I see this thrown around alot on this page. ""go to a junk yard'' and i was just curious if you guys really do have these 3rd gens sitting there,, we have no thirdgens in our junk yards for at least 300 square miles. its ridiculous

 

There were 2 camaros in the junkyard closest to me(45 minute drive) the last time I was there about 2 months ago. I don't have a lot of yards near me, at least not ones that have reasonable prices. I know of some yards on the other side of PA from me that I've seen up to 15 in them at one time. Depending on what you are looking for you may be able to find it on another GM vehicle.

 

There are some in the yards near me. The problem is that they are usually the 82-84 models and if they are newer, they are picked clean of any usable parts.

 

area plays a big role in finding parts cars. being your waaaaaay up in the rust belt finding cars like ours i would think would be slim.

now down here in the south they are plentiful, esp out here in the country. the bone yards up in memphis are hit or miss. you go one week and get 1 car, the next week or 2 you will find 5 or 6. im starting to see alot of 93-97 cars in the yards and the thirds are slowing down a tad.

 

Dante, you say there are alot of 82-84 cars up your way? i may keep in contact with ya for parts on my 83 T/A. you wanna talk hard to find parts for, my 83 is that car.

 

I live in North Dakota and have not seen a 3rd gen in a yard in the year since my son and I got ours. I have had decent luck finding 4th gens. I have retro-fit parts from them to mine, but no decent seats yet.

 

Been lucky, I guess. In a former location, I had two yards within an hour (one yard had about 3,500 cars), for a combined total of 30 Camaros/Birds or so. Now in Lawrence, there's a yard south with ten or fifteen. Zero in town.

JamesC

 

serioulsy i went to look for an injector pig tail and a delco radio at the only junkyard here that dosent melt the cars down asap, and they wanted like 400 dollars!!! and your not allowed to pull anything yourself.. and god willing you will never find me in nyc looking for parts i hate the city..

 

I have 1 close by about 15 min drive and usually they have 3 or 4 third gens but lately is more 4th gens than anything but when they do they dont last.
how far are you from the NYC, i know there is a place out in long island where is all about thrid gens, Ill see if i can find the name of teh place maybe you can make it a weekend trip.

 

Most of the junk yards in Indy don't have any older cars period. The family owned junk yards out in the small towns do have some thirdgens though.

 

Pick A Part in Indy had about a dozen 3rd gens and half a dozen 4th gens a month ago, but they are down to a single 3rd gen now. I try to stop by there once a month or so. The way they keep their cars, its good for mechanical parts and exterior, but the interiors usually get soaked cuz they leave the cars open.

 

if anyone is in the new hampshire area, there is a great junkyard called camaroheaven in tilton, nh
gotten plenty of parts for my 87 trans am as well as a buddies 68 camaro
www.camaroheaven.com

 

there are usually a handful of fbodies in the pick a part near me, but they are often well picked through. i try to check them out once every couple months to see if anything new has shown up

 

If you want to find things, You have to make it a habit. I check every Tuesday & Sat/Sun. I have gotten lucky and found alot of parts I need for literally 1/50 of what people ask for them. Just keep looking, make calls and learn their yard dates, meaning the days that most new cars get put into the lot.

 

What's the website for the junkyard locator service - I don't remember. You can do a search in the locator, and find yards within specific areas that have the parts you seek, or anywhere that has the part, and if they are in the list, they will usually pull it and ship it to you.

 

I found one near my place with three third gens just sitting there waiting for the plucking. Got some good parts off of em'.

 

i live in the rust belt and i have two junk yards FULL, litterally an entire sections just for these cars, camaros and firebirds

 

down here in southern california *san diego, I see plenty of thirdgens. There are usually about 4-6 per yard and all the yards are really close to each other. The only problem is, TPI is really hard to come by. alot of them are the earlier models and v6, some v8 TBI. The good stuff is usually taken before I get there. computers, iroc rims, gta rims, intakes :/ hardly any rust down here though. I should buy them up and part em out to you guys

 

my local yard has an 84 at the moment with recaro seats aluminm rear driveshaft and brake drums and a rear window wiper

 

If I lived in Cali, I'd make a living out of parting rust free cars. Never understood why more people don't do it. Those of us in the rust belt LOVE seeing those parts.

 

www.car-parts.com - that was the locator service I was trying to remember earlier!

 

thats weird, here in western ny theres 4-5 camaros in each yard not as many birds though. theres a ton of v6 fourth gens too

 

the local junkyard, (my uncles junkyard) there is few 4th gens, a 89 trans, 2 91 camaros, and a 87 firebird.


Smitty's 23 1/2hour towing
Hell yeah

 

Theres 3 third gens 10 mins from me.
But i spent all of last weekend calling junkyards close to me and they didnt have any lol.
I've found em very very useful.

 

I asked the manager of my local U pull it and he said some states have rules about how long they can keep cars in their lots before they have to rotate their stock E.P.A regulations and all that happy horse s?:t water quality and such and some times that's just the peticular lots policy it never hurts to ask somebody I mean how else would you know.
good luck and happy hunting.

 

If you come here in southern california you would just want to kill yourself. Ive been noticing a decline in 3rd gens in a "u-pull" places or "pick-a-part" but when i do see one, i think this car shouldnt be there. not 2 long ago i saw a 86 original yellow iroc-z fully loaded gettin picked on. i swaer people are like vultures sometimes. i begged those people if i can buy it, but no luck. few weeks later it was scrapped. it had nothing wrong! no damage or rust.

anywho, you guys should come down and rescue some of these cars!

 

Here in SE Texas third gens can be had whenever you need. I've pulled 3 apart in the past year and a half and paid $100 total. Im currently ripping through an 89 RS I got for free, the dude yanked the engine out and put for free on it at the end of his driveway. I've thought of keeping parts cars in my backyard but its a dangerous thing to do when you consider pests. Just got popped 3 times by wasps in that same car. I do take what I can off of them and I get hit up pretty often for parts so they go as fast as I get them. Traded a set of mint camaro fenders for a Holley 52mm throttle body. When it comes to parts think outside the box. If you see a third gen sitting up dont be afraid to ask about it, you never know what you might get. Strip it and keep the parts 4 later. I only have a spare room to keep the parts in, so its not like I have alot of room to put stuff, man I need a garage!!!

 

once it gets a junked title, it can never go back.

 

ive gone through 5 yards here and only 2 of them had some, one had 1 84 berlinetta, and the other has 2 firebirds an 87 and 91, and 2 camaros, 89 rs and an 82 z28, they were all in almost perfect shape cosmetically, except the rs was badly wrecked, went looking for a new dash pad, and the rs HAD one, it was perfect, except for the passenger side, where it got wedged under the crushed piller, that was kind of annoying

 

Yep, Dash pads are the first thing I go after, then RPO hunting for more info on the car. I am gonna start bringing home dash emblems and emblems in general. I have gotten the green light from the yards I got to grab them since they wouldn't charge me for them. After gathering for a year they should bring in a good amount of $.

As for yard advice, Always and I mean always go to small unknown yards first or call first. They will always be the ones with less picked Camaros/Birds. The bigger yards unless you get lucky and get a freshly put third gen they will be picked the first few days their on the lot. The 2 small yards I always go with which are about 15 mins where I live have a good amount of third gens. About 8 combined and my favorite yard has had the same Camaro there for about 2 years, and still has some good parts on it. The freshest Camaro has been there for a few days before me going and finding it, sad thing is someone already yanked the dash and gfx. Which sad thing is it was the owner for his Camaro.

Just keep looking and make it a week habit. You never know what you will find.

 

I have wanted ads posted locally here, and am trying to buy up a few thirdgens. You'll see my ads once I do find one or two.

 

modesto pick n pull always has at least 5 3rd gens, youll get lucky to find two in stockton, and the pick n pull in elk grove and south sac always had a good few 3rd gens back when i lived in sac last year.

 

Not sure what this has to do with A&D...