68 Camaro Convertible

My neighbor Dana asked us to help restore his wife's Camaro back to it's former glory for her. They are very good friends to my wife and I and I am only to happy to help do it.

Convertibles are awesome!

The pictures look bad but all is not as it seems. The basic substructure is still pretty sound and with some replacement panels it should look very nice.

The interior will need some work but is largely intact.

I'm no mechanic, but I am pretty sure that the transmission doesn't go there.

The old Camaro has some rust E I E I O....with some bad rust here.. and a little rust there... everywhere some rust rust.... You get the idea.

The floor will go, they decided on a one piece floor to make it stronger and easier to install. We will put in door bracing and "X" brace the car while it is in the jig. Once the floor and inner rockers are removed there would not be much holding the car together.

A view of the rear floor section, it will all be new.

The front end is nearly disassembled and will be sand blasted then repainted. Dana will be replacing any wore out components as we go.

The "H" bar in place we lifted the car up to remove the suspension and placed it on the jig. 

Disassembling the front suspension.... some bolts didn't want to play nice, so out comes the cut off wheel. Note the 40 odd years of rust and dirt on the floor.

Pile-o-parts, next stop, sandblaster! I will get these cleaned up and painted, should look like new.

In this picture, they are sandblasted and coated in POR. They look better than new.

I removed the dash and will begin the clean up of the rusted areas before we fit the replacement. The windshield opening has some rust holes that will need to be fabricated as to the best of my knowledge, there is no aftermarket replacement piece.

With the floor and firewall extension removed you can see the bracing under the floor is in poor condition and will need rebuilding.

Here is the first step in the rebuilding of this area, all the strength is back in it now.