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Auto Detailing and AppearanceShare tips and tricks on how to make your Third Gen shine! Get opinions on products or how something tasteful looks on your Chevrolet Camaro or Pontiac Firebird.
Here are a few more pics and some specs. I have owned this car since 2002 and it has gone through many different stages in its life.
1992 Camaro RS
3.4L turbo v6 with a t5 conversion
fully built and powdercoated 3.4
posi rear end
Completely new interior with 4th gen seats
5th gen wheels
dodge door handle conversion
2in drop
Last edited by Pillsbry10; 10-22-2017 at 09:25 AM.
Thanks very much for the nomination. Car is a 1987 with the 350 TPI Auto.
Bought it in 2015. Needed some TLC. I have since completed the following in trying to make the Car appear as mint as possible.
1-New Paint and Decals
2-New Tires and Rims professionally refinished
3-New Windshield, T Bar and Door Rubbers
4-New Door panels and door trim pieces(not shown in pic as I installed them the day I left for work for 2 weeks)
5-Complete tune up-Plugs Wires, distributer, Fuel Filter and pump
6-New exhaust-Cat Back-Headers and Y-Pipe in the Garage but will be installed in the Spring
I drive it every chance I get and have a major smile on with the 80s and 90s tunes cranked in the 2000w Stereo System!
I am honored to be nominated again for Car of The Month!
I was a lurker here in the years I didn’t have a Third Gen and when I finally got around to saving up and getting my dream Third Gen I joined up! I found I was getting a lot of good info from this community and seemed like good people around here.. This is my 3rd Third Gen. I had a 1985 Z28 with TPI and a 1987 IROC TPI 5-speed previously. I haven’t owned a third gen since 2002 when my 87 was rear ended and totaled waiting to take a left turn.
I love the flame red paint and I always envied the leather/cloth interiors. This is the car I would have ordered back in 1988.
I had this car shipped from Missouri with 31,000 original documented miles. I am the third owner and was able to talk to the previous owners. The first owner had a construction company and kept the car in a heated warehouse with some other cars he collected. This one got sold because he barely drove it. The second owner was police chief in Troy Illinois. He used it as a summer cruiser but also stored it in an attached, heated garage with his motorcycles in the winter. He hadn’t driven it much in a few years so he traded it to buy a camper because he and his wife were retiring and wanted to travel. I found his listing on EBay and tracked it down as I saw it didn’t sell.
I had my eye on several convertibles but some were super low mile and way over priced. Also not the right color/option combo for me to drop huge money. I got a great deal since I was willing to buy sight unseen in the middle of winter. I wanted a stock, unmolested car with stock interior, etc.. No swapped out steering wheel, wood grain, etc..
The car came with the stock radio and speakers, but the second owner put in an Alpine CD player and Alpine speakers. There was a Disco mix CD in the player which was pretty funny.. I may have the stock radio modded to have an aux input..
I have the original GM floormats in excellent condition, but I really like the Camaro mats from Classic industries so I can save the stock ones..
The car came with the owners manual and the dealer brochure from 1988. I found the original spare unused with the GM tire inflator.. I’d be shocked if it actually worked!
This car has a nicer interior than the 87 I bought in 1994 that had 26k miles. All the buttons and switches still have the icons/script. The plastic is all in brand new condition.. it doesn’t even feel old when you sit in it. The car even smells like my 87 did. Maybe IROCs have a smell to them.
I had the car repainted because of some spider cracks, a slight warped front spoiler, stone chips, and some fading. The paint was really good and people complimented the car, but now people are blown away and say, “It looks brand new!” It was a Van Nuys car so it didn’t get the higher quality Norwood factory paint.
The painter was super careful to keep all the factory stickers in doors, hood, trunk, etc. he also saved all the emblems including the IROC-Z from the bumper which he wasn’t sure he could do. He said it took some heat and some surgical skill.. he got the whole front end straightened back out and painted with flex additive so it will never crack again.. what he did to the nose and spoiler is wizardry!
I was willing to get new paint because I knew this guy and his restorations. I was nervous about repainting a car that didn’t really need it, but when it came back I was blown away. People go crazy for the paint at the cruise nights. It took him a long time to get it done but we had a deal and he was getting it done when he had time to work on it. I made a 10 page document with photos on how I wanted to car to look and he nailed it.
Thanks to thirdgen.org I was able to get my tonneau release lever fixed! The one that came with the car was broken and glued back together.. my82roc got me the part.. there’s a lot of parts they don’t make on the Verts anymore, especially 87-88.
Also inspired from a post I saw on this site, I found some original paperwork under the driver’s seat! I think it’s a build sheet. Pretty cool.
My catalytic converter started rattling so I got some exhaust work done. Ended up re-doing a lot of it. Thanks to the input of members here I adjusted my 3.5 inch exhaust tips to 2.5 inches and had the tips barely past the bumper. It does look nicer without huge tips way past the bumper! Maybe I’ll even go for an even more stock setup someday.. Thanks guys!
I get a lot of inspiration from the cars here. I see a lot of things I like, how people keep their cars, and how to mod the car in a classy way that’s true to what a Third Gen should be.
These are my favorite cars and I still remember being 11 years old and seeing a black IROC drive down my street. That was it for me!
Last edited by 88IROCvertZ; 10-22-2017 at 11:32 PM.
Thanks for the nomination, its humbling to be considered in yet another group of such nice cars.
I bought my 89 formula 350 from the original owner around 1991. It had a warranty paint job, 1st set of replacement gatorbacks and a new dealer shortblock because the oilpump fell off.
The gofast bug bit hard soon after a few stoplight victories, started modding it when I saw info about the 1LE with SLP goodies on it. Ended up in the low 12s NA back then and was DD'ing the car still. Had a serious trans explosion so I parked it for a few yrs but drug it out 10-12yrs or so ago with a buuuunch of upgrades on my past upgrades.
2nd Paint job is now close to 20yrs old, 13" 4corner Baer brakes are now 12yrs old (was 13" front12s rear in 96 or so)
Engine is a big CI sbc, solid roller, afr 245s with some cleanup work, miniram, custom T-body, long tubes or is it a 265ci sbc? . Still has the SLP cold air kit I put on in the early 90s. Trans has been upgraded with a lot of the latest parts. 3" dana/spicer DS, aluminum center chunk moser 9" rear, rodended rear control arms/panhard bar.
Bilstien struts/shocks, Kenny brown 3pt stb, south side subframes, tube K member, random tech tq arm, S&W rollbar kit rear airbag for track and more im sure.
Not much in flashy looks department, dealer undercoating, leather interior out of a 91-2 GTA, Macewen(SP) white face gages, gauges in the hood and 96 RA wheels I bought new from the dealer.
The car now has close to 250k miles on it and I drive the crap out of it when ever I can.
Usually i have a favorite 1 or 2 cars right off the bat, but this one was tough. Took a lot of time going back through all the pictures and stories but i think I made my choice. Good luck to everyone! All great cars.
10-22-2017, 12:18 AM
