Friend just picked up a '90 LO3 RS for FREE. The old owner (another friend) complained about gas mileage, so he got a Civic, but hadn't got rid of the RS yet. He also said that it was stuck in reverse...

I went over to his house today, and after crawling under the car, confirmed that the shift calbe was still on the shift armature. However, the bracket that held the cable onto the transmission pan was totally free, as the two bolts that are supposed to be there were MISSING. I didn't see any trans fluid leakage, at all, so I stole two bolts from seperate locations and stuck the bracket back on, after confirming that the transmission was in Park. A lot of the pan bolts were just finger tight, so I gave them a bit of snugness just to be safe. Nothing major, just a bit more then hand tight - I didn't want to warp the pan. Get in, and hey, it worked! Runs pretty good for 50k on the clock, but compared to my L98 and LC2, I wasn't impressed. Sucks to be spoiled...

So, my friend gets the car for free, but it needs a few things, like a driver's tail-light assembly (the existing one is cracked), a passenger front turn signal lens (badly cracked) and two transmission pan bolts, among other things. I'll help him build a paper tiger before he starts chucking speed parts at it, though.

Safety is expired, so he needs to do a little paperwork shuffle to get it legal. He drove it to Schofield tonight and it will sit until all the issues are fixed.

Can't argue with free, no sir.

 

That's outstanding! Free cars rock. I just recieved an 89 Commanche from my Grandpa. He didn't want to sell it because he has too much into it (new interior, paint etc..), but moved and didn't have the space. Luckily he decided to keep it in the family.

BTW I may have a spare taillight I can part with this Sunday. I'll let you know. Actually Schofield junkyard has several Camaro's so you may find everything you need there. Too bad I already snagged the front parking light/turn signals from the '90

 

I'll have to arrange to link up with you, if Schofield doesn't have anything suitable. I'm sure we'll have no problems at the yard, it'll be the first time I've been there, actually... Not sure when I'll take him down there, though.

Anthony, you did some mods to your RS, what would you recommend as far as that goes?

 

There are a bunch of things you can do with the LO3. I don't have much time to go into everything now but I will later.
I would say that the first thing to do is get rid of that stock air cleaner setup & put on an open element filter.
Oh yeah, I'm gonna be getting rid of a whole bunch of TBI stuff when my new motor is going in so maybe we can work something out later. Nothing fancy, I just did some of the ultimate TBI mods that you see here on the technical how-to's & I also have the vacuum adjustable fuel pressure regulator from TDS & flow matched injectors from Turbo City.

 

Hey, cool. I'll do some research of my own. I'll keep that in mind, but yeah, that single snorkel setup looks pretty restrictive.

 

Lots of info here already, plus there's a bunch on just the LO3 at goingfaster.com, so I hooked him up with some information and a Summit catalog so he can drool over chrome and stuff...!

 

Sorry I haven't been posting more lately. Been kinda busy.
I just thought of one more thing you can do for free to help out the motor. These LO3's do like a little bit more timing so go ahead & bump it up a few degrees. Should give it a little more pep! Don't forget to disconnect that bypass wire thingy on the p/s near the firewall before shooting the timing.