67 Camaro Build

[mongocanfly]

Blast cabinet looks great.!..I just picked up a hf cabinet..probably gonna do all the mods before I even use it

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by KevinK7

Seeing these body pics, slicing, dicing, tweaking, etc. points to some detail work being done. It's inevitable with many repro panels, but a great sign that the shop you're at is taking these steps.
Says a lot about them, and the quality you should see in the end product.

Well said, that is our goal for this round of bodywork. I’m very pleased with the results so far.

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Blast cabinet looks great.!..I just picked up a hf cabinet..probably gonna do all the mods before I even use it

Thanks Greg, good call I don’t think you’ll regret that decision. I’m happy with our cabinet, no clogs, good light, mobile, and for the most part dust free. I clean out the shop vac filter after each 4 to 6-hour session. We do catch spent media (powder) in the bucket but some does get by.



Both of our front fenders had a low spot right where the top inner center meets the hood. Don fixed this by repositioning the inner structures (popped the spot welds raise and then reweld). Here are some pics of this hood dialed in.

[Dieselwrencher]

He is doing very nice metal work there!

[7dee2]

Don is killing it I’m really pleased with his work.



There is more to tell on the Camaro heads, so after scoring those NOS 077 heads and doing some more research. I found that the general consensus is that they could use some port work to make them work better. Removing the exhaust port vein (unique to this casting, apparently flowed well on a test bench but in the real world attached to a header it doesn’t really help) and going from a C to a D port configuration in addition to some minor bowl work and a larger intake valve (perhaps). One thing led to another and I located a second set of 077 heads for sale in my area. My thoughts were if I can find a good set with this work already done, I could keep the uncut NOS set in my stash as backups if we run into an issue.

My problem was the seller wanted a lot of dinero, like crazy bucks on eBay money. Long story short I contacted him then waited, contacted then waited some more. Reached out once again in person and talked him into allowing them to go to a local machine shop (Fastlane, more on these guys later) to be checked out. They came back as a good usable set and he promptly updated his ads.

GM 14011077 Big Block Chevy Aluminum Cylinder Heads L88 ZL1 BBC

These are coming off a 489 CI BBC. None of the stud bosses are cracked, no welding on any part of these heads. There is a stamp from Gianino which I understand to be a speed shop out of Chicago. These are serious heads, not junk throw aways. The exhaust ports are 'D' shaped measure 1.90 tall x 1.557 wide and the rectangular intake ports measure 1.77 x 2.46. Valves are 2.25 intake and 1.88 exhaust both with longer stems for the valve springs. Currently the springs are Pacaloy double springs with #240 on the seat. the springs only have 5-6 runs on them. I was running a .775 solid roller cam. The rocker studs are ARP. I have the springs that came out for the Pacaloy. They are #180 on the seat. did not work too good with this cam. The springs are negotiable and I will install the softer springs and lower the price if you want. I had the heads looked over by a local machine shop and all the threads are good, the intakes were new with a complete valve seat regrind. The date codes on the heads are 068711 and 058711. These heads were sold thru GM parts departments as replacements for stock heads. I ran a stud girdle and had to use a spacer for the valve covers to fit, due to the longer valve stem length I think.

Here are some pics from the original ad and one of the stock exhaust veins as cast.

[7dee2]

We didn’t need the Pacaloy springs for the hyd. roller street cam we’ll probably run. The focus for us is to make the heads live in a street car without needing a girdle. Lighter spring pressure (specific to our cam choice and peak rpm) should make that happen. He substituted the springs and we finally made a deal for about $1500 less than his original asking price.

So yes, the heads are stamped “Gianino”, who is that? At first, all I could find in Chicago was a pizzeria tied to the name Gianino. Poking fun I was telling my friends; Yep, when they aren’t making pie’s there’s a room in the back where they port cylinder heads! By sheer luck I did run across an old David Freiburger article on Sam Gianino, “Gianino Racing Engines”, he mentions the 92 Fastest Street Car Shootout in the article. I’m thinking this is probably our guy and that they may have come from his shop.

https://www.yellowbullet.com/threads...ianino.625246/

Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Sam Gianino
https://mmshof.org/index.php/inducte...09-sam-gianino

Kudos to our body shop Perks Auto Body & Custom, Chris & Kelly. Not only did their big red 70 K20 make it to LS Fest West but they came home with the best paint award!

[7dee2]

Last shots of our Camaro with the SS hood fitment, the surrounding panels mate to this hood so much better now. Both doors do latch and fit the door openings as well as mate up to the fenders properly. Don's excellent work is making this stuff fit perfectly.

Next up are the stinger hood, lower windshield molding, lower valance, grill, and both trunk lids.

[7dee2]

We needed an intake manifold to fit this build, decided to try a new reproduction part that I’m impressed with. I’ve got an original 069 that’s been repaired and still needs work to be useable for comparison. The new one needs a little trimming here and there but I’ll tell yah without a real one right next to it, it would be hard to tell it’s not an original GM part.

https://www.thepartsplaceinc.com/pro...-3885069/56368

[7dee2]

Went to look at a new TCI Super StreetFighter T400 transmission and Gear Vendor package for our C10 project. While there I ran across some bbc gold that I just couldn’t pass up. One set was in the original box and the other had just slight scratches and shelf wear. Ha, that's going to lead to a whole Goldmember Moroso phase!!

[7dee2]

Gold Moroso stuff is like speed part catnip these days. Of course, we needed to find a set of breathers and an air cleaner. Hold downs and t-bars did prove difficult but in my search, I ran across a talented guy that gets pretty close to the gold anodizing with paint. Snagged a set of new Moroso chrome hold downs off eBay and had them sent directly to Jimmy for the gold treatment. The t-bars are straight from eBay and are not an exact color match but are gold anodized. Mocked this stuff up on one of the shelf worn covers, not bad they look like they’ll work.

[7dee2]

Yes! After some tweaking and dent repair, the stinger hood is a go. This was a big concern initially, trying to get two different aftermarket hoods to fit the same opening.

[72 tigger]

Love all the BB goodies! Body will be beautiful when done

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

Love all the BB goodies! Body will be beautiful when done

Thanks, me too, plenty more BB stuff to come. I’m so pleased, Don is doing a great job with the body.



It’s time to get after the motor work, currently, BBC stuff is drying up and going up in price. Our solution, I’ll quote the character S.R. Hadden in the movie Contact; “First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?“

My thoughts are I’ve got the blocks and several sets of heads for both the Camaro and C10 projects. Go through the financial pain one time, combine freight and any discounts (Ha!) I can find. My guess parts are going to get harder to come by and surely going to continue to go up also. Looking back on this decision now our crystal ball was right, everything is more costly and still or even harder to get.

Last August we loaded up our “Good to go!” block (445) as well as the other (286) 4-bolt core. The Gianino stamped 077 heads are there in the Edelbrock boxes as well as a bare cast iron set of 781 ovals under some towels. In addition, the new repro Winters rect. port and an RPM Air Gap oval port intake are also hiding in the bed covered up by towels.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice collection of BBC stuff! I agree, these parts aren't going to get easier to get. I hope and pray my Hemi parts source stays open for many years.

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

You have a outstanding parts department!

Thanks, a good part of our basement is just that, a parts department.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Nice collection of BBC stuff! I agree, these parts aren't going to get easier to get. I hope and pray my Hemi parts source stays open for many years.

Thanks, yeah I hope they do also, things are changing for sure and I hate seeing so many smaller vendors disappear or get swallowed up by the big companies. The knowledge, selection, or customer service seem to disappear with them as well.



While talking to Don about pinning the hoods he suggested we get these little magnetic pins from Eastwood. This was a great suggestion to help facilitate swapping hoods and nailing the alignment quickly. Both hoods to the hinge alignment holes are the same. The hinge to fender locations is specific to each hood, the SS hood uses the upper holes (circled in red) while the Stinger uses the lower as pictured.

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-pi...nt-system.html

67 Camaro’s need wing windows right, I’m a big fan of the poor man’s air conditioner especially since this car will not have A/C. We didn’t have any to start with but got a repro set toot sweet so they could be fit during this panel alignment phase.

Speaking of glass, a windshield and back glass would be most helpful as well. This did lead to an all-new factory tint glass kit, only trouble was the freight companies just kept buying damaged windshields. After three windshields and two pieces of back glass, we now have a complete set for the car. Side note; we have the original clear door and quarter glass (with tracks & regulators I'm hoping to reuse) which will work for an initial fitting when we get the car back.

[7dee2]

Lower front valance and grill fitment, getting close!

67 Camaro’s did not come with a rear spoiler, that started with the 68’s. GM modified the trunk lid inner structure to accept the spoiler mounting hardware. That made the 1967 trunk lid unique to a 67 and we have one that came with our parts car. Don fixed up the 50+ year old original and used it as the master panel for the trunk opening.

Don sent me the first 2 pics and I was so impressed with the trunk lid I went straight there to see it in person, of course, I took some more pics!

[KevinK7]

...that car is going to look/be awsome.
Truly a breath of fresh air to see the work being done. You can tell the shop that has it is top notch, and is taking the time to do it right. There is so much 'massaging' needed to the repro panels and to see they are doing it speaks volumes.
...and bingo on the 67 only trunk lids . those are the sort of details that often get overlooked

[7dee2]

Thank you Kevin. I agree Don is killing it, and Perks (Chris & Kelly) are just great to work with. Pretty sure we don’t have a single untouched panel, if so, it would be the SS hood. The whole car just gets better and better the longer it is there.




Researching and chasing down cool day 2 stuff has been a fun part of this build. I’ve got a friend that is really into Mickey Thompson Super Scavenger Headers. He has several sets of originals and I’ve got to admit they’re just badass. These headers have a very unique tinging sound (link) and were only produced for a few years in the late 60s early 70s. Here are some old ads I found on the internet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiAIw1BeGVM

Thought we had the C10 camshaft handled but after inspecting it I found a low spot on the rear cam journal. After contacting Straub Technologies, they had me send it back to their cam grinder. So, at this point, we are waiting on both camshafts.

[CG]

You're really going all in with the Moroso bling! I had a 427 in my old Vdrive boat it had Cal Custom finned aluminum covers. Those are the style I loved as a kid. I gave the engine to a good buddy, but I kept all of the aluminum pieces off the engine. Most of it was boat stuff. Good wall hangings.

Love checking in on the progress, looks like its moving right along.

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by Troy Sr

Would you have a link to these LED lights? I'd like to try them in my blaster!!

Hey Troy you bet, I selected the brightest light (6000k Daylight White) and the included power supply.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363061001821

This LED tape does have an adhesive backing but it was suggested that I use a little aluminum foil tape to help make sure the tape stays put, something like this is what I used.
https://www.amazon.com/Feet-Yards-in.../dp/B01FROBUXE

Originally Posted by CG

You're really going all in with the Moroso bling! I had a 427 in my old Vdrive boat it had Cal Custom finned aluminum covers. Those are the style I loved as a kid. I gave the engine to a good buddy, but I kept all of the aluminum pieces off the engine. Most of it was boat stuff. Good wall hangings.

Love checking in on the progress, looks like its moving right along.

Thank you CG. Ha, really had the gold fever there. I’m a big fan of finned covers as well, they look great on big blocks. We are making some steady progress with the build thread being about 9 months behind the actual at this point.




Nate at Sweet Ave. Fabrication reproduces these headers, after a few messages back and forth we’ve got a set on order for the Camaro. Here’s a very cool dual-quad Big Block (wearing 077 heads btw) with an early reproduction set of Nate’s M/T Super Scavengers. Freaking orange headers, oh yeah!

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...19946468092467

Shortly after this, I did run into a set of those Pro/Stock Ansen valve covers that apparently nobody wanted on FB. They cleaned up well and have a great original patina. Don’t know what I’ll do with them but I’m starting to think that when we switch the car up with the different exterior looks, we could do the same under the hood. A quick valve cover and air cleaner swap?? Ugh oh, where’s this going to lead?

[Troy Sr]

Thanks Brett!!

[7dee2]

No biggie, I think you’ll like the light that tape gives off.



Don made short work of fitting our repro trunk (spoiler) lid, originally the inner radiused corners fit terrible and had some thin hinge shims from the manufacturer (Real Deal Steel). Then some quick epoxy was sprayed here and there including the roof and it was time to take the car back home for the winter. Here are some pics I stole from Perk's FB page, this was just prior to loading it up for the short trip home. Can’t say enough about the great work at Perks Custom Auto Body everything fits so much better, and time well spent.

[7dee2]

Back home, yes. Here is a quick test fit of the rear spoiler and taillight bezels. Everything fits fine, Don had also worked the trunk lid specifically for the spoiler and the upper right corner of the tail panel which had a low spot.

Now the front lower valance area, Don ran out of time to finish the grill as well as the wing window fitment. Must say it was my fault, I was just jonesing to get the car back last fall. The grill does fit pretty well but when you are standing right in front of the car and look down there’s a gap between the lower grill and the valance on both sides that shouldn’t be there (last pic). This is with either the repro or an OE lower valance.

[rgunlock]

Looking really bada$$ Brett! I can only imagine what it looks like now several months later.

[7dee2]

Thanks Rick, I can’t wait I think it’s going to be a great car. We’re making good progress so much to tell.



Thinking our day 2 Camaro could use an old vintage set of M/T 427 valve covers. I’ve always liked these and found this set on eBay that should look pretty good after a polish. In addition, I lucked into a very rare, very cherry set of large M/T breathers to go with them. Those breathers are just sitting on there but you get the idea, should go pretty well with the street freak orange headers.

[regan wilson]

That's a cool find on both sets of valve covers. The car is coming along nicely as well. When it comes to displacement calculation on a V8 the way I learned it is Bore x Bore x Stroke x 6.283.