Long story short, the camaro I wanted the lady wouldnt sell to me, my mum took pity (that what she calls it anyways) and bought me a seriously overpriced 92 RS.

I got to see the car when I picked it up yesterday for the first time and Ill just say I wouldnt have bought it.

Anyways, first visual inspection I did resulted in this list of parts I need. Id like to know which ones I can get at a GM dealership and which ones are gonna land me in the junkyard and on some, sizes and or part numbers if you have them. Saves me long trips either way.

-Hood Shocks (2 2x4's hold it open at the moment)
-Lexan T-tops (scratched and melted beond belief)
-Hose attachment off the air filter inlet (if there was one?)
-Type of screws I need to get the front licence plate holder mounted
-Door hinge assembly (both doors can be lifted up and down and dont shut right)
-Courtesy light cover
-Whatever covers the cable for the third brake light
-Front dash (what she called dings are massive chunks missing)
-Hub cap thingys to go over the lug nuts (trashed)
-Moveable air vent directional thingys (all missing somthing if not everything)


Thats all I can remember right now as far as body and interior goes, probably more im forgetting. My mechanic friend is stopping by to tell me how messed up this thing is otherwise. Its got 170-180k on it and its still the origional engine and no rebuild. When I peeked at the oil it looked like crap, which isnt a good sign eh.

I also have messed up seats and as soon as I find my digital camera Ill take pics of them and the rest of the car and see what everyone suggests doing to the seats. As it is now they look awefull and at least on the drivers side it feels like something poking into the middle of my back when im sitting in them.

Ok, off to find camera, thanks in advance for anyone who can help me

 

Got a few pics of the bad areas up here:
http://www15.brinkster.com/bfspace/camaro/newcamaro.htm

Soon as it stops raining I will pull it out and get some of the whole car. Its garaged because I am not sure its capable of keeping the water out...

 

Looks like a nice project car. It definitely needs to be cleaned up, but it doesn't look that bad otherwise. More pics would be nice.

-Hood Shocks (2 2x4's hold it open at the moment)
Most auto parts chains will have these. Around $30 I think
-Lexan T-tops (scratched and melted beond belief)
Get glass ones if possible. Lexan tops will scratch and crack easily.
-Hose attachment off the air filter inlet (if there was one?)
Not needed, but if you must have one I'll give you my old one cheap.
-Type of screws I need to get the front licence plate holder mounted
I may still have mine also if you really need it.
-Door hinge assembly (both doors can be lifted up and down and dont shut right)
Probably looking at a junk yard for these?
-curtesy light cover
-Whatever covers the cable for the third brake light
-Front dash (what she called dings are massive chunks missing)
-Hub cap thingys to go over the lug nuts (trashed)
-Moveable air vent directional thingys (all missing somthing if not everything)
These parts may still be available from GM or you might get lucky and find decent parts at a junk yard. I'd check out Yearone or another restoration company. They will have these parts.

 

Same color as my car. I found all my replacement vent registers in a junkyard, hubcaps and dome (courtesy), light covers are rather prevalent in boneyards around here as well. The dash however, is a totally different story. Your almost certainly going to have to scope out a resto company for this one. Mine, and all the replacements I've hunted down are cracked all to hell from sun damage.

And you can make your own filter hose from whatever. But while your crawling around in a junkyard looking at F-Bodies, keep an eye out for a dual snorkle air cleaner for increased flow. Some of the more knowledgable members will have to tell you what models this came on and the parts number.

But remember, car parts are shamefully wasted in this country, thus, in true shadetree mechanics fashion, you should try to avoid resorting to the dealer whenever possible, comb those junkyards!!!!

 

Thanks for the responses, was worried everyone was gonna ignore the new guy.

got the hood shocks, door hinges, new wipers, new air filter, spark plugs, oil etc. Gonna spend tomorrow doing those.
Gotta get door latch mechanism replaced, couldnt shut the door for a while till i saw the moveable part kinda locked closed.

I should have kept my dual snorkle from my old 84 L69, didnt think they'd be that hard to find.
I have a few pics of when i had just got her here:
http://www15.brinkster.com/bfspace/camaro/oldcamaro.htm
(Parents forced me to sell it)

I couldnt get more pics, the rain never stopped. Sorry. Not enough room in the garage with the tractor and ladders and other crap to snap off any kind of pic.

Looks like I got the go ahead to replace a good portion of the interior now, so I need to know of places where I can get repacement parts ASAP. Like under a week, not 3-4 like ive been finding. If theres any places in Va or the DC area Id drive there and pick them up myself.

At the very least I want the following:
-NEW Seat Covers
-NEW carpet
-NEW sail panels? (covers the rear speakers)
-NEW preferable, used if I have to, dash

Now Im having a little trouble with the color of my interior, its not dark grey, its not charcoal I dont think, so its Light grey right? Whatever it is I think its ok, but nothing special. Anyone suggest maybe I go and replace those above parts with a different color? Say a darker grey or even black? I prefere darker because stains show up less, and stains are inevitable with my passengers.

I have a huge deadline I cannot miss to get this car running and looking somewhat respectable. I plan on being on the road heading for NJ come the 23rd this month, so the quicker I get help the better off I will be.

Thanks again!

 

If you lift up on the door handle you should be able to move the door latch to the open position. If it won't move, it probably just needs a good cleaning with WD-40 followed by some white lithium grease to lube it up.

 

hey man i hear ya on those interior parts, lol, the sell dash covers in JC whitney, also, custom fit carpet kits in JC whitney, your sail panels are a cheap fix, run out to your local fabric store, or even the craftey department at Wal Mart, grab some material fairly similar to your sail panels, and simply recover the panel, use spray adhesive to hold it on there. sounds like your well on your way to kick *** ride!

 

I saw the dash covers but I dont think thats gonna do the job because the pic doesnt really show just how big those chunks missing are, theres a lot of foam torn out of the left hole.

Im not to bothered about repairing the sail panels since Ive seen them pretty cheep compaired to everything else.

How about the color of the interior? I know its not charcoal, but there were 3 different greys I thought it looked like on one of the sites I was looking at. Whats did GM call that color?

Thanks 87'IROC5.0 for the tip. It seems every latch mechanism on the car isnt working quite right. The doors looked clean, but Ill go over them tomorrow anyways. The hood only locks if i ask it nicely and push it down in the magic place, gonna scrub that thing clean (looks painted), and the rear window latch takes a solid thump to get to lock as well. All 4 are on my to-fix list for tomorrow.

Just out of curiosity, how longs it take to get the doors off the hinges on these cars? And how heavy are these doors? Am I mad thinking I can get both done in an hour?

 

about the doors, i've never taken mine off, but common sense tells me they're probably pretty heavy, and from past experience, putting doors on is definately a 2 man job. oh and if the door moves up and down check for rotting in the hinge/inner fender area. all this might seem like a huge pain right now, but when the car is done, you'll wish you were still building it, thats where the pleasure is. The second you realize, it's done, theres always an overfill of emotion, mainly pride and accomplishment, but then the "what the hell should i do now, maybe i should drive it i guess."

 

Door on our cars are extremely heavy and cumbersome. I've heard of someone using a floor jack to support the door while taking it on/off the hinge, but otherwise it is at least a two man job. I doubt you'll do both in an hour. Good luck.

 

Yep, I think you're nuts! Actually, you could probably remove and replace the doors in about an hour...with two other people holding them up while you bolt them on. That does not take into account time to replace the hinges. You might want to do a search of this forum under "hinges" before you even start. I know I've read a number of good informative posts on the subject.

According to the Camaro White Book there were four interior colors in 1992: black, light brown, red and gray. I think a black interior would look fine in your car.

Before you go on your trip be sure to replace all the belts and hoses and make sure everything mechanical is working as it should. I know you want to get it looking good, (there's a lot of satisfaction in seeing the paint shine and the interior clean), but that feeling you get when the radiator blows up 100 miles from home is not very nice at all. Especially when you find out how much it costs for someone else to do the work.

The most important thing of all is to have fun with it!

 

Thanks for the info on colors and door weight

Im elisting my bro as the human jack (havent found anything that monster cant lift) and dads gonna be another pair of hands. I think we will get most of this stuff done today, granted we get all the parts.

And 87'IROC5.0, believe me I know what thats like. Had a 91 regal lock its rear brakes up on me going down I95 near the Va-NC border. Sucked big time.

I had my mechanic friend look the car over last night, and the end result was that it wasnt great but it wasnt about to crap out either. The only leak on the car is comming from the tranny which was supposidly rebuilt but from looking at the fluid in there it doesnt look like it. It still shifts pretty well so Im just gonna run it into the ground then get a new or totally rebuilt one dumped in. PRobably new one so I could get a 350 under the hood and not worry about frying a rebuilt tranny. Engine is ok, its not missing or smoking or anything, but its still a 180k mile engine.
So if that ever needs rebuilding soon, im almost 90% sure Id just drop it for a 350. The front right brake disk has a massive gouge in it which we agreed on wasnt meant to be there. however the car doesnt pull to one side and stops incredibly well for whatever reason. So I might replace those just for the sake of it, but its not a major priority of mine for now.

Back to interior questions, the lock box thing in the back of the car is pointless because the tab thingys that hold the bottom in place are so worn you can just pull it out from the bottom. Im assuming the only way to replace that is the junkyard right? No-one makes something a little better than that or anything do they?

Thanks again, ill probably have more q's once i get to work in a little.

 

Hey, for your dash you can buy a new one (which I believe is fiberglass) from Harwood. You're going to have to cut the holes yourself though. That can be a bad thing or a good thing. At least it gives you the chance to customize the dash a little. The one I looked at was a dash for a 92 Camaro, I forgot what year yours was but if its I don't think there is really much of a difference between the years on the dashes (guys correct me if I'm wrong!)

here's the link to Harwood's site
http://www.eharwood.com/home.html

 

Thanks King, according to the site it fits all years so thats definately an option. Mind you if its all fiberglass its not gonna have the padding or anything on it is it which I dont like too much. Ill have to send them an email and ask.

Didnt get as much done today as I wanted but we did get some done at least. We got the shocks on the hood and rear window replaced, oil was replaced, new front tires put on, all latching mechanisms cleaned and greased so they work, round 1 of Gunk complete under the hood, PCV valve and hose replaced, new serpentine belt put on, and about a dozen 3/8 inch bolts put on in various places where it was obvious that some particular piece shouldnt be hanging.

Didnt get more done because we got a little carried away with cleaning the garage. And didnt replace to door pins because it looks like we got given 4 of the outer pins on the door and none of the inner one where the bearing thing holds the door open at different increments. Didnt get to the spark plugs, which is a shame because they look like they've been in there way to long.

I have lots of questions about whats missing and/or should hold this piece to that, but Im gonna have to get pictures to explain them. I didnt get any today because my first gracefull move was to drop the oil filter wrench into the then full oil pan. So i spent up till now with completely oil filled hands etc.

I got one question now. The front ground effects on the sides that go up to the wheel well. Theres one of those plastic press things holding the fx and the wheel well plastic to the metal kind of, and on 1 side theres a tiny screw put through all 3 into the metal. Is that small screw suppost to be there? It looked out of place with the big worn/useless plastic plug 2 inches above it. As it stands on the side without the small screw the fx is about half an inch seperated from the body, and the back of it is seriously close to the tire. So whats suppost to hold it all together?

Sorry bout the longs posts, in the middle of writting the last 4 essays for this semester of college and im stuck in rambling filler 1500 word mode.

 

Gonna need a picture to answer this one. Sounds like you got a good start on your Camaro. Keep up the good work!

 

Hey Reborn92rs, get used to those oily hands! Most small block chevys leak at least a little oil, and usually just where you have to put your hands when fixing or adjusting something.

Anyways, sounds like you got a great start on the car. Glad I could be of help. Most of the time I stand there scratching my head looking (and feeling) stoopid.

Later on,

 

Thanks Dave and RSFreak. Its a start at least, and I wanna go a whole lot further too

I was under the car in the garage thismorning before I left and I noticed the bottom of the water pump was covered in oil. Now last time I checked, water pumps dont have oil in them, so Im kinda in the same stupid feeling mode like you Dave wondering where it came from

Where do i get fabric and stuff to reupolster my seats??? Ive looked at places like yearone.com etc and they all just got up to 85, not the 92 like I need. And the one place I did find them wanted like $400 for a set!
Is it worth trying to find new covers, or should I start searching junkyards for 4thgen seats? Probably be cheeper right?

Oh, and need new front turn indicators, that a junkyard deal too right?

 

I'd check the links at the top of this page (Hawk's ThirdGenParts, Thirdgen Resource, and Thirdgenparts). eBay is another good source for Camaro parts. Any 3rd or 4th gen seat will be a direct bolt in for your car. There aren't any significant differences between your '92 seats and '82-'91 seats. I have yet to see a 4th gen in a junkyard so I wouldn't count on finding seats there.

As for the front turn signals, they didn't look that bad in the pic you posted (looks just like mine ). '85-'92 Camaros used those lights. They can be purchased from GM or one of the sites mentioned above.

Oil on the bottom of the water pump is probably spraying up from the balancer indicating a leak in the timing cover. Oil gets on the balancer and sprays all over creation. My '85 Z28 did this.

 

my expierence is that the yards that have a good selection of thirdgens don't tend to have many fourthgens.

are some good 4th gen seats out there if you hunt around enough. are some bad ones too, 4th gen ones wear out in the same way as the 3rdgen ones. look closely at the top portion of the drivers seat, in particular the edge towards the door. fabric is often thin or worn through in this area. seat backs are sometimes bent too.

don't feel too bad about not being able to find any thirdgen seats in nice shape. i've been inside hundreds of thirdgens in the wrecking yards over the years. i found the vast majority of the salvage yard thirdgen driver's seats are worn out and would be classed as junk.