Because a single project car is over rated

So this story starts innocently enough. Car comes into the family, child takes an attachment to said car, Car is promised to ungrateful younger sister who doesn't want it, car is then passed to elder brother who plans to 'fix it' and begins to tear it apart and leave it. Enter the middle child who's offers to 'purchase' said car from parents in it's current state is met with indifference. Said car then sits, in grass, neglected for the next 14 years, interspersed with moments of the middle child doing what can be done to keep it from turning completely into dust. 

So its a 1986 Camaro of the IROC trim. Its 'uncommon but not cool' in that it was yellow with the beige interior, hardtop, factory A/C delete car. BUT also the low power 305 with an automatic. It's rough and rusty and needs a lot of work so I decided the best thing to do was give myself a Goal date to have it back on the road of May 20th so I can run it in the local 1/8 mile drags, which is a ways off BUT I have 4 days off between then and now and I need to do front brakes and some kind of exhaust work. Oh, and reinstall the interior my brother removed 14 years ago.

The 'end goal' will start at driving and then progress from there. Part of me wants it to just be for cruising and light drag racing, maybe a bit of track fun but mostly want to get it on the road so I can begin learning how I can make it better, other than just throwing parts at it. More pictures to come.

So the carb (quadrajet) was rebuilt in the fall and last Sunday I started to tackle the front brakes, and things didn't go that well...

Yes, that is the Allen bolt head snapped off

soo.. I had to get creative. After using the hacksaw to start a line, then the sawzall to go a bit further I managed to brake off the ear around the bolt.

And after purchasing a bolt extractor kit ( which was a really good idea)

I got the bolt out. I have ordered a replacement caliper from work and plan to install it next Thursday, but tomorrow (being Friday) I plan to tackle the disassembly of the drivers side.

I also pulled the old thermostat and replaced the upper hose but I have no pictures of that except cleaning the thermostat housing in the kitchen sink

I also feel I should mention, although I am not against engine swaps and such, it is the numbers matching 305 block in the car presently so I do want to do a bit of work on it to wake it up a tiny bit just because the partial end goal is mostly to be a cruiser with mild track aspirations I don't see crazy power being an end goal. I should have more updates as I go, hopefully tomorrow I can take a few more pictures and show you the total disarray of an interior

DjGreggieP said:

 

 

although I am not against engine swaps and such, it is the numbers matching 305 block in the car

Do phrases like "numbers matching" matter for 3rd gens?

Good luck with it. They are fun cars to enjoy for what they are.

Being of a redneck background I love me some IROC. 

crankwalk said:

DjGreggieP said:

 

 

although I am not against engine swaps and such, it is the numbers matching 305 block in the car

 

 

Do phrases like "numbers matching" matter for 3rd gens?

 

Good luck with it. They are fun cars to enjoy for what they are.

I don't think it really does make a difference for a third gen outside that it has made it this long (if you ignore the 14 years of sitting) and retained the G code 305 so that makes it... neat I guess?  

The L69 engine isn't really that bad. It will certainly sing to a much higher RPM than the TPI cars -- well with a T5 at least. It's more fun and less truck-ey than an unmodified TPI car. I have a mid-range modified 350 IROC with a T-56 and comparing video with the TPI Player's Challenge cars I am definitely glad all the little (and big) things that were changed make it run a lot less like a Square. You've already got a good start with that starting with an L69. You want headers and an exhaust for sure. Cam and heads? Might not really need those for a while if ever unless you're looking for really big numbers for a 305.

Anyway, you're probably going to be pulling the gas tank which also means dropping the rear end unless it has gotten fresh gas through it constantly over those 14 years.

In reply to GCrites80s :

You can drop the tank without pulling the rear end. Disconnect the shocks from the axle, take the panhard brace off and lower the axle to full droop. If you still have exhaust back there that has to come down too. Pulled the tank out of a friend's '92 RS in about 20 minutes the other day. He does have an axle dump though so the exhaust wasn't an issue. 

3rd gen FTW!

Daylan C said:

In reply to GCrites80s :

You can drop the tank without pulling the rear end. Disconnect the shocks from the axle, take the panhard brace off and lower the axle to full droop. If you still have exhaust back there that has to come down too. Pulled the tank out of a friend's '92 RS in about 20 minutes the other day. He does have an axle dump though so the exhaust wasn't an issue. 

Nice, back before I had a place to work on cars I had a shop change the tank/fuel pump and wondered why they charged so little time for the labor. They must have known this trick.

Haven't pulled the tank as of yet, I remember putting $5-$10 worth of fuel a few times to move it in the yard or with plans of 'going to fix it' (but having little to no mechanical skills/knowledge) 

I should clarify that the car at least does run and move, albeit it hasn't been moved at any kind of speed beyond what was a fast idle, so the gas has been replenished/ fresh added over said 14 years.

No pictures right now as I am at work today, but I started to mess with the interior a bit, I am going to need to hunt down the connectors for the power window switch connectors. I guess some of the 1980's plastic becomes brittle to the touch, and the hardware long lost to the depths of my garage years ago... This should be fun.

The plastic was brittle back then too. It is just bad plastic.

From what I am finding, or not finding in this case, is a lack of replacement connections. So I think I may make a template of the switch holding location and just get some momentary toggle switches for the windows, and a basic push button for the rear hatch release. Toggle switches make everything cooler, right?

So wait where is the yellow car? I can't be the only one confused by that line. Other than that cool project lol

In reply to MazdaFace :

This one?

Edit: Nevermind, I'm an idiot that can't read and goofed hard.

MazdaFace said:

So wait where is the yellow car? I can't be the only one confused by that line. Other than that cool project lol

The car rolled off the assembly line in Yellow, and was repainted black sometime before we got it. Based on some 'repair' evidence on the car I want to think it was in an accident THEN painted black. Hopefully that clears up the confusion

So on Friday I had a chance to get out and do a bit more work. I decided to tackle the other side of the front brakes. This side went very well.

Bolts came out easily

and then lightly cleaned up and reassembles easily

And completed and mostly reassembled (short on proper lug nuts)

After that, I decided to reinstall the electric fan which went mostly well. Top is bolted in, the bottom is zip-tied in because the lower rad support was used as a jack point once, so that is another thing to fix properly later.

Also fixed the IROC body kit until I can find a replacement my sister broke ages ago when cutting grass.

And here is a picture of the interior after I got the center console kinda in place. I get to search for hardware to hold it in place now.

Today I plan to head out there and work on cleaning the interior and maybe making it more car like and taking more pictures, this time perhaps with my point and shoot instead of my phone.

This thing needs so much work... But it is mostly on track to at least make it to town for the drags, even if I don't make a pass with it.

So - are you the middle child in the story, or was that who you bought it from?

I'm the middle child of the story. 

Back at it with a front half of the interior! 

Still a few little things to tackle on the interior, but today I should be getting the exhaust finished and installed, brake caliper replaced and all the lugnuts replaced. I should make it to the drags, actually making a pass is hard to say. I don't own a welder and the existing bolt for the battery hold down is seized and broken and the extractor set I have doesn't grip it so it may get ziptied in place to at least hold it in place for now. So I will attend the fun day, but I will not be able to make a pass unfortunately. Unless I sweet talk the guys into letting me make a single pass solo... Or I can get that bolt out and keep a battery held down. 

But enough coffee, time to get outside and get the car moving. I can't wait to hear the side exit exhaust I cobbled together!

So, I did the brake caliper, got the remainder of the old exhaust off, put the new exhaust on and got it registered. Got home and tried to bleed the brake and nothing. Had the bleeder wide open and mom pumping the brakes. Not a thing. So looks like I will need to order a few more parts yet, but an older gentlemen let me know of a button to push to try.

Tried to fire it up, and had a heck of a time to get her to go. Runs really rough, like multiple cylinders missing. Picking up some fresh plugs to try and see if that helps, it can't make things worse

did you open up the air cleaner to look for rodentia?

I have had the air cleaner off a few times since I started working on it this month, so that was clear as it can be. I am going to try plugs tomorrow as it really can't hurt. Then start moving on from the inexpensive parts. It was running really well in the fall, so maybe just a bit of a tune up is needed.

Did you drain the tank? Replace fuel filter? 

I did replace the plugs. They were definitely in need of replacement. Also fixed up the power connection. Turns over nicely and easily and run and holds idle. I hadn't drained the tank because in the fall when it was running the needle dropped down to 'empty' so I added $20 fuel a few weeks ago and now the gauge reads over full, so the tank is going to need to come out and be drained and possibly look at a new sending unit. 

But what is a build thread with out pictures?

Firstly, my first exhaust system. Total cost would be about $100

It's not perfect, it needs a bit more reinforcement as presently the muffler hits the body, but it sounds pretty good. 

Exits before the rear wheel. I like it. From a higher angle you don't even see it. But you can tell its not a perfect mounting, when I get it to town we are going to get it solid.

Plugs, all of them looked like this:

Except this one:

No idea what it is on them. its oily and sticky. I want to think that this was the running issue, also plug wires are on the shopping list now as well.

Game plan is to tackle the brake issue tomorrow, possibly add some engine flush and do an oil and filter change (oil was fresh in the fall) and put more of the interior together. I will most likely get a video of the exhaust  and better pictures, it just so much easier with my phone. 

She's burning a bit of oil but it smells of stale gas more than oil.

Yeah that looks like it’s burning a lot of oil from those plugs. If it’s not smoking like a chimney, check the oil every 100 miles and see how much it’s going down