The background: My uncle special ordered this Camaro through a local dealership back in 1988 (I believe). He kept this as a fun car and always had it garage kept and not used as a daily driver. As time went on he ended up increasing his collection to include a 70 Chevelle SS. He loved that Chevelle so the Camaro stayed in the climate controlled garage for many many years. Every time I saw this Camaro I would remind him that if he ever wanted to sell it, I would take it in a heartbeat. A little over a year ago he had passed away and being that I always loved this car, plus it would allow me to keep apart of him around I knew I couldn't let it leave the family. So, here are a few pictures of it along with a picture of my fathers trans am at a local car show last September.

Right now as it sits it is all original except the battery. It currently has 18,285 miles on the odometer and I don't plan on putting many miles on it during the summer months.

Figured it was time to share here and maybe get some opinions on places to get a few parts that are needed. Right now it needs a new headliner, I believe new injectors, and the fuel tank valve needs to be cleaned. Suggestions on parts and reputable online shops for these parts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Great story and car.
Here are a few recommendations for parts

SouthBay Fuel Injectors...On this site
Clean the Tank valve....it's discontinued
HeadLiner can be had at Classic Industries

Good Luck!

 

Congrats! What makes you think that you need new injectors? Your '88 still has the better Bosch injectors and not the later failure prone Multecs.

 

When the car sits for a long time it starts right up but with a little white smoke from the exhaust. When sits for a short period of time (a few hours) it takes a few seconds of cranking to start with more white smoke.

All research that I have done have pointed to worn out or leaky injectors.

 

Good looking car.

 

Awesome car- good for you keeping it in the family.

 

Consider that your valve seals may need replacing. My car has about the same amount of garage miles as yours and had similar smoking issues on startup. I had the valve seals replaced and away went the smoke. Nice car and I enjoyed the story as well.

 

Thank you. My plan was to replace the seals when the new injectors were installed. Maybe I'll just try that and see if the startup issue goes away and attribute it to a bad seals?

 

Sounds like classic valve seals not injectors. Every thirdgen from 88 has needed them replaced.

 

Just to clarify, you are referring to the valve seals (ie. umbrella) and not the gasket, right? Replacing those seems like it is much more invasive than the injectors.

I was hoping I could do this myself as I simply don't trust people working on something like this.

 

Well, I guess since I'm getting a quite a few better answers than I have in the past I should ask about the fuel tank vent valve.

After the car has been running for some time there will be the occasional "hiss" sound. This happens when the car is turned off (still hot from driving) and sometimes I was able to hear it while at a light. Is it possible that the hissing sound I'm hearing is the valve working properly and releasing the pressure from that tank that has built up with the heat? I can avoid it happening after the car is turned off by slightly unscrewing the gas cap and can hear the rush of air escape.

I apologize for the ignorance. I am new to owning classics, but have been around them my entire life.

 

In reference to the valve....the hissing you hear is the valve releasing pressure in the tank. There are several threads on this topic about excessive pressure in the tank, boiling fuel during operation on hot days, or just plain pressure build up.
That valve is actually a 2 way valve. It will open around 7 psi to relieve pressure.

If you want to spend the better part of a day reading about it, look up Boiling Gas, Tank pressure, or any other word pertaining to pressure buildup in the tank.
HTH's. Happy reading!

Bob

 

Thanks, last year I did quite a few searches and reading on this topic and found opinions ranging from its normal to clean the valve to just get a venting gas cap.

 

I heard lots of suggestions. If you want to do an experiment, run your tank to empty....find some pure non ethanol gas, fill the tank with it and run it. I have found that the pressure is nowhere near what Ethanol gas causes. I run non ethanol in all mine...and I have no big issue with it. JMO

 

Beautiful car! Congratulations for keeping it in the family.

 

gm at one time though it was a good idea to allow a bit of oil to seep into the valve guides and that it would help prevent wear, but turned out to be a bad idea.

 

BTW, what's up with that '79 TA? The shaker says TA 6.6, is it a W72, or just a decal?

 

It is an all stock, original W72. My father has owned that since the early 80s. The last I checked it was around 56k on the clock.

 

Wow, cool!

 

Wow! Beautiful car!

 

Love this, keep us updated!

 

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread. Quick update on the car; this summer so far I have been pretty busy so I haven't had much free time to work on the car. I was able to wash and strip all the old wax and then buff out quite a bit of swirls and scratches and then wax it again to seal it all back up. Looks much better IMO. I have noticed that the PCV/grommet are leaking a little along with the valve cover gaskets. So, I went ahead and ordered those. Any suggestions on valve stem seals? Want to get some quality ones that the community agrees are solid choices. I did do a quick search and wasn't able to find a easy to follow "how-to" for replacing them at an at home shop. Anyone have any step by step instructions for tucked away?

Thanks!