Now this may seem like a stupid question but it's not I promise lol. Okay so me and my father have been planning a father son twin turbo build. We settled on a thirdgen camaro etc... Blah blah blah... Long story short I found a car bought it nice and cheap and after looking it over I can't decide if I should use it.


The car has 113k on it, everything works, it has ever power option available, hell the seats aren't even ripped. The car is 100% original, never repainted ( a little faded ). It turns out the original owner loved this car and when he died his wife put it in storage and never touched it. When she died the daughter didn't know what to do and sold it to me.

I mean I'm stumped is not an incredibly rare car but it is a L98 350 Z28 so it's nice. I don't know guys, should I leave it stock and build up a car someone has already molested or what.


I mean I found the original spare tire and jack never used with the compressed air can still wrapped and ready to go.

What do you guys think?

i would probably leave it unmolested if its really nice and hasnt been messed with. maybe have it painted to make it look brand new again. you just dont see unmolested ones anymore. keep looking and you can find a roller with 9" rear and some other goodies for pretty cheap.

Other than fixing the faded paint, I would leave it alone Like DIGGLER said. When my 88 Iroc was hit in 2010, I found a 92' Z28 hardtop with 100,879 miles all original with tan leather seats with no rips or tears. And my plan was to swap my old drive train from the 88' to the 92', but I could not bring myself to molest such a nice car. So I found another 91' Z28 hardtop less engine and transmission. My 92' has been my clean original daily driver ever since.

Its just a car. Build it

You have to make an honest evaluation of a) will you and dad finish the car, and/or b) will you sell it within a couple years? If you modify the car, you will likely dump a LOT of money into the mods. If/When you sell the car, you will get FAR less than you put into it. And, because it is modified, you will get (much) less than you paid for it now for the unmodified car. The only caveat is; if you mod it with top quality parts, and do it REALLY well, then you MIGHT get a SMALL portion of your investment back.

Beyond that; it's only a car, and it's only money. Do what YOU want to do. If this really is a dad+me project, that time spent together could be priceless.

Like some have already mentioned, you hardly find them unmolested. If you are a purist (like myself) I would leave this fine specimen the way she was born.

Do you have any pics that you can share?

I would not do a twin turbo build on that car.

Me and my dad did a JY/Ebay TT build on his '82 and it's a pain to fit everything into these engine bays, ended up cutting alot of the car up to fit it all in, etc etc.

I will do another turbo build in the furture but never on a third gen again lol.. I'll do it on a long front end, big engine bay car like an 80's G body or something.

Now if you must do it with a third gen.. Look for another car. Your only needing a roller. Nothing else in the car's drivetrain will be reused.

Look till you find somebody's race car project that never got finished with a ford 9"/chevy 12 bolt/dana 60 rear end already in it, maybe a roll bar/cage, etc

On my local CL there is this http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sat/cto/4756786823.html $2200 4 link (looks like ladder bars to me), roll bar, cowl hood, mega shifter, poly bucket race seats,

Thanks for the Responses, I dont think she is just a car to be modified not in this condition. She has some minor rust damage to the battery tray, but other then paint and the normal wonky gauge cluster she in in great shape. Ill post some pics soon.

When i took the distributor out, it was probably the cleanest I have ever seen come out of any engine, let alone one with over a 100k on the dash.

Build the damn thing and enjoy it.

We will be doing a rear mounted turbo setup, so that when you pop the hood open you wont be able to tell its turbo powered.

In that case def do it but keep it single. It will be easier and better for spoolup. Can reuse most of stock exhaust.

This is what i am planning to do. Will be doing it soon

If it were a 1LE car or limited run car I would say just restore it. Its not like a regular 350 Z28 is gonna pull good coin any time soon. Plus its a higher mile car too. I bought a pretty clean 87 Z28 with 60k miles and am currently swapping in a LS turbo setup. But then again it was a 305 LG4...no camaro should have that in it lol.

Only think im doing because it is a cleaner car is keeping the interior for the most part factory, exterior other than rims factory and im not cutting up the engine bay to do the turbo setup.

Jay

Well that's a whole different story then. Yeah I see no prob using the car you have for a rear mount turbo build.

wtf.. Don't you have a 9 second twin turbo iroc??

-- Joe

Nope lol i have an 8 sec twin turbo car and a hopefully low 11 sec single turbo z28

Bragger!

-- Joe

The current plan was to use the stock exhaust style. Run headers into a y pipe running back to rear where it splits and feeds into 2 turbos. Then the turbos would also y pipe into one pipe run back to the front of the car where it runs into the intercooler and then into the intake. This way only two pipes run from front to back.

I know right Just kidding Justin

Project89 has a set of twins, manifolds and I think a little plumbing for sale fr around $600 if I recall. Seems like a no brainer.

-- Joe

2x turbo manifolds 2x turbos 2x downpipes and the oil return side plumbing complete from turbos to block
perfect match for a tpi setup, i ran it for a short time on my turbo tpi setup but since ive upgraded heads and intake i wanted osmething a lil more suited to the hirpm power of the new setup

That is the exact car my son and I are looking for since he turns 16 in a few months. After all these years he decided he wants a car like mine, but a little different

I say build it with your dad for sure. Special car for a special project between father and son, what could be better. Just do it!

Alex

option C,

Drive the car for a while the way it is, upgrade the suspension, clean the carpet real nice, replace anything that age has worn out, upgrade the brakes, beef up the engine a little (get it ready with a cam and some valvetrain components) you might consider upgrading the heads themselves in fact to take full advantage of boost. Upgrade and inspect the fuel system and get it ready for the demand. Tackle the issue of a stand-alone and tuning, install the larger injectors and get familiar with the computer and get it running real sharp and crisp.

When everything else is ready and you are confident in the vehicle as a well oiled machine, then strap on the juice.

The final plan:

396 Stroker with Brodix heads, that have been ported on the exhaust side to allow for better flow out of the engine. (Already built)

Fast Xfi 2.0 Intake, ECU, Fuel Pump, Injectors, Distributor (to allow the ecm to adjust the timing, especially if i decide to throw NOS on for the track.).

Oil Scavenging Pump to maximize the oil flow in the turbos over the distance.

The Fuel tank will be removed and replaced with the twin turbos. (So you wont be able to see them even from the rear. Stealthy like!)

19 Gallon Racing Fuel cell will be placed in the trunk along with the Optima battery.

Full BMR Street/Strip Suspension upgrade! (Including Subframes and Roll Cage)

The air chamber will be the old style air cleaner cover welded together providing the stock look along with hiding the cold side piping to the intake. (Super Stealthy Like!)

Tranny and Rear end will be rebuilt to handle the power demands. (Have been debating trying to run the new 6 spd autos from the newer chevys, 6l80s i believe.)

New paint and new shoes (Wheels and Tires).

All in all the car will look 100% Stock(Tinted windows hiding the cage from most people) while really being a street/strip beast.

I will keep you guys updated and will be making videos and taking pictures of the build once it gets under way.