We brought the car back to our shop and decided to coat the bare shell using some PPG primers to keep the car from rusting. We shot a coat of DX1791 Self-Etching wash primer to prep the bare steel, and then we sprayed a layer of PPG’s DP-LF series of epoxy primer on the car.

We used DP-90 which is a black primer that will protect the shell and serve as the foundation for all future topcoats. The nice thing about the DP series is its incredible resistance to corrosion… you can literally use this stuff as a topcoat if you’d like. In fact, many people use DP-90 black to paint frames and inner fenders because of it’s low-gloss factory-type finish, and because it’s really tough to chip this stuff. It’s so hard that you have to recoat it with another DP primer if your Original coat sits longer than a week or so because the catalyzed epoxy becomes too hard for paint to stick to.

With the car in primer, we contacted Year One to start the process of repairing the body shell. Year One stocks most of the parts needed to completely build a ’69 Camaro, so we were confident they’d have the stuff we needed. It turned into a long list. The challenge is that this is a convertible car, so any piece we remove is going to be part of the structure, and we want to make sure the whole car fits together properly when we re-assemble it. We elected to build a chassis jig to be a fixture on which we essentially build a new Camaro tub.

We designed the jig based on the Original Camaro body dimensions provided in the Fisher Body manual we got from Year One. Kelle got some 3x3 square tube steel and began to cut the pieces to make a perfectly square table with 6 legs. Once it was all welded up, cross beams were added to support stands which would attach the car to the table. The length of each stand is critical, as they need to match the dimensions in the book precisely. By the time we got the table together, our new sheet metal begin showing up.

Our plan is to start the foundation using the new sheet metal and combine it with parts from the Original car, but we probably won’t use very many of the Original pieces because they were pretty rusted and damaged. We had already obtained rear frame rails and rocker panels from Classic Industries, and the rails, the full-length floor section, and cowl panel from Year One became the first pieces attached to the frame jig.

Next, we’re going to remove the remaining brackets and braces from the Original car to begin fitting and tacking the floor together. This required removing the quarter panels from the Original car to gain access to the inner structures.

PPG

Autotwirler

Norseman Drills

CooperColor, Inc.

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