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Hi everyone, I have been reading a lot on this forum lately and decided it was time for an introduction.
In europe third gen's are hard to come by but after a long search i found a one owner 1987 Iroc-Z all original car.
The car was originally sold in the Netherlands as well. I am trying to find out how many in total were sold in the Netherlands, but i imagine it were only a few.
Mechanically the car is very sound, stil many original parts on it - even the complete exhaust. That is up for replacement though. Other bits and pieces done to it to clean up the interior which was a bit dirty (which is normal after 31 years). Also replaced the roof divider for the t-tops because the old one was completely wasted with rust and rot. Got a better one and had it blasted and powder coated. Should last at least the coming 31 years ;-)
The rear tires were shot and man was it hard to find replacements in Europe... Eventually i went with Toyo Proxes 245/55-16 which look great i think.
It is a blast to drive and although some complain on the power output I enjoy it very much. In the future some body work needs to be done and eventually it will get a respray to get it complete in its former glory.
Nice ride. Welcome aboard! It looks like you have done well for yourself with this find. I am sure it is hard enough to find a 3rd gen let alone a one owner car that is mostly original. How many miles(KM)on the car? Also if you don't mind me asking, and I won't be offended if you say no, but what did you pay for this over in Europe? I would assume because these are hard to find they would go for a premium over there? Or are 3rd gens considered like a Yugo over here.
Thanks! They are hard to find here; the pre 1985 models are a bit more on offer though. The asking prices range quite a bit. From 3500 euro for a 1983 Z28 with engine and transmission issues to 25.000 euros for an Iroc-Z in mint condition. The 'normal' price for an Iroc-Z with some work is around 9000 euros.
But because not many come on offer and demand is with enthousiasts only, the price is mainly what a nut would pay for it. Some local parts dealers told me that demand is going up all across Europe (for both third gen camaro's and firebirds) and many that come on sale are exported to all over Europe. Especially the firebirds, because many are converted to knight rider look-a-likes. Not my cup of tea anyway; i like this camaro a lot more.
I was also looking to import one from the US but shipping, customs and broker fees would sum up to 5000 euros. That was a bit to much for me on top of the price i would have to pay for a decent car.
The previous owner drove 250.000km with the car, mostly in the first decade of its existence. The last couple of years he drove it only a couple of thousand km's per year. He wanted his car to stay in Holland and wanted to sell it to someone who would take care of it. Because i am just that he made me a great offer. Very happy with it.
So, the exhaust system on the car was still stock 31 years old. In the past is has been welded, patched and gummied to fix any leaks. Time for me to replace everything.
I decided to go with a complete walker/ dynomax system front to back. Here is a picture of the total list of parts and numbers:
I have a 305 TPI which as a 3 inch flange connecter to the catalytic converter. I decided to buy the complete exhaust kit from Rockauto, part number 17495. This is the correct system for the car with a Super Turbo muffler.
Also completed the order with all necessary clamps and hangers that did not come with the kit and added the Y pipe and catalytic converter.
First up was removing the Y-pipe. This came off pretty easy with some heat on the bolts. Old vs new:
The passenger side header has an adapter ring on it from cast iron that needs to go back in place to install the new Y pipe. I was also surprised not to find any gaskets between the Y-pipe and headers. Therefore I intstalled the new one without gaskets as well, after grinding the flanges a bit with a steel brush.
The new Y-pipe got in real quick and the installation of the new catalytic converter was easy as well. Decided to do some grinding on the sleeves to give the clamp someting to really clamp to.
Surprised to see that the hanger for the converter Walker suggests actually is wrong for the car. The metal bracket is at a wrong angle and will not fit the converter. I needed to keep the stock hanger.
Not happy with this and need to fix that in the future.
The biggest job was to get rid of the old mid pipe and install the new one. I needed to grind the old one into multiple pieces just to get it off. Then the new one would not bend easy around the rear axle. I needed to jack up the car from the lift to get more clearance in the suspension. Still not enough room,
Then i had to undo the bar above the panhead bar to get more room. That did it and the new pipe went right in.
After that installation of the new hangers for the rear muffler and installation of the muffler and end pipes itself was very easy.
And the end result:
Pretty happy with how it came out. The sound of the super turbo muffler is a bit louder than stock but still very civilized. I read that they will get a bit louder after the first few weeks of driving because of the fiber glass in the muffler needs to settle. We will see. If that does not happen maybe I will upgrade to a matching Ultra-Flo welded muffler.
06-16-2018, 04:44 AM
