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Good starting point, but definitely sand and hit that rust spot with primer to prevent it from getting any worse. Check the rest of the car over for any more, especially the front corners of the hood. The early style Z28 steel hoods were notorious for cancer.
Fiberglass or SMC? Either way, lucky it's not the steel. I had two of them, both had identical problems on the front corners. I swear they used a bad batch of Chinese steel those years or something. Overall yours looks good, especially considering the age. And damaged fenders are an easy fix. I'm dealing with a damaged quarter on my Z/28 right now, and it's going to be a B*TCH.
Fiberglass, way lighter than steel. And I already have a replacement fender for it lol. Just noticed part of the spoiler is broken as well but she's old so it's acceptable.
I mean is it fiberglass or sheet molding compound (SMC), the same stuff the 4th gens used heavily? The factory hoods were SMC, not fiberglass. SMC is a little trickier to work with.
I have no idea, my wifes uncle sold it to me and his daughter in lae parked it there years ago and left it, he'd run it every now and then to keep everything fresh but he doesn't know whats all done to it besides the hood
Damn. The only SMC hood I ever came across was trashed in the junkyard, and the aforementioned rust issues with the steel versions. The 82-84 hoods are just a pain, but I like the looks of them. If mine hadn't been so crunchy in the corners I would have saved it. That's why I have an RS hood on mine with a '79 Z/28 teardrop scoop. I already had the RS hood, and the teardrop was cheap and gives it character, versus the cost of obtaining an aftermarket hood of any kind.
Its at 136k miles original engine and trans, already ordered coil over kits for the front and rear and strut tower bars and sway bars, then fix the fender and rust then paint it, then edlebrock carb, intake manifolds, heads then custom headers and exhaust and a jegs turbo kit then manual swap
Its all gonna happen withing a few days of each other. The exhaust shop I'm going to for the headers and exhaust wants the intake parts dont first, makin me a custom turbo manifold, downpipe and other piping as well
Looks like a decent start but I would go one step at a time...Turbo, manual swap, paint, suspension, interior and w/e else comes up from a car that age. Looking here on the forum makes a twin turbo built camaro easy to do but in real life 100 of hours or work, knowledge and money.
Set a budget for each project and go from there...
Not to mention I wouldn't slap a turbo kit on any engine, instead I would build one from the ground up specifically for that purpose, and able to handle twice as much boost as I plan on running on it. That way it will be bulletproof, as opposed to taking an engine that wasn't built for boost and running it past its engineered limitations. Basically if you want the engine to make 500 hp, build it capable of handling 1000. Otherwise you just have a very expensive time bomb.
Not to mention I wouldn't slap a turbo kit on any engine, instead I would build one from the ground up specifically for that purpose, and able to handle twice as much boost as I plan on running on it. That way it will be bulletproof, as opposed to taking an engine that wasn't built for boost and running it past its engineered limitations. Basically if you want the engine to make 500 hp, build it capable of handling 1000. Otherwise you just have a very expensive time bomb.
100 percent agreed.... just like a nitrous motor. If everything is built to take 250-300 plus shot then can run 150 all the time. My sti I built to run 30psi making close to 600 awhp. Turn the boost down to 22ish and have 450hp you can beat on every day with no worries.
Thanks for the input guys I really appreciate it. Definitely will listen when it comes to this build and people that are more experienced than me. Already have the suspension and intake stuff ordered. The turbo is probably gonna wait awhile since it is a 30 year old car
Are you lowering the car? See you said coil over kit.
Lowering these car take more then springs. In my case adjustable torque arm to change pinion angle, adjustable pan hard bar to re center rear, lower control arm relocation brackets to change the angle.(wheel hopped very bad with out them).
As for turbo.. edlebrock carb may not be the best for blow through. Why I say plan your project, End up having a new 300 plus carb that you use to turbo to find out you need a 600-700 custom blow through carb.
I ended up buying for my t5 trans a lightweight flywheel, new clutch, pro 5.0 shifter, umi t5 cross member, custom y pipe to run my car 100ish miles before swapping in a t56.Making me buy new flywheel, clutch and another crossmember and new y pipe again just adding money to my build.
All I can say is research, research, research...BEFORE you buy part one. Most people's biggest mistake is they start buying project parts without reeeeeeeally knowing exactly what they want. The project changes over time, parts bought earlier turn out to not synch up with the build's new direction or work with parts bought later, and when it's all said and done you have spent many times more than what you should have and don't have as finished of a project as you should. If you research, plan everything out, call companies and talk to them about what you want to do, learn everything you can about every part and every aspect of what you intend to do, you'll be amazed how much more smoothly the entire build will go, and how much cheaper overall.
That said, don't overlook the rest of the car in the process. You mentioned coil overs, but you haven't said anything about the drivetrain or rest of the suspension and driveline. Have you determined if your trans can handle the increased power? The 30 y/o rear end? Can the body take the stress, or will subframe stiffening be needed? Will the suspension you're planning be enough with the increase in power to hook the wheels and transfer the power to the ground? Have you looked into what changes to the fuel system will be required? Can the 30 y/o electrical system be adapted or will it need replacing?
I'm not trying to burst your bubble at all, just hate seeing people dive into a major project without proper preparation. Too many of our cars end up on junkyards because of projects gone awry. While I appreciate the source of spare parts for my own cars, I would rather see more 3rd gens kept on the road to give a thumbs up to when I pass in mine.
Thanks dude, I do plan on checking everything to make sure it'll handle what I plan on doing and even if I end up just doing bolt ons and a manual swap I'm still gonna do every supporting mod possible. Im not even sure what rear end is on it but I have a 99 SS rear end im gonna be putting on it and as fsr as the fuel system goes my tuner is gonna take car of that for me. Electrial, tuning and fuel are my weakest points of knowledge.
Its gonna be a drift car so subframe upgrades will be a must and after alot of reading I've done this past week, im starting to lean away from the turbo for a long time. T56 will be in with new driveline and the ss rear end by the beginning of fall
05-30-2015, 12:08 PM
