yeah you are right....... I wish I could have done the lsx swap. maybe I will get my lt1 close to the power I want. lol.... Looking great cant wait to see this done.

Yeah, I agee! As a joke I almost want to take that sticker, laminate it and stick it under the hood.

Neil--- I just read this post today while sitting at work - first off kudos to the shop that did all of that body work!! And to you for undertaking the remainder of the project with some great custom touches (i.e. lots of 4th gen interior goodies) Secondly you are going to be in love with the LSX setup We (myself and a couple of friends) are preping a twin turboed LS7 for my 68 Chevelle (and I'm modifying the entire rear seat and shelving area out of a '76 BMW 630CSI to fit into the back of the Chevelle - so i feel your "modifications pain") I am going to start the major mods on my 91 Z28 next (2-3 years from now lol) but my basic comment is congratulations on your progress to this point which is absolutely first class can't wait to see the progress updates!! BTW shoot for 4 digits it's a helluva lot easier than it used to be!! LMAO

Now i'm working on the driver side door, removed everything (window, regulator, etc...and door lock assy), cleaned the inside and put down the dynamat. Here are some pics. This weekend.....door panel fitment!

Crank and rods were ordered today, will arrive in about a 1 week. Pistons should be ordered tomorrow and will have to wait another 4-6 weeks for those.

I haven't been to Thirdgen for about 2 years now, but I was up for about 2 1/2 HOURS last night reading this thread post for post. I couldn't peel my eyes off of it.

First off, Neil... I am speechless. I have never seen such creativity put into a restoration of one of these thirdgen camaros. Excellent excellent excellent!

John, you all do some of the best restoration/fabrication I have ever seen. It always nice to find people that are actually willing to do the work the RIGHT way.

Now a few questions for Neil... *clears throat*

1) Why didn't you opt for taking the body off, acid dipping and powder coating the frame while you had it down to bare bones?

2) Did you purchase ALL new ground fx or just a new front chin spoiler?

3) Where do you find the time to work a regular day job, yet make so much progress on this thing? Where did you even learn to do all of this?

Those are the only questions I can think of in the short time I have. Gotta run, but I'll be checking back here periodically to see your progess. Again, STUNNING work!

P.S. - Don't tell your insurance about the "minor" power plant upgrade

its 3:31 am in the morning.. and i have read every page of this post.. wow!!
NEIL...this is something nice your doing here.. not only are you building your dream car but your educating some of us in here too
well keep up the good work bro.. i know its alot of work but.. hey.. it'll all be worth it in the end..

ps.. i just got my 4th iroc.. after 3 years and im happy i got one again!! here are some pics its 88 5-speed

Very nice car! I always have liked the look of the IROC and thanks for the compliments!!!

Thanks very much I am glad you like it! To answer your questions......the typical frame off restorations aren't possible with our thirdgens since our cars have unibody construction. I will however clean up the underside of the car when I drop the old gas tank and stick in one of Nate's custom tanks (Nasty Performance-http://www.nastyperformance.com/CustomFuelSystems.html. I'll of course post pics when I get to that point. I will more than likely use POR-15 on the underside of the car, man that stuff is bad a$$!!!
Sorry, getting off track, regarding the gfx they are all used except for the chin spoiler. I bought them from Bruce at Hawk's Thirdgen.
Funny, I have been working alot for my real job and have spent very little time on the car. This week I worked on it about 3 hours + the 12 hours today. I would love to work on it everyday, but that is and can be very tiring! Thanks again!

I spent all day figuring out how to mount the passenger door panel and positioning of the handle. I added galvanized steel strips to help strengthen the door in high stress areas - where the door panel/handle mounts to the door shell. Also, a buddy is helping me modify the panel itself, we have opted to cut the rear of the panel (see pic) and remove the appropriate amount of plastic and then epoxy back together. This way I will be able to retain the nice factory look of the rolled/smooth edges. More than likely I will cover the outer portions of the panel in leather and the center section in faux suede.

More pics showing how I modified the handle and locking rods. I used half of the 4th gen handle rod, using a 8/32 die...gave it some threads, did the same for the other half of the 3rd gen rod which connects to the latch mechanism. Then I tapped an aluminum spacer and coupled the two pieces together. I also removed the latch assy and cleaned it with brake cleaner, then WD-40 and then oiled it with 3in1 oil....works nice and smooth now! After a few tries of threading and un-threading I finally got the length right and I now have a partially funtional door.

Nice. Good luck with the rest of the car.

Neil,

I wish you lived closer to the east coast, keep up the good work. As everyone else has stated the car looks amazing and keeps getting more and more impressive.

Neil,

It may be buried deep within this thread (which I've been following since I asked on pg 1 why you'd start with an Ontario car ) but which door panels are you using? I have some 95's to use on my son's car but at a quick glance it doesn't look like they'll fit.

The door panels are from a donor 2002 Trans Am
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I am hoping to take it on the Hot Rod Power Tour next year, so maybe you'll see me there!

neil the more and more I see your mod to the door panels, the more I like it. VERY NICELY DONE.......Makes me what to finish off my 4th gen dash swap with the door panels

What a great thread. I can't wait to see the finished product...

Amazing Dude!!! Hard to believe that's the car you took me for a ride in a little over a year ago(It ran like a scalded ape then). Hell of a job!!!! I'll stop by next time im in the neighborhood to get a look in person. I can;t wait to get a ride with the LSX in it!!!! DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!

...Yeah, when you visit the east coast on the power tour, I'll buy a ticket for one ride.

Very nice work.
Subscribing.
Kory

Progress is coming along nicely Neil....Like the pictures and the door panels! Can't wait to see the engine!

More updated pics of the now functional doors; new window motors and re-greased tracks = opening and closing of the window with a much quicker ET than before, lol. Also, repositioned the striker so the door lines up properly.

I have the headlight harness laid out, trying to figure how to route it. I would like to route the majortiy of the wires under/behind the fender (instead of it laying down on the frame rail) and have openings in the front and rear of the engine compartment for the fuse boxes to mount (where the old fuel vapor canister was). I am open to ideas, suggestions?

Also another interior pic showing alot less wire on the floor, just after I ran a good chunk of the wiring in the doors.

I picked up your plastic gas tank w/ all related accessories and glove box. It's at my shop.

Side note: I noticed some of the buffing compound residue on some areas of the paint. You need to get that clean ASAP before it hardens up to much to be able to get it off.

I'll call ya tomorrow.

I'll be taking it back to John when it's driveable, he'll take care of that.

looking better and better...

This is going to be one bad *** thirdgen.

Neil, dash in the car looks sweet!!!!

compound shouldn't be difficult to get off. Several pretty easy ways to remove it....

cars looking awesome!!! as always.. just gets more exciting each picture and update!

Nice build up, I'm subscribing to this post.

Door popper works! The 35 lb solenoid is installed and working (on the passenger door, driver door is next) with the use of the externally mounted push button switch on the side of the door. Once I get the alarm installed, i'll also be able to activate the door popper with the remote.

The first solenoid I installed failed after about 5 'pops', obviously defective, so I installed the other one which was originally planned for the other door. So, a new one is on the way and the bad one is going back to Summit.

The middle photo shows the solenoid (at the bottom) and the cable going up to the door latch assy.

Also, today I dropped the old gas tank and removed all the fuel lines (tank to engine compartment). I am going to try and either find a steel sender which will work with the 4th gen tank or modify the current 4th gen sender. I need to do this so I can run an external fuel pump with braided steel, rubber fuel line (not a fan of dropping the tank to change pumps, i've done that too many times and don't enjoy it in the slightest!).

kick *** Neil. Those doors look GREAT. So does the install of it all.

Oh by the way, I just sent you that $ for the brakes

Thanks Dennis and I received your $$$, (and not having used PayPal to request $$$ before they took their cut, I didn't realize that!) I will call you later 6:00-7:00 p.m. your time to confirm your shipping address.

Sounds good. I will be waiting for your call. Can't wait to get these an the car!

Why bother with the 4th gen tank at all then? It isnt baffled or anything so you are really losing out by not using the 4th gen fuel can.
P.S. I have been folling the thread, dont want you to think I am an A-hole, just wondering?

Oh dude, I don't think you're an A-hole at all! Actually, the only reason I can give you for wanting to use the 4th gen plastic tank is that it has the vapor canister right on top of the tank. Since you have been following this thread I am sure you read that I was going to use a custom tank by Nasty Performance, but seeing that is approx. $600 I thought i'd save a little $$$ and use the stock 4th gen tank. I did find a way to use the stock sending unit and adapt the plastic lines to -8 AN fittings for the stainless steel braided feed and the -6 AN return lines. I still might use Nasty's tank, we'll see???

I dunno... I think I'd save the fuel tank $$$ to put torwards the intake manifold.

You know that you're gonna be bent over when you purchase that item!

Tonight I just finished the driver door popper installation and now both doors pop open with the use of the door mounted switches. A buddy of mine helped me find connectors at Fry's Electronics that were small enough (computer style pin connectors) for the BMW switch. See photos below.

Also, my T-56 transmission arrived this week from Sixspeeds Inc. I opted for the Stage 4A package (all new sliders), new mainshaft, bronze fork pads, carbon blocker ring and steel 3-4 fork. Also, I added the 30 spline Viper output shaft and alot of internal hardparts were cryo treated and micronited.

mmm...looks tasty.

how much did that trans cost?

Nice shoes Cletus!

J/K

How long did Joe say it will take to wrap up the motor?

how much power is that transmission rated at, and how much was it? i plan on doing a big horsepower 6-speed car some day, just wondering

[quote=1bad91Z;3444036]Nice shoes Cletus!

J/K

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The T-56 trans cost me approx $3K with beefed up parts I listed previously.

hmm, i would have to sell my bird just to buy one of these, lol

Not a bad price at all. Good to know a beefy 6 speed company. Who knows how much N20 my stock T-56 can take. I assume I will find out soon enough. haha.

Neil: Got the brakes. DAMN they are clean and everything is in order. Good packing job. An entire trash bags worth. haha. Thanks for the great deal. I will be tossing them on the car within a week or two!

Amber at sixspeeds told me that with the Viper output shaft this tranny will handle 750 HP to the wheels!
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Awesome, I am glad they got there ok! I am pretty anal about packing as I would hate to have anything damaged in shipping!

Hey LaMont, ya big dummy, check your voicemail....

I'm trying to locate your sending unit and I have a couple of questions.

Neil......will u marry me? lol jk love the car, and the work your doing keep it up everythime I see this I just wanna run outside, and start working on ther iroc its an inspiration to us all I think really