No, this isn't one of those "Which is/Do you like better" things.

I've got a dilemma. My 87 is going to the scrappers. More rust now than 2 years ago due to sitting outside. So, in it's place, since I have more than $2000 in NEW parts or rebuilt parts (engine, trans) to put into a roller, I'm buying an 88 Camaro.

First the good parts: Camaro is a full roller, hardtop. No engine or trans. Looks like it is/was either an IROC or Z28 (or it just had ground effects slapped on it, won't know for sure until I look at the VIN). All body panels included except maybe the center spoiler (3-piece spoiler) section. Looked like good glass and weatherstrips. Floor pan had recently been completely replaced. Body had been repainted a metallic red (although whoever did it forgot to remove things such as the hood louvers and the taillights so the stock Bright Red shows through!). Both battery trays in place and rust free. "TPI" intake snorkel. Speedometer's odometer says about 97K.

Now for the bad... Car is FULL of extra parts I don't need (and can't sell because most are junk due to someone spraybombing them black over the tan). Manual windows (means I'll need to swap in my regulators and window harness). There is one single rust hole under where the heater box assembly (yes, that's missing too and the blower hole on the firewall is blocked off) would be. Dash is completely missing EXCEPT the metal bar that runs across the bottom and is used as a ground point for the wiring. ALL WIRING IS MISSING except possibly for the windshield wipers (the motor is still in place and has the connector on it but I don't know about the rest of the harness as I didn't get much of a chance to look). Lower radiator support is rotted out and replaced with what looks like a piece of aluminum gutter (saving that out of the 87 to put in). Don't know about a headliner... Didn't really get a chance to look with the car full of crap in the way.

As for the dilemma... I know someone is going to flame me for this, but I'm looking at doing a Firemaro conversion. My existing wiring (Bird) is going into the Camaro. No other choice as I don't have the time to hunt up a good set of harnesses. Which means that either I don't use the headlight motor wiring and have to rewire my headlights AGAIN (got the harness set up for 91-92 Bird headlights a couple months ago), or my 91-92 Bird front end goes on the car. The taillight harness shouldn't be that hard to set up, IF I use my factory 87 base model harness and delete a couple extra lights and rewire the connector I modified to put the 82-85 tails on the 87 (C208 A and B). Also need to either use the Bird dash (with ELECTRONIC speedometer) or get one out of a 4th gen (been looking at one from a 93-97 Camaro for a while). Either way, I need to get a complete dash assembly. And the Camaro still has a cable speedo while just about anything I can readily find is electronic (the 91 Bird in one yard and pretty much everything in the other because there really aren't any thirdgen Camaros in there. mostly 4th gens and Birds). Which means that either I need to find a way to transplant the odometers over or deal with a speedometer cable and wiring I don't have (even though the MegaSquirt doesn't accept a VSS signal). Yes, I do have a speedo cable drive for the T-5, 2 in fact, but I'd rather keep the VSS I paid $45 for and not worry about how the cable was run or whether it's going to be right.

I'm in a pickle here...

 

that sounds like a boatload of work

 

oh yeah and i wouldnt trust the odometer, theyre known to fail on thirdgens along with the rest of the cluster

 

WOW, more work than I would want to do. I say make a Birdmaro, sway the bird front clip on it-why not? it's not like it's a nice car to start with so make something crazy out of it. Might as well use the bird dash as well if you have it all.

 

Didn't think I got any replies... Must have unsubscribed or something.

The Bird dash is NOT a direct fit and would require cutting of the dash supports for the Camaro dash. The side supports are completely different. Which is why I plan on getting a 4th gen (93-95 3.4 Camaro) dash with heater module. It's the same amount of work with a little bit of wiring modifications.

I'm keeping the Camaro as it is and the Bird is getting junked as it is. I already sold the headlight motor module for the Bird (put it in the mail 2 days ago), so the headlights are useless without the right module. I bought a complete dash to tail harness for the Camaro and used only the tail light harness (Bird body harness has been modified with hatch release and security), and also bought a headlight/front end light harness as well.

I could swap the parts over, but the Camaro front end needs 1 piece to be complete, the pass side hood louver (besides replacing the hood shocks which couldn't hold a feather up). And it's been painted. The Bird front end requires metal work on the hood, replacement pass side fender (screwed up the back now getting it too close to the door ), new hood shocks (work when hot and not when cold), and the headlight motor module. Plus paint.

I was thinking of swapping the parts over and getting the body work taken care of. And then swapping the 91-92 Bird GFX onto the car and making my own quarter panel GFX that would blend the IROC bumper to the Bird GFX, but I don't have any experience with fiberglass. I had a paint scheme in mind that worked perfectly with the Bird GFX and the 91-92 Z28 high-rise spoiler I have in the garage (originally came off of the 87, was on there when I bought it), but I think that might have to wait for a Bird chassis.