I have inherited a project car from my uncle. It's a 1979 Rally Sport. The engine was replaced 10 years ago and since has been sitting in a garage with roughly 8k miles on it. There is a lot of tune up work that needs to be done, but nothing very serious that I haven't already done.

Most of what I want to do initially is cosmetic. I want to have the original paint job which is the two tone blue. But i'm not sure how much I want to spend on it. In the end I don't want this car to be flawless so I don't want to drive it and get a scratch, but at the same time I want it to look really nice. How much is reasonable to spend on a paint job for a car like this with the two tone paint?

Once I figure out how much I want to spend on the paint, the interior needs a lot of work. There is the headliner on the inside, all the seats either need to be replaced or the cheap route of throwing a cover on it, the floor needs redone, and the dash/console needs some help. Anyone have some advice for a new guy?!

 

Another thing I was going to do was put some headers on there. I already have them for the 350 small block, but have never put any on before. How hard is it to do, and what might I run into as far as any problems?

 

First let me welcome you to Camaro forums!
The paint can be all over the place based on how much work the base car needs first, and who paints it for you. When I had mine painted last Nov. 2009 I got estimates from as low as $1975 (Maaco) to over $8,000. I ended up taking mine to a place 6 blocks away that did my friend's Firebird for the Roadster Show and he charged me $2,200 to finish the bodywork and paint it. A fantastic price for a very high quality paint job.
On the headers; I don't think they are a hard thing to do for anyone with some mechanical aptitude. Most guys who work on their own cars will find heders easy to install. You'll need a jack, jack stands, a sawzall to cut your exhaust, and a set of rachet wrenches, plus a set of end wrenches.
You'll probably need to get it high enough to stick them in from below, and may or may not need to pull the starter. Depends on what brand you get. Be sure the headers came with whatever brackets you need to remount your alternator and power steering if either attaches to the old exhaust system manifolds.

 

Thank you very much! It's a pretty awesome forum here, I've learned more about what to do here than anywhere else I have seen.

I figured the paint would probably cost more than I wanted to spend! But it is good to know what I am looking at now. I didn't have time to take it to get a quote. There are only a few dings in it, so anything more than a paint job won't be necessary. Let's just hope I can find someone with a paint booth to get a little discount!

I was told the headers shouldn't cause me too much trouble, but it's good to know about the alternator and power steering, I wouldn't have had a clue until I got down to it! I'll have to check and see if they are mounted to the old exhaust now, I want to say no but will need to check to be sure.

This is a random bit of information, but on my package camaro it has the luggage rack on the trunk. I've never seen one on any other camaro, was that a limited time deal? I've even looked around for other cars on the internet and don't really stumble across them, but it doesn't seem like something that would be especially rare per say.

 

I've recently decided I want new seats instead of covers, is there a good place to go to find them for the specific models? Or a website that has most of the interior for 2nd Gen Camaro's. On top of the seats I need some side panels for the back and a console and if it matched like what came from the factory that would be ideal. I've been to a few places but most of what they have is for a 69 Camaro which does my no justice, hopefully a place exists.

 

Haven't seen a lot of Camaros of any gen. that had a trunk mount rack. Might be a factory option, or may be aftermarket dealer installed option. If you ever pull the gas tank you might find the build sheet on top of the tank, or it might be under the lower back seat cushions. That's where mine was.
It might list the rack on the sheet if it is factory.

 

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty new at the car concept. As I said before I got the car from my uncle, and basically bought it to learn more about it. I know the essentials but when it starts getting technical I just nod my head.
So my question is what carburetor is going to be best for this car? I want to maximize the performance of the car, but not make a drag racer, if that makes any sense.

 

Need some info on the car's engine. If it's the stock 350 I think it's only around 195 hp, so even with the headers it can't handle a lot of carb. Best to stick with a Holley with vacuum secondaries, like a 600 cfm, or at most 650 cfm.
Something like this:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HLY-0-80555C/
Or for a bargain price the new Summit carb is a good choice, but will need a spreadbore adapter plate for a stock intake manifold:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-M08600VS/
with this:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/EDL-2692/

 

Which would you prefer out of those two. I'm doing some research on it, but which would you take, and why that over the other?

 

I'd go for a little smaller carb almost all the time, but I also prefer Holley to anything. So in this case I'd spring for the more expensive Holley 650, just because there's more tuning info, and parts for them if you ever want to rejet or do a performance tune. It also is a direct bolt on, so no adapter plate needed.