A guy in my town is selling a 1991 z28 camaro, he has it hidden in an alley so i dont think its goin anywhere soon, he wants $500 but I think i could get him down to $400. He said it has a 350 engine from a corvette I think he said it was an Lt1, 5spd transmission, doors work but are hard to open and close, radio needs put back in, id put a cd player anyway. Heres the things it needs one tire or at least aired up to move, but it needs a fuel pump and head gaskets, they said it would need two head gaskets cuz it has two heads or something and idk where the fuel pump is located on these cars or how to access the head gaskets. Now I checked the price on these two items and it would be a little under $130 at autozone. Is it worth it to buy this car? i will have to fix it myself.

it might need a clutch in the near future too, but what can you expect for $400.

 

The pump is in the tank and a real PITA to get to. Sounds like a parts car to me. I think you should keep looking.

 

I thought dropping the tank to get to the pump was as easy as dropping the rear end. Last I checked, this wasn't terribly difficult, nor are the head gaskets.

 

It depends on your experience. Odds are there is more wrong with the car also. Fuel pump is inside the tank, above the rear axle. You need to get the rear of the car up, remove the entire rear axle assembly (much easier if you take it out and set it aside as opposed to just lowering it) and drop the tank.

Head gaskets is engine work. You will have to completely disassemble the top end of the motor and remove each cylinder head. You might be better off just having the motor rebuilt.

 

"as easy as" ? Have you actually done it? I have and nothing about it was easy. Especially if you live in an area where they salt the roads.

A car with that many disclosed problems surely has a bunch that are undisclosed.

 

I have, and I do live an area with salt on the roads. Then again, I use a small breaker bar on tough fasteners.

 

lol alright well its just really hard to find a v8 camaro thirgen thats a 5spd lol. Its a real pain.... ive only seen one or two 5spds that were for sale and they were 5000 plus.

 

It's really a matter of what you're looking for and your expectations. If the body and interior are good it's probably worth the money as a project, but expect to rebuild everything mechanical. I have an '87 IROC I bought that was destined for the junkyard. I rebuilt the engine (leaking intake gasket = water in the oil = trashed bearing), replaced the exhaust, rebuilt the front end, fixed the A/C, replaced the fuel tank, pump , and lines, replaced all the brake hardware, rebuilt the 9 bolt rear, fixed all the little broken stuff like dash lights, power door locks, inop auto rear mirror, broken seat frame, hatch release, etc, and refinished the 4 wheels and installed new tires. I like working on them and I don't "need" to drive it. It's just a toy that's now waiting for spring along with my '68.

 

I'm with jv9999. If the body has no rust issues and you are going to keep the car and enjoy it, it's tough to beat a solid 3rd gen. Thanks to this website and others like it, parts are affordable and people share their knowledge. I'm a member of Team Chevelle and I tell ya, those people either are clueless or they're just going to take "tricks of the trade" to the grave with them. Ask a question on that site and I often don't get a reply at all. Here on thirdgen.org you can't get people to shut up!!

The only painful thing about third gens is they have no classic value. I had a great '85 IROC with about every handling and most engine tricks in the book. If I had done those same mods to a first gen Camaro, it would have been worth 50 grand.

 

ill prolly get it when I get the chance, I will also buy a chilton or haynes manual for the year of car. I just want it as a toy and something I can work on and learn on till i get it running, once I do im gonna cruise that thing like no other lol, I want to rebuild the top end of the engine at least, fix the fuel pump, get new seats or fix them cuz they broke, new tires, and ya i cant wait lol. no rust on it either, no dents, clean body, clean interior except the seats.

 

bump, I wanna know what you guys think, I just wanna buy it as a project and spare time kinda thing, I enjoy working on cars, especially my own car, I would work on it after school and during the weekends, it would be fun, id also have another car to get around in.

 

The values are coming up i have noticed, at least in my end of NY, i used to find them around for under 1-2k, now i can't find a decent one for under 3k. I'm never getting rid of mine. i love it too much!

 

They are worth a lot more in the western states (I bought my 85 T/A for 900.oo and it wasnt even a running car, LOL) For 500.oo if its in the western states I'd buy it! The wing, hood blisters and ground effects are almost worth 500. Buy it! (If you dont, and it's in a western state, let me know where it is!)

 

Oh, btw; Dropping the fuel tank is easy. My wife and I did the whole thing in 2.5 hours with nothing more than 4 jack stands and a floor jack (Plus a socket set) She wasnt too thrilled about holding the tank up while I bolted the straps back in, but she got over it.

 

haha nice, i just cut the sheetmetal above the tank, i went slow as hell cutting that! but it made it alot easier than dropping the tank, only downside is that you have to cut the metal and the carpet for easy access.

 

Well, you didnt HAVE to cut the carpet. I have known a few people who cut the floor. Not for me, but hey, its your car. It would make it easier...

 

I can't even tell i cut mine. so depends on how you do it....

 

Any time I hear "bad head gasket" it sets off alarm bells. Now multiply that by two!
The thing is you don't know what kind of problem or damage there is. It might be just a bad gasket, or it could be a cracked head. Or two. And there could possibly be lower end bearing damage if ant- freeze got pumped through the oiling system.
Also, in some cases you may not be able to run the engine and that prevents you from checking for other problems like knocking or smoking and low performance in general. In that case your buying a pig in a poke.
Remember, by their very nature, these cars have had the snot run out of them!

Granted, $4-500 isn't a lot of money for a complete, solid body. So if you are willing to deal with a possible worse case scenario for the money invested, go for it. Then if things aren't really too bad, it's bonus!

 

You might also consider the source. The current owner might not know what he's talking about! Besides a new longblock dosent have to cost a lot.

 

omg you guys are too busy talking about changing a damn fuel pump than to let this guy know that For 400 or 500 bucks I would buy it in a HEART BEAT !! If not .. let me know where this alley is so i can pick it up.!!

And a 5spd too boot what more do you want??. No way it would be the original 350 motor if it was a 5spd, and if he did put in a 350 from a corvette with the original 5spd tranny than I dont blame the clutch that its about to give out.

Back to the so called P.I.T.A. dropping the tank .. first pull the carpet back and see if anyone had already done a 1/2 *** fuel pump swap. by that I mean they cut the top with an access door to get to the pump. When I found out that the shop had did that on my camaro I was FURIOUS !! So when the pump gave out on my 91Z convert i dropped the tank myself .. yeah it was a pain but I would NEVER cut the top. just get a friend to help put it back in .. kinda tricky.

 

When you hear "Corvette", alarm bells should go off.

LT1 - possible. Not likely.

Most likely it's a 305 TPI.

 

how could I tell if it was really from a corvette or if its just the stock 305 tpi? and how hard of a job is replacing the clutch? I want the car cuz its cheap, ive always wanted one since I seen one when i was 7, its a 5spd, i dont like automatics, v8, fast, so ya.

 

Well, usually people refer to the T.P.I.'s as corvette motors cause YES corvette did put TPI's in there and so did they put LT1's and LS1's and so on.

But out of the factory never did they make the camaro motor faster than the corvette.

back to your question.. yes it cheap, i would buy it Believe me you wont be able to find one at that price who cares if the motor needs work. The first thing I would do would be pull the motor and redo it.

Cant really tell by looking at it but there is a casting number on the block decoding it should let you know if it belongs to the car. The runners on a Corvertte tpi are Smooth, the runners on a camaro TPI are rough.. thats one way of checking if its a corvette motor but it is not a FOR sure thing to go by that. good luck ! hey post some pics of it .. would like to see it as is.

 

If I remember correctly. the corvettes fuel lines are on the passenger side of the block under the throttle body. Also the corvette had aluminum heads. To check the block, you need access (Very difficult) to the back of the block just below the head on the drivers side it will say "5.7" or "5.0". This is VERY difficult to see! For the money, I would buy it even if it had NO motor or transmission!
Also, in my opinion the corvette motor is very overrated.
Robss1113 is right; If I had a dollar for every time I have heard the TPI motors referred to as a "Corvette motor" I could buy a new corvette! I suppose that means I have corvette spark plugs and corvette oil in my motor.....
BUY IT!! You will regret the one that "Got away" if you dont.
My .02 C.

 

i completely agree! i remeber i argued with some guy over this stuff, he 100% believed that the vette and f-body engines were exactly the same motor, same internals and everything, just they gave it worse gears and heavier weight to make it slower. and a stock for stock an f-body would beat a vette.... idk what this guy was thinking but he would not beleive me.... he was a ****ing moron.....

 

EXACTLY!! GM has always tried to keep the camaro/firebird from being as fast as the vette (Dont blame them!) There are some minor differences in the 700R4 in the vette (servos, sprag, valve body, etc) and the vette is lighter with lighter aluminum heads, but they have essentially the same running gear. Wanna be faster than a Vette? No problem; get some long tube headers, beef up the tranny, put 3.55 rear gears and an eaton posi in the rear end, and let er rip!

 

Now that we have completed "Camaro Corvette 101" .. Lets see some pics of this 1991 500 dollar 5spd Z28 With the Corvette motor

 

ill try to get some tomorrow

 

I you don't want it give me the address and i will get it if it's close to me

 

hey now I jumped on that quick .. I called shotgun right away, but If he is smart he will grab it. I doubt it is anywhere near me .. Im at the most southern tip of texas .. near mexico .. suxs

 

I think I was actually the first one to say "Let me know where it is..." Geographically speaking, I wont usually go more than 500 miles to pick one up though. Where is this car? (What state anyways)

 

For $440 I would get it. If even for parts. Get the second one & swap the trans. If you dont want it where is it? Ill buy it.

 

The clutch is the easy part. If the motor has bad head gaskets, trust me, Rebuild it. It got hot, bearings are bad, ect. Do not replace the clutch without pulling the whole motor, & rebuilding it. That will make the clutch change a 10 minute job, since you can pull them at the same time.

 

now hold on fellas, im gettin the car, if things happen and i cant ill give you all the address and the town, its in new mexico though.

 

never mind then i am out of that extremendous deal

 

you said pics were coming today . ..whats up

and DARN new mexico !!

Im 15 mins from the Original Mexico ... suxs

 

I am close to NM... Albuquerque area? LOL, If you dont get it, please give me the info. I just fell into a whole bunch of money today...

If you do get it, then congratulations! It really is a good deal.

 

no camera, just my phone, idk how to get them online, the guy doesnt have a title for the car though : ( should i still get it?

 

It depends, did he have a title and then lose it? Does he have registration? If all that happened is that he lost it, then you will be ok. Just tell the owner that you will buy the car, but he has to come with you to the DMV to file for a lost title. As long as he was on the title, he will be able to get a replacement for a small fee. You will then be able to get him to sign it right there in front of their notary and then transfer the title to your name. You will need to bring the V.I.N. number and ANY paperwork that will support his ownership of the vehicle. (Insurance card, registration, license plates, etc) As long as he was on the title, it should go smoothly.
Let us know how it goes!

 

drknow90rs_ss@y knows what he's talking about. What he left out was the absolute nightmare that could result if his name is not on the title. It's a really drawn out process doing a title search to an unknown source. The biggest bummer would be finding out the vehicle was stolen and your out your investment. Worse yet, having to prove your own innocence is no fun either.

 

OH Lord ! I've had problems at the DMV and thats because I've had the titles in my hand, I cant imagine how it would be without one. I guess if you were gonna part it out it would still be worth it considering all the parts were in good shape.

but find out if he is the owner first... if so then do what was said above ! buy im acouple of mc doubles from mcdonalds for his troubles.. lol

 

nope i just found out all he has is the bill of sell, some guy GAVE it to him as a gift, the car later quit running about a week or two later. i guess i dont get it? how hard or how much does it cost to swap out a automatic tranny for a standard?

 

Thank you, Bill!!! I wouldnt give up, just yet! It sounds like you may end up needing a bonded title. I had to do this with my 90 RS and it was a pain. You will need to take the bill of sale and the current owner to the DMV and do a title search to ensure it's not stolen. It really isnt too bad. If the last owner, (The one who "Gifted" the car to the current owner) Can be located then all you need is to have him sign a "Title release" and the title is yours. If he cannot be located, then you will have to go through the process of getting a bonded title. If you dont want to deal with this, then let me know (PM me) and I will come get it! LOL, Please! I will deal with it! It is easier to get a 305 car with a 5 speed and then swap in a 350 in my opinion! Let me know.

 

update: havent been able to get ahold of him so i could get him to go wit me down to the dmv. ill keep everyone updated, if i dont get it after a month or a month and half ill send you guys some details.

 

Send me some details if you dont get it. I dont know where You are in NM, but I am going through NM on I-40 around march 6th, so anywhere along there would be good. If you let me know by then I could bring my car hauler with me. (assuming you dont get it.) If it is really being sold for around 500.oo, trust me, it wont last that long....

 

its already been for sale for like a year lol, everyone in my town is lazy and doesnt do any of their own car work, besides he has it parked in his backyard which is hard to get to well not really but still lol. and no for sale sign, his dad works for my mom so thats how i know he wants to sale it.

 

i wouldnt be expecting this engine to run without a complete rebuild. if it has a blown head gasket, the cyliders are probably full of water and rusted already.

 

why would water be in the cylinders? it doesnt rain much and the hood is still on the car...?

 

if the head gasket is blown the water has to go some where either into the oil or into the cylinders

 

pull a couple of the plugs out and see if they are wet. also, check the oil on the dipstick and see if it looks milky looking. you may have to pull all of the plugs before you find the cylinder where the gasket is blown.