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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
I thought I'd post up an update on my car ... It's been a while.
I parked it in the fall of 2017 after a year with car shows, local meets and most of all a trip to the road course in BC called Area 27 (where GM flogged the newest ZL1 1LE Camaro back then - actually GM sold a special edition ZL1 1LE camaro to the local track members ... an Area 27 edition).
In 2018, I didn't do much of anything with the car. It sat under wraps in a garage while I worked on a different project. I suppose it live the life of so many 1LE cars that are kept in storage and not driven. Well Barret Jackson never called me up ... so the car continued to sit ... until spring 2019.
A local swap meet found me a set of lightly used rear adjustable shocks for a third gen. Koni red. My original 1LE rear shocks were long gone and I only have a single 1LE rear shock as a replacement. These were a fair upgrade, and being adjustable, I could dial them in - ya ok ... they will be set of max stiffness. ha ha. Set install these in the weeks coming.
My next step was to restore my old iroc wheels. I had a set of gold 16" ones which were incorrect for the car. I have silver ones, and I was going to restore those. But I had a thought ... Hawk released the 17" repro's of the two line Iroc wheels. THIS was my ticket. A quick phone call, and a new set of wheels were shipped out. Literally a day later they arrived! They are fantastic! The finish is just like the stock wheels. The silver is a close match. And the clear is great (a few dust specs, but as good as I would expect if I had them redone). Now I ordered the IROC-Z centre caps ... which are GM production parts. So a good deal in my mind ... silver ones are included or you can switch to IROC ones for free. The GM repo ones (BTW) aren't the greatest quality ... seem cheap ... but they are the factory licensed repro.
For the 1LE people ... the Hawk wheels come with a small spacer to use with the front wheels. They ship 4 wheels with the same offset, so presumably the spacer will provide needed clearance for front turning. Now with the 1LE brake rotors, they are thicker than a non-1LE and push the wheel out a good 0.25 of an inch. This is the same thickness as the spacer. So good news for 1LE owners ... no spacer needed!
Now the wheels being 17X9 and me using 275 tires, they fill out the wheel wells. I like the look, but rocks will be unkind to your paint.
So far I've been at a few shows and no one picks out that they are not stock. Perfect! I got the look, and now I got the better tire choices.
First day with new shoes!!!
A local show ... Met up with a few old racers from back in the day. Lots of interest in the car and it's history. (My son's Turbo "Iron Duke" is next to me ... known as RAT10 ... cool project).
These are wide and are moved out over stock. I like the look!
Plenty of clearance for the tiny 1LE brakes.
And a comparison ... same diameter, just larger tires. I did a round trip travel yesterday of 240 miles ... no issues. Drove nice ... although the 275's like to find the ruts in the pavement.
So a Shout out to Hawks for some great wheels. They look stock ... and better! Plus they cost me the same as having my set refinished. Tires ... well ya they cost some ... but they are track rated!!!
Oh yes ... one other update. I took the car out to Street Legal Drags the other night. I wanted to see what it could run.
No consider I don't drag race much, nor have I driven a standard at the track. Lots of new things for me. It was a warm day here, sun shine out. Engine was hot with cooling fan coming on and off. I know from my prom programming, the code will pull out timing when it's hot. My first run I was shifting at 5500 (I ran my Tunerpro data log). My time was a 15.33 at 92.27 MPH. My next run I shifted at 5200 (thats where GM placed the shift light on the race PROM) and I netted a 15.23 ata 93.13 mph. In both cases, first gear had LOTS of wheel spin. I didn't want to wear out my NEW tires ... so I was not aggressive on the burnout.
That's all I was comfortable doing with the old car. As the night went on, the temps dropped and the times got better. I figure I could have cut off some time and got into the 14's. I am also at 2200 feet elevation ... so at sea level (magazine talk) I am easily running 14's. :-)
Now ... consider I have probably the highest mile 1LE out there. Stock as stock can be down to the spark plug wires. Yes it has a race chip, so some better fuel and spark tables. IF the speedo is correct, I have 168,000 miles. I replaced the valve seals in 2017 and I swear it looked like I was the first guy to take off the valve covers and the inside of the motor was super clean. No signs of rebuit. So who knows ... but lets say I am one of the few people who has a well enjoyed 1LE and still drives it. The value is the value. Don't care much. Its a cool car with fantastic history.
... From what I can determine ... my car may be the first White 1LE produced (well the surviving one ... as it's twin was crushed in 1998). The 88 1LE cars were red and black ... but so little evidence on those cars.
AND ... my mileage was 20.79 MPG (US gal) and 24.58 (Imperial gal). So overall ... not bad quarter time, not bad mileage for a 30 year old car.
While I don't have the paper work to prove this ... my engine has the same stamping as the Player's race cars as those engine were all built in a few days. My suspicion is that my engine is one of the same since it was a GM Engineering car. Those engines were more carefully assembled.
It was a fun road trip. I sure miss having AC. My soft tires left a dusting or black soot on the car ... so much for 200 treadwear tires!
I have few other projects plan for the car this year. I'll post up updates as time permits.
The car show was in Three Hills Alberta ... just NorthEast of Calgary area. Long running show and very busy. My picture was from the morning. By the afternoon it was elbow to elbow people.
So while at the car show ... there was 600+ cars there ... and 6 THIRDGENs. And of these two of them were 1LE cars ... mine and a 1992 Players race edition. I met up with two guys who raced in the series, as well as the original "flag" girl that worked at one of the race tracks. Lots of love for the Player's series up here ... so many involved, so many regular people. It was great series ... and it gave us some great cars to talk about.
I even had my Wife drive the car the other night ... was kinda weird in the passenger seat ... but great to see her rowing gears and having fun.
This is my 1989 and I ordered it new. It would have been 1LE 112. But at the last moment I added AC since I believed I'd be using it as my daoliy dtiver.
Since Im sifting through pics ... a quick update on the 89 Camaro ... Had fun showing it this year. And put a new clutch in. Bad news ... needed to change my aluminum driveshaft due to wear marks from the parking brake cable. Good news ... NEW clutch!
So some exciting news ... when you don't RACE ... you PACE!
So I get an email from a race organizer doing a revival race in my home town. He wanted a few players cars there so I said sure. Also called a buddy who brought his 91 Camaro. Later on I get a note asking if I would like to PACE the races! WTF?!? Um, well I'm busying washing my hair ... YA for sure! This was super cool.
Here was some of the cars I helped pace out to the track ... I hoped they could keep up ...
Yes these are GENUINE cars! There was a pile of real vintage racers. Millions of bucks at this little revival show. So it was a super treat to be involved. Got to see and hear the cars ... AND I got to run mine open piped as well. Dare I say my front tires were getting a little scrubbed by the end of the day and my co pilot was hanging on ever so much more. I wasn't going very fast ... but I got to feel like I was. The real cars passed me as I exited the track and pretty much made me look like I was standing still.
Anyways that was the big event for the old 1LE car. Keeping history alive.
Now I have a sister car to work on ... the 1991 1LE Trans Am.
And a sad note .. I sold my 1988 TA to a fellow out East who wanted to restore it. He had the 1989 car of the same drive who drove my 88. The older you get the bigger the hot wheels cars get.
06-02-2019, 12:23 PM
