Hello all, its been a while since I was last on here and unfortunately my Camaro has mostly sat for the time. I have a low mileage reman 350 that's almost complete that is sitting in the engine bay not hooked up, and a transmission rebuild kit for my th350. I really want to get the ball rolling again with this car but it seems like such a massive undertaking to fix the many issues it has, and I'm just not sure where to start. Looking for advice/suggestions.

Thanks in advance

 

I hate answering question with questions but there is no way to help without knowing more.



First question always. Budget. Is that a lump sum or a per month thing.

Current condition. You told us about some of the drive line but what about the body and the underneath? Interior?

What do you want out of the car. Drag race car? Pro tour, rally type car. Just stock? Brakes? Traction?

You may not care about cosmetics. You may want a head turner. Or even the kind a car that makes other car guys impressed.

The last question would be the hardest to convey. But how much of this do you feel like you can do? What are you or your shop lacking. Rebuilding a TH350 is not super complicated but it is VERY unforgiving. What each part does is not self evident and the parts stack. If parts are in the wrong order or upside down and that could cause a redo. There is also special tools.

So why I say budget is so important.

Example: brake option. If you rebuild your wheel cylinders, caliper and make you own brake lines. You should buy the master cylinder and the soft lines shoes and pads. That part of the project should be around $150. If you buy all the parts and install them yourself that would be $300. If you paid a mechanic at a shop because you did not trust yourself with brakes expect more like $1500 depending on where you live. Upgrades. You can buy complete kits to upgrade your brakes, you can look up those prices but it is not hard to spend 5K on a brake system. ALSO if you trust yourself and you are willing to do some research you can convert your brake system over to a later 4th brake system. You could even switch it to a corvette system but that would be less budget friendly.



As for the drive line are you just looking for the stock engine? it will be way under powered. The average base V6 these days has 300 HP the 350s from the mid 70’s to Mid 80’s would be more like 150HP.

If you just want to see if it will run, there are a lot of the “rescue” videos on youtube. I suggest you watch vicegrip garage. He goes into what you do to get a car running that has been sitting a long time. He has done so many he probably has a video that covers something close to your project.

 

Thank you for the reply.

Ill go ahead and explain in a little more detail. I am a university student so lump sum isn't realistic at the moment, a per-month investment is likely the most I can do. The body is pretty poor cosmetically, the front bumper is in terrible shape and I'm guessing that the plastic front bumpers cant be repaired as easily as a metal one. The fenders are usable but dented, the hood is also dented, the main body has dents but there isn't any real rust beyond floor boards and some light rust in the door sills and the trunk pan. It is a T top car and those are in fine condition. Interior is very rough, I removed most of it, seats are probably the only thing I can reuse, most of the other "soft" parts like door cards have pretty heavy water damage. Suspension isn't bad, no real issues there besides the normal crustiness associated with a car that's been sitting for a long time (was sitting for over a decade when I first got it), bushings and shocks should probably be replaced. Radiator support is rusted out so that is absolutely something I have to fix/replace. Wiring is iffy, all front lights work, one tail light is out, gauge cluster never lit up and nothing interior wise electrical worked, though I don't really have any power options or a radio to see the extent of it. One issue that has been a problem since I bought the car is the steering column, I can either fix the stock one or get a different one, something is broken internally though.

I want mostly a fun cruiser type car with some power behind it, I'm thinking the 280-300 horsepower range will be suitable, don't want to go crazy. I'd like the car to be in pretty nice cosmetic condition, interior, body, paint, etc. I redid some of the braking system when the car was still driving and thought that the stock brakes were suitable, not sure how that changes with the horsepower I'd like to have though.

As far as capability I can borrow most tools that I need from friends, a few of them do car restorations, mostly GM stuff. Engine crane is about the largest tool I can have around, have done most of the work just in a driveway so far, probably wont have a proper garage any time soon unless people still rent those out. I feel fairly confident with most of the mechanical stuff, much less confident with bodywork, especially rust repair. I'm happy to learn how to do stuff on my own, especially because of the limited budget.

Said horsepower above, was planning on sticking with an auto for the time being, but I would like a 4 speed in the future, I'm undecided on what I want to do for rear gears as my car has a 2.41:1 ratio, which I do appreciate for the highway but its not a very sporty ratio.

Thanks again and I hope this helps add some more information.

 

If a car sits for a long time without being used it can be hard on them. I say this because you are talking about a retore while driving, which is doable, but the first few months can be tuff. It will seem like you are not making any headway because the car is breaking more than you are restoring. This is because of the time sitting. Try to find someone that rebuilds transmission for a living but also as a side job. You want an older guy that know the th350 inside and out. Can you find a used transmission? Maybe a used 700R4 from a 2 wheel drive pickup? Late 80's The later you can find without a computer control the better.

Getting a transmission guy to use a kit they are not used to may cause you issues. The only real reason for you to do that job on your own is because you want to learn to rebuild transmission. Most people make at least one mistake that will lead to another rebuild. Chances are IF you find a guy that will do it as a side job he will want his kit. First one I did I was shown how to do it given all the tools and I still clipped an o-ring that limited the line pressure. That lasted 2 months before it came back.

As for the engine. Just get new for all you normal wear items and find a place that will sell you vacuum hose by the foot. You are going to need to take inventory at some point be making sure the engine runs should be your first step. I know you said it a low miles engine but people lie and some people assume someone is telling the truth. How the engine was stored can play a part. All you really need for power is the battery cables and 12v positive wire to the HEI distributer.

Then a new fuel system (hose and pump, new or rebuilt carb) and I new coolant system Hoses, water pump, radiator) I would be tempted to wait on the new carb till after you ran a tank or two through the old one just so you do not gunk up the newer one.

What I would do.
I would think that getting the car back on the road and driving would be a great place to start. I would patch any rust and ignore dents for now. Double check the floors, I have never seen a water damaged interior without rusty floor It is super common on t-top cars. I would be tempted to pull everything out of the interior verify the floor and replace the carpet and build up from there. Do not freak out if the floors are an issue they are easy to fix as long as the frame rails are good and solid. If it is pin holes even a layer of tiger hair (fiber reenforced fiberglass) will outlast you. I would shoot the whole car Satin black. . Keep in mind you will be sanding this top coat of paint off in section so keep it cheap but there is no reason to drive around with 5 different colors.

I do not know what you have in terms of used parts is around you but later 4th gen brake conversion is good also.

Carpet:JEGS 555-705109: Molded Cut Pile Carpet | 1976-1981 Chevy Camaro, Pontiac Firebird | Automatic Transmission | Floor Shift with Console | OE-Style Jute Backing | Cut Pile | Black | Sold Individually - JEGS

Check out seat covers on ebay. They have some nice slip fit ones around $160 US.

All parts are available depending on what is important to you. Your plastic interior can be died (AKA plastic paint). Dashes can be covered. Door cards can be bought or made. Making door cards is still a common. Just about everything on that car can be rebuilt. There are hinge kits which I assume you need. Even alternators and starters, power steering pumps, master cylinders all had kits back in the day.

The purists will tell you do not fix it halfway. In my opinion the longer life you can give a car the more chance it will someday get that full restoration. Only rule I have for me is first do no damage. No hiding rust. I was told as a teenager that once rust starts nothing can be done except grind it away. Rust can be chemically killed. It needs water and air to grow. Kill it and seal it and it will not hurt anything. If you had to sand blast the floors and there are pin holes and you use fiber glass to seal from both side 20 years from now when the metal guy rips all that out he will be looking at the same thing you are seeing today.

The HEI/carbureted small block was a very dependable setup. Keep in mind it was not designed to last 200,000 miles. Sure I have seen many get over 100,000 but I saw a lot of them need repairs at 60,000 miles. your car was right about the time they started increasing warranty's. They were 12 months 12,000 miles. When GM bumped up the warranty to 2 years 24 month's they started to paint the engines black. This made it harder for customers to notice oil leaks.

 

Thanks for the reply

Buying a used transmission that is ready to bolt in is what I'm starting to lean towards, I would like to learn how to rebuild them but I would also like the drivetrain to be reasonably reliable. The interior had pretty heavy water damage so I've already torn it all out besides most of the dash, the plastics were in very poor shape, carpet and headliner were both junk, front seats look pretty decent though. Floors have rust, the passenger side front has no major holes but the drivers side does have a fairly large hole (roughly around 4x4 inches). Subframe and the rest of the car looks really good though so its not completely rotted out.

I have a new gas tank I bought because the old one was in really bad shape, have a couple of quadrajets that I could rebuild including the stock one, but that one has a lot of vacuum hookups on it.

Junkyards are fairly well stocked around here in terms of newer Camaros (4th gens and a couple of 5th gens)

I also have some wiring issues, missing the gauge cluster to the car. I have almost no experience with wiring and it seems a bit daunting to tackle.

I appreciate the advice on getting it driving without completely tearing the car down as I dont really have the space or tools for a complete restoration, original engine in the car was totally shot so thats why I went with an unknown 350, have turned it by hand and didnt hear anything concerning but ill work on getting a starter hooked up to it and try to bench test it. Not sure about suspension, but nothing obviously wrong besides old cracked bushings which I think is to be expected on a car like this.

 

Sometimes I forget things like suspension. For me that was a weekend and $150.

If you are worried about welding in the floors you can buy a floor pan then cut it the size you need and pop rivet it in. You still need to seal it up You can use a 2k primer or a sealer like encapsulator from Eastwood company. You can make a quadrajets work to a point but the quadrajets are design to the application. There is no adjustment on them. This is why there are so many factory "kits" and you need the number off the carb to rebuild them. Aftermarket carbs have no idea what you will be putting their carbs on so pretty much everything is adjustable.

4th gens would be good for seats and if you find one made in or after 1998 they have the good brakes.

The wiring is, well 6 times older then what the car was designed to last. These cars were designed to last 5-8 years. There is no way to make your harness dependable. Trying to fix the harness can be a nightmare. Depending on the climate many harnesses only made it 20 years. I used to hate working on cars from dryer climates. You would try to track down one running light not working and once you think you have it now the turn signal is out. Fix that and the running light is out again. It was always another broken wire. So I would say in my opinion you will need to rewire the car. https://painlessperformance.com/prod...part-no-20114/ There is a manual in the link that has the install instructions. IMO installing a new one seems easier than fixing a bad older one. I am sure you can get it to work for some time its just not going to be reliable.