3rd gen Camaro

[MarkJ]

Man, I'm getting tired of working on this thing. And I see no end in sight. Just keep plugging along till I can finish it. Definitely bit off more than I can chew.

[MarkJ]

Had to start over on the shifter. the putty deal did not work out at all. Also started on the fire extinguisher. After those pieces are done, I can add the bars to the engine compartment and flip the chassis over and start on the underside which will be a lot of stuff to do. At least I finally found some pretty good reference pictures of the underside. Turns out it has a quick-change rear axle assembly. That's going to be a mind-numbing transformation that won't be close at all. I'm going to keep the detail to a bare minimum. Just want to finish this one and move on.

[Rattlecan Dan]

You're doing such a good job though. Just stay with it. It's gonna be great. We all know too well that " I'm so tired of this thing" feeling. Here's hoping you can struggle through till the finish. 

[MarkJ]

5 minutes ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

You're doing such a good job though. Just stay with it. It's gonna be great. We all know too well that " I'm so tired of this thing" feeling. Here's hoping you can struggle through till the finish. 

Thanks Donato.  I've never not finished a build and I don't think this one will be the first. But I have noticed my skills are not what they used to be. I started this thing last September and I'm hoping I can get it done at least in less than a whole year.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Mark, Sorry to say I empathize with you completely on the diminishing skills. Eyesight and nerves are going away to the point of frustration and little heated conversations with in-animate objects. Trying my best to finish some of my bucket list builds, before surrendering. Till then let's give em our best!

[Pierre Rivard]

Hang in there Mark. Keep in mind that you take on projects requiring extensive transformations to properly replicate the chosen subject. Research, scratch building and modifications invariably takes more time than we plan for. I like you tend to migrate to subjects requiring a lot of modifications and it is testing my patience so I get it. You'll get there.

[MarkJ]

Thanks guys. Like they say, it's tough getting old, but I'm not about to throw in the towel yet. If this build takes more than a year, so be it. It will get done eventually.

[Rattlecan Dan]

That's the spirit! I'll drink to that!

[MarkJ]

Got the shifter and fire extinguisher finished except for paint. Finally got the firewall flattened out. The stock Camaro firewall is all over the place, but the Banjo firewall is flat all the way across.

[MarkJ]

Started on the engine loop and the radiator. I'm using the stock radiator from the kit as a base and making it bigger to the size of the competiton version.

[MarkJ]

Almost finished with the radiator. Then I need to make an oil cooler radiator that mounts to the left of the radiator. An expansion tank for the radiator will go on the right side of the firewall. Don't know if I will plumb any of this stuff.

Edited April 26, 2024 by MarkJ

[Rattlecan Dan]

Nice work. Coming along nicely.

[MarkJ]

Thanks for stopping by Donato. The encouraging words are always appreciated.

[MarkJ]

A little more trimming and sanding on the radiator and adding some ports to hook hoses to and it will be finished. I made sure the hood would shut before I glued the engine hoop bar in. The radiator is all aluminum so it has a different look then most and I think I might have made it a little too thick, but I really did not have any actual ref pictures of the 1989 iroc radiator. I used more recent ref pics and hoping that it was close to the 89 version. A few more bars and I can move on to the front suspension which will be completely scratch built. Don't expect too much accuracy. I just need a place to put the front tires /wheels. The stock front suspension would have looked way wrong.

[MarkJ]

I also realize the cross hatch is much too big, but the material I had to work with was .020 rod which is way too big to make a finer grid and my fingers and eyes could not have worked with a thinner material so I will just live with this. But you can get the idea that it is a radiator and once its installed and painted no one will notice or care on the finished model. I guess I could have just glued the hood shut but that's no fun.

[iBorg]

Your IROC car is coming along nicely. 

[MarkJ]

Thank you, Mike, for the kind words.

[MarkJ]

Almost forgot that I need to make an electric cooling fan. The circular ribs will not be fun. Don't know if I will use .010 thick styrene strip or 32-gauge wire. the strip will have to be cut very thin and making the wire circular and gluing it with epoxy might be very hard to do cleanly. The durn thing is so small.

 

 

[MarkJ]

The ref pic I used for the above fan was from a Dodge Avenger IROC car much later on. I found a picture although not so great of an electric fan from a 1988 NASCAR cup car which looks like it will be easier to duplicate and probably more like what was use in a 1989 IROC race car.  Easier is what I need right now. It's in the far-left side of the picture.

[Kent_Frazier]

I am really enjoying following you on this build. It is giving me some inspiration for my 1981 Camaro Z28.

[MarkJ]

Thanks for dropping by Kent. Sounds like a good project you have in the making.

[MarkJ]

Finally got the metal rings fastened to the styrene with clear epoxy and it looks like it's going to work. Just a little more work on the radiator and the fan and I can move on to the expansion tank, brake master cylinder, and eventually the front suspension, which will be totally different than the stock Camaro front suspension.

[MarkJ]

Pretty much done on the radiator and fan. I forgot that I now need to make the oil cooler radiator that sits to the left of the radiator. I found a radiator in my parts stash and think I can cut it in half to have the proper cross hatch for the radiator core for this smaller radiator. 

[MarkJ]

I took the radiator I found in my parts box and took off all the extra tanks to make it into a simple square. I then determined how big I needed the oil radiator to be and made two squares the same size and glued them together, and then sealed off the 4 sides with strip styrene. I will fashion new tanks for the top and bottom of the radiator and make mounts on the chassis to install it. I will also add ports to it for if I decide to plumb it.

[MarkJ]

Almost through with the oil cooler radiator. I used tubes cut in half to make the top and bottom tanks for it.