So the first pic is after I sanded down a bunch of the left side, I sanded it to were it is in the pic with 36 grit, Note the arrow pointing to the area I sanded out the 36 grit scratches with 120 grit, I will do this to the rest of the car. Pic Two is the hack job bondo repair some A-hole did, It's unbelievalbe how crappy this repair is, he had 3/4 of an inch of bondo in places and the bondo cover a little more than the blue circle entails. This is one of the last places I sanded and before I began sanding I jinxed myself by thinking, ya know this car is in pretty good shape after all... this is the part of the day were dac went from happy to pissed lol (just give me ten minutes with the cheesball that laid this stuff and see how he looks after lol). Pic three is a shot of one off the areas were I sanded straight to the metal, this is one of the lighter places in terms of bondo.

 

Been cruzing the site a lot to see if black was really the color I wanted to go with and found this... DAM!!!!!!

 

Hmm, that black looks good. I was gonna say that your current paintjob looked good. I wanna know how long it took you so far to sand that side down.

And about the spark plugs, just pull the easiest one and test for spark. Then at least it will narrow down what your dealing with... Oh yeah.. i was just thinking. You dont even have to pull the plug, just the wire.. then stick a screwdriver in there and ground it to the block. look for a nice spark

good luck

 

Good idea on the hole screwdriver in wire thing, that's pretty clever. I havn't tried to start it since the first time because it's wrapped in plastic right now and I don't want to take it off, before I do anything I'm going to loosen the distributor "tab" and twist the dirstributor cap right I think I'm just way to far off timing. To do both that one side... the door took forever because I started off with tired 36 grit so the whole side took me about 2.5 hours maybe. Maybe less maybe more, it's hard to keep track of time when sanding, I will say this, I started sanding at 10:30 took an hour for lunch, and sanded from then until 4:30 in the afternoon, so it took me quite a while.

 

What colour are you painting the car. I remember you got some free paint or something a while back.

 

I can get ppg wax and grease remover, urethane 2k high build primer, and self etching primer all for free, and as much as I want, but unfortunatly I can't get base coat or clear coat, so I've been looking at going with trinity paints or kirkle paint (that's the same paint eastwood endorses) however I will likely get my car in primer and then put it up until spring. Color wise I think black, but maybe red.

 

Got a little more done today,
I found a crack in the metal on my fender I'm working on, why in the world would there be a crack there? I also found another in a similair location on my other fender, is this common? I know intrepid, along with your brown oil, your fenders don't crack either ... lol. Anyway I decided to cut it out and weld in a new patch. So the first pic is the crack before. And the second if the fender after I cut the cracked area out. And the third is the peice I cut out, as you can see I had tried to weld the crack, but the metal was so thin it needed to be replaced

 

Quick question for Luke and Intrepid, How many gears can you get rubber in? That being ask back to the subject. The first pic is of the template I made, and the second is it tac welded in, you may look at the second pic and think, dac, aren't you a little old to play with silly putty? First of all, NO! and second of all I'm not playing with it, I'm using it to make a heat dam so I don't warp my pannels, Kevin Tetz taught me that one, The third pic is of some body filler I was making up for my last coats on all my other bondo'd areas on the panel. I mixed some up and covered the crack patch after I fully taced in the patch, then I took what I had left and added fiberglass resin, you may be confused by this, but they both use the same activator on a chemical level, and resin gives bondo much better flow characteristics as well as almost eliminating pin holes. I learned that from Kevin Tetz as well. So that's that for the day.

 

As a side note I tried to start my car today after some diagnostic work, and no luck, I figured out my problem, First of all mark you were right, no spark, so I figured out that I forgot to plug in my hei coil. However my current problem is that I have only two wires out of the four I'm supposed to, to hook up to the coil. I have a pink and a brown one, anyone with an hei distributor please post pics of the wires you have running to your coil and which wires go to whic port, also if you have the time, could you try running them back to their origin so I can look for them at werever they're supposed to be, pics would be helpful.


Thanks, DacMan

 

Another job well done

 

Thanks Man.

 

I donno if its the same with our engines but, when i changed my coil and distributer there were two sockets to plug into on the distributer and you only had to plug in one.. the other socket with nothing in it. I guess it was designed like that so you could plug it into either side.

I have the haynes manual and it has the electrical diagram. Its not with me right now though. Its an hour away in the country at my dads.

Maybe you should get the manual it has lots of useful info in there. like diagrams and how to change things.

 

I have a haynes and a chilton, I looked at the diagram and have already looked at the diagram, it's just that the diagram doesn't show which colors go in which port, there's 4 or 5 ports, also it's confusing as to were they come from. I just need some pics, p.s. Dac's going nocturnal, I'll get pics up tonight.

 

Hey, im gonna try and search some stuff for you. Whats the year and model of your camaro.

 

Hey well this is what I turned up. "

 

Actually both my front fenders are pretty much f%@#ed lol they both need replaced in a bad way. And I can burn rubber in first and second but probably nothing after that. I try not to get into it too hard lol. As for your distributor problem you only need one of the wires, the other one should be for a tach.

 

Sweet thanks guys.

 

First of all I would like to say SHE RUNS!!!!!!!!!!!! That being said I will move on to some questions I have about her and something I bought today. After I got her running I noticed a very quiet sqeel, it doesn't sound like a not, instead more like a belt sqeel, my belts are new, any coorelation??? Also my ps pump was fillted with new fluid but hasn't had been bleed yet so maybe that's it, or could it be that I don't have any coolant in teh a/c pump, it's not plugged in and a very helpful guy as Napa said it would be ok w/out fluid as long as it didn't have any wiring running to it. Lastly could it be that I didn't adjust the lash no my valves coorectly. I really hope not, and it sounds nothing like a knock but more of a wine or sqeel.
Another question I have is that I don't think I'm getting fluid to the block, I filled the radiator and the overflow, and I know it was getting to the thermostat, but maybe the thermostat wasn't letting any fluid in, although it is a new themostat. Should I also fill the block, I don't know how, but I need to figure that out, it must have been running super hot (I didn't run it long) because it was smokin white out the back. Also the exhaust sounds pretty good Luke, thanks again.
So to get to what I bought today. A front bumper, I believe it's an IROC-Z Bumper. It's a little warped, but for 40 bucks, it's sold!

 

Happy new years dac

 

Thanks, the same to you.

 

Here's my thoughs to your question. Like you said I believe it is your power steering pump that is squeeling. Bleed it and go lock to lock and then see if you can still hear the sound.

As for the coolant. I think you probably didnt run the car long enough for it to heat up to activate the thermostat. I know on my car (though a different engine), in the winter it takes about 5 - 6 mins for the thermostat to activate

 

Hey dac, just did some researching. I found that when you are refilling your coolant, you have to burp the system.

So when you car is cold check to see if the coolant is at the top, if not fill it to the top through the rad cap.
Start the car and leave the rad cap off. The coolant system should burp, which means that trapped air pockets in the system are being released. This will lower the level of you coolant, so fill it back up.
Keep doing this till it doesnt burp anymore. Also keep an eye on the temperature guage. Or if you dont have a guage just determine yourself if its getting too hot.

 

Wow, thanks for the info, I am very impressed with your researching skills, mine suck, I looked around the forum forever and didn't find anything.

Thanks Again, DacMan

 

Thanks man, I got that info from searching google. I cant really find what im looking for when I search tgo

try that out and tell me how it goes

 

could you tell me how to get my sig to work?

EDIT: got it

 

I got some stuff today, but it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COLD!!! I can just see intrepid sitting inside not getting his camaro ready for the show in spring sipping on some warm hot chocolate thinking, Bet Dac's out there... what an idiot. lol. Anyway I painted today, 7 degrees and I was out painting. My fan cover has long needed some paint and that's why it hasn't been installed on my car in the pics, It has a chip in it right were everyone can see, so I decided I would paint it in a unique way and if it turned out bad what was I out; a cracked fan cover. I started off painting it with some self etching primer, then regular xo-rust primer, followed up with two coats of krylon krinkle. I'm sure some of you will hate the look and others will like it, maybe.. lol. Anyway that's the first pic, after two coats I took it inside and took my heat gun and warmed that sucker up real hot, and I watched the paint krinkle in front of my eyes, it was actually pretty cool. I'm going to give it another coat because it's spotty in some places. Also I did some wire managment on my engine bay, maybe not too obvious to you all but a lot was done.

 

Yep, i like the way the cover turned out. It looks like how it should from the factory. Can't give my final thoughts till I see it installed, but it looks good right now.

Well dac, its good to see that your engine is all hooked up and running. It looks awesome. Very clean

EDIT: looking at the engine bay again, zoomed in, that valve cover looks awesome!

 

Thanks Mark,
You've been really encouraging and helpful on this project and I appreciate it. I need to get breathers for those valve covers but I havn't got around to it.

DacMan

 

No problem man. Glad to help

 

daaacccc.. wheres the progress

 

lol sorry Mark, yersterday was faily uneventful. I got bondo on my second fender (nothing you havn't already seen on the other) and I also got my wine I told you about fixed, it was the a/c drive belt. It ran from the a/c to p.s. and when it did it twisted too much so it made a noise. I would post pics, but what's there to post. All I did was take half a day and shim the p.s. pump to fit the a/c properly. Ohh and today I'm going to see my uncle in the hospital so no progress again, although maybe a little tonight.

Sorry, Dac

 

Dont worry about it man, and that sounds like a fair amount of work you did anyway.. You fixed the noise so thats one major unknown thing you troubleshooted and solved.. Good job man.
I wish I could get to my car these days. I just got some new e-brake cables and some new lug nuts, as some are missing. Also new marker light bulbs and some more paint to finished the passenger side fender and another coat for the hood.
In the summer im doing a complete proper paint job with spray guns and everything. I will be doing all the same things as you are right now with your bodywork and everything.. Maybe by then I'll have enough to do my LS1 swap!! woo that would be waayyy to sweet.
Alot of work putting into these cars but they will be sweet once done. Plus the resale value is gonna go up so in 10 years or so these babys will be climbing in value and if we keep them in good shape we will make mad profit off what we put into them..
Can't wait for the day I fire up a 350 in my maro.

talk to you later dac, Hope your uncle is alright

 

Just got back from the hospital and he's looking not so great. They say his medicine is imbalanced but I think he may have had another small stroke. I lost my 1/4 inch socket extention and my short 9/16 socket because I threw them at the wall and they are now hidden amongst gallons of old oil cans. lol. Ohhh well. I need to get lug nut locks mine don't have any, what happened to your e-brake cable that broke it? I decided that for now I 'm going to paint the car in primer grey, with red primer hockey stripes, the red will be a fire engine red primer. So it sould look pretty cool, but after summer I may put a good proper paint job on it to protect the body.

 

Hey, When I was welding up the frame rail under the rear seat on the drivers side, I saw that the drivers side cable was completely rusted and snapped and the passenger side cable was half rusted through. I think they are in this shape beacuse the cable runs along a metal tab, which wears on it a lot because this is where they are both damaged. But, The ones I bought came in a casing, protecting the actual cable. I have pictures of them on my car domain page (in the sig).

It seems like we are working on our cars for a long time, but a member on here named neil has been working on his car for almost 4 years and dumping LOADS of money on it. Lots of custom and quality parts.

you should search his name on here and read some of the thread. It's 38 pages long.. so that might take a while to read through ahah. Crazy good looking stuff though.

 

I'm pretty sure I read that thread a few months ago, is it that blue third gen with the tubbed wheel wells, and covette calipers? Anyway it really does feel like I've been working on this thing forever, but at the same time when I look back, I feel like I've done a hell of a lot of work for only about 6 months with a two car garage and cave-man tools lol. Anyway I did get a little done today, however it's not very exciting. So here we go. The first pic is what I was armed with for my project tonight, tape measure, sawzaw with wood blade, heat gun, right angle, red marker, ohh and Dac's incredible determination... lol. Ok so the point is I hate working with wood and that's what I had to do to fix my new bumper, I don't suck at working with wood, I just don't like it. Anyway I the last two pics are what my bumper looked like after trying to reform it with my hands a heat gun, and cold rag. A little better but not much.

 

The first pic is the "jig" I worked up to straighten this thing up, It's pretty complecaited, I call it the 2x4 with lawnmower tire jig, some may not understand it's complexities so just understand that it reforms my bumper.. I just had to cut that 2x4 to fit the space it fills and make sure it didn't push the side out too far. The second pic is my other complicated jig. The third pic is what my bumper looks like with the 2x4 pushing it into shape. After I got both peices in the jig I heated them up pretty hot with a heat gun to loosen the particles, and hopefully they'll condense into this new form, I'm worried their memory will bring them back to were they were before but hopefully a few nights of me coming home and heating the trouble areas up then condensing them with a cold cloth will create a premanant fix.

 

Damn, I had no clue what was goin on in those pics.. aahah dac's determination pic was helarious.

just think of the end result, cruisin the town with a muscle car AND resale value will be going upupupup. It's kinda like working at a job, except you get a sick car as an end result thats worth way more than when you bought it.

p.s there is no third pic

 

Who needs a third pic lol. I don't really believe that these cars will ever be worth much money, just my opinion. Could be totally wrong, but my opinion is that the reason old muscle cars are worth so much is that kids wanted them when they were young, they wanted things like the rs camaro or yenko, or z-28 because they were the hot cars of the day, and now that the baby boomers are rich enough they all want one. The problem with are cars is that our cars didn't have factory options that were super fast other than the formula's and 350 ci cars, those may be worth somthing someday because kids probably wanted that package back in the day, but a an 83 Z28 with a 350 dropped in it wasn't a factory option, making it somthing not really desired back in the day. Plus you must consider the increase in production numbers from the 60's and 70's to the 80's. Lastly the stigma that comes with a third gen creates it even more difficult for it to be worth somthing someday.

Just my thoughts, DacMan

 

That is very true. But if we put 350's and upgrade suspension and all that, It will be a performace vehicle. In 20 years a performance car that is in good working condition, I think, would get a good buck. Especially as many people would rather crush the car than take the time to fix them, less and less are stickin around. So they become more desirable because there are less around. Even now, I only see a third gen maybe 3 times a month. In a while that number will decrease and when people see it they will think WOW haven't seen one of those in a while and the 3rd gen will be more popular. Or they might not

 

there is a place around new hampshire thats called Camaro Heaven http://www.camaroheaven.com/ they specialize in 1967-2000 Camaro and Firebird parts

 

Any updates Dac??

 

No, I'm working 80 hours in the next two weeks, so I'll be working at night, all I did last night was weld in some patches in the floor were rust looked like it was beggining to take it's toll. Tonight families coming over to whatch jeramiah johnston (a family tradition for new years day, that was pushed back this year to tonight) belive me I want to be working on her, I just can't.

Dac

 

That movie is awesome. I love it when the guy is getting chased by the grizley bear and then leaves it for the other guy

my dad always quotes that part aha

 

"Skin that one pilgram, and I'll getcha' another" ROFL!!!

 

Now my the camaro won't start... huhhh. lol. Usually when I push the keep all the way over before the point where it will start turning over I hear a clicking noise, I always assumed it was the fuel pump, but the fuel pump is cam driven. Anyway the clicking noise is no longer present however the engine turns over an all.

 

Sounds like a dead battery to me. I couldnt understand if you said it was turning over or not. But if its not then its a direct sign to a dead battery, loose wires on the battery or starter, or the starter itself could be bad.

My money is an a dead battery, maybe a light was left on sometime after your first start. Check your electronics in your car, like your headlights. See how bright they are to check how charged your battery is.

 

It's turning over in a very healthy way, and my door was closed in the car when turning the key over I just went through the window, this click was a loud mechanical sounding sharp click

 

How many times did it click before it stopped clicking. As in did it happen on differnt tries of starting? so multiple times?

When did the click happen? imediately before the engine started turning, or in the run position with the key switch?

When the car is turning over is it slow at some points or sounds like its laboring at some points? Or hard to get turning?

I think the click might be your starter engaging, but answer the other questions. It will help determine whats goin on

 

It's not my starter it was a sequential order of clicks when in the run position. It would quit after about a minute maybe. The battery is fine and the engine turned over quick as hell.

 

My car does that sometimes when the battery cables arent tight enough on the battery. It causes the relay to click like it has a mind of its own.