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Back in 1998 I had a black/gold w/ tan int. 1985 Z28 5.0 4bbl 5 speed w/ low miles. Coming home from work one Friday a guy in an S10 was nice enough to park his truck in my back seat at 55mph while I was sitting at a stop light. That was one of the saddest days in my life.
It never failed that when I had extra cash no cars could be found, but as soon as the bank account was low something would show up. So fast forward 12 years and one craigslist add. Happiness is mine again. i am now the proud owner of a black/gold w/ tan int. 1986 IROC 5.0 4bbl auto.
She is a little rusty on the surface and the interior is a little dirty, but she is a solid runner. Now to fix her up and relive the glory days! It will be a long process but I don't care.
Awe bummer, thats like the 3rd gold/black combo one ive seen. My first car is gold black just like that... too bad a drug dealer owned it and drove it in like ever winter since 82.. lol.
I didn't tell my brother I bought it and he just found out today! The bad part is that he lives with me and has walked past it at least a dozen times. He asked what I had under the cover and I just looked at him and was like where in the hell have you been for the last two weeks?
I'm thinking he should get a head scan or make and eye appt!
Well it is starting to warm up here so I made a trip to the salvage yard to hunt for goodies and look what I picked up for $15! I know it is for a Firebird, but it's mint and I couldn't pass it up!
its always sad to see an f-body die like that. makes me feel luck that when i spun mine into a hill side at 110 all i did was bang it up a lil and break an axle shaft.
Ya I really wish I would have drove my pickup that day instead of my camaro. If I would have been rear ended in that 3/4 ton GMC this would be a totally different thread. LOL This car is a good project though and I'm going to keep plugging away at it for the time being.
Well it is starting to warm up here so I made a trip to the salvage yard to hunt for goodies and look what I picked up for $15! I know it is for a Firebird, but it's mint and I couldn't pass it up!
well it waaaaaas starting to warm up anyway lol, looks like you got a good buy there! cant wait to see the progress you make on the car!
well it waaaaaas starting to warm up anyway lol, looks like you got a good buy there! cant wait to see the progress you make on the car!
Then you looked out the window the next morning...annnd SNOW! That isnt bad at all for $15. I dont remeber but did you say that you were going to repaint it this spring? I think it would be really cool if you do before the cruise!
Well currently all major changes are being put on hold for the time being. Currently there are major issues between the city council and the union that represents me at my job. I am saving as much money as I can in case things take a turn for the worse. If everything works in my favor I will be able to do almost everything I had planned during the winter next year. I am still planning to do the cruise, but in a less attractive package LOL!
quote from '87IROCZOWNER69 "Then you looked out the window the next morning...annnd SNOW! That isnt bad at all for $15. I dont remeber but did you say that you were going to repaint it this spring? I think it would be really cool if you do before the cruise! "
lol in my case it was more came home it was still nice and woke up to snow since i work nights lol
So I started this thread back in 2010 shortly after I picked up my '86 IROC and sort of forgot about it. A lot has changed in the past five years so I figured I would breathe some life into this thread and fill everyone in on what has been happening for the last five years!
My initial plan with the '86 was to swap in a manual and basically make it look like my '85 Z28. However after digging into the '86 I realized that there was just too much body work that needed to be done and that it was more then I wanted to tackle. Plus the car wasn't a factory manual and it had t-tops, which I have never really cared for. So the car got put on the back burner and just sat in the garage for a few years and only got driven when I needed a second car.
In March of 2013 after going to the annual swap meet here in town I got an odd phone call from a guy about an hour south of me wanting to know if I was interested in an '87 IROC. This guy got my number from one of my co-workers who knew I had been looking for a factory black manual IROC for some time. The guy had been hired to fix the '87 and the owner had abandoned it when he found out the motor was blown. Guy wanted the space back in his out building where the car had been sitting for three years. I went down to look at it and after handing over $750 (what the guy had in it for time) I brought home a rust free black '87 IROC hardtop with a T5.
Over the next few months I took all of the good parts off of the '86, to keep for the '87, and then put the '86 up for sale. I had around $1500 in the '86 and ended up selling her for $2250.
Once the weather had warmed up I tore into the '87 and started her journey to being back on the road. I have been working on her for the last three years off and on when money and time allowed for it. I'll post pics from my journey in the later posts.
I didn't take many pics when I first started since we've all seen what the inside of a third gen is like, but once I hit the mouse nests I had to snap a few pics. I ended up finding eight nests in the car by the end of disassembly. Spare tire area, cargo area, under the driver's side rear seat, behind the pass side kick panel, and the four in the HVAC system.
Put the sound mat down next and went with some "Fatmat" i found on eBay for $149 for 100 sqft. It went down really easy and even came with a roller and knife.
My latest project was getting the new exhaust put in. I went with the summit painted headers (#sum-g9005) and the Flowtech Y-pipe (#11102yflt). I sprayed the headers with new high temp paint and they went on with out any issues at all, but the y-pipe was another story. I had to cut 6" total out of the pipes to get them to line up and then had to cut and re-clock the pipe so it would line up with the exhaust I bought (Dynomax #17495).
I ended up using some 2-1/2" stainless band clamps from Speedway Motors, since they're local, to hold it all in place since I don't have access to a welder. Clamps are really strong so I don't think I'm going to have the system welded.
Awesome. I was hoping that'd be enough to do the camaro and the trunk of my other car. Sounds like it will. Now just let us know how much it helps lol
Even though I have yet to drive it, I can tell a difference when I shut the hatch and doors. It has a more solid sound and is less "rock in a tin can" sound.
Today's project was changing out the fluid in the rear diff. It has been dripping for a while now, but since the car isn't running I have just been putting off fixing it. Once I took the cover off I found out that the PO used orange silicone to seal it which is why it was leaking. I knew I was going to need a gasket so against my better judgement I had OReilly's special order me one instead of just getting it from Summit and sure enough they ordered the wrong one. I have the M78 Borg Warner 9 bolt and they ordered me a seal for a 10 bolt, which is a part they have on hand at all times, so I have no idea why he ordered one. I had them reorder the correct one and it should be here Tuesday, but since I had the cover off and a bunch of free time till i can get it all back together I decided to paint the cover.
Orange silicone is for exhaust not diffs lol! This stuff just peeled right off!
Most of the sealant stuck to the cover.
Before it's simple green bath and scrub with the Scotchbrite.
Mmmmm...that wonderful diff. fluid smell! The gasket should do a much better job than that orange goop.
There were some "non car" people at my house when I dropped the cover and they were all commenting in what that smell could be? I just laughed and told them that would be the wonderful smell of diff fluid lol!
I was finally able to get the factory vortec base off and the new TPI vortec base on to the engine over the weekend. It seems like this car is just fighting me every step of the way though. The tpi base wasn't sitting properly due to the oil pressure sender elbow hitting the bottom of the rear runner mounting flange. The elbow on Vortec blocks apparently are m10-1.0 in the block and 1/4"npt on the top instead of being 1/8"npt on the block like older SBCs. I didn't want to tap the block, and no one makes the elbow I needed, so I had the existing elbow turned down on a lathe and new threads added. I also had it cut down so it would clear the flange. After the machine work it fit perfectly and I was able to get the base and the rest of the tpi setup installed.
This is the old setup that was on the motor.
After having the piece turned on a lathe and new threads added.
What a steal of a car for $750.
My eyes are open for a smokin deal on a Camaro, all I car about is how clean the shell is as the rest doesn't matter with the plans I have.
Picked up a Fast ez-efi 2.0 system (30400-kit) off of ebay for $1200 a few weeks ago and can start on getting this thing all wired up. Went with this system because my existing wiring had been attacked my mice and since I have a vortec 5.7 I was going to need a new tune anyway. Did a cost run down and after I bought a new harness, paid for a base tune on the 1987 ecu, and then paid for a final tuning session I would be close to the same cost. Plus this thing is self learning so if I change out the cam or injectors it will re-learn the new parts!
Well after dealing with multiple family dilemmas and it finally warming up here in Nebraska, I'm finally back to making some progress on the old girl.
Over the past nine months when the weather cooperated I was able to get the FAST main harness 80% wired in, the accessory drive, a/c condenser, radiator, and fans installed.
Purchase wise I picked up a matching FAST Dual sync distributor, ignition box, and coil. I also found that Rockauto has ACC mass backed carpet for pretty cheap. Picked up a complete medium beige set for $301 shipped and it should be here by 4/12. Also picked up a dust shield for the T5 from 89irocz355 and got it bolted up.
Last bit of news is today I was able to get my fuel lines plumbed up with the -6 AN fittings and hose I picked up from Summit. The fast system I'm using requires a fuel pressure sensor, so I had to plumb the lines up a little different then normal. Overall though I was very pleased with the ease of assembly of the Summit brand of AN fittings and braided hose.
The plan now is to get the rest of the ignition and wiring all buttoned up and have this baby running by Memorial Day! Keep your fingers crossed!
Main wiring 80% done, accessories and radiator all installed. Feed and return lines plumbed in with -6 AN Summit fittings and hose to accommodate the FAST fuel pressure sensor.
Been a while since I've posted a progress update so...
The majority of my time has gone to sorting out the C100 wiring and grafting the FAST component wiring into the factory stuff. This has truly been a nightmare for me because I dread wiring. I have been staring at my electrical diagnosis manual for what seems like forever lol!
I'll post some pics tomorrow of the progress and how I'm laying everything out since it was too dark in the garage tonight to get any good pics.
Spent most of yesterday laying out the fast harness and trying to figure out the best way to get it all to work out. My initial plan was to mount the ecu inside close to where the factory ecu goes. However by doing that I would have to lengthen all of the connector plugs except for one, so I ditched that idea.
Since the charcoal canister is gone I decided to tuck the ecu up behind the driver's headlight plug where it will be out of the way. Ran the wires along the driver's side and then up to the C100 where they meet up with the harness for the ignition box, which I mounted right above the C100.
The Fast ecu requires a handheld, so I popped the factory plug out just to the right of the C100 and ran the wire through the firewall and installed a grommet. I will also run the fuel pump wire out this same hole and route it back to the relay that came in the Fast kit. From there the wires for the ecu, ignition box, and C100 factory wires will run along the firewall and down the passenger side to the battery.
For the most part the job hasn't been hard, it has just been really time consuming. I still need to order some new plugs for the factory dual fans so I can finish that wiring setup and decide where I want to put the relays. More then likely I will put them on the driver's side by the ecu so they're close to the rest of the fuses.
FAST ecu tucked nicely up behind the headlight.
bundled wires running up the driver's side towards the C100 block.
FAST ignition box mounted right above the C100 block.
Harness for the handheld running through a factory plug location just to the right of the C100 block.
Once all of the main wiring is done I will install a battery and get the Fast dual sync distributor installed and synced up. Then I can install the Fast coil on the passenger side of the block using the factory vortec bracket that came with the engine.
Cut off a tab on the right side of the bracket and then drilled a couple new holes. The bracket will mount onto the two rear intake bolts and be right next to the distributor.
Once I get all of the ignition stuff bolted in I will move on to the cooling hoses to get those routed and then fill the system with coolant. I still haven't decided whether I'm going to use standard coolant or spend the money to go with the "water-less" kind. The car isn't going to be my daily, and it won't see any driving in the winter, so I worry about the regular coolant rusting the system over time.
I was considering one of these systems as an upgrade to the factory stuff but from the looks of it, it is not a plug and play deal like I thought they were. It would be nice if it was just a harness to replace the factory harness and their ecm to plug into. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Once I get all of the ignition stuff bolted in I will move on to the cooling hoses to get those routed and then fill the system with coolant. I still haven't decided whether I'm going to use standard coolant or spend the money to go with the "water-less" kind. The car isn't going to be my daily, and it won't see any driving in the winter, so I worry about the regular coolant rusting the system over time.
I was considering one of these systems as an upgrade to the factory stuff but from the looks of it, it is not a plug and play deal like I thought they were. It would be nice if it was just a harness to replace the factory harness and their ecm to plug into. Correct me if I'm wrong.
The kit I'm running, just like almost all the other fuel injection kits on the market, really were never meant to replace a factory setup. They are made for the custom guys who are usually working on cars a lot older then mine.
I had other choices I could have run with, such as using the factory harness off the vortec motor I used. However I would have had to tear apart the harness and rewire the injectors to suit my needs.
My main reasoning for going with the FAST system had to do with tuning. I am not one to leave well enough alone and I plan on adding a cam and other stuff down the road. If I would have gone with a "factory" style injection system I would have to have the car tuned every time I made a change. I know guys who have spent a lot of money just in tuning and that simply wasn't appealing to me. Plus if I decide to swap an LS into my car later down the road this system will manage that too. All I have to do is change one section of the harness, which is literally one plug.
Once I get all of the ignition stuff bolted in I will move on to the cooling hoses to get those routed and then fill the system with coolant. I still haven't decided whether I'm going to use standard coolant or spend the money to go with the "water-less" kind. The car isn't going to be my daily, and it won't see any driving in the winter, so I worry about the regular coolant rusting the system over time.
Sorry for the lack of posts since early June, but I had a little mishap at work which required me to have back surgery... So since I am limited on my ability to bend and lift the car has yet again been put on hold. Doc says I should be good to go by the first week in August so I guess I'll just have to look at my poor baby until then lol!
Sorry for the lack of posts since early June, but I had a little mishap at work which required me to have back surgery... So since I am limited on my ability to bend and lift the car has yet again been put on hold. Doc says I should be good to go by the first week in August so I guess I'll just have to look at my poor baby until then lol!
I'm having back surgery next Wednesday. What did you have done? Surgeon told me no bending or lifting more than 10lbs for 3 months.
I'm having back surgery next Wednesday. What did you have done? Surgeon told me no bending or lifting more than 10lbs for 3 months.
Microdiscectomy. Took a chunk of disc the size of a marble from my L5-S1. No twisting or bending at the waist, no push/pull/lift more then 15lbs, and can't be submerged in water for six weeks. Couldn't drive for a week and couldn't drink for a week.
The fun part is that I run heavy equipment for a living, so this is going to be a real boring six weeks.
Microdiscectomy. Took a chunk of disc the size of a marble from my L5-S1. No twisting or bending at the waist, no push/pull/lift more then 15lbs, and can't be submerged in water for six weeks. Couldn't drive for a week and couldn't drink for a week.
The fun part is that I run heavy equipment for a living, so this is going to be a real boring six weeks.
So how bad has your recovery been? I'm having a laminectomy. L3/l4 and l4/l5 herniation. I'm a mechanic and I'm always outside tinkering, idk what I'm gonna do during my down time.
Also the idea of sharp objects around my nerves scares the **** out of me, but it must be done. Lol
So how bad has your recovery been? I'm having a laminectomy. L3/l4 and l4/l5 herniation. I'm a mechanic and I'm always outside tinkering, idk what I'm gonna do during my down time.
Also the idea of sharp objects around my nerves scares the **** out of me, but it must be done. Lol
The recovery has been pretty easy, with the exception of all the downtime. The first two weeks consisted of waking up and walking around the block once. Then I would lay flat on an ice pack for 30 minutes with my legs propped up on three pillows. Hour of laying down then I would go for a walk around the block and the cycle would repeat until I went to bed.
The biggest issue for me has been that I am a big guy, 6'6" and around 250lbs, and am 40 years old. They don't want you to bend and I literally have to bend over to do everything. I went from not being able to stand for more then 5 minutes without losing all the feeling in my left leg, to feeling like I did when I was in high school. You have to take it easy and it is really hard to do when you're so used to being active all day long.
As for the surgery, they basically did the "laser spine institute" thing, so my incision is only around an inch or so long. Walked in at 11am and walked out at 330pm the same day. They put me all the way under so I had to be driven home and slept for the rest of the day.
I went back to work today and handled it pretty well, but my spine aches from being up all day. It's not bad, just need to take some Tylenol and drink a beer!
I had the same reservations about having the surgery, but after I did it I wish I would have done it sooner. My doctor does 15-20 of these a week and came highly recommended so that helped my decision some. I also have a friend whose wife got thrown from a horse and had the procedure done by the same doctor. Once I saw her recovery I scheduled the procedure for the next week.
So how bad has your recovery been? I'm having a laminectomy. L3/l4 and l4/l5 herniation. I'm a mechanic and I'm always outside tinkering, idk what I'm gonna do during my down time.
Also the idea of sharp objects around my nerves scares the **** out of me, but it must be done. Lol
That is why you want a neurosurgeon - not an orthopedic surgeon.
That is why you want a neurosurgeon - not an orthopedic surgeon.
i am seeing a neurosurgeon
Originally Posted by jharrison5
The recovery has been pretty easy, with the exception of all the downtime. The first two weeks consisted of waking up and walking around the block once. Then I would lay flat on an ice pack for 30 minutes with my legs propped up on three pillows. Hour of laying down then I would go for a walk around the block and the cycle would repeat until I went to bed.
The biggest issue for me has been that I am a big guy, 6'6" and around 250lbs, and am 40 years old. They don't want you to bend and I literally have to bend over to do everything. I went from not being able to stand for more then 5 minutes without losing all the feeling in my left leg, to feeling like I did when I was in high school. You have to take it easy and it is really hard to do when you're so used to being active all day long.
As for the surgery, they basically did the "laser spine institute" thing, so my incision is only around an inch or so long. Walked in at 11am and walked out at 330pm the same day. They put me all the way under so I had to be driven home and slept for the rest of the day.
I went back to work today and handled it pretty well, but my spine aches from being up all day. It's not bad, just need to take some Tylenol and drink a beer!
I had the same reservations about having the surgery, but after I did it I wish I would have done it sooner. My doctor does 15-20 of these a week and came highly recommended so that helped my decision some. I also have a friend whose wife got thrown from a horse and had the procedure done by the same doctor. Once I saw her recovery I scheduled the procedure for the next week.
Glad to hear recovery has gone well. Back problems suck, I screwed mine up when I was about 24 and I'm 30 now. If I can get back close to normal I'll be happy.
Nice little project! Looks good!! Always liked the IROC's
I've owned both birds and camaros and I like the camaros a little more just because the interiors seems to hold up a little better and in my part of the country they're easier to find parts for.
09-29-2010, 10:53 PM
Glad to see this build. Looks clean and mean! Sorry about your back...but are you going to get some hp tests anytime soon? 