Project Intro:
This was my first car which I bought when I was 15. I'm 27 now and its finally time to do the build that I've dreamed up over the last 12 years. I don't expect to have it done quickly, it will probably be a few years but my goal is to have it running and driving by my 30th birthday. The goal for this summer is to have a rolling chassis with front end body panels mounted. Many of the parts listed below I already have but I'm always open to suggestions.

The Car as it sits now:
1982 Z28 Camaro, 305ci automatic transmission. From what I understand it was the lowest HP Z28 in history at a whopping 145hp.

Requirements for the finished product:

Weight: <3000lbs
Quarter Mile: <12.5 seconds
Skidpad: >1g
Gas Mileage:
Highway: >30mpg
City: > 22mpg
Interior noise at 65mph: <70dB
Amenities:
Air Conditioning
Heat
Radio
Power door locks, mirrors, windows
Rear defroster
*must be easily maintainable by me and reliable (I want to split my daily driving between this and my ducati)

Engineering to get there:

Chassis and suspension:
Tubular front clip (raised 1.5" relative to the body for lowering)
4th gen front suspension and k-member
Founders Performance strut tower brace (side note, this thing is really nice for the price)
S&W tubular subframe connectors
6-point roll bar tied into subframe connectors and front clip
Jegs tubular body mount torque arm
custom tubular lower control arms
lower control arms relocation brackets
custom adjustable panhard bar
275mm wide tires front and rear (on stock 96 SS wheels)

Engine & Drive train:

327ci (its a late 60's 2-bolt truck block)
spayed 4-bolt caps
Crank 327 steel 69' corvette
6" H-beam rods (undecided on brand)
Forged pistons to match 6" rods
roller cam (undecided)
behive valve springs
aluminum heads (undecided)
holley stealth ram intake
48mm LT1 throttle body
7-pin hei brass geared distributor
spearco front mount intercooler
remote mount Super T70 turbo (hope it doesn't explode because its going under the passengers feet lol)
Edelbrock shorty tubular headers and Y-pipe (emission pipes deleted)

Fuel and ECU
bosch 54lb/hr injectors
dual in tank walbro 255L/hr fuel pumps
10an or equivilant fuel feed line
6an or quivilant fuel return line
adjustable FPR, boost referenced
Megasquirt ECU with 4-bar internal MAP

NWC T5 (yeah i know, it will only be in to get the car running then as funds allow i will get a tremec TKO 5-speed)
4th gen aluminum driveshaft
4th gen, disk brake rear, 2.73 gear ratio (10-bolt, will upgrade as funds allow)

Interior

Custom autometer ultralite dash gauges
1996 transam cloth seats, mint condition :-)
hawks abs headliner
edead sound detoner and http://www.secondskinaudio.com/

Body
fiberglass 2.5" cowl induction hood
Custom grill
lexan headlight covers
custom headlights (undecided on look here, maybe e36, suggestions welcome)
flat full underbody paneling
brush or slider style sideskirts (like the F1 lotus' of the 60's-70's)
led parking lights
shaved emblems, rear bumper and gas cap (cabinet magnet here)

What I've done so far:

Pulled the interior
pulled engine and trans
dropped k-member, front suspension, steering components and front brakes
removed everything from the firewall
cut out front strut towers and front frame rails
swapped in the 4th gen rear and a NWC T-5
installed Jegs Torque arm

I will be mounting subframe connectors this weekend and cutting out the front floors.

As I have time I will be putting the design i have in my head into CAD and running some finite element analysis (FEA). Once I make CAD models I will upload them in STEP format to Grabcad.com, measurements not garrenteed but I'm shooting for +-1mm accuracy :-)

*Disclaimer: Please do not hate. If you do not have something constructive to say, please do not say it. Thanks

 

Quite the list you got there.

I skimmed it really quick and noticed that you listed Edelbrock headers.... yeah, don't do that. They are too small for the price.

I personally have a set of Dyno Don headers and y-pipe and am very pleased with them. Another good choice would be Hooker or Hedman - just not Edelbrock ESPECIALLY for the power you are planning on.

Over all 'thumbs up'

 

Yeah I bought the edelbrock headers years ago so maybe I'll just use them for templates to weld up a custom pair. I was going to end up chopping them up a bit to put 1/2" head flanges and v-band clamp connectors anyway. so going the extra step to use larger tubing is not a big deal.

Will add tons of pictures of where I'm at this weekend

 

Nice ! I love 82's

Mine does most of the requirements on your list also !

 

I did all of this on my last project link is in my sig

 

Before the cutting started, engine and trans removed



S&W Race Cars subframe connectors with drive shaft loop

 

That's enough cutting for now.... onto the subframe connector install





Seems that the mounting holes for the subframe connectors didn't line up with the crossmember holes so i welded in new weld nuts for the crossmember and for the additional two holes that didnt line up on the subframe connectors





Finished product less the driveshaft loop. Hopefully the cross member mounting holes will stay put with these holding them in place, while i do all the rust repair up front.

 

Made some more progress this weekend, basically cut out the front floors, frame and lower firewall along with part of the rocker panels to make some repairs. Also looking to tie everything together up here and make it stronger than factory.







My welds may not always be the most beautiful but strength is not an issue...







And the drivers side....

 

Making sure the car is level, within 1 degree is not too bad for eying it.



shot from before the welding began and all the rust had just been cut out





putting some spare competition engineering subframe connectors to use





making some clearance for the exhaust





And about 12 hours of work later....



Next I'll be connecting the front subframes to the bar that i just welded in. Once that's all tied together I'll be putting the front frame mounting plates on and filling in the floors and firewall.

 

Wow looks like a ton of work there, I am glad see people starting to take thirdgens to the next stage. looks the car had a lot of rust too but at least your saving the car.

 

Yeah it probably would have been easier to start with a rust free car, but this one has sentimental value... so back to the grind this weekend

 

Nice work so far, look forward to seeing more.

 

hopefully I'll get to see this at some shows in a few years

 

Thanks! I'll keep the pictures rolling in

Countdown to 2015

 

Well I didn't get to work on the car this weekend but i did have a good chance to get some CAD work done for the 4th gen front end. Still a ton to do but making progress. If I have time tomorrow night I'll upload some of the final versions of the models to grabcad and link it on this thread.

 

If anyone wants to make their own strut tower brace for a 4 gen, cad file is below...

http://grabcad.com/library/4th-gen-c...ut-tower-brace

 

Finally got a chance to place the turbo where it will sit... i think im going to have to put a crash bar at the lowest point of the compressor housing just in case. Thoughts?

 

Also got a chance to weld up the frame a bit on the passenger side. Tomorrow i'll get on the drivers side and monday maybe i'll get part of the floors done.

 

subframes: check

now for some ghetto sheet metal bending...



sheet metal in the car... not all to concerned with looks more with strength here....

 

anyone ever use eastwoods brush on seam sealer?

 

your crazy man

 

I'd be lying if I said I haven't heard that before.... the last project I got told that a lot on was my bamboo bicycle... still rides great with a few thousand miles on it...

Anyway, hopefully I'll get to make some progress on the car this weekend, we'll see.

 

Keep up the good work, watching your build closely.

 

So after a long time off due to moving, I'm resurrecting this thread. I've moved up in the world and got a place in Baltimore that actually has a two car garage.



so here's some pics of the little work I got done since the last post. The plan is to have it rolling by the end of the summer.

 

does anyone have a 4th gen that i could measure in the baltimore area? Should only take 30 minutes or so and I will provide beer...

 

Made some good progress, here's a shot of the upper suspension tube mounting box on the passenger side. should be plenty strong.





some clearancing for the clutch slave cylinder mount


got a block in for sizing and measuring, hopefully I find a 4th gen owner soon that will let me do some measuring and then the CAD model will be completed.


the next rotted mess to deal with. word of advice to everyone, don't let sentimental value get in the way of logic. Get a rust free car.

 

WOW is all I can say! Why all the work for a 4th gen suspension though? I would think a C4 vette would be a far better choice.

Wish I had seen this thread awhile back when I had my engine swap going on my 4th gen, could have got you all the measurements you needed.

Can tell you though the 4th gen cradle complete is pretty dam heavy.

 

I thought about a C5 front suspension and it still might happen, who knows. It would be about $500 more upfront, though I may be able to make that back when doing the brakes because i could just get a set of c6 z06 brakes for about $1,000 rather than $1500-1700 for an aftermarket set. I just have a full 4th gen setup now so, decisions decisions. I'll measure a buddies c5 up in a week or two just in case i sway in that direction. I'm also not using the cradle, the tube chassis will serve that function as well.

 

nice car, 82's are rare and long gone now, would be alot cooler if it looked like an 82 though, instead of the ever so common 85-90 look

 

Thanks, it actually worked out for me since i like that 85-90 look a little better. Plan is to smoother everything out on it as possibly. i would have just ended up messing with the look anyway.

 

Agreed.

 

so I haven't updated in a long while because I'm lazy and because I was actually working on the car. The temptation of corvette C6 brakes took hold of me and I ended up dropping the whole 4th gen idea for some C6 spindles and a fully custom design. I have about 100 pictures to upload so here's a few teasers til i get to the rest....

 

Dear lord.

This thread is gonna be sweet.

Keep it up man!

 

wow!

 

Looks great! I also see that you are engineer I am glad I am not the only one building an '82, and I like the use of SolidWorks. Keep it up.

 

I'm an engineering student and this type of stuff gets me really excited. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

btw once I'm done and I've had a chance to test the front end setup, I'll share it with anyone who requests the CAD files.

I'll try to upload the many pictures i have of the project this weekend...

 

interesting idea on the front suspension. should be cool when you're finished. i would take a look at ls power vs. the gen 1 sbc stuff. more power, efficient, and they hold boost well with a stock bottom end.

 

Yeah I hear ya on the LS engines. There are a lot of benefits to them. 500 hp on a NA LS is not out of the question. We'll see as that time approaches... all I do know is that my engine mount setup will be relatively universal so I can just build bolt in mounts for a number of popular engines.

 

I love seeing this stuff! Awesome work man!

 

Wow at first I was like WTF why bother. BUT OMG Nice work man!

Jay

 

You are doing a ton of work man, there must be some serious sentimental value to this car.

 

This thread needs an update.