Greetings,

Let me preface this by first saying hello, and secondly by announcing to the entire forum of hard-core car guys that I am not a car guy myself nor did I have any interest in cars up until last year when my wife's father brought home an old Camaro, rebuilt it, and gave it to us so we wouldn't have to drive around in an old VW beetle with no A/C in the southwestern heat anymore.

It was literally, the first and only car I've ever fallen in love with at first sight. Originally it had 69K on it and had the original 305 engine in it. We lovingly nicknamed it the "Millennium Camaro" because it's exterior looked exactly like the Falcon from Star Wars. faded white body, slightly yellowed,mismatched, and "well loved" with plenty of character marks. That car took us all over the Southwest and never failed to get us where we were going or back home.

We took care of it, changed fluids etc. and drove it until the original engine started knocking at 102K miles and thinking that was the end of the car we took it to her dad's shop, parked it, and I left shortly after to move back east to take care of my elderly Grandmother who couldn't live on her own anymore.

My father in law rebuilt it with a supposed "corvette" 350 engine, cut all of the emissions "crap" out, put all kinds of eddlebrock stuff on the engine, and offered to sell it to me if I bought and paid for a 90's Mustang that my wife wanted. I ended up paying 5K for the car, which was more than it's worth but you can't argue with fond memories and sentimentality.

I agreed and the car was delivered to me in September. The problem is, they didn't do a very good job on it and shortly after delivering the car my wife had a gigantic blow up with her family and ended up moving to Atlanta to work in the family business with my mother. Suffice to say, the mechanic who "rebuilt" it isn't available to help me troubleshoot it anymore and that leaves me sitting here trying to learn everything about this car in the shortest amount of time possible in order to keep it on the road.

That's why I'm here. I want to save my Camaro, it's the only car I'd be completely happy driving for the rest of my life. Heck, it's the only car I want to drive period anymore. If that isn't enough reason to save it, it's also the first car that is truly "mine". bought and paid for with my own money.

I need the forum's assistance in identifying the headers in my car as the mechanic's shop that has been working on it has run into a problem with the Power Steering pump assembly.


My father in law cut one of the legs on the PS bracket to clear the headers. My mechanic tells me that I need to find and purchase a "stand off kit" to properly mount the PS pump and AC compressor to the engine. He says without this the squealing V-belt that I originally took it in for will return.

I have no idea where to buy this kit. but I'm assuming that by identifying the manufacturer of the headers I can contact the company and ask them about a standoff adapter.

I can tell you that the headers have 4 pipes on each side that make an L shape down under the car and unite into one pipe that runs straight out the back into the muffler.

It also had a small leak, which we properly identified and fixed after picking it up from the shop when the Power steering pump puked it's guts all over the road as soon as I hit 65. This may or may not be related to how the bracket is cut.

I am not opposed to throwing mountains of money at this problem to fix it. Even if it means taking a friend's advice and putting an entire LS set up in it. Though, I drive very cautiously and never exceed the speed limit in order to avoid being involved in an accident that bends the frame or breaks something irreplaceable which kind of makes the whole 700 HP set up useless aside from bragging rights. I'm actually going to look at another third gen white 91' RS tomorrow that has a 355 stroker in it and turbo transmission to use as a daily driver. At $2800 for a daily driver Camaro I almost can't say no.

I'm also having problems with my windshield wipers. They will get stuck mid cycle and the wiper motor will make a whirling noise for a few seconds like it's attempting to complete the cycle. I have to turn the wipers off and on to get it to complete a full cycle. or leave them in "high" and accelerate to get them going. As soon as I let off the gas they die again.

and finally, on the first start of the day, and this could be attributed to me being car ignorant. when I start it I have to give the gas pedal two pumps (per Father in law's instructions) before turning the key. It'll try to start then die. turn the key again and it will start but idle low with the choke light on. give it a few minutes and it idles up to where the engine sounds normal. It doesn't do this at any point during the rest of the day while I'm out in town. When I get back in it somewhere else it will start on the first crank. I also seem to recall this being the case with the original 305 but we would pump it once, start it, then rev it to bring it up to where it would idle on it's own.

I apologize in advance if this is placed in the wrong section.

Please see attached for pictures of the engine bay. Please let me know if you need any other pictures from any other angles. I'll do my best to get in there and take them.

 

http://www.hedman.com/images/ePIM/original/68466.pdf

You can easily use a stud with a bolt for the spacer needed once the bracket is cut. Stud into head, bolt to hold exhaust to head, second bolt on stud to get the bracket lined up correct distance from head, third bolt to tighten bracket to stud/bolt assembly. Make sense?

 

I'm trying to wrap my head around this. I need a longer bolt that will thread into the header. On this bolt I will be running some nuts up the threaded portion to create a stand off between the header and the first leg on the left of the bracket?

The PDF helps a bunch! Thank you! It looks like the instructions were followed to a T. Spacers and all. I'll print it off anyway and take it into the shop that's doing the repair work on my car.

 

yep

longer stud that will thread into the head. can be threaded it's entire length. then use bolts to 1) secure the header and 2) to space the bracket at the correct distance from the header.

some have used a short piece of pipe over the stud for the standoff, cut to space the bracket away, but two bolts there work fine.

 

Awesome, I'll pull one of the bolts and head to home depot to find the thread size.

Thanks!

 

3/8"-16 will be your bolt thread size.

Here are some google pics of what you need/doing

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...for-the-co.jpg

http://s73.photobucket.com/user/alwa..._3888.jpg.html

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/atta...5&d=1338171683

 

Got the bolt, nuts, and a new bracket from Ebay with hole in the left leg.

I'm going to tackle this as soon as we have a nice mild day.

Just out of curiosity would this Serpentine kit work with my set up? (Power steering, AC)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBC-Serpenti...tVBGFj&vxp=mtr

 

Yes, except for the closing-the-hood part. It puts the AC compressor too high.

 

Ah crap, is there a kit that would allow me to get it all in and close the hood?

 

Progress.

Figured out how to remove the AC compressor without breaking anything, but I'm having a little bit of trouble with the Power steering pump. But I am learning!

Do I need a pully puller to get to the PS pump?

 

The power steering pump can be removed from the engine without a puller. The brackets will, however, have to stay attached to the pump.

A power steering puller, if needed, can be 'rented' from one of the chain parts stores.

 

Done, thanks for the assist.