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I was thinking of building a mad max meets death race style 3rd gen camaro. I bought an 89 rs t top for $5 and wanna do something crazy. I was thinking of re enforced bumpers, fender flairs, roll cage, passenger side guner position, take out rear glass and make baja style spare tire and tool mounts, slight suspension lift with agressive tires, 383 stroker motor and a bunch more. Any thoughts or ideas appreciated. Anyone done something like this before?
Not sure about a third gen but doing a quick google search can find a mustang and second gen camaro done up like that plus a few other types of vehicles.
Since you're going for a cosmetic look, what's under the hood doesn't really matter however with all the added weight you'll be adding, something with a lot more power than stock needs to be considered.
Similar to how I built mine, though it wasn't the goal. Goal was a mud runner, function over form. She just happened to look trailer park sexy in the process. Pic attached is my 85, my 87 is identical only its TPI instead of carb, and no stacks, plus a lift kit
To lift the ***, eBay has up to 3" coil spacers. For the front, you're on your own. What I'm doing for lift is getting tubular control arms, bringing em to someone who can TIG much better than I and having them chop and drop where the spindle mounts to. Effectively will give 3" suspension, plus shock relocation brackets.
For more, I believe..02-07? Jeep liberty front coils (I think. I wrote everything down, alas I'm at work) are taller and lift more, plus Subaru wrx sti front shocks, cut off the spring perch, have a shop weld new brackets on and have extended lift shocks. + lots of rally aftermarket support for sti's so lots of options there.
Dana 44 or 60 rear..
Stock suspension can clear 31"s in the back, but they will rub on bumps. With 3" lift I clear my 32s with no issues.
Just take an oxy/acet to your fenders, then have em rolled.
Or cut out your fender wells like I did, my 85 fit 31"s like that, though I did rub at full turn.
Bumpers: i- beam, i-beam, i-beam. Trust me.
Definitely reinforce the subframe as well, if its intended as anything but a "looks cool" vehicle
For your cage, if its supposed to be functional, I would suggest just a rear roll bar, definitely not a full cage/anything in front of your head.
If you want something that's impractical but looks cool, drop in a demo derby halo bar and put KCs on it.
Last edited by dixie wrecked; 11-10-2014 at 01:24 PM.
Its gonna take me a lil while to get her where I want. Ill post pics after I figure out how. I'm building the car as an operational shtf vehicle. But still nice enough for car shows. I'm gonna start with the cage and interior first. I do like the 6 point cage. Want to do seats and harnesses. Racing style dash. I'm gonna take out the back seats and have ammo / gear storage. After the interior is fun then on to the exterior. I'm gonna flair the fenders and have side runners for the exhaust and a swat step. Definitely I beam bumpers with steel plates. Cowl induction hood and skid plates underneath. Gonna stiffen up the unibody and suspension with sfc and panhard and all that. Rear glass is getting taken out for a baja truck style rear tire mount, shovel etc. Im not gonna lift the suspension too much but just enough for dirt roads and such. Im not a crazy doomsday prepper or anything. Its just for fun but if shtf then im good to go.
A post-apolcyptic 3rd gen build? I had the idea for a pieced together apolytpic build but a full out Mad Max style car sounds interesting. Keep us posted.
I've already done a bit of that to both my 85 and 87, tho its purely function, not for show.
Lifting the front even an inch isn't easy since no one makes anything for it, save for ONE kit for "donk", which I'm TOTALLY sure is top quality and durable...
You'll have to swap in jeep springs for the front or get custom control arms and shock mount extensions, or modify subie STI front struts to work.
I was wondering how long before someone said that.
That's too easy and a killjoy. Then its essentially a truck with a car bolted to it. Aka. Killjoy.
Unless its a typhoon/cyclone awd frame, that is..
With third gens... they just dont have the right aesthetic for it. It's all clean lines with no big trim pieces. The look you're going for is just going to look like a junky 3rd gen, which is what most of them look like at this point anyway.
With third gens... they just dont have the right aesthetic for it. It's all clean lines with no big trim pieces. The look you're going for is just going to look like a junky 3rd gen, which is what most of them look like at this point anyway.
It can be done, a little more effort just has to be applied, otherwise yeah, I agree. What OP is describing has quite a bit going on, it should look apparent that its not just a rusty turd.
Mine, however, does look like a junk yard dog, due to giving 0 f*cks about aesthetics and doing function before form.
I dog the style OP, as long as its not half assed, it'll look pretty sick and unique. Apocalyptic survivor, Joe dirt cars (that actually work and aren't 100% junk) and other styles similar to that are pretty sweet, IMO.
Once I get my control arms fabbed and the front lifted, I can post pics and help ya out there if you'd like, tho I'm going for way more lift than you are.
Are you going to just ditch the hatch and leave it open?
Another option would be to ditch the glass, get a piece of plexi glass and sheet metal and make a notch back hatch, then you could mount the spare wheel and such and not have an open rear.
For more internal storage, remove the tank and cut away the hump where the tank is and make it flat, minus the shock mounts and such, which is a stupid amount of work. Then put the tank near the back of the trunk or run a fuel cell.
Perhaps fit a bull bar or brush guard somehow with KC'S.
again would not recommend a cage that has bars in front of drivers seats. Get in a wreck and they can cause more harm than good if your head hits the bars. A halo bar or rollover loop behind the seats would be a better option. Rollover protection and it won't be a hazard to the occupants
I really appreciate all the thoughts and ideas everyone has come up with. It is gonna take me a while to build the car but I will do my best to keep y'all posted on my progress. A lot of my build will be taking place after the holiday season due to work and money. Can't wait to get started fabricating and building. Keep the ideas coming.
The look you're going for is just going to look like a junky 3rd gen, which is what most of them look like at this point anyway.
You owe me a keyboard; mine is covered in coke now.
DIRTYDEEDS269,
I have no idea what "deathrace" is; but I remember mad max & the "last of the v8 interceptors" lol.
To pull off the mad max v8 interceptor look with your RS, you will really need to focus on the paint job & body work. The paint job would need to be half satin black/half gloss black. Study the pictures of the interceptor below. Notice how the fender flares/rear quarter-panel/front & rear spoilers are satin black. If you can get the satin black areas to match the 3rd gen body lines then it could look decent.
You will also need some black D-window style American Racing wheels. They are the only wheels that I know of that look similar to the interceptor wheels; but still bolt on to a 3rd gen without modification...
If you intend it functional... put the cage on the outside kind of like some of the serious rock crawlers do- it will give you extra space inside AND protect the body some.
If you intend it functional... put the cage on the outside kind of like some of the serious rock crawlers do- it will give you extra space inside AND protect the body some.
I can't help but think how funny a thridgen would look with an exoskeleton. There are guys that put them on 4x4 chassis and most people don't really like those.
An advantage you can get with an exoskeleton is that you have more hardpoints to mount floodlights and external horns like the ones you find on semi trucks and trains. If built right it can give the body some ridigity for if you ever need to ram through a baricade.
I can see it feasable to build it around the cab area for the rigity. You could also extend it to the front or back of the car but you will sacrifice some accessibility is you ever needed to remove a body pannel.
Seems like there are more advantages to this than just the silly thought of "It looks funny."
Anybody on here ever play the old computer games Interstate '76 and Interstate '82? In those games you had the ability to modify cars for weaponised combat with machine guns and the such.
I've even got some screen shots of cars in the game for refrence examples. You can see the guns mounted on the roofs of the cars. Look harder at the ones from I '76 and you can see the flat textures representing bumper mounted weapons.
The game didn't show much for external armor though. I guess that was an astetic choice. If you made a custom paintjob for a car in I '82 then you could make it look like something from Deathrace or Mad Max.
Anybody on here ever play the old computer games Interstate '76 and Interstate '82? In those games you had the ability to modify cars for weaponised combat with machine guns and the such.
I've even got some screen shots of cars in the game for refrence examples. You can see the guns mounted on the roofs of the cars. Look harder at the ones from I '76 and you can see the flat textures representing bumper mounted weapons.
The game didn't show much for external armor though. I guess that was an astetic choice. If you made a custom paintjob for a car in I '82 then you could make it look like something from Deathrace or Mad Max.
Man I loved that game. Proper 70s funk and fugitive fun.
Honestly I think the best way to attack this is some black 17x9 wheels (Think cragar soft 8's or something) with a plastidipped or matte or satin black car. Add a few extremely utilitarian touches to the interior... Should get the vibe you want without looking too trashy. Keep the body stock, dont do anything weird like zoomies.
Last edited by InfernalVortex; 12-12-2014 at 09:16 AM.
Update..
Haven't been able to work on the car much yet. Father in law having health issues and what not. Found a donor car. Should be able to start fabrication soon. Sorry for the delays. Wanted to have it dun by the time the new mad max movie came out. Back to the garage
Family comes first. Good job on the donor car. Take your time, I personally liked the punisher's car that he scrapped together. I think you should look at that, maybe get some ideas.
Very interested in this, curious on somehow working long travel suspension in, maybe a custom grill guard following the lines of the bumper. The car is already primer, thats a start!
Not sure if my mud runner had any interested, but there's updates! Finally have some financial freedom to continue project Toothless! Motor and trans are out, got a 5.3 and msd ignition controller, just waiting on cam, lifters, intake, carb, accessories brackets and flex plate as far as motor goes. Then a 4l60 worque arm relocation bracket. Suspension is completely shot. Ball joints are welded in..quite a mess. So, she will be getting the tubular a-arms with the treatment in my first post, likely Honda Ridgeline front shocks, Liberty springs, heim joint rod ends.. When she was on the road, I had a major issue with blowing shocks after hitting the bogs a time or two, hoping that Ridgeline shocks being heavier duty will help overcome that, if not then back to the lab again. Rear end wise, its a posi, it works, so good for now. When it blows, Dana 44 or ford 9", haven't given it much thought. Qu1 struts, likely stock coils with 3-5" spacers. 33" s on back, 31" s up front. Hoping to replace bumper with an i-beam again, and bend it so that the factory bumper cover fits over. Home made subframe connectors, push bar with winch, kc's on roof..
For reasons unknown to me, my phone won't let me edit to add on to last post. Anyway.. I'm finding that a true long travel with a MacPherson front end won't work very well. Converting to double wishbone would work, but be quite expensive as well as a major PITA. Best (realistically feasible) option is to lift the front with methods iI mentioned, using the heaviest duty parts possible as well as trimming the fenders. Though, the biggest issue iI had was blowing front struts. Not from bottoming out, I think, but from being pulled every direction by the mud bog/ruts. Felt like quite a bit of side to side force. Bent one pair, blew out another, as well as the mounts. That strut is the weak point for an off-road type build.
So I am in the middle of a closely related build to this: my Dirtybird is becoming a rally style car. KYB AGX's, 29 inch General Grabber AT2 tires, mud flaps, side pipe, Coldish air intake, 4.10 rear end with an auburn posi, SFCs, and LED flood lights to light the way. I'm right there with you, I'm excited to see your build!
Love the way that Firebird looks. Is the silver the original paint?
Cool truck bed trailer. Not very often when you see one of those.
Nah, the original color was a dull red, it is still visible in the engine bay. It was painted by the previous owner. And thanks ^_^ i built the trailer myself. Has become quite the life saver between moving furniture and car parts. It is my project car, my daily driver, and my truck. I am a gambling man!
Nah, the original color was a dull red, it is still visible in the engine bay. It was painted by the previous owner. And thanks ^_^ i built the trailer myself. Has become quite the life saver between moving furniture and car parts. It is my project car, my daily driver, and my truck. I am a gambling man!
Cool stuff. I was curious about the car color because silver is a semi rare factory color for these cars.
What kind of axle are you using on the trailer? I can't tell if it's the original truck rear end or a trailer axle.
Its a trailer axle. Got it on the cheap and found a truck bed for sale shortly thereafter, so it kind of just worked out. I would have liked to go with an actual truck axle, (less rigged and more solidly built) but that would be significantly heavier than my current setup.
That's cool. Sounds like everything worked in your favor with it. One of these days I'd like to build my own. Seems like an easy way to a cheap trailer that is durable.
I thought of something similar. After I was mostly finished with my current 3rd gen, I though of buying a cheap "beyond hope" beat up third gen and going to town with it. Stuff like 4th gen rear, with 3rd gen wheels with truck tires, and maybe cut/ hammer the wheel wheel to fit. Grind the paint down and let it rust. Use lots of scrap metal to make it differnt.
Going with one that's at deaths door might not be the best..then it'll just fall apart. Find one that's in standard third gen condition.
Rust, mismatched or trashed interior..etc.
I've done it 3 times. First was a 85 ta with 36k original miles.
Second was a 87 with 249k, been side swiped, Silverado sized dents..became a mud warrior.
Now my 91. All nice except for wicked floor rust.
It was lifted 3" all around, just don't have pics with the lift.
11-09-2014, 05:03 PM
You owe me a keyboard; mine is covered in coke now. 
