I came across a 1983 Camaro wich was involved in a flood, body and interior is very nice just need cleaning but the owner stated that during the time that the car was stored and then the car was flooded but not completely due to bad weather the 305 engine to the best of his knoledge ceased. The car has only approx 52k, what should i do to try to see if the car can be started? and should i stay away from that. Please need some advice concerning this issue asap.

 

if it had lots of water in it, the engine will need to be pulled and rebuilt. chances are its FULL of rust in the cylinders. not worth it to try and get it started in its current condition.

 

Flood victim cars are to be avoided. It's not the ceased-up engine that's the big problem- that's fairly easily replaced. It's all the electrical stuff that will drive you bonkers forever after.

 

true, unless youre looking for a drag car, or plan on replacing ALL of the wiring, id steer clear. and cahnces are itll have a salvage title which can be a pain to get street legal depending on local laws.

 

Pull the spark plugs, spray lots of WD-40 or any other penatrating oil in the cylinders. Leave it sit for a day. Give it an oil and filter change. If the oil is really gunked up upon draining it, before you put new oil in it the old timers would say to turn the engine over in 5 second intervals a few times with a gallon of kerosene in the crankcase with the spark plugs out (with the ignition coil disabled of coarse). Then drain the gunk/kerosene and do the oil change. You may need to drain the fuel pump and the fuel tank depending on how high the water was in/around the car.
Also if the car is an automatic the transmission will also need to be drained and receive a new filter. Or if it's manual, give that an oil change also. If you have spark and fuel delivery give it a new fuel, cap/rotor and spark plugs and try to start it. Really, the main thing is, if you can buy it cheap enough, just keep your expections very, very low and just have fun learning about trying to resurrect an old vehicle. Who knows, you may be pleasantly suprised.