W.E.G.

Did my daily ride-by.

Think its the second day in the row the shop-owner spotted me.

Hood is up today!

Whoop-whoooop!!!

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

kmcn47

hey hope that means there is progress, we're getting the ac fixed on our 99 tahoe and its taken more then a week just to get some of the parts, which noone stocks and you have to order from gm

W.E.G.

Hood up again today!

Richboll

Or never closed...

W.E.G.

I got MY ca-MA-ro BACK!... I got MY ca-MA-ro BACK!

AND I've got AIR CONDITIONING!


...compressor is noisy as hell, but at least it works.

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

kmcn47

sweet

scottmoyer

I hope you didn't pay a lot for the AC job. The compressor bearings are shot and probably fouling the entire system which will require a new compressor, dryer, orifice tube and if left too long, could mean a new condenser. With the bearings shot, whatever coolant you have in the system will not be there long.

Mine sounded like that a couple years ago and cost me about $650 to get it replaced with R12 and an exact match compressor.

W.E.G.

Hey!... I'm still here!!!

Still chasing water leaks at the cowl/firewall, but the red menace is home for at least a few days.

Wife is out of town, so Bob (the guy who had to come "rescue" me when the clutch pedal did its "thing" when I was on mile 1403 of the 1404-mile Kowalski challenge) called and said, "Lets go to dinner, meet me at the place."

I calmly said "Sure, see you there."

Like hell I was gonna see him there.

I went over by his house and got a hiding place where I could just see his the front door of his house. Soon as he popped out, I dropped hammer and let the clutch fly!

In the name of all that is holy, I kept my foot in it until the last second, and Bob's eyes got so big I thought they were going to explode.

Just then, I got off the throttle in time to spin the wheel, and cut the most-glorious half donut in front of Bob's mailbox, and then jetted back up to the corner. During that half-donut, I about got disoriented 'cause the shifter moved so severely that I thought the 8-ball was gonna shoot out the open passenger window, or the ball-joints were all gonna tear apart, or I was gonna leave a drive shaft in one Bob's neighbor's lawns!

I'd been waiting for a chance to do something like that again since like... 1982!

It took Bob an awful long while to get over to the place, even though I chugged over there as slow as I could, since I figured the ruckus probably had half the PD looking for hoodunit. Was taking a bit of a chance with that stunt since Bob's house is might-near the PD HQ.

I think Bob had to run back in and change his shorts.

Are we having fun, or WHAT?!!!!

theoutlaw

Just read this whole thing. Funny part is that right around the time you were getting your 88 Sport Coupe I was on my way back from Mississippi to Mass towing my 88 Sport Coupe that I just got from my little brother. Mines a 305 auto and is currently primer gray and flat black. But the funnier thing is that its factory color scheme is identical to yours. Even has the low rise spoiler. LOL What are the chances of that? I towed mine but only because I already knew the rear end was bad and it wouldn't idle.

W.E.G.

I hope yours is running now.

I've been driving mine like a disease!

Maybe I need to drive it up to MA and leave some rubber in your driveway?

Richboll

It sounds like you're having a lot more fun with the car than the guy you traded for it!

W.E.G.

Without a doubt. I've driven it three or four thousand miles now.

Gonna try to chase water leaks in the firewall/cowl some more real soon. Eventually will get carpet and console (and that expensive dash pad) back in the beast.

Once I'm satisfied with the water-leak issue, we'll have a look at suspension and such. I'm sure some new ball joints and bushings would be a good investment. Might as well have the rotors off and inspect the spindles and bearings too. I'd like to be able to hit those driveway ramps and not worry about the wheel folding, or just snapping off.

I remain amazed that it always starts right up. With the exception of an on-again-off-again "cough" that it does at light throttle, and mostly only in third gear, the motor just purrs. I finally added a quart of oil since they changed it in Texas in January. If I come screaming up the street in first gear (annoys some neighbors - entertains a few others), the vacuum of it apparently sucks enough oil by the valve seals that I get a fair puff of blue smoke on the next startup if I start it fairly soon after my "stunt."

The power steering pump leaks a smidgen. I added maybe a third of one of those small skinny bottles of power steering fluid.

A raccoon decided to spend the night on top of my "economy model" battery. He tore out some under-hood insulation, and left a bunch of his fur and a big raccoon turd in the battery tray. I can see his tracks too on the lower radiator hose. At least the only thing he chewed was fiberglass. I cleaned all that up just this week. I'd put a snare or a steel trap under there to do him in, except I know critters will chew on anything they can get their teeth on until they expire in a hold-'em trap. There's so much space between the radiator an the motor, I could fit one of those "Havahart" cage-traps I reckon. Maybe I should install a tampon soaked in coyote pee to hang on my battery cable. I hope he'll just keep away.

theoutlaw

Oh I got it fixed up. Idle problem was a combination of a few bad sensors a vacuum leak and the guy my brother bought it from had the base timing set at 30* advance (I'm guessing at the actual number but it was twice the scale which goes up to 12*). I got 3.42 gear rearend out of 89 v6 Camaro waiting to be installed along with a used Hooker catback.

I was driving it daily until we moved back down to Mississippi. Now that I have 3/4 of a 2 car garage (wife gets the other 1/4) at my disposal so I started tearing it down for a complete restoration of the interior and exterior. My 22 month old son helps with the interior. he already knows how to use a screwdriver. LOL Granted I need to break the screw loose and hold the tool in place for him but he will turn it the rest of the way out.

Also I know its little late but the most surefire way to find out your axle's gear ratio is to pop the cover. If you look at the ring gear its got the tooth count of it and the pinion gear stamped into it. You just divide the two and you have your gear ratio. That's what I did when I was junkyarding for my rearend.

W.E.G.

I'm too ADD for that!

I gots to DRIVE it!
Me and the guy who makes my lunch can't talk about "my car" if its stuck in a garage somewhere.

I know about that coaching thing.
My kid makes my ammo for me when he doesn't have grad-school classes.

W.E.G.

The 88 spoke to me today, and demanded that I not procrastinate any longer on fixing the interior door handles.

The middle bolt went absent, which motivated me to find the right torx bits and extensions to get at the one remaining bolt that was still fastened tight.

As many of you know, the glue that GM used to affix the rubber covers did not withstand the test of time. I roughed-up the mating surfaces inside the handle, and I mixed up a mess of JB-Weld epoxy. Just doing the bottom-side on the first try. Hope it holds.

Like my clamps?

Richboll

Nice clamp system! I don't think that GM glued them together. It appears to be insert molded. Either way, they do come apart. I used 3M weather-stripping adhesive and strips of duct tape that enabled me to do top and bottom at the same time. My current fix has lasted over 3 years so far. I hope the JB weld holds up for you.

W.E.G.

I don't know if a PO might have tried to re-glue it or not.

When I got it off the car, there were remnants of at least two different types of adhesives. One was silicone like you see glopped-up around the back of the sink at shady restaurants. The other appeared to be some sort of contact adhesive. I jabbed and scraped at it with screwdrivers and a putty knife. Then I hit it with some 40-grit sandpaper to rough things up.

Reckon we'll know how it pans out by this time tomorrow.

Meantime, the cockpit is downright airy with no console and no armrest on the door.

BTW, took one of my buddies out to get some BBQ today. No sooner than we had started down the road, some fogkstick swerved oncoming right into our lane on a narrow two-lane "country road." Wasn't any room hardly to get out of the way when we saw he was yapping on a cellphone. That was way too close! I was tempted to go after him but figured it would fubar my karma to bust noggins at noon on Sunday.

We were almost to the BBQ joint when a GT500 mustang pulled next to us at light. When it went green, I gave it all she would do until it started wheezing at the top of second gear. Pretty sure that got it all the way up to 40 mph. I don't think the GT500 even knew I was (trying to) racing him.

Street legal go-cart yes it is.

Lovin' it!

My body-shop guy gets back tomorrow from his 43rd vacation this summer. Need to chase some more water leaks before I can get back at re-assembling the interior.

W.E.G.

Took the clamps off after about 36 hours.

It seems to be holding.



.
.
.

Not truly a "professional" job.
Got a little hardened JB-ooze



After it sets-up some more, I might be able to take that runoff down with a dremel, and touch-up with a black sharpie. It really doesn't "show" anyway, since its on the underside of the armrest.

W.E.G.

Now to go after the other side.

You can see where I roughed it up in preparation for the glue.



.
.
.

Used the first half of the tubes on the first side. Now to use the other half of the tubes on the second side.



.
.
.

mix it up



.
.
.

smear it on



.
.
.

clamp it down

W.E.G.

Voila!

Guido-side is GTG.
Sheila-side is in progress.

W.E.G.

**********
placeholder for installed pics

W.E.G.

Let us all turn off our engines, and observe a moment of silence in honor of the passing yesterday of Richard Sarafian.

Mr. Sarafian directed the impetus of this project, the movie "Vanishing Point"

We are diminished.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...890_story.html

W.E.G.

Took the '88 for a spin the other day.

Made two runs at WOT until I thought I might get in trouble, and then pedaled it.

Took a look under the hood, and noticed there was coolant oozing from around the radiator cap.
Not good.

Weird thing was, the coolant was just coming around the cap.
Nothing seemed to be getting pushed into the overflow tank.

I wasn't about to open it while its hot - even though it has one of those lever-caps that supposedly lets you bleed-off the pressure before opening.
Whole situation was complicated because I had to give the car to the body shop (again) to chase the leaks the very next day.

Finally got it back today, and I waited until it was cool to have a look at that cap.
I pulled on that "release" lever for good measure.

OOOOOps!

Lever just snapped right off.



Maybe those lever-caps aren't such a good idea.

Installed a Mexican non-lever "OEM style" cap in its place.



It was rush-hour by the time I got to this chore, so I really couldn't give it the same test that led to the big seepage that got me onto the radiator cap issue in the first place.

I found a couple holes in traffic that let me WOT for a few seconds.

So far, it looks like its holding.

I replaced the coolant that got away on my prior stunts.
The motor is cooling now, and hopefully sucking the replacement coolant from the overflow tank.
We'll know in the morning.

Richboll

I've never had a lever type come apart like that. But then I guess I've never had a "MotoRad" either...

IMissMy86TA

darn you mean Moto Rad is not a good brand?
I will have to change my caps on all my cars now!

W.E.G.

The white plastic central shaft just snapped under minimal force when I tried to open it.

I really don't understand these lever-caps.

I have no intention of ever opening the system anyway when its hot.
What can you possibly do to a hot system if you do get the cap off?

Add water directly to the radiator?

If you're doing that, don't you have a major problem that is not going to be solved by just adding water to a hot system?
Limp home with a major leak, and hope you don't warp a head?

Major coolant leak is when you call a hook.

scottmoyer

The old cap states not to open when hot, it's even in red print! I think the lever is just a lock for the cap. Who knows?

W.E.G.

I'm familiar with these lever caps. The lever is not a lock. Its simply a manual pressure release valve.

The idea is you can release the pressure, and have access to the radiator without having a gusher of coolant. Even if such action is an "off-label" primary use of the product. Think Q-tips. Other than cleaning guns, who uses them for other than sticking in their ears - which the label clearly forbids.

I still think the idea of opening the system when hot is silly. Other than re-filling the radiator, on an otherwise-leaking system, for the purpose of limping home

While a little "spew" is certainly preferable to a full-on geyser in the face, opening the system when hot is just asking for trouble no matter how you slice it. If you absolutely HAVE TO DO IT, you can do it with a standard cap anyway. Put towel over cap, put on gloves, turn quarter-turn. It will puke on the towel, and down the side of the radiator, but you will be able to get your hand off it before it can hurt you.

Oh, and a Mexican lever-cap costs 2x the price of a Mexican "OEM" cap.

W.E.G.

Well anyhow... at least I did get to drive it today.

Even if Washington is "shut down."

W.E.G.

I reckon its about time to do that "wet weather" road test.

This should answer the question of "Does it still leak."

W.E.G.

compilation of several short vids I shot while testing

About 7 minutes total

W.E.G.

Posted a pull-down motor question in the body forum.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...ml#post5653302

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

LOVED reading this story! Fun read! Too bad about the "little" setbacks. At least you know the PO was being as honest as he could...I mean you WERE trading him a cool rifle...and probably had more. You just dont go around screwing people like that over

For your leaks, one trick that Ive used over the years, and has been the butt of many dirty jokes, is baby powder. I puff some baby powder around where I think Im getting a leak. Before, Ide see water on the floor, but the trails from where it came from were dried up.

The drips will cause tracks to appear in the powder residue, and you can follow them back. Plus...it'll make the floor smell nice, and you really dont HAVE to clean it up. Just a damp towel or swiffer duster will do it though if you want.

Good luck sorting it out! You've put a BIG chunk of money into the car by now, and Im sure its a passion for you at this point. When you're ready to do an LS/T56 swap let us know

J.

XxSLeEPyJuiCExX

Its actually a smart invest to find a car with ripped seats and beat the owner down for it because at my local upolstrey place they did my complete interior in leather for only 300 bucks, looks wonderful. But hey, thats just my poinion , some people dont like putting leather in 3rd gens but i love the look. just a thought
________________________________________________________
Dan
1984 Sport Coupe
305 sbc V8
borg warner T5E

W.E.G.

I'm gonna be doing something with the seats for sure in due course.

Car is at the mechanic this week to get various issues looked-at and resolved.
Hopefully get that third-gear, light-throttle stutter resolved, and also get started on some front-end-related projects like wheel bearings, and also an abraded brake line.

I could do a lot of stuff myself in the driveway, but I need a "real" mechanic in my corner on this project for when I get to something that I truly can't (or don't want to) do myself.

Theory is that I'm restoring it from the inside-out, which seems to be pretty much the opposite of what we too often see (outside-in) with folks who get into one of these cars, and then have to get out of it (i.e. abandon it) when the sober light of day hits them as to how much its really gonna cost.

I get to do this ONE TIME in my life. This is the time, and this is the one.

Even my wife likes this car.
.
.
..

kmcn47

applause! loud roaring thunderous applause for this man. i can't wait to see you do a restoration right. i hear ya on so often its not that way, i wish i could do a good resto on mine right now. but it will have to wait til someday

W.E.G.

Got her back from the shop today.

What an awesome afternoon for a cruise - even if it had to be in northern VA Friday afternoon traffic.

This is what got done on this go-round:

• plugs
• plug wires
• plug wire looms
• front wheel-bearing seals & re-grease bearings
• power steering hose replacement (just the high-pressure side)
• transmission mount (real GM part - not the questionable aftermarket stuff that everybody seems to complain about)
• speedometer cable
• ...and (drum-roll) a fresh state inspection!

What a difference the trans-mount makes in vibration reduction. This car is starting to feel like its almost civilized! (not sure if that's a good thing, but the mechanic insisted).

The speedometer no longer sounds like an entire family of extra-terrestrials is being shredded in a commercial dryer with a bad bearing.

The power steering lines no longer seep like the wounded entrails of a mythical beast.

The wheel bearings were probably last serviced when Ronald Reagan was president, and likely the plugs and plug wires too. So now that part is right.

I was pretty sure the plugs/wires would not solve the "stutter" problem that this car likes to throw in third and fourth gear on light load and light throttle. I was right. It gave me some Ptuhh-ptooo-chug-jerk-puf-hoof when I broke free of a construction zone on the Reston Parkway. It seemed to get it out of its system, and didn't give me much more of it for the rest of the drive.

I'm thinking there is still a fuel delivery issue causing the stuttering. My favorite suspect is the FUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR. Its getting late in the season, and I don't feel like doing surgery on the intake until the weather turns in the spring. So, I'll just live with the stutter over the winter.

Same deal on the gas tank. Still reeks back there whenever I fill the tank. I'm pretty sure the filler neck is the culprit. I'm willing to bet that the vent lines are fairly (to borrow one of my favorite Ed China words) "perished." That will be another project for warmer weather. Drop the tank and get the tank, and all of the lines, up to top shape.

Lastly, proving that there ALWAYS SOMETHING whenever the car goes to the shop, the tension spring that assists the drivers door popped out, and at least was recovered. The roller for the bump-hinge seems to be the culprit, and it went missing. I have a "shade tree" idea I'm gonna apply for that one. I'll be sure to post.

W.E.G.

So I had an appointment scheduled for today to do a demo-ride with my mechanic to show him the "stutter" thing.

Then I saw the weather forecast - they were calling for "ice pellets."

I figured today would be iffy for demo-cruising, so I called off the appointment.
Naturally, we then got zero precip.
At least I'm rescheduled for Thursday.

When it was evident that the bad weather was missing us, I decided to drive the Camaro to get some lunch. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I felt a "pop" in the clutch pedal. When I released the pedal, the linkage self-disassembled like it did last January when I was almost home from the Kowalski Challenge.

I was kind of sideways in the road coming out of the parking lot when it all came apart. Stopped traffic for the light gave me nowhere to go, so I had to deliberately stall the motor. Dead in the water.

I'm not a very athletic fellow any more these days. I've got a bad back, and two bad knees. But my adrenaline shot up as I yanked it into neutral, and threw the door open, and silently said, "Please God,... help me push." I started pushing the Camaro toward the driveway to another parking lot. I had my shoulder into the door frame with all my might, and I was wrenching the wheel to get it to steer toward the driveway.

Problem was, the driveway entrance was a healthy hump - and a bit uphill. I didn't think I could make it, but I wasn't going to not try.

This was all happening really fast.

When the turned wheels hit the driveway hump, I could feel the momentum dying. Then suddenly the car picked up speed. As I jumped into the car to keep it from getting away down the hill into the parking lot, I saw a stranger at the back of the Camaro, head-down, and also pushing with all his might.

I coasted the Camaro downhill into a parking space, and I looked for the stranger so I could thank him. He was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe its just a small thing - but wow.

Did that really just happen?

kmcn47

the one time my firebird broke down (alternator) strangers helped me push it to a safe resting place while i waited for my "pit crew" to come with a new belt

IMissMy86TA

creepy but cool

Joe Tag

iTrader: (4)

I don't know how I missed this thread over the past year. Great read! It was like some adventure short story. I felt your pain in both breakdowns on the way home. I felt a frown come on my face the first time, then severe disappointment when the rear gave out. I was literally glued to this thread and read every word. You sir, are a trooper. IDK if I would have the fortitude to keep such a great attitude about it the whole time as you did. If there were a most persistent 3rd gen'er award here, you'd have my vote. Do you have a name for her?

Barlow8869

iTrader: (1)

ok, just read all 5 pages of this, and i must say ... you are one of the best story tellers i have found here so far ... loved the read, and hope you don't have much more troubles with her

W.E.G.

A lot of people ask me about the "name" thing.

I don't really have one. I just always call her "The Camaro."

Part of that is because NOBODY I know owns a Camaro of any stripe - let alone an old one. Around here its overwhelmingly boring people with imports and late-models, with a few domestic mini-vans sprinkled in. Quite out of the ordinary, the kid across the street had just gotten a rusto-mod El Camino - which may have sparked my interest in old cars - just before I made the deal to trade the rifle for the Camaro halfway across the country.

The kid sold the rusto-mod Camino, and he's now driving a beater Accord (sad face).

So, I keep calling her "The Camaro."
Like there is only one.

The other part of it is really kind of an emotional thing - and I'm reluctant to admit this - but here it is. I'm afraid somebody will destroy it, or take it away from me, or otherwise just spoil it for me somehow. I know that sounds childish, and that I should have thicker skin. But that is how I feel. Its kind of like deliberately not naming a calf that you helped deliver, because you know one day that calf has to die at your same hands. I've had some "bad luck" with cars through the years too. Figure why this one should be any different?

At least nobody will be stealing her this week without a tow truck. She's safe-and-sound off the street until I can get the clutch linkage fixed.

On Tuesday, after the stranger pushed us to safety, I was able to sort-of snap-together the linkage and get her rolling toward home. The linkage still came apart four times during the ride. I even planned the route so that I would have a minimum of shifts, and traffic lights, and otherwise figured to just keep her in first-gear, and run all stop signs.

There was one especially tense moment where the linkage came apart twice in rapid succession at the red light as I was trying to cross Route 123. I wasn't able to time it to get a green. I played some hocus-pocus with my following distances, and the emergency flashers to get enough room to work, since I couldn't reach the linkage with the driver's door closed. It is a bit scary kneeling in the middle lane, trying to reconnect busted linkage while traffic is going around you on both sides.

Once I got across Rt. 123, I only had a half-dozen or so more stop signs to run. I slowed down as much as I could without stalling at the elementary school where the county cop is always detailed to watch that stop sign.

I got home and looked up the GM part number (14091384) for the connector-bushing for the pedal and the clutch-cylinder rod. I stupidly played patty-cake with the Advance Auto guy on the phone who insisted that he could get the part in a few hours. When I went to pick up the part, it was wrong. He tried to sell me the bushings that ride on the cross-arm that supports the clutch pedal and the brake pedal. Completely different part. I learned my lesson. If you give them the GM part number, and they say they "can't find it," but offer you something else, just keep moving. They don't know what they are talking about.

I cancelled the Thursday "stutter-check" with my mechanic. We won't be doing and test-drives with a busted clutch linkage. I'm waiting on the GM bushing to get here. (I ordered two - in case I ruin one trying to install it, I'll have one more good one to take to my mechanic.) I also ordered a "clevis clip (GM part #3817880)," which I think is actually for the brake pedal, but which might also work for the clutch linkage. What a great peace-of-mind it would give to have a "metal piece" also holding that linkage together.

So that's where we are.

Coming right up on Christmas, and New Years. I guess I have to postpone the stutter-check thing until after New Years. Hope to show the mechanic exactly what is happening. I'm going to kidnap him and make him sit there until she "does it," which usually takes at least 20 minutes of steady running down the road. I think its a leaking fuel pressure regulator diaphragm - but that's what I blame for almost every performance-issue. Not that there's any reason to be suspicious of a piece of rubber that's been sitting under pressure in gasoline for a quarter-century.

Whatever the man says she needs...

Hall of Fame baby.



All of the children tucked safe in their beds...

IMissMy86TA

Yeah I never understood this naming thing.. my mom, who was bi-polar - great childhood... anyway she named her cars so I equate it to crazy I guess. anything she did was crazy so yeah.

Great read and I just wish you bought some broken down 1LE or something with some great possibilities. but you traded and I get that. a gun only gets so much car I also grew up riding in the back of an el Camino so I understand that. Since my father put me in the back I guess he didnt love me enuf to want to keep me safe. I understand physics and I am lucky to be alive!

Joe Tag

iTrader: (4)

If you're from the same generation as me, it was a much different time. No seatbelt laws or child seats. Playgrounds had slides made of stainless steel that were blazing hot in the summer sun, no cushy padding around swing sets. No one needed to be told on the cup that coffee was hot. You didn't need a disclaimer that you shouldn't drive off a cliff with your Fiat because you saw it in a commercial. People relied on common sense, not everyone had it though. I think it just made us tougher.

W.E.G.

Bastards!!!

They crushed my nuts!

I guess this means Santa Claus WON'T be bringing me new lug nuts for Christmas after all. (sadface)

W.E.G.

At least there's some good news.

This should be the clutch cylinder bushing.

W.E.G.

Back on the road!

Santa brought me the bushing I needed.

I updated my thread on the clutch linkage at https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...re-1988-a.html

Here's the money-shot of the repaired linkage with the new bushing.