Its a long story so bear with me. Three years ago im driving from visting my parents in downey and all of a sudden there is a demon inside and I decide to turn into ghost rider LOL. But no seriously my camaro caught fire. Just as I pulled out of the parking spot. So I have spent all this time trying to put her back together. Found a bare bones block on craigslist casting number 3970010 and the matching crankshaft for 100 bucks took the block and crank over to Perfect Engine in LA. Took about 3 months to build a very stout motor in my sense. Its a 350 4 bolt main bored .030 over with, stock crank, stock connecting rods, oversized pistons for the bore,(unfortunetly I dont know right now, have the numbers somewhere) big valve heads with the intake valve at 2 inches exhaust valve at 1.5 inches, comp camshaft grind number 12-268-4, dual valve springs, stainless steel valves, magnum roller rockers ratio 1.52, right now running with a stock intake set up, and edelbrock tes headers. Right now I'm sitting pretty cause I just fired it up. I was about to start a post "my tpi wont start lol". After resetting the timing for a fifth time (by the way I feel im getting pretty good at that), I said screw it and just kept keeping the starter on then finally boom it starts. My girl said kitty used to purr now it growls LOL. That pretty much sums it up in a very quick nutshell. I have pics from the fire if anyone is interested in the carnage LOL.

 

Im happy for you ! I just started driving my Iroc after a 5 year hiatus. But tell me, after waiting all that time, did it make every second worth it ?

 

sorry i got back so late. anyways it was worth every second of waiting. i even forgot how it felt to be behind the wheel lol. and yes even im surprised i forgot, but i have to say its a very good feeling getting her off the jackstands down on the ground. i will post pics tomorrow gotta find my external hard drive.

 

you go boy! we all feel your glee - like a member of the family getting a new ride.

 

Here you guys go pics of the carnage....there is more on photobucket just look for thoman365...I'm just glad its on.

 

Now that you have it running again, do you also carry a fire extinguisher in the car like I and many others do?

 

Yes I do now. Unfortunetely it was and is a valuable lesson learned. At least by the end of this project she will look and feel like a brand new car. i just have to get the paperwork done and break the new motor in real proper like lol. All jokes aside I dont want to go though this again nor do I wish anyone on this site to go though what I went though it is truely a nightmare. Again thanks to this site and its members my car is back. Thanks everyone.

 

What made it catch fire in the first place?

 

Sorry for the big pics (still trying to figure out the post thing). Please let this be a lesson to all. I think I figured it out a while ago. It was the cold start injector tube coming off the fuel rail. For those of us who have '85 to '88 fuel rails, (I think) there is a screw connector on the back of the fuel rail meant for the cold start injector make sure its tight. For my situation I didnt tighten the connection good enough I think, the only thing is I wasn't in that section of the engine for a awhile before the fire. Looking at the pics that is the only thing I can think of.