82_Indy

The next time I have mine out, I'll look for where the connection is and describe it so you can know if that much is there.

scottmoyer

You won't find the RPO codes via a SPID sheet in the car. They didn't become available until 1984. You should be able to find the Pace Car buildsheet under the passenger seat springs, unless it was removed by a previous owner that thought it was just paper and ripped it out.

coolram62

iTrader: (2)

Sorry for being slow at responding but chazman has it covered. CFI motors hate vacuum leaks of any kind. The aging hoses are what comes to mind for most but that top lid fasteners have a tendency to loosen over time. I'm not sure if the factory used a threadlocker but I did the first time replacing the lid gasket and after porting the base.
I went through the backfiring and the lower intake design allows fuel to puddle ,espcially if you just start her but don't drive and then shut down (as you know worst than just letting a vehicle sit). That's CFI specific and then you have the other normal backfire causes. And since yours is restored you may still have ,or used, the original design CTS that are problematic.
And as 82tarecaro mentioned the squeeling pump shouldn't be from the higher pressure. A returnless system might cause it but the CFI has a return line. A blockage could be the problem or the pump itself (obvious choices i know). It may be the regulator in the rear TBI isn't maintaining pressure properly (which could be a cause/contribute of the backfiring) or the pressure diaphragm in the front TBI. Factory CFI specs are such a joke at 9-12psi. Hope this helps a bit.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Hi all ...

I've set up a web site to document my project and share pictures. I posted several more detailed pictures of the exterior and interior of the car as it sits now so you can see what I'm starting with. Here's the link:

http://www.vosehome.net/82pacecar

My outbound bandwidth is a bit slow so I'll apologize up front if the site is a bit sluggish.

I have a minor issue with the car's title that is being worked on. Guess that what happens when you buy a car long distance, but it was a simple clerical error on the part of the DMV and they have been really helpful so far.

Given that problem, nothing has really changed the last few weeks because I don't want to start disassembling things and then end up having to drive the car somewhere to make the DMV happy.

In the mean time, I've been doing a lot of research and have been spending some quality time with the shop manual.

I did score a set of undamaged 82-style sill plates from another member here at TGO and NCGuy68 has also generously offered to sell me some OE parts he has that are correct for my car.

Once I get the title issue sorted out, I'll probably take one last drive and then start taking things apart.

I also waned to say thank you to those who have PM'd me with information and words of encouragement. I've never tackled anything like this before and the support from the TGO community is really appreciated. I really want to do the work right and to do this car justice.

cs2000

Nice car and good choice, I always liked the pace cars, I bought one in 1993 for $1600, it was a crossfire car, t top, drum brakes on the rear, I bought a wrecked '83 Z28 crossfire/ 4 wheel disc car as a donor car for the pace car, but along came my '87 Convertible so the pace car had to go, I regret selling it though.. good luck on he resto and I'm glad you are keeping it stock... Chris

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

you have a awesome crossfire Camaro there

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

the RPO build sheet is a piece of paper under the back seat

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

I haven't started tearing into anything yet because I'm waiting to resolve a minor title issue. I'll start taking things apart once I get that squared away, which should be in the next week or so. I'm optimistic the build sheet is still there. Nobody has messed with the car, so that would be a huge find.

Bradlyj8Z28

iTrader: (2)

subscribe!

67tothefuture

That is a amazing pace car, I wish I had the knowledge and skill to do such a restoration!

67tothefuture

To L69
Here is a pace car you could use for parts, only a $1,000, hurry!
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/cama...find-indy.html

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Hi all -- haven't posted about my car in a while because, well, I haven't really done anything with it until today.

The weather has finally turned nice so I officially started work on my pace car project. I spent a good deal of time in the garage disassembling things under the hood, including the hood. I've got the accessories (AC, AIR pump, alternator, etc.) disconnected and taken out, the radiator and upper/lower shrouds are out, about half of the vacuum lines are out, the heater hoses and other plumbing are out of the way. For the most part, things went pretty well.

A few obstacles have already popped up that I'll need to deal with:

• My hood flap assembly is damaged. I noticed it was loose before I took the hood off and now I know why. The rear tab to hold the assembly to the hood is snapped off. This missing piece wasn't under the insulation, so it must have happened before I got the car. Nothing was holding the assembly to the hood. The hood insulation was holding it in place I'm confused about how the whole thing mounts as there were no obvious places where it looked like it should screw or attach to the hood. I don't know if it was originally bonded and the glue has just given up or if I'm missing something else. Need to check the assembly manual.
• Despite using the right tool, I broke most of the fasteners that hold up the hood insulation. After 30 years of taking heat from the engine, that didn't surprise me one bit. I was actually more surprised that some of them came out without a fight.
• A couple of clips on electrical connectors snapped off. Again, not unexpected after 30 years in the heat, but they'll need to be replaced.
• The battery tray had a rust hole in it, but nothing serious. I was suspicious when I removed the battery and there were a couple layers of tin foil over the tray. I'm pretty sure it can be patched, but I know someone here who has an OE replacement as a back up.

That's about it so far. Overall, things went pretty smoothly and I'm really pleased with what I got accomplished today. Despite the rust hole in the battery tray, the radiator core support was in perfect condition -- not even a blemish of corrosion or scratch on it. I didn't see any other rust on the frame rails or elsewhere.

One interesting find was some factory writing, in white paint marker, under the hood insulation. The numbers "4 17 1" were written vertically under the left louver impression, and "46 A 4-17-1" were written on the right. Picture is below. I'm guessing this is a production date of 4/17/81. 46 A is maybe a job number? Anyone know? I plan to have my paint guy leave this alone as I think it's pretty cool to have that kind of factory marking hiding under the insulation.

Next steps are to remove the rest of the vacuum lines, get the electrical harness removed, disconnect the tranny and get the engine out. I figure another solid day and I should be ready to pull the engine. It's unreal how much gunk collected in only 67k miles. It was cool to see some Chevy blue peeking out when I scraped some of the crud away

I'll get some more pics up on my web site in the next day or so and will post a follow up here. Nothing too exciting to show right now -- just a pace car with a missing hood, a gunked up motor and missing parts.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Site is updated with some pics.

http://www.vosehome.net/82pacecar

ur7x

iTrader: (2)

It wasn't the heat and it wasn't the 30 years... I took off my hood insulation when my car was only a few weeks old... And all but one snapped off in the spring of 1983. They were not designed to be removed...

Oh and the hatch button looks wrong on all of those restorations. It should be a "rocker" switch in 1982 and 83... The "slider" style came a little later.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Strange that your engine and valve covers are black. Has the engine ever been replaced?

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

I see a little blue peeking out from under the dirt on the timing cover. The valve covers probably came black from the factory. My 82 TA has black valve covers and blue block/heads.
http://www.vosehome.net/82pacecar/pr.../dscn2663.html

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

The block is actually blue -- there's just so much oil and dirt caked on it that it's tough to see. There is blue under there, though. The valve covers do appear to be black, but I went back and took a closer look at some other pictures I took to document things (but didn't put up on the site) and I do see some blue peeking through the black on the valve cover as well. So the covers may be blue too.

I attached one of those pictures. If you look at the top right corner of the cover, you can clearly see a Chevy blue spot peeking out through the black grime. This same pic also shows some blue on the block itself.

The couple I bought the car from had extensive receipts and paperwork for things done to the car going all the way back to when they got the car in '86. The wife had been given the car by her father that year and I'm not sure how long he had owned it before then. As best I can tell, everything looks unmolested right down to the factory tie straps that were used to bundle the wires together.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Just a quick update on my pace car. I only have a days here and there on weekends to work on it so in total I probably have about four days total invested.

I got the exhaust disconnect at the manifolds (can't believe the nuts actually came off without breaking the studs), took the fan off, cut the heater hoses off (they would not budge off the heater core tubes), got the flex plate bolts out and have three of the bell housing bolts out. I moved some more items out of the way up top to try and get to the top bell housing bolts at which point I stopped.

I'm having trouble getting at the second bell housing bolt from the bottom on the drivers side. I broke it loose with a wrench, but that's as much as I've been able to do with it. There isn't enough room to keep turning it with a wrench and it's still too tight to turn by hand (which itself would be a challenge). GM angled the tunnel just right to where I am unable to get a socket on the bolt straight -- it hits the tunnel and I tried various wrenches, multiple combinations of universals and extensions to no avail. The main issue is that a socket won't go on the bolt flush. It's frustrating because I need maybe 1/16" to make it work. I think I may try taking the trans and motor mount bolts out and see if I can pry the whole thing over toward the passenger side to get the room I need. The same bolt on the passenger site was a piece of cake.

On top of that, I started looking around the top side of the motor to see if I could get to the top bolts and that won't be a picnic either. I can see the bolt on the top, passenger side but not the drives side.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to suggestions. I knew these would be challenging but it's been done before, so I know there is a answer out there.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

Take out the transmission crossmember, drop back of the transmission down and you will get to the bellhousing bolts.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a shot next time. I knew there had to be a trick to this.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Just a small update on what feels like the worlds slowest project. I spent a few hours on the car today going after the remaining bell housing bolts. I lowered the back of the tranny as people have suggested and was able to get two of the three remaining bell housing bolts out. The last one I have to get is the upper passenger side.

Decided to fight with that next time as I couldn't see it from the bottom and there was no way I was getting a wrench on it from the top. I need to get the tranny dipstick out of the way and some other wiring that is still routed around the back side of the motor. Once I have that I'll have a little more room to work with.

The bolts themselves have all broken free very easily once I've been able to get a wrench on them. But getting to them has been a real chore. I can only imagine what it's going to be like trying to get them back in when the time comes. Trying to torque them properly will be impossible.

That said - once that one bolt is out I should be ready to yank the motor.

NCGuy68

Keep up the good work Randy and don't be in a hurry to do anything. Thats were alot of guys screw things up that are irreplaceable.

A word of caution: Be very gentle with the motor mounts when you pull the motor. The rubber in them may be very 'tired' and prone to ripping. Ask me how I know.

One other thing. As you disassemble the car, put the nuts, bolts, washers, etc in zip-lock plastic bags and label them. That way, you'll have the original fasteners when it all goes back together. Many original fasteners have unique head markings and could be a focal point in the future from a judging standpoint.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

When you put the engine back in the car, bolt the trans to it first and put them in as a unit. It will make life easier.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Noted.

No plans to have the car judged, but everything I've taken off so far is tagged and bagged (and very greasy). I've been taking pictures with audio comments as I've taken stuff apart so I can remember how things go. I have an Assembly Manual, but the pictures are nice to have.

Just gotta get that last, top passenger bolt out.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

I thought about that, but it seems like it would be a big challenge with an automatic ... I was joking with a buddy of mine today at lunch that it might be just as easy to drop the k-member.

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

I've never had good luck with removing and/or installing motors with the trans connected. I always do it separately. The upper bellhousing bolts are easily reached with a shallow socket connected to a wobble joint, connected to a 3' extension so that your ratchet sits out by the tail shaft of the trans. With the crossmember & torque arm removed from the trans, it'll fall far enough to reach up there (once you get the hang of getting that socket on the bolt with the wobble joint fighting you) and get them freed. Back when I had a 700R4 in my car, it was in and out more times than I can count, so I got fluent with the procedure.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

Different strokes I guess. If you aren't rebuilding the trans it's probably easier to leave it in. But if both are coming out anyway, an engine load leveler would make quick work of getting them back in connected.
One more thing - I wouldn't worry about tearing the motor mounts. It's good practice to replace them. They are probably original and need replacing anyway.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the tips guys. I appreciate the input. The whole trick is just seeing the bolt heads to begin with. Once I can get an eyeball on them, I can find a way to get to them. The trans in my car has been worked on at least once before, but it's leaking like crazy so I'll probably pull it out and have a shop take a pass through it just to be safe.

Unrelated to my build, ESPN Classic rebroadcast the 1982 Indy 500 last night. A few shots here and there of the pace car and a couple of festival cars at the start of the race. Neat to see the real car in action.

1Aauto

Scott that pace car is wicked nice.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

I got the last bell housing bolt out today. Broke it free from the top and backed it out from the bottom using a bunch of extensions and a wobble. I think that's it. I need to get a cherry pickers, remove the mount bolts and that should be it -- motor comes out.

APACHE JOHN

You guys crack me up. All SBC's were blue from mid 76 until 1983. Remove the bolt from the trans mount jack up the rear of the trans and take out the top bellhousing bolts with a long 6 point wrench. I had a pace car back in the day, I miss it a little, but what a dog. 944 Porsche (4cyl no turbo) smoked me on the interstate, so did a SVO Mustang remember those?

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Yeah -- the poor 305 CFI it won't win any races (in stock form) for sure!

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Not really related to my resto -- but Festival Car 64 will cross the block at Barrett-Jackon early Sunday. Lot #605:

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/appli...ln=605&aid=464

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

crossfires had black valve covers, LG-4's had blue valve covers ... Yours are correct.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

I have seen Crossfires with either color. Mine are black though.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

I decided to tear down the interior today and found the build sheet tucked safely away under the passenger seat. It was in great shape and I was really excited to find it.

No real surprises on the inside of the car. The floor carpet, overall, is in better shape than I thought and I'll probably end up keeping it instead of replacing it. The carpet on the console is faded as is the carpet on the door panels.

The interior plastic were hit and miss. Most of them have a ton of sun fade and are scratched and damaged from 30 years in the Florida sun. I'll probably find replacements because the scratches and damage on mine are pretty bad.

The headliner backing was in good shape but the material itself is sun damaged. The visors had a "crunchy" quality from being baked in the sun.

I'll get some pictures up on my site in the next few days.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

I finally got around to posting some pictures of my interior tear down from last weekend:
There is one gallery with interior pics and a second with some detailed pictures of the various interior panels as they came out of the car.

I went to a you-pull-it yard on the 4th and picked up some used panels which really showed me how unusable the original panels are. Aside from the heavy scratches and gouges that can't be repaired, the sun literally disintegrated the original plastic. I wish there were a way to refinish the originals, but the grain of the panels is gone and others over on the Interior forum have said that once the panels get to that white, chalky consistency, it's all over.

khunter

OK i know Im kinda jumping in late on a long running form but i noticed alot of people saying the dash pad to an 82 was hard to find. where they different in some way? i feel like such a noobie asking that but ive just never heard anything about that. As for the build sheet i found mine under the drivers seat on my 82

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Yes. The 82-style has the the flat front and side edge as shown on my site. From 83 on, the edge is beveled. There was a thread here showing some pictures between the two but I couldn't find it. Google for any picture of a 83+ dash and the difference is pretty obvious.

The 82-style also were prone to cracking between the defroster vent and the speaker grill. Not sure why. Mine has this problem on both sides. Nobody in the aftermarket reproduces either style of dash which astounds me given that almost all of them from every year are cracked in some way. There's another thread about that too.

The probability of someone reproducing the 82 style is probably about zero since it was a one-year part and finding a nice, undamaged 82 dash pad is tough despite the number of them produced.

chazman

iTrader: (4)

Actually, the '82 and '83 dash pads are the same. The '82 and '83s share alot of unique parts, like steering wheel, manual shift ****, etc.

khunter

well thank you for the lesson! I went and looked at mine and my camaro was a late production of 82 and it does not have the squared of dash pad like your's has.so im gessing some one must have replaced it all though i haven't see a receipt for a replacement in the book i was given when i bought the car. None the less the car has been dressed up some with a B&M shifter and a slide deck release because i didn't like the switch style it even has the car still on the slide! amazing what you can find in junk yards.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Are you saying you replaced the switch-style hatch release with a slide style? If so, do you still have the switch and what condition is it in? I might want to take it off your hands if you don't need it.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

That's right -- 82 and 83 have the same dash. Was really late when I posted last night.

NCGuy68

Years ago, I saw an early built '84 with the early style pad. Only '84 I've ever seen with one. I'am wondering if GM stall had a few in the 'pipeline' and just installed them early in the '84 production run.

I think it was '87 or '88 when I went to my local Chevy dealer and ordered a pad for an '82 Z that I've since sold. I received the later style pad which I still have, Part # 12511119. Its waiting for a good home sometime in the future.

None of the repop pads I've seen are very close to it. Even the high $$ 'rebuilt' originals from Just Dashes in CA are the same. The grain in the vinyl is different. I feel for you guys that need a good early style pad.

This is pad # 12511119, obviously NOS now.

NCGuy68

Hi Randy,

Keep plugging along and take your time on that car. It'll be worth it in the future.

khunter

Yeah i put a slide style in. Post a pic of what switch you mean i think i have one or two sitting around in my stash

kauboy

Got my hood insulation off this week. I'll try to post pics

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Center switch in this pic:



Randy

NCGuy68

I have an NOS hood insulator for a 82-84 SMC hood that you may be able to use. GM part # 14047972 still in the original packaging.

Will PM you later today, Sat. 7/7/12.

khunter

Hmm I have a couple but the lettering has worn off so there just plain. if you would like I'll keep an eye out at the junk yards here in Memphis and let you know I can find