AMT 1970 Camaro Dual Build-Progress-11/19

Nice , two at once , just don’t mix them up

Starting on the engine build for the Z-28. Here's the base engine completed. I'll be using the MAD pre-wired distributors to cut down on build time for the engines. Typical wire up for the way I usually do it takes me around 3 hours-which equates into 3 days of build time.



Base chassis all laid out ready for painting. Actually this aint a bad chassis having quite a number of parts. Per some of the reviews that I've read on these kits , I'll be attaching the front subframe assy at a later stage in the build for ease of assembly.

that stance looks good, I dig the rims and tires especially the fat rears. Now I have never built this kit. how hard or easy is it to adjust the front and rear ride heights and how do you plan on doing it ?

awesome start Joe

Not on this one Johnny. I stuck to the OOB carb to make things a little easier and to speed the build up some.

The rear part of the chassis is about 70% finished. Still have to install the rear sway bar, shock mounts and shocks but we're getting there. I had to take a break in the progress and narrow the rear end and arch the springs just a tad to achieve the stance I was looking for in the rear. I merely cut off the axle ends, shaved each end of the axle back about 3/16" , drilled holes in the axle and in the axle mounting ends and pinned them back to the axle. I've already done a test run and the wheel/ tire assemblies are right where I want em now.





One of the shortcomings of this kit is in the exhaust area. First off, there's LOTS of clean up to do, more so on this kit than most any other of the models I've built in the past.



After that is the issue of the position of the tail pipe when it's all installed onto the vehicle and the fact that I'm not a big fan of square cut exhaust pipes exiting any give car.



OOB exhaust: (Note: the tires will be re-positioned in the wheel opening so I'm still working on that) This crazy right??





After tweaking the exhaust mounting points and bending the pipes to where I wanted them to exit the car (and adding my bevel cuts to the tail pipes and hollowing them out). That's MUCH better.





I still have some adjustments I'll make later on in regards to the final locations of each pipe but this is the preliminary result:

Thanks Paul! Yeah that was some crazy exhaust in the box alright. I'd be interested in seeing this chambered exhaust system that you pulled off.

A Motion Phase III Vega..... .....tell me more of this car. 

That's frickin' crazy about the Baldwin Motion Vega!! A frickin' 454??!!!

Managed to get the engine mostly done on this rascal. I'm mostly happy with this but that goofy looking fan clutch I'm glad to say will be mostly hidden in the fan shroud.







Here it is installed onto the subframe. I managed to shoot a coat of semi-gloss black on the chassis followed by a light over coat of super thinned out gray which helped to tone things down some and bring out some of the details. I also installed an engine oil dipstick on the driver's side of the engine. Here's everything all fitted up and ready to go now.

Love this build Joe, LOVE IT!!

Ok gang!! It's update time!! After two months without any progress reports, I finally have something worth taking photos of. Here she is with the stance that I wanted and the wheel/ tire combo.



All I can say is that this is one of the HARDEST car models to get the body over teh chassis that I've EVER dealt with. When I finally did manage to get it installed all the way into the body, the leading edge of the dash contacted the bottom of the windshield mounting tabs causing the whole front of the chassis to not seat properly. My fix was to trim the leading edge of the dash back until the body slid into the correct position. Total PIA but I got it.



Here are the results of the labor over the last couple of months. Almost to the finish line with this one. Aside from the dash/ windshield fit issue this has been a great kit to work with.