Brad Miller, who attends automotive technology and business management programs at Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, PA, sent us these photos and a restoration diary recap.
“For my high school senior project, I completed a frame-off restoration of a 1969 Camaro. I did all the work myself and paid for everything myself,” he said, adding that he completed tasks such as welding body panels, finishing body work, rebuilding the transmission, replacing the entire brake system, upgrading the suspension, building the engine, installing glass and installing the interior.
“I received the car when I was only 15, and completed it at the age of 17. I had to juggle high school, a part-time job and this car,” Miller said.
In addition to his part-time job, Miller would pick up lawnmowers at the curbside, fix them up, and sell them in the local paper.
Miller said his project Camaro started out with a 307 cu. in. engine, a PowerGlide transmission and manual brakes. “I had a body shop weld my quarter panels, rocker panels and outer wheel housings on because I wanted them straight,” Miller said. “But, I welded my floor panels and my dash panel in myself and I did all the finishing bodywork after that.”
Miller’s Camaro shows quite a bit of improvement. The vehicle is now powered with a Chevy 327 engine with Vortec heads, an Edelbrock Performer Intake Manifold and a Holley 600 CFM carburetor with Dynomax ceramic headers and Flowmaster exhaust pipes.
“It took me about a year and a half to get this far in the project, and about six months of that time it was sitting in the body shop waiting for quarter panels to be hung,” he said. Miller said next on his Camaro “to do list” is finishing the interior and figuring out something to do with the rear. “While I get the rear out, I’m going to put a 1.5” drop in the back.”
The staff at Tomorrow’s Technician commends Brad Miller on his Camaro restoration project. We think he’ll make an excellent addition to the industry’s workforce.
See more of Miller’s Camaro at http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=118701&highlight=high+school+project
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