hey everyone, since i've been a member of TGO i've had a red 89 v6 camaro. its been a project car ever since then and i've always been exited about getting it running. well, yesterday i got to hear it run, just ex. manifolds, for maybe 10 seconds. it sounded great. the only reason I didn't make it run longer was because IT STARTED ON FIRE!!! the chassis fuel line in the engine bay that hooks to the rubber fuel line had sprayed all over the drivers side of the engine compartment. put together with the exhaust gasses and it all ignited. the clutch master cylinder is bad now and it looks like i'll need a new cap for the brake master cylinder, but the brakes still work good. i can fix the fuel line and the only wire that got damaged is on the porportioning valve. i have no idea what it does. 1 of my ignition wires got melted pretty bad, but those are crappy wires that should get replaced anyway. the car looks pretty crappy from the outside as the previous owners started sanding it down but never finished it. the unibody is pretty rusty, the drivers side floorpan is practically nonexistant. the reason I'm asking you is to get together some opinions to help me make up my mind. my friend said he'll buy the engine and some other stuff from me. i could probably get pretty good money on parting it out, but I never even drove this car. after about 9 months i'm wondering if its even worth it. I hate to give up when i'm so close, but i hate to put more money into a car thats not worth it. so what do you think? i'll post pictures later. ---------- i've also put about 4 gallons of gas in it. with gas prices that definitely ads value to the vehicle. lol

I'd part it out, personally.

If its rusted so far the whole floor pan is bad. Id get rid of it.

here are my pictures. idk if its fixable.

Depends on the emotional attachment, save for my car getting run over by bigfoot, I'd never sell it.

there's definitely an emotional attatchment. driving this thing has been one of my favorite daydreams since I first seen it. I'm just so close to that dream, but I'm so close to giving up. my friends and family say I should keep going because i'm this close.

lets talk about how much work it would be to fix it. keep posting please, those that have posted, thanks for your input. its not as bad as I originally thought. now i'm thinking of picking up the pieces
master cylinder cap-easy
clutch line/master cylinder-prices??? easy to install??? new or JY car???
porportioning valve sensor-a junkyard camaro will have one and i could probably just splice the sensor into the part of the wires thats not burned.
new plug wires-thats easy, only need 1 really.

Sounds like you "want" to keep it. Sounds like you're answering your own question lol.

Everything the fire took is fairly easy fix. A junkyard should have what you need as most of it is universal gm parts. The clutch item is about 60 bux from a parts store and is f-body specific. Its also a serious pain the a$$ to install and bleed.

However, if the floor board is as bad as you say. Fixing everything thats wrong including the floor. .. is more costly then the car is worth(or atleast in my area).

Up to you.

its just the floorboard thats rusted away, and its only on the drivers side. the frame and stuff is just fine. after some thought, i'm starting to think about keeping the car and finishing it....maybe...i'll talk to some of my friends at the JY and parts store.

maybe u could find a donor car for a floor pan.. or get a new one..

I was thinking of just patching it up. I'm a decent welder and we have an ark welder, torch, and a lot of other fabricating tools. so the floorpan isn't a huge issue. if it was i wouldn't have bothered with the car. as you can see, its a very concentrated rust area.

does anyone think finishing this project is a GOOD idea? I'm going to get some prices hopefully tomorrow and go from there. this is a lot more doable than I thought so price really is everything.

If you can fix your rust problem yourself...than yes I think it is a good idea to fix it.
Through out my whole project, there have been many times where I wanted to give up. There were certain things that I thought that there is no way I can/want to do it...I pushed through it and the project is still moving. There are times where everyone hits those "bumps".

Also, seeing your rust makes me feel a lot better about my rust problem (no offense ) My problem is I know nothing about welding...so I have a freind that will do it.

Well if you keep it, buy some undercoating and a sanding pad or w/e, the thick soft grinding pad made by 3M and sand down and undercoat the bottom but just get off ALL the rust before you paint over it. unless you have access the a sand blaster. but you have to stop the rust before it eats all your metal.--- <<(writen before i saw the last two pics) posted... k your gonna need a sand blaster. and losts of primer and undercoat. was the car in the ocean for a couple years or what? lol no offense its still beautiful, just needs khemo (sp) treatment. and some knowledge of body work and painting.

man thats liek an iffy save or junk it. u should really have the are blasted and see just what ur left to work with.that rust has already goten to the rocker and the firewall

I thought my car had rust issues. Holy crap!!!

lol, i know the rust is bad, but its only on the drivers side. isn't that kinda odd? the rest is pretty much rust free. I have a sandblaster, so thats no big deal. i knew there was a hole in the floor way before i bought the car so its not a big suprise.
looking at prices for the stuff i need in the engine bay, its going to be around $100. I came this far, why not go the rest of the way.

I agree, and you have the tools, your a leg up on most of us.

yea, looks like this is going to be my project thread. I'll be sure to put more info up later.

before u decide to fix it or part it,take off the ds front fender,door and ground effects, so u can get a much better view of that area.

that firewall/flloor area is a pretty structural area of the car,so make sure ur not wasting ur time first,when repaired i would suggest a good set of frame connectors as well

No the drivers side is not surprising. My car came from IL as well. My car is rusted on the drivers side as well. It appears the heat shield for the converter protects the pass side.

I was born and part raised in IA. I remember most of dads work was fixing rust. But I dont think I ever saw a floor that bad.

i have a friend who had a 88 firebird and he had the same problem in the drivers side. his V6 was knocking (for sure a piston was doing the sound). he told me he would sell the car (he knew it that i wanted to get one) and on that time i didnt really care because the engine was doing that sound. at the end, he sold it for 100 bucks. today im so pissed off because i didnt get it. if u just have holes on that spot and u are a welder, it's worth to fix

well recently i've been doing some pretty simple stuff. haven't spent any money yet. just looked at the damage area, dug a little deeper to make sure theres no more wires I need to fix. I put some different ignition wires on, lucky for me I kept the ones that came with the car's original engine. today is just kind of a rainy, crappy day, so I might put it in the garage and jack it up.

MFaust89-I've been in that situation, were you wish you would have just took the risk and bought it.

i just have one big problem, my house has no garage and i didnt want to have the car outside seeing the rust eating it. i really didnt like the knocking of the piton. for sure i would have to swap another engine or rebuild it. i have some photos and some videos of it (one of them, i am changing the alternator). i will try to post them and show to you. if u see my display pic, its the one

much prettier car than mine. my thing with f-bodies is that I would never buy an automatic. lets keep this thread on topic. I'll PM you later.

ok so I fixed the fuel leak and got it running. no fire this time, but I kept the water hose turned on next to the car just in case. I also covered the part that was leaking so it didn't spray if I didn't fix it right. I found a fuel leak on the line I didn't replace but at least I can splice that in instead of buying the entire fuel line because the spot thats leaking is the only bad area. under the car looks strangely good. it idled at about 2000 RPM would that have anything to do with my leak? its the return fuel line. I have pictures of the effected area. before when it had another leak to go along with this one I hadn't noticed it idled about 3000 RPM so I'm guessing the fuel leaks have something to do with it.

ok, I just got back from the parts store and put on the new section of fuel line. I didn't find anymore fuel leaks. I'm so exited I'm shaking. it still idles around 2000 RPM and seems a little shy of the throttle. so I'm thinking maybe vacuum leak. the vacuum line for the brake booster connects to the booster with a little plastic piece that looks pretty bad from the fire. also, its not timed yet. so I'm pretty far away from calling it a sensor problem.

Several pieces of advice from my time with finicky cars over the years....

#1 It sounds like you were mostly seeking validation that its ok to put more effort into the car, although at times it can be trying and frustrating to the point of discouraging you from wanting to continue and instead just get something that appears to need less work.

My answer, it seems like you really want to continue to start with, and more importantly, just about any replacement will need work in other areas that wouldnt be discovered until you started digging into it for a while.... they ALWAYS do...

#2 Advice on the fuel line.... similar to the brake lines, keep an eye on it. One the leak is plugged and pressure builds in the lines, other leaks will usually form elsewhere periodically - when the pressurized fuel can leak out from one hole, it doesnt stress the metal elsewhere.... then the pressure is contained, it allows another weak area to give way. I had one canadian built cutlass that ended up needing 5 splice-in repairs in a 3 month period of daily driving. Ultimately once time and finances afforded it, the entire set of lines front to back were replaced which might be a good idea for you from a safety perspective.... less work as well to replace as one unit, I just recommend not getting into it until you are comfortable dropping the tank and checking the top and the sending unit as well.... those may be getting a wee bit crusty as well.

Overall, you just need to compare what you have, versus what you can replace it with in your area for the money you have to work with. I dont think you will make enough off parting that car to find one locally in that much better condition, plus at least you know where some/most of the issues to deal with are.... Of course thats pending what things look like behind that fender/gfx panel/etc as well.... that could change the equation as well...

I'd definately expect to need to buttweld a new floor panel in though, a lap weld wont restore structural integrity that a f-body depends on in that area due to lack of a full frame.... so look at it with that in mind, not sure how much good metal there really is for a nice weld in there without taking everything apart and doing some good blasting....

I'm definitely keeping an eye on the fuel lines. especially in the engine bay. I've put in brake lines before and I know exactly what you mean about leaks.

I'm thinking about where to weld the new floor in and I think I've got one good place. were the seat bolts to the body that could be a good place to weld. the transmission tunnel is going to be the more difficult part to cut and weld.

ok, I finally got the chance to pull out the clutch line, actuator, master cylinder, and reservoir. what a bitch. it doesn't look like the line detaches from the rest of the system. do I have to replace the whole thing? it looks like it.

all one assembly have to replace the whole thing

I'm confused. I went to order the new clutch master cylinder and we don't know what transmission it is. the shop manual said it was MB7, but thats not an option. I'm completely confused as to what kind of transmission I have. I think its a T5, but I guess there's more to it than that.

ok,well I guess they figured it out. its going to cost me 190 bucks!!!!!!!!!!! ****!!!!!! THE CAR COST 200!!!!!!!! ****!!!! but on the upside its already bled and will be in tomorrow.

Yes that setup is not cheap.

Did you get the high idle fixed? If not, would start at the vac lines as you already suspect.

for a 5 speed its a t-5. small metric bellhousing for the v-6. look for the numbers on the tranny i forget where they are located... when i pulled my engine/trans together.. found the borg warner factory sticker still on the tranny.. lol

the high idle is almost gone. I played around with the vacuum line routing and got it to idle around 800 RPM so thats good. I'm still waiting to borrow my uncle's timing light to get it timed because you can tell its definitely not timed.


how should I hook up my radiator fan? I mean, what kind of connector should I use on the wires? I don't want anything to melt.

I also have a fuel leak under the car. the fitting that screws into my filter was leaking. I re-taped it with Teflon tape but didn't try it because I disconnected the - battery cable when I took out the clutch master cylinder. any suggestions to keep this thing from leaking? it was leaking bad enough the car wouldn't run more than a few seconds.

ok, I installed the new clutch master cylinder and the car ****ING MOVED!!! it actually moved under its own weight for the first time since I've owned it. I didn't drive it very much though because exhaust started coming through the big hole in the floor and I got scared. its probably my Y-pipe. I know its cracked, but they make special exhaust seal stuff for that. no fuel leaks, but I need a vent for my fuel tank because it wasn't running with the fuel cap fully on. I just loosened it and it ran pretty well. KICK ***!

set timing
hook up cooling fan
fix exhaust leak
fix rust!!!

During the fire, it likely damaged the rubber line that goes between the charcole canister and the metal line. That should be an easy fix.

Congrats on it moving.

actually I took out the EVAP canister and plugged the fuel line before it was running. I didn't want to use it because of all the vacuum lines that could leak. keeping it simple.

I have this rattle thats really got me worried. you can feel it behind you when I let out on the clutch completely. I'm not running a torque arm, could that be the problem? I thought it was strictly a performance part. I have it, but the end that bolts onto the rear end is bent inward. don't ask me how, because it fit fine when I took it off. other than that it runs pretty well. I still have a few things to do though.

Never give up. If you do you will only regret it.

You must have a torque arm, it is required!

alright, well its a good thing I haven't driven more than maybe 1/8 of a mile and all of it under 5 mph. I'll bend it back and put that thing back on.
the driving I've done over 2 days has been about 3/4 of a lap around my machine shed.

well, I'll hopefully be getting the metal to fix that floorboard today. I want to have it driveable and on the road by august 11 (my 17th birthday). I have a bit of an exhaust leak to fix too, not a big deal. so any tips?

Biggest tip is pay attention to detail bro.

i agree pay attention to detail.. take your time and do it right. you will save yourself alot of money doing right the first time.. instead of half @ssing it and fixing it twice.

ok, my dad said he has plenty of metal so I can fix the floorboard, I just haven't gotten to it yet. right now I'm doing some engine work. I found some different donuts to put in the exhaust so now its "quiet." It really is a mean machine.

question about the oxygen sensor hook-up in the harness. its not hooked up because I could only find the thing in the pictures to hook it to and its not going in. what do I do to connect it?

hmm might have to trace the o2 sensor wire from the bulkhead connector. i don't know what pin or color of wire it is offhand..

its in here http://www.austinthirdgen.org/mkport...ine_wiring.gif
purple wire comming off the D7 pin of the ecu.. i don't know where it goes from there..

I found it while I was poking around. finally! I wonder what that connector is supposed to plug in to though.

thanks for the input, but I couldn't read that chart at all. its running a lot better now that the oxygen sensor is hooked up.

well, I think its been quite a while since I typed this thread up. It was a very hard time when I first started this thread. I have to apologize for the way I acted. Its probably why so many of you secretly hate me and so few reply to any of my posts. I'm sorry.

now for the good news. I've done a lot of work to the car, nothing to big. Just taking my time and getting it to drive like a car. Its pretty good now. The only guages that don't work are the temp and oil press. guages, the car idles A LOT smoother thanks to seafoam through the brake booster line. It doesn't cut out anymore either. I'm planning on new subframe connectors this weekend. I'm building them out of spare metal 100% free to me. I'm finishing off the last of the patch up work while I'm putting in the subframe connectors too. the interior is already out of the car. for more pics, see my signature.

rust is a PITA in these cars. use por 15. did u change the fuel lines and brake lines already? do it now and then undercoat with por 15 the whole botton of the car. post some pics of the body work on those holes. u have a pm.