I am in the processing of selling my 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP and buying my brothers 1979 Chevy Camaro Z28 that is semi-restored. I planning on doing most of the work myself and keeping this car as my project car that I only drive on sunny days. It needs some minor mechanical work, but definitely needs body work & paint, as well as the interior redone. He is selling it to me for $4k. He bought it in 2000, installed new GM 350 crate motor, tranny, the works in 2003 and the car has been sitting ever since because he got married and has no time to work on his toy cars anymore.

Here are some pics. What do you guys think? Is this doable?

















The first thing I want to do before body work is redoing the interior. The dashboard is cracked in several places and the gauges are shot. Where can I find replacement dashboards for the '79? I'm thinking about stripping the interior, sound proofing it an putting all new pieces back in little by little.

I know for a fact the car has cooling issues. He replaced the radiator with a 4 row and couldn't find a compatible shroud for the Flex Fan so the car overheats all the time. He ended up installing 2600CFM cooling fans that he has rigged with a switch on in the side and keeps them on the entire time the car is running, which mitigates the issue, but on an extremely hot day the car, it will overheat. He told me he was planning to remove the Flex Fan all together and get the biggest Dual Fans he could find, I think 4600CFM or 5200CFM was the number he gave me. Could anyone recommened anything about this issue?

There really isn't much else the car needs mechanically besides the overheating issue, the rear needs to be fixed and the stall converter was swapped at the request of a friend of his and ever since then the tranny leaks fluid like crazy. He has never gotten around to fixing the issues but he said they are relatively cheap and easy fixes. Other than that the 350 crate motor is practically brand new with less than 500 miles on the motor.

 

I would say get rid of everything blue under the hood, but that is just me.

But, the car looks like a great cantidated for a restore. You already have all the hard work done for you. As for the cooling thing, alot of people use dual fans out of a Ford Taurus, it fits the radiator perfectly. Look into that.

 

I remember covering EVERYTHING in yellow wire loom. ONCE. The stock shroud should work with the fan. I don't think you should have much a problem with the alluiminun radiator. Just space the fan closer to the radiator itself, within a half inch or so. Its just a crate motor. How hot could it get. Does it have a thermostat in it. I have tried to take them out and found you need something to slow the water down enough for the radiator to do its job. Oh yeah welcome!

 

welcome, and congrats on being a camaro owner (or soon to be?) nice project looks real good. i would take that carb breather and throw it in the garbage lol, unless you want the insides to fall apart and fall in your carb? after awhile the stuff inside it starts to disintegrate. but thats a sweet looking motor, good luck.


Joe

 

I will eventually change a lot of the eye candy stuff to my personal taste. I will look into the Ford Taurus dual fans. Any particular year?

Thanks. I will look into the issue and hopefully have a fix for it as soon I take ownership.

Those are actually the newest pictures I have off the car, which are from 2003. I saw it the other day and I know for a fact that that Edelbrock carb and breather are not on there anymore. There is a Holley Street Avenger on there right now, with the typical round breather. Once I take ownership and fix the tranny leak I will take some updated pics and enjoy it for a couple of days before I start ripping it apart and restoring it.

I will attempt to keep this thread updated.

 

http://ultm8z.com/Ford%20Taurus%20fa...write%20up.pdf

Looks like the fourth gen fans are also somewhat popular. I may go that route.

http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133934

 

Looks very interesting. I will have to follow suit.

 

Welcome to Camaro forums!
Get the shroud back on the car. It needs to be there to allow the fan to properly pull air. Shouldn't need a electric fan if the shround is there, but if you don't want a shroud then get it closer and get a bigger radiator if needed. They make a 26" and a 31", but the 31 requires the core support to be opened up on the factory indent already there. I'm running a 31" that's also oversized a couple inches in height and thickness. Required me to build a new mounting system on my core support, but it helped a lot.
I'd also recommend a smaller water pump pulley, or a hi flow water pump. It wont help to keep the water in the radiator longer if the radiator/fan isn't doing their job. If you've got more issues with heating at idle vs. cruising, then it's a pump speed issue which needs to be addressed with speeding up your pump, or going to a hi flow pump.
I run a Weiand hi flow pump, and a smaller pulley to do both. No electric fans, a similar flex fan (close to the radiator) and no fan shroud. Mine runs all day at 165* and idles at continuously at no more than 190*.
Too much blue wiring cover! It distracts from everything in the engine room and draws attention to the wiring instead of hiding it. Go with black, as it blends in and cleans it up.
$4,000 is a premium price for a 79 Z28 that needs paint and interior. With the issues of overheating and the tranny leak I wouln't feel comfortable at that price myself.

 

I will look into the cooling issues and consider the hi-flow water pump swap.

I know the blue is way too much, but once I get it A LOT of things willl be changing.

$4k too much? What exactly would you consider a fair price for it?

 

I'm sure prices vary all over the USA, but around here a late 2nd gen with new engine and trans and a straight body needing paint wont get more than around $3,000-$3,200. At that price it wouldn't have the other issue of overheating or trans leaking.
I've seen a number of them under $1,000 that need engine work and paint, but were pretty straight.
As I said, maybe they go higher where you're located, just not around here.
Here's one that's not a Z28, but has lots of new engine, trans and other parts, for $2500.
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/1720619175.html

A 1976 Formula Firebird with a built 383 stroker for $2500.
http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/cto/1724891414.html