Joe's (X66 714) 1969 SS 396 Camaro "The life & times of X66 714"

[Steve Shauger]

Originally Posted by WorkinProgress

Hey Joe,

Great car you have!

I can tell by the way you are going beyond the norm to bring this car back, that you are dedicated to making it really right no matter the cost or time. I applaud you.

The frame and engine shot showing the curved neck radiator is a good educational picture to show the purpose of the curved neck. Most people refer to the curved neck radiator as a COPO radiator, but cannot tell you the purpose of the curved neck. The curved neck radiator was designed for the B/B with A/C. The purpose of the curved neck is to keep the upper radiator hose from rubbing on the A/C compressor belt.

Keep up the good work.

- Warren

Warren, bet it has the unique big block A/C pressed in smog tubes on passenger side....

[X66 714]

Originally Posted by Steve Shauger

Warren, bet it has the unique big block A/C pressed in smog tubes on passenger side....

You are correct about that.
More pictures to come...Joe

[X66 714]

Here's some more pictures of the engine. The nice thing about this car is the drive train had never been messed with or lost. I had to find an alternator, fan & fan clutch...Joe

[scuncio]

Nice work on that trunk repair! Where was the forward seam?

[X66 714]

Originally Posted by scuncio

Nice work on that trunk repair! Where was the forward seam?

Right above the rear seat belts. This was a giant pain in the butt to do especially since we did it by just removing the tail light panel. We also had to undo the trunk hinge pivots where they are attached to the rear wheel housings. It was kind of like trying to push a basket ball through a garden hose...Joe

[scuncio]

That's awesome. I figured you would have had to remove the tail panel. Did you replace the entire shock tower area too?

[X66 714]

Originally Posted by scuncio

That's awesome. I figured you would have had to remove the tail panel. Did you replace the entire shock tower area too?

The pan is one big chunk. It was removed from wheel well to wheel well, including trunk drops & from tail panel to back of rear seat. The shock area is part of that floor. The bear was to remove the donor pan drilling on the proper side without drilling completely through so we had only on side to weld. It's all back to real GM except for a couple of small pieces we had to cut from repop stuff....Joe

[L78_Nova]

Nice work ! Just scavenging the repair panel would scare off many !!
(I did a similar repair on a 68 GTO many years ago).

[X66 714]

Body all back together. Had to build a body cart which I had never done. Everything mounted at the torque boxes. It wouldn't be till July of 2019 before this part would go to the shop. Doors & lid were taken to the shop a few months back....Joe

[scuncio]

I can appreciate the level of work required. I bought some original GM 'cutoffs' from another Camaro to fix some rust on my '68 L78 car. Disassembling all the welded joints has been time consuming to say the least! But it will have original GM sheetmetal nearly everywhere, so it's worth it to me.

Originally Posted by X66 714

The pan is one big chunk. It was removed from wheel well to wheel well, including trunk drops & from tail panel to back of rear seat. The shock area is part of that floor. The bear was to remove the donor pan drilling on the proper side without drilling completely through so we had only on side to weld. It's all back to real GM except for a couple of small pieces we had to cut from repop stuff....Joe