reefland

New member, been lurking for a bit.

Picked up a project car yesterday. It is a 1991 Camaro Z28; one of my favorite cars when I was younger. I've never had a project car so we'll see where this goes.

The good:
It seems solid mechanically. Engine (5.7L Tuned Port Injection) is strong, transmission seems fine and suspension is good. It also has a solid body, although it needs work.

The bad:
It does need some exterior cosmetic work. It has been wrecked in the front and needs some body panels aligned and a good sanding and painting. There are also 15 (or so) small things wrong; hood shocks need replaced, passenger window don't roll down, fog lights don't come on, etc.

Here are some pictures and I'll update this thread throughout the project to track progress.

reefland

Some more pictures:

reefland

The first project was to correct a problem with loose steering. When driving and making a right hand turn, turning the wheel resulted in an immediate response. When turning left however, the wheel turned 90 degrees before it seemed to turn the car.

We parked the car and turned the steering wheel while looking at the components under the hood. DRLOWZ immediately noticed that the gear box towards the front of the car was moving when turning the wheel to the left. Further inspection revealed that the two bolts holding the box (found at the front of the driver side tire in the fender well) were loose. Those two bolts were tightened and the steering problem was resolved.

The attached picture shows the two bolts.

Next up, ordering a bunch of miscellaneous parts.

reefland

Order a few items last night:

From 1A Auto : Aftermarket Auto Parts, Car Body Parts, Replacement & New Automobile and Truck Parts | Buy Discount Car & Auto Parts Online
Hood shocks
Power window motors
Internal and external door handles
Door hinge pins and bushings

From Advanced Auto:
Blower motor
Blower switch
Haynes manual
Air filter (had to add a couple of things to get the discounts )

More shopping tonight...

DiabolicalRS

what are your plans for this car? and nice find, how much did you pay?

grassyflats

reaL niCe wOrk yOu gOT rUnnin'

reefland

I wanted to get a fun car for my wife and I to sport around in on the weekend and this one just stood out. Plans include getting everything operational and keeping as much as possible stock.

I paid $1525 for it...

Thanks grassyflats! Where in KY are you located? I live in Bardstown.

redneckjoe

real nice car for that price.

reefland

Yeah I think so too. I was looking to spend around $2500 so I have $1000 to put into this one. I've already bought a lot of parts that will fix most of the problems it has. Was hoping they'd arrive today so I could work on it this weekend but I don't think I am going to get that lucky.

Once all of the little stuff is fixed I plan to start on the body work. My brother and I will be able to handle that and paint it; hopefully by Spring it'll be completed and go from a "twenty footer" to a "five footer".

Coolwheels84

iTrader: (5)

nice Z man. It will look great when you get the front end adjusted and painted. I had one just like it back in '94. Don't forget to repaint those headlight buckets black.

NxtLevl

That was a steal for the price.......Looks like a pretty solid car for the most part....

reefland

Thanks! Yeah the front end just don't look right with them being white. The front end don't look right at all right now. LOL

Yeah it's not too bad. Drove it about 100 miles yesterday with no problem. Think I'll try to attack the fog lights today to see why they aren't working.

theNMBR27

check that your switch it plugged in, mine has backed out before.

Great find btw

reefland

Thanks. Amazing how all the thirdgen fans think it's a great deal but my wife isn't so optimistic.

Yeah I figured I would start with the switch and work from there. Does the switch have a light in it that should illuminate when on?

theNMBR27

Yes there's a small green indicator on the bottom. I get the same thing that 'Im always doing something' with my car but that's half the fun.

reefland

Yeah that's part of the reason why I got it; to give me something to tinker with on the weekends. As long as my assessment of the mechanical aspects of the car hold true, I am good. I hate having engine/transmission problems...

reefland

Alright, got the fog lights working today. After tracking it all down with the handy volt meter, turned out to be just a fuse. Shame on me for not looking there first, figured it wouldn't be that easy. Once I checked the switch and then the wires at the lights, I decided something was wrong between the two. I couldn't seem to squeeze in the floor board to get a good look at the fuse box so I decided to take a picture of it. Was pretty easy to see then that it was missing.

This leaves me with three questions:
1. Looking closely at the lights, the frames that hold the fog lights in are pretty rusted. Anyone know where to find two new ones?
2. Are the lights themselves replaced or just the bulbs?
3. From the picture, are there any more important fuses that seem to be missing?

theNMBR27

My housings are glued together because the trim had seen better days. And I believe they use an 885 bulb. Unscrew and let the fog lights fold down or you'll have a helluva time getting them back in.

reefland

I'm afraid these will fall apart if I unscrew it! The passenger side is pretty rusted. I did find them new at gmpartsdirect but they are about 300; would rather get a new dash pad! LOL

reefland

I've done some more shopping.

I've got passenger side view mirror coming, new power window switches, radio surround plate, rear hatch switch, cruise control lever and outer window sweeps. Next week will be busy once all this misc. stuff starts to arrive.

theNMBR27

Definitely look into the 4th gen window sweeps. That's going to be my next mod.

James7706

Nice ride!!!!

reefland

Thought I'd a picture of my RPO sticker for reference; in case I need it and am away from the car.

reefland

Based on this thread:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...h-powered.html

I need to add a pull down hatch motor to the list.

reefland

Lots of parts arrived today. Blower motor, blower switch, Haynes manual, air filter, hood struts, interior and exterior door handles, power window motors and door hinge repair kits.

reefland

Over the past few days I've been able to spend a little time on the car. So far, the blower switch was replaced (not the blower problem) and the blower motor replaced (was the blower problem ). Also got the hood shocks replaced. As soon as I tossed the temporary pole, I opened the hatch to find that the hatch shocks have now went out.

It's all good, making progress. Want to work on the driver door sagging next; anyone got a good link for a how-to on rebuilding the lower hinge?

reefland

The passenger side door has been completed. This includes a new power window motor (window now working), new door lock, outer window sweep and new inside and outside handles. Next up will be the driver side door, including fixing a bad sagging problem.

haps

iTrader: (4)

I've heard good things about TDS's hinge fix.

reefland

After wasting a bunch of time we finally made some progress. The driver door was removed and the lower hinge repaired. This seemed to fix the sagging problem. While in the door, found that the original door had power mirrors although the driver is now manual. I'll be looking for a replacement power mirror to get that back to stock. We also replaced the power window motor. Still to do in the driver door is the lock, exterior door handle and outer window sweep.

Basically, the rear end of the car was gone through and some parts replaced.

Differential drained and axles removed. Axle bearings replaced. Rear brakes rebuilt and rear shocks installed. New gear cover gasket and filled with a couple of quarts of Lucas 80W.

The car definitely rides better and it makes the age of the front end felt that much more. That will be a new project on another day.

If your ever going to replace axle bearings, definitely get the bearing removal tool!!!

reefland

Lots more progress made on the Z over the past week. Basically all of the little projects are completed; both doors rebuilt, hatch struts replaced and have been working on the hatch motor. Having some wiring issues there.

Next up will be some front end work. Going to put some new struts on and replace the wheel bearings. After that, we'll start on the body work and will have something worth taking and posting pictures of.

reefland

Got the front end work completed. Added new struts, new wheel bearings and gave everything a good greasing. I think for now I am done with mechanical stuff.

Time to get into the body work. I decided to start on the front end since the weather was nice.

Some before pictures:

reefland

Front end good and sanded:

reefland

Sprayed a little primer on the front to see what I missed after sanding...and there was some paint cracks missed. I'll go back and finish those so for now I'll call the front end 90% sanded.

reefland

I replaced all 4 headlights and the fog lamp bulbs. Instead of paying for some new parking lights, I decided to restore them using Sylvania's product. I think they turned out ok for now.

theNMBR27

The best thing I found for restoring plastics is a professional buffing wheel. My tail lights look almost brand new. Great progress so far

reefland

Placed a big order today:
1. New shifter plate
2. New set of 3 Z28 Silver emblems for bumper and side ground effects.
3. New 5.7 Tuned Port Injection emblem for rear bumper.
4. New front bumper Z28 Chevy Bowtie emblem.

reefland

And we have received the most recent order. Need to pick up the side molding and I think I will have everything needed to finish the exterior.

reefland

Santa came early (thanks to my wife)! He delivered a complete carpet set (passenger and cargo area). Tough to think about working on the outside with all this new inside stuff.

reefland

Despite the new inside goodies, I have to stay focused on the outside for now. Decided to take advantage of the nice weather today and worked on the driver side fender. It wasn't in bad shape but had a couple of deep scratches and some paint chips. Got it all sanded and primered. Although it needs a couple more coats of primer with some light sanding in between it turned out pretty good.

Before:

reefland

Sanded:

reefland

And primered. I need to do some research on how the ground effect (under the door) is mounted to get it fixed right. Previous owner (or someone) tried to pop rivot it on and that's just not right.

Rumblin70SS

Hows the quality of the new shifter plate? Thinking about ordering one myself.

reefland

It's top notch. I picked it up on sale for $119; typically around $140 from my searches.

SDTransAM

iTrader: (5)

Looking really good so far. I love when people take the time to fix these cars up.

reefland

I'ts not going to be the greatest Z on the board, but I think it will be pretty nice. Pretty much going to do a brand new interior (upholstery, foam, carpet, trim pieces will be cleaned up as needed), new paint job and then next year will probably rebuild the engine and tranny. I think it's going to turn out good and will be plenty of fun keeping the project going. Only thing left to buy for the exterior is the molding (and wheels if I decided to buy from Thirdgenranch).

reefland

Some updates are due. Picked up the body molding and got it on hand now which concludes everything that is "needed" for the exterior. Of course, I might pick up a few extras.

We determined it was time to see if we were going to be able to fix the hood. The current hood had a buckle in it near the front and it was either to be worked out and salvaged or I would have to find a replacement. The attached picture is the best I could do at showing the damage.

reefland

So, we started by sanding the hood and beating it down to allow us to work in the low spots with filler. The attachments show some progress.

reefland

We got enough work done in 3 hours to determine that the hood was going to be salvaged. It will take about another three hours to complete.

While at it, I also removed the blisters so we can give them some attention too. Hopefully new years weekend we'll be able to finish the hood and move on to other areas needing sanding.

reefland

Received a nice package in the mail today...the new seat upholstery from 1AAuto. They look fantastic and very well made!!! The only thing that leaves to purchase for the interior is door panels (got to have now with the new seats and carpet) and I might pick up the new seat foam for the front.

K. E. Christy

Keep up the updates and pics of the progress. Very good documentation.