Hi guys,joined a while back when I acquired an 87' Iroc. My son fell in love with it so I gave it to him for his 18th B-Day. He is in the Marines and just got back from Afghanistan. His car was suppose to be finished when he got back with a new paint job and new motor installed. We bought a GM crate motor 5.7L/290hp/325lbs torque. It has a 5spd and t-tops in it. We bought new electric fans & Edlebrock carb & manifold/headers also.
Back to the story. The guy we brought it to is a long time friend of mine I use to use to fix cars for me when I ran a small used car lot. He also did a motor for my personal Cadillac. Trusted guy. So 8 months later the guy hadn't touched a bolt on the car. Motor was still crated up and everything. So I went and picked everything up and the car and brought it to another bud who will have it done in 3 weeks. So when my other bud that is now doing my sons car towed my sons car and I brought the motor to his shop with my truck he had a 1981 Camaro sitting there. I didn't even say anything and he says " hey I know you like Camaros & Firebirds ( I had a 78' Camaro/77' Trans Am/84' Trans Am) so if you want you give me what I paid for the car & you can have it.....$1500. Body work is 90% done.it's been sitting in a garage doing nothing since 1989. It fires right up and drives down the road fine. Floor boards & trunk pan are very nice & solid. Under the car is rust proofed. It was an AC car with a straight 6 in it. California car as it has electric windows in it and the seats are maroon & black and everything else is black inside. Dash pad has a couple small cracks in it and the seats are not in good shape. Car is a very solid project for sure. It's been converted to a 350 and the AC equip pulled out. I just didn't have the extra loot as I promised to pay the labor on the car and my son pays for the paint and parts. Anyway so we gave up the $5k to get my son's car done. When my son sent his $3k for his paint job he sent an extra $1500 and bought me the 1981! I pay the guy and he shows me a bunch of other parts he pulled from a Z28 that had been sitting in the weeds in another bud of his yard. So I have a pile of extra Z28 parts to! My car already has the rear spoiler and a Z28 hood on it. It has Iroc rims and traction bars & a B&M shift kit in it. It's in primer. The motor bay needs cleaned up with all the extra hoses from the AC and just cleaned up. Ordering a carb and manifold & headers for it as we speak. It has a stock manifold & Quadrajet on it & stock exhaust manifolds. Interior needs some love to the headliner & carpet & seats but what do you expect for $1500?

 

The doors are apart to replace the window motors which he pulled out of that Z28 No putty,you can see my son's Iroc in the background of the 1st pic. It's going to be a dark cherry metallic when it's done.

 

Heck yeah man, nice grab!! Wow look at that dash. Heck it looks better than mine did and it was garaged. Looks like there might be a little family fun down the road.

 

Thanks man & yep,just went over to check on my son's Iroc,old motor is out. Going to drive mine home tomorrow and pick up all the extra parts he has for it. He even pulled out the whole steering column from the Z28 parts car

 

This brings back high school memories for me. My best friend had an '81 Z28, white with graphics and T-tops. Good times!

 

lol,I had a white 1978 Camaro in high school but sold it when I went in the Army in 1990.

 

nice score! i'd hold on to that non electric quadrajet they're pretty rare these days, i'd love a second gen with an inline 6 to drive every day. i already have a v-8 so the temptation to swap might be lower.
Dave

 

Those old inline 6's are unusual, but not better on gas mileage than a small V8. Most will get equal or worse mileage.
The '81 looks like a great car, especially for the price, and even nicer that your son purchased it for you!

 

Thanks guys,it already had a 350 swap. It was a 6 cylinder car. My old 78' was also a 6 cylinder car that a bud & I did a swap in for an RHS 350. And some more news,I thought I would go ahead and order a new Carb & manifold for it. Got them in today! Ordered yesterday afternoon and they arrived today! Unfortunately I didn't run the block/head numbers on my car and didn't think about it before ordering. I have center bolt heads #1011081 65CC 91'-95' Camaro/Truck heads. I ordered the wrong manifold So I am returning the Edelbrock 2101 for the 2104. Lesson leaned The one good thing I did notice is all the gaskets look fresh & new so it looks like it was freshly rebuilt & it runs pretty damn good.

 

knew it was av-8 i saw the pics , just saying i wouldn't mind one with an inline 6. yeah the bolt angle is different for the center bolt heads, what carb did you get? either way hold onto that old q-jet or you could ship it to nj.
you should start a build thread.
Dave