Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance New Guy Here. 68 Camaro with an L6 250.

Just for fun I looked up 68 Camaro specs at the GM website. If the car came with a 230 or 250 and a Powerglide, std axle ratio was 2.73 unless the car was a Rally Sport then it was a 3.08. A 3.55 ratio could be had as a performance option and 2.56 as an economy option. Of course enough time has passed that there could be anything in that axle housing! To get different gears cost less than $3 on the window sticker!!! Jay 6155

J78,
Not sure where you looked, can U post that link it sounds pretty cool. I didn't know there was a GM site that had all that info detailed out!

Mine is a 250 powerglide 68 base camaro. I don't know what the rear gears are but I can tell you my speedo is off by 10% (reads low). I assume this means they put in taller gears at some point (probably during the gas crunch).

Weight:

http://www.oldride.com/library/1968_chevrolet_camaro.html

1968 Base 6cly shipping weight: 3040 lbs. Mine is about that give or take.

Funny,& a welcome surprise, that website says the 69 model weighs less. 3,005 lbs

http://www.oldride.com/library/1969_chevrolet_camaro.html

MBHD

Took it for a long ride on Wednesday last week. Had a whistling sound from the engine bay, it kept downshifting on my when I accelerated while turning right, and exhaust was banging on the rear spring. Sounds worse than it was but still.

Thursday I got a call from the manager at Midas (where I had the exhaust made) and they asked me to come back so the mechanic can make sure everything settled OK. I didn't call them. They called me! Nice surprise!

So I took it back Saturday and on the way there I stopped at Autozone to get some oil. While there I bought a new PCV rubber donut seal (whatever it's called; mounts the PCV to the valve cover) and tried to put it in. Old one broke in half and fell into the engine. Pulled off the valve cover to get it out (while in the parking lot...) and discovered the back of my intake was about 1/4" lower than the front. Found that whistling noise! So I fixed that too. While at Autozone. In their lot.

No more whistle!

Drove it to Midas. They put it up on the lift, made some adjustments with a torch and a hammer (because I told them to not worry about it too much: I have more than enough diameter for them to dent the exhaust to clear a bit), and drove it home.

Runs really well once I get past the dang intake freezing up.

So next weekend I'll make up my heater plate and put it on, plumb it in, and run the car again. Should clear up the bogging and make it run even better.

The intake is sagging down because I had to trim the flanges around the studs to clear the Langdon headers. I'm thinking I'm going to do something a bit different with the intake/exhaust stud "nuts" and maybe make up something out of 1/4" steel that's a bit wider and can support the rear a bit better. It's gonna be fun times with a cardboard template, grinder, and a drill! I only need to do it to the rear-most stud to get the support I'm looking for. I might make up a cradle to go between the two rear-most studs instead. Not sure yet.

Overall still very happy. It sounds much better without the exhaust banging on the body. Nice and throaty.

After the cradle I'm going to dynamat the trunk and put in a liner to make it look like a modern trunk complete with carpet. The exhaust sound is reverberating back there and making the inside of the car a bit louder than I want. This should fix that because you can clearly hear the sound from the back of the car. The rest has been dynomatted already.

[quote=gbauer]
Runs really well once I get past the dang intake freezing up.

So next weekend I'll make up my heater plate and put it on, plumb it in, and run the car again. Should clear up the bogging and make it run even better.

quote]

What was the outside air temp when the intake was freezing up? How much did you drive it and still get frost?

Be sure to weld the plugged holes shut on the Offy or they will leak.

Roughly 70-75 outside. I felt the intake and it was nice and frosty even at that temp.

I had a friend that used to run a tunnel ram on his street car and it would create huge frost spots on the intake like this in the dead heat of the summer all the time.

I wish my intake would get cold.

I used to run a Trans Am shaker scoop off to the side of the hood (people thought,, "what the f#*@!" Your hood scoop is not in the center. Ha!
I thought it was cool.

Anyways, cold air feeding the carb from the shaker scoop sealed to the hood , (no under hood heat would feed the carb) intake sitting over the headers = hot intake manifold, even in the winter here.






MBHD

Deuce Coupe, I got the specs from the GM heratge center, vehicle information kits. My poor computer skills won't let me post a link. Jay 6155

Got a good deal on a Holley 8005 electric choke carb on Fleabay. About 180 shipped.


Now Clifford or Offy...

Finally got my home-made heat plate installed and sealed.

I bought a couple of brass fittings, hose, and bolts to make this about 6 weeks ago. I used a piece of 1/4" flat stock, cut it to size, drilled it for the connections and bolts, and tried to get it to work. I threaded the holes for the brass fittings, screwed them in, cut off the excess on the back and used RTV to seal it up.

...that didn't work so well because the fittings leaked. So I tightened them down a bit. I think this pushed them too far into the cavity where they interfered with the intake and pushed the plate down so then it leaked around the plate itself.

I disconnected the hoses and ran it without heat. I had bad hesitation when I floored it and the intake was ice cold.

...so last weekend I stopped in at Lowes and got a piece of 1/8" thick rubber. I cut it into the right shape to make a gasket, took the heat plate off again, cut down the threads on the back of the brass fittings, and re-RTV'd it all back onto the stock intake manifold. I let it sit overnight, plumbed it up Wednesday night, tested it in my garage and it held.

The gasket was to add a bit more space for clearance and help seal against any rough areas on the intake casting.

Got to test drive it last night with the kids. No more hesitation. No more leaks.

Long story short: You need the heated intake manifold. Even in warm weather.

Ordered the Offy intake and a shiny chrome air cleaner. Should be in on Monday. Already have the Holley 8007 carb. Probably going to paint the intake gloss black but might go with Chevy orange to match the engine.

decisions, decisions...

When you get the intake, look at the bottom. There are 2 staked in steel plugs, remove the plugs and get the holes welded shut with aluminum pieces. The steel plugs will leak coolant if you run water thru it.

The orange will make it stealthy.

Good to know. Will do!

You can't just tape them with thread sealant?

I'm kinda thinking the same thing on the orange. The engine bay is super clean now. I want to keep it that way if possible.

They are not threaded.

Well that's dumb...

I might thread them and plug them then. Easier than welding since I have that stuff at work.

I installed the Offy and 8007 yesterday. Didn't get a chance to shake it out much, however, due to time. It ended up taking quite a bit longer than expected but it's in.

I fired it up and gas surged out of the primary vent. I'm guessing the float is stuck. So I ordered a carb rebuild kit since it probably needs it anyway. I also have to tidy up the vac hoses a bit. Other than that it looks great and she runs sort of (until I get the float issue straight I'm not firing it up again).

I'm going to try giving the carb a light tap to see if I can free up the float without taking it apart. I'd love to drive it tonight to see if it's more peppy.

http://i.imgur.com/EcDNQc2h.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8FXa7GZ.jpg

For the plugs someone had mentioned: I opted to go the easy route: I epoxied them. I used a standard 2 part epoxy, covered them, and then painted the whole intake. In the first pic it was just bench-assembled after the paint dried. The second is installed. In between I took a file and hit the raised letters and logo on the intake. I think it came out pretty darn nice.

...but I do need a larger air filter. This dinky thing isn't going to cut it in my book. Looks too small and cheap.

Looks good. Can't wait to see how much better it runs. Do you have a baseline of performance and/or mileage? It would be good to see what happens when this popular carb and intake is installed to add to Deuce Coupes data base. Jay 6155

Why is it that the only look that is cooler than cast aluminum parts are really well painted cast aluminum parts?

Thanks. It's a rattle-can job but it came out nice.

It looked good painted but when I took the file to the raised letters it really popped. I might go back and clear coat it at some point. Probably wait until I pull the engine for a refresh. At that point I'll likely sand the whole engine down a bit and do a really nice paint job on it.

So I went to the garage and discovered a slight problem...

The flanges on the offy are thinner than the flanges on the Langdon headers. So the intake is loose even though the bolts are tight.

Ideas?

Make offset spacers under the nuts?

Machine the flanges on the headers so they are the same thickness of your Offy?

MBHD

...yeah... afraid of that.

Looks like a Saturday project to finish this thing. Hoping someone had a trick.

Regardless my carb rebuild kit is coming tomorrow so I need to pull the carb anyway. I don't want to pull the headers but I should probably go that way. Easier to grind them down than add material and expect it to stay shimmed.

Another option is to grind the lever thingies that hold the manifolds in place. I'd need to do just one side of each. .

Decisions, decisions...

Explains why it ran like crap when I started it up...

grinding the "bridges" offset would be "reversible" by getting new ones if you ever need to. The other mods are harder to undo. Not sure you want to remove metal from the flanges, I don't know how thick they are

Good point. I think I'll go that way. Easier to do.

Rather than grind away material - get some 1/2" wide flat bar that is the right thickness to make the height the same and cut 1" long sections. Put under the low side of the bridge... If need be tack weld them with a MIG to hold them to the bridges while you put them in place. Should be a lot less work than removing material and you don't mess up the bridges.

even better

I might do the tack welding to the bridges. It's only about 1/8" off. I'll measure the difference and find the right gauge steel to do it.

Gotta pull the carb off tonight anyway so it's going to be close stripped down again afterwards. shouldn't be too tough to do. I might even have some sheet metal laying around that would work.

Surprising to me that the Langdon's worked with the stock manifold with no leaks but the Offy flanges are too thin. Were they meant to have an extra gasket or something?

I just spent about 3 hours on it.

Ground down the manifold bridges. It's sealing up nicely. Still can't get the heat plate to seal so I'll get another piece of rubber and make a gasket or I'll get gasket material from work and do it. Put the fuel filter in before the fuel pump. Hooked up electric choke. Got all vac lines attached.

It fired up immediately. Running very rich and idle is roughly 1,000 rpm's (by ear) so I have some adjusting there. Carb is weeping a little gas in a few places so I'll have to pull it tomorrow night and fix that.

Regardless I got a chance to drive it. HOLY COW! Talk about a BIG difference! Even bogging and obviously rich as heck she pulls hard. Didn't think to use the dyno app but I'll bet I'm over 200hp now and we'll over 230ft-lbs.

This really opened my eyes to what these engines can do.

Eye candy:
http://m.imgur.com/HBnrcpS,VgSBZKL,NpTFAaO,xQmykfV,ZAOaiah,kj4baTb,PNZDFqg

Tuned things a bit, plumbed up the manifold heater, and made a short video.

68 Camaro inline 6 with headers and 4bbl:68 Camaro inline 6 with headers and 4bbl: http://youtu.be/V_J72TpuZJI

Link says its private. No worky for me.

MBHD

68 Camaro inline 6 with headers and 4bbl: http://youtu.be/V_J72TpuZJI

Does that work?

Same thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_J72TpuZJI&feature=youtu.be

I think you need to change the settings on your youtube account?

MBHD

I'll mess with it tomorrow when I'm not posting from my phone.

Did you get yours running yet?

No, not yet, not for a long time, no $$$.
Bills, bills, bills.


MBHD

Good news, guys! I'm getting new motor mounts!

Bad news: darn near wrecked the Camaro...

I was sick all week and while I was sick I read up a whole lot on tuning the Holley. I didn't mess with the settings much other than the floats when I rebuilt it last weekend. I should have...

The idiot before me had the accelerator pump adjustment screw cranked down so it was always engaging. I adjusted that properly, reset the idle air mix, rechecked the float levels, and got it running pretty darn good in the garage.

Took it around the block and noticed a stumble. Went back in, readjusted the secondary float and took it back out. No more stumble so I knew I was on track. Time to take it up to 55 or so and keep it steady to see how she acted.

Got out to the state highway and floored it just to see what she'd do. Keep in mind she's still a 250 so I had some time to get up to 55 even with the 4 bbl and exhaust. Regardless she sprinted straight up there.

...and kept right on going!

I tried to throw it in neutral so I could stop it and went too far. Rear tires locked up, spun me and I luckily missed a telephone pole by about 2 feet. Shut it off, popped the hood, took a moment to wonder just how the hell I missed that pole, and checked the linkage to see if that's what the problem was. Yep. I thought I cleared the lower flange adapter for the 4bbl but it bound up on it. I'll grind it down tomorrow to make sure this never happens again! Plenty of material there I can remove.

So I started it up and noticed I had an exhaust leak up front. Oh well, I'll fix that tomorrow too.

Then I noticed the alignment was a bit off. Still not sure there but the driver's side is sagging about 1" now. Looks like tomorrow is going to be a busy day...

So I get it home and into the garage so I can look at it in the light.

Yep. Both motor mounts are shot. Broke them both.


So tomorrow is going to be spent fixing the linkage problem first and foremost. Then it's onto inspections of the suspension, trans mounts, and whatever else. Either the passenger's side spring shifted out of it's perch or the driver's side is broke. We'll see there.

Anyway I'm just glad to be alive and the car is mostly intact. All of it is fixable.

...but man she moves now. Way better than before!

I think the rumors about these old inlines are all true. They just can't be killed!

I got up this morning and decided to assess the damage. Moved my wife's car out of the garage, got in the camaro and moved it to the center so I could work on it.

I popped the hood and the engine moved back where it should be. The darn thing decided to move on it's own!

So I let the garage heat up, made some of the best biscuits and gravy I've ever made, fed the family, and headed back out to see what else was left.

First thing's first. Found the bind in the linkage. I see why I didn't it before. It was the bottom lever on the stock linkage rubbing against the intake manifold heater hose. Pulled it all off, removed the offending lever that wasn't being used, adjusted the hoses a bit and gave myself an inch clearance there. Also ground down a bit on the carb adapter just to be completely clear of the throttle cable. A little extra insurance.

Then it was on to the exhaust leak. Somehow the exhaust stud completely backed out and wasn't there. So it didn't break! No fighting that problem! Ran to autozone and got a new stud. Also found the other manifold to exhaust was loose so I added lock washers (exhaust place must've forgotten that part...) and tightened it all up.

Fired right up with no binds and no exhaust leaks.

Now I'm just waiting for my wife to get back so I can take it around the block to feel out the suspension. I won't drive it hard until I get the new mounts in but she's pretty much all fixed for $40 total ($35 for new mounts and $5 for new exhaust studs).

Cheapest "accident" I've ever seen!

New mounts will be here on Monday.

Hopefully this fixes everything.

Sounds like you were very lucky! It does pay to check everything twice. Glad to hear ,there was no tragedy.

So does anyone know where I can get two new motor mounts? The ones I bought on flea-bay are clearly for a 350, not a 250 as listed. I can make perches to make them work but I'd rather do it right from the start.