HERE ARE PICTURES OF THE CAR WHILE IN THE PROCESS OF REBUILDING

 

Because the T-Tops leaked, the floor has major rust. we had to cut some sections out and use sheet metal to patch the holes. Even though we did extensive work to the entire car, it was all accomplished in under 4 months.

The body was also in bad shape. The previous owner had taken the car over a parking lot curb and caved in the bottom of the fenders. It was much easier to take the front-end apart to do body work. While we had it apart, we also replaced all of the front-end parts, ball joints, tie-rod ends, etc.

It looked a little bit more like a camaro once we had it all back together. After a little more minor body work, we painted it with basecoat/clearcoat. There is 3 coats of primer, 2 coats of black, and 2 coats of clearcoat. All the work was done inside of the garage. In this garage we have painted : 1928 Model "A" pick-up, '61 Fairlane, '78 camaro, '79 Z-28 camaro, '81 camaro, '83 camaro, '84 camaro, '85 camaro, and parts to a '71 Stingray, and a couple of '85 S-10 pick-ups. You could say we have a little bit of experience under our belts.

Since the front end was cracked from a wreck, I had to find the nose and the bumper from a junkyard.

The engine is a 350 bored .030 over. I wanted to get the best of both worlds, meaning good power and still good gas mileage. So opted for a retro-fit roller cam from Comp Cams. I went with the 286 HR. It doesn't have much duration, @ .050, 230 degrees. But it has .560 lift with 1.5 roller rockers. The carb is from DaVinci Carbs out of Conroe, Texas. My buddy with the car that looks like mine worked there so I went with them. I am very happy with the set-up. I didn't use the high intake, but I put it on for pictures.

The real intake was stuck some where in the U.S. during the infamous UPS strike! I had to wait 6 weeks for the right one.

I wanted the best of both worlds so I used a T-5 trans for about a month. Meanwhile I kept my eyes open for a tough overdrive trans that wouldn't break the bank. We found an ad in the back of a magazine for a GM Tremec. I have to say it is the best $2,000 that I spent. It hasn't given me any problems. The trans was $1,600 and then I went ahead and used a Lakewood bellhousing, Hays street/strip clutch and Hurst short-throw billet shifter. The final cost was $2,000.

With me in it and a full tank of gas, it weighs 3,960 lbs. I run low 13's with a 3.23 rear-end and with slicks I could probably get the car into the 12's. The best part is I get 24 MPG on the highway, and about 16 in town. With the 3.23 gears and the overdrive I am sitting on 70 MPH @2,000 RPM. what more could you want.

Actually, what I want is 12's on street tires. So in the near future I am going to swap 3.23's for 4.10's. It seems a little steep, but when you look at all the new Mustangs that have the same trans and are running 4.10's and 4.30's it seems great. After the swap, I will be turning 2,450 RPM @ 70 MPH. which is still great. I think that I can keep it over 20 MPG too.

This was right after the first coat of black, no clear yet. The cost of the paint and body was about $400. We did all the work so labor was free of course.