I've been here for a while, and owned several 3rd gens but never done a build thread here. Figured I'd try.

About 10 years or so ago my buddy was dating a girl who knew a gal who's husband had a Camaro out in the barn. Me already owning two 3rd gens at the time and my friend into G bodies we didn't think much of it. Eventually my friend breaks up with the girl and we forget about the car. I don't remember exactly why, but we got to thinking about that car again. First he (my friend) wanted to buy it, after checking it out we struck a deal where I would buy it and he'd get a 94 Formula off me (another barn find, more on that later).

We get over there today and move a bunch of stuff out of the way and get it on the trailer. Buddy buys a few other parts from him, we BS for a while, finally we pay up and are on our way home. A stop at the car wash was almost mandatory.

It's an 86 with a 2.8 and auto. 150,xxx miles. Manual windows and locks. Near perfect dash pad, missing one vent (going into my 88). Fog lights (I've never seen them on a base car). Half way decent interior (not a big concern of mine). Floors feel solid. Little rust around the rear wheel wells. Spare tire well is solid. Small hole behind tire on drivers side. Threw a battery and some gas in once we got home. Got it to roll over, but would only run off starting fluid/carb clean. Fuel pump comes on and builds pressure (actually sprung a leak in one of the hoses). Dale (guy I bought it from) said it was parked because the trans started slipping. He thought the plugs were going bad when he parked it, around 1996 from the info we found. Paid $350 for it.

Here is what it looked like in the barn.




Outside.






After the bath.

 

Interior.






Under hood.






That 94 Formula I mentioned earlier. Another barn find. Coworkers dad bought it to fix. Drove it home, parked it the barn and never touched it. Paid $500 for it. Some of the parts are going to end up in my 97 Formula, some in the 88 and some in the 86. What's left will be going to my friend to throw a motor in and have some drag strip fun.

 

Plans for the car: A decent daily driver. Something to help keep the miles off my 97.

Swap the v6 for a v8. Either a 350/700R4 I pulled from my uncles van or the Lt1/4L60 from the 94. I'm leaning toward the van motor because I know the history and how it ran. The Formula is a gamble. A carb swap would be easier/faster too.

Inside is going to get the 4th gen treatment. Seats, counsel and dash. Probably pull the carpet, power wash it and check out the floors while I'm that far into it.

Exterior will have the rust taken care of. Then a quick respray, possibly blue (maybe not, my 88 is blue already). For wheels I've got a set of Irocs along with the tires from the 94.

I'll update this whenever I make progress on it or parts that involve it.

 

Moved some things around the garage today. Dug the engine stand out of the shed and got the motor on the stand. Had to move the 88 and the motor for my 78 TA. Might get back out there to start cleaning it up. Weather warmed up and the backyard got real muddy, so I won't be going out there to get the intake/headers/accessories off the 355 I pulled from my 83.

Where the motor was. 700R4 is below it. Motor to the right is a 400 Pontiac for my 78. Motor under the press is another 400 Pontiac for my friends 78 TA.




How the 88's sitting. Covered in about 1" of dust. One of the Irocs for the 86 in there too.




On the stand. I tossed the TBI intake when I scraped the rest of the van. Have a Performer RPM to go on. Serpentine setup will be going as well. Pink spoiler will be painted after I get done fitting it.




Knockin 355 from my 83. There's a T5 hooked to it. Would love to use that but the case is spread and it leaks/whines pretty bad. I don't plan to use the Edelbrock carb either. Have a nice Q-jet for it...actually the intake is a RPM Q-jet, I think there may be an adapter under that carb. Headers are Hooker 2055's.

 

 

that stuff is out there..ya just have to look for it.



ya never know what ya can dig up!



some times. kewl stuff.

 

Not much progress lately, helped a friend move my last few days off. Today I finally got out to the garage to get some stuff done. Started cleaning/degreasing the motor. Emptied a few cans of engine degreaser I found in a shed I acquired a while ago. Scrubbed it with a brush, followed by some brake cleaner. It's almost decent enough for a coat of paint now. Also managed to get the tires off the Formula and on to my Iroc wheels. Will be putting them on the car before I pull it off the trailer seeing as the ones on there hold air for only a few minutes. No pictures, maybe I'll grab a few when I run out to check the fire in the stove.

 

Looks like you have alot to keep you busy, I don't feel so bad now LOL!

 

Even has a Dale Earnhardt sticker on the bumper...lol Cool find!

 

I'm fortunate enough to work a job that pays decent with as much OT as I can handle. I also do auto work on the side, part/scrap cars and flip them if I run across a good one. I'm also fortunate enough to have gotten a killer deal on my house (appraised for 145,000...paid 35,000....owe less than 12,000 now). Between the 2nd gens, 3rd gens and my nice weather DD Formula (silver one in the pics), crotch rocket (Cbr1000), dirt bikes (Kx250, Kx500) and four wheeler....I've got no shortage of things to do. Add in the house/yard, the 3 huskies we have and the wife and kid, I'm a busy guy.

 

Took some time before work today to mount up the Irocs. It took a lot longer than I had liked. Most all of the lug nuts had their caps swell up due to rust under them. They all came off no problem, but had to pound them out of the socket once they were off. Then the right rear rim was rusted to the axle flange. Used the BFH and some heat and it finally popped off, after bending the rim into a shape that no longer rolls very well. Car shifted on the trailer as well, no big deal, going to have to jockey it back and forth a few times to get it past the tires.

 

Got the motor cleaned up enough to get a coat of paint on it. When with Chevy Orange, didn't bother to mask much of anything on it. I'll go back through and clean the gasket surfaces before putting the intake and water pump on. Not too worried about the paint on the springs/rockers/pushrods. I figure if I can get one summer out of it that's all it owes me as it's got 200,000+ on it. If it does let go I'll do the Lt1 swap or another SBC I've got out in the shed.

 

Pulled the intake, distributor and valve covers off of the 355 today. Spent some time cleaning the corrosion, grease, dirt, and general funk off of them. Decided to reuse the torx hardware for the intake and covers.


What the intake looked like before. That's what sitting outside and leaky carbs will do to aluminum.




How it cleaned up. It's clean, still stained...never did figure out a way to bring them completely back to life.









If it's nice tomorrow I'll pull the headers, starter and accessories off the 355.