It's been a long time since I've had a 3rd gen. 2009 ish, I think. I had a few posts on here around then, but not enough for anyone to remember me, lol.

Anyway, on a bit of a lark, I put up an ad somewhere for a few of my firearms, asking if anyone might have an older V8 car they'd trade me. Project cars are no problem. Hour and a half later, I get a message from a dude that is offering me his 1985 Z28 that he's lost interest in. Comes with a lot of parts, he says. I jump on it, because...doing something interesting is always more fun than doing something sane. And after snow delays etc, I now have a new project:



She's been gutted, but she does in fact come with a lot of parts. Boxes and boxes of stuff.

Included:
UMI torque arm and cross-member
UMI lower control arms
UMI K-member
UMI Steering brace/wonder bar
Belltech front and rear sway bars
KYB stuts
EBC front and rear disc brakes
Jegs subframe connectors
Flowmaster catback
Hooker Headers
Motion Raceworks steering column and steering wheel

Plus a bunch of misc parts, new brake lines, new fuel sending unit, a bunch of ARP bolts, etc. Plus a pile of stock parts; two sets of tail lights, two trans cross-members, extra window regulators, stock steering column, several driveshafts, 91 RS dash and bumper, etc.

Drivetrain:
350 bored out .040 to 357
Edelbrock intake
Comp Cams cam and lifters
Quick Fuel Brawler 750cfm carb
Weiand water pump
Billet brackets for alt and power steering
906 heads
Rebuilt World Class T5




And yeah, he brought receipts for pretty much everything. Awesome when you get a car from someone and they hand you a book of paperwork. Including the original build sheet.




He removed the interior because it was "ratty" and the roll cage was poorly installed, so he did a hasty job of cutting it out. I've since removed the short stabby pipes. And will get around to painting the inside at some point. But the sheet metal, for a New Hampshire car, is in excellent condition. Floor pans, quarters, cowl, all of it is clean. Some minor rust on the rear bumper support, but that's about it. I've had a lot of project cars (around 40 or so) and this is one of the most solid I've started with.

So, here I am, having absolutely gotten the lion's share out of this trade, and wondering how to progress. So my biggest internal debate is:

Do I keep this car and build it how I want...and need to track down interior pieces, hood, etc...plus an auto transmission, since I need an auto.

Or, do I track down an automatic car that still has its interior...and just swap all his nice parts onto it? I don't have a lot of space at my house, so this would be aggravating, but might be more cost effective than sourcing all the little parts. And I'd definitely wait until spring. Not having another vehicle towed up my mountain this winter, lol.





Oh, and I guess an extra pondering is whether to keep the engine he built. It's a nice engine...in parts and labor he's got about $5k into it, zero miles on it. Or sell it, find a stock 350 (or stock-ish), and eventually build it how I would want it.

Staying carb'ed, too. I want this thing stupid simple, minimum wires, no ECU, etc.

Anyway, this is my foray back onto this board, and back into 3rd gens. We'll see how it goes.

 

Welcome back.

Too bad you aren't closer, I have a 700r4 sitting around you could have for free.

 

i think it would definitely be cheaper to find a roller car for all the interior pieces than trying to find them all one piece at a time.

 

Thanks!

And I appreciate the kind offer. I'm hoping to barter away some of my extra pieces, and give a few away, so maybe the karma will come back around and I'll find something a bit more local.


I did this on a previous project, and it did work exceedingly well, parts-to-cost ratio. I was just hoping to avoid buying an extra car, lol. But, once I'm done stripping it, I'll post the roller up for free on TGO, maybe someone can make use of the sheet metal, etc.

 

I think you'd be much better of going this route if you can find one with an interior that is in decent shape. Would save a lot in time tracking down parts, and shipping costs which would end up being half your budget. Plus, you would also have all the little pieces or random parts that you don't realize you need until you're knee deep into an installation.

 

Absolutely solid advice.

Had a long think over it, and if I was going for a more complete, stock feeling car, I'd go that route. But I've already got a comfortable daily driver; don't really care if this ends up more hot rod/rat rod/whatever, and cobbled together with what I reuse from previous projects, or can get through bartering.

 

It's probably already on the forums somewhere, but in case anyone was wondering, here's the weight difference between the power and manual regulators. Just shy of 2lbs difference. Factoring in the wiring you can remove, and it I'm sure it hits the 2lb mark. Not that I'm going for weight reduction, but data is data.

My car has (had) power windows and locks, but in my pursuit of simplifying the car...decided to yank the power lock actuators, and swapped over to manual windows. Already had the parts, in the assorted boxes of misc stuff that came with the car, so that was handy. Hit the tracks with lithium grease, and everything moves fine, but I need to grab some silicon grease for the guides. Quiet going down, but sounds like a yak/Tusken Raider when rolling up.

Mostly just putting off the dirty work. I want to go in and redo the seam sealing, since it's just flaking off, and give the inside of the car a new coat of paint. Nothing special or fancy, just something to feel cleaner while I'm crawling around in there.

 

Winter's over, snow's nearly gone - so hopefully some of my trades will go ahead, since weather isn't stopping anything anymore.

And I can get the car outside for good cleaning.

I've got the 357 engine up on Facebook. Seems like a solid build, but rather go with something more stock, so will see if a trade can happen on that front.

Looking at wiring harnesses. I know of Painless, but Speedway Motors seems to have really good reviews for theirs. Guess I need to figure out whether I'm sticking with the factory steering column, or using the aftermarket one...hmm.

Also working on a bit of a custom hood/trunk release. Should have pictures of that soon.

 

This doesn't help get the car back on the road, but shiny things are always good for a morale boost.

Got in my door panels from LRB and started mocking them up. (They'd actually be installed if I had bothered to get a rivnut gun ahead of time). Also, the eagle-eyed observers will note that I put the passenger side door handle bezel on...whoops.

Slowly working on getting the weatherstripping to "cooperate" as well. I went with the kit from Fairchild. Saw lots of reviews of all the kits, and basically all them have complaints, so whatever.

Worth noting however:

The inner door seal/scraper seal has a piece of felt that pushes against the triangle seal section. I've circled where the felt is, and where the seal piece is that it pushes on.



The piece of felt protrudes so much that it pushes this guide out of alignment, and you can only get the window about halfway closed before it binds and gets wonky. It's an easy fix - drill out the two brass rivets that hold that felt on, and everything lines back up just fine again. I can't imagine that piece of felt really does anything anyway, since the window should already be in the rubber track at that point. If I find it does actually cause problems anywhere, eventually, I'll report back.

That aside, I like these panels. Unlike a lot of companies that feel some need to stamp their names all over their products, LRB has a simple engraving, that is largely unseen when the door is closed. Fitment so far has been perfect. Dropped right into place, everything seems to line up great.

Complaints:
1. The M5x6 screws for the weatherstripping need to be longer. The screw heads are small enough that it looks/feels like they'll rip through the weatherstripping..a longer screw would allow a washer to be placed, to get rid of that worry. I might come back, replace them with M5x8s or M5x10, so that it feels better secured.
2. The instructions really should be reworked. They're usable, but could be greatly improved. Not that this is a complicated install, but the instructions feel really rushed/slapped together.

Just need to order some arm rests, and finish the install, and that's at least one thing checked off the list.