I hesitate to say restoration because I think I will not be going that in depth with the work Ill be doing.

I have had this car since 2008 and bought it from a guy thats a thirdgen.org member come to find out. Id love for him to chime in with anything he knows about the car previous to me buying it. He told me that it was a Florida car which I saw on the title when I bought it. No rust anywhere. When I got it the original LB9 was knocking. He shipped me the car along with an L98. So I put that in and drove maybe 3500 miles then it died. So the car had just sat since 2012 as life just got in the way. I bought another GTA (91 5-speed) to drive while I work on this one. Now its time to get started.

Im putting the original LB9 back in but while its apart Im going to do a little to help it have a more pep. Im doing the following and will do more if I find cheap MODs and DIY stuff.

- Dyno Dons headers and y-pipe with dual exhaust
-ZZ4 cam
-LS6 titaniun valves
-LS6 Yellow beehive springs
-Normal stuff to accommodate high lift on the heads
-Porting TPI Intake
-Porting 081 Heads
-Whatever other cheap or DIY things I find
-22lb injectors
-Revised PROM for ECM
-Fuel pressure regulator
-17" GTA Replica Wheels

I wont be changing major components on the car just changes/improvements that are not easily seen by most observers with the goal being more hp.

The engine will be torn down after Easter and the head work will commence followed by the intake work.









I forgot I had this video I made a few years ago.


Here is a video of it when the L98 started going down hill.

 

Good luck. I love the wheels. If you did the work, could you tell me the process that you did to make them look that good. I am planning to strip mine and do them shortly. Thanks.

 

Cool car! Lets see your '91 daily driver, too!

 

Chazman
The 91 is down for work too....... long story. Thats really what forced my hand on this car. I paid someone to paint the 91 and he did a horrible job, even screwed up my interior and disappeared. So Im just going to redo it myself.

Yankeecarman
The wheels are from Hawks Thirdgen and are brand new 17x9. The only thing I wish is that the chrome was not satin but polished glossy like the originals. How hard would it be to strip and polish that I wonder?

I did make some changes on build strategy. I wont do the LS6 valves. Ill be selling those. It looks like for those to benefit me I need to put high performance heads and other upgrades that are not worth while on this motor.

 

The new wheels would have been clear coated. You are in the same boat with me I guess in that you would have to strip the clear coat to do more polishing on the wheels. Lots of work. I am going to try soda blasting mine and then polish them before clear coating again. I wont do that until the cold weather comes here.

 

Does your 87 have a power pull down for the rear of the top? and a switch located on driver side rear speaker panel?

 

I believe the switch is there but the motor is gone I'll check today and confirm the switch

 

Did you ever check on the switch?

 

The lever part of this switch is obviously broken off. There is no motor on the pull down portion however. Just the big carter pin. The tonneau cover release switch still works though.

 

I am over a week late now getting my engine over to the builder. This sucks cause I really want the car running by months end. Some of my engine parts got damaged in transit so I am waiting on their replacements.

 

So the engine is with the builder now. He sent some pictures today. This was a 77k mile or so engine when it was pulled. It ran good with the exception of the knocking. Still had plenty of seat-of-the-pants torque. It would chirp the tires easy between 1st and 2nd.

Anyway check out the gunk. Im surprised

to see that.

 

Will begin work on repainting and cleaning up in the engine compartment. Where can I find replacement decals for the hood, fan shroud etc. I did a search found a lot of old threads. I did find a site that had early thirdgen camaro stuff but nothing specific to 87 camaro/firebird.

Any pics of engine bay tpi cars would be greatly appreciated.