About this Project

The Project

My goal is to restore this 1968 Camaro to a condition that it can be shown at local car shows and become a weekend driver. While I am not a heads down wrench head, I do pride myself with the thought that I can do about anything at a professional level. I plan on doing the majority of the work myself with the help of information available from some local friends, books, internet restoration forums, and parts vendor resources.

My plans are to document my steps as I go to show the relative ease that many of the processes and new parts are easy to work with. I will use my computer and photography skills to document the build here in this blog.

About Me

I make a living in front of a computer, managing data and business processes. I consider myself relatively talented with my hands. I enjoy woodworking and tinkering with cars and other small projects around the house. I also enjoy Computer and Photography taking about 15,000 photos a year of my two sons who enjoy Baseball and Wrestling.

My car repair experience begain with my first car, a 1974 Toyota Celica. The car was given to me to drive by my father. One day driving to school, when another car forced me into a ditch crushing the hood and denting the front two fenders and the drivers door. A friend at church provided me access to a small building with body repair equipment where I played around with getting the car straightened out. The car was then painted by my friend and I don not remember being there (1 missed opportunity to learn something new).

In 1988, while in college, I bought my first V8, a 1979 Jeep CJ-7. It had some body work issues and I remember getting them straight with the techniques that I had learned with the Celica. I ended up taking the Jeep to a paint and body place to have finished painted. Around 1994, I stripped the gears off the end of the distributer and a short time after making that repair, it happened again. This was the result of the gear on the end of the Cam being warn out. So I made the decision to pull that engine and rebuild it. Wow after writing all this down it is starting to sound like I know what I am doing. Not so fast! It took me about 4 weeks to finish the engine and it fired right up. I still have that Jeep and it still runs like a charm. Sadly enough, it now needs more bodywork and another paint job. This might be my opportunity to master my bodyworking and self painting skills for the Camaro project... We'll see!

Changes to the Original Car

The plan ios to bring this baby back to life by restoring all of the original part where applicable. However, this car was originally a very basic stock sports coupe with very few options added. During the restoration my plans are to make the following changes to the original car:

• Add Front and Rear Spoilers
• Add Power Steering
• Add Power Breaks
• Convert to 4 wheel Disc Brakes
• Add Air Conditioning
• Add RS Package (I love the hidden headlights)
• Add Z/28 Striping (Black)
• Change to medium Gray color paint
• Change interior to Deluxe Black
• Change Carpet to Mediun Gray
• Add Center Console

Along with these changes, I am planning to keep the original L6 250 engine in the car. The more people that I tell this to, the more approval nods I get. Many people think its a great idea. This will be one of the first projects that gets started this Winter. We are currently enjoying driving the car around with huge smiles on our faces and are happy to accept the nods, head turns, and thumbs-up we are receiving. But once Winter sets in, I am planning to pull the motor and transmission and begin this process.

I have two sons (9 and 12) and both are eager to help and learn how this works. This will be an incredible hands on leasson for them to learn how an engine works. I am excited for the opportunity.

The Original Vehicle

1968 Camaro Sports Coupe

• Inline L6 250, 4.1L (Serial: F1108CM)
• Numbers Matching
• 89,000 Original Miles
• 3-Speed Manual Transmission
• Trim Package: 722
• Paint Code: G G (Ash Gold
  

I have found my perfect project car. It is a 1968 Camaro Sports Coupe with a 250 L6 engine and a 3 speed manual transmission. Interestingly, over the years as I have been looking, I either find a gutted shell that is currently 6 different colors with no interior, or a fully restored high-dollar beauty.

Well, I don't know enough about this year model car to be brave enough to try to tackle the shell. Not sure I would know how to figure out what is missing. It appears that the car has been painted once. The original color was Ash Gold, it now is a couple of shades off with a slight greenish tent.

What excited me the most was the fact that it is a complete car. The only piece of trim missing is a strip of headliner molding above the driver's door. With the plan of changing the interior to Black, this will not matter too much.

The car is very straight with relative little rust. Well we'll see about that as we digg into it a bit. I was very supprised with how tight the transmission is and how smooth this baby floats down the road.

The interior is all in tack. The carpet was really messed up and with a little bit of poking around, I knew what the first project was going to be... New Floor Pans. There is a small leak in the rear window area that landed all of the roof water in the rear right floorboard. From a quick survey, I could tell that front and back of boths sides would need to be replaced.

Above are pictures (click to enlarge), that include a good shot of the front right quarter. All four wheels are painted steel of the same color as the car with small center hub caps that are all rust free original gear. The right rear window area and left rear quarter help show just how straight this car is and you can see some limited rust that was treated at some point by the previous owner. This minor rust prevention effort is probably responsible for retarding major rust advancements allowing this car to maintain its current condition.

Well, at the heart of the drive train is the original 250 straight 6 engine. Currently, there is a little knock and an exhaust leak that makes it sound a little rough, but it does run smoothly at cruising speed. The photo on the right is the block serial number. For 1968, the "CM" suffix indicates a crank that makes this a 250 CuIn configuration as apposed to it's standard 230 CuIn little brother. This car currently lacks A/C and power steering, but I am hoping the cards work out where we can add these options.

The Dream

Well, I'll have to admit that it all started out as a teenage dream. I have always loved the Chevrolet Camaro, and believe that my favorites have to be the first generation models. I love the look of the hidden headlights offered by the RS package.

I remember spending a weekend on a Fraternity Retreat in 1985, down in Hawkinsville, GA. One of my Fraternity brother's parents lived there and owned a cabin on a small lake. During the trip we stopped by his fathers house for a small cookout. During the short stay, Randy opened the garage door revealing a gorgeous first generation Camaro. "Anyone want to go for a ride?", he stated. I was the first in line. We laid rubber all over that town. I was hooked. I was about 20 years old at the time, and I had the fever.

On and off for years I occasionally search the Internet for whats available. Just window shopping, still dreaming. It appears that the going price for ready-to-drive model is in the $30K range. Way out of my price range. I have two sons that are heavy into Baseball and Wrestling. All my time and money towards supporting their habits, not my dreams. No complaints there, I love to see them play. Anyway, the only affordable cars have no interior, tranny, engine, and are currently painted 6 different colors of primer. Well while I love the car, I certainly do not know enough about them to know whats missing. These cars would fall outside of my comfort level.

Then on a day in August of 2008, I was speaking to a friend and found out that he had just bought a used truck that he had found on Craig's List. I had looked at Craig's List one time about a ear ago and really didn't like the interface. Hearing his story, I thought I would again check it out. Search for several different things of interest, I decided to check out any available Camaros. Low and behold, I found a local 1968 Camaro that appear to be all in tack. WOW! This could be it. I went to visit it the next day and within a 2 mile test drive, I knew I had to have it. Now that problem was to clear it with my wife. She knew that it was my favorite and with little convincing, she became excited as well.

So here we are... Proud owners of a piece of American History!