chazman

iTrader: (4)

Scott, if you were close by, I'd be there tonight!

Jason E

Charlie,

How's it going in terms of keeping the 83? Watching this 2,400 mile Formula 350 has me daydreaming again...but this time I know something would have to go

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Trans fluid is red and clean....


EDIT: Son of a B. One of the oil leaks is coming from the drain plug. Nice, if it's only a half turn loose or something. Need to get my ramps and jack into my garage.

daveb123

On that note, I've been getting my '85 L69 IROC running well-fresh plugs,wires,and filters. My son and I took it for a drive, I was used to my '82 LG4, I forgot how fast the L69/LB5 revs, it must have hit 6000RPM! Long story short, I broke several rocker arms-time to upgrade to rollers!

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I don't know. One would have to go, if I were ever to buy something else though, that's for sure.

You know, I only bought the '83 so I'd have something different to drive to the Indy '08 Camaro thing. I had every intention of simply making it safe and presentable for the drive down there and then selling it afterwards. But, I don't know, I kept fiddling with it and making it nicer, and everytime I'd take it to a cruise night, it's Crossfire engine would gather a crowd.... and next thing you know I still have it.

If the right stick car came along, I think I'd let it go though.....

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

Any pics of the interior? Car looks great without the pinstripes.

Best thing for RWL tires is Westley's Bleche White. Great stuff, keeps the letters bright white for years, and doesn't wear it away.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

That stinks. Got any pics of your IROC?

Motown

waterboy87

That is one sweet IROC. Nice garage also.

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

I have a (IMO nicely) cobbled up 92 RS, and I have no issues with that since it was a very poorly optioned base model, but it makes me SO happy to see people keeping these higher end F-bodies in such pristine condition. Those are some incredible looking cars, i bet they turn heads all over the place! I love the 82-84 Z a lot too, just neat to see those looking that great.

So Scott, it's possible to take care of door crease dings from the back side in these cars? I had figurd the door support was probably right on that spot and I'd have to just resort to bondo, but if I can get the local PDR guy to take care of it I'll be pretty excited.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Okay guys. I'll try to get some tonight.

daveb123

Here you go-
The guy I got it from had garage space for it, but put it in his back yard instead! Cleaned up pretty nice, considering, and the interior is in great shape, too! And yes, I have the original wheels.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Looking good! I'd get the OE wheels back on ASAP.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Heck, I use it on all my tires. If left alone a tire will turn brown and grungy, tire dressings are always too glossy and messy, but the BW removes all the crud and leaves the tire looking new again. Great stuff, most of the time you don't have to even scrub it, just squirt it on, wait, rinse it off.

camarosrock1989

iTrader: (1)

Very impressive, what a great collection. I will have to just dream about owning a yellow Iroc again. I have called 4 people this week that were selling 86 irocs, asking them what the Vin # was hoping to find my old one. No luck yet. I would be happy for a find like yours in my area. There was a 87 in PHX about 9 months ago. They wanted $13,000. I was yellow and very clean.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

I know a guy in dallas selling a nice one. you could fly in and drive it back

chazman

iTrader: (4)

As promised, some interior shots. I haven't touched a thing in here yet.







Note: Interior coutesy lights now work (even if you open the passenger door ) , as does the horn, power mirrors and power door locks.



I'll need to repaint the t-top trim.








OEM GM floormats.





Three tears in the driver's seat bolster. It seems that metal supports inside the bolster broke and ripped through the fabric. I'll have to take the seat to an upolsterer for repair.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Here's a shot of the front spoiler. It was in rough shape. I was going to have it repainted since it had maybe 100 stone chips and 4 or 5 pretty big scrapes. But I touched them all up and am going to wet sand and polish it and leave it for now.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Okay, last two pics for now. The car had been recently buffed, so I didn't want to go crazy on it. But certain areas obviously needed attention. The nose, front spoiler, mirrors needed buffing badly, so I hit them with my orbital. I also buffed out the tail lights and parking lights. Now that the parking lights are clear, (and not opaque), I can see that they are full of dirt. I'll have to disassemble them later. As a final coat, I used an old bottle of Malm's carnuba, (I always loved that stuff).

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the car looks like a different shade of yellow now. It'll get alittle messy when I remove the rear spoiler to detail in there and when I finally have a chance to do the undercarriage. But at least I've got a shiny car to look at for now.

Once I get my jack, the new center caps go on.....










Before buffing:






After buffing, using Megs 205 and a Griots orange pad:

IROCZTWENTYGR8

iTrader: (1)

That car looks good Charlie, even with the touch ups. I see the stripes could use replacing in some spots though, any plans?

Motown

Charlie the car is coming along great! I see you have the common temp gauge sticking issue. Thats an easy fix though. Other than that, for not working on the interior at all, looks to be in great shape!

scottmoyer

No bondo!!! You just need to find someone that has the right tools and is willing to take the time needed to fix the problem.

I see you're in the Macon area. Contact Troy Tarpley at DentTricks (http://www.denttricks.com). Tell him Scott with DentWorks in Orlando sent you. He's one of the best in the industry. A few years ago, someone in Macon had a '69 Z28 with the JL8 brake setup and the original cross ram intake. The car was a Barrett-Jackson buy or something and was worth a mint. I got the call and the owner wanted to fly me up there to fix his car. I guess he's seen my work at the Fbody Gathering and didn't want anybody else. I asked if Troy could do the work instead. The owner was reluctant, but was very happy with the results. I will probably see Troy in January here in Orlando for a Tech Expo that he will probably be attending. All the top dent guys in the country attend this expo.

cerberus

Thank god somebody here knows about metal rubbing!

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, sooner or later the stripes will be replaced.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

What's the fix? Isn't there supposed to be a green wire to the sending unit on the driver's side of the engine? I've looked and so far I can't seem to find it.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

I wish you could refer me to someone in northern Illinois.

burnout88

Charlie here is a pic of the sending unit screwed into the drivers side cyclinder head with the factory green wire. I have headers on my car so it is easy to see. You have manifolds so you will probably only be able to see the sending unit and wire from under the car. Your car will also have black wire loom on the wire. I pulled it back a little for this pic. I have an aftermarket gauge so my connector on the sending unit is different then your connector. Your connector will be a black connector that slips over a stub on the end of the sending unit.

Hopefully this will help give you an idea on where to look. It is right between spark plug # 1 and #3.

Motown

Nope. Has nothing to do with the sender. The needle is physically stuck in the black metal trim that is hidden behind the clear plastic lens.

The fix is to pull off the bezel, plastic lens, and then the black metal bezel. By this time the gauge should be unstuck. Then either bend down the black lip closer to the gauge face itself, so there is no room for the needle to wedge up there, or add a piece of cut emissions hose to the edge of the metal bezel where the gauge would get stuck so now when you start the engine and the temp gauge maxes out while cranking (which is normal), it will bounce off of the bumper you made for it or the bent bezel and bounce back into readable range once you let go of the key.

Mine barely sticks in the metal bezel, so when it does stick, a firm fist to the bottom of the gauge cluster frees mine up. Yours looks pretty far wedged up there. Use the directions I spelled out above to fix yours.

burnout88

I agree that sounds like a more likely reason for a guage to stick then the sender. If the sender is bad they usually just totally do nothing.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Hey, I just changed my center caps. I didn't have my jack handy, sooooo.....

....a couple of years ago I bought a BS glue dent puller kit off of ebay, (I know, I know). Didn't do much for dent pulling, but if you glue the pins to your old center caps....they'll pop right off. Huh, and I thought that I wasted that 60 bucks.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, mine works for a while and then gets stuck. I noticed one time, a good tap unstuck it.

scottmoyer

I know of a guy in the Chicago area, but I never met him. I've heard he's really good and he's in Des Plaines.

His name is Mark Tsurkis and he's with Hitech PDR.

http://www.hitechpdr.com/index.htm

He would know me as DentWorksInc on a dent message board that I haven't visited in 3 years!! ;-) Call him and tell him where the dents are and send him the link to the pictures you posted here before. He'll probably laugh when you tell him that no one can fix them.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Thanks Scott, I'll give him a buzz.


So, I took it for a spin today. It just feels to me like it could be running better than it does. I brought it back home, adjusted the TPS and went to check the timing. I hooked up my timing light, started it up, and can't see where the timing marks are. It turns out that the harmonic balancer is so covered with old, caked on dirt, that the mark is buried under there somewhere. I sprayed a half a can of brake cleaner down there and a bunch of all purpose cleaner and it barely made a dent in the dirt. Still can't see the mark.

Judging by the couple hundred stone chips I've touched up, the crud on the undercarriage and the Yokohama mud and snow's it wearing, I'm guessing this car has seen lots of duty on dirt and mud roads.

steves

Lets see some more pics with the new center caps on the car. If you put as much time and effort into the yellow car as you did the white one your never gonna want to drive it LOL.

steves

It looks like a different car without those pinstripes. I just dont get what makes a person put them on a car like that.

1MeanZ

iTrader: (9)

FYI, I always use Westley's Bleche White on my tires and have never had it bother a clear coated aluminum wheel yet.

For the aluminum, I swear by some paint readily available at your nearest Harley Davidson dealer. It is called Silver Bead Blast and is available in spray cans. This stuff is amazing. It has a dull finish in the exact color of bare cast aluminum. I use it on all aluminum I put on a car. It cleans easy and I promise you can't tell it from bare aluminum. It's designed to be used on air cooled engines so I have to assume that it still also allows parts to breathe effectively. Try it and see.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Thanks. I'll check that Silver Bead Blast out. I just located an OE muffler/tailpipe assembly for it which is in need of cosmetic restoration. Think it'll work well for that?

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Here you go:

1MeanZ

iTrader: (9)

I've never used Silver Bead Blast on exhuast parts. I've only used it on accessory brackets, intake manifolds, and all the aluminum parts on my IRS.

Are you trying to get the aluminized look back on the factory exhaust? I'd try some spray galvanize coating made for bare metal first and see what that does. I'm afraid that will be way too silvery and look like "hillbilly chrome", but it's all I know to try. You can try some different colors of high temp VHT header and engine paint, you may get something close that way.

Or it may be as simple as a wire brush some steel wool and elbow grease....

burnout88

Are you looking for the timing tab or the line in the balancer? In 85 if I recall correctly the timing tab is actually in the straight up position on the balancer and you almost have to look straight down on it though the back of the water pump to see it. The later years it is off center and can be seen from the side at about the 1:30 positon. But I just may be thinking of how my old 85 carb camaro's timing tab was located.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

The tab is visible. The line on the balancer is buried under some bullet proof Minnesota dirt.

1MeanZ

iTrader: (9)

when you finally find the mark on the balancer, take a red paint marker and mark on both sides of the timing groove. MUCH easier to see with a timing light then...

NufNuffZ28

iTrader: (10)

Looks great. I am insanely jealous....

As far as the temp gauge goes. When you take off the gauge overlay simply bend the needle down slightly. That alone should be enough to fix your problem. I believe over time from the needle bouncing off of the top of the gauge every time you start it, it bends the needle slightly out...

steves

That little detail makes a huge difference. Can't wait to see it in person again.Those wheel wells look like they are gonna be a bitch to clean.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

And that's what they look like after one power washing and one scrubbing!

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Thanks.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

So, I located a factory muffler/tailpipe assembly for it in Georgia. The seller and I negotiated a reasonable price for it, he takes it to FedEx to ship to me......$180 for shipping . Obviously, we're going to hold off until we can figure out a different way to get it here.

steves

Try the post office I beleive its a flat rate if it fits in their box. Look into Greyhound (yes like the bus) I believe they offer shipping to make some extra cash but you might have to go to the nearest bus station to pick it up.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, I'll check out Greyhound. The problem is that it's bulky and doesn't fit in any boxes. I'd hate to break the factory welds and disassemble it.

cerberus

We can install it on my car and Ill use it until........