Hope this post helps some of you guys that are having issues with your car to find a solution. My solution has been Sherman's Solution (scorched Earth. If it is broke, fix it, fix it now, not later), I bought the car with the intention of keeping her factory stock, and using a trusted mechanic to keep her on the road.

I have owned this 87 since November of 2008. Purchased for 4000.00 and I have spent some time and money having the car brought up to date.

List of items:

new plugs, new plug wires
new dist, rotor
new belts, new hoses (all, yeah all of them)
transmission flushed, new filter
new fuel fileter
oil, oil filter
brakes flushed
left front wheel bearing replaced
right front repacked
I told the mechanic to replace EVERY fluid, filter, hose and belt. I did not want to sit on the side of the road waiting for a 300.00 tow, for a 15.00 belt.
mice ate some wires (ate them, just ate 'em, two sensor's pigtails ..gone!)
replaced those wires
All that was around 1500.00, but I know I missed a few things in my list (I did not add the price of rat poison to the list, though.

Car was losing top end power. Would run and drive fine, but just had no power above 3500 rpm. Smoke the tires, but fall off quick.

That was a weak (22 yr old) fuel pump. Had the tank dropped ... and the new pump dramatically improved the car's performance. 450.00 I could have spent a week trying to figure it out, it took the mechanic less than an hour to call me with the diagnosis, and had the car back that day.

The car started running warm over the weekend, not over heating, but intermittent higher temps. While changing the oil, the mechanice was able to find that the water pump outer bearings are toast, replacing the pump, thermostat, replacing coolant... about 350.00.

While diagnosing the bad bearings the mechanic found the bearing in the smog pump were going out as well (explains the intermittent squeaking that had been irritating me...) another 350.00. I had explained to him that the engine was making some bearing noises, he found the problem within 15 minutes.

I seriously enjoy the car, and I smile every time I get asked questions at the gas station, in a parking lot, and smiling nods from strangers.

[img]www.tvcc.edu/faculty/ballen/front.jpg[/img]

these 20+ year old cars are a blast to ride. Expect to spend more than the price of the purchase to maintain them.

Hopefully, mine will shake out all the gremlins soon. She never fails to start, never fails to get me down the road, but ... price per mile is something to keep in mind when you guys get in to the third gen game.

The car smoked my 740il the other day after the fuel pump had been replaced. Looking at the specs, the 300hp BMW should have stayed door handle to door handle, so all the time, effort and love have been paying off in improved performance.

Instead of beating my head against a shade tree, the extra money required to use a great mechanic has been worth every penny. These 20 year old camaros are a mechanic's dream. They are not hard to diagnose, and the price for the time and experience are worth it to me.

Heck, the mechanic is in love with the car as much as I am. It is his own 'economic stimulus plan' ...

TRG