Restore Your Camaro – Learn How To Restore Your First Generation Camaro

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Disassembly

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We’re going to learn a lot in this section, so bear down.

Restore Your Camaro Learn How To Restore Your First Generation Camaro

It’s time to gather up your tools and your courage and begin taking your Camaro apart. We’ll presume for now that at the very least, you want to prepare your car for body repair, painting and interior refurbishing, as well as reconditioning or replacing all the little trim parts that make such a difference in the finished product as you go along.

Why remove all emblems and every piece of chrome? These pieces are terribly difficult to mask off properly and tend to collect old wax, road grime and car wash bristles that prevent new paint from adhering properly. Besides, you’ll want to inspect behind these trim pieces for rust that often starts around the fastener mounting holes.

We’ll also figure that in addition to a cosmetic restoration, you’ll be refurbishing some mechanical items on your Camaro. ~For these items, we refer you to the chapters on Drive line Reconditioning, Electrical System & Wiring Harness, Brakes, and Suspension & Steering.

Disassembly, is divided into five major areas: Exterior Trim, Interior Trim, Engine Compartment, Trunk and Undercarriage.

Organizing the disassembly process in this man near gives you the option of skipping over areas that I are not applicable. Perhaps your Camaro’s interior is like-new and all your car needs is a coat of fresh paint. Then, you’d bypass the interior disassembly . section and go right to the areas that need the most attention.

I Get Organized’:”‘- You’ve probably heard the story about the guy who took his engine apart, rebuilt it

I and when it wouldn’t start, realized that he had a few parts left over. It’s no joke. Your Camaro is

constructed out of thousands of parts that will be scattered to the four comers of the earth during the restoration process if you don’t have a system to keep them organized.

The best organization method, we think, is to keep fasteners with the parts they fasten to. This is particularly helpful when a part is retained with many similar looking but different specification fasteners, such as screws with the same head but different length shanks.

The only drawback to this method is when the fasteners are cleaned or polished or when the part is painted or reconditioned, the fasteners must be temporarily removed, and this is when they can get lost. Still, it’s easier to keep track of say 30 or 40 screws, clips, grommets, nuts or whatever for an hour, a day or a week than it is the thousands of parts in your Camaro over the duration of its restoration.

One method that works reasonably well is to keep fasteners and other small parts in labeled baby food jars, coffee cans or small boxes. Be sure to use a reasonably wide-tipped penn anent, indelible mark- er so the label can be read six months or six years down the road.

One can or jar could be marked “interior trim screws” and be the repository for the hardware for seats, door trim panels, dash panel, seat belts, radio and so on, although it’s best to keep the screws with the part they belong to if at all possible.

The screws can be further separated by sandwiching them between two layers of wide, good-quality masking tape and labeled, for example, “headliner front garnish molding screws” and so on.

As you may or may not know, the restoration process in the same on any car you do, these are just some simple guide lines on how to get it done with less pain and agony.

Just think if you start to misplace parts right off the bat, what a pain in the ass that would be when it’s time to reassemble the car, all it takes is a little thinking a head and you won’t run into a bunch of problems on your restoration, Here’s a mistake that I’ve made in the past.

Writing in non permanent felt tip pen and then leaving the taped screws out in direct sunlight where the ink faded and the tape dried out, allowing the screws to fall in a heap with other screws to the bottom of a confusing pile.

Larger parts can be identified with paper tags tied on with string. These are available at many office supply stores.

Keep Old Parts For Reference

I simply can’t emphasize this enough.

Never throw away old parts until you have the new ones and they’ve been successfully installed.

Always compare new or especially, reproduction parts against the old ones to see if the item is correct.

Parts counter persons and mail-order fulfillment people are only human and do make mistakes takes. Sometimes an old part will give clues as to how the new part should be installed. This could be a depression or scratches from a fastener, dirt smudges or paint over spray.

Even when you are absolutely sure you have the correct replacement part, don’t go running for that dumpster just yet.

Find out if a certain part is hard to come by, no longer available or in extreme demand and therefore valuable. Maybe you want to keep that old part around as a guide to have a new part made from or a similar part adapted to fit.

If it’s an assembly, perhaps some of the components can be reused (a screw, a gasket, a molding that’s not sup- -
plied with the replacement parts).

And just maybe, your old discard in fair to poor condition is just what someone else is looking for because their’s is in worse shape or is missing altogether. Possibly, you can trade it for something you do need or want. After all, isn’t that what swap meets and flea markets are all about?

Surplus small parts that don’t take up much storage room are a good hedge against future needs. Who knows, maybe you’ll buy another Camaro to restore a year or two from now and wish you had saved those old parts.

Enough preaching already.

Down your last cup of coffee or hot chocolate, put down the sports section of the paper and head out to the garage. The Camaro of your dreams awaits you.

EXTERIOR TRIM

FRONT SPOILER:

On 1967-77 models so equipped, re- move the front spoiler. On 1967-69 models, unbolt the three support struts and retaining nuts and bolts from the front valance panel and fender extensions. On 1970- 77 models, there are just two support struts-one at each outboard end with nuts and bolts through the front valance. The spoiler is a 3-piece unit on 1974-77 models. Getting the spoiler out of the way gives better access to the front bumper.

Odds on this item being reusable vary between slim and none. However, they are available from aftermarket suppliers. Un- bolt the license plate first. Then, depending on model year, remove the screws which hold the bracket to the valance panel and/or the front bumper. The license bracket is built into the urethane cover on 1978-81 models.

FRONT BUMPER

Before you do anything, find the bumper-to-bumper bracket bolts on the rear face of the bumper and give them a liberal dousing with penetrating fluid. It’ll also kill any spiders that may be lurking there as well. Tap the bolts lightly with a hammer, then let the penetrant soak in for 10-15 min.
On 1967-73 models, teach up behind the bumper and remove the nuts for the bumper carriage bolts. On first-generation Camaro’s with front bumper guards, re- move these first; the Federally mandated bumper guards on all 1973 non- RS Camaro- as cannot be removed until the bumper is. The 1970-73 RS obviously has two bumperettes. Keep in mind that the outboard brackets for all 1967- 73 Camaro’s are sandwiched in between the fenders and valance panel or fender extensions.
With 1974-77 Camaro’s, you have two options: remove just the aluminum basher bar or take out the entire bumper assembly. To remove the aluminum bar alone, remove the two bolts retaining each out- board end to the brackets and four nuts

retaining the center of the bar to the brackets, then lift off the bumper bar. If you want to remove the whole shooting match, unbolt the valance panel. Then get a floor jack to support the bumper assembly (over 100 Ibs!) and a friend to keep it balanced on there while you crawl underneath. Un- bolt the bumper assembly (leaf springs, supports, braces and all) from the sub- frame and radiator support and carefully lower it to the ground.
On 1978-81 models, the bumper is integrated into the soft fascia nose piece and really need not be removed for painting. If you need to remove the nose piece to repair it or to gain access to remove the front end sheet metal.

Remove all nuts with a hex socket to avoid rounding off the flats. If the nuts are rusted in place, chances are the carriage bolt will break and you’ll be home free. However, if your toast always lands jelly side down, the bolt won’t break but the square portion of the bolt will spin in the bumper.

If this happens, find the exact center of the bolt head and mark it with a center punch. Then drill into the mark 112-in. deep with a 1/8-in. drill bit. This allows you to make sure you’re in the center of the bolt head and acts as a pilot for the second drilling operation. Provided everything’s alright, use a 3/8-in. drill bit to drill a 1/2-in.-deep hole using the first hole as a pilot.
When you’ve finished drilling, insert a 5116-in. or 3/8-in. punch into the bolt and hammer it out. Just don’t get over- enthusiastic and nail your car with the hammer.