First, I'm new, first post, so I'd like to say hi to everyone. My boyfriend and I recently lucked into a 1976 with a newer engine that needs loooooots of interior and paint work. Its always been a dream of mine to restore a Camaro but as I've never done it, I have a few questions.

Does anyone know where I might be able to purchase a split bumper or split bumper kit? I think it helps dull the severity of the W shaped front end, which was the change I liked least from the 1st gen. We've looked around online and can't find anything.

Does anyone know how (or where I can find how) to repair the shift indicator? I've removed the instrument cluster and entire dash to fix some of the loose and dry-rotted bit and there is a orange needle in the indicator, it just seems to not be attached. Do I need to further open the panel and connect it to something?

What are your thoughts on rockers, headers, and carburetors? It has a basic stock 350 with less than 20,000 miles. We want to get a little more power while not losing too much in the way of gas mileage or spending too much money.

Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks!!
Nikki

 

Welcome to the board.

You may want to check npdlink.com, paddocksparts.com, yearone.com, ecklerscamaro.com, ebay.com, etc., etc. Do a search on here and you'll come up with a list of sites.

I can't remember what the shift indicator in the dash bezel connects to but you can probably get a 76 service manual off ebay fairly cheap and it has a ton of information.

Full roller rockers are great and free up horsepower and upping the ratio gives a little better breathing while not adding to the cam's initial lift and duration. It's a good way to get lift out of the cam without heavily affecting duration. Going to a larger carburetor will eat fuel unless you're going from a 2 barrel carb to a 4 barrel. A 4 barrel can be tuned to run less on it's primary circuit and add more in its secondary circuit as fuel is needed. A 2 barrel carb is running 100% on both barrels so it has a narrower range for just two barrels. I prefer Holley's over Edelbrock due to the tunabilty of the Holley. You can tune a Edelbrock but I feel like you have more precise control over a Holley. Headers are good but make sure you get what is best for your application and your desires. Shorties are good for low end torque while full length headers are for the higher end HP building.

 

I looked in my Haynes manual and it doesn't say anything about the shift indicator unless its in a random spot somewhere.

I went ahead and started taking apart the instrument cluster and found out that the orange piece is actually broken off of the plastic part connected to the spring. This also led to another question. There is a piece behind the cluster that is very thin plastic with little green lines going all around the gauges. In some spots, the plastic is split, revealing that it is actually 2 pieces of plastic with small green lines of some kind in between. Some places have copper or gold bits rather than green. Is this something that I will need to replace? What's its function?

Thanks!

 

That is the printed circuitboard for the lighting assembly and gauges. It routes power and data to specific circuits.

I'm not talking about a Haynes/Chilton book btw. I'm talking about an actual service manual.

Camaro Manual 1

Manual 2

manual 3

 

Thank you so much!! I was worried that it might be something important involving the lights. I'm going to have to replace it. Do you know if there's a difference in those manuals? If so, would you recommend one over the other?

 

to tell you the truth I do not know the difference. I've only used single pages at a time from a friend who has a book that's older than me, ha ha. I would probably go with the first one if it was me though. Looks a little like the one I've used.

Maybe someone else on the forum here can give their opinion if they've used one of these.

 

OK, First the bad news, The split bumper was an early 2nd gen it only looks right on the 70-73's the 74's-77's have a two pc grill and a huge bumper. If you some how bolted a split bumper on it there would be a huge gap and no grill. The only way to do it would be to put a complete front end off an older Camaro. A common practice is to "tuck" the bumpers but that is all custom metal work.

This is the 73



Now the 76



The good news is most of the time this is a simple repair. The orange needle is suppost to have a spring loaded string on it. When you shift gears there is a collar on the steering colum rotates. There is a clip on the end of the string that clips to the colar so the string pulls the indicator to the right place. You will most likley need to replace the indicator assembly because I am sure the clip/string rotted off.

 

Gorn> I've seen a couple of front end swaps from the second series second gens to the first series second gen noses. The only major difference is the radiator support is bolstered with two rods through it in the 74 - 77 and a couple of connection points on the fenders. Other than that it's the same fenders and only the nose is different.

Also, are you talking about a column based shifter or a tunnel based shifter? I don't think there were any column based automatics from 74 and up. I could be wrong on that.

 

Even the console shift had the collar, If you broke your shifter cable you could grab the colar (which was hooked to a rod) and still shift the car without getting out of the car. I drove a 72 for 3 weeks with the shift cable broken. This was a GM thing. I think the colum was the base design and the consoles where the add on cause this carried up thru the Monte Carlos till the early 80's.

She was asking for a split bumper or kit, I just explained to her she needed the whole front end. I did not mean to say the swap was difficult in any way. Its simple but a good front clip off a 70 can cost more then many 76's are bringing right now.

 

Thanks so much everyone for all the advice. Since the printed circuit board was already in shambles, I removed it enough to get the shifter out completely. I'm not sure which type it is, it sits in the operational cluster just above the steering column so I'm assuming that's where it would connect. The orange tab has broken off of the plastic piece connected to the spring and there is nothing cable or string-like still in the car that it might connect to. Hopefully I can just buy a whole new indicator and cable/string and replace the whole thing.
As far as the bumper goes, I think we are going to just leave it, unfortunately. We're not at a point to drop a lot of money into it and as much as the W front end bugs me, its growing on me, especially considering the cost of switching out the front end altogether.