67 Camaro next generation

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I have briefly mentioned in other posts that I met a young guy at work who wanted to learn to work on old cars. So after a year of learning and running my race car we started having conversations about a project for him. His dad had an 83 Chevy pick up and of course S10's came up. But in the end I told him the money being spent for the most part is the same. But the value of the finished project is way different. I bought a Camaro shell and the idea came to me that if he made the shell a roller I would give it to him. That car was to bad. So I put a wanted add on the internet. I was really just looking for a good shell. I had most everything here. I was contacted by a guy with a whole car. I was looking to spend $800, he wanted $2,500 for what he had. So with the trailer hooked up and cash in hand we went to look at it. It was buried in the back of a dark, wet garage. I looked the car over and asked what all went with it. He told us several boxes of parts were stolen out of his car trailer. The car is an RS so it will be a decent expense to replace those missing parts. The young guy made $12 an hour working at the shovel plant we worked at together. So we are a tight budget. I negotiated $2,000 for the car. On the trailer it went and we headed home. I offered him just about anything I have to get the car done. We will build this car for 10 to 12 grand total when it is done including purchase price. What I have to say about Mike, the kids name is that he is a great guy and a hard worker. He deserves this and I am proud of our progress. He has more raw talent at this than he realizes. He gets better everyday. We work on other cars for money to help pay for our projects, so sometimes his project gets slowed down. We have been at this 2 1/2 years now. So here are pics of Mikes 67 RS deluxe interior car.

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First stop floor replacement. Keep in mind this is a budget build. When we pulled the carpet up we found new basic floor pans sitting on top of the seat supports. Saved money not having to buy them.

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Next up trunk floor. Just the basic pan was needed.

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Now for the quarters.

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Now that the body is structurely sound again it is time to take the body off and do the frame.

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Body went on the rotisserie. Floors were then cleaned and painted. I would have smoothed the welds, but Mike did not mind them being a raw. Some character.

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Time to put the body back on the frame.

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Next is some fun and eye candy. To help keep him motivated we built the engine. A basic 350. Bought from a friend who put a crate engine in his 55 Chevy. I bought it for a drag car beater but never found a good candidate. The engine turned out to be a rebuilt .040 over 4 bolt main. We used the shortblock, purchased for $200, set of used World product heads, $212. I taught Mike how to do a valve job and set up valve springs properly. Purchased new was a 7 qt oil pan, quiet gear drive and .540 lift solid lifter cam. I had purchased the intake and it is on loan. I cleaned the intake, milled the carbs, flowed the bodies, matched up all the parts to be the same, made the fuel block, and reworked the fuel bowls to be dual inlet. All told with my induction we have $1650 in this engine and it sounds pretty good.

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To where we are now. To date the car runs and Mike drove it for the first time. I have cool video of that.

[chevyman0429]

That's very kool. One lucky young man that's for sure.