About a month ago this dumbass pulled out in front of me and busted up my front bumper. Anyway I finally was able to get an estimate today and they said it'd be $2800! I'm just gonna take the money and do the work myself, so I'm gonna have a little extra cash for more goodies. I'm thinking I'll redo the ignition with an accel coil and wires along with a distributor rebuild. So first question, how long will it take to rebuild the distributor? I'm gonna try and do things in like 4 hour incriments so that I can continue to drive the car while all of this is going on. I'm also gonna replace the pass. side fender cause it's got a big dent in it. I'm looking for one that doesn't have the hole for the antenna, does anyone know where I can get one? The front bumper and shock absorber under it is gonna need to be replaced, are there aftermarket ones available or am I better off getting them off a junkyard car? Also I'm gonna install a fuel pressure and boost gauge, does anyone know of a site that will show step by step installs of these? I'm wanting to put these in cause I'm seriously working on a turbo setup, that and I want to put gauges on my pillar As far as the fuel system, I'm thinking new injectors, but could I get a set off an IROC and send them to cruzin performance to get them cleaned? Would they fit on the 2.8 fuel rail? Also could I continue to use the current fuel pump or will I need the one for the 5.7 engine too? Sorry about all the questions, but I figured I'm put 'em all in one post instead of 12. Thanks, Joe

 

The distributor will take about a half hour to rebuild. Most of your time will be pulling it out of the car, and putting it back in. If you remove the 15mm hold down bolt (and bracket), and the distributor absolutely positively will not pull up, try unclipping the cold start injector plug. The plug can rest right above the distributor shaft where it goes into the intake manifold, and lock the distributor down. The plug has a shiny metal clip in the shape of a "D" on it. Push the clip in, and pull the injector connector straight back to undo the connection. If the clip won't budge, you can remove the metal clip from the connector with needle nose pliers (don't let it fly away), and set it aside... then pull the connector straight off. (90-92 3.1's don't have this cold start injector, it's only 85-89 2.8's.)

If you don't have one already, get a Haynes manual, it tells you how to remove/insert the distributor to the motor. Also, pick up a timing light for $40. Holley 891-103 (summit #HLY-891-103) is $60, stock pickup coil is $15, new cap/rotor $20, and a 1 inch inside diameter o-ring for $0.25. (Or use Karl's solution of the small block chevy distributor gasket- but either way you need to use one to seal the distributor down so you dont get an oil leak! You'll see the original o-ring as a black rock-hard-plastic ring between two "lands" (machined flat surfaces) on the distributor body's shaft. Pry it off with a screwdriver, it'll snap. Bend it backwards, you'll see a ton of little cracks... that's where oil leaks from. A new o-ring won't be rock-hard, it'll be flexible rubber. The rest of the distributor details should be covered in old messages by myself & Karl!

Fuel pressure gauge install is self-explanatory, the gauge should come with directions. Remember you need the more expensive fuel gauge, you can't run a fuel line into your passenger compartment for risk of fire!! Buy either the Autometer "isolated" fuel pressure gauge, or hunt down an electric fuel pressure gauge. Hardest part of gauge installation is drilling a hole through the firewall. You might have a plug in the firewall that you can knock through; it'd be located below and to the driver's side of the brake booster, visible from the engine compartment. Knock it into the engine compartment, from under the dash, with a hammer and punch. If you don't have a plug in the firewall, use other wires as a guide for drilling a hole. ALWAYS drill from the passenger compartment out into the engine compartment!!

Yes fuel injectors from a V8 will fit in our fuel rail; sending some to Rich is a great idea. Not sure about the fuel pump, but, you're right, a V8 pump does flow more. V8 guys usually get a high-flow aftermarket pump, our engines might be 100% fine on a stock V8 pump- which is high-flow to us!)

Hunt through junkyards for a new bumper & fender, then you'll be getting original GM stuff. I've never seen a fender without the antenna hole. A bodyshop or hot-rod-shop (with a professional welder, like a race car shop) shouldn't charge much to weld a plug over the antenna hole. If you bring them a pre-cut piece of sheetmetal to plug the hole with, it'll be much cheaper for you. You wouldn't even need to cut the piece to exact size! Say you give them metal that's a bit bigger than the hole, and it fits "below" the antenna hole, but not into it. You could use a thin coat of Bondo over the welded piece to fill that 1/16" gap. Know what I mean? They'd weld the metal "below" the hole, so from the top, you still see the outline of the antenna hole.

I had a slight problem putting the '84 Firebird (parts car) shock absorber (black honeycomb attached to front STEEL bumper using plastic rivets) onto my '86 Firebird. Turned out I had to trim the sides of the shock absorber. I don't know if you'll run into a problem like this if you use a different year of Camaro's shock absorber, anyone else know? I know Firebird body panels better than Camaro panels.