Living with a 4th gen Camaro

plance1 wrote: All fourth generation camaros, every single one of them, have front fenders that just don't fit. Seriously, look at the bottom of the fender behind the wheel, they all stick out for some reason.

They didn't leave the factory that way.

There is a rubber pad there that looks like a jacking point. It says right on the pad NOT to use it as a jacking point. If you use it as a jacking point, you bend the bottom of the fender outwards.

I saw someone use it as a jacking point on a 3000 mile 1997 Camaro and it pushed the fenders out. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to be noticeable. First time ever on a lift and the idiot ruins the car. I forgot how that story ended but the owner of the car was (rightly) furious.

tl;dr: The fender fit problem is indicative of jack-wielding illiterate buffoons.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I will post some pics after I pick the car up, probably wednesday or thursday evening.

My next question regards preventative maintenance. The car appears to have been well cared for, but if you were buying it, what would you replace for peace of mind?

On an LS1 car? No Optispark, no center driveshaft bearing... and everything else is pretty solid maintenance-wise. Just give it a solid once-over and have fun!

Furious_E wrote: Thanks for all the advice everyone. I will post some pics after I pick the car up, probably wednesday or thursday evening. My next question regards preventative maintenance. The car appears to have been well cared for, but if you were buying it, what would you replace for peace of mind?

They're fairly tough, but front wheel hubs are a weak spot. If the ABS failure light comes on after hard braking (even though ABS worked), you need to replace them. I can't think of anything I'd go looking to replace until it seemed like a problem, though.

In reply to Knurled:

Bushings, suspension bushings. They go bad and make the car drive like hell.

But really close to stock ones are super reliable.

Hubs can be a problem on sticky wide tires in autos or road course use.

I run good suspension and sticky tires but dont autox and have 180k on the stock ones with no play, just checked them when I realigned it.

A bolt on LS1 can be really quick, seen auto cars run 11s and m6 cars track 114.

I've never seen bushing failure ever, except for a couple torque arm bushings.

This I figure is probably a regional thing. The way I figure it, you can live somewhere where bushings die rapidly because it is hot and arid, or you can live where things rust rapidly because they salt the roads so much that you can taste it in the air. Or you can live where it rains all the time...

Crappy pic but thats the best I can do for tonight. So far, I'm loving it

Furious_E wrote: Crappy pic but thats the best I can do for tonight. So far, I'm loving it

I knew you would. Looking forward to better pics.

Put a set of 17s on it. Tire selection in 245/50/16 is going away and 275/40/17 has bunches of good options. I really love my re760s. Plus they make the car look way better

Ive owned one 4th gen fbody and driven pretty much all the engine/trans combos available. I sold mine because i got it ludicrous cheap and i was able to triple my money. If i got it ludicrous cheap and couldnt make money off it i would have kept it for a good while.

My favorite drivetrain in those is the 3.8/5spd. Ive driven the v8s and while they are great fun, it makes me hate the engine bay a lot more and i have a hard time wanting to own anything i dont like the engine bay on. The 3.8 comes with just enough, but still has sky's-the-limit potential to it. My ideal 4th gen would be a 97 30th-anniversary camaro convertible, white with orange stripes, retro houndstooth upholstery, and a boosted 3.8/5spd.

What's the easiest route to boosting a 3.8? Can the 5 spd hold the power? Does the 3.8 cars come with four wheel disc brakes?

You mentioned idler pulley chirp, watch the crank pulley while it's running. If it wobbles like crazy and the serpentine belt chirps, replace the crank pulley. It's very common on the C5 and C6 Corvettes so I'm guessing your Camaro will be in the same boat. I'm changing mine out right now. It's a bitch to do on the Vette, required pulling the steering rack out. And I haven't found a suitable crank pulley install tool yet because the threads are so deep inside the crank snout.

Petrolburner wrote: And I haven't found a suitable crank pulley install tool yet because the threads are so deep inside the crank snout.

Assuming your engine uses the same hardware as my LS1, buy the following parts from McMaster.com and make 2:

99055a239 - M16 x 2.0 300MM in length ($13.60)

92497A600 - Nuts M16 x 2.0 Pack of 10 ($8.14)

When you change that pulley make sure you get a new bolt, they are tty, and make sure to torque it to spec, which is high.

I've seen a bunch of crank pulleys fall off of ls motors shortly after being reinstalled.

I built my own installer with threaded rod and a few nuts. Not difficult. And used a new bolt - they're pretty cheap.

Looks a little better in the daylight I think.

Nice!

Very nice! I like the face lift they gave those over the earlier ones they were a bit blah. Hope you have fun with it.

And as always I am happy to see more American muscle here on the forum.

Looks awesome!

And I do have a new bolt.

Thanks everyone for all the words of encouragement.

After my first three days of ownership I'm still really enjoying the car. Its definitely got its own charactor about it, a certain robustness. The driving position, which I thought might get annoying, actually is growing on me and seems to suit my 6'3" frame well. The mountains of torque on tap certainly help too. And it makes good noises.

That being said, I already have a few mods planned for the coming months as well.

1) Skip shift eliminator. While not as cumbersome as I had feared it might be, I still think it's a stupid feature. However, I make fairly regular trips to the DC area where my special lady friend resides and can see it being a major irritation in stop and go traffic. Ill probably just buy one of the plug in kits rather than soldering in a resistor, just so I dont have to hack any wiring.

2) It needs shocks, the stock ones are simply under damped garbage. Probably gonna go Bilsteins here since I don't think I could justify the price difference for Konis.

3) Subframe connectors. The chassis flex is definitely noticeable. Thoughts on weld in vs bolt on? I'm thinking I would prefer the bolt in style in case I decide to remove them later.

If you plan on doing anything like headers or cold air intake that would need a little retune, wait to delete the CAGS until then. You can disable the skip-shift in software while you're in there tweaking everything else.

Furious_E wrote: 3) Subframe connectors. The chassis flex is definitely noticeable. Thoughts on weld in vs bolt on? I'm thinking I would prefer the bolt in style in case I decide to remove them later.

Weld-in. I'm not sure why you'd ever remove them.

In reply to Furious_E:

That's probably not chassis flex you're feeling. It's probably the horrible shocks. Most people say they notice a huge difference when on the decarbons and next to nothing when they have good shocks. Moat of the racers have come around in the last few years and decided they aren't necessary.

I do still recommend them for the safety factor, they help a lot in an accident.

Maybe next year, you should buy different 4th gen wheels or some good looking aftermarket ones. Those factory wheels just look awful.