 4000 with the looser one.

Stock 9", non-finned drums.

Hmmm...wonder how in the heck our two nearly same drum setups can weigh so different?

I was hoping to lose more than I initially calculated, but what I weighed coming off the car just didn't show as much loss as expected.

garret came up with 50lbs on his. If i run into a few more sets at work i'll weigh em and see whats what.

garret came up with 50lbs on his. If i run into a few more sets at work i'll weigh em and see whats what.

Got me thinking and I had to go out and re-weigh them and sure enough them came out exactly at 35 lbs again, for the pair. I weighed myself and it came out same as well:( :clonk: .

Just seems odd there's such a discrepancy.

Ken,

Sorry to hijack your thread. I'll try to shut up now. :D

Great work! Can't wait to see the finished product. :thumbsup:

Looks really good Ken! Keep up the good work!

You should be able to hit Reynolds or Commerce by Feb or Mar. ...........right?

Component weights.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15269&highlight=component+weight

It looks great Ken:thumbsup:
At what stage is the body at? Maybe I missed it in the previous posts.

Thanks again, everyone.

Jerry,

I talked to the body shop yesterday. All the sheet metal work is completed and they have begun blocking/sanding. The shop owner said the right side body work was finished. He expects to have the remainder of the blocking/sanding completed this week and hopes to get the car in primer early next week. Should go pretty fast after that. Once the car is painted I will take the chassis to them so they can set the body on, align everything and install the trim/emblems.

Hey John,

The mufflers I ordered from Magnaflow are essentially the same as the old Straightline Performance mullers except 3.5". The are 5"x11"x22" (28" length overall). The are part# 12909 in the 5"x"11" over section towards the bottom of the page:

http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/shopdisplaycategories.asp?zone=main&id=301

I think they will keep the sound moderate, but I'm sure they will be heavy just like the SP mufflers were.

Thanks Rich and Steve!

Ken, thanks for posting that. I saw those a while back and forgot about them. I guess my CRS is acting up again. :clonk:

My X is beginning to rust thru the bottom and needs to be replaced. Maybe I'll go ahead and replace the mufflers and X. I could stand a little quieter system for sure.

Looks great Ken, you came a long way quick on your project. Good luck

I run Moser c-clip eliminators. I'm not sure if anyone even makes a rear disk kit to work with those?

I have Moser c-clip eliminators on my car and I run Wilwood rear disks (part number 140-5236-B), the only thing you can't use is the internal drum type parking brake. They use to have a parking break that was a small disk caliper but everyone I new that had them hated them so I just don't have a parking brake. HTH.

Chassis looks great Ken.Good luck with the rest of the build.
Vinny

Thanks again for the kind words, everyone.

Bob A and CDN, I really appreciate you sharing restoration pictures and advice. It was very helpful.

69Bowty,

Thanks for the tip on the rear disk kit. I can't afford to make the swap now, but maybe some day down the road. This project is driving me to the poor house :)