Okay I recently like 4 days ago..Bought an 85 camaro to save it from the junk yard..Now the thing barely runs and im in love..I noticed that this car is not an RS and it isnt a z28..And that doesn't bug me..But it appears to have had the ground effects on it..I am not sure if they were stock on the car.. Either way they will probly be going on the car again..What is the best way to find a set?? What do you guys think.When the exterior body work is done should I install a body kit to it??And what kind of spoiler ??

 

Well I realized with out a picture no one will see what I am getting into..So I am enclosing a pic of the good side. It needs rear end work bad. May take me a long time to get this car back to being pretty. But the old owner was going to junk the car and I couldnt see that happening. After I lost my 79 nova restoration project (And I wont say to what) I had wanted a new project so here it is

 

Wow, that's going to be a quite a project. Why is it that you say it used to have ground effects? In the picture i can't see the bracket for the rocker panel ground effects or any holes where the ground effects would of mounted.

 

i don't see any signs that it had ground effects either.....especailly from the nose.....looks like a SC to me....

 

Your definately going to want to fix that rust and body work before you start digging into the ground effects...

You can generally find peices priced pretty well on eBay. You can also sometimes find peices in good shape at the junk yard. Your going to have to get new bumper covers, rear quarter pannel peices, rocker pannels and door peices, and the front spoiler.

The bumper covers will bolt right on, but your going to have to drill holes in your fenders for everything else. Be prepaired to
either make or start looking for mounting brackets for the rocker pannels as well...

You have a few options as far as rear spoilers go...
You are going to have to drill holes for it as well, so be creative.
I have seen the Camaro high rise spoilers, regular camaro / trans am spoilers, camaro 3 peice spoilers, trans am / formula aero wings, and I have even seen a *cough* Mustang GT *cough* wing put on a thirdgen....

Bottom line, find something you like!

Hope this helps a little

 

and when you fix that rust....I would make sure you use"etching primer"....just ask the guys at the paint shop...they will know what I'm talking about. Etching primer is used on very very rusty area's....it etches itself in the metal and locks the rust away.....it's good stuff.

 

As for a reply to why I know it had at one time had ground effects.. I pulled a few pieces of the ground effects off it..Parts of it were still bolted on to the bottom.. Thanks for the tips guys I do appreciate them.

 

that looks like a parts car at best sorry to tell ya, and you said you paid for it i hope you paid less then 50 bucks. First of all if the body is rusted that bad then the under side of the car must be in awful shape, your probably looking at least 1000 dollars in 1/4 panels and gfx and i really wouldnt be surprised if just the cost of all new body panels would be around 1500-2000, maybe you can get some used ones and only spend a 1000....then you need a new paint job to get a descent one youre looking at least 1500. I bet the rear axel and suspension components are rusted to all hell theres another couple grand. For the amount of money that you would need to dump into it to get it to look and handle nice (while mind you theres probably not much you can do about all the under body rust) you could buy a camaro that was in very nice shape in the first place.

However if youre going to go the ghetto route, get the 1/4's from a scrap yard, im assuming theres very little of the floor left so just cut it out and weld some sheet metal in, and just get it running maybe a cheapo 500 buck paint job, you could probably do it for a little over a grand, in which case you could still buy a better camaro for the price. I dont see that car as a wise investment

 

Truth is this is my project car..I plan to put my money and time into it. The underbody is in good shape. That was checked before I bought it. Its got a solid start. The new motor and tranny along with the stage 1 front end rebuild are being done in the next to weeks. I will be doing the rear suspension 1 week after that. Also the whole front end repair will be under 1500.
Now the rear end after I find the quarters it will be 1500 or also depending on how much the quarters cost.. I will be almost fully restoring the body. If the car would have been in good condition it would not have much meaning to me. I wouldnt have done all the work my self.
So though it may not be worth it to some of you it is to me. And everyone is entitled to there opinion. And when the car is done I will post my web page with all the restoration pics.

 

You could get a car in better shape than that one for $500 I'm certain. If you insist, get a donor car with good panels and put them onto your car. I appreciate the enthusiam you have, but think it might be realistic to use that as a parts car especially considering the fact that the model isn't special. I don't mean that in a discouraging manner, but there's no sense in making the project more difficult and costly than it has to be as many would agree that have already posted with similar suggestions.

 

Looks like its at a good starting point. Funny but both of our project's have came out of the junkyard but ours are on different ends of the current condition spectrum. You have good floors, but bad quarters. I have bad passenger floor boards, but the rear quarters are perfectly rust free. I got a few pics on my cardomain site, its the Project Targa link in my sig.

You could get some half length rear quarter panel skins, these are just the metal from the bottom of the sailpanel down to the bottom of the car.

Search my name for a few threads on installing GFX. I put them on my 85 Sport coupe, which use to look like yours does but without the rust. Its rather simple if you make templates off of the car you take the GFX from. Use some cardboard, get them shaped to fit in commom places on both cars, pop the holes in the cardboard, then put them up on your car and drill thru the hole you made in the template.

 

Well, it looks like have a hell of a project ahead of you, but hey always remember that they are restoreable! (not counting Damageincta's GTA )
My iroc was doomed for the junkyard too. The guy was going to enter it into a burnout contest and then run it till the motor blew! best $600 i have ever spent.
There is a substantial amount of rust on those quarters.. make sure you take a good look at the bottom of the cowl whenever you take your fender off. That is a place that rusts a lot in 3rd gens.. First things first... Sandblast where any rust is, or where is may be... and then cut out your 1/4 panels and get some from a donor car.. I Definately recommend a donor car (try to find a blown IROC-Z) this will save you a lot of money in the long run, and then part out whatever is left of the donor car..
just my .2 on what i'd do


if you have the money, and it means something to you... then by all means - do it! :lala:

 

I understand the "i did it myself" mentality, but some things are a waste of time. That car is in bad enough shape that the only point in trying to rebuild it is if youre going to strip it down to the bare chassis (which would have to be in very good shape to make it worth doing) and rebuilding the car. What you bought is a waste of money. Why not buy a rolling chassis for 1000-2000 and then drop whatever money you have into an engine, if it makes you happy you can build the engine your self or whatever but there is a difference between a "i did it my self" attitude and wasting money. That is a parts car any way i look at it, but whatever floats your boat man :lala: