My bro recently gave me his camaro, but its in really bad shape. And i dont even know where to start. Any tips?

Give more info on the car. I.E. running and what motor/trans, miles, body condition, interior, Future plans with the car etc.

My order if i just had a shell.
1. Drivetrain v6 = no no

2. Suspension sfcs, poly bushings minus the lcas, any worn parts in steering, shocks/struts, and any mods you so desire

3. Body Fix any rust if any, dents, paint

4. Interior new carpet, 4th gen seats, and whatever else needs replacing.

Remember this is just my idea, If your nit picky like me and want a show car like i do, you'll need lots of money and time, neither of wich i have lol

the interior is trashed and the paint was a deep purple but most of its gone and its starting to rust. the car itself wont even turn over.
uhh where would i find the vin number? and i dont know much about it, but i think its a 305 w/ tpi

Vin is at the bottom of driver side windshield. 8th digit if vin # will tell you what motor. If it is a IROC-Z the 8th digit will be F = 305 TPI or It will be 8 = 350 TPI.

By the sounds of your question and experience, I think we should review the basics first. Then, if you have any specific question about the car, you will know under which topic here to ask.

One thing to decide is, do you even want to restore this car? This may sound like a silly question, but think about it. While it's great to keep these great cars on the road, the reality of the situation needs to be considered as well. Depending on a few factors, it is incredibly easy to spend WAY more $$$ on a 3rd gen restoring it than it is to buy one already in great shape. Or one that somebody else has done all the work (you typically do not recover all the cost of a restoration when selling the car).

You need to decide what road you want to go down, here are a few of those factors (and I'm sure others will have many other ideas as well) . . .
- The condition of the car and what needs to be done?
- Is your goal a daily driver or car show points winner?
- Who's doing most of the work? Yourself or do you have help? Or is some/all the work going to be at specialty shops?
- What are your skills and do you have the tools?
- Does the car have any sentimental value that may supersede what's practical for a budget?
- Are you going stock or aftermarket on parts and options?
- How much time are you allowing? A year, 5 years, 10 years, etc?
- What's your income? (no need to answer, just to consider)?
- Are you Car Crazy?

After you come up with some sort of a game plan, then you can decide if & where on the car you want to attack first. Basically it all starts from the ground up . . .
- structural
- mechanical
- electrical
- body
- interior

Warning; once you get started, it may be hard to stop!
You'd hate to get the car down to a certain point and then discover that you can't leave something behind you've found that needs repair! Then this often dictates that you take the car even further down, and then you discover that there's another thing you can't leave undone.
This is the vicious circle of fixing up old cars! You know it would be incredibly expensive later to tear the car down again (after she's "fixed" up) to get back to a certain point that needed attention before. So you can't just leave it. But then there's another thing, and another, and another, etc. This can blow your "budget" sky high!!! It's hard to draw the line when to stop. And that, of coarse, is a personal decision only you can make. Unless you have unlimited $$$ and/or time.

Good luck. There can be great fun and a rewarding feeling bring a car back from the grave. As long as we can still put food on the table!

depends on where you are located at, you can do a websearch for local Camaro/Fbody clubs & they can help you as well.

If the interior is trashed, Rip it all out & start sanding all the rust, get it good & clean, before you put any parts back in it.

my ultimate goal is to restore it and give it back to my bro. hes in the marine corp and it was always his "baby". but untill then i need it to run and look nice for daily driving. its not in terrible condition. and my income is fairly low cause im 16 and i work at kroger.

That is true... I was just swapping in everything in my sig and ended up spending an extra $300 because of little parts I never even thought of and paint and new bolts/nuts, and stuff. It also took an extra 3 weeks because of waiting for paint to dry and parts to arrive (those strut dust shields were a pain to track down). Even so, I feel a lot better knowing it was done correctly.

Mike

Edit - post pics so we can see how bad/good it looks.

I can hardly think of a better reason to restore the car.
That's an awesome goal and give your brother all the best from us.
Good luck.

while your intent is admirable, I don't think a "restoration" is going to happen here. The word "restore" is used to describe very big undertakings where the car is almost completely disassembled and rebuilt at great cost in both time and money.

Based on your need to daily drive the car and your financial constraints, it sounds like you're best off limiting your project to mechanical fixes/maintenance and small, inexpensive cosmetic improvements. Basically, get the car running respecably and pretty it up where you can. Post up some pictures of the car so we can get a better idea of what you're working with.

Well, since it doesn't even run right now, I'd focus on the engine first and foremost.

And then pretty much what JeremyNYR said. Get it going and keep it going.

That's what I'm doing. Don't be suprised if you gotta spend some cash on electrical components too.

Alright. Well I've gone out and bought a manual. I've learned that I've got a V8 5.0 305 TPI. I've also suspect that its not starting because of the battery. Once I get it charged I think it will start. Btw I have pictures now