Man that would have been a site, Hope to never have anything like that happen. Yikes. Yea my budget is tight, but has been lubed up recently so there is wiggle room. lol. Hope to just make the final decision and dive in.

 

i bought mine over 15 yrs ago....it started off as a nice car with low miles. however blew an engine, replaced it with a 350, then went thru 3 t-5's. then started my "build" in 2004. i am now finally only a little way away from "finishing" it. MY RECOMMENDATION IS KEEP IT. definitely build it as much as you can. either all at once, or one piece at a time. these cars are getting harder to find nice. plus i'm a fan of you hood. check you my build up in sig. might help you!

 

Ah yes, I have seen your car around this site. I actually pm'd you before asking about that hood and how you cut the scoop out. Lol. Really nice ride! Any pics of the 406? And thanks for the info, I believe I am going to keep it and go through it a little at a time. I did paint and a little body last year, hoping to do motor and trans this year. I want to do the paint and body again since it was my first ever go around and there are some spider cracks showing through and a little wave to the doors. I like to keep the color, maybe go a shade lighter so some can see that it is actually metallic green and not black. lol. Would think about your stripe though that looks great starting on the hood and continuing back. Maybe something for the future. Thanks for the great feedback.

 

Here are my thoughts. First off, the 1989 camaro is my all time favorite for a number of reasons. I bought my 1991 with hopes of an interior swap, but it's just too expensive. That interior is gold man. A great cockpit, just doll it up a little when you're ready.

As for the motor, if I were you, I would swap the 305 for a vortec 350. There is a lot of knowledge out there on how to do it right. That's my plan, but it's a ways down the road. I don't know your intent, but you'll push 295 HP stock (just from what I've read). way better than the 170 - 220 you're getting now. A friend of mine was telling me that MSD ignition kits are the way to go. Change your headers and exhaust, full ignition upgrade, cold air intake, and you'll have that vortec screaming down the track.

As for your suspension: The upgrade is well worth it. I bought mine with an all tubular adjustable suspension, and it is great. It sits about 1 inch lower, and you can feel the difference. The lower center of gravity makes you hug the road that much more. If you wanted a simple fix, I would imagine that you could use the upgraded corvette suspension package with your car. I would think it cheaper and easier. Mine is custom, so apparently when the original owner did the upgrade, it was a real *** pain. I can't speak for that though, I just get the benefit of his work.

Here's something else though. That 305 is an excellent engine. I mean, it is a really excellent engine; it's the only reason I'm not swapping mine out until my engine goes. If you want something to take to the track and perform, you already know you should swap; but if your main focus is that dull wavy paint, leave the 305 in for a while and take care of the cosmetics.

I guess what I'm saying is KEEP THE CAR. Someone else on here already said it best. You know the car, you know what you want from it, and you know what it will take to get there, so just take your time, do it right, and make it happen. You'll be glad you did.

You can maybe pull 2500 for your car... 3,000 to a kid who doesn't know any better. It's worth more in the garage than it's worth in your pocket, it's a nice sharp car, and a nice 1989 is getting hard to find, especially with a V8 and 5 Speed Manual.

 

Awesome response! Thanks!
Yea im thinking that I am going to swap the racing seats out with more traditional seats. They sit too high are are to wide for the interior of the car. I've been chomping at the bit to do some suspension work to the car. Wanted to do lca's and an adjustable panhard with lowering springs. Then when I get to the motor work then Ill prob do a tubular k member. The car runs and drives great as it is now, so Im thinking I can live with the motor currently to spend more time and money on the drive ability and the looks. The paint is new actually, just I didnt do the long blocking on the doors.. so there are waves. The paint is actually glossy and looks pretty good for being the $400 special. lol. But I am contemplating re-doing the paint and doing it right, but that will be a bit pricey. What front suspension do you have on yours?

 

I wish I knew the brand names of the parts, all I know is that all the components have been swapped out. I asked the previous owner what components he actually swapped out, and his answer was. "I didn't keep the receipts, so, I have no idea." The parts are all there, but he must have had it done by a shop, becasue he doesn't even know what kind of rack he's got.

A good paint job with no real body repair would cost 2500-3000 for three coats base + 3 coats clear. Depends on where you go though. If you trust your local do-it-yourselfer, he'd probably do it cheaper, but you get what you pay for.

Anyway, if your exterior is decent, and it's just your interior that needs some work for now, get yourself some used 3rd or 4th Gen seats off of craigslist, or ebay, and if they need work, look up www.lethalinteriors.com. The chick that does it specializes in f-body interiors, and does fantastic work on dashes, panels, seats, headliners, etc. She has almost no overhead, and has the best prices I've found. If your interior is faded, you can take care of it yourself, check out:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRdlQkg3NOg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1Qq...eature=related

This will help you figure out how to do some of your own work. All leather and vinyl pieces are dyed in this way, so as long as you do it right, it'll hold up pretty well. You can even dye your own seats.

I would recommend finding some stock cup holders from a 3rd gen firebird or trans am like this guy did. I bought some for my 91 RS, and it's much more convenient. He's also replaced his seats, so you can get an idea of how some of this stuff would look in your car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F94CKpKvsGQ

 

ive also thought about selling my camaro... L03 suck.. i know.. but stick it true or you will regret selling the car.. for me? My camaro was my first car.. saved it from the junkyard... installed the engine and tranny.. i know she loves me because i saved her life and i know she will keep me safe and beat other cars... When i install an LSX engine XD

 

Good look out on the knowledge Akovach. They do pretty good work, where are they located though, didnt see that anywhere. I def want a cup holder, lol, legs are still getting wet everynow and again from holding cup between legs.. hah. Will look into that one.

Would love the ls engine.. but way to much overall cost for me Id think. But can always dream on that. Its the wiring harness and all the computer control that is scaring me. So much money on tuning the thing. I dunno.

 

I can't remember, but if you e-mail her for a quote on shipping, she'll get right back to you. She told me she's booked until the end of June, so if you've got the money, hit her up for July.

Yeah, with the LS1 swap, I've seen guys have to swap the dash cluster too in order to keep all the sensors/electronics functional, so it would def be easier to just do a stock 5.7 swap. Hawks sells complete units with wiring harnesses for about $1200 instead of $6,000 for the LS1. I know you can get some cheaper, but I like to start with Hawks.

 

So hawks would be a good way to start? Im always leary about buying a motor online that I cant inspect and put my hands on before the purchase. You havent ever had trouble from that or them. I have not heard anything bad about them or anything, just sometimes like to see what im buying in front of me. The full wiring harness is a nice start though, comes with the dash harness too for the computer?

 

Most of their motor pulls look like case by case as far as what they sell with them. I've never bought a motor from them before, so I can't speak from experience. They don't warantee their engines at all though, so local stuff would probably be better. Even if you get on Autozone, you can get a block and heads for like 1500 bucks. Some of the ones I priced on Hawks had all the necessary electronics. Some other guys used a donor vehicle, because apparently to get all the electronics to function properly, the Dash Cluster has to be installed. It probably has to do with the OBD II sensors / indicators, but I'm not sure.

If I was to do an engine swap on my car, I'd just want to get a crate. Crate makes quite a few small block engines that make 290 - 330 HP that are priced decently. Crate makes a Vortec and an LS1 too. That would take between 3,000 and 6,000 though, which is why I'm waiting. I'm probably going to go with the Vortec 5.7 myself since my car is all original and I don't want to do any major changes. I don't want to screw with custom motor mounts or anything like that. What transmission to you have in yours, the T5? That's what I've got, and even with the long throw shifter, it is a really good mate for the 305 / 350 small block.

 

Well actually the body was originally a 5 speed car, but now it has a 700r4 that came with the donor motor when I put it in.. to which I though was a 350 when I bought it. Shame on me for believing the guy who sold it. Motor/trans was in a 91 firebird that ran and drove that I got for 600. But am keeping a eye out for a 350, would actually like to make it into a 355.

 

Bringing back old thread to tell you all that I decided to keep the car.
What I've done since the voting poles:

1) sbc 355
2) corvette servo and gov gear with 700r4
3) bought a high rise spoiler. Then sold it, no spoiler has grown on me. Never really see it, some would say its for a reason, but I like it. Lol
4) detroit locker 3.42 gear, new axles ( had the 26ers)
5) all leather interior, 75 bucks from local pick and pull
6) b&m pro ratchet
7) Lca with relocation brackets and adjustable panhard bar
8) full 3" exhaust, custom ypipe and slp cat back.

Thanks for the support couple years ago!

 

Giving me issues on adding images so this is the interior

 

Make a photobucket account for free, just takes a few seconds. Remember to get the upload email address, email what pictures you want on here... now theres two ways to upload pictures.

1. Selecting the IMG group and copy and paste it straight to the reply box, skip down a couple rows and enter another so the HTML doesnt accidentally get mixed up.

2. Dont use the Quick Reply, Hit Relpy on any of the old messages it will take you to a large reply box, about center/left there will be a paperclip. Press the paperclip and it will bring up another page DONT exit any of the pages. Here you will need to upload pictures from your photobucket, to do this copy and paste the Direct link and upload each picture. When done exit the upload page only. Now next to the paperclip there should be an arrow of somesort with a drop down, press it and it will give you a bunch of crazy numbers. Select imput all...then finish your post.

Hope this helps

-Flat

 

I'm going to try now. Thanks

 

 

Sweet i see it worked for you.

Cool car man, im running the same shifter with a T handle, im glad you kept it. Thats 1 more camaro saved.

 

Thanks man