Introducing........RAT’S NEST

[CJP_69]

Great job on the car Jim. It was nice talking with you on Friday.

Chris

[R68GTO]

Working on some punch list items since I got back from a family vacation. Got the e-brake cables assembled. I dreaded the thought of trying to fish that front cable up through the floor pan with the fender and inner fender on the car. Wasn't too bad of a job after all. Front and intermediate cables are repro in stainless, back cables, hook, joints, and clips are restored originals. Still needs adjusted, but that won't take long.

[R68GTO]

Adding more Day 2 goodies to the inside. NOS Sun SuperTach and a nice trio of Sun blue line gauges. All dated early '70's. Had to laugh at myself tonight. Went through a lot of work getting the tach mounted to clear the dash, get wiring routed so it looks neat and clean. Oh yeah looks great! Then I went to turn the steering wheel. Uh oh. Tach is in a great spot as long as I never need to turn since the horn shroud hits the tach housing Closed up shop, grabbed a beer and called it a night So, enjoy the pics, it's the last time you'll see the tach in that location.

[napa68]

I found the same problem on my 68 as well. I had to rotate it toward to passenger side to slide it forward on the column.

Great build......really enjoying the progress and result!!!

Tim

[Dave Rifkin]

Napa I don't think that will work for him because the ignition is on the column where yours was on the dash. I think the ignition is going to prevent him from doing what you suggest.

[Chuck_Burg]

I have a Stewart Warner 977J. You can see how I mounted mine in my build thread. I mounted it to the plastic dash gauge cluster, granted my car is a 67 and the dash is different that a 69. I have seen this tach mounted to 69 dashes and it looks pretty cool, common on the Yenko cars.

Have I mentioned your car is totally AWESOME. Great job!

[R68GTO]

Thanks Chuck. I thought about the Yenko style mount but I don't want to do any of my day 2 stuff in a way that can't be undone without leaving holes. I agree it looks great on the Yenko cars but since that's what Yenko did BITD, it makes sense.
Thanks for the compliment on the car, I'm having the time of my life!

[R68GTO]

Way early in this thread I mentioned that the son of the 2nd owner (Rat's Nest pilot) and the guy that painted Rat's Nest back in the early '70's still race together today. Thought I would post a couple of pics from this weekend with both of them in action. I owe most of the important history of my car to these two gentleman.
2nd owner's son in the black '69 and the painter in the D.A.R.E. Sheriff car. Great guys with drag racing in their blood their entire lives.

[69z2x4]

Rick painted my Camaro black when it was practically new..

[R68GTO]

Rick won his class at Indy's "Beat the Heat Championship" last weekend.

Still working on small punchiest items on the car and getting my garage cleaned up. Hung up some parts that will go on if I ever take it to 100% stock.
Mocked up the engine torque bracket. The bracket that bolts to the subframe was made/installed by the above-mentioned Rick Wilkin back in the early 70's. The bracket was still on the car when I bought it. I made a new strap based on a description from Rick. During the resto, I had the mounting holes in the subframe welded up. The bracket now has dummy bolt heads JB welded to the bracket with a soft pad stuck to the underside to prevent scratching the subframe.
Plan to bring the car up to the COPO Shootout in Norwalk this weekend. Not ready to take it down the track yet, just plan to display it next to Don Marten's ZL-1. Stop by and say hi if you're going to be there.