Thanks for the opportunity to share my experience. This is my second attempt to build a 3rd gen. First one was an 89 rs bought it back in 2012

My first try 89 RS “Nina”





, started the build but due to addiction I ended up losing the car but I saved the motor and suspension that I had put together over the years. Fast forward to today I’m less than a month away from being 2 years sober and I purchased another 89 RS in sept 2025 I named her “Betty Jo”

When I picked her up sept 2025 in Maryland



Marketplace add definitely avoided taking pictures of the passenger door which was royally fxxxxd but I had drove 2.5 hr and wasn’t coming back empty handed




I managed to get it running barely with the rotting fuel lines but soon lost interest in even trying to get the old 305 running when I already have a motor to swap in it so I got a car cover and she sat till about February


fast forward to February. I said I had saved the motor that was supposed to go in my first 3rd gen. It was 427 sbc dart shp block, dart pro 1 platinum heads, dart intake, entire valve train was competition cams I had stored it in my uncles garage while I went though my addiction but it was time to go get it

 

Building a motor from scratch and u run into mirror set backs like, oil pump bolt. Rear main seal housing. Oil filter housing. Rebuilding a motor u have all these things but starting from scratch I had to find all these parts

I purchased the short block new from SkipWhitePerformance out of TN and bcuz everything was new the 12 years of sitting didn’t phase it too much. It spun over nice, clean and smooth



I scored a set of hooker super comps from another third gen member Jamess Cummins and he did me a solid on the price. It cost more to ship it from AZ to VA then wat he charged me for the headers. Then I drove to Philly to pick up a Spin Tech 4” single exhaust





I had to check all the valve lashes again b4 I tightened the stud girdles down

Even though I ordered the oil pan to clearance my stroke the crank was still hitting the windage tray so I had to cut on my $350 oil pan😬

 

My father blessed me with a built th350 full manual reverse valve body and a burst quarter stick the trans I just a gasket, seal and filter kit for it and shot it with some cast iron grey paint. The quarter stick just needed a **** but that proved difficult to find. I had a standard 7/16-20 thread with no universal **** comes with. I ended up getting one from speed dawg.com and $65 later it was at my door










My lil brother gave me 2800 stall converter for Christmas 😁

 

Now I had to have these dart valve covers back in 2014 and they cost me nearly $400 but the came with cork gaskets😒 so I got the felpro thick blue valve cover gaskets and felpro intake gaskets with larger runner ports so they wouldn’t restrict any flow

I was going to use the thermostat housing off the 305 but Dorman had this one so cheap I said why not


I then coated all the exhaust in rust oleum ceramic high heat coating







We had just move the tire balancer to the back room now it has nice aluminum sheen to it thanks to my zero prep efforts😂😂😂

 

Now again my father blessed me with a Holley 830 NASCAR carb. I had a 750 race carb that I bought with the heads from a guy in PA but a local engine builder Boyd Carpenter at BC Automotive told me that the 750 wasn’t going to be enough. The rest of the fuel system I got off amazon and eBay. Not the greatest quality but it’s going to get the job done






eBay fuel pump for $80



At this point this is the most complete stage this motor has ever been in the 12 years I’ve had it

 

I then found me some iroc taillights for $50 about 1.5hr away from me. I picked them up, sanded them and shot them with some clear coat and they were good as new. Betty Jo came with 115mph speedo and 7k tach but I wanted 145mph so I had one shipped to the shop from a junkyard in NC $90 to my door. And with the purchase of a set of multi color sharpie I had the instrument cluster look like new


Some dumbass at some point in time either put the wrong bulb or something and it melted this small spot but there’s no holes through and for $50 I’m not complaining










Sharpies brought it back to life! It’s amazing how u can make something out of almost nothing when ur poor😌

 

Now I was off to WV to buy a door, torque arm, dash pad and the iconic iroc dash badge all for $250 from 2 different sources on the same trip






This dash was a steal for $50


The only flaw to the dash. I filled it with epoxy and sprayed it with satin black paint. But the paint came out more semi gloss to gloss I think



Like night and day

 

I ordered a D shaped steering wheel off amazon, my father hates it but I love it. It’s got an F1 look to it and I installed the dash pad, steering wheel and dash badge

 

Then I was back off the Maryland to get a umi crossmember. I still had suspension parts from spohn from my first attempt and they were red so I used a heat gun to remove the umi decal and painted the crossmember






I also ordered Lucas break in oil and a case of valvoline VR1 racing oil plus a Energy Suspension trans mount




I got a ACDelco dual post gold battery from out local fishers and a $75 starter off amazon that I slapped a summit sticker on so I would be judged


Don’t judge me

 

At this point I’m getting antsy bcuz my car not on a lift yet so I swapped the door out and ordered a new rocker molding

Old door was peeled open like a can of sardines

 

Now we’re up to last Fri. I FINALLY get Betty Jo on the lift. I snatched the motor and trans Fri night











I used a degreaser called Hotter N Hell and a pressure washer and it made magic. Only downfall it’s $30 a gallon

 

Saturday night I install the suspension setup I got from spohn 12 years ago. QA1 double adjustable coilovers, spohn lower control arms and panhard bar. And I re-blued all the bolts. Just heat em up and drop them in oil. Trick I learned from the old timers






Sunday I gave her some eye shadow, nothing say iroc like them blacked out headlights

 

Then out of nowhere mon my gallbladder takes a **** and I’m in the hospital till Wednesday. But earlier today I got out there and installed the taillights and rocker molding. Just 24 released for surgery

 

So now yall are up to date. My spacers came in for my wheels I have 2009 vette wheels I’m going to put on her but I can’t wrestle with those wheels yet. I’m still healing

 

man i glad they got there and looking good!
that motor should be wicked awesome, you better get some videos when you get it running.
Ive got a set of those spintechs for my turbo scout..

 

Ambitious! Lot's of cool "tips & tricks" being shared in this thread already. Love that and love the build!

 

Nice history, journey and project!! Since the engine is not in the car yet, I'd recommend putting some oil in it to test that Canton oil pan for leaks. They are known for leaking, and it would be nice to know now, while the engine is on a stand, than when it's in the car dribbling on your garage floor.

Good luck, and speedy recovery!!

 

thanks man I might have to do that now that you mentioned it. I didn’t know they were prone to leaking. I bought it back in 13-14’ only because it was the only pan I could find that fit my build. And big thanks on the recovery wishes

 

oh you know there will be videos!

 

Today my 91-92 z28 grille showed up. Ordered it form a junkyard in Mississippi. I know Irocs didn’t come with these grilles but a late friend who was into 3rd gen’s gave me one for my first one and I love the “bowtie” over the “Camaro”


My plan was to sand it all down, use a red paint pen to highlight the bowtie and then clear the whole grille.


i guess it worked just not as well as I thought it would. My father said it bcuz I used rattle can clear. So 2marro he’s gonna shoot some real clear on it and see how that does

 

I also ordered my shifter plate today. I seen a picture of someone who had a 3rd gen with a hurst quarter stick and they had a decent shifter plate


i found a guy on eBay that was 3d printing shifter plates for 3rd gen’s and asked him about possibly making me one like the picture above. He then sent me some blueprint pics of what we were shooting for




after seeing these I was all in and said let’s do it. He sent me pics of the finished product

Super clean look. I think it’s so cold. $65 and it’s otw

 

So I decided not to try to clear the grille anymore and just live with wat I got. And after install, I’m happy with it and dats wat matters



B4 and after grille

B4 and after grille

i turned my attention to my accessories. Now the car came with a tbi 5.0 and I want to reuse all the accessories except the smog pump.

i reblued all my hardware here’s a look at how they come out

Just clean em, heat em and oil em

but I ran into a problem, I’m runnin an weiand high volume twisted water pump but my stock water pump pulley bolt holes don’t line up


but I’m thinking since dat nipple in the middle fits tight as the stock pump, the pulley should stay centered and I just need to notch out the bolt holes a lil more🤷🏽‍♂️ I hope so I hate to have to buy another water pump just to run these accessories