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Hi all, I briefly introduced myself on the Southeast Region board. I recently (about a month ago) aquired a forgotten, left for dead 1991 Z28 for a fair price. The story on this rig from what I can gather, is the old man that previously owned it, drove it until the 700R4 lost 3rd and 4th, and it has been parked since 2009. The last owner has since passed, and i purchased this from his widow. At some point since 2009, someone decided to do a very sloppy flat black rattle can paint job on it, I guessing this occured after the transmission failed since they also painted over the headlights and turn signal lights. So, while it is a pretty rough start, the engine is stuck, the transmission is trash, it is incredibly filthy, the car is a complete Z28 with T-Tops, being a 1991, it also has the ground effects, rear spoiler, and interior I prefer over the other years.
I plan on resurrecting this car and get it where I can drive and enjoy it. I am not in a place in my life where I can or want to do a full on restoration, but I will make a nice driver out of it.
Got the wife to sorta agree to let me buy it, and she came on the adventure with me to pick it up (she secretly likes F-Bodys, but she has to play the "responsible wife" part) Got the car loaded and snapped this photo at my wife's favorite Mexican resturant that happend to be in the same town I bought this car in. (Happy wife, happy life lol)
The TA wheels HAD to go, the tires were gone and they weren't my style. The wife said it would be smarter to find someone selling the wheels I want that already have decent tires instead of buying some cheap used tires to put on the TA wheels I didnt want, who am I to disagree?? Listed the TA wheels on marketplace, and within 3 days, one of the owners of Hawks made an offer and came and picked them up. (Hawks is about 20 miles from my house). Got the correct wheels that came on this car new, HUGE improvement!!!
After I got the wheels swapped over, I turned my attention to the filthy engine bay. I knew the engine was stuck, so I wanted to clean the engine bay up to make it easier to work around.
Last edited by frito-bandito; Jan 29, 2026 at 10:50 AM.
After cleaning the engine bay, I removed all of the spark plugs and soaked the cylinders in ATF and acetone and let it sit for a couple of days. I pulled and pulled on the crank pulley and finally got it to rotate some. I kept working it back and forth over the next week, but could only get 3/4 of a rotation out of the engine. Finally in desperation, I turned the crank as far counter clockwwise as it would go, connected the battery and hit the key. The first time it just clicked, then it started spining over and built oil pressure.
I put the nasty spark plugs back in, sprayed some gas in the throttle body and she fired right up! Now we have something to work with! At this point I tested the fuel pump, dead as expected, used my noid light to verify the injectors were receiving signal, jumperd the injectors with a 9 volt battery...nothing. No surpises since the car has been sitting for 14 years. Placed an order for a new fuel pump, sending unit, 8 injectors, and fuel pressure regualtor.
Now that we are waiting on parts, time to move on to some of the other numerous things this car needs.....
The terrible rattle can flat black was NOT it, I assumed I was just gonna have to properly sand the car down and do a temporary primer job to it, but after a little research online, we tried a few chemicals (thinner, acetone, adhesive remover) to see if we can get the black paint off. Finally we discovered name brand oven cleaner was the way to go!
Just like that, the flat black is gone, showing the original blue, along with the green RS front clip that was previously installed. I have always loved the teal green Camaros, and really love the idea of a dark green on this car, but I am going to take the easy way out and eventually go back with the WA9591 Ultra Blue Metallic so I dont have to repaint the jams and under hood.
This is what I'm going for (mine is T-Top not hard top of course)
Great progress, to me a 91-92 Z28 is such a coveted thirdgen Camaro, crazy to see one in that shape. But then again it was probably some ones daily, etc for a long number of years. Looking forward to seeing progress.
While I was waiting on parts to arrive, I tackled polishing / restoring the front turn signals and the tail lights. Not bad for a $8 3M kit from Advance Auto
The injectors and FPR were finally delivered, so I tore down the TPI system, cleaned it out with brake kleen and a rubber tip air nozzle. Replaced o-rings and slapped it all back together
Welcome! Great project, it's a nice car. Always loved the '91-'92 changes they made, really complimented the cars. Prefect color too. (The blue not the rattle can, lol)
Now that I got the fuel rails and injectors straightened out, it was time to address the fuel pump, sending unit and the rest of the lines. Of course I was by myself, and needed to get the car in my garage, so I connected a pump sprayer to the fuel inlet on the TPI and managed to use that to drive the car into the garage.
Fuel pump, sending unit replaced, chassis fuel lines cleaned out, car now starts and runs on its own, but the fuel gauge isnt working. I have since verified the gauge itself is ok, so I am planning on dropping the tank again soon to see if I somehow wedged the float against a baffle or something.
Removing the fuel tank the right way, by dropping the rear axle, which is not that bad of a job. as roached as this car was, I was surprised there wasnt a hole cut in the floor, thankfully that was not the case
Nasty fuel tank removed
Just varnished fuel and the remnants of the pick up sock in the tank, glad there was no rust!
After a quick pressure wash....
I forgot to add this photo of the T-Tops being removed for the first time. I had a hard time getting the driver side unlocked with the key.
In the meantime, realizing that I've never worked on or owned a vehicle that sits this low to the ground, I needed a way to get the car in the air. I followed some internet advice and started building tire cribs. I like these a lot better than jack stands if I am not doing anything that requires removing the tires / wheels.
I then turned my attention to the rusted rear hatch metal surround
In the meantime, realizing that I've never worked on or owned a vehicle that sits this low to the ground, I needed a way to get the car in the air. I followed some internet advice and started building tire cribs.
awesome little tools arent they?
ive got several styles/heights.
and when you are cold they burn really good when you light them on fire.
Now that the car runs and drives (in 1st and 2nd) it is obviously easier to move in and out of the garage. I was able to leave a one wheel peel at the beginning of my road when I was doing a short neighborhood test drive. Not bad for a worn out 305 that was previously stuck!
So after pulling the nasty carpet out, my suspicions were confirmed, the T-Tops have leaked like they all seem to do
Went and bought some of the good ol Rustoleum rust converter. Cleaned the rusted areas off with a wire wheel cup on an angle grinder and applied the Rustoluem.
Rust and glass in the rear floor cubby, the back glass has apparently been busted out of this car at one point. I'm guessing its related to the dent I have in front of the driver side tail light and the bondo on the passenger side upper rear quarter fender.
This is just kinda a photo dump of random photos I didnt add earlier. This gets me about to it's current state.
I spent last week in the hospital, and am on a lifting restriction for another 3 weeks, so that and the cold temperature has me limited on what I am able to do at the moment.
My next steps are finishing repairing the floor, paint the floor, add insulation mat, replace the heater core and headlight switch (I have these parts) and take apart and tighten up the sloppy steering column.
However, last night I did go out to the garage and experimented on cleaning one of the rear cushions
Before
Half of it clean (just to see the results)
Old pic of the nasty carpet before I removed it
I also painted to headlight buckets to make it Z28 correct
The weather has been awful around here lately, so I played around with Chat GPT while I was bored this weekend....
This is my ultimate goal
This is the dark green I really like, but I'm going with the OEM blue to avoid having to paint the door jams and engine bay. Chat GPT added the "IRCO-Z" emblem on its own lol
Started off this afternoon with plugs, wires, cap and rotor. It runs a little better but still kinda hunts at idle and wants to die when put in gear. Dusting off my long forgotten 90’s GM tech experience makes me suspect the IAC. So I’ll start by removing that next to see how much carbon buildup there is.
Couldn’t wait to get the Walmart special Autolites out of my GM engine, and their inconsistent gap settings.
After my donut session in the culdesac last week, I found that the driver side rear wheel had gear oil all over it. So I went ahead and replaced the rear axle wheel bearings and seals. As many things as I have done in auto / truck mechanics over the years, I've never done these type of rear bearings and seals until now
Driver side axle and drum removed
Been leaking for a while
I CANNOT stress this enough, use the correct tools for this job, it makes life so much easier. I rented these from O'Reilly
New seal and bearing installed
The results of me attempting to install one of the new bearings using a large socket as a driver - again, USE THE CORRECT TOOLS lol
When I first got the car running, I replaced the fuel pump and installed a new sending unit as well. But the fuel gauge always read emty. I took the tank back down, pulled the sender and plugged it back in, and it moved the gauge as it should. It also OHMed out correct with a multimeter. So I reinstalled it and the fuel tank, turned on the key, and still reads empty.
I dropped the tank back down, removed the sender again, and discovered the new sender float rod is longer than the old unit. I attempted to bend it in different spots to "shorten" the rod. But I guess there isnt enough room at that spot in the tank for the float to move with the bent up rod due to the way the sender sits in these tanks.
Buying the cheapest option on Rock Auto bit me again I guess. I ordered the most expensive one on Rock Auto after the photos gave me hope that it seems to match the orignal sender.
Notice how much further down the pump the new (black) float sits compared to the old one. The pump sits sorta sideways in these cars and the tanks have baffles, so I'm sure the longer rod is pinning the float to either the baffle or the tank wall.
Notice how much further down the pump the new (black) float sits compared to the old one. The pump sits sorta sideways in these cars and the tanks have baffles, so I'm sure the longer rod is pinning the float to either the baffle or the tank wall.
Did you try plugging it in outside of the tank and moving the float rod to see if the gauge responds? Not even sure if this is possible since I've never dropped a 3rdgen tank, but might be worth the effort to help troubleshoot.
Did you try plugging it in outside of the tank and moving the float rod to see if the gauge responds? Not even sure if this is possible since I've never dropped a 3rdgen tank, but might be worth the effort to help troubleshoot.
Well the more expensive fuel sending unit was what I was needing. I forgot to take pictures of it, but it was a direct match for the orignal sending unit, so now I have a working fuel gauge!
Also picked up the rebuilt transmission Saturday and have it most of the way installed. I should be able to finish that this evening.
