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Looks like this is the best place to post a few pics and introduce myself. Been lurking here for MANY years. Had a 1987 IROC back when I was 19-20, all power, T-Top, black, great car. I traded it when I moved out, as a RWD as my daily (only) driver was not going to be too safe for me in Ohio. Regretted this a few years later (mid 2000's). Fast forward to now and I have my own home, garage, and some moderately disposable income. Started searching last year and stumbled upon this car. Needs some work and care, barn find that sat for 10+ years, but is exceptionally clean on the underside. A few weird rust spots (rockers/fenders), one door handle, and one strut tower, but otherwise clean and straight. I bought it in October of last year and just muddled my way through a few projects. New valve covers, rebuilt carb, new tie rod ends, sleeves, center link. New fan switch, air filter, battery. End goals for me on this are a fun summer driver, that is reliable, speedy, and a bit aggressive. Not going for show room quality, but dependable cruising, and many more years of it. A 350-383-396 may be in it's future but only if/when the 305 gives up.
Cool car. I've always loved the early Z28s. And you know 305s are hard to kill they don't die easy! You will probably get years of good service out of it as I have.
That one is in great shape! Clear coat is normally flaking off everywhere by now. The L69 305 is a good little engine, and was fast in it's time.....but now a mini van will gap it in a race.....lol. If it still has the giant monolythic convertor under it, ditch it for a high flow modern one. I had the original under my car for a while until it suddenly plugged up while driving it...it sounded horrible and had no power!!
But that was years ago, and since then all the original drivetrain is gone. I still have the composite hood, dual snorkel air cleaner and everything else in my garage.
Good luck with it! Not too many '83 HO cars survived....
Lots of updates so one post/pic at a time else I'm going crazy trying to keep it straight. First, it barely huffed and puffed off the trailer. Didn't even have one of the plug wires connected. Carb was full of ****. Rebuild time:
Got that out of the way and felt like I'd fly off the road. Found a broken swaybar link. Replaced both, and the bushings for it to the frame. New tie rod ends, centerlink, struts, 235's for Cooper Cobra's for rubber and an alignment. No pics, but now it goes where I tell it.
Next started to get some slipping... so.. clutch time! In a garage on jack stands....
Ok, now lets really get on the road! Oh.. wait.. what the.. thought I just blew a hose until I opened the hood on the side of the road...
Hmm.. I should probably pull the heads and see if I was overheating for any headgasket issues.. car was FULL of copper stop-leak when I got it... Wait.. why is that...
Ok fine... heads taken to machine shop, new springs, seals, keepers installed. Hot tanked and fluxed. Milled .005, valve job. Radiator is in the box to the right. New intake, timing set, cam, lifters, pushrods, rockers, thermostat, water pump and fuel pump.
Out of order, did new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil and module early on. Now things run GOOD, other than cut out at about 45 mph. Fuel is it at this point... Lets see what we have...
Er.. that's about after 30-45 min running in the garage.. not even road time really. Maybe 10 miles? Where is it all coming from...
Aaahhhh... Thats... not good...
So on order is a new tank, sending unit, some fuel line, some brake line (rear hard line was leaking when I removed the frame bracket). Flaring tools, panhard bar bushings (had to cut the bolt), sway bar endlinks, panhard bolts, Hooker comp cat back (cut the old rusted stock one out, already did a magnaflow cat.. will need to modify 3 to 4 bolt flanges), and new KYB shocks. Also off topic, new rear hatch lifts and lock.
Yeah.. the radiator was.. different... I knew I was overheating waiting on an off-ramp.. figured it was just a hose. I think a LOT of that car was 35 yr old originals. Been a project since fall of 2017, the engine and rear end stuff has all been within 2-3 months now. I've been motivated to spend more time in the garage lol..
Ahhh..the ole 3:73 one wheel peel rear with the lightweight aluminum drums! Memories.... Seems like the car is putting you through the paces! Are you sticking with the CCC system? I have a little used rebuilt CCC Q Jet that's been sitting on my shelf for years. Looks like new but almost sure it will need going over since it's sat so long. I still have my original L69 305 sitting on a stand in my garage. It was rebuilt with less than 5K on it when I pulled it for a 400 sbc. Good luck with yours!! It's going to be nice whenever you work all the bugs out.
Yep. Keeping the CCC for now. No CEL and all the parts in it are working well. Will ditch it if I ever replace the engine with a 350 (or similar).
It's been a great learning tool. Prior to this car most I did was fluids, and maybe brake pads.
Really no need to get rid of the CCC even if you move up to a 350....just change the jets and you're good to go. Everything will bolt up to the 350 just like the 305...
I don't know if you still have that giant old pellet style monolithic cat convertor still on the car, but if you do ditch it! Those things will clog and leave you scratching your head for a while wondering why your car sounds like crap and has no power. Don't ask me how I know....
Already replaced it with a new 4-bolt cat. However that got maybe 100 miles of use and is in the spare parts pile now that I got the hooker shorties, dougs y-pipe, and hooker catback. The y-pipe to catback fits together without any cat. Even ball and flange are set up correctly between the two parts.
Already replaced it with a new 4-bolt cat. However that got maybe 100 miles of use and is in the spare parts pile now that I got the hooker shorties, dougs y-pipe, and hooker catback. The y-pipe to catback fits together without any cat. Even ball and flange are set up correctly between the two parts.
Even better!! I run a Hooker cutback also, but I ended up finding a test pipe to put on mine. I also have a 4 bolt cat lying around the garage somewhere.....
Looks like I have the same one from you sig. The 3" super comp cat back. Headers are the hooker 2460's (ceramic coated), and doug's Y-pipe. It's not a *perfect* fit.. headers are against the fuel lines on the passenger side rail in the engine bay, but I got some steel tube on the way and some swagelock equivlant fittings to make some new lines. I think I'm going to just route them under the AC box for now, looks like enough room to do that and get them off the headers. Also the O2 (bosch) is touching my z-bar on the drivers side. I have an NGK on the way that looks about 1/2" more narrow that should just clear it too I hope...
I can't wait to hear this thing run in a few days when the rest of my parts get in... It already sounded nice with the stock L69 manifolds/exhaust.
Looks like I have the same one from you sig. The 3" super comp cat back. Headers are the hooker 2460's (ceramic coated), and doug's Y-pipe. It's not a *perfect* fit.. headers are against the fuel lines on the passenger side rail in the engine bay, but I got some steel tube on the way and some swagelock equivlant fittings to make some new lines. I think I'm going to just route them under the AC box for now, looks like enough room to do that and get them off the headers. Also the O2 (bosch) is touching my z-bar on the drivers side. I have an NGK on the way that looks about 1/2" more narrow that should just clear it too I hope...
I can't wait to hear this thing run in a few days when the rest of my parts get in... It already sounded nice with the stock L69 manifolds/exhaust.
It'll sound much nicer with the headers and cat back, and will run better too. Even though the factory L69 was the least restrictive exhaust of all the ones back then (with 2-1/4" diameter) it was still not as good as headers and a 3" exhaust! I used to run Edelbrock TES headers back when I had the 305 in it, and it came with some kind of thermal wrap and a piece of stainless wire to wrap the fuel lines where the header is close under the AC box. Since then, I re-routed my fuel line slightly so it's an inch further away from any of the header primaries. No need for thermal wrap anymore. Now I run Dyno Don's headers and no issues with that. Never had any issues with either sets of headers with O2 sensor being too close to the Z-Bar....that's new to me. Oh - and over time, the heat from the headers made the underside of the AC box brittle and the corner broke on me, Since my AC never worked from day one, I replaced it with a non-AC box and no issues since. Good luck on the start-up!
Pics and maybe a video clip later this week. Buttoned it all up except rear tires and fired it up. Took a min to pull fuel down the line but it started once it got there. Sounded good. Then I saw my rear fuel hard lines leaking, bad. Makes sense considering the rear brake hardline was rusted through too and I had to fix that. Got stainless steel compression fittings (titan fittings has great stuff btw) on the way for the fuel lines. Already have two coils of 3/8 and 5/16 steel line so should be a quick fix once the parts come in. No leaks up front where I redid the lines around the headers so that's a plus.
Oooo. Yeah it sounds pretty damn good. Still up on jack stands, (had to fix rusted out fuel lines from about half way up the trans tunnel to the tank), but couldn't resist firing it up. I'll work on getting a video up, or a youtube link or something in a bit. Just need to put the brackets back on to hold the lines to the body, rear tires and then check ground clearance and go tear it up some.. see what the butt dyno says about the recent upgrades. I haven't been able to even really lay into it with the new cam and intake yet either since I was fuel starved. This should really be a kick lol!
Edit: The ceramic coating does wonders. They were hot when I turned it off, sure, but no where near the temps the stock manifolds got. I'm really amazed, and glad I dropped the extra coin on that variant.
Sounds almost identical to my car ! I had put a 2050 Compu-cam in mine along with different hangers/rods in the carb. That along with the headers made a big difference in power. It was a stout running 305. Now it's been sitting on an engine stand for the past 6 years or so....I guess I'm just keeping it as a emergency backup engine. Although I do wonder how well it would run with the blower on it...lol
Your cam is somewhat close to what I had in mine. I think mine had a little more exhaust lift, but same 112 LSA. I think the RPM range was higher though. Good on a manual car though!!
Product Details
Crane Cams 114142 Crane CompuCam Cam and Lifter Kits Products specificationsAdvertised Duration272 int./284 exh.Advertised Exhaust Duration284Advertised Intake Duration272Assembly Lubricant IncludedYesBasic Operating RPM Range1,800-5,600Cam StyleHydraulic flat tappetCARB EO NumberD-225-25Computer-Controlled CompatibleYesDuration at 050 inch Lift216 int./228 exh.Exhaust Duration at 050 inch Lift228Exhaust Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio0.480 in.Gaskets IncludedNoIntake Duration at 050 inch Lift216Intake Valve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio0.454 in.Lifter StyleHydraulic flat tappetLifters IncludedYesLobe Separation (degrees)112Locks IncludedNoPushrods IncludedNoQuantitySold as a kit.Retainers IncludedNoRocker Arms IncludedNoTiming Chain and Gears IncludedNoValve Lift with Factory Rocker Arm Ratio0.454 int./0.480 exh.Valve Springs IncludedNoValve Springs RequiredYesValve Stem Seals IncludedNo
CRANE SBC CompuCam 2050 Cam &Lifter Kit
Did about 10 miles the other day, and a solid 50+ today. Mix of 25 mph city and 65+ highway. No issues the entire time, save me stalling a few stoplight starts (first manual car, maybe 4 hours behind the wheel... meh). All the gauges are working, even if the fuel one thinks a full tank is more like 1/2-3/4. I might look into playing with a resistor to modify that value.
Next time out I'll have my buddy do a drive by so I can hear the WOT sound from the exterior of the vehicle, and behind it. Sounds wicked enough inside.. and I know being behind it you get a MUCH greater effect!
Right on, best way to learn is to get out there and drive it!
My kids all have to learn on a standard/manual trans. My 16yo daughter drives a 91 C1500 Sport with a 305/5 speed, looks like a 454SS pickup. All the boys are jealous of it, and 90% of them can't drive it.
I didn't have a choice growing up, driving tractors at an early age and dad had me in the semis by age 12!
About 1000 miles logged now and only issue was a rubber cap on an extra radiator port split on me (in a parking lot at least). I knew it was going to go too.. $3 for a multi-pack at the local auto parts store and back on the road. Threw in a kenwood deck, pioneer 4x6's, kicker 6x9's. Wasn't loud enough at high way speeds with windows down so add in a Rockford R600x5 and 10" DVC sub in a custom sealed box. Amp kept cutting out.. oh hey.. alternator is putting out 16v at anything over 1k rpm.. put a 100A powermaster 12SI on it last night and had perfect 14.5 - 14.8 output all day long. Amp happy, rock/metal beats shaking my core makes me happy too lol.
Aside from the horn, and just redoing the front brakes (keeping stock, just new rotors/pads and maybe soft lines), I'm set for awhile on anything other than cleaning / cosmetics.
05-17-2018, 06:33 AM
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