Has anyone tried to cut gills into their fender and bumper area like the Callaway kit?

http://www.callawaycars.com/Camaro/camaro_body.htm

The big thing about the callaway kit's gills is that they are cut on a relatively flat surface. From the beltline of the car down, it's flatter than a stock camaro due to door clads and such. I'm trying to come up with a way to cut some gills following the same basic design but on the stock fender and bumper.

By the way...if you look closely, you can see the size cut of the gills exactly. On the rear gills, the lowest one is actually the turn signal light. It fits in there perfectly...meaning...you could easily cut every gill opening based on a traced section of the rear turn signal light.

If anyone has tried this, or has any info, let me know. I almost got the dremel out today and started cutting, but I went ahead and started marking areas first. I'm itchin to give this a try. I'm in the process of a front end swap anyways...so I can use my old fenders to practice on before I start cutting on the LS1 fenders.

(If anyone has done this and has a template...I'll buy it)

-Mike

 

It's worth a shot......if that's your style.
Not me though - I think the "Gills" look like a horses ****.

 

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, I guess. I'm not asking for opinions though. I'm trying to get ideas on how to best complete this project. From here on out...if there's someone reading this that just doesn't like it and that's all they have to say...it's cool...just don't post. We could go on all day about who likes what and who doesn't like what. That's not why I started this thread. I think there's a concept thread somewhere on here about what people like and don't like on a "hypothetical" body kit. This one, however, I'm all about the gills and how to cut them into my ride...no offense.

 

You could just spend the 5500 on the Callaway body kit and wait the two months to have it delivered..


I myself will just walk out to the parking lot and pull the cover off of my Callaway.

They do look great. But I'm not sure how good it would look on the curved fenders on a stock Camaro. The front looks very easy to do.. Now the back gills would be somewhat harder.

The hole itself would be easy. Just measure and cut. The harder part would be to have the lip on the inside of each gill.


If you plan on doing this let me know. You could measure the gills on my car.

 

ryker77 you have a callaway camaro!!!????? Did you get it done in Connecticut (where Callaway is located?)

 

Those gills wouldn't be hard at all to do... any custom hot rod or body shop can do it. I would ask around your area.. ask the actual classic car hot rod guys.

 

I was going to do the callaway conversion, but damn...5500 bucks for a body kit?! That just pissed me off. Another thing too....with the LS1 front end, you can't use the callaway nose. So I'd be paying 5500 bucks for door clads, gills and a rear bumper. Screw that! If I cut the gills myself...they are virtually free. If I go and have a body shop somewhere do them...then it'll cost a little more, but still...not that darn 5500 bucks. Also, I know the callaway gills have the lip on them...but ...for me...I dunno, the lip doesn't matter to me all that much. I'll settle for plain old gill holes and I'll take some screen door mesh and out it behind them just like the Callaway kit does. As far as the back being harder...The only thing hard about that would be to fill in the original spot for the marker light and repositioning the light. Other than that...it doesn't seem that hard. Also,upon looking more at the callaway kit online, It looks like it's just a simple template for all four locations. The front looks a little more elongated, but hey...I'm willing to overlook that. At any rate, I think I'm gonna give it a shot...at least with the old fenders to see what it'll look like. If it looks good, then I'll do the new fenders. Once it's all done, I'll make up a template, scan it, and make it available to anyone that wants it.

-Mike

 

Callaway does make the C8 kit for the LS1, but yeah it's definately not worth it..

 

I want to get a job at Callaway this summer, probably won't happen but it definately would be cool if it did. Then we would have a member of the working there. I would learn there tips

 

Have you considered louvers?

I think louvers are "pressed" into the body area. I remember seeing a Dodge Viper with hood louvers, and thats what the owner said (TNT King Snake Viper, FYI)

Having a shop press something may be easier than cutting, but would give a different look.

 

Yes I'm one of the few that owns a Callaway Camaro. For now anyways. Got a guy trying to trade me an old vette. I'll probably pass on it.


Callaway has just started making the LS1 kits. You can look at them on www.autoweek.com just do a search for C8 or callaway. New C8's cost 71000 And really nice car but 71000. I guess thats right mine cost over 40000 and thats 1995 prices. At least they sorta hold thier value.

 

They don't really hold their value any better that normal cars...it's just that the price is jacked up and they start depreciating again. A guy here in Atlanta wanted 32 for his 95 callaway, but by the time I went out to look at it, he was willing to take 24 because he had it for sale for months.

As far as the LS1 callaway kit, from what I understand, they are only making 50, so really...it isn't available. And too...the body kit by itself isn't available at all. And I'll be honest here...I don't think I really want just a body kit from Callaway, and not have all the other mods. That's what makes a callaway a callaway. I'd feel like a damn poser!

Louvers. I LIKE louvers. I'm thinking about putting some in my Jeep's hood to help with cooling. The problem with those on the camaro, is that louvers ARE pressed, but only in metal. (correct me if I'm wrong) The SS hood that I have, even from GM is still fiberglass, and the fenders and pumper area is plastic. With them being plastic like that, I'm thinking louvers would be pretty hard, because you'd first have to cut out the entire hole, THEN go fabricate something that looked like pressed louvers, THEN go and patch it back on the car. Again, I could be wrong, but I think that's how it'd work. I'm just thinking the gill cutting would be the easier thing to do. I'm gonig to ask my body man if he can do it, if not...I think I'll take some good advice and go to the old hot rod shop. \

-Mike

 

I have to correct myself. Callaway says they will make no more than 10 LS1 C8s. I had said 50. Either way it's still not many, but 10...yikes. Talk about a collector's edition!!! ANyways...I spoke with Callaway about an LS1 kit, and they said it isn't available to get just the body kit. (which is just as well anyways...I kinda like the LT1 front end on the other Callaway kit better than the newer look.)

Here's the link:

http://www.autoweek.com/search/searc...99329&record=3

 

If you look at the autoweek.com pictures you can really see the gills clearly. They are not only cut but have depth to them before the mesh. I dont know how the cut holes only would look. Definitely take some pics when done and post them up here. If it looks good that is something I would try.

 

Well if you don't wanna be a poser like you said, here is a alternative. It is a C8 style concept I designed a while back:

http://images.cardomain.com/installs...8_770_full.jpg