I've been reading the forum for awhile, but haven't posted until today, lots of great info here. I had to sell my first camaro (4th gen) ~4-5 years ago b/c of the college thing, now I'm in getting paid for school doing graduate research and have been trying to find a 3rd gen that is a bit of project at ~$2k to try to learn some meat about the workings of these cars. I've found a car a short distance away (St. Louis, I'm in Rolla... things close to Rolla are rare) that I can get for $2k and I'm very interested in, but want to know what you guys think.

Its a '91 Z28 with a 350 and 700R4, about 140k on the clock and the flexplate is toast, which I'm going to try and take care of myself. First time for everything. I plan on having the car awhile and will be doing things little by little since its not my daily driver, but it has some damage to both rear quarter panels and I want to get a feel for what I'm getting into down the road ($$), as far as repairing the body damage, which I'm not interested in doing myself. The interior is in very good shape it seems, all power options work, minus the A/C (no big deal to me), the owner reports no rust, however the car hasn't been driven in over a year. The right side damage was from sliding into a mailbox pole in the snow (I know to check for rust), I'm not sure on the left side.

Any thoughts on repair or comments on whether or not I should pick up the car appreciated! Here are some pics of the damage. I adjusted brightness/contrast a little to make it more clear, sorry for the length.

 

Unless I have a good friend who owes me something, I stay away from any car needing body work. Paint is one thing but body work gets incredibly expensive. My vote is to pass unless you can get some estimates before you buy it that are reasonable. If you can`t drive the car to the body shop, if they have internet service, show them the pics, they should be able to give you a ballpark price.

 

those quarter look repairable,not have to replace,if a project for fun go for it,

 

i'd skip any project that needed quarters. Find a roller even in another state that's clean and just trailer it home. Since you're in college or just graduated offer beer/food/gas money to someone with a fullsize truck and make a road trip out of finding a clean clean body.

 

 

I paid 3k for my 3 owner `88 Iroc that is all original except for the low mile 383. It has no body issues, just needs minor interior work and does need a new paint job, it is still original. They are out there, don`t get in a hurry and regret your buy. Have some patience and keep looking.

 

yeah i'd try and stay away from things with quarters. i mean it looks like you might be able to fix it, but depends on your skill level

 

that cars only worth about $500 ,just because of the quarter damage and the high mileage.

 

I dont really see why everyone jumps right in and says no to the car because of the quarters. I personally own a car that needs quarter replacement... Its not difficult. Just ask around on the board and find someone int he area with a welder... Offer then some cash beer what ever to help you do the job.. Then just have it disassembled when you take it.

 

I wouldn't pay a cent over $1800 for the car with the quarter panel damage and mileage.

 

yea dude there are soooo many thirdgens out there that can use less fixing. id say move on to the next one. buying a car needed quarter repairs like that along with god knows what for engine tune up and maitenence and whatever else your going to want to fix or replace as far as the interior is conerned but still even just for a daily driver, to pay someone to fix both quarters your just asking for a headache even before you can enjoy the car.

basically stay away and find a car with atleast a decent engine and as straight of a body shell you can find, for less headache down the road.

thats my opinion.

goodluck

 

Naterman35, I`ll tell you what. My `74 El Camino needs both rear quarters. I can get reproductions for just under $200 each and the labor to install them is almost $2k. When you need to have someone else do your body work it can get extremely expensive. I have been looking for 10 years for someone to do the work for a case of beer and some cash, no luck, that`s why I bought my $3k `88 Iroc that needs no body work and runs great. The last estimate to get my El Cam looking good front to back, not factory fresh, was $17k. Anything with more than minor surface rust is a can of worms if you can not do the work yourself.

 

I wouldn't get it.

First, it's not worth $2000. Due to the flexplate, somewhat high miles, and quarter issues I'd say it's worth under $1200. Flexplate is an easy and straight forward swap if you do it yourself.

However you mention project car yet you don't want to do the body work yourself? That defeats the purpose of getting a damaged car since you're going to pay ALOT if you have the quarters done professionally- more than buying a roller chassis without body damage- and even if you replace the quarters and it looks straight then odds are the paint is going to 1. cost a fortune, or 2. not match at all since the rest of the paint is faded.

If you want a project and want to learn, get a nice roller for under $800 (easily done). Find one with little to no rust, repair and imperfections that may cause future rust. Swap in a good engine and the transmission that you want. You get to learn to DIY, you get bragging rights, and most importantly you get what YOU want.

 

heres what $450 gets ya.. body is straight, just surface rust, and it runs fine which means I can drive it till I buy my crate engine. If you don't have any real attachment to a red Z28 you might want to look around a little longer, but if you gots to have it definately make a lower offer.

 

The damage isn't horrible. I wouldn't stay away from the car because it has damage to the quarter... thats a dumb idea. You can fix it just like any other panel. Extensive damage to a quarter is the exact same as extensive damage anywhere else.

However, 2k$ is extremely too high of a price for a car that damaged. These aren't exactly collector cars. And if you're unsure of the engine status that makes it even less worth it. I wouldn't offer any more than 1k$ if you really liked it, simply because the TPI setup would sell for around 500$ or so if you got lucky and then you could put it towards a better motor and fixing the damage.

If you want to learn, have fun, and do it on the cheap look for a junker car or one without a running engine, pay bottom dollar, put in a carbed motor and have fun. Average price for an average third gen I would say would be about 1k$, maybe 500$ or so if its not running.

 

Guys, thanks a lot for your input, I really appreciate it. I went out to look at the car today and definitely didn't see $2k in it. There were a lot of question marks about history and the rest of the car didn't make up for the unknowns. I'd all but decided not to go for the car, but once I got back tonight and checked the board and saw your opinions, that sums it up. I decided that I would try to do the body work myself, for same reasons that firebirdjosh pointed out.

I'm hesitant to jump into too big of a project especially from a technical point of view because even though I've read a good chunk of stuff about how the workings of a thirdgen, etc, I don't have much hands on experience which counts for a bunch. I'm good as long as I can take apart and put together, don't know about the just putting together part... I am really itching for a thirdgen, been suffering camaro withdrawal ever since I had to depart with my 4th gen 4-5 years ago.

Is it efficient/effective to hunt down a nice roller and just learn from building it from the bottom up?

 

That seems pretty good man, where do you guys find these things? I'm in Rolla, MO, about 100 miles from a major city. I'm willing to drive, and I've got a full size truck to tow something back, but I'm getting disheartened because thus far I've driven a total of ~17 hours hunting cars and I've been disappointed after each trip. I've been checking autotrader, cars.com, craigslist, etc.

I'm not at all attached to red, but I am fairly attached to a 350. I'm ready to put a lot of time and effort into it, but I want it going into something I want.

 

have you tried Craigslist.org

 

You're not that far from Springfield, used car capital of s/w MO!

 

Yeah, I'm only a little more than an hour away from Springfield...but Springfield doesn't have my car, yet.