The CAM-Z: autocrossing a Z28

Awesome!

No big updates. Money is tight.

When I swapped the carb I was forced to change air cleaners too. I liked the original dual snorkel with the 305 H.O. decal on it though.

So I shopped around and found a reproduction decal for, I dunno, 20 bucks or something. And the shipping was top notch!

You had one job.

There it is. Looks good too. A quick test fit on my current air cleaner and the ring is slightly too small.

So now I'm on the hunt for a flatter air cleaner lid that will fit this decal.

That's where we're at right now.

That decal is awsome, I need one for my car!

By the way, the clock you sent me has begun working all on its own.

In reply to Gearheadotaku:

I didn't know it wasn't working. You should have contacted me sooner, I would have sent a replacement. Just because my buisness is in long term hibernation doesn't mean I don't stand behind my products.

Your work on the car has inspired me to get to working on my 86 IROC we've had sitting at the farm for 15 years. My plan is to follow a similar route, keeping it budget minded. 

So thank you for your postings

Excellent, drag it out and enjoy it. That's what they're for. 

Start a build thread for it to. It'll help motivate you.

And if anyone calls it a crammit, poke them in the eye. that is a dumb name.

In reply to AClockworkGarage :

Ok fine, Camero it is. 

That's how I find all the good deals on CL.

Camero, Firebert, Cheberlet...

Alpha Romero is my go to favorite 

I got a great deal on an 86 Cadillac Hearst once. Guy couldn't believe it took so long to sell.

You've got a great thing going with this car... it started off kinda rocky but it seems like you've finally wrangled it in and made it into something decent. I often think about getting an old F-Body to replace my 96 Mustang GT, but after reading about your troubles with the carb, spark plugs, and tuning, I think I'll just stick to my underpowered but reliable 4.6L Modular, haha.

The weather has turned rainy and the summer is pretty much over, but this weekend has been surprise sunny again. We packed up the Z and headed out to another local classic car show saturday.

Just a beautiful relaxing day.

I was having a great time, but SWIMBO was tired.

"I'll just take a nap in the back seat" she says.

"Not with the cage back there you won't"

"Don't ever tell me something can't be done..."

I stand corrected.

With the final race of the season 2 weeks away I still had a few things to take care of. Back when I did the rear trailing arms I noticed that the sway bar endlinks were barely there...

So I picked up a full set from Summit. Guaranteed to fit...

perfect...

well, I guess I'll just swap the bushings on to the old hardware. If that's the worst thing that happens to me I guess I'll be ok...

perfect...

I wonder how long that's been rolling around in there... I cleaned it up, repacked the bearing and pressed the cap back on. I've ordered a new cap because I anticipate this happening again, but this'll get me by until then.

And there they are all shiny and new.

I did the rears too, but my this point my hands were too greasy to take pics. She's as ready as she's going to be before the next race. With the new forza coming out next weekend I won't have any time to play with her, so this is it.

Tomorrow is the final event of the SCCA season. The transmission replacement took too long and I wound up missing a handful of events. This season was re-branded a "development"  season. Even still I am sitting 2nd in points for the CAM group, and leading the CAM-T class... by Default.

I head into tomorrow's event knowing that I have one AAA service call left and 6 months to fix whatever I break. I'm gonna drive it like a rental.

I didn't die for a while again last Thursday and as such I was given a baked good with fire on it and a gift card to summit racing. I spent it on this:

I am a tad bit disappointed with it's fitment, it barely clears the brake fluid reservoir on one side and the trans fill tube on the other. when the tower mounts are placed flush, the rear doesn't reach the cowl. It's a real brand, not some ebay BS, I expected better.

I solved this problem with some 1/4 steel spacers. 

I'd like to machine a nice aluminum spacer, but these will do for now. Once I get my new upper strut mounts they may fit they well, but until then, my $1.60 spacers will work.

I got most of the holes drilled and my battery died. I use my drill so infrequently that I've never needed a second battery. I had to stop with 2 holes to go to let it recharge.

My weather window was closing and I needed to get this done. I wondered, what would my grandfather would do?

Adapt, Improvise, Overcome.

And there she is, ready for race day. See ya tomorrow.

Man, sorry to see all the troubles you are having but it sure is fun  watching you overcome them.  I really like the way this car is coming together.  Good luck tomorrow!

there's something poetic about using a bit & brace to install a strut brace

Glad to see you're still at it, I like this project.  Third Gen's unite!!

Eh, QA1. The mainstream chassis metalstock brands often don't work out well with 3rd Gen. You gotta get with the cult brands such as BMR and especially nowadays UMI. I've never heard anything bad about any UMI product.

Well, that was a day.

I arrived around 7:30 and stared at the sky, trying to predict the weather. I opted to remove the t-tops, but my buddy left his Miata hardtop bolted in place. we were both right.

The event started and I got in some good runs. I did well but was just outclassed by my only competitor, a CAM-C Challenger. But I ran as hard as I could and didn't leave much on the table.

Hopefully with a new suspension, and maybe a little extra confidence I can give him some better competition next year.

After my fifth run I rolled back to grid and shut her off. This was it, she was done. I couldn't get her to start again. We threw a jump box on her and got her moving but the battery is flat dead... I suspect the new alternator might be faulty, or I'm not getting a good ground with the freshly painted alternator mounts. More on that later...

With the car moved I ran back to my work assignment to chase cones and the sky opened up.

We quickly had standing water on the track, and spinning cars everywhere. It was much fun, especially for our two C-prepared Fox bodies running 12 inch hoosiers. Good times.

The sky cleared up and I had some lunch, called AAA and got my junk towed home. I hope to get her running for next week's Cars and coffee, but that's not crucial. Gonna pull the battery and alternator after work tomorrow (weather permitting) and get them tested. Probably run a tap through all the brackets and check the grounds too. With luck it's something minor.

but there it is, Season 1 in the bag. I spent between $4-5K, managed to make only three events and finished 2nd of 4 in points. I delighted children and irritated the elderly at car shows.

I've decided not to put her up for sale just yet. I'd like to see what she can do with a proper suspension under her next year. And I'd like to learn a lot more about these carb and distributor engines before building my dream G-body. 

Don't worry, this thread will continue for whatever it's worth. Thanks for reading.

I know I've enjoyed reading it and it's gotten me inspired to do work on mine.

In reply to AClockworkGarage :

Good news and good plan. I know exactly how you feel too  

In reply to BoostedBrandon :

I concur.

I just had a thought after working on mine over the weekend. Did the bog ever go away?

I ask because I was able to actually move mine this weekend, as in in gear and drive it, and I have a bit of a bog in gear when it idles (tach says about 2ooorpm in park, 305 with rebuilt quadrajet) down a bit. My first thought was needing a tune up as it has a barely there miss you can hear in the exhaust.

That was before setting my lawn on fire in 3 separate places.

First place, I figured longer grass, so makes sense. Second place was fresh cut short grass. Third place was were I checked under the car and saw that the factory catalytic converter was visibly red. Mine is most likely plugged from mice building a home, but if yours is still equipped, maybe its getting to the end of its life span? Whether or not it would play a roll or not I am unsure. I do remember a friends cavalier that would not rev beyond 2500rpm when his cats were plugged.

Just a thought to look into. I skimmed thru the thread looking to see if the exhaust had been looked at and didn't see anything.

The bog is still there. it only happens if i got to WOT quickly. If i roll into the throttle it's fine. My exhaust is Hedman mid length headers, into a y pipe into a magnaflow exhaust. Cars over 25 years have no emmisions testing here so... no cat.

I fired her up yesterday. she started after 3 agonizing chugs. like a dead battery.... battery shows just under 13 volts sitting, just over 15 when running.

When I had my issue on sunday the electric fan was running, but it wouldn't even try to turn over. I couldn't roll the windows up either.

Gonna try and start it with an assistant so i can watch the voltage on the battery while it cranks. I bet it drops into the 8v range. A bad cell maybe.

Battery is less than a year old and has a 3 year warrenty, so... here's hopin'

I haven't had an chance to play with her much, doing a lot of hours at work. She's pretty much tucked away for the winter. Sta-bil in the fuel, Damp rid buckets in the car, waterproof car cover.

The plan now it to gather a propper suspension for a springtime all at once install. Suggestions are welcome.