dbrochard

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I'm sure 100% of the people on this board remember the day they bought their first third gen. Whether it had ripped seats, bad paint, body damage, something about that car felt like it belonged to you already. Being a broke "fresh outta' middle school" nearly 15 year old kid, I wanted a cool car to fix up with my dad that would be the best car at my high school. I was only a month into my freshman year and had $1700 left from getting a Bar Mitzvah, so unfortunately I couldn't go out and buy a brand new Subaru BRZ like I wanted. I had to settle for something ALOT cheaper, something with a bit more personality... Days went by with my dad and I working on his 2011 Mustang in our driveway when one day the beautiful sound of a chevy v8 went down the road. "WOAH Dad, did you see that sweet 80's Camaro? It looked like, evil, it was so cool!" And that's when the infection began to spread. I went from checking out Hyundai Tiburons and Toyota Celicas (Pleasssse forgive me- it was just a phase) to looking at 82-92 Camaros on craigslist. I looked at 4 different Camaros- none were right. A 91 Z28- way out of my budget and the owner was pretty shady about everything. An 86 Sport Coupe- My dad actually saw this from the street when we were cruising together, the family was nice but the car was a V6 Automatic. not what I wanted. Then, an 83 Z28 that ran on all... 7... cylinders. Lastly 89 RS- an LT1 swap gone wrong and full of problems. It was after this that my dad and I hit up a burger joint, me being very sad, and my dad asked if I couldn't get a third gen, what would I want? I didn't want to give up, but I figured I would never find the right car with my budget. Craigslist taunted me with overpriced Camaros, ones with V8's and Automatics, ones with a stick shift and v6. Then, just one day old (Not sure how I missed it, I checked back like every day) lied my ad.
1991 Camaro RS- 177xxx miles. Needs interior and Paint. First 1700 gets it.
Can you guess who the first 1700 was?

dbrochard

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dbrochard

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Answer- I was the first 1700. However I only paid 1200 for the car, the guy dropped 500 immediately on the phone so I could get a new fender and nose because it was a father son project

dbrochard

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I bought the car on November 16th, 2014. About a month before I turned 15. Thanks to USPS not delivering my money when they were supposed to, it took three weeks to show up. I wasn't there to see it show up, but if I was I probably would have been pretty emotional. Being a high school wrestler I'd like to think I don't cry easily, but this would have done it. One of the happiest days of my life was buying the car and listening to the fast and furious soundtrack on the 2 and a half hour ride home from New York

dbrochard

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Well almost 7 months have passed since the day I bought it, and I never thought I would learn so much about what rust was. Some background info on the car- I needed dads approval to buy the car even though it was my money. This upset me at first because I just wanted to get one ASAP, but know I understand. Thanks Dad. We chose this one for a few main reasons.
1. V8
2. 5 Speed
3. T Tops
4. Bone Stock
5. I wanted it lol, I knew it was mine once we pulled into the guys shop to check it out
Since it was bone stock, my dad managed to grab me a service manual at an old chevy dealership that now is a U haul place. The lady had some sitting in the attic, and sold it to my dad for way cheaper than she should have. Well, it is no use to her anyway...
Using the service manual we could figure out anything that was wrong with the car, and Chevy makes these easy enough for a pre schooler to understand.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

First thing to do- Strip the interior to prevent further moisture getting trapped under the carpet, headliner etc. We did this before the snow started to fall in mid December, because my poor car had to spend winter outside in the snow. That also showed us what rust we had to deal with.
Second-
Throughout the winter I learned how annoying electronics are with my hatch pull down unit. I fought bravely for many days, but the wisdom of my dad figured out that a diode in the hatch wiring was dead. With my pull down rebuilt, somewhat re-wired, and lubed up, I forced my stepmom to watch as it slowly closed the trunk. Big deal for me, but kinda sad to be excited to watch a trunk slowly close. While I don't recall her response to this, I remember my step brother in shock at how I went outside in the cold so many times for so long for something so small. My dad liked it though!

Citation X

Great project. Didn't start my father/son project til my 20's and we still work on them together. He has an 86 Iroc and I have a 92 rs. Of course, neither of them are stock hehe. Hope you guys get it just like you want it and if you do don't ever let it go.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

I plan to keep it forever, and even though you started a bit late that's great that you and your dad are doing it together. It is a great hobby- expensive, but tons of fun! What have you done to yours?


Edit- Just saw that your car has an LT1, I thought I saw your name on the LTX and LSX forums somewhere. My dad and I actually are planning to do the same swap!

dbrochard

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More pictures of when I first saw it at my house

dbrochard

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It doesn't take a genius to see that the driver side fender is done, and at the time I thought the front bumper was too. If you zoom in you can see where the Urethane split apart, I don't think it is repairable but who knows, there is probably somebody out there who could have fixed it. The hood was also screwed up, the corner was bent and my dad figured we couldn't fix it. The last body piece that is messed up is the driver side ground effects on the door. My dad got me a used hood and the gfx for $75, which included an extra ground effects piece for the passenger side for my friend- more about him in the next post.

dbrochard

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The friend I was referring to was a cool guy named Shawn. He has an 87 Camaro and my dad and I met him on craigslist because he was parting out another 1991 RS. He gave us a new fender, a whole new set of gray leather seats, 4 more rims, and lots of other small things. Just goes to show how nice some people on craigslist are, not everybody on there wants to stab you. This little donation was a big deal, so to pay him back my dad is wiring up his 575 horsepower v8 swap in a few weeks...

dbrochard

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Ok, so fast forward to about 2 months ago. Had some silver spray paint in the garage and I wanted to see how my future paint job would look, so I sprayed on racing stripes... Once again, My dad thought it was cool!
And if you are wondering about the tarp, my window won't roll up all the way so I keep that on there to keep out the rain.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

Now fast forward to 1 month ago. Cool craigslist man Shawn came down to my house with the rear end from his v6 that was sitting in his grandpas shop to give me- Non posi, drums, but had 3.42's. We pulled out mine and let me just say, 24 year old bolts do not want to move. Period. The plan was to pull mine, then I would paint his and drop it in. Well, not drop it in but lift it in... you get the idea. Well my dad and I noticed the next day that the axles seals on his were leaking, so rather than rebuilding it, we are going to put in a 4th gen rear. Still waiting on the guy to call us back so we can pick it up. Until then, my car will sit on jack stands with no back wheels.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

Left out an important detail, we pulled of the old bumper, fender and hood. The new used hood is what you see in the picture. We also took off all the ground effects, i'm not really sure why, I think I was just bored and they are getting re painted separately anyway.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

My dad managed to snag me a set of snow tires with around 2200 miles on them for $80. The guy was going to some military related thing I don't remember, and if he didn't sell them that day they were going to the dump. Coincidently, they are the same exact tires my dad uses in the winter on his mustang. So we took the 4 extra rims shawn had given me, took the tires off of those and decided to refinish them.
To refinish the wheels there are 4 basic steps.
1. Remove clear coat. Use the most heavy duty stuff you can get, because you don't want to be like me and spend and hour and a half on the worst rim rubbing it with a scotchbrite pad because the remover wasn't strong enough.
2. Paint wheel. I left my wheels as polished aluminum with black accents, it looks great.
3. Clean/Polish Wheels. I did this step before paint and will do it after. Makes the aluminum exposed parts look good.
4. Clear Coat wheel. I haven't done this step yet, but you have to buy clear coat meant for wheels. Pictures coming soon.

dbrochard

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Before- took this picture at night so you can't tell how bad it really is. It's bad. So using 3 of my friends wheels and one off of my car (One of his tires was still good so its on my car now) My dad and I turned them into this...

dbrochard

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After- I think its pretty nice. I need to repolish, but you get the point.

SpeedDemon91

Wanna do mine? I tried but they look like crap.

dbrochard

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I actually would if you were close by, PM me pics if you want advice/ help. Or I do have 4 extra rims I could trade or sell for parts...

SpeedDemon91

Shipping would be expensive, but I may have a few extra small parts, what do you need?

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

Well that was mainly just a joke, but if you are ever around the CT/NY area let me know, or if you are going to GM nationals at the end of June in Pennsylvania

SpeedDemon91

I hope I can, but I just don't see that happening. By the way, good luck with your Camaro! I'll be watching this thread.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

Ok, I haven't updated in a while and a few things have happened. I am getting tires put on the rims hopefully Thursday. The main update is I got a new rear end. I paid 300 for a rebuilt rear from a 2002 WS6 with 3.73's, a new posi unit, and only 4k miles on the rebuild. Decent deal, but the guy who was really nice delivered it to my house. To those who say it bolts in- they are right. The only difference is that it is about 2 inches wider on each side, and the e-brake setup is different. When I bought this rear the guy gave me his e-brake cables, springs, and all the hardware for the install. I haven't hooked up the brake lines or ebrake yet, but that should be done soon. Another thing, I am going from a drum brake rear to a disk brake rear. Because of this I am ordering a new proportioning valve. Swap should be done soon, and Pictures will be posted when its done.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

Another update
I got the rear end in and took it up and down the driveway. My dad and I thought a tire was lop sided, then it turned out one of the axles got bent in an accident. Fortunately, the guy we bought it from did not know this and agreed to find us a new one or a used replacement. Also, I ordered all new front end components. That rebuild should be on here shortly.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

Still haven't gotten my new axle shaft from that guy yet, but I decided to paint the rear brake calipers. I thought bright red might go well against the blue, here is a pic




Also, I redid my rims again because I thought this might look better. Then, my snowtires were too skinny too fit on them... oops. Now these are for sale if anybody wants them, a few imperfections but they would've made good winter rims.

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

Waltur69

Nice! will need to change the rear end on mine to disk brakes and have it rebuild,will be keeping this up on this thread,working on my 92 rs that I got 3months ago,thinking on doing one of these

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

4th gen rear is the way to go, I originally wanted to just buy a new posi unit, new gears, and a disc brake conversion kit but with 4th gen rears going from $200-$400, its a solid deal. Try to get a 99-02 rear end, that way you get the torsen diff instead of a clutch type version. The clutches can wear out and cost a lot to replace, the torsen doesn't use them so it is cheaper. Keep me posted on what you do and if you have any questions about any part of the car, feel free to ask away!

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

Haven't updated in awhile


The car is waiting at a shop for rust repair to be done


I have at home all new LS1 front and rear brakes with drilled/slotted rotors, along with a whole front end rebuild.
I'll update with pictures, but the next two months will be big ones

dbrochard

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dbrochard

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Rust repair has begun! Also picked up a set of 17 inch staggered ROH Snypers. More pics to come soon

dbrochard

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Haven't updated in a while. Currently the pressure is on, I have my CT learners permit and get my real license July 21st. The goal is to have the car ready to be street driven by then. Ending up selling my roh snypers in the rear of the car to replace them with 4th gen roh snypers (More desirable offset with a 4th gen rear), but got screwed over by te guy I was going to buy the 4th gen ones from.

dbrochard

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A few months ago, the car got all new tie rods & steerings components, along with sway bar bushings. Waiting to finish rust repair before I replace the springs, sturts, control arms, and spindles. Also have put aluminum driveshaft into the car. I have patched two holes so far and have sectioned out the driver side floor pan. Pics in a few minutes...

dbrochard

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dbrochard

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Also replaced the airbag with a less curled and screwed up one. Before and after pics coming

dbrochard

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dbrochard

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Hard to tell in first pic, but the original one was very messed up. Should have a video in around a week when I set it off for fun


-Not as related, but this car sat since around February without running because I had no back wheels for it (it's on spares now), and started up immediately. Also, though I have no back wheels, I got a great deal on 4 firestone firehawk wide oval indy 500 tires. 245/45/17 and 275/40/17, all for just $392

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Those wheels are hard to find not all curled up. It's nice to see a good one.

I always liked that cluster in my '91 RS. Cooled to see the miles all zeroed out...fresh start!

dbrochard

iTrader: (3)

I like it too, looks really good with the LED lighting. And the new cluster actually has 89060 on it, it just looks like all zeros at a glance. Still, car had 177193 on it so 89k is an improvement

1988CamaroSC

iTrader: (2)

I got nice gray seats for sale if you want to make another trip to ny....lol....nice project.

dbrochard

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If they are leather then sure! I also need a new driver side door panel in grey leather if you have one

1988CamaroSC

iTrader: (2)

Naw. Cloth. Removed em from my 57k mile rs

dbrochard

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dbrochard

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dbrochard

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dbrochard

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dbrochard

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Keith40065

My first 3rd gen will arrive tomorrow!!!! 1990 IROC Z!!! Can`t wait!!!! I`ll post pics tomorrow.

dbrochard

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Cool!

dbrochard

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Did some rust repair over the weekend. Patched up the corner of the passenger side behind the fender area. Then got to bolt the fender back on after nearly a year of it being off. Looks like a car again!