"1979" anything and "high performance" shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

Spending a dime on 1979 factory heads, with the possible exception of gas to the recycle yard, is a waste of 10 cents.

The shortblock can be rebuilt, but poor castings (porosity, casting shifts), poor machining, sloppy drilling were common in those days.

$400 is about $300 too much.

Those are my thoughts.

 

Thanks I appreciate your honesty. That being the case I guess that ones out of the question. I found one for $150 that the guy said should fit a 1982-1992. says it ran well before pulled. Any thoughts on that?

 

That's a better price, but info on the casting numbers (block & heads, mainly) would be useful. I haven't read all the way through this thread, but I'd assume a bottom end rebuild (bore, pistons, rings, bearings, turn crank, resize rods w/ARP bolts or replace rods, cam). Whether or not to do anything with the heads depends upon the casting #'s.

 

I'm not even planning a rebuild, I don't plan on keeping this car forever, and if the engine runs well then I think I'll leave it that way. I'll get you info on the casting numbers if I can find em'.


Thanks, DacMan

 

Hey, does anyone know wether or not an 89' iroc-z bumper will fit on an 83 Z-28?

Thanks, DacMan

 

What do you mean by bumper? the whole front face or just the lower lip on the front of the car or what?

 

The front bumper skin that attaches to the front left and right fenders. I don't know about any lower lip, but it does come with the little strips that attach to the bottom of the front left and right fender. The fender I took off of my car is one peice. BTW guys sorry for so few pics, the computer I was loading all my pics on was my brothers and when he left he took it, I am currently trying to get the software I need to load onto the old beater I've got. lol.

 

Yeah it should work. Pretty much everything from every other third gen will swap onto other third gens. You can get alot of parts from firebirds, even, but there are alot more limitations on the parts from them that you can use on a camaro

 

hey awsome thread i am doing the same thing with my 86 camaro i got a 350 in it .30 over wit mild cam MSD igntion delco rapid fire plugs MSD wires holley contender intake manifold and going to see how it runs with the 650 double pumper carb on it but i was wondering if any one can help me out i dont really no how to set up the AC and power steering on the 350 with the brackets does any one know were i can get this info ? maybe a link or a pic would be awsome thanks

 

just givn you the thumbs up for the good posts and pics. makes me wish i had my own place to work on mine. its been sitting outside for a year and a half waiting for a rebuid that i cant really afford lol

 

I hear ya man, hard to find a place to work on em. Sorry everyone about no new pics and posts. I have a bunch of stuff I need to post, I'm just having trouble getting the usb inlet on my computer to read my camera. I'll work on it today and see if I can't get some pics up.

 

Alright boys, my bad on the delay of pics, but I finally got my software to work on my different computer. I'll cut to the chase; I've been removing all the accessories from my engine compartment such as power steering pump, winshield wiper motor, etc. Because I'm going to paint the engine block and the bay, all while the engine is in the car. It would be much esier to remove the engine, but that's $100 bucks I aint got. So here we go. I pulled my alternator in the removal of everything (ofcourse) and decided to try to clean up the mess. Here is is before I touched it.
Camaro 1.JPG
If you can see it well enough you will notice some random spots of very dark grease or maybe oil. Anyway I had to use paint stripper to get it off but eventually I did. Then I went over the entire alternator with a brush and some laquer thinner. Man did it remove the years of dirt and grime. I then sanded down the pulley and fan thingy and painted it black, so here she is after I finished.
Camaro 4.JPG

 

As usual there's more so here we go again. I decided to paint the engine accesorie brackest gloss black. I did not use a high heat paint in hope of them not getting too hot. I used exo-rust's grey primer for the first time on these and loved it. Not perticularly becuase of the paint, but the can. The nozzle specifically; it comes with a fan spray nozzle that looks like the usual round *** nozzle. It's really easy to lay flat paint with this system. I then painted over the primer with some duplicolor gloss black. It's really difficult to get these parts clean enought to not have orange peel. So I have complied a system that might help you guys if you ever do this. I first go over the entire peice with a wire brush to get as much dust and grease off so I don't load up my sand paper with dirt. I then sand the part down to steel in spots with rust, and scuff up the painted areas. Then I wipe the part down about four times with any houshold window cleaner. It must be houshold not automotive, you can't use automotive because it's made not to take the wax off your car when you use it, however home is made to take off wax and grease, so it is a perfect cleaner. If the peice you are painted is really greasey skip the windex and use brake cleaner. Not carb cleaner only brake cleanre because it doesn't leave a residue. Then hang the peice to be painted (ofcourse dry the peice with a paper towel as best as possible) and let it sit for about 15 minutes to let any solvents evaporate off. Then go over the peice with a tac rag and paint. Here's a pic of the peices I did.
Camaro 5.JPG
I have decided to use duplicolors engine enamal, because it seems to be the industries standard. I chose chevy orange to attempt to give this car an old school look. So here is a vaccum actuator that I painted.
Camaro 6.JPG

 

I'm not done yet so keep reading. As mentioned on a previous date I am redoing my steering wheel. So here's a pic again for those who forgot what I'm doing.
Camaro 7.JPG
I want everyone opinion on this wheel I'm about to show you. If you don't like it let me know because I'm not quite sure I like it. If you don't think it will fit my interior don't worry about that because I will be making other parts like this as well. Here is what I did. I painted the wheel to look like it's carbon fiber, it isn't perfect but it does look kinda like it. I then painted the inside piece black because it looks better that way. Keep in mind I will be polishing the screws that hold the wheel on, so that should spice it up a bit. I realize it's a bit busy but it's there's one thing I hate it's a boring interior. I don't want to get crazy but stock can sometimes be lame.
Camaro 8.JPG

 

I am currently having trouble removing the exhaust, and am wondering if it's worth the trouble to replace the gaskets and de-carbonize. My problem is I think I might have a leaking head gasket on my driver's side bank. I have oil build up around the mount and can't tell if that's normal.

 

Got the headers off!. But I need crapped myself about three times because I thought I snapped a bolt. Anyway now that, that is done I need help getting the heads off. I don't know how to get to the bolts off that are between the rockers w/out taking off the rockers... if that is so fine, but what worries me is that some are compressed. I can't remove those without them flying everywhere or hurting somthing can I. If you all want me to turn my engine then that's fine as well but it concearns me becuase I've remover my dirtributor, shaft and all, and don't want to screw up timing. Any ideas??????

 

You need to remove the rockers. Some of them are on the lift of the cam lobe - a few turns and all of the tension will be off when the valve closes. They won't go flying anywhere.

 

Thanks I really appreciate the help.

 

Hey guys,
Last night I got the rockers and push rods out, I also got the head bolts loosened, but when I tried to remove it it wouldn't budge. I assume it might need some persuasion. But I don't know. I'm kinda worried aout hurting the thing. If there are any tricks I should know about I'd love to hear them. I've only restored garden tractors, with single cylinder cast iron kohlers. So all this head removal and engine work is totally foreign. So please be patient with me. I'll try some pressure tonight and if I get it off I'll try to post some pics. I'm pretty sure the head gaskets blown so it'll be interesting to see.

 

Theres some excellent books on amazon.com or maybe in your local book stores.
These books go in detail on small block chevys.
I recently bought a few of these and the tricks and pointers in them are great. I'm not at home ATM (on a field job) but if you go to the tbi section and look in the sticky for the budget tbi build you'll see on of the books there

 

I have a chiltons and hayes. But some things just are a little confusing. However I got my heads off. Those bolts under the heads can't be seen with out the exhaust manifold. I did find em' however and got the heads off! Getting those two bolts that hold the manifold to the exhaust pipe was such a pain, but I did it with the help of Aero-kroil, and time.

 

Here's the manifold I finally got off! I want to take the heat "shield" thing that's for heating it up. But It looks too new, and I won't be using it so I think I will. Here's a pic just to emphasize how oily the area around were the head mates to the block was. There has to be something wrong here. Right? Maybe it's just 26 years of oil, but it seemed really excessive. I realize that the drivers side bank is were the oil is poured in, but still it seem like a lot of oil build up.
Camaro 10.JPG
Here's one with the head removed. It is really dirty!
Camaro 11.JPG
Here's the block with out the heads. Antifreeze poured into the cylinders when I pulled the heads, and the fluid remained at the same levels in the cylinder for about 25 minutes until I removed it. I realize gravity is likely pulling the pistons down, but the fact that the fluid didn't seep through makes me think that I have good compression. While you guys looks at this pic tell me what you think of the gasket. Looks pretty tired to me, but not blown. I should be able to tell if it's blown by discoloration in the gasket were it's been leaking right? Either way I though I'd mention that the gasket is warped. I am going to do a die "leak down" test on the head, maybe it has a crack. Anyways here's the pic.
Camaro 12.JPG

 

I took my head apart and found that it had some very brittle valve seals, some were even cracked an torn up. So that's why my engine was smoking blue (as I thought). I have a question for Five7kid or anyone for that matter. I am looking at this gasket package because it's cheap. I'm not building a performance car and wanted to know if this package would be sufficient. Here's the link
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...andName=Felpro
You opinions would be highly valued, DacMan

 

Anyone? Please.

 

Yeah that should do just fine. I can't view your pics right now cause IE is retarded but once I get on Ubuntu and I have firefox I'll look them up and let you know my "professional" opinion lol

 

I got a book today that talks about composit head gaskets compared to steel. It says that steel is fine for cast iron heads, and composite gaskets are good for cast iron and aluminium. I still need some advice though, because I don't want to get a gasket that's only going to last me a year or two. I want a good gasket that'll last a long time with out any problems. Can a metal gasket achieve that? Also do you have to use permatex or some sort of gasket sealer if you use a steel gasket. Or can you just put steel on steel?

 

Well boys I got bad news. There are steel tubes that come out of my cast iron headers. And they lead to one joining point and then to some sort of pollution control crap. Well it's rusted through to the point of there being no possible way for me to fix it. My question is, can I just plug the old holes with brass threaded plugs and get rid of whatever the things ran to, or do I have to replace the pipes?

 

Just to clarify what I said (I have a hard time explaining myself). I know that I need to plug the manifolds, so I think I can just remove all the crap that the AIR tubes run to. My question is, if I do this, then what do I do with the hose that I pointed out on the left. Right now it is not hooked up to anything at all, but I've never used the A/C system because the hoses were messed up, so I don't know what it does or if it's necessary. Also the thing I pointed to furthest to the right.
Camaro 13.JPG
Can I get rid of it, and if so how. I realize some of you might thing I just need to search, but I've read more have started never finished how to remove emissions threads than I can shake a stick at, and even more how do I remove emissions threads that start out with a question and then someone posts that the writer needs to Search. Well I've searched and found nothing, and I really need some help right now. I'm an 18 year old self taught fool, trying to play with the big boys, and I NEED SOME HELP! All the guys reading this thread, there won't be one anymore if I can't get this project moving in the right direction. I'm really lost here guys. BTW, thanks for the thoughts on the head gasket set intrepid.

Thanks to Anyone Willing To Help Me, DacMan

 

Come on guys, I know there are some really knowledgeable people who read this thread, if you could just point me in the right direction? I tried to get the last header bolt off on the passenger side bank and could'nt get a wrench on it, looks like I'm going to have to remove the air conditioning box, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! lol.

 

Don't mean to post here every twenty minutes but I'm trying to help you all help me (lol, no I'm not jerry maguire lol) Anyway, I'm posting because I found out what is pointed to with the right arrow in the pic above. It't the canister control valve. From my research I know that I really don't want to get rid of my charcol canister unless I want my thirdgen to smell like gas, and get worse gas milage, so what I think I'm going to do with it is re-locate it. I think somwhere bolted down by the canister. It looks so trashy in the middle, so that's probably what I'll do. If anyone has any thoughts on that I'd be elated to hear them.

Thanks, DacMan

 

The A.I.R. tubes can be removed and plugged with no effect on the way the car runs. However, it isn't legal to do that.

The gasket set should be okay. I couldn't tell from the AZone description if it was steel or composite, but they're typically composite. I assume your valve covers are perimeter bolt.

I've considered moving the canister control valve down by the canister, but have never picked up the hoses required nor taken the time to do it. It would certainly make it easier to check your timing.

 

Thanks for the help five7kid, I am also considering welding up a box to the firewall, that covers the canister and valve. Another question I have is should I use steel or brass plugs in order to plug the manifold, also where would I find plugs? Another thing, the gasket is a steel shim gasket, Is that alright, do I have to use a sealer on a steel shim gasket, I read you should atleast around the water ports.

Thanks Again, DacMan

 

People typically use brass, obtained from the neighborhood hardware store (Ace, Lowes, etc.).

Steel is what the factory used. Composite are more forgiving of surface irregularities of the head or block, which is why they are often used in rebuild kits.

I spray both sides of the head gasket with Coppercoat spray. I've also used aluminum paint.

 

Cool! this should be easier than I thought, I shouldn't spray a composite with anything right? Also one other question, when I removed the group of crap that the A.I.R. system ran to, did I do anything that will relate to my ac or performance, I know what A.I.R. does I just am worried that I'll screw somthing up by removing it. (btw my previous owner removed the cats and I live in indaiana so I'm not going to put cats on it, so the holw A.I.R. wariming up the cats thing is unneccesary).

Thanks For The Help, DacMan

 

You should be able to remove the AIR system with no ill effects, and I would go ahead and spray the composite gaskets too, just to ensure a good seal.

 

Thanks Intrepid, my dad's on vacation so the camera went with him, but he's back on Tuesday so I should have a bunch of pics up by wendsday. This was a big weekednd, I got my a/c box removed (only to find it was cracked... I'll probably use some fiberglass hair bondo, and smooth it out then paint it all black. I also got a bunch of the engine bay sanded down with a scotchbrite pad. My wiring hardess isn't hacked up, but it's really unorganized. I will probably try to adress that before paint. Also my brake lines have a bunch or line spooled in circles under the booster. It looks so crappy, but I don't know how to fix it? Any ideas?

 

Hey, just found this thread. Amazing job so far and really good attention to detail. I have a camaro that looks exactly like yours and I'm doing the floor pans right now too plus im also 18.

One question do the pans need to be bead rolled? or can they be flat. I am using 19 gauge steel.

I'm also planning a engine swap to a 350. Not for a while though because I barely have any money .. But there is a freshly built 350 down the road from me for 1800 all tuned up.

Your floor pans turned out very well and im going to freshen up my tail lights like yours. How do you wet sand??

I will be following your progress and you should check out mine. I update it every weekend because thats the only time i have to work on it.

Here is the link http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3382110
there is a bunch of stuff on that page, like body work, frame work, audio work, and the whole restoration

 

Cool man, good to hear there's others like me. Wet sanding is a process were sandpaper is made wet in order to keep the contents sanded off from getting the sandpaper from loading up. If you wet sand get a bowl and put warm water in it (it doesn't have to be warm, it's just more comfortable for you), and throw a little bit of dishwasher soap in (this lubricates your sandpaper) and get the sandpaper and the piece you are sanding wet. Then sand away, you will find that wetsanding produces a very smooth finish. If you decide to wetsand a very flat surface and haven't wet sanded much then use an interface pad, or a sanding pad (both will work) this keeps you from finger sanding and resulting in grooves in whatever you're sanding.

 

Good advice thanks

 

Hey sorry about not answering the first question, I was at school and got side tracked. I don't really know if they have to be bead rolled, but I wouldn't do it with out it, considering the unibody and all, I figured that the floor pans are a somewhat important part to the overall unibody structure. It's really incredible how much stronger the steel is after it's bead rolled. It was really hard to find a guy with a bead roller though, so it took me a while, but I'm glad I did it in the end. Also being that I'm at home now I got to check out your thread, really good work man, Those patches and bondo work looks good. I'll be keeeping up with your progress. Hope all goes well.

Good Luck, DacMan

 

Alright, my dad's finally home from vacation and I've got pics! I spent this weekend sanding down my engine bay. I would start on a inner fender and clean it with laquer thiner first to get any grease off, then I went over it with a scotch brite pad.

 

Alright, my dad's finally home from vacation and I've got pics! I spent this weekend sanding down my engine bay. I would start on a inner fender and clean it with lacquer thinner first to get any grease off, then I went over it with a scotch brite pad. So here's a pic of one side
Camaro 15.JPG
And here's a pic of the other
Camaro 16.JPG
I am going to paint the engine bay with VHT's chasis paint, I also picked up some duplicolor trim paint, and some silver VHT header paint.
Camaro 17.JPG
I don't know whether to wet sand to 320 or not, I don't really know what grit a scotch brite is, but I want a smooth finish, so I might. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

You may have noticed in the pics above that I don't have the a/c box installed. I decided to remove it, because if I didn't my paint job was bound to look like I did a half *** job, and I don't have any reason to settle for that with all the work I'm doing. When I removed it I did find a problem. there is a big crack in the side, here it is.
Camaro 19.JPG
Now I'm contemplating fixing it, not just because a used one would be hard to find and expensive, but because to get one out of a junk yard would be such a pain, that it isn't worth it. So my thought is that I'll go ahead and sand the area around the scratch down and put some fiberglass hair on it using the piece that is about to fall off as a patch. Then I'll sand that down and bondo it, and then paint the whole thing gloss black. Any thoughts on whether that is a good idea or not would be appreciated.

Lastly I have a big question for everyone. I have purchased a new head gasket and overall upper gasket set for my 305. Being that my heads are torn down, it seems kinda stupid to put all my new gaskets on them and then never clean the carbon out of them. So my question is, should I port them... should I just have them dipped (if so were, and how much does it usually cost)... should I clean them with a wire brush (just the heads, also what do I do with the valves, clean them or not?)... or should I just leave them like they are? I'm kinda stuck until I hear from someone, so any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks, DacMan

 

Hey, thanks for the compliment on my work.

I would recommend doing the work to your a/c box. I bet it will look really good once it's done. Everything else you fixed looks good.

And I wouldn't throw too much money at the 305. I would get it running and after a while of saving you should have enough for a nice 350. Thats my plan for my tiny 2.8l ahah

 

Yeah I understand what you mean about the 305, but I'm going off to collage this upcoming fall, and don't think I'll have the money or time for a 350 swap. Maybe I will. I agree with you though, I'm trying not to throw too much money at it.

 

Where did you get your bead rolling done?

I've called 6 places so far and no one has a bead roller

 

I ask the place I bought the steel from, and they said they had a contact that had a bead roller. You might try that. If you live in Indiana I can give you the number of the guy I went to. You can also buy bead rollers. They're about 100 bucks for a cheap one.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna let my dad know that there are bead rollers for sale for around 100.

I found a place btw.. Took over 15 calls though

 

Good job, I assume you found it at a machine shop? Anyway I got some stuff done today. Not much but some. I took the air box and cleaned it. I hate to work on stuff until it's clean and I can see what I've got. I took the air "fan" and pulled it out, cleaning it in the sink with a tooth brush first, and then going over it with googone and a paper towl. Googone seems to really remove any dirt that can be removed from plastic. I then clened the "radiator" inside it, trying to get all the leaves and lint out of it was a real challange, but a air compressor made work a little easier. I then wiped the whole assmebly down with a towl and 409. Like I've said before, I like to use houshold window cleaner because it's bassically a wax and grease remover and it's cheap.
Camaro 20.JPG
Here's the inside after I cleaned it.
Camaro 21.JPG

 

oops