I will be fixing up my 1989 Camaro RS. It has a 305 TBI in it that is getting pulled. I bought this car about 5 years ago for $600, drove it until inspection ran up, then started tearing it apart. I ended up putting the project off for a couple years because I bought a foreclosed house and had to completely remodel that first. Almost everything I'm doing will be done out in my driveway. This is a build on a budget, I will probably be selling when I'm done... due to wayyyy to many projects.

 

Ok, this is what I have so far. As you can see everything has pretty much been stripped off the car. Car was stripped to bare metal.

Pics of rear shell right after I sprayed epoxy...





Pics of fenders, rear bumper, ground effects, etc.

 

More pics of rear shell after I blocked it out.... hatch, ground effects and bumper were mocked up for pics... it should be ready for sealer and paint...

 

All of those pictures are progress so far... and all of that was done this past fall. Since the weather has gotten nicer I've gotten the engine ready to pull. I don't have pictures of the engine bay yet, but I will. My plan is to pull the engine, clean the engine bay, scuff, epoxy, paint, drop new engine in.

Here is the engine I'm dropping in. I got the engine from a buddy for $200. It was a rebuilt engine from advanced auto parts... it just needed cleaned up and dressed up. I removed all of the tbi stuff from my stock engine and swapped it over. TBI got a thorough cleaning, and the intake was dipped, sandblasted and painted.

 

Let me know what you guys think... and I will keep posting up my progress. I will also post some pics of some parts I got for what I think was a good deal. I was unhappy with the condition of my doors, so they will be getting replaced.

 

Looks great for a driveway build! Was the motor ever ran? $200 sounds like a good deal.

 

It was run, but not very much... from what i understand the engine was in a 79 camaro project car that was abandoned at his house when he bought the house... he ended up parting out the car. $200 included a 4 barrel intake he gave me as well. Took the heads off to inspect everything... looks to be very low mileage.

 

Trust me tho, the engine didnt look like that when I got it, it got cleaned, painted, and dressed up.

 

I have seen your car for sale many times on craigslist. I'm surprised it did not sale. Did'nt you want like $900 or something for it? It seemed like a decent price.

 

Yep... I was gonna take $700 for it, not including the cleaned up 305... I said if it don't sell by spring I'd finish it, I wasnt bs'in. Not many people are interested in a car in pieces... ill get it back together and sell it for way more.

 

After work today, I picked up my buddy's engine hoist and pulled my engine today. I already had everything unbolted and ready to go. Tomorrow I'll be degreasing, scuffing, and getting it ready to paint. Check it....

 

Coming out good can't wait to see it finished, what color are thinking of painting it.

 

you gotta keep us posted with your progress so that we all can see the end result.

 

Its gonna be Single Stage Jet Black... I'll see how it turns out... It will be painted where it sits, so I'm hoping I dont get much trash in the paint. I had a lot of luck doing my primer coats so far. Depending on how it turns out, I might wet sand any trash out w/ 1000g and add a couple coats of clear. Thats the plan... we'll see how it goes.

 

Cleaned up the engine bay yesterday, then painted it today... took pictures in the sun so they didnt turn out so well, but you get the point, I'll try and get better pictures later. Looks pretty good in person.

 

have you thought of polishing those rims and painting them black that way it would give it a better look

 

looks like its coming right along, you never know you might want to keep it and drive when your all done.... looking good though

 

Thats the last thing on my mind right now... probably paint them the stock gray color... I'm not a fan of black wheels.

After painting the engine bay today, I wetsanded the car with 600 and masked up the doors & windshield. Gonna have my buddy come over early in the a.m. so I can lift my hatch off and mask that up.

The plan is to spray another coat of epoxy as a sealer, lightly sand with 600, then off to the SS Black.

 

It's gonna look nice once your done

 

Well... today was a pain in the ***... after mixing up my epoxy, I went to spray it and my gun was clogged... cleaned it up and sprayed the rear shell and hatch... Came out pretty good... one small run/sag on the one wheel well... biggest pain was getting my gun dialed in again... still didnt have it perfect, but I was running short on time. Tomorrow I'll wetsand with 600. Heres some pics...

 

Wetsanded today... Kinda nervous that its gonna rain tonight... I plan on dusting a couple really small spots on edges with epoxy that I accidently broke through to bare metal... then I will spray my single stage black.... weather is supposed to be 70 degrees w/ barely any wind... so hopefully all goes well... WISH ME LUCK!!!

 

Got some paint on it today... got some trash in the paint, orange peel, etc... dont look too bad for a driveway job... probably gonna wetsand... try and dial my paint gun in better and give it 2 more coats... not sure what i'm gonna do yet

 

Coming out good and you are doing it in your drive way it looks amazing

 

Well, went to drop my new engine in today and the flywheel from my stock engine did not fit. So... i guess I need to find a bigger flywheel.... dont know... I'll have to look into it some more.... also decided I'm gonna sand down the paint and give it 2 more coats... I had some pretty bad orange peel because I wasnt spraying it wet enough... o well... gotta learn the hard way... ps... painting outside sucks...

 

Heres a sneak peak at my engine in.

 

sorry guys, its been awhile since i posted my progress. I have everything painted... i have some orange peel and trash in the paint, but i'm pretty sure everything should come out with a wetsand and buff. I just started putting everything back together last night, but i'm gonna need some help from you guys identifying nuts and bolts and where they go. I got a great deal on some parts that i used on my car.

I got a front bumper with the lower valance with no tears at all for $60. I sold my old front bumper that was in fair condition for $20.

I bought a lift off cowl hood in decent condition for $60. Sold my old stock hood a while ago for $80.

I also got a pair of manual doors in great shape, no door sag at all, complete with mirrors, gfx, door panels that matched my interior, and a complete set of seats that were the same as mine, but the drivers seat was not torn! And to top it off, I got a t-top bar in perfect shape, and a like new set of hedman headers, full length exhaust into a flowmaster muffler. I paid $275 for all of that I think. I sold my old crappy doors for $20/pair, and my old seat set for $20/all.

So... i got some good deals, and now I'm trying to finish it up and get rid of all these car parts i have sitting in my yard and driveway... haha... I'll post up some pics of my progress once this pittburgh rain stops and I get my front clip on.

 

Well, here are the pics I got... sorry they suck, but this is the best I can do right now... the car is way too heavy to push back in the garage by myself now. I took the pictures after i started wetsanding the doors; they were the parts that turned out the worst because i had runs under the mirrors... after wetsanding with 800g they look good... just need to finish sanding with lighter grits and buff it out. The picture of the drivers side looks weird because of the reflection of stuff i have against the wall.

 

Looking good man!

 

Had some decent weather so I rolled the car out, finished the wetsanding, and did my first round of buffing with compound. Looks pretty good for a driveway job. I'm gonna finish getting the engine all hooked up and running and the new exhaust hooked up. I just ordered a bunch of parts; starter, header gaskets, header bolts, etc... I plan on hitting the whole car with a swirlmark remover when I get everything back together and running. I need some help though... does anyone have a picture of how the front valance is connected to the fenders... i took this car apart over 5 years ago and forget. Thanks in advance.

 

Damn! That old engine was ugly and really dirty. You should keeo the Camaro and get rid of that Rustang in the driveway.

 

I've had so many people tell me to get rid of the stang... honestly though, I'm just a big fan of american muscle in general... always been big on camaro's!!! My uncle told me that I have to own atleast 1 foxbody in my lifetime and i came across that one and bought it... its really clean and its NASTY... I have that one stripped down and ready to start paintwork on that as well! Also got a 66 chevy truck i need to restore, but thats after the camaro and stang

 

I just say that because my mom was talking about how she would rather have my car than her '04 Mustang. She likes the mean look of the Iroc and the growl of the engine! I will post some pics. It goes without saying whose is in better shape, but I just get my first job tonight and will hopefully be able to get it painted and have dent removal done this summer!

 

Thats funny... I've had the same remarks from my mom and my fiance, but that was years ago with other third gen cars I had. I actually am getting rid of most of the stuff I have right now... I have other priorities right now financially, one being to buy some properties, and hopefully get a nice garage I can work on my cars in... and the other being my first child.

 

if i had money, id totally do that! i wish you the best of luck!