'87 camaro resto-mod
 

ok. this will be as detailed as i can offer. i will take pics upon request. i am far from an expert as this is my first restoration/modification. i have swapped engines, trans, body panels and i went to school for body work + worked for a time for a body shop, so i thought i had seen/done enough to finally start this project. the following accounting has happened over the several past weeks that the strip-down has taken place.

one of the very first things i found was that the plate that the t-tops fit into in the middle was severely rusted. i hoped that the rust was only skin deep. when i got the plate off i was relieved that it was the only thing of the roof that was rusted. big sigh of relief.

the passenger side fender and door are not original to the car. the re-paint was only so deep, and it took barely no effort to find out what was underneath. both fenders have been stripped to bare metal (as many as 4 layers of paint) and rattle-can self-etching primered. self-etching really wasn't necessary, because i used 400 grit sandpaper to remove the paint, and the metal certainly has enough bite to it for any quality primer/paint system to grab ahold of.

ok, so the car had been in an accident. think of the worst case scenario. take a minute to firmly visualize it. because the next bit is going to knock your socks off.

we removed the seats, console, etc., in preparation to remove the carpet. now, i tried to talk my daughter into not having a back seat, but she is firm on the point that she wants one. in case you didn't know, she is my partner in crime on this project. i talked her into helping me and when we're done i will sign the title over to her. ok, so we get the carpet out. i am on the driver's side and she is on the passenger side. i start poking around with the pointed end of one of my body hammers, looking for holes. i look over at her side and see the floor under the seat was buckled. anyway, i found a hole by the dead pedal, which i could have foreseen. what i did not foresee is what i found when i made it over to her side. she said the floor had a hole in it. boy, was she right. the damage from the accident had buckled the floor. whoever did the work cut a 16" gash in the floor. what was surprising was that they did not weld the gash shut. not only that, but they didn't even dress it out! no sanding, no primer, no paint. and they did it twice, once under the front seat before the supporting cross-member and once after it. the second gash isn't as big, but they are both rusty as you can imagine. i wondered why it smelled of exhaust so much, and my wonder has been answered. the exhaust leak under the passenger seat was allowed to enter the driving compartment by the huge gash in the floor. of course, the carpet covered their tracks, so only an underside inspection or pulling the carpet would reveal what they'd done.

ok, so we know the car has been in an accident, with enough damage done to it that it buckled the floor. i can work that buckle out, and i can repair the damage done with the plasma torch. i just don't understand why anyone would do such a thing.

outside of small rust holes in the floor and the huge and smaller gashes, there appears to be zero rust on this car. i am actually very surprised/relieved. the t-top plate will have to be sourced from i don't know where yet. i have sheet metal to fix the holes.

on to the doors. the driver's side has very little surface rust that can easily be ground down and epoxy filled smooth. the passenger side has rusted through the bottom lip of the door skin through to the metal beneath. it's approximately 2" X 18", and although it has a lip that continues to the interior side of the door, i still think cutting it out and replacing it with new sheet metal will be the easy fix. since it's from another car, though, i don't know if i should replace the door with one from a junk yard. i really have to watch getting too involved with cutting and replacing metal as that will eat time away from our goal, which is february 2011. that's when she will get her provisional driver's license. i've been teaching her to drive, so i am not worried about her skills. she has reflexes like mine so i am sure she will be able to avoid accidents like i do.

we're moving onto the engine compartment. i told her that no matter what we do, either build an engine or get a crate motor, we'll have to pull the motor that's in there. also, i talked her out of A/C, so that hole on the firewall will have to be filled. i am thinking about junking the wire harness and sourcing one from Painless, since there are many wire in the harness that are no longer used (it was a tpi car to begin with) and trying to lay out what we need and using what's there is going to be a nightmare. i think i will avoid the whole affair and pay Painless to run what we need in the harness - i think they have a stock type harness and can add custom stuff to it, if necessary. since we won't be using much of what's there and we'll be adding fog lamps, stereo system, etc., i might be better off leaving that to the experts.

she'll be here today to continue to pull the stuff from the engine compartment. once all of the peripheral stuff is cleared, i have to figure out someway to use the tree in the backyard that hang over the car to help me pull the motor. an engine hoist on soft ground is not a good idea.

questions/comments welcome. also, if you want to see pictorial proof, just ask. my cell phone takes pretty good pics.

sounds interesting, wanna throw some pics up when you have a chance

will do. i'm going out now, so i'll have some a bit later on.

i broke a wheel stud removing the lug nuts from the right front wheel. the whole time i've owned the car the lug nuts have never been removed, so they've been however tight for at least 10 years. i think i'm going to have to invest in some PB blaster.

a few more pics, including the growing pile of parts that need to be cleaned and sprayed black with vinyl paint:

Jim-

Are you sure that the body is properly aligned? And is it possible (yes, this is a wild ass guess) that the "gashes" are actually tears in the metal?

PS: PB when you need to spray, Kroil when you can easily apply without a propellant :D

no, i am not sure about the body alignment. i think i remember the passenger door closing and sealing with no problems, but i can't be sure since i never rode as a passenger in the car. so, i guess i am going to have to put it on a table and check it. thank the gods i still have contacts in the bizness. i am trying to get back in as an intern at the shop where i previously had that type of arrangement. they are jammed up right now, but hopefully i can get the body there quickly and at least determine if it's worth saving. now would be the time, before i invest anymore time/effort in the thing.

and, no, the gashes were definitely not caused by the accident. they used a plasma torch to cut the floor. the paint is burned back about two inches, and that's the typical footprint of a plasma torch. where they cut the floor is rusted, as you can imagine. so it'll take some working to get the cross-member straightened and the floor flat again. it's thankfully one of the things i learned in vo-tech, so i know how to get it done. the problem is getting it on a flat surface, either a body machine or a table to get it straightened out. the shop where i interned has a body machine with lasers, so i know when (if) i get it there i will be able to straighten it out. but the big question now is CAN it be straightened - with how much effort, or do i junk it and start over with a straight body car...

Good luck with your project, Jim. I couldn't imagine doing a project like this without a garage. I guess it's all what you're used to.

that's the truth. i guess if i had a garage i could work on it in the rain. as you can tell, i am trying to get it moved to the body shop. if he'll let me, i'll leave it there. then we can work on it rain/shine.

Good job so far taking your time and doing it right. I built my entire IROC outside when I did it. Patience to do things right the first time will definitely pay off for you.

well, i have a boat load of patience. what i don't have are cubic dollars, so we're doing it slow until i can order some parts. i know i will gain knowledge about the car and about its systems by doing it like this. and my daughter says she learns something every time we work on it. that's a good thing.

all of the panels have been prepped/primered. still have to worry about the gashes in the floor. the summer was not kind to the body shop and the owner was worried about having enough work to keep his paid guys working. so i'll give it another shot in a month or so. if it doesn't work out, there are other body shops on route 9, but i'd rather be where i know the people.

more work to follow in the engine bay. the rear bumper cover was replaced with a '91 and the front clip is likewise being replaced. since finding the holes in the floor, and wondering if the car is straight, we haven't gotten much work done.

i have seen the rise in interest in the third gen cars; seeing a custom selling for $18k on bj auctions was a welcome sight. rad rides is working on an '87, called the F87 Raptor. troy's major bone of contention with the cars is the amount of plastic both in the interior and on the exterior, so he's replacing all of it with sheet metal or aluminum.

Sounds like it is coming along there Jim.. I hope to be shooting the 2k primer tomorrow on the vert... Got some of the car 2k primed/wetsanded...

thanks, kat. words of encouragement from old friends go a long way.

i thought i knew a lot about these cars before i starting disassembling this one. needless to say i have found out quite a bit that i didn't know before. some things are common sense, some you have to do in order to get the experience. the nice thing is, once you have the experience it's yours forever.

p.s. this body is not straight. in order to not waste time, i have been looking for a straight body. i think getting one and not wasting time trying to pull it straight is a better use of resources. justin has one, i just need to get out there and check it over and pay him. of course, that's easier said than done.

the most startling revelation has been that there wasn't enough time to get it done. i thought for sure we had started it with enough time before my daughter's 17th birthday, but outside factors and the accident-bent floor, and a particular lack of motivation, have proven me wrong. so, her first vehicle will be a '94 f-150. hey, it's still an american vehicle, even if it is from the wrong side of town.