Got the intake gaskets & water pump buttoned up yesterday... Thing was nasty inside.


Couple pics from the underside now that I finally got in on a lift... No rust!!! Lost of undercoating I'm gonna wash and degrease this baby later, so some clean (hopefully) pics to follow.




My 8 month old Braxton helped me the whole time. His first intake job

 

Well I haven't really driven the car since I bought, so now that the intake gaskets, spark plugs, O2, and all the fluids/filters are serviced I took it out at lunch...

Service engine light comes on and immediately falls on its face. Pull into grocery store as its trying to stall out, cutting off a Mustang and stalls. Will only make 1500 rpms with WOT, and puffing out black fuel smoke. Attempt to limp back to shop at 1500 rpms WOT, and suddenly kicks in and spins the tires, and SES light is out!!! Scan it to find TPS signal voltage low... Inspect sensor to find that the connector with the broken clip I thought would be ok... loose. At least I made it back!

 

Hey at least it was just a broken clip

 

Your telling me! I was too far to wanna walk back and pushing that tank 100 degree weather is out! HAHA!

 

I hear ya, when you push these things they seem to weigh a metric ton

How are you doing with the wildfire situation out by you?

 

The fire just miles from my shop is now at 100% containment... still burning, but not spread, so the air has been better. The one in CO. Springs was so horrible Obummer came out to see the damage. It getting better, but no fireworks this year

 

Nice build and lucky find on the car.

 

Thanks man. Its been fun keeping this completely stock. Totally different than the 91 where changing things was the goal.

 

Your garage will be cool. One completely modded car and a factory car showing both sides of 3rd gen's.

 

It will get back to cool haha! I had my 91 Z, a 93 slammed S10, 9" lifted 06 Crew Cab silverado, and a 67 Chevy C10 all in my garage before wives and baby haha!

I'm pretty damn happy and proud to have them both. I'm hoping I can show them side by side late in the summer.

 

So after my fun yesterday at lunch I played with it after work. Was running warm (235*) with fans running and a 180* new t-stat, so inspected the radiator and /ac condensor fins...

PLUGGED!!!! Looks like a cat was living in there... YUCK!


We have an attachment on out pressure washer specifically for this, and cleaned them out perfectly

 

I also cleaned my washer fluid bottle... I had forgotten about this amazing plastic cleaner that I found when clean the underhood of the 91 years ago


Brake fluid... yep I said Brake fluid. We all know it will eat the paint off metal surfaces. Well years ago there was yellow paint pen "maintenance records" painted on bottles fan shroud and alternator. I used a rag soaked with brake fluid to remove the paint with out damaging the plastic.

I used this same method of a brake fluid soaked rag and also a brake fluid soaked Scotch bright pad to clean the bottle. I am very happy with the results. nearly new condition of the plastic.

beforeBottle was not in horrible shape as you can see, but had severe stains, and paint? overspray on it.


after Much better even though the purple washer fluid doesn't really help show the contrast. It looks great! I have a new correct cap at home


I'm gonna try it on the coolant bottle and just see what happens even though I have a replacement coming from Hawks.

 

Looks like its coming along well. Thanks for the brake fluid tip, I'll definately give that a try the next time I clean my plastic overflow tank.

 

Yeah it is! I have a pile of parts at home to put on, but no time. Yeah the brake fluid works really well... hope it works as well for you.

I have another tip/trick to show you guys, but I wanna be able to show some good before and after pics. Stay tuned LOL!

 

Well Hawks put their convertible top trim panel on sale... so another part on the pile!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/89-92-Firebi...item3f1947d50a

 

So I just noticed your sig picture had two cars and I had to dig up this thread, congrats on the new project.. I want something new to wrench on too!!

 

It's coming along very nicely!

 

Thanks Brisk! Your welcome to come on down and play man.

If I could just get more time to work on it I would really be making progress

 

So not sure if anyone noticed the missing muffler, so I had a flow pro muffler and slash cut tips off the old 92 parts car welded on... It sounded so horrible, but I can honestly say that that was the first mistake I have made with this project... its ugly I load some pics later.

 

I don't like it...

 

well tips are easy to change... what are you thinking about now?

btw, I don't think it's ugly. a little generic maybe, but not ugly

 

Well I'm thinking about just cutting off the tailpipes and welding on a factory style Walker turn downs pipes. These "cowboy" cut tips look crappy to me, and especially since they are too far out.

I thought I would be able to "cheap" out on the exhaust and re-use the muffler/tailpipes from the parts car... guess not

 

So on my lunch break today I installed the "old" bottle from my 91 into the vert. I think it looks pretty good from what it did a month ago. Still need to clean/treat the rubber & plastics.





I think this used bottle looks alot more at home in there than if I had chosen to install the new one in here, instead of the 92.

 

Car is looking better everyday Bro

 

Thanks man! Trying to do something to everyday. Replaced the oil pressure sender... it now reads pressure all the time

Got my Hawks vert top panel tonight... anyone buy one of these? There is no mounting screw holes in mine. Is there supposed to be?

 

HA! I can relate to that...last year I sold, gave away & even junked stuff I had thinking it would be a while before I got around to owning another third gen...a few months later I bought another and kicking myself in the a$$! LOL

Nice buy!

 

ITS SO GORGEOUS! doesnt even look like the same car anymore lmao

 

Thank you! I just kicked myself again. Had a box of 6x9s & 4x6's that as I improved the stereo in the 91 I have always kept. Bought a new house and decided to toss that box out also Here's to another $200 bucks LOL!

Thanks man! I'm pretty happy with how things are coming out. Still spending more money on little stuff that I really didn't want too, but it will make the fit/finish of the end result that much better.

 

Well I got had to replace a sensor and decided to snap a picture with exhaust on, and pressure washed undercarriage. I bead blasted the trans pan to remove spray paint jobby that someone did.


So its cleaner, but the pressure washed off some of the undercoating in areas where it was put on light... Should I try and remove the rest of it for aesthetics, or leave it?


Oh one more job to put on the to-do list... Why is my carpet turning green? Dammit!!!!

 

I would recoat the undercoating, it may not look as good as a non undercoated car but if its a driver it really stops the rust

 

Rust is not a big deal here in CO, like CA, and AZ... Its too dry for severe rot.

I'm planning on selling the car off at some point, so keeping prospective buyers thoughts/opinions on the cars condition is important. I think that it would look best removed, but is it worth the PITA to get it all off and make it look good, or would anyone give a shift?

 

id prefer to buy a car that has been or still is undercoated, because i drive mine and live on the east coast, altho 2 of my camaros wer not undercoated and wer stilll rust free.. so idk, if its a show car then NO undercoating, i like the clean painted undersides, but for a driver definably yest

 

I'm torn on the undercoating... and looked up the procedure on the heater core... Not fun!

 

heater cores are a P.I.T.A in third gens

 

I'm not excited to do it. First of my thirdgens to ever need it. Guess this one was the only one that was given up on, and parked.

 

man the heater core is NO FUN at all to replace. Only job on the camaro that I've started and had to walk away from to cool off.

 

Car is looking great! I'd re-undercoat the car myself. Keep up the good work!

 

Cleaning trick - I found the most amazing CHEAP carpet cleaner ever... My wife spilled her box of nail polish and broke two bottles of red nail polish in our brand new carpet after our re-model. Huge puddle of red paint in my hallway. We tried everything to get it out... Nail polish remover, acetone, brake cleaner, vinegar etc... Nothing would remove it, and now we have a large pink stain. My little sister says "Shaving cream will take it out"... One can of Barbasol regular ol foamy shaving cream, and a clean white cotton rag, and you would never know there was a stain.

I thought... if it will take paint out of carpet I bet it would just clean carpet well... So I used 1 can of Barbasol Pacific breeze (cheapest at the store) and scrub brush and proceeded to scrub the shaving cream into the areas with noticeable staining/dirtyness. I then used warm soapy water and a scrub brush for the entire carpet and mats, finishing off with shop vac to suck all the water out. There is a stain under the passenger seat I didn't do, cause I thought you'll never see it, but it turned out so good I think I need to go back and "fix" it.

Before:



After:

 

Nice trick. We'll give it a try. Thanks!

 

wow that is a neat try, i gota try that on my sport coupe, if only i new that 2 months ago i wouldnt have bought new carpet for my iroc :/

 

Looks great, thats the first time I've heard of that trick.

 

I'm happy to share with anyone willing to read my thread

The aftermarket carpet is such low quality. I'm very happy with how nice this came out. I actually would like to install this carpet in my 91 to replace the ACC carpet the now when side to side with factory appears to be turning green... too much work haha!

I was amazed it took finger nail polish out. Hope it helps someone else.

 

Got a used wiper stalk of a member, and installed that today during my lunch break. Its not perfect, but man is it better!


Also got my hatch release switch (new GM) popped in. Looks too good in there

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

No problem!

 

Dude, I thought this was going to be a joke, I have been around car for close to 40 years and never heard this ever. The results speak volumes, I guess I need to put a can of Foammy in my detail kit.

 

No doubt! I was more amazed it took paint out my house carpet that acetone wouldn't touch! The used camaro carpet is a super bonus!

 

that looks bitchin!

 

Now if only you had a miracle cure for the carpet turning green! I've got the same problem. LOL!

 

Thanks man! I don't really care for that look, but I had the setup and it didn't cost me anything to get a muffler on it.

I'm thinking about trying the GM cooling system sealer tablets... I will let you know if they work.