I invited this guy to check out this section of the board but have yet to see him post here. I'll link this thread to this one:
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=312741

I don't know what the status of his car is at the moment. If you guyz can offer any assistance, he prolly would appreciate it. stew

 

Stew!

Also, hi guys, my name is Tim...

Kind of a sad story, but here goes...After finding a used trans for $450, I took my Camaro down to Hickam and took out the bad trans. I installed a new cooler and abandoned my now broken radiator lines. Plugged em up. I had the trans out and just needed the new one.

The junkyard guy (Hawaii Mobile Auto Parts) dropped off the trans, and assured me that swapping the tail housings would allow his electronic speedometer model to be converted to my mechanical model.

Not so...the tail housings were completely different, and there are additional pressed on components on the model that he sold me.

Finally realizing this, albeit on the trans jack and ready to install, I finally gave in and called Le's transmission to have him rebuild mine, which he did for $1100. Of course, I had to rent a car and that tacked another $200 on the bill...Unfortunately, this was not that route I had originally intended. This old car needs a new engine soon, and I am probably going to sell in lieu of rebuilding.

By the way, I did (after much perserverence and energy) secure a refund of $400 from the junkyard guy.

I flushed my radiator and got back on the road.

Sad, eh?

Don't know how long I'll keep this car, but the way it's looking with gas prices, I may have to go *GASP* Honda or one of those other good fuel economy models....Sorry guys

Stew, great to hear from you and I hope your trip was fun. Talk to you later and thanks for all your help.

Tim

 

Tim, the TBI engines are NEAR indestructible...

My 350 TBI in my 93 Chevy fullsize has 254K and runs great...

IMHO, keep the car at this point... at least for about a year... then sell it...

 

Tim -- sorry to hear the trans problems, it's possible that the wrecking yard guy had a 700R4 from something other than a thirdgen, thus the problems.

Rebuilding the old one is a better idea, unless a rebuilt one is installed.

In regards to gas prices. Well, the bad news is they're only going to go up. Cars getting 15 mpg or thereabouts will become much more expensive to operate at $6 a gallon. Best way to approach this is to calculate the actual cost of operation and ownership.

Add up the cost of vehicle, insurance, interest on payments, depreciation, maintenance, mileage. Compare this to the cost per mile of another vehicle, like the old one for example. I did this a couple of times using a new car and decided to keep the old ones getting 20 mpg. 35 mpg wasn't worth it after figuring the cost per mile over a three year span.

Honestly, an old Honda will run forever, get great mileage and is cheap to buy. Hard to beat it if mileage and cheapness is the goal. Camaros are more about sports performance anyway. Heck, on a 40x60-mile Oahu transportation prison it's hard not to simply take the Bus.