Some might remember a past post about my car...
Anyway I bought a 1983 Z28 with 27,000 miles on it this year. The guy who sold it to me fixed a lot of things on the car and replaced all the hoses and such. When I got the car home my grandmother got in the car and tried to start it and my grandfather told her not to give it gas because it would flood. So she sat there and layed on the starter for a good 15 minutes. The car started right up before that.
Anyway.. the car is white with t-tops..it has power seats/windows/locks/the little covers with locks for the trunk space. The original owner wanted to go all out with the car. She soon got cancer and couldn't drive it so it was put in the garage for prety much 20 years...until another guy bought it *the guy we bought it from* and he did a great job fixing it. (This guy had a lot of money to throw away) We paid 5,800 dollars for this car and I'm wondering if it was a mistake. I didn't really do my research on the particular year before I bought it and I had no idea that it was this horribly slow. (disgrace to v8s)
I have always wanted a third gen camaro, I was pretty much raised in a 84 Z28. I wanted more along the line of a black iroc...but I'll never find one around here in decent condition. If I do keep this car I want to eventually paint it black and make it look more like a late 80s/early 90s.
Now that I have it I'm not sure that I want it, I dislike the old man appearance of the earlier models...without the better looking style of the newer ones. Everyone that I have talked to thinks that I made a huge mistake by getting this car, it's my first car and I really don't know anything about value. So...do you think I'm stupid for buying this car?
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<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v35/rayvendawn/camaro5.jpg">

 

that is one of the cleanest older z28s ive seen in a long time man... nice find you have there:hail:

 

engines can be modded, ground effects can be replaced... a rust-free 3rd gen is damn near priceless.... espescially one that's just as clean inside as it is out!

If you dont like the "old man" appearance on the outside, replace the GFX, with a 91-92 GFX, take your car and the new GFX to a paint shop and have them color match it (or painted black since you are heading towards black anyways, right?

The inside "old man" appearance I assume that you mean the color of the seats, well, I actually like the color of your interior, but you can get seat covers and such...

you got a good car, very low miles, and very clean everywhere! Dont be ashamed of it, mine looks very similar to yours, except mine has no GFX, just the gold and black trim, and white car... initially I didnt like the look of mine either, the disgrace of a V8 is actually rather quick, probably not as the L98 you had in the Z28 you had when you were growing up though, but hardly a disgrace.... just look at some of the 2nd gen engines heh.

Anyways, your car looks a whole lot better once you're standing on your gas pedal Other people seem to think so too, or atleast the people I've talked to about my car.

 

The old man look I was talking about is the whole high off the ground thing. I like the color of the interior compared to other colors I've seen. I've looked for rust and I can't find any, and yes I know the important of that...I was raised in Indiana and even cars a year old get rust very easily from the constant salt/snow thing. My grandparents had to trade in their cars every six months. I have never driven around with my friends...actually I got my license 3 months ago and before then I had to drive with my grandmother. My registration went out and since the car is in their name *I have to pay them back for helping* I can't do anything about it. So they have been screwing me around for a long time now and I haven't driven anything in three months.
Once a week I go out and start it up and leave it running for 20 mins or so. Does anyone else have a problem with these cars guzzling gas? I don't think I've ever seen a car with gas milage this bad before.
I do want to do things to make the car faster but I think I would be better off replacing the engine. My mom's Z28 had its engine replaced four times in five years. First time she drove into a lake, second time her fan went out and she drove the crap out of it and killed it, third was from a boyfriend trying to 'fix' it up....and the last time was when it was sold to a guy for 400 dollars
The next week he totally destroyed the engine. This is a guy who puts NOS in a ford probe though hehe :/

 

well hell haha, high off the ground? How much closer to the ground do you want it? heheh... you can get some lowering springs for a total of like 400 dollars if memory serves, then put them in yourself (the spring compressor tool costs like 70 dollars), then after you do that, first thing you do is :

-Give it a good alignment
or
-Pay someone to give it a good alignment

Now that that will get rid of your "granny look" ... on to your gas guzzling Q:

You said that this car has been sitting for a long time, I would do some general maintenance for the car. This includes:

-Spark Plugs
-Spark Plug Wires
- Distributor Cap
- Rotor
- Oxygen Sensor
- Oil (synthetic, mobil 1 is best probably)
- Oil Filter (mobil 1 is also good for the filters)
- PCV Valve (this 3 dollar part can definetly make the difference between 8MPG and 14MPG!)
- Coolant
- Tranny fluid
- Differential Fluid
- Blinker Fluid
- Muffler Bearings
etc

It probably wouldnt hurt anything to put some of that "guaranteed to pass" stuff in your car, they seem to get rid of carbon deposits fairly well.

 

lol...nah I don't want to lower it..but the old style made it look like they're higher off the gound and sometimes it looks goofy.
Apparently the man who had it before me took it to GM and had them check it out just go crazy with fixing crap. I do plan on going and getting it checked out again though. It's been acting kinda weird lately, it idles high and when I go driving for awhile it feels like the fuel cuts out for a second and eventually if driven long enough it starts to die....like I found out before trying to rush home. I was sitting at a light and I had to keep giving it gas or it would have died..it shook hard and made the typical car death noise. Just to make sure I replaced the fuel filter and the guy replaced the fuel pump a few months ago.

 

HOLY CRAP. Don't even think about getting rid of that car. Damn, it looks in EXCELLENT shape, and you could get that engine bay even cleaner to match the nice interior and body. WOW, for an 83 that thing is beautiful. NICE find man. Treat it good, that one will be worth something in another 10 years if you keep it in nice shape. It's already a classic as it is.

 

sounds like that could be an altinator, even though the car doens't have many miles the parts are still old. have somebody check the voltage that the batter is being charged at... also check your battery terminal connections

 

yes that sounds like an alternator.

 

You truly have a low mileage original thirdgen, dont mod it. Enjoy it, drive, keep it as original as possible. Get yourself another one to hotrod.

 

Sell it to someone who will appreciate the old man styling of that car Then take that money and buy yourself a newer style one that gets better gas milage.

 

I was thinking about that... that I should leave it original but I don't think I'll ever find another one in that good of condition again. Around here it seems only the poorest people own older camaros and they are completely trashed out. I rarely ever see anything even close to normal. I have a feeling that its not going to be easy finding someone who would pay that amount for a car that old. *it's a year older than I am hehe*
I really didn't want to mess up the perfection that has been kept for so many years. The guy that I bought it from had a daughter that drove it and she was 16...she thought the car was embarassing and she didn't want her friends to see her in it. So they sold it and bought her a suv. :O
I'm not sure what a good price would be for this car when I do get whatever it is fixed.

 

embarrasing to be seen in that???
step #1: ignore what anyone you know is telling you about your car..
step #2: actually take a moment, to form your own opinion of your car..
step #3: go from there

i know when your young the main objective is to be cool and all, but seriously if you like it, then how could it be a mistake, opinions are like ... you know

 

the ca ris nothing to be embarassed about. like stated above i don't think you should mod it.. maybe if you don't like it.. store it for a few more years and break it out when they are worth big money... cause that car is going to be worth alot if you keep the miles low. like i said above get an alternator that will fix your problem

 

HOLY cow, EMBARRASING? Being seen in a Topaz is embarrassing. Being seen in a Pontiac 6000 is embarassing. Being seen in a Camaro, especially one THAT NICE, is the coolest thing on earth. (After sex of course.) Camaro's are an American classic, only below the Corvette. Embarrassing? I think I have heard it all now. LOL. If you dont want it I'll take it! :lala: :lala: :lala:

 

Ummmmm.....


I knew I forgot to replace something.....

 

lol.. I'm not embarassed to be seen in it, the girl that drove the car before me was. The only thing I find even slightly embarassing about the car is the gold wheels.
Besides that I love driving it. I have the original stereo too...it looks so goofy...all those huge buttons Oh yeah and the guy gave me a z28 bra.
Don't worry I'm not going to do anything stupid and tear it apart...I just needed other peoples opinions about it. I didn't know if I should keep it or get rid of it. If I do keep it I will have to drive it around and put more miles on it.
Thats a big problem, I'm really scared that I'm going to have a wreck in it or something and then it will be just like the other countless camaros that have been dashed to bits. I feel like I should be driving something very cheap and disposable until I can drive better. I'll be paying this car off for quite awhile so it won't be going anywhere for the next year or so.

I went to a 3SI meet yesterday with my friend who owns a 3000 GT and man did I feel out of place! There was this one guy with a dark green 80s trans am and he was so embarased that he parked really far away from the other cars. I was listening in to his conversation and he also owns a camaro. Looking under the hoods of those newer...much faster cars made me drool for a minute there. While there I realized that I had to bring this friend to a third gen meet in Grapevine,TX. MWAHHAA

 

Thats what mine prolly looked like new!!

Great find!