Hello thirdgen!

My name is AJ, I'm 19 years old and I recently purchased an '86 IROC as my second car i've ever owned. Most kids my age these days would prefer some shitty civic or some other jap import because it low maintanence and good on gas, but I decided to man up and get a car i can take some pride in and have the satisfaction of wrenching on my own car. I feel like that has become a lost art among my generation because no one wants to take the time to fix there own problems anymore (just my opinion. too busy texting all day and watching ****** shows like jersey shore and that bs)
I wish at 16 my dad bought me some old beater as a project car like stories I always here about in the past but i missed out on that and i cant say i would have been very motivated to do that at that age either. well i guess better late than never because I'm ready to get down and dirty.

Here's what I know about my car...

It's a 1986 IROC-Z 305 carb'd v8 LG4 engine code

I purchased the car from a man who has been a mechanic his whole life and it was his son's project car for 6 years. They rebuilt the engine with a lot of new parts (seals, tubes, gaskets, ets.)

There was body work done to remove rust and trouble areas and had a new paint job done in 2008. The car looks brand new from the outside which i am very pleased about. I receive compliments everywhere i go. The interior was also changed to red from a different camaro which also looks very good.

They had a new customized dynamax performance exhaust system installed with shorty headers. I had a rough time passing inspection because of the complete lack of catalytic convertors

One very good thing about my car is that there is no rust anywhere on the body and very little underneath or anywhere else. (impossible to find used cars in this condition in upstate NY)
They also did new brakes and a number of other things


The car has been sitting in storage for the past few years so it needed a little tlc to get her going smooth.

work done by my personal mechanic thus far:

-new wiper switch installed (had to rip apart the steering column - pain in the ***)
-horn fixed
-new alternator installed
-new waterpump installed
-fan re-wired
-oil change and new oil filter
-headers and exhaust tightened up
-carb worked on a little
-A/C parts removed


work done by myself:
-radiator flushed and fluid changed
-ttops adjusted and weatherstripping re-sealed
-new seatbelts installed
-wash and wax with meguiars (if that counts)


I've noticed the wiring is kinda screwy in my car. it looks real messy underneath and there are wires cut here and there. Last week my radio stopped working and my choke light has been blinking non-stop. Yesterday I attempted to get into that and mess around with the fuse box a little but in the process i somehow disconnected the power to my instrument cluster (hopefully getting that fixed today). I could get some pics up of the engine bay and the wiring under the dash if someone was willing to take a look and maybe tell me where some problem areas could be or what i should look into a little more.


Basically I want to learn how to fix up my car and understand how everything works. I also want to learn how to look for problems and figure things out. I have a very limited knowledge about cars at the moment so I could really use some good advice on where to start. or maybe even how you first got into cars. I have the chevy camaro 1985 shop manual which helps a little but everything in there is like a foreign language to me.

I would really appreciate any sort of help or guidance because this is my first start with cars.

 

Since we don't live next door - about the best we can adviose at this point is:

1) learn to use the function here at TGO - it really works well

2) ask questions if can't find answers through - we'll explain as best as we can

3) buy a haynes manual - might be simpler wording than an actual GM shop manual, and really explains alot with pics

4) don't get your panties in a bunch - it's all pretty straight forward - just takes reading, patience, and basic tools to do 90% of anything - there's no "magic" anywhere, it's all just nuts and bolts - put them back where you removed them, and 99% of the job is done.

5) be willing to not drive it for a day or two on occasion when problems arise - that's the patience part - everyone wants instant satisfaction these days, and it doesn't always happen - cars are like women, they need attention ... slow, gentle, loving attention - get in a hurry and you'll be sleeping on the couch!

 

yeah my problem is i look at everything as opposed to focusing on specifics. like if there is a problem with something i feel like theres a much bigger issue involved and it intimidates me a little bit

 

If your wiring looks like a hack job and/or stuff isn't working, I would strongly recommend purchasing a GM factory wiring manual for your car, along with a digital multimeter. The manual makes it stupid-easy to track down wiring problems, mine's saved me probably a couple weeks worth of troubleshooting and trying to figure systems out.

 

you have a 25 year old car with lord only knows what kind of history. Manuals will show you how they should be from the factory. You have no way of knowing what has been "modified".

A manual is a good start but if you are going to get into wiring, and have no experience doing it before, allow yourself to be without the car for a while

 

Hello there. I wish you well in your endeavors If you do not have tools, harbor freight may or may not be a good place to start. TYJ AMEN

 

thanks. i really feel like im in over my head. everything feels like its going wrong at this point