The CAM-Z: autocrossing a Z28

Well, the 2021 season is in the books and the car has the scars to prove it. I managed to get her out to a handful of events and even a few shows before 2020 part two kicked off.

The plan for the year was to get the interior buttoned up and dry. Many parts are still on back order and the floors still need to be patched.

The front wheel bearings are crying now and there's an unhealthy clunk from the centre of the car. I suspect the front torque arm mount, hence the new UMI piece. Also the engine is dog slow, runs like crap, and burns oil and coolant.

Kind of sucks to be $15k into a car that still needs everything.

I have all the parts to fix the suspension and bearings, still waiting on the T-top bar, door panels, and window guides. I'll order seats harnesses and carpet after the floors and seals are done.

As for the motor, I just don't know. I've been fighting with it since day one. replaced the fuel pump, carb and ignotion system and still can't seem to get it driving proper. There's still a lag, now there's a miss and it's still running richer than bezos. I'd love to just drop it off somewhere, hurl a wad of cash into someone's face and say bring it back when it's right but I know of no such person.

I'd love to go fuel injection but it is cost prohibitive right now. This whole car has been built on a student's budget without any credit cards. It may be crap but at least I own it.

Tbi swap option? I know there are a few diy write ups going around somewhere 

In reply to java230 :

The big hurdle right now besides gravel driveway and budget is the fuel tank. I would need an electric pump and associated wiring to run any FI system, and if you're not familiar with the 3rd gen, the tank is hiding above the rear axle, so you've got to pull the rear end to access it. It's an ordeal.

Dropping the tank is super arduous to an individual without a lift but no big deal to the right shop. Shops be like, "hell, that was only 2 hours" but people at home kill an entire weekend doing it.

Well berk.

SWMBO had the 'rolla today so I ran to the store in the Z. On the way home the right front brake caliper decided to lock up. The tow home was... expensive.

One more thing to add to the list.

Seems like the early ('82-'85ish) seals were a lot worse than the later ones. This goes for not just the brakes but the whole car. I was running around on the original unrebuilt calipers on my '87 until I did the LS1 front brake swap on the front in late 2018 and am still using the original seals on the rears. No issues.

In reply to GCrites80s :

I replaced the calipers with new ones like 5 years ago, they've been great right up until today. I'm probably going to have to go through the whole system and replace everything.

In reply to AClockworkGarage :

"...running richer than bezos..."

You, good sir, made my morning 

Today marks 5 years of ownership. It's been a ride.

She's still parked awaiting brake parts. Weather is crap and I only have a gravel driveway so it might be a minute before it gets done.

I know this doesn't fix your front brake problem but I have pretty much all the stuff needed to swap a 10bolt to the later PBR discs if you wanted it? (I also don't know what you have for rear brakes). I had wanted to sell it for a hundred but honestly, if the brakes get off my parts shelf and get some good use out of them a case of beer would persuade me.

I gotta say I like what you have done with that car and find your writing style highly entertaining.  I too know the pain of the gravel driveway, scrap plywood is your friend if you can find any.  Hopefully the weather is getting better and we should have a somewhat dry weekend and Thanksgiving week.   

In reply to iansane :

Like a radio with a broken volume knob, I can't turn that down.

Well it wasn't raining today and the weather peaked over 40 degrees. Swimbo yanked me out of bed at 9am and told me to go work on the car (I work overnights so this was SUPER-early for me)

I had bought everything from the master cylinder to the pads the weekend it broke but haven't had the time, drive, or weather to work on it. When you wake up at 2:30 and the sun sets at 4, nothing gets done. Even on your days off.

Some research kept leading me back to bad stock brake lines. The inner lining cracks and turns itself into a check valve. I figured before I tore the whole car apart I' just replace the lines and try it out. That was the plan today. I manuvered the car so I could get 2 jackstands on the only patch of concrete I have and jacked the car up.

As soon as I got the wheel off I saw how bad it was. The caliper had gotten so hot the powdercoating was burned off. I made an executive decision to replace the pads and calipers too. When I pulled the caliper I saw exactly how much of a good call that was.

Yikes...

I slapped the new calipers and braided stainless lines on and took her for a quick drive and she seemed to be better than ever. I will be replacing the rotors and wheel bearings in the not to distant future. Seeing how hot that caliper got makes me wary of everything on there now.

So I'll order a new set of rotors, knock out the studs, put in a set of longer ARP studs and replace them... I dunno... in 2 more months maybe.

Gah! That was bad.

Sadly I cannot seem to find another set of the rotors. 

I had a hell of a time finding a set of stock sized slotted only stainless rotors, but they're just unobtanium now.

In reply to AClockworkGarage :

I just checked rockauto and you are right.  It's smooth or slotted and drilled.  I didn't see any slotted options.  
 

If you decide to do the LS1 brake upgrade, I have a set of stock LS spindles.  I got C6 brake adapters for my LT1 4th gen and will not be using them.  Lots of slotted LS1 size rotors are available.  

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

The 4th gen spindles are completely different from the 3rd gen stuff. I thought about brake upgrades for a while when this first happened but the fact is I never found the stockers lacking. A set of quality pads and rotors would be more than adequate ag keast until I did the motor swap.

Those look like they are SSBC rotors. The rust you see would have been from pads. And SSBC is indeed out of the front brakes game for the 3rd Gen.

In reply to GCrites80s :

They are SSBCs. I'm not worried about the rust. I'm worried about heat warping or micro cracks.

I'd like to find another set of stainless rotors, they always looked sooo, nice.

This thread makes me remember how cool 3rd gens were when I was younger.  I still dream of crusing around in a TA GTA for some reason.... they looked so rad. 

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

They're sort of coming into their own right now. I seem to have gotten in at exactly the right time. This pile was $1600 when I got it but I see similar cars going for like $6k now.

Radwood is the next bubble.

AClockworkGarage said:

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

They're sort of coming into their own right now. I seem to have gotten in at exactly the right time. This pile was $1600 when I got it but I see similar cars going for like $6k now.

Radwood is the next bubble.

I'm going to go all 'get off my lawn' n junk but thirdgens are too expensive now! I want 1-2k thirdgens again that aren't absolute crapcans. I bought my TA convertible for 3k and it was high priced then!

I say this because I really want to build a safari hardtop 82 TA with the little fender spats/flares and it's getting stupid difficult to find one that's not going for concours pricing.

I hear you, but I'm looking at it from the other side of the fence. I've already got one, and I got it when they were cheap. The uptick in value to me means more restoration parts will start becoming availible.

I didn't buy this car as an investment and anyone who does that it yanking cool cars out of the hands of enthusiasts and that is uncool. I'm just hoping for a happy middle ground. Where parts are plentyful, but not insane like G-body stuff.

Yeah mine sat at $10,000 the first 20 years I had it. Only years 22-27 have seen real value growth. It's S&P index fund all the way for me instead.

This coming Saturday I'm going to bring her out of winter hibernation and try to get her to the Cars n Coffee at Griots. We'll see if she makes it or not.

If you see me come say hi... If you see me on the side of the road... bring beer.