So i figured its time for me to document my ongoing build...
When i was 17 i bought my first third gen. At the time i thought i had something amazing.. It was called a Carralo and was made by Knudsen automitives. it was really just a z28 with a custom body and graphics. Ony 100 were made so i thought it was worth a "fortune"(7000) at that time. well turns out i could only get 4500 for it but it was my entrance into this third gen world.

Since then i have gone through three cars. I finally bought another third gen in spring of '10. It was a beat 90 rs with a 305 and 5 speed tranny. I saw it had good roots so i bought it with a dream and vision of what it could potentially be

The price was right so i brought it home. The floors were rusted out, interior was a disgusting red, rusted out exhaust,
electrical issues, damage to front nose, dry rotted tires, and many more small issues. So i brought it in the garage and ever since this spring i have been working on it. But now its time for me to start a documentation of what ive already done(mainly small stuff) and what i plan to do in the future. I want your guys opinions and thoughts and most of all, yall's help because you guys on this site have been amazing in answering all of my (at some times stupid) questions.

So ill start with some pics of what it looked like when i first got it and some of the things i have already done. So here it goes.

-Steve

 

Here are pics of when i first got it...

 

Rear Brake Line randomly broke while sitting in garage. Nice surprise when you go to press the brakes and feel nothing...

 

Got the brakes fixed. Then starting ripping out the interior to replace the floor pans

 

Never took pics of rusty floors but they were bad. Went to home depot got some 16 gauge steel i think it was and molded it to fit. Then welded them in. The passenger side i only had a small hole to fix but the drivers side was pretty bad. I then cleaned all the interior and put it all back in... What a waste as youll see

 

I then decided to fix my ttop bar which was completely rusted. Dont want any more rust issues from a leaky ttop bar. First pic is of old one. Next is of the new one i got actually from someone here on third gen and then the third pic of it installed. I then recocked everything for a water-tight seal.

 

So the t-top bar is now fixed but the headliner is in dire need of repair. 20 years of weathering has turned it to dust. I first removed it, glassed it to give it some structural strength, sanded it, then started laying down the fabric. Materials costed me about 55 bucks for the headliner glue, fabric, and fiberglass. Needed two cans of the glue at 15 bucks a piece. I think it turned out great. So good i decided id do the same to the sun visors. Had some left over fabric so off came the "red fabric" and on went the new fresh black. A little trip to grandmothers sewing machine and they were on in no time. Even picked up a new skill

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I then found a cheap parts car on cl. Bought it right away. After having it for a few weeks i decided with the black headliner and visors it was time for the red interior to go. Didnt realize i actually had a good interior sitting right outside in my parts car. So... out came the interior again, this time EVERYTHING and in went the black. Sooooo glad i did this. Looks a thousand times better.


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Also realized i have wayy better tires and rims on my parts car. Soo, decided to swap em. First pic is old, second is the ones i swapped in.
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Just a few weeks ago i decided to take off my front nose and start the repair. I swapped them from my parts car but that ones paint is chipping and flaking. I took the best of both noses and made one good one. sanded and painted the frames for the headlight assembly, polished the turn signals, and then when i got the nose installed i removed the rs grill and wired up some foglights to resemble the iroc. Also it is bondoed of course and im in the process of finishing up the sanding. Such a pita to get body work right. Before and afters


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Ive cleaned up the engine bay, removed the windshield washer fluid reservoir, painted the heater area black because it looked terrible back there with chipping paint. Installed an open element air cleaner. Like i said in the beggining of my post, ive done a lot of stuff but all small stuff. time for me to do some more serious things. Ive kinda done this whole thing backwards...

 

Just the other day i decided it was time to fix my gauges. The fuel gauge and tach were not working so i swapped clusters from the parts car. Only thing is the mileage on the parts car is 148xxx and the actual miles on the car is supposed to be 138xxx but im not too worried. So i put the new cluster in and the tach works but fuel gauge still pegged past full so i know its not the gauge and must be either the wiring or fuel sending unit. So i removed the cluster and decided ill freshen it up while its out. I ordered blue leds and white gauge face overlays. Im in the proces of painting the needles black with a red tip. Also painted back of black gauge cover a metallic silver so the blue leds will really reflect off of it. I think it will all look really cool when its said and done. Pictures will be posted of course. I also ordered the white overlay for the hvac controls and extra blue leds for other interior lighting:-0

 

ok so painting the needles turned out to be the dumbest thing i could of done, the light does not shine through the needle now, Duh/ so luckily i have a spare cluster. installed the leds in that cluster, and put the white overlays in an hour ago. test fitted it and it looks great. pics will be up tomorrow

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removed manifolds and y pipe today. my 75 header back exhaust is now going in. great craigslist deal. cleaned it up real good today looks brand new. going to paint the headers tomorrow clean them up some more and get ready for the install. buying gaskets and bolts tomorrow as well. i think im gonna go ahead and clean up my valve covers or just buy new ones seeing they are starting to surface rust and oil leaks will happen soon enough. the 350 swap will be happening on the near future so im not going to do anything much to the 305 just drive her.

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What are the sizes of those bulging BFGs with the white letters?

 

Neat car - good job!

 

ok so the past couple days ive been working on the undercarriage and wheel wells. have completely sanded and ground down as much as i could. followed that with three cans of undercarriage spray and some black spray paint in a few areas just to touch things up. it looks really good and no more rust. have some before and after pics that ill post. i decided to do this before i put in the new exhaust. i will be getting the gaskets and header bolts in the next few days when ill post the pics of the exhaust in.

 

thanks chazman its a work in progress...

 

Your project car is a 5 speed and so is your parts car?

 

no just the project is a 5 speed