May I ask how you like the indy 500 tires? I was thinking of getting some of those. they look nice. Good work on the car! your progressing very quickly! makes me want to hurry and start getting my car done.

Cool, norton, thanks for the tip. Ill see what I can do.

musclecar, im not sure what I'de take a vid of? Just the car sitting there? lol. I think photos are good enough, but, who knows?

About the tires-
I Love these tires, they perform as great as they look. Before I bought these tires on my old trans am, the ride was pretty rough, and the car pulled a little. I got these tires, and the ride was TOTALLY different, like a new car. They stick to the road, and the ride isnt too bad either. Good warranty, and priced well, also.

Thats what i was hoping to hear.

We haven't heard from you in a while! How's the car?

The past week or so, it has been frustrating me to no end, even thought about selling it, on more than one occaison. One day when I went to start her up, it started making a weird noise when it cranked over, and was reeeaaalll hard to start, but it started, and ran fine. Progressively from that day forward, it would get harder, and harder to start, and than it developed a valve tick. Upon inspection I found that there was a loose rocker arm, so I snugged it, and put everything back together, and went to crank it, and it didnt fire at all. Tried to diagnose the problem and replaced the fuel filter (which was wayyyy clogged up), the coil, and coil wire, tried to fire it, nothing. I ended up paying some guy 50 bucks to tell me what the problem was, and he said that the timing jumped, and that timing chain was no good. So, tore the engine apart again, pulled the timing cover off, and the chain was way off timing, replaced that, and the gears, put it all back together, still no fire. Pull the car pff, and its all corroded up, pretty bad, so than I buy yet again more new parts, a new cap, and a new rotor. After fiddling with the timing, and the way the plug pires went, finally she fired up. Now, after removing the rest of the smog equipment, and replacing the breather filter, it seems to run much better now, its not so hard to start anymore. So, now I got some fenders from the U-Pull yard, and have been woking on those, to get them to fit right, as the old fenders seemed to be installed by a monkey, or something, they were 1/2 bolted on, and rattled, and looked like crap.

So, thats about it, since my last posting, lol. I'll keep ya updated.

Man it sounds like you had a helluva time but hey! at least you figured it out right? It looks like this car is gonna be pretty sharp by the time you're finished with it!

let us know about the modifications needed to the stock fenders havn't seen a post on that yet nice fix on the floorboard i made a patch my self out of an old gas tank just needed a small flat sextion and i couldn't justify buying the whole side and paying to have it shipped it even has the ribs in it for strength keep us posted looks like a world of difference so far

We haven't been hearing about your project in a while! Any updates?

What do you mean 'modify the stock fenders'? I pulled the fenders from a convertible, so all that is needed is a little tweaking.

Funny that you should ask for an update today, I was just about to...

Well, replaced the fenders, nose cone, chin spoiler, and filled some dents on the hood, and primed the hood, and front bumper. The old pieces were cheap reproduction 'Made in Taiwan' Garbage, and didnt fit right at all.



Picked up some decent 4th gen seats yesterday for $40 for the whole set, they dont look too bad in the vert.



Also cleaned the dash a little bit, used some of the "new" armor all, thats supposed to prevent cracking and fading, we'll see I guess, also replaced the old rusty firebird steering wheel with an 87 LT wheel, it looks soooo much better now.




Thanks for the interest!

Looks GREAT! I love the interior, the 4th gen seats fit along with it perfectly. And was it hard getting your hands on that LT steering wheel?

I had the steering wheel laying around, I didn't sell it because I liked it too much. I parted out an 87 lt and kept it. Thanks!

good that u found a vert fender aparantly there is some kind of bracket on the bottom of the vert fender that is not on hard tops or t tops behind the iroc emblem on the rocker gfx

Correct. The bottom.. 4"?? Is cut off. Since you cut off the lower mount bolt hole, they rivited a bracket to the back of the fender. It bolts to a bracket welded to the subframes they put on. You can see all this thru the door jamb.

So is the car done? sorry if i seem naggy.

The car sure isnt "done", but it drives. Its tagged and insured now, and my only means of transportation, considering I don't have a job at the moment, and am out of school, its fine. It gives me crap sometimes, real jumpy, and sometimes hard to start, I need to see why it has its "moments".

Did you ever address the fuel injectors? Rebuilt ones aren't too expensive.

Nice job on the car. You've made alot of progress!

So how's the car? Giving you any drama?

Sorry I was curious lol.

Lots of drama, and a few big updates.

I got tired of the old powerless, ugly, and "stally" 305. I put the engine I originally built for my old firebird in it. 350 bored .040 over, vortec heads, roller cam, lifters, etc. Performer intake, edelbrock carb, hei vac adv distributor, all that jazz. Also put the rearend from my firebird in the vert, Borg warner 9-bolt 3.23 posi, disc brakes, 24mm rear swaybar, lakewood lower control arms, lakewood adj. panhard bar, going to redo all of the suspension "soon", and lower it, and put the 16in IROC rims back on it when I can get me some tires. I figured a true IROC needed more than a 305tbi, non posi, drum brakes, worn out suspension, and filthy old parts.

Heres a pic of the motor so far, Im still working some bugs out of it, but I'm hoping a drive is coming soon.

I have cleaned and trimmed up some of the wiring since this pic.



Thanks for your interest, lol. I have been watching your thread, I just dont post often. :P

Haha well i saw you post on something else then I remembered your 'vert and the famous dilapidated 2nd gen in your avatar. So do you still have the t-5 behind that nice 355?

Its a 357, lol. But, yes, I do have the T5 behind it, I just have to try to go easy on it, I've heard that these trannys wont last behind a 350.

Nice find! And a damn good price, I wish mine would have cost that much when I bought her.

Sweet! I think I posted in your thread, cool vert. :P

Very Good read on this thread..
Also, awesome job on the rebuild. I look forward to seeing it when it is done.
Good on ya! EH!

Here is more or less what it looks like now:









Here is a list of mods or "specs" my my IROC.

Engine:
87+ Roller 2 bolt main 5.7l small block chevy
Overbored .040
Flat top speed pro pistons
Speed pro piston rings
Speed pro bearings
GM PM rods
Vortec 096 reconditioned heads
ZZ4 Camshaft
Edelbrock performer vortec intake manifold
Edelbrock 1406 600cfm carburetor w/ electric choke
.750" Carburetor adapter/spacer
MSD Streetfire Vacuum advance distributor
Edelbrock shorty headers and y-pipe
3" Flowmaster 80 Series muffler

Transmission:
World class Borg Warner T5 manual transmission
Zoom Clutch and pressure plate

Suspension:
AG Lowering springs, 1.6 front, and 1.4 rear
KYB GR2 Shocks and Struts
Energy suspension red swaybar endlinks (all 4)
Energy suspension red rear swaybar bushings
36mm Front swaybar
24mm Rear swaybar
Lakewood Boxed lower control arms
http://www.jegs.com/i/Lakewood/620/20140/10002/-1
Lakewood Adjustable panhard bar
http://www.jegs.com/i/Lakewood/620/20440/10002/-1

Rearend:
Borg Warner Australian 9-bolt 3.27 Posi

Brakes:
Remanufactured Front brake calipers
Remanufactured Rear brake calipers
New Front brake pads and hoses
New Rear brake pads
New rear brake rotors

Aesthetics:
Harwood 3" Bolt on show series fiberglass cowl hood
IROC-Z Windshield banner
Amber-delete mod on taillights
Fiero GT spoiler

Wheels and tires:
Aluminum "Gotti-styled" 15x8" wheels
215/65/R15 Firehawk Indy 500 Tires

Radio:
Clarion cd player headunit
Pioneer 4" rounds in rear
Pioneer 4x6 in dash
2 Rockford Fosgate Punch 12" woofers in non ported box in trunk

Misc parts:
1.5" Sunpro Oil Pressure Gauge
1.5" Sunpro Voltage gauge
1.5" Sunpro Coolant temperature gauge
5" Autometer Monster Tach
2 1/16" VDO Fuel level gauge
Mallory 1403 Return style fuel pressure regulator
Grant GT Challenger steering wheel
New Flywheel
New Fuel filter
New Fuel pump
New Alternator
New Water pump
New A/C Delete pulley
New Clutch slave cylinder
New Clutch master cylinder

Not a fan of the spoiler, but that's just my opinion. But in any case, she's come a long way in less than a year! Good for you man! Oh and what color are you gonna paint her?

I thought that I would give the spoiler a chance, now I think I am going to go back with the stock style, I just have to work on it to get it mounted properly.

As far as paint goes: Purple.

made a lot of progress fairly quick... good job and if ya dont mind me askin how much money have ya spent on this thing so far?

I am really not sure, I already had this motor mostly put together before I bought the IROC, so I didnt originally intend on the swap and all that. Alot of the money that has gone into this was spent before the car was purchased, but I'll try to give approximations.

Car: $950
Motor: ~$3000
Rearend: $200
Rear brake calipers, rotors pads: ~$300
Hood: $150
Bumper, fenders: ~$80
Seats: $40 (temporary)
Clutch, and related parts: $200
Springs, struts, bushings, lca's, phb: ~$400

I am obviously really bad about remembering what I paid for things, haha.
Theres alot more to it than this, but my memory is trash.

I did a quick add-up of parts just going thru the list and I got over 5900 in it.

i suppose thats not so bad considering half was just towards the motor... nice car though i dont know what it is about it but i think is just looks f-in sweet.. i saw a picture of it on a different thread or somethin my buddy was like that things ugly i told em ur crazy id drive that thing til the wheels fell off!!! hes a hardcore ford fan...two thumbs up if ya decide ya wanna sell it pm me...

Haha, thanks for stickin up for it. It is truly something else to drive, nothing like it.
Everything is for sale.

hahaha yeah quick question how in the hell do i post pictures all i can ever get is a big red x to show up

Make a photobucket.com account, and upload the picture to that site, than copy the URL it gives you, and when you want to post that picture to the forum press the "Insert Image" icon, paste the URL you copied in the box that pops up and press 'OK' and the picture will show up in the text box.

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/ca...nvertible.html (1988 IROC-Z Convertible, 357, 5speed)
But I wont go any lower than that, haha.

THANK YOU ive been tryin to figure it out ive asked a few ppl how and never got answers just cause u answered ima post a pic or 2 of my iroc on this thread first if ya dont mind.... yay it worked!!!! thanks very much..... this pic was taken yesterday

Glad it worked for you.

Cool IROC!

Snapped some pics of the brakes and suspension.









Its amazing how fast "New" brake calipers start to look real old.

The IROC wheels look REAL good on her.

car is looking good man

I know the dedication, I started with a $400 shell and its a running/driving car 4 yrs later (I think)

it isn't done yet...... needs ac and perhaps another paint job lol

btw, where are you at in FL? I'm down in Fort Myers, about 2 hrs south of Tampa

I am in tampa.

Its definitely better than it was, still have a motor issue to work out, and gotta get the front panels aligned, and the big dent pulled from the back, then I can start sanding and priming.

Great find and nice rebuild. It's great to save one of these cars instead of letting it get parted out. I have two '92 FireBird verts and can tell you if you ever find a complete Camaro vert, buy it and store it somewhere. That way if anything happens to this one you have body parts, lol. I'm still looking for a lid for one of mine.

Purple is a great color too.

Cool. I would love to find a nice firebird convertible so I can put this one up and do some work to it, and still have something to drive everyday.

I have been thinking about the color for a while. I like purple third gens, so I am probably going to go with a dark purple, with silver GFX, and silver IROC-Z graphics.

Its amazing what some new spark plug wires, and seperators, and some wire loom will do for the look of the engine bay.

Motor looks great, do you not have heat? Also where did you get those strut mounts?

Those are stock strut mounts. I wire wheeld them, primed, and painted with some aluminum paint.

Thanks.

Allright, I have been thinking of all of the "In the end" mods that I want done to my vert, and here is a basic list of things to come. Keep in mind I am in no position to do these mods now, but I am hopefully starting school soon, and getting a different vehicle to drive, so my camaro can be torn down... Again...

1. 4th Gen interior with Summit Sport seats.
a. Possibly installing 5pt. harnesses and a harness bar
b. 97 Camaro/93-02 Firebird Dashboard, and instrumentation
c. 98 Firebird center console (4 Cupholders, Woohoo!!)

2. More engine upgrades
a. 750cfm Holley/Summit Carburetor (Mech. Secondaries)
b. Edelbrock RPM Airgap Vortec intake
c. Better Valve springs
d. Full aluminum bodies Roller Rockers
e. COMP 08-000-8, 3052/3053-110 Camshaft
f. Gear drive to replace timing chain
g. Bronze Distributor gear

3. New Transmission
a. 93-97 LT1 Camaro/Firebird T56

4. Paint and Body
a. Replacing both doors, and window internals
b. Replacing side GFX pieces
c. Dent removal, filler, etc..
d. Mazda "Black cherry Mica" main body color
e. Silver painted Ground effecs, and Factory IROC-Z vinyl emblems
f. Topsonline Stayfast top with plasic window
g. Re-installing Factory spoiler

5. Wheels
a. RPM R-505's (Not definitive yet, but I DO like these wheels ALOT)
(http://www.wheelstudio.com/view-whee...ll/vehicle-all)

Hopefully starting one of these projects relatively soon, when I do I will start a new thread.

Just happen to run by this thread....damn what a nice rebuild!!! From start to now i dont know how you would ever let this car go??? Those irocs suit the car nice...oh and is this true the t5 doesnt hold up well to the 350?

It holds up nicely, I dont beat on it. The car is officially a project now, and I won't be selling it.

Engine plans have changed, I am going to do an LT1/T56 swap.

Thanks man!