krzyz

Hi TGO, I had sold my first camaro back in 2005 which was a 89 iroc-z which was the biggest mistake i have ever made other than getting married lol. So lil over a month ago i came across this 82 Z28 which needed some loving and had been sitting for the last 6 years and has 100 000 kms which is not bad for that year. I paid 1200 bucks for the car and the wife dont know i had bought this car yet lol.
Here are the specs.
1982 Z28 383 stroker 71 350 chevy 4 bolt main 650 holley dbl pumper alum holley intake .030 flat top pistons, 700r4 staged 2 shift kit, 3.73 posi with rear disc brakes, 16" dbl line iroc wheels t-top fully loaded from cruz to power hatch.

the guy i bought the car from told me he had bought of a good friend who just put the motor in the car just before he bought it and had only put 4500 km on since he owned it for the last 6 years. The car was silver once in its life time and was painted white now its in primer, all the weather stripping have to be replaced both lower part of the doors are rusted but may beable to replace lower door skins unless i find good doors and the drivers frt foor area on the floor needs to be fixed which is the only area that i have seen as far before i start to tear the car apart, last friday i had done a tune up on it replaced the plugs cause it had some bad spark plugs in the car, put some fresh gas in it got it running ok not perfect but it ran, of course from sitting for such a long time the seals are old and cracked well the frt and rear main seals let go and oil sprayed everywhere so the motor is coming out.

so the plan:
pull the motor out replace all the gasket and good time upgrade some parts.
fix floor boards, strip car down to bare metal and repaint whole car silver
upgrade to 85-90 iroc gfx
install inner and out subframe connectors.
upgrade suspension parts lower 2"
clean up wiring from prev engine which was a cross fire 305.
ill add more as i go on with this project so now on to the pics.






gotta love friends that own there own tow trucks.








these are the doors i figure i can get away with lower door skins we'll see how bad when i get them blasted.




this is probley the worest spot i found the rest of the floor is soild that was from the leaky t-tops and water just sat there over time. the under lay smelt real bad.

krzyz

inside needs alot of cleaning, i ripped out the old viper alarm that would not let me start the car unless i smashed the black box and i need to clean up the old wiring from the crossfire motor that was in the car before.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

thats an 86, unless the back hatch was replaced

krzyz

and here is the 383 motor that will be cleaned up and nice and shiny i plan to have a motor that i can show off at car shows it will have a lot of upgrade parts and polished parts as well

well thanks for looking and i will have this updated has i go on with this project.

krzyz

yes the hatch was replaced cause some one smashed out the back glass.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

ah, if i were you i would replace it with one near that age so it looks right, it might be hard finding an 82 hatch.

krzyz

yea i plan on swapping out the hatch cause im not a fan of the high mount on the hatch plus its not even hooked up, i know there are a few hatchs in my area i may pick up but thats last on my list at the monet unless i find a good deal on one. plus the one i have on the car the guy put silcone bewteen the glass and hatch part cause it was leaking so thats another reason i wanna replace it to.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

yeah im not abig fan of the high mounted light either but yet i bought an 86 lol, i was tempted to take the hatch off my 90 and put it on my 86 but i decided against it.

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

I love it! My favorite style of 3rd gen! I would trade my 92 RS for an older similar style and shape without thinking twice if my RS did not have any sentimental value to me.

Doors can easily be replaced. Mine were in rough shape but no major rust. I also had leaky t-tops and my floors only had surface rust thankfully.

Just take your time and don't rush it, I would say keep the gfx it has now or the style it has. Just dont see many of em now a days.

krzyz

yea i was thinking about keeping the gfx it has now i guess now that i own an older camaro that they kinda grow on u, but i know that the frt nose cone needs some work cause its cracked on top so thats why i may change them out cause there arent may places to get that style frt bumper around here. yea i plan to take my time on this one do it right the first time and enjoy it when its done.

92 Camaro

iTrader: (1)

383 with junk manifolds? really?
didn't the 82s have that double arm tach too?

krzyz

yea i know the manifolds are coming out i just picked up a set of headers today brand in the box for hundred bucks there flow techs but theyll do for now and i dont think they came with dbl pointer tachs.

krzyz

last night me and my brother worked on my car for a lil bit, sorry i forgot my cam to take pics, i had pulled the rear seats, panles and carpet out and i was happy to see that its is pretty soild in the trunk area other than the pass rear spare tire area has a lil hole and the button of the spare tire holder had rusted off, no big deal ill removed that completey and may mount the battery in that area to clean up under the hood since the battery tray needs to be fixed which ill just smooth out with some flat sheet metal. also we looked into the frt floor boards and im goin to order a whole new floor boards for the driver side and pass side, it sucks cause all i need its just in frt of the seat but u gotta buy the whole panel no big deal, also i gotta replace both frt fenders found out they have been patch and bondo where the gfx bolts to the fenders and ill be replacing both doors cause the rust was just too much to replace, so my list will now get bigger.

replace both fenders
replace both doors
replace both frt floor boards
patch hole in rear spare tire well and relocate battery rear.
replacing rear hatch with non hi mount.

ill have pics up tonight from the work i had done last night.

305ho

iTrader: (1)

Hate to say it, This Camaro is way to gone. You paid way to much for in the first place. Save it for a parts car and start over. Next time before you get cought up in the moment and purchase some car that has been sitting as long as you stated. You need to bring a jack with you and take a GOOD LOOK of the underside. Then you have to pull up the rug to take a look. First BIG RED FLAG was the wiring all pulled out and hanging in the interior. Lesson learned thats all. Good Luck

krzyz

well i dont mind the work this car needs, i plan to do a total rebuild on it anyways so no big deal the only parts thats really bad is just the drivers floor, but to each there own, plus this car was in way better shape than the ones i looked at before. but im sure there are cars on this forum in worst shape than mine and guys are still fixing them, i did look this car over pretty good before i bought and i knew the floor needed to be fixed any ways, very commin problem where im from. the wiring from the old crossfire engine that was in the car once before which i plan to pull out and clean up or go with a new harness and do it the way i want it done. but thanks for the heads up with my next project.

krzyz

ok so i pulled the rest of the carpet out of the car and didnt look so bad, i knew the drivers frt floor was gone so here are the pics.

krzyz

this how the floor looks, i order a driver side floor pan to fix the frt part of the floor and just grind the rust in the drivers rear floor and see how bad that is and for the pass frt ill use some sheet metal i picked up to patch the lil holes there are, the wiring i may rip it all out and just run a whole new wiring since this one frt the car is hacked up and i like to clean up all the wiring in the car i cant stand messy wiring.

GTAwheelman

man that is the definition of a rust bucket(no offense). i salute you and your willingness to repair this 3rd gen and keep it on the road.

good luck

krzyz

this car is not as bad as my trans am i use to own , the floor was rusted all the way to the rear seats, i manage to fix it so this one isnt that bad in my eye, but if this project seems to far gone as i go on ill just look for another and pull the drive train out of this and put in what i get next, i already start forming the new sheet metal for the pass side just need to cut out the bad area and get a welder, or one of the body man from work gave me some panel bonding glue they been use at work for floorboard replacment and qauter panle replacement and said works really well, so i may give its a shot.

Falconiroc

This is only my opinion, but why not buy a relatively rust-free roller, you might actually save money going that route? Just a thought. That is some pretty mean rust.

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

The price of a roller would be almost the same price to fix this one if he does this the inexpensive way then prices are 2 very different things. Even then a rust free roller goes for what? $800-$1500 depending on model? Still would be cheaper to replace the floors and other rusted parts.

krzyz

carlos773 is right a rust free roller up here are hard to come by and guys are wanting crazy cash for one if u can find one, everything else that i had found was 6000 and up and i rather just spend that money on this car instead and have it the way i wanna build it. i already picked up some mint used doors and 2 frt fenders for 300 bucks, i already finished making the new panels for the pass frt floor, and i bought a 4x8 sheet of sheet metal for 30 bucks so far for rust repaire im into the for less than 900 but that includes a full floor pan for the driver side. the whole reason i bought this car is so i can build it up, i love these kinda of projects cause it keeps me busy and i like working with my hands and it'll be the way i want it to be in the end.

Falconiroc

I was just curious. Things are a little different down here in the Sand-filled convection oven I call home: Arizona. I purchased my Roller for $900, only a couple minor spots of rust that I'm fixing with only a little treatment.

krzyz

yea its probley easyer to find a rust free car down south than it is up here, i just went to look at a roller car about 10 mins ago no motor no trans needs less work than my car but the guy wants 2200 for its, if i had truck and trailer i would drive down south and pic one up. but im happy with what i got so ill make it happen. plus up north here we use way to much salt on our roads so a less rusted car is hard to come by lol.

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

Even for $900 the mostly bad part of this car are its floors. With luck he can find the spots he needs from yard cars for almost nothing. Even if he orders a full new floor, it will still be under $900.

Some people get discouraged about rusted 3rd gens, but its not the $ required but the willingness and patience to do it.

krzyz

well i got my floor pan today but there was 2 problems with it, one the frt off the floor pan looked like it was rammed into a wall and was all F'd up and 2nd its was the wrong side they sent me a pass side instead, so i sent it back a side F it ill build my own floor pan on the driver side which i had started first by making template out of cardboard and will trace out on to the metal i got, so the money i saved on the floor can go towards the suspension. sorry for no pics diggy cam battery was dead.

tkcaraudio

cant wait to see more of this build good starting point

krzyz

here is the cardboard template i made for part of the drivers floor. i only could make so much of the templet with the dash and seat in place which ill be pulling out today if i can get away from the wife today.

sorry pic isnt the greats











the last pic is the only bad spot for the rear quater panle but thats an easy fix, and the spare tire holder will being getting removed and ill be building a battery tray holde to mount my battery in the spare tire well.

so i pulled my carb off my motor cause i was goin to rip it apart to see why it has been making a whinning noise like it had a supercharger under the hood which sounded kool but the car wouldnt run very well, this is what i found.


spread bore intake which an adparter should be used with the holley dbl pumper that was on top of it, the P/O had made a metal plate which didnt seal the gasket area on the intake so it had a wicked vacuum leak. so ill be replacing the intake with a polished edlebrock rpm intake.

thats all for now more to come.

krzyz

ok i have been slowly chipping away at pulling the car part to start the rust repaire, buts its been goin slower than i wanted it to. so yesturday i pulled out the ac stuff which im swapping my cuzin for his no a/c stuff in his camaro, i also pulled the dash out to see what kind of rat nest of wiring i gotta do deal with.











this is what they did to the old crossfire wiring which i may have to rip out completely and go through the whole harness and fix all the hacked wires or may ditch it all and get a whole new harness.

krzyz

so this is how they routed the main engine harness.









so i pulled the heater core and out and now i know why the pass side body seam looks the way it dose, the heater core was leaking.







started to clean up some wiring on the pass side not so much on the driver side.

92 Camaro

iTrader: (1)

what a mess.

krzyz

yea it looks pretty bad now, but once i start getting rid of all the stuff thats no good any more and cleaning up and the wirings and what not it'll look good again.

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

i would jsut get a new harness, it's going to take forever to clean all that up.

krzyz

so i did some more work on the car tonight and i was goin through the harness and it dont look that bad its just needs to be cleaned up but i think was i pull the whole harness out and go through it ill see if it can be safed or not but i may just get a new harness anyways here are some pics i removed the cruz control asm and the speedo box thing up frt since ill be doin a digtal dash.







removed the map and relays that were on the firewall and cleaned up more wiring.


this is the main hanress that comes from the ecm thats needs to go.

engine bay is slowly getting cleaned up but soon there will be nothing in the engine bay.

krzyz

i pulled the fenders today and look what i found more rust to fix. yay.
no big deal i kinda knew i would find this that why its a project.








pass side behind the fender


drivers side behind the fender.





and this is the driver fenders which i have new fenders for the front so these will go to the trash.

krzyz

today i pulled the engine harness out of the car and dont look some bad after all, the big long harness on the pass side was for the crossfire and ecm which i dont need so i pulled that out and the harness on the driver side is all i needed so i gotta clean up for broken wires which isnt so bad so i can do away from buying a new harness, also i came across a 85 iroc-z camaro for $1000 bucks ill be goin to look at it some time this week but the owner needs to find the tod and its need a body inspction cause our insurnace here totalled it and has rebuildable title which i dont see why they totaled it but we'll see when i go look at it. if this other car is in better shape i may just keep this 82 off to the side swap the drive train into the other car if all plays out well.

krzyz

well i did some work on the camaro last night and today, i pulled out the harness behind the dash, i removed the ecm wiring from the harness and cleaned up some un wanted wires and what not, i cut out what was left of the drivers floor since there was not much left holding together and plus i put my foot throught the floor when tring to get out of the car lol, i also started to pull the old t-top weather stripping off the car to see how bad some of the rust that was hiding behind the weathering strip. which wasnt too bad other than when i pulled the t-bar off the center and found 3 pin holes in the roof and hatch area which will be fixed with some patch work. i will have the car towed over to my dads place in the next 2 weeks to pull the motor and trans out and ill start to sandblast the body and under hood and welding will start after i find more rust to get rid of. sorry no pics at this time.

donnis618

Damn you guys, give the man some slack!! He lives in canada so obviously there aren't as many rust free examples to go around. Good luck with the project Krzy!!!

The_Maniac

iTrader: (2)

Krzyz, I admire the project! Reminds me a little of what I have to look forward to on my '84 Z28 (I don't think mine is as bad as what you've shown, but I have not dug into all the way).

Best of luck! Hopefully you can bring that car out of the rough!

krzyz

yea the car didnt look that bad till i pulled up the carpet and took the dash out, when i pulled the t-top center bar out i wasnt expecting to find those lil holes which is not a big deal, i talked to one of the body guys at my work that restores car on the side and told him about it and he gave me those tube of panle bonding which is what he uses to fit small pin holes or rust holes after sand blast, he said he has never had a problem with it cracking or comeing lose, so i figure ill give it a shoot since it'll be hiden behind the t- bar. there times when im work on the car i find more and more lil things and i just thinki i should scrap the whole thing but i tell my self i have all the time in the world to fix it. but being in a very small garage with no room to work makes it hard, so im glad ill be moving it to big space soon.

1982Z28Camaro

iTrader: (2)

I might of paid to much for my car but sometimes you find a car that you feel that is the one to buy and fix up. I don't believe in putting down people if they bought something rusty or might have paid to much, i just try to encourage instead since we are supposed to be a support group for each other. I don't care what you buy, there are always better deals out there and i'm not going to spend forever trying to find the perfect one. Good luck with your project man, glad to see you get a 3rd gen again. I just got mine early this year after being without 15 years.

krzyz

thanks 1982z28, yea its been a while since i had my last 3rd gen and when i came across this one there was something about, so i jumped on it, plus there very hard to find any deals on good ones up here. and not may my year driving around to. this will be a long project but the end result should be great.

1982Z28Camaro

iTrader: (2)

here is my 82 when i fiirst got it, i still have a lot of stuff to do to it but that's expected when you buy older vehicles. It has been painted since but this was far from perfect when i got it.

Bowtiebruiser

That Holley Contender Intake is a really good one, it's a near faithful recreation of the original Z28 intake, I'd just clean it up and use it.

CamaroIROC88350

iTrader: (1)

You've got yourself a real good time ahead to work on. I'm hoping your wife isn't mad at you either, lol. Tell her it's a man thing. She won't understand...

krzyz

1982z28: u got ur self a nice shape car there i just wish mine was in that good of shape.

Bowtiebruiser: Yea i kinda thought the intake looked like a recreation of a factory intake. i would reuse it but im having a hard time getting my holley carb to seal the frt flange so every time i start the car it has a vacuum leak right at the frt and sounds like a supercharger, sounds kool but car dosent run very well, ill pull the intake off and have my brother clean it up at his work and ill look like new again a try and sell it to make room for my new intake.

Camaroiroc88350: yea i got a lot of time ahead on me still, i just wish i had made more progress than i have already, and as for my wife she still dosent know i have the car lol, she knows i wanted a camaro again ever since i found pics of my irocs and trans am i use to have, she tells me that if she gets her ring she wants for our year 1 wedding ann which is coming up next month than i can have my camaro lol which i think is far enough. lol

krzyz

ok so yesturday is probley the first day since i got my car that i worked on it all day. (told the wife i went to work lol) i picked up some body supplie stuff for the car getting ready so when im closer to do body work i have everything, i picked up a boxliner kit from work that ill be useing for the under side of the car when i finsih fixing the floor so itll seal the floor and hopefuly not allow the rust to come back.


we used this stuff on some project cars that our body shop at work have done and worked out great u can even get them clear and mix ur own color paint into to it to match ur car, but i got black.





this is what i got to fit some of the smaller rust holes in the t-top area, one of our body guys said he has used it and had never had any problems with cracking or rust rust come back, so i got some, @ 50 bucks a pop it better be worth it.







so these are the holes im talking about, we'll how much worst they get when i sand blast the car in a few weeks.



ok so i measured my t-tops and i think i did it right to measure the center t-bar where the glass gose into and measure at 30 1/4" which mean i have factory style t-tops and not the C&C style.

krzyz

ok on to the floor.




so i cut out more of the bad floor and started to make some card borad templates to make my life alot easyer when it comes time to cut out the new metal



when i make the new floor pans i may do some bead rolls to stiffen the panles up. don look to bad so far.









so this is the wire harness i pulled out the car, i cleaned up some of the wiring for inside but i started looking at engine harness and i have no idea what the P/O did but im now goin to get a whole new engine and chassis harness.

krzyz

i made some template for shaving the battery box and inner fenders on both side of the engine bay.





it dont look to bad but u get the idea of what im after, i think when i build these panles ill make them one pc and bend it to shape to have a cleaner seam.



pulled the drivers rear gfx off the car and found some rust so i cleaned it up a bit and found it rusted throught so ill be fixing that with a patch panel.



i had this laying around in the garage from my last car, i will be putting air ride in this car, i had it in my cav and i loved it and plus i know there is no one in my area that has air ride in a third gen here.

here are some pics of my last car, which i miss so much.





and some candy for u all.







enjoy.

dynodanmanda79

iTrader: (1)

Ain't nothing wrong with J-bodys! Here's my Fiance's Z24