Hey everyone, thanks for reading this post. Skip down to ** if you dont feel liek reading my sob story

The subject of this thread pretty much explains it all. I inhereted a 1980 Chevy Camaro sport coupe and I need some (online) help with restoring it. This thing is all jacked up tho, passanger side window is shot out by a bb gun, water damage to seats carpet, Rear deck is rotted through. The engine is locked up and someone took advantage of the broken window and stole the carb and battery.

What I want to do is fix it up for everyday use. I can do all of the cosmetic stuff myself I just need a part list.

** It currently has a 305 V8 that I think runs @ 155hp. I want to know if i can put a 350 V8 in there without much shoehorning. Any suggestions on a specific engine and transmission combination ?? oh and a carb too. I dont have much money right now maybe $700 to play with so I would love it if someone could tell me what I expect to pay for the parts. I will post some pictures if I can.

 

you should be able to put a 350 in it im resotrin a 78 z28 and im puttin a 350 in itt

 

i messed up i ment 79

 

Chris, any samll block will just fit right in but the car being 26 years old you may want to keep the 305 and mod that a little. That way you still have a matching number car (worth more in the long run) Also check year one and NPD for all the resto parts you may need. Good Luck and enjoy the resto. Jimmy
1981 Z28 400ci

 

You got $700, I see a few junk yards in your future. I scored a carb at the junk yard $30. it runs good no need to rebuild it.also any small block, car or truck up to 85-86 pre EFI will fit on a budget like yours, I scored a few motors from $50 to $105. Tranny probably a TH350 if it's an automatic, keep it if you can it has a lower 1st gear than the TH400, but the 400's a bit stronger. Manual should be a Borg Warner T10, good box mine lasted 26 hard years it's still going. Junk yard trannies run about $150. Windows $20-$50 or the whole door for around $150. Iterior is a different story, that stuffs kinda hard to come by around my area. Eveything I find is totaly wasted. These are St. Louis/southern Illinois junk yard prices and they differ from yard to yard. This is the cheapest and fastest way to get you mechanicly sound and running.

 

instead of junk yards for interior parts, check ebay. I sold a complete sencond gen interior set for about 200

GOod luck. Keep us posted

 

any v-8 chevy will fit in that car.i got a 454 in my 78 and there werent a whole lot of mods. to do ,other than the suspension.i'm restoring my 78 right now and i'm almost done. seats,tires and exhaust and i will be done.body panels go to a wrecking yard,interior parts dont waste your time looking in the wrecking yards,9 out of 10 ,there worse than the one's you have.i bought most of my parts from www.nationalpartsdepot.com , www.paddockparts.com , www.ecklerscamaro.com .these guys will send you catalogs at no cost and they get you your parts in 4-5 days.good luck

 

Thanks for the sites bowtieguy
OK guys Update on my Car

After looking over the engine, I discovered that it's not locked up like my cousin said, It just needs new headers so off to the junk yard I go. I'm still going to pull the whole engine out to make sure there are no other suprises when i finaly crank it over for the first time in a few years. And yes i know the gas is probably bad so i'm going to drain the gastank and check the lines and scope the inside of the tank to check for rust (you cant be too careful)

For the interior I am only going to buy the door paneling and handles since the interior was originaly carmine and i want it black. For the seats, I'm going to get my Uncle who runs an upholstry shop to use the existing seat covers as a template and make me some new ones out of black leather with two thick white stripes down the middle from top to bottom. Interior paneling I'm thinking I may have to buy new rear inner side lower panels because the ones I have are falling apart from sun damage to the plastic (crumbling and stuff) I might be able to find better ones at a junk yard and repaint them after a good sanding.

AS for the paint well this is what it's going to look like after I paint it myself
http://www.classicchevy5speed.com/im...971_Camaro.jpg
NEED ADVICE!! Should I just paint the rear end like in the picture or should i do the rear and front or rear top and front?
I personally want to do rear, top and front but i dont know if it will look too cluttered.
Jeez I wish I knew how to chop those taillights off a junker and put them on my car.
that picture is of John Reynold's 1971 Camaro....

 

my 78 is silver with black ss stripes just like that .the ss stripes were on the hood and trunk,not on the roof.i think ford had there shelby stripes on the hood,roof and trunk (jmo).if your going to paint the interior yourself make sure you primer the piece's before you paint them and use a good plastic prep before you primer them.if you dont the paint will bubble up(float up) off the plastic,been there done that,just trying to save you the headache.just got mine back together,i will go out and take a picture and try to put it on here.

 

Thanks again for the tips!
I was going to ask some carb questions but I figured it out myself.
I plan on getting an edelbrock 600 cfm 1400 carb and a edlebrock preformer 3701 Intake manifold.
I'll try ebay while I'm waiting on the headers for the intake and carb. If i get lucky I can shine them up real nice
and such.