I'll post this question here because I'm actually ending up doing a restoration on my '86 Iroc, at least that's how I'm beginning to feel. I know '86 is by no means new, but how can EVERYTHING go out within a short timespan? Or does my new car just hate me? I have had the car about 2 months now and when I bought it, it had been wrecked in the front right a couple of weeks before. I replaced the lower control arm, tire, rim, outer and inner tie rod ends and discovered the frame was bent. Got that pulled out and a new fender. Radiator then blows on me. Starter leaves me stranded a couple of days later. Took a new ECM, mass airflow power relay, and manifold air temp sensor to get rid of some codes (ok, that was probably messed up before I bought it). Starts blowing fuses left and right, finally traced it down to the cig lighter. Damn thing then leaves me stranded again with a problem that goes away a couple of hours later and finally returned today, a couple of weeks later. Halfway through replacing the fuel pump right now, hoping that's it since when it started sputtering and lost power and would only idle, I was only getting about 10-15 psi of fuel pressure. This is my third Z-28 and the others haven't given me too much crap, so I guess my question is 'Are most camaros buckets of bolts, or does my car just hate me?

Paint job in future plans, wanted new interior and seats, but after paying for all the crap here, that might not happen. Pretty soon I'm going to have a brand spankin' new '86 Iroc (if things keep up).

 

No, and not all F-Bodies are like that. It depends on how the car was taken care of and stuff.

 

Sounds like my 82 S/E In the end I ended up deciding I could not afford it and scraped it because there were so many things wrong with it I couldn't even have gotton $200 for it....

 

Well, I did only pay $800 for it, but I've probably added another $2000 in fixing the thing up (most of that in rims and getting the frame pulled out), so right now, selling is not an option because I'd be out too much money, so I keep getting deeper and deeper. The way I see it, I can't keep replacing parts that frequently forever, unless they only last a year a piece, which brings me to another thing. The previous owner was a mechanic and replaced the fuel pump, had a tank job done on the radiator and put in a new starter and a new manifold temp sensor. Coincidentally, all of these parts have broken within the first 2 months of my ownership. Where did the parts come from, the recycling bin or the junkyard? Or does the car know that I will put the effort and money into fixing it up, so it is wanting new everything? I really believe he did these things because there is evidence that he had been in those places and it doesn't seem to be a crappy job. I didn't actually buy it from him, I bought it through another person who only had the car a month, but I did contact this guy to go over everything he had done on the car to get a background on what was replaced and what wasn't, so he wasn't saying these things just to get a sale. My '91 was my baby, 350 and all, and it really gave me very few problems til my friend totalled it. RIP

Going to get a new fuel pump - Carter and AC Delco sold locally, which one?

 

I only paid $350 for my S/E and another $350 for an engine and over 3 years I put over $7K, yes that's right, over $7K into that damn thing, and I was a part -time working high school student at the time!

I'd just go with the AC Delco...

 

hmm... I'd say a large part of what you're dealing with is just age. Beyond that there is a lot to be said for doing things right the first time. Delco parts are new and are designed to last long enough that the dealership can stand behind them. A junkyard part is usually warrantied for 30 days.

 

Delco it is, then. Thanks guys.

 

I have replaced or rebuilt literally everything on my Camaro. For everything electrical I used AC Delco. The car has never let me down in over 2 years.

 

All of the problems you describe are common F-Body problems, but you got them all in one car. LOL. Some have cooling probs, some have elect probs, starting probs, you just got them all.

Jay

 

You didn't mention leaky pan gaskits, and bad valve seals

 

Those are common car problems, not F-Body problems. It all depends. I've seen enough of them. I've seen newer cars and non-performance cars with more, alot more sometimes.

 

from my understanding they are common to 305's which would make them common to F-bodies. The pan gaskit problem was corrected by GM in 86? mayby 87, don't know if the valve seal problem was ever fixed. I had an 85 z28 bad valve seals leaky pan gaskit, 42,000 actual. I have an 87 iroc bad valve seals, but pan gaskit ok, because GM corrected it. 40,000 actual. Frankly those things should last longer.

 

Yeah once in a while there are a few specifics, but LOL, be thankful thats pretty much it and they'll run anyway, even with lots and lots of miles on them.

 

Even AC Delco replacement parts suck a lot of the time. Example:

The '89 Formula I'm looking to buy has had the alternator and the starter both replaced FOUR times by the dealer in 103k miles. My old RS had a Delco starter put in it, and within 13 months (aka no warranty) the damn thing blew...

I replaced it with an Auto Zone lifetime warranty Duralast, and its going on 3 years in the car with its new owner. I paid the dealer $180 to put in the "high quality" Delco...the part alone was like $110. The Auto Zone lifetime one was a paltry $43

 

I actually ended up going with a Carter fuel pump. I had heard and read 6-8 hour job, so I expected about 10 hours for me. Thankfully 3-3.5 to disassemble and reassembly was only about an hour and a half for a grand total of about 5 hours. I was really dreading it, but actually it was just removing lots of parts and nothing was really tricky or a problem like trying to put front suspension springs in. In my past, I have had really bad experiences with rebuilt starters from auto parts stores. There was a long bolt on one that holds one of the end caps on that just stripped and fell out while I was driving a week after I bought it once. I don't really have any oil leaks on what I believe is the original engine, but I would trade oil leaks for a lot of the other junk I've had to do to it (since I will be going to a 350). Yea, it does burn oil on startup, probably oil leaking down valves, but I expect that on anything with over 120k-140k. Back in 1990, I got an '83 Z28 that had some problems right off the bat, but I think after the first round of repairs, things went pretty good (especially the way a 16 year old tears things up). I actually have been pretty good about doing the work, I don't get pissed, I just grin and figure that it has to be done, and throwing a fit won't do too much good. I can say that I've already torn this car down more than any other I have ever owned, and I have learned a lot in the past two months.