This is a car given to me by my father-in-law, I'm the third owner on it now. Brought it home this week to try and get it inspected/registered/etc. It's an '86 Camaro sport coupe: 305, automatic, red interior. Only options are a power hatch release, A/C, and automatic it seems.. 86500 miles on it. Just drove it 130 miles home, and it seemed to get around 22-23mpg :hail: My L got, at very best, 16mpg on all highway.

(click on pics for bigger ones)

The two together:









The engine.


Quick car, especially at highway speeds. It almost makes me doubt that that's really a 305 in there. It seems to go through the speedo like my 14.4 second Lightning, and spins tires just as easily. Just have to work out the problems with it (bogging on acceleration, intermittent cruise control, some loose rattle from the dash area now, and one side of the hatch sits lower than the other side...)


About the wheels. Those seem to be the stock wheels, but were they custom painted to match the car, or do they come body-matched?

The paint is fairly oxidized. You can see on the rear hatch, some of the hood, and the T-tops. Is this factory clear coat paint? I have never owned a car with this type of paint damage, so I'm unsure if there's anyway to restore it, or at least make it look better?

 

Those are factory wheels, but not the ones that came on your car originally. They are Z28 wheels and were probably painted to match when they were put on your SC.

 

Congrats, you cant beat a free thirdgen. And welcome to the boards, alot of helpful people here.

 

cool another sport coupe.....welcome....u will find much help here......heres my baby

 

Congrats on the Camaro!

The wheels on Sport Coupes were usually steel styled wheels, not the five spoke aluminum ones. Colour matching was not standard, as far as I recall. At least not on the aluminum wheels.

The paint job on an 86 should have a clear coat on top. If it is pealing then you will have to repaint the car and put a fesh clear coat on, too.

If you take a toilet plunger to the door, that will probably pull that dent out nicely.

305s are a good RELIABLE engine. With stock 2.73 gears and the small-lobed "peanut" cam, they provide good mileage (I got up to 18 mpg around town) and excellent torque below 3500 rpm. You'll find it falls flat on its face about 4000 rpm or so

But they respond to mods like nobody's business. Headers and exhaust alone release about 30 hp. There are good tech articles on site for getting the best from your QJet carb, too.

 

Very good information, thanks! Thought no one would respond since I had a Ford in there The car's off right now getting MD inspected, hoping that that won't cost me an arm and a leg. They're pretty rigorous in their inspection here, taking the whole car apart.

The wheels I'm liking a lot. They seem to be the only custom touch done to the vehicle, and they fit very well with the look. There's also the decal under the chmsl "Bad *** boys drive bad *** toys". I'm getting a razor ASAP to remove that one

I've been searching and reading up on some of the threads here. Would it be recommended to hand glaze and wax the whole top of the vehicle to recover some of the look? If you look at some of the top-down pictures:

(click for a bigger picture). You can see where the paint problems are. Along the hood, hatch, and behind the T-tops. Basically every top panel. It's a daily driver, so I'm not expecting a perfect look, but just want to make it respectable looking

I'll try the plunger trick. But, I have two other smaller dents along the fenders. I was considering just looking into a dent doctor to remove them all, not sure how much that'd cost though.

And, yup, nothing beats a free car. And it's only $30 more a month for insurance on it... after I drop full coverage from the Lightning.

 

It is certainly worth a try. It is easier if you have one of those electric rotary buffers, than trying to do it by hand.