Those rear seats are a joke. Mazda Rx - 7s and Porsche 944s had the same problem but had the option to convert the rear seats into storage compartments. I wish thirdgens had that option. Once I get my new carpet, the rear seats will be gone for good so I will have a permenant 2 seater.






I can't figure out how water is getting into the rear hatch compartment door. I had to put my manual in a freezer bag to prevent it from getting wet.


I wish my car could get to 140mph, but I have a V6. Even at 100mph there is a lot of lift, even with the airdam, but mine has some patched up holes in it though. My car seems to top out at 100mph. I tried pushing it past 100mph the other day, but as soon as I was at around 95mph, I saw a cop coming in the other direction sandwiched between two cars, but I only managed to slow down to 64mph in a 50mph zone. I had forgotten that my speedo is off by 3mph.

As soon as I saw the cop turn around, I just pulled over. The cop asked to see my registration and and such and he noticed that my insurance card expired 2 days ago. (I forgot to put my new insurance card in my wallet - darn it). The cop said he would have to write me a ticket for speeding and not having current insurance. I chuckled and said,

The cop smiled at me and proceded to write me a ticket. 2 minutes later, he came back to my car and decided to give me just a warning. Merry Christmas to me. Now I can continue to have a no ticket record.

I think the cop let me off because I was so cheerful about the whole ordeal and I didn't try to make an excuss to why I was speeding. This proves that there are nice cops out there. He could checked 4 other violations, but he didn't.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by igotslicksNchix
[B]belive me, it gets there with the dam on there. like i said, MAJOR lift. it was a contry road and i blew a stop sign at about 100-110.[B][QUOTE]

I did about 155mph and didn't notice that much lift. I hit 140mph pretty often and all seems pretty stable.

 

Yeah but do you have the air dam? That thing is LITERALLY a dam...catches an insane amount of air...which is why that dual snorkle system was such an ingenius idea when combined with the air dam..flowed massive amounts of air at speed...at least I think it would! Never tried it myself.

 

changed my stock 305 for a 1969 302 motor that has been bored to 306 cid

 

The Chevy 302? I hear that's a high revving motor......a bunch of parts from various engines thrown together to make it so it qualified for Trans Am regs if I remember right?

 

yes they where very rare race engines, it loves to rev . once middle of a race I had it at 7800 rpms . it did not even misfire scared the sh**t out of me though !!:hail:

 

7800...christ...that'll out-rev most imports. What kinda tranny you running in that sucker? Bet it'll put some real speed down per gear...

 

7800? that is revving a bit.....

The only road V8 i've ever seen rev like that was on a UK street legal drag car owned by a guy called Wilf Stacey, it was a 1960 ford Zephyr (english) with a 289 ford in it. running 10 inch tyres on a gasser type set up it was running 10's, he was crossing the line at just over 7500 rpm

It sounded just amazing!

 

7800rpm is pretty hi reving. I thought only stock Ferrari V8s could rev that high, but then again their displacement is smaller than some 6 cylinders.

 

talk about solid bottom ends! thats alot of RPM right there

 

Yes, my car still has the air dam in place.

 

As far as I am concerned, when t-tops are off.. all need for conversation ceases.

 

I don't even have T- tops, but if the window is down so much as crack - conversation is almost impossible over the exhaust, cd player, and of course the wind.

 

Dang...I'd never attempt that kind of speed with the air dam in place. Forgive me, but..I think that's just psycho! The way that air dam is...it's just ramming air up underneath the car where it hits the hood, or plastic covering piece.....it doesn't have anywhere much to escape to..that's some serious front end lift........

 

I never had problems at hi speed, even when my car was stock it would do 130 mph on the autobahn#6 all day not break a sweat
could not stop it though. cracked the front brake rotors twice
don't even think about changing lanes either

 

as far my motor hitting 7800 it only did it once that I know of
usally shift about 6200- 6500 with 3:73 gears it gets there quick . trans is the the original t5 with is about shot , also has worthless ceterforce dual friction clutch which broke the transmission

 

the only thing i dont like about it is not its fault...

THERE ARE NO BODY MODS AVAILABLE FOR THE CAMARO THAT IS HALF DECENT....

everything on the car i had to fab up myself or pay alot to get a prototype of one made up..

ITS NUTS!!!

iroc2nv

 

As I said before, I don't get much front end lift at speed. If I did and it made the car unstable, I wouldn't do it without removing the air dam. I also have no problems with lane changes from 130-140 (on a closed track of course) as a couple of people on here can verify.

With regards to the cracked rotor. I suffer from that too.

 

I'M 17 SO I CANT HATE ANYTING ABOUT HAVING A TRANS AM I DISLIKE A FEW THINGS BUT CANT HATE IT

 

The one thing I REALLY hate about my Camaro is those stupid plastic interior panels at the rear. That one at the drivers side that starts right at the back and goes about 5 miles forward. Try removing that and refitting it in 10 minutes.
Oh yes, and then trying to fix the stupid plastic bits that the big plastic screws tighten into.
And the bit you want to remove is held on by every other bit. And that bit is held on by another bit, and so is that one. To remove a bit of the trim at the back, you end up starting at the front.

I have a real problem with our plastic (sorry, ABS and polypropylene) trim panels! Anyone know a good shrink?

Andy.

 

On the firebirds, the center consol where the shifter is the rubber/plastics on the sides comes off and looks like S***.
you also gotta love the hood..it just opens really easy and straight ..not.haha, its still a great car though!

 

Having to drive it in winter

for now anyway....

Oh yea... also the fact that half of the nuts/bolts are metric and the other half are SAE

 

Hm....well:

dont like all the squeeks and rattles (which is why I turn up the radio)

I do have a cup holder if someone else is riding with me.

my power hatch motor sometimes hates me.

I think that's about it.

 

-No cup holder

-Headliner (getting fixed soon)

-Console

-Heavy as hell doors

-Slow power windows

-And the one and only thing that bugs me more than anything is the fact that I can't rotate my tires (IROC)!!! -89IRO

 

You know, everyone I know with a 3rd gen has found SAE bolts. I haven't found one! I have NEVER had to use an SAE socket on my car. Never. Every single bolt I've come across is metric..from the starter bolts, to pulley bolts, the crankshaft bolts, various body bolts..all of them have been metric on mine.

 

all of my interior bolts are metric, but the hex head screws are SAE

 

From most to least despised:

1. The association with white trash. What's up with that? I have been exposed to alot of white trash and they seem to like Mustangs.

2. The fact that most people think ALL 3rd gens are slow and the over all perseeved poor performance. Everyone somehow forgets the 350 powered cars (which are faster than the supposedly fast 5.0 Mustangs).

3. The 305 TPI should have been the base engine.

4. The only good 3rd gens were the ones no one could afford when they where new. Thank *** for depriciation.

5. No one makes an affordable wheel that doesn't look like it belongs on a *******'s truck, mainly due to the screwy bolt pattern and offset.

6. How much less gas it would use, how much less wear it would get, and how much faster it would be if it wasn't the weight of a light tank.

7. No room for dual exhaust. GM could of at least left us some room.

8. The crapy 1980s quality of the interior. Most 80s cars seem to suffer from this though.

9. All the squeaks and rattles.

10. That the struts and steering linkage need replaced every time you rotate your tires.

11. The nose scraping every time you leave a parking lot.

12. Engine cut out when going harf through a turn with less than a 1/4 tank.

13. Lack of traction.

14. Cat. hump.

15. Screw ball rear suspension. It's 1/2 the reason for no dual exhaust.

16. No standard tranny, T-tops, or convertible with the 350 from the factory.

Some things that everyone b*tches about, but doesn't bother me (guess I am just oblivious):

1. Harsh ride. I can't stand that floaty Cadillac ride. I like to know wher I am at on the road, that's what these cars are about.

2. no rear seat. I aint ridding back there.

3. No cargo space. It's not a work truck, and I don't want to have to haul crap in it.

4. Brakes. Never had a problem with them, seem to work just fine. Maybe it's because of this fad with having pizza size rotor$$ that everyone wants more. Big brakes are nice, but 14" rotors with 6 piston neon calipers are a little ***** for my taste.

Erik-

 

Not True! I have true duals on my Z, you just have to run both pipes on the same side and get a little creative. I would post pics, but it's sitting in storage right now.

 

The one thing that I can say that I dislike about my thirdgen is that I have a rear plastic window in which now you can hardly see out of. Makes driving at night somewhat difficult. That's only only dislike for the time being.

1991 Camaro Z28 Convert.
5spd - 305 TPI
Flow Master Exhaust
1/4 mile : 15.626 at 89.75 mph[IMG]

 

No room for duals and the FUEL CONSUMPTION The fuel is very expensive over here.........

 

how come you cant rotate your tires?

 

I can't believe this thread is still going.
16" wheels had different offsets front to rear. All 15's came with the same offsets front to rear.........hmmmmm......


Not having a gear shift indicator on the automatic does not bother me much because I know what gear I am in, but it is troublesome at first when someone else who has never driven a thirdgen drives your car.


Now I see why we don't have a proper glove box. There's absolutely no room

How can a midsize car have less room than a compact

 

Well first of all my car is an '89 IROC-Z 350 TPI. The reason why I can't rotate them (well, I can if I break them all the way down) is because the front wheels are stamped "front" and the rear wheels are marked "rear". I checked with my local GM dealer about this and they said it was because the offset of the front and rears is different- something to do with the disc brakes (4-wheel discs on my IROC.) This really sucks and I think GM really screwed up on this by doing it to the IROCS (I'm assuming all of the IROCs, at least '89 had wheels marked like mine.) So if I want to put my front tires in the back, I have to have a shop break down the tires off of each wheel- expensive? - Too bad I can't just switch the wheels in my driveway like the rest of you guys. -89IRO

 

There, devianb said it. Yeah, I forgot to say they were 16s. -89IRO

 

You know it's funny. Alot of the comments I have read here talk about this and that the car doesn't have. What's weird is most of those issues seem to be with the particular car they drive. Almost everything I read can be corrected if you had the options installed when you got the car. Or add them later if possible. The door cup holders were an option. The engines the Posi rear. Disc brakes and so fourth. One thing that kicks *** about these cars is the fact that parts are very interchangable between the various models. So options can be added after the fact fairly easily in most cases. The only real things that I think suck are the lack of glove box and the rattles. It is important to note that my thirdgen is actually really quiet for a thirdgen car. Although mines low on mileage. As far as the interior I guess the worst things are the cheap door panels and the center console comming apart. The door panels can be fixed aftermarket though.

 

The only thing that really bugs me is the plastic interior screws that hold the interior panels in the back of the car. I've managed to pop the head off two of those over time.

The rest of my car is pretty much perfect. That's the advantage of being a long term owner, I guess. I've had it for 13 years and it's pretty much flawless. Heck, there has NEVER been a single squeak or rattle in my car.

 

No squeaks or rattles? Lucky. My door, which was deformed pretty badly from an accident (previous owner), now pops when I turn the steering wheel to the left (don't ask why because I don't know) or when I turn the car... And my trunk rattles like a ****...because I had a power hatch and it's broken and sunk to the lowest position...makes the trunk very difficult to close and it rattles and shakes like crazy...and gets loose enough to allow gallons of water to seep in sometimes. I've had a flooded trunk twice now..which is why I'm hesitant to install subs and an amp back there.

And, you know, I could live with the interior screws. I really could. EVEN the fact that they're Torx ends, basically the easiest to grind out in the world. What I hate is the cheapness of the plastics in the car! Those panels are brittle....first time I tried to remove the screws around my shift plate, around 3 of the screws the plastic started getting hairline splits..if I removed the screws all the way and moved the plate at all, they would've broken. And the little strip that goes front to back on the automatic, to keep crap from falling down there..mine was brittle and cracked a big chunk off also.

 

That's why im ALWAYS the driver

 

#1 thing i hate about owning a thirdgen...
BAD REPUTATION

my car has over 325hp, ITS NOT WHITE TRASH

why cant people take care of them???? every time i see a thirdgen it has no ground effects and the paint is all chipping,

IS IT REALLY THAT HARD TO DRAG YOUR DRUNK WIFE-BEATING @SS OUT AND WASH YOUR CAR????

also, i never see any irocs or formulas or anything. theyre all like early 80's v6s with no ground effects and the ugly nose. why couldnt the pretty ones survive???????

 

#1 thing i hate about owning a thirdgen...
BAD REPUTATION

my car has over 325hp, ITS NOT WHITE TRASH

why cant people take care of them???? every time i see a thirdgen it has no ground effects and the paint is all chipping,

IS IT REALLY THAT HARD TO DRAG YOUR DRUNK WIFE-BEATING @SS OUT AND WASH YOUR CAR????

also, i never see any irocs or formulas or anything. theyre all like early 80's v6s with no ground effects and the ugly nose. why couldnt the pretty ones survive???????

 

Ditto..shortage of good Camaros here. Bout half of them are 90-92 RS's who put on chrome tips, subwoofers, and think their car is the coolest thing since Elvis. Other half are ******* white trash cars....either with crap paint, crap body, crap interior, and an oil-burning 2.8, or they've been subjected to an engine swap...which isn't bad..but they ignore everything else about the car and let the sucker rust itself to death. Only good, original engine ones seem to be butchered...my friend has an 84 T/A with the original 5.0 HO but he covered various parts with spraypaint, over-did it with wire looms and tie wraps, added stickers under his hood to **** he doesnt even have..he's got an MSD box sitting on the side of his car, not wired up, and has a Holley Annihilator sticker on his Compressor! Not to mention his butt ugly sidepipes with cherry bombs welded into them and chipping off black spraypaint which reveals the chipping off chrome spraypaint beneath.

 

My hatch is starting to creak bad, anyone else with this problem? Only time I've heard another hatchback do it was a fourthgen, but it was an lt1 stroked to 383 and was at the track. I find this disturbing cause I've owned the car for five years, previously woman owned and I've never driven hard. I dont get a lot of these squeaks and rattles others describe except a flapping sound on cold mornings that sounds like its coming from my driver side a pillar Otherwise best car I'll ever own, even if its an l03 with a soft suspension and a four speed.

"Wait for me I'll meet you on the corner of impossible and done."

 

My hatch rattles and vibrates very badly. Probably because my car used to be a power hatch assembly. Motor is broken, and the entire thing is sunk to the bottom level so you have to slam the trunk very hard to close it....so I'm sure that contributes to the problem. It's an irritating noise..anything 30 mph or above, I hear rattles, shakes, squeaks, etc. Coming from the hatch, the A pillar region, a tightened down completely but still loose interior panel, and popping from my warped door.

 

Yeah, most of the problems are merely superficial, but some of the issues are not as easily correctable.

I'm still mad about the centerconsole in birds the way it is glued on the sides - like that's going to hold. I tried gluing it back, but it still spreads apart when it gets hot. Cheap A$$ center console. That's what makes me hate thirdgens sometimes.


Also, would it have killed anyone at GM to actually put in a white interior for a thirdgen. I mean come on, my mom's old Citation got white leather interior. I think thirdgens are a little better than a Citation, so couldn't we get as nice of an interior too.


Thanks again GM.

 

We all bitch, but obvioulsy love the car since we own them and invest in them. Life is causing me to get rid of mine and i'm sure i'll regret it oneday, but when i'm done with, i will own a beautiful GTA.

Later,

Dave

 

I'm still going to complain about things in my thirdgen, even though I will be keeping for as long as I possible can. Eventually, I will have worked on, replaced, or repaired everything on my car that I will have nothing to complain about anymore.


I can't wait for the day that happens.

 

Wow guys, lots of complaints...I think the one that I saw the most that is easy to fix is the cupholders. There is a Tech Article <https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/tech/cupholder.shtml> and it is really really easy to do. $15 or so in parts and about 10 minutes with the dremel and some super glue and you are done.

Now for my list of complaints and what I plan to do about it:

1.RS = V6 - All the emblems are being shaved along with door trim
2. LO3 = crap -can you say 350 swap?
3. Dashpad- A little filler for the cracks and truck bedliner spray and most cant tell the diffrence from stock.
4. Squeaks and Rattles- 12" Subs and Alpine head unit- and SFCs
5. Wheels and rear brakes- 4th Gen Rear swap...gets posi too
6. No spare tire...ok so it has one there is just an amp there...but its not like a flat spare does any good.... -AAA and a cell phone.
7. T Tops leak- 3M Rubber Strips on the edges of the Tops to get a better seal.

 

the squeaks and rattles, I need subframe connecters

 

yeah same here man......the formula gets picked up on monday. My poor baby. One day i'll have another thirdgen, and this time i'm gonna do it up exactly right.

 

My dream goal is to own three third gens. One all-out drag racing thirdgen, one heavily modified but streetable thirdgen, and one show thirdgen with a modded out V6...for show use, with subs, etc., and built to autocross as well. The thirdgens will get my second garage..the first will have a Camaro or Trans Am from every generation..1st through 4th... Ahh....if only......