1969 Camaro survivor with a 6-cylinder and a 3-speed manual

[Built in 57]

Wow Jeff...that is an awesome little '68 Camaro six-banger!  I would also have kept it in its original Dover White...I hate it when original cars get screwed with, but at least it hasn't been "LS'ed"...damn, do I hate it when that happens!  Sharp little Camaro!

When are you going to get your OHC-6 F-bird?  Really looking forward to extensive photos of it, as well as going for a ride in it.  BTW, I have been looking at a complete, running, fully restored OHC-6 to drop into my Camaro.  It would be cool, but I don't know if I could bring myself to alter my Camaro in any way. 

[cammerjeff]

Hi Al, The Firebird actually arrived last Sunday when I was out of town for work. I didn't see until around 4:00pm on Wendsday with about an hour of light left to look at it. And take a short test drive around the block. I will post what I found on my thread.

[Burd]

Hers some info on the battery I had

[Built in 57]

Happy holidays to all on here!  Burd, thanks for the battery info...much appreciated!

I thought I would post what I uncovered regarding the timing miss.  When I got the car it had a slight miss at idle.  I replaced all the usual stuff to try and cure this annoyance...plugs, plug wires, dist cap...and the miss was still there.  I now knew it probably had a bad cam, bad lifter, bent pushrod, or bent valve.  I learned while picking the car up from the original owner's husband, Lyle, that the mechanic who got the car running (Sonny) had towed the car behind a pickup truck using a long cable to get the car running by popping the clutch (note...never use a mechanic named Sonny from Arkansas while trying to get a classic Camaro that's been sitting 39 years running again).  I also learned that he didn't remove the distributor to pump up the engine's oil pressure (DOH!).  I knew that the engine's internals had probably gotten pretty hot during the traumatic restart and had possibly wiped out something internally.  The pushrods were arrow straight and the lifters looked good with the exception of the number 4 exhaust.  I removed the radiator, grill, front bumper and valance panel to access the front of the engine.  The right side engine mount bolt had to be removed so the engine could be raised enough on that side to remove the 32" long cam with a 6" diameter timing gear attached.

The number 4 exhaust lobe showed a lot of wear at the top of the lobe...it had obviously taken some serious heat (it's very visible in the first photo).
The timing gear was the original factory nylon gear and looked in beautiful condition (remember, this is a 45k original mile engine).  The Chilton's manual said that both the cam and crank gears should be replaced, but replacing the crank gear would have meant pulling the engine (no freaking way, Jose!).  My alternative was to either reuse the original gear or replace it with an NOS gear (I found one on Fleabay, along with an NOS cam...the cam was only $60...no one except freaks want six-banger stuff).

The new cam was installed with plenty of red Permatex engine assembly lube (Burd says to always use a lot of lubrication when inserting things into holes, but I never know if he's referring to engines  ).  The new Sealed Power lifters were soaked in motor oil for several hours to work out any air bubbles.  I had a nice set of sidecovers from a '69 Nova six-banger I had a few years ago and installed them with Felpro cork gaskets to brighten up the engine a little for the next Cars n' Coffee at Burd's. 

The job is now mostly done and ready for start-up and cam break-in...I'll keep you guys posted.

[cammerjeff]

Good Job Al! I hope that cures the idle miss for you.

That is alot more work than changing the cam on my 67 OHC-6 Bird! But my parts are alot more expensive!

Let us know how it works out. Alot of pre assembly lube, and High ZZP oil for the break in!

[Built in 57]

Hey Jeff...the cam first part of the break-in is done...running at 2k rpms for approx. 20 minutes, and the engine sounds smooth. I still want to check the rocker arms and make sure they are properly adjusted. It's colder than she-ite here today, but should warm up to the high 30s tomorrow, so that will be the day of completion (hopefully).

I also started a new side project to get the rear windows rolling up and down smoothly. This car is absolutely dead-original, and it is always awesome to work on it. Its package shelf is badly warped from 52 years of heat and sun and I don't care...it won't be replaced.  The trunk separator board is still in nice condition (and probably worth $1k if I decided to sell it...not interested).  I would rather have a car as original as this with a 6-cylinder than any restored '69 Z28 (boring!).  The side panels were both dated mid-April, 1969 (the car was built "05E"...last week of May '69) and they are in pristine condition.

While I had the back seat out I figured I would replace the badly pitted side chrome trim (that only came on '69 Camaros equipped with the "X11" Style Trim Group option).  Since I've been addicted to 1st Gen Camaros for the past 42 years, I already had a decent pair of the correct emblems with almost no flaws.  I cleaned up the new set with some Simichrome Polish (basically like jeweler's rouge...an ultra-fine polish).  They were attached with the original factory speed nuts and really dress up the car a lot.

[Built in 57]

Almost forgot the "new" side trim pieces...

[cammerjeff]

Nice! I have to do the same thing to my rear 1/4 windows, clean and regrease the tracks & check for worn or broken rollers. Mine need alot of help rolling back up.

[cammerjeff]

Hey AL, if you are interested in expanding your interests into Firebirds, I just heard of an all original but alittle rough California 68 Firebird 1bbl OHC-6 car with a 3-speed column shift car that will be for sale soon. The owner does not have the time to restore it.

[cammerjeff]

Brain fade Arizona car not a California car

[Built in 57]

There hasn't been much good to report on "Charlotte" for most of this year, but that is about to change.  Back in May I was persuaded by my sister Anne-Marie in Kansas to sell the '69 Camaro to her to give to her son Earl as a 37th birthday present.  You see, he (my nephew) is the son-in-law of the car's original owner (Charlotte).  He told me the car was for sale in June of last year and I sold my wonderful 1970 Camaro ("Froggy") and my awesome 1981 GMC step-side pickup ("Jimmy") to get the '69.  I really didn't want to sell the car, but my nephew had felt that he should be the car's rightful owner since his wife's mother was its first owner.  I took the car to Kansas in July and have deeply regretted it ever since.

My nephew had never driven a car with a manual tranny, so I spent a couple of hours teaching him the ropes, so-to-speak.  He seemed to have the hang of it (and assured me that he did), so I left him the keys and my best wishes.  He took his wife and their two small kids out for a Sunday drive in the Camaro on a boiling hot day in August and stalled the car in a busy intersection in Kansas City.  He ended up flooding its 1-barrel carb and couldn't get it restarted.  It took a Triple-A tow truck over an hour to get to them, and some nice drivers helped push it into an adjacent parking lot.  Earl hasn't touched the car since then.

When I sold my sister the car, it was with the understanding that I would have the right of first refusal if she or her son ever decided to sell it.  She called me in September to offer it back to me...naturally I said yes.  I had intended to get the car by now, but my Dad died 2 weeks ago (at the age of 95...he was on the verge of going into an old folks' home, so death came at just the right time) and my time window was missed.  I am now planning to get the car when my son starts his Christmas break.

I decided that if I'm going to buy Charlotte back that I'm going to put it back to 100% original...dog-dish hubcaps and a 3-on-the-tree shifter.  That last item is virtually impossible to find (we're talking "unicorn" rare).  I had located the steering column at a place called Chicago Musclecar Parts for $180, and bought it as soon as I found it online (it was from a silver '69 Firebird OHC-6 with only one option...an AM radio...it was too rusty to save and parted out).  I also found a column shift lever for $40 on Ebay with a light green shift knob to match Charlotte's funky light green interior...it was also immediately snapped up.  The shift rods that go from the bottom of the steering column to the side of the Saginaw 3-speed trans were located on a rust-free '74 Nova that was for sale on Craigslist in Fresno.  I called the seller to see if he would sell me the rods (the same rods used on 1st Gen Camaros and F-birds).  They were more money than I wanted to pay, but I knew that I would kick myself forever if I didn't break down and pay what the seller wanted (he sold the car to a young punk who was going to put an LS motor in it and wouldn't need the funky shifter set-up).

Am I stupid for wanting to convert it from a perfectly functioning floor shift to a crappy column shift?...definitely.  But the joy of going to a big Camaro show and parking my lowly 6-banger Camaro with its unicorn shifter next to rows upon rows of restored Z28s and SSs and watching the pissed off looks on the faces of the owners of those beautifully restored cars as they watch EVERYONE clustered around Charlotte is just too tempting to not make happen.  Yes, I am evil.

[Burd]

Pretty cool, can’t wait to see it.   You need to bring it to Pasteiners up on Woodward, I’m a,ways amazed the cars that come in. 
Al, the only GM 3 on the tree I owned, was messed up and it worked good 95% of the time, you should have a good set up with what your doing.

[Built in 57]

I meant to post these pics of the 3-on-the-tree column but couldn't find the SD card they were on (dammit).  Anyway, here they are...

[Built in 57]

I haven't posted anything about my Camaro "Charlotte" for awhile because for the past 8 months it has been at my sister's house in Kansas.  Why...because I stupidly sold it to her back in July.  Here's the story...the car was originally sold to my nephew Earls' mother-in-law Charlotte when she was a 19 yr-old starting her freshman year at the U. of Nebraska in Lincoln.  She sold the car to me in the summer of '21 after my nephew informed me that it was for sale (a bone-stock '69 Camaro with 43k original miles and an ultra-rare drivetrain...why yes, I think I'll buy it).  That was the beginning of hearing that my nephew was unhappy and felt that he should have the car, not me.  My sister asked me last May if I would sell the Camaro to her so that she could give it to her son.  Two months later I decided that I could live without the Camaro and I rented a U-haul pickup and trailer and towed it out to Kansas.  I immediately regretted the decision to sell it, but I was first in line to get the car back if my nephew decided he didn't want it.  I spent 2 hours trying to teach him how to drive a manual tranny, and Earl insisted he could do it.  Fortunately, his first time out with the car with his wife and 2 young kids was a complete disaster.  He stalled the car in a busy intersection and couldn't get it restarted due to a flooded carb.  It took a Triple-A tow truck 2 hours to get to the scene and tow the car back to my sister's garage.  She called me in Sept. to tell me I could have it back...why yes, I think I will.

I'm headed to KS in 6 weekends to retrieve it, and this time it will remain in my possession! 

[Built in 57]

As you may recall, the car's original 250 straight-6 has an internal issue that causes it to run with a persistent vibration.  This problem was caused by Charlotte's brother Bob (the car was stored in a machine shed on his farm in Nebraska for 35 years).  He and his 2 sons decided in 2018 that the Camaro had sat still for long enough, and they attached a long chain to the car and towed it behind a pickup while popping the clutch to break the engine free and get it running again.  They attempted this without first pulling the distributor and pumping oil to the top of the engine.  The result was they wiped out the exhaust lobe on the cam for the number 5 cylinder.  A buddy and I replaced the cam, but the engine still has the vibration (which is probably due to a bent #5 exhaust valve).

I am going to pull the engine and have it completely gone through, but the shop I'm taking it to is backed up for a year with other engines.  I want to drive the car to shows this year (and Burd's cars n' coffee in April or May), so I decided to try and find a good running 6-banger to swap in for a year.  I found the perfect engine on Craigslist in Austin, MN (about an hour from Minneapolis).  The seller had a '70 Nova coupe with 40k original miles that had belonged to his wife's elderly aunt.  I called hum and asked him to start the engine while I listened on the phone.  It started right up and purred like a kitten.  He had had the engine on CL for 3 months and I was the first caller.  He was asking $500...I offered $400...sold!

Last weekend my son Alex (age 10) drove 1,556 miles round-trip to MN to get the engine.  We played hookey on Friday (I called the school and said he had a slight fever...yes, I'm going to HELL!) and rented a U-haul open trailer to tow behind my beloved Toyota Camry (smooth as glass...an awesome car).  We spent the night in Davenport, Iowa and arrived to pick up the engine at noon.

The seller, John McMasters is 74 and building Aunt Gladys' Nova into a 396-powered SS clone.  He had a '69 Nova with a 396/375 hp and a Turbo-400 in college (he bought it new and foolishly sold it in 1975) that ran the quarter mile in 11.7 seconds at nearby the nearby Brainerd drag strip (it's still in business).

The Nova is Frost Green with a dark green cloth interior and came with tinted glass, a Powerglide automatic, and whitewall tires...a bare-bones stripper.  Aunt Gladys bought it from a dealer in Joplin. MO, and quit driving in 1998 due to health issues.  The car still had the rare radio delete plate and cardboard speaker hole cover which John sold to me for "Charlotte" (she was a radio delete car and I am returning her to 100% original).  I learned when I arrived that the engine was a 230 cubic-inch 6, not a 250.  No big deal...the performance of this 6 will more than keep up with modern traffic.

The engine is in beautiful condition and still has its 1970-dated Delco spark plug wires and its nearly-perfect air cleaner (I cleaned it with Simple Green and an ultra-soft toothbrush, then waxed it with liquid Turtle Wax...it turned out beautifully).

I'll have Charlotte back on the road within the next 60 days...can't wait to drive it up to "D" for Burd's cars n' coffee!