hey yall. well im picking up an 84 Camaro Z28 this week and i have a couple of questions. there are 2 issues with the car. one, the speedometer doesnt work and two, the gas gauge doesnt work. the guy im buying it from said that the speedo issue is something to do with something in the tranny, not the cable. something about a gear slipped forward that controls the speedo. as for the gas gauge, apparently he said it is something to do with the sending unit in the gas tank. so i guess my question is, how would i go about fixing these issues? would it be best for me to take it in to have the speedo issue fixed (since i dont have an engine stand or the tools or space to use a cherry picker to pull the engine and tranny)? as for the sending unit in the tank, could i just drop the tank and try to fix/replace it myself to solve this issue? any information yall could give me would be greatly appreciated. i almost forgot to mention that this Z28 has a 5 speed and a carbed 427, so its not stock. thanks yall

Daniel

 

Carbed 427 big block? Whoa, some find.

The speedo doesn't require you to pull anything, put your tools away! You'll need to lean under the tranny, drivers side. Check for where the speedo cable goes into the tranny. There's going to be a 10mm headed bolt holding a "tang" in place, which holds the speedo cable in. Loosen the bolt, rotate the tang out of the way, and pull the cable out. You should see a plastic gear. Or what's left of one. Dealerships can get you a new one for ~$15 - but you still need to find out why it failed.
Try to rotate the gear with your hand, get a buddy to tell you if the speedo moves. If not, somethings wrong with the cable.

The sending unit in the gas tank is a... terrible job. Your shop will enjoy doing that one.

 

freakin awesome! i was really worried that i was going to have to get a shop to do the speedo thing and that probably would have cost quite a bit. if i have to replace the plastic gear, would i have to pull the tranny or no? if not that would be awesome! as for the gas tank, i wouldnt mind dropping it anyway, emptying it, cleaning it up, and refilling it with some good fresh gas. as for the carbed 427, ya darn right it was a good find! i couldnt believe it! i had been looking at a 73 Pontiac Ventura (basically the pontiac version of a nova) that had a full cage, 5 gal. fuel cell, drag suspension, 3.73 gears with positrac, and a cowl hood, but the interior was GUTTED, the body needed some work, and it needed a motor and tranny and he wanted $800 for it, but it got sold before i could get the funds together. i actually found a really good deal on this Z28 because of the good shape it is in, the 427 (which already has a mild cam in it) only has about 1000 miles on it, and im getting it for only $6500! im gonna try to talk him down to 6k, but we will see. either way, i think its a heck of a deal! surprisingly enough the 427 runs on 87 octane pump gas right now, so that saves quite a bit on gas. ill have to get some pics up when i get it. they will probably be posted in the Mid-West section of the forum. thanks for the help. i really appreciate it. now i dont have to pay some jackhole mechanic to lie to me and charge me for a bunch of stuff that i dont need. thanks again. later

Daniel

 

If he just means the speedo "driven" gear, it's just like I said. It took me (no joke) 12 minutes to do this on my brothers crown vic, with a 10mm wrench, 0°F and arthitis. Notice I didn't even mention a jack? We used the curb! It's an easy fix.
If it's the "drive" gear however, that's in the tranny. Still, you can just remove the tailshaft housing and keep the tranny in the car.

ooh, you're not going to like removing the gas tank though... You need to completely remove the rear axle assembly (including brake lines, meaning you have to re-bleed), remove the exhaust (hopefully there's a bolted joint somewhere), then you get to the "fun" part. I think your 1984 is like mine - an ultra PITA. If it's got the 2 piece filler neck its easier.
Remember, you can just shake the car and listen for the slosh to get an idea as to how much gas is in there. With a 427 and our iddy bitty tanks you'll probably barely make it from gas station to gas station

Check the wire coming out the back of the gas tank. It'll be the only wire coming out in the rear of the gas tank area. There should be a weatherpack connector towards the drivers side in that area. You never know, maybe it just got cut, or he disconnected it and never plugged it back in, etc. Dropping the tank sucks, avoid it at all costs.

 

okay. ill check the wiring first. if all else fails, ill just start taking stuff apart and drop the tank. maybe it would be easier to just put in a different fuel gauge (maybe a digital one), but even then i would have to hook up a sending unit, right? and i assume that would involve dropping the tank as well. well crap! hopefully i make it further than gas station to gas station, but who knows. either way, its not gonna be a daily driver, thats what my silverado is for. this is just gonna be a fun toy that my dad and i will take to the strip and (if we get it fixed up nice) maybe to some shows. it would be nice to take on some weekend cruises though. if i get the speedo and fuel gauge working again we can figure out what kind of mileage it gets and then plan out when and where we need to stop for gas. basically this is a little project car for my dad and i. hes heading to iraq as a civillian contractor with the army working on airplanes on the 15th of this month, so i wanted to get something for us to enjoy together for when he gets back in about a year. i think it will be a lot of fun and look (and sound) pretty nice when we are done. now i just gotta figure out what kind of cam to put in it (dont know what kind it has right now, but its a mild cam) and we want to put a hotter cam in it. im thinking about a lunati hydraulic roller cam, but im not sure. also thinking about getting a different carb, like an edelbrock or demon, but i dont know where to start on that. well i gotta get off here. later

Daniel

 

One thing you might want to check for the guage first is the circuit sheet on the back of the dash panel. Mine had a little break in the gas gauge strip. Is the guage on full or empty?

 

hmmmm. dont remember but i think it was on empty. ill have to check the gauge itself too, but if i remember right the guy said he thought it was something with the sending unit. he could be wrong though and not have checked the gauge. well i should hopefully be picking it up tomorrow. later

Daniel

 

well, irocz286, the gas gauge is on full all the time, so i guess i need to check the gauge. ill check the wiring too. also gonna fix the speedo while my dad is gone. he is leaving on the 15th for iraq as a civillian contractor working on military aircraft, so please keep him in your prayers. without him, all of this wouldnt have been possible and he is the greatest man that ever lived (in my opinion, which is all that matters!) he hasnt had a muscle car since he was in high school (hes about 52) so im glad we could get this together to work on when he gets back and my son (9 months old on the 13th) will enjoy chevy power for the rest of my natural born life! lol well gotta go. later

Daniel

 

okay, well i got into it today before i go to work and i pulled the gas gauge out of the cluster. it was originally on full, but when i pulled the gauge and moved the needle, there was no resistance to me moving it and it will stay where you put it. it doesnt return to 0 or empty like the other gauges. ill check the wiring when the weather gets a little better and i have more time. i might just lay out a tarp tomorrow and crawl under the thing. i hope its just the wiring coming from the tank like irocz286 mentioned. there doesnt seem to be a break in the circuit sheet on the back of the gauge. do you mean the circuit sheet on the gauge or the back of the white plastic panel? got any pics that may help me on this? well i gotta head to work. later yall

Daniel

 

well theres another issue i have to deal with now. the darn battery keeps going flat on us. the volt meter shows that its charging when the motor is running and you rev it, but after it sits for a while, the battery goes low and it doesnt want to start! crap! ill have to check the wiring and the output from the alternator. i need to clean up the wiring anyways because with all the wire loom its lookin kinda ghetto! i planned on redoing that anyways because we want to pull the motor and repaint the block (thinking about black). might be too much work to do it though and im sure it would be a giant pain in the butt! well, if anyone has some suggestions about this stuff feel free to let me know.

Daniel