The Background:

My brother had this 91 RS for many years, and it served him well through his time in the Army at Fort Hood, TX - to his time here at home. At some point the car was sold to my father and he had plans to fix it up for my nephews first car. He had other plans though, and got a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder.........*sigh*



So my father and I are working on his 1965 Impala which has had the 283 (see where this is going?) pulled and swapped to a .30 over 396, and he mentions for some reason he would sell me the Camaro or "we could work something out". So we agreed on a plan, and the car was towed to my house.





The Car: Its a 91 RS with the 305 L03 and T5, 3.08 one wheel peel open diff, manual everything, slick top, base car. The paint is ****, because for some reason my nephew decided in his youthful excitement to paint portions of the car black?

The Plan: Pull the 305 out, and swap the driveline with something else, clean it up, replace parts as needed.... The car should be a fair weather cruiser with a little bit of go. I am a fan of a 500 hp car, but my budget isnt having that.



The Parts: 1965 283 SBC, rebuilt at some point with hardened valve seats, and various other things which have been lost to time, Corvette Powerpac heads with Weiand IM, Borg Warner 9 Bolt (3.27 G85 LSD), etc.



So far:

I have had this since summer of last year, and my goal was to have this running and tagged by my birthday this July. That isnt happening, I can see that now. At one point I gave the BW 9 bolt to my father because he had expressed interest in putting it in his 65. After some deliberation he figured it would be too much hassle to deal with and gave it back. So its back in the plan, I scored that from craigslist for 75.00 - from caliper to caliper. I have pulled out the HVAC system from underhood to the controls in the console, no radio or speakers either. No power steering, no sissy stuff here. I fully intend for my beard to grow longer when I drive this car.

The underhood harnesses have been pulled and undamaged. I was going to attempt to remove the headlamp harness and sleeve it in some nylon sleeving, but its turning out to be a pita. I have ordered a new/used one from Thomas @ House of Camaro on this site. The car will have no hood latch - release as the hood wil be either a complete pin on or hood pinned on. I have a headliner which needs to be recovered, but my brother had bought a fiberglass unit at some point so that should be easy.



I have taken out the bellhousing, and transmission and cleaned them up. I work at a local Honda dealer so thankfully I have access to a parts washer and wash pit to clean this stuff up. The flywheel is a Centerforce unit which needs a mild resurface and the clutch itself looks to be a Centerforce unit with good life remaining. I lucked out on some things.





I will see if I can get pics of the flywheel and clutch.

Keeping an eye out for a fiberglass hood, aluminum driveshaft, hollow sway bars, polyurethane bushings???

Cleaned the bay with a pressure washer, and cleaned the bumper support.





Started coating the front bumper support, and engine bay.





I will try to get some more overall pics of the car, maybe some parts and interior shots. Next step is to put the front bumper back on, with the refurbished headlight support and bezels.

 

Photodump page for random things I noticed.

Somebody cut a damn hole for a fuel pump repair......



My three year old working on the car with me.........



16 Chrome plated IROCs.....which are peeling like hell.....I want some vette wheels or welds....trade anyone?



3 Inch exhaust I picked up from a member here, dont think I will use it.....open to offers or trades....

 

looks like its going to be a nice project! and I can already see it some members are gonna ask why a 283 lol. do you happen to know when he was at fort hood, just trying to think to myself if I ever seen that car in person or not

 

Probably around 1998.

A 283 because its already been breathed on, revs high.....and is free. Yes I know the free parts usually cost more....BUT this is a turn key deal. 283 with all needed to make it work

 

been awhile then. and you cant beat free!

 

Yeah, it did run great. Had been rebuilt recently and had estimated around 275 crank hp. My father wants to go through it with a larger cam and check it out before it gets put in, but yep...should be better than the 305.

I am going old school with it too.....so v belts and all that....though a gilmer belt drive looks good too.

 

Removed the headlight buckets, and trim to be sanded and repainted....flat blaaaaack. Pics coming.

Here is that flywheel I mentioned, and yes it needs to be resurfaced lol



and the rear diff.....the rotors and calipers are there somewhere....they driveshaft and cross member aren't mine.

 

Any comments? Suggestions?

 

Nice work so far! The car looks pretty solid from the pics... What are your plans for the exterior? (paint, wheels, etc...)

If you are going to run any poly bushings, I would suggest that you don't run them for engine mounts or the trans mount. The poly trans mount had my T5 eating tailshaft bushings and seals due to the extra vibrations. The Inland Empire aluminum driveshaft I installed made a big difference though.

I switched from V belts to a GM factory serpentine setup... It's nice not to worry about the tension of separate belts!

The numbers you mentioned for the 283 seem like a good combo for the T5. Not too much power, but should be a nice reliable cruiser, that is pretty quick. Nice to see the family getting involved. I hope I can share my love for these cars when/if I have kids

 

Good suggestions, and thanks. I don't know about the mounts actually. At last look they were in good shape, so I may leave them be. V belts initially.....may swap at some point. In this thread I mentioned a Gilmer style belt drive.....would look sick.

Cheap too. This is a pci from JEGS, but you can get a egay kit for 100 or so with belt.



Looks? Rat style ish.......I don't care about the paint per se.....I want to drive it....enjoy it and not worry about the paint. One color perhaps a flat red would be nice.....with some Bassett D holes or something. Front lip has a damaged area which might get some zip tie surgery.....shifter has been modded with a 18 inch steel pipe welded over the shifter......flat black sort...

Ideas.

http://www.killbillet.com/showthread...atrod-shifters

Its really a lets see what happens sorta thing. I plan to have a reliable car which I can zing to 8K if I want to, which will cruise around town and to the beach....coupla looks but honestly I don't know.

 

Updates? No. not so much. No time........and weather sucked.

 

i bought the gilmer style belts. love the look and the "whine" you get out of the belt also. easy to install and look good matching my black and aluminum motor

 

Pics!

 

I know what you mean. The weather has been pretty bad in NC this year... lots of cold and rain. That 283 sounds like a pretty neat idea. I built a 305 last year wanting something "different" and already yanked it. I've had a LT1 and 4l60e sitting for a few years I'm debating throwing in my car now.

I've got a 2.5" (I think) mandrel bent dynomax exhaust I'll trade you for that 3" crush bent you've got if you're interested.

Good luck with everything.

 

Thanks! And yes I would actually like to swap.....but you live like 6 hours away....lol. Text me 252-342-3562

 

Sorry for the delays.......been busy with life. Lol......I did take a day off.

In Myrtle Beach on the 8th floor......aaaaah soak it in.


Tookadayoff_zpsea315d97.jpg?t=1397487144Redesigned my air deflector......Used some thin gauge aluminum and

rivets....RWB style. It had worn out and off say about .5 inches of plastic so

I used this to replace what was lost. I think it looks good?



Removed stickers and cleaned this up



Put that radiator back in, and working on some more of the bay



Put the BMC back in and started reconnnecting the lines, still have to replace

the line I cut lol....





SUPER CRAP WELD TIME.........lol. Its solid at least. I cut a weee bit too
much.



And off topic....old pic of me with hair and 20 extra pounds.....(RET) General

Hugh Shelton! This guy is an american hero and lives like 15 minutes from me.

Wow.....I was happy that day......keep your A list celebs. Give me a lunch

with this guy

 

Put the headlight bucket back in after some attention. Support brackets and all that as well.

And of course the front nose.





Getting further along with the bay.







Hopefully now the weather is nicer and days are longer I will get some work done

Off topic. For the 283 I have decided on a cam set up. We will convert from hydro lifters to solid and run a Duntov 30-30 cam setup. The whole driveline is being set up for high rpm usage and light weight

Found a 4th gen driveshaft with dampener for 75.00....11 lbs!

 

Comments are welcome! I know this is slow going, but its a long term project with simple goals. Please bump and comment

 

i just put on my ls1 driveshaft with the damper, picks up a little faster.

 

I like the 283 T5 idea. It should be a fun cruiser. I also like how your just having fun with a beat up car and not worried about it. Sometime things like that are more fun than nice things. My car isn't perfect by any means, but it's just nice enough that I tense up and get really **** when somebody gets close to it, almost to the point I don't want to drive it. Good luck with it and enjoy.

 

I am surprised no mentioned this yet: The 305 you took out has a 1 piece Rear Main Seal (RMS). That 283 (block & crank) will be the old style 2-piece RMS. Flywheels are different. Here are some links:

sbc t5 problem
or a $250 RAM flywheel at Summit.

And more than you want to know about 1 vs 2 piece RMS.

 

I was going to mention it, but I was somehow assuming the 283 was hooked to a standard in the car it came from. I guess I was thinking the clutch and flywheel were already from the 283.

 

Well......its beat up looking for sure. It will be painted but a basic job at that. Interior is full and complete and in great shape.....seats recently redone. BUT.....yeah somebody scratches it..........I wont care lol. Thanks!

 

I had considered this, but never mentioned it because my father said it will fit......

That being said.

In another and older thread an OG member here said the same thing. But IIRC it was never because the motor had a 2 piece RMS and my driveline is for a 1 piece RMS. Will my clutch still fit? Its a CM stage clutch with life left on it.

Good info and thanks to both of you!

 

I believe the pressure plate will work on either flywheel. I though I'd also mention in case you didn't think about it, but you will have to put a pilot bushing in the 283 crank to run a manual trans.

 

Even if the 283 was a manual to begin with?

 

If it was me I'd still put a new bushing in even if it was a manual before.

 

BUMP....For sale now.

 

FOR SALE BUMP

 

NOW A PARTOUT.....