Pete's Camaro

[pjs65]

You really are re-engineering this car. I so need to pick your brains

I didn't intend to put myself up as a suspension expert and to give the impression that i know what iam doing as i only know a little bit about old Camaros, i suspect that a turbo 4x4 race car needs a little bit more finess in setting up then grinding bits off and welding them back on . The cutting and rewelding of the lower control is something i haven't seen done but i can't see why it won't work . More in keeping with the stereotype of a yank car owner i have ordered some engine parts that will make the engine bigger and they should arrive this week( i would put a happy face smilie here but they don't work for me) . Pete

[pablo]

Got no intention to cut and weld the suspension.

[pjs65]

Got no intention to cut and weld the suspension.

That's good, I was a bit worried there for a moment. Pete

[pjs65]

Just had a week off work and managed to spend some time working on the Camaro ,not much but more time than i have had for a while . I built the new block up with equally new rods, pistons and crank and shoved the whole lot back into the engine bay . I first built a little bench out of some plywood and placed it in between the front chassis rails so that all i needed to do was push the block back into place without having to lift it . The short block must weight about 150 kg so i wasn't going to attempt to lift that .
Here are the shiny new rods and pistons , no more 40 year old stuff for me.


The block looks quite small in there , there is loads of room to work in as i can just stand over the block and drag it into place . not like the Scooby which is like trying to do work inside a bean can .


I have kept the lovely ACT flywheel and reused the 2 year old clutch because even though its been used mostly on the track its hardly worn in . The clutch plate still has print on it and the high spots on the plate haven't worn off yet which i found real surprising considering what its used for , i did right by getting a heavy duty clutch


I bolted some of the front end back on which was good so its starting to resemble a car again .



With the front end back on i started to put the wiring back in but stopped as i uncovered some shocking stuff , photos of that later .pete

[RX7]

Top work as always Pete, those pistons look like works of art !!

[pablo]

Good to see it coming together again. A bit concerned about what you've uncovered.

[Stuart]

Yeah, as Pabs said, interested/worried about what you've found but then at least you possess more skills & patience than most to sort this out.

[maff]

Ut-oh, mystery and intrigue.

Electrical and shocking... is the steering wheel and front seat wired to HT circuit Robocop car alarm style?

[Ben]

AWESOME ... you have some skills my man

[pjs65]

my phone was uploading something or other so i couldn't access the photo's i took yesterday ,so here is what i found . 40+ year old wiring looms are generally not as they left the factory and i had added and removed stuff from mine , so i decided to go pull it apart and check it over . I removed the insulation wrap from the engine bay loom and found some nasty handywork .

This is the bulk head connector after i had stripped it to clean the terminals , the black arrow points to the wire which goes to the starter solenoid . it had been cut and just twisted back together then wrapped in what looked like bandage tape , it had been cut and joined like that in 3 places.



Thats ugly stuff , it was neatly wrapped under the factory black insulation wrap so it wasn't visible without removing that .


This ones the worst because its the main live feed from the alternator to the fuse box , so all the ancillaries take power through this cable . the insulation was blackened so it had been getting hot plus this cable had been cut and joined like this in 4 other places .


Bit of a fire hazzard there i think , i cannot believe it left the factory like that but some of the wrapping looked like it hadn't been messed with . I think i will check through the rest of the loom . Pete