poor thing... was garaged for a decade.
Bobby Goff
April 28, 2013
Description:
this car has only been sitting in the garage for a decade but the poor thing was used as a shelf, a stool, a lean-on, a cabinet... you know the story. it was my 86 Z28 from high school and since after having just recently almost died in October I have been slowly getting my strength back to me and one day i just decided to get out there and start cleaning it off, at first it was just a mission to get to where i could see all of it, then i wanted to be able to open the garage door in front of it (which had previously broken down and was held up by C clamps), which i did, then i wondered if just maybe i could get the old girl to turn over with just a little bit of effort (and a a very small budget).
I proceeded to set about getting a battery since the one that was in there certainly would not hold a charge, so i went down to the city and to Jacks Salvage where the sold me a working battery for 25 bucks (i couldnt afford the80-110 for a battery for a car that "might" start), came home, got that in and powered the car up for the first time in a decade. I was relieved to find that the fuel gauge read dead-empty because i ran all the fuel out of it before i put it up, so no varnish in the tank. I replaced the fuel filter and the oil and put some high octane gas in, at first it didnt want to start which was no surprise since the fuel filter was just replaced and the pump had been sitting dry for a decade, but it had been pushde a little out of the garage into the driveway to replace the fuel filter and it was time to push it back in.
I had some help come out to help push since i was still no where near 100% of my strength, when they came out i just wanted to show them that at least the car was trying to turn over. Voila the ol girl did it! she started up right there in front of everyone and stayed running long enough to pull itself back into the garage on its own power for more than a decade. Later i tried pulling it out and back in just to get her some fresh air, my only problem arose when i thought i would actually take her for a short ride up the drive and back, thats when i found out that my transmission fluid and coolant had mingled in the radiator causing my transmission to slip like nothing i had ever felt, by a stroke of luck i got a running start up to the driveway (the driveway is a big hill) and got her back into the garage which is where she waits for me to put the original tranny back in (i had actually taken out the original to beef it up back before it was garage bound, so luckily i have a spare)
well thats my story, i hope you at least found it a tad amusing, to me this car has been the embodiment of my recovery after my chest cough turned into bronchitis which unknowingly became pneumonia, the pneumonia left me open to staph, which gave me sepsis, which shutdown my liver and shutdown my kidneys and gave me pancreatitis... all at the same time. this all built up fast and the day that my liver finally shut down happened to be me and my wifes 10 year anniversary... we were going to go to the movies but i got listless on the way there, we turned around and when we got home i passed out face first onto our concrete steps... woke up 10 days later and thirty pounds slimmer with people looking at me like they had witnessed a miracle.
i later found out that i was put on life support and the doctors had told my mother and wife that they had a "crystal ball for this sort of thing" and that people that come in like I came in dont make it. Not willing to let me go my mother and wife called the rest of my close family and they had a prayer circle for me and the very next day i was making improvement finally... after that i started doing things that they said i wouldnt be able to do like talking straight (they thought it would be likely that i would have brain damage) and walking for myself within the week and i was let out of the hospital within a month of being admitted when they were prepared for me to be there for a few months, i was off of dialysis and my organs were functioning within another two months of being released (i was told that i may be on dialysis my entire life)... and i am feeling better everyday
so i guess this is the story of my camaro and myself. my camaro is a constant focal point in my life and helps me to improve myself and my surroundings, i cleaned up a heavily cluttered garage that showed no signs of being fixable (like myself) and i fixed a car that was slated for scrap (also like me)... I will keep telling this storyit in hopes that it brings encouragement to others. .
this car has only been sitting in the garage for a decade but the poor thing was used as a shelf, a stool, a lean-on, a cabinet... you know the story. it was my 86 Z28 from high school and since after having just recently almost died in October I have been slowly getting my strength back to me and one day i just decided to get out there and start cleaning it off, at first it was just a mission to get to where i could see all of it, then i wanted to be able to open the garage door in front of it (which had previously broken down and was held up by C clamps), which i did, then i wondered if just maybe i could get the old girl to turn over with just a little bit of effort (and a a very small budget).
I proceeded to set about getting a battery since the one that was in there certainly would not hold a charge, so i went down to the city and to Jacks Salvage where the sold me a working battery for 25 bucks (i couldnt afford the80-110 for a battery for a car that "might" start), came home, got that in and powered the car up for the first time in a decade. I was relieved to find that the fuel gauge read dead-empty because i ran all the fuel out of it before i put it up, so no varnish in the tank. I replaced the fuel filter and the oil and put some high octane gas in, at first it didnt want to start which was no surprise since the fuel filter was just replaced and the pump had been sitting dry for a decade, but it had been pushde a little out of the garage into the driveway to replace the fuel filter and it was time to push it back in.
I had some help come out to help push since i was still no where near 100% of my strength, when they came out i just wanted to show them that at least the car was trying to turn over. Voila the ol girl did it! she started up right there in front of everyone and stayed running long enough to pull itself back into the garage on its own power for more than a decade. Later i tried pulling it out and back in just to get her some fresh air, my only problem arose when i thought i would actually take her for a short ride up the drive and back, thats when i found out that my transmission fluid and coolant had mingled in the radiator causing my transmission to slip like nothing i had ever felt, by a stroke of luck i got a running start up to the driveway (the driveway is a big hill) and got her back into the garage which is where she waits for me to put the original tranny back in (i had actually taken out the original to beef it up back before it was garage bound, so luckily i have a spare)
well thats my story, i hope you at least found it a tad amusing, to me this car has been the embodiment of my recovery after my chest cough turned into bronchitis which unknowingly became pneumonia, the pneumonia left me open to staph, which gave me sepsis, which shutdown my liver and shutdown my kidneys and gave me pancreatitis... all at the same time. this all built up fast and the day that my liver finally shut down happened to be me and my wifes 10 year anniversary... we were going to go to the movies but i got listless on the way there, we turned around and when we got home i passed out face first onto our concrete steps... woke up 10 days later and thirty pounds slimmer with people looking at me like they had witnessed a miracle.
i later found out that i was put on life support and the doctors had told my mother and wife that they had a "crystal ball for this sort of thing" and that people that come in like I came in dont make it. Not willing to let me go my mother and wife called the rest of my close family and they had a prayer circle for me and the very next day i was making improvement finally... after that i started doing things that they said i wouldnt be able to do like talking straight (they thought it would be likely that i would have brain damage) and walking for myself within the week and i was let out of the hospital within a month of being admitted when they were prepared for me to be there for a few months, i was off of dialysis and my organs were functioning within another two months of being released (i was told that i may be on dialysis my entire life)... and i am feeling better everyday
so i guess this is the story of my camaro and myself. my camaro is a constant focal point in my life and helps me to improve myself and my surroundings, i cleaned up a heavily cluttered garage that showed no signs of being fixable (like myself) and i fixed a car that was slated for scrap (also like me)... I will keep telling this storyit in hopes that it brings encouragement to others. .
