Xoferif

Bought the car about a year ago...the owners before me really hacked the poor car up....just look at the front bumper cover...however, it would seem that it was garage kept for a number of years...so, there's hardly any rust on it. I've taken care of most of the rust already...got one trouble spot left to take care of and then I've gotta rust bullet the underside and the inside of the car.

The engine was ran low on oil and gave it a nasty rod knock...the engine was about to be pulled just before I bought it (the guy was planning on doing a 350 swap and realized he was in way over his head)...so, when I got the car, it was a huge jigsaw piece trying to get it back together and running again...many trips to the junkyard later, and I finally got her running....only to tear it all apart again after I found out just how bad the rod knock really was....blocked the engine...dropped the pan...put on new rod bearings...and there was still a lot of play in it...just great...the crank got ate up...so, pulled the engine...new crank...new seals...all new bearings...etc etc...enough details...time for pictures.

This is what it looked like when I bought it...






This is what it looked like after about 4 hours of work just after I got it home...






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More pictures coming...

Xoferif

Put the car on stands...



Pulled the cute 'lil 3.1L...nah, don't let your eyes decieve you, it's not dirty.




Cracked windshield...now replaced, of course.



I think it's missing something...



That's better...New one is in...




Closed back up...at long last...



Right side up again!

Xoferif

Much cleaner now...



Shinier...




Further Assembling...










And ready to be dropped back in...

Xoferif

And these are the last...they were just taken this past Friday after I gave it a quick wash...it was cold out and the water didn't dry fast, of course...so, it's still a bit wet in the pictures.




The last troublesome rust spot to be dealt with...









I've been having a rough time trying to find some brackets for mounting the 85-90 style front chin spoiler that I have...or else that would be on right now. Anyone have any they happen to have laying around that they'd be willing to sell? Also need seat belt guides...haven't been able to get any from the local junkyards. I also may be interested in buying anything you see that I may not have in these pictures.

Thanks and hope you enjoyed the pictures.

jermdm

Excellent work. Nice that you brought it back from the dead. Also gives you satifaction that you did the work yourself. Hope you changed all the gaskets while the motor was out. Planning on keeping the chevy pick-up steering wheel? Being a 91, should be an airbag car. Anyway, nice work.

Xoferif

Thanks...and yep, all new gaskets.

The steering wheel will be gone shortly...it's way too big for the car. Not sure why they put that particular wheel in there...but yes, it use to have an airbag system; however, I won't be putting one back in.

Michael91z28

Great job man. I hate to see people neglect these cars like that previous owner. Thankfully now it is in better hands.

84cammygirl

Man you really saved her. Beautiful blue too.
Love it all!

Demon355

iTrader: (1)

I didn't like the fact that you kept the V6 in the car but damn dude, you really cleaned it up nice. I enjoy threads like these. Good luck with the car man!

91camaro372

Very nice work! That engine looks 100% better now. Just wondering did you do a full rebuild or did you just take everything apart and clean it up, paint it, and assemble it with new gaskets? I'm wondering because I might look into doing something similar with my 3.1l. Again excellent work...

Xoferif

Thanks for the compliments

I'm not really sure yet what the future holds for this car.

Maybe a new paint job after I get the body work done...in which case, I'll be keeping it blue albeit a slightly different shade...new black carpet...black interior plastics...and thinking about some c6 rims.

One slight dilemma with the car, atm....found out shortly after I bought the car that it had gotten hit in the rear end on the passenger side...not badly but enough to mess things up back there...interior panels don't line up...taillight doesn't set right...it's not very noticeable but enough to ruin plans. We'll see how it goes. Apparently, whatever happened to it was never reported...since I did check the vin for any accidents before I bought it.

If you're going to pull it out then I'd suggest at least replacing all the gaskets, rod and main bearings, oil pump, water pump, and timing chain and sprockets while you're at it. The most expensive things will probably be the gaskets themselves and the oil pump.

The work isn't too bad and it's really quite worth it. Lots of room in the engine bay to work on it since the engine is so small...so, it's really not hard at all to disconnect or reconnect everything. And while the engine is out, you misewell clean up the engine bay a bit. You may not be able to tell from the pictures but I did degrease the engine bay and painted the crossmember, at least.