Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I thought it would be a great place to ask for advice, and help down the road if I end up grabbing this beauty. I found a semi-local craigslist ad for a 77' z28 and the car looks great, besides the seats... I don't know whats going on there. I was wondering if anything pops out to you guys and gals as red flags, or if there is anything I should look at when I take a look this weekend. Thank you for any help you can give me!

Here she is: 77 camaro Z28

 

it has 20's so check for clearance when the suspension flexes (dont want to blow out a fender on the way home ) bring a fridge magnet and test for thickness and sound of bondo hidden under the primer with the engine running pull dipdstick and see if there is pressure in the crank case he just re did the top end make sure the piston rings liked the work in my area they are going for closer to 4000, but im in mt, and is the heater hooked up?looks like the hose is bypassing the heater core?

 

My big concern would be fresh primer! Often cars that have rust issues get filler and fresh primer to cover those issues. Not saying that's the case here, but be sure you know how to check for filler at the usual places where rust would be. Rockers, fender lips, lower drops, etc. Make sure there's metal there with a magnet, and not filler just covering up hidden repairs.
I would expect engine pressure on any engine that's running, so not sure the dipstick test would mean anything. A sticky PCV valve could increase crankcase pressure, and be easily fixed.

 

The seats are just after market.( Looks similar to mine but a little different). Torque Converter stall seems a little high, My question would be, does it need it or did he just put it in thinking it would be cool.

 

"07 Saab power leather seats installed". Seems like a strange pick, but they look ok.
I'd ask if the guy took pictures of the body when it had no paint on it. I know I would have taken some.

 

Yeah he had about 100 build pictures we went through, the body looked pretty good without the primer on it, there is no bubbling under the primer. The only rust spot I found was that the rear driver side frame rail had huge holes in it, he is "getting it fixed" by a welder he knows... I'm still unsure of it, seems like it ran fine, we couldn't take it on the road due to mud that day but I might check it out this weekend, he is getting it patched now. $5700 is way too high for the car IMO. Especially with a rust job on the frame rail, I don't know quite how to tell if it is a good weld job once done, I mean, I'll use a magnet to make sure it is steel all the way through and around but I know it's better to replace these than just patch them...

 

I'd be pretty wary of a car that had a huge rust hole in the frame rail, but the rest was supposed to be solid. I can't imagine a scenario where the rear frame rails could rust, and the normal areas didn't have major rust issues. The frame rails are so much thicker, and generally the last place to rust through after rockers and fender drops are long gone.

 

Yeah what was weird as well, is that the passenger side rear frame rail had no rust whatsoever...