Hi all,

Am new here. Just got this 1982 Z28, its a bit rough around the edges but ran fine till I went down the alley and heard a big boom and then a bunch of steam. so i got it back to my house and opend the hood and saw this, the side of the radiator blown open, like holy cow!



They guy I bought it from drove it from his house to mine which is about 5 or 6 miles apart, told me that the trany was slipping until it warmed up. Checked the tranny fluid and it was low, but luckly no black stuff and the stick didnt smell burned. Talked to a friend and he said if trany is low that it would heat up the coolant really fast. (sorry hope this is making sense). So I need to buy a radiator.

The car has olny 186070 miles on it:



Passenger fender is borked but he gave a new replacement one:



and it looks like I will need to replace the whole nose piece:



After doing some reading on the forums I figured out that not all is origional on the car:



IROC z28 didnt come out till '85.

I did reseach on the VIN, which did say that it is a z28 and it does have the CrossFire engine:




and here are some more pictures around the car:







and some inside ones:














It rough and have had a rocky start, lol just got it tonight.

Any comments are more then welcome.


Seal

 

You need a case of duct tape or more.

 

Under normal circumstances, a slipping tranny is not going to make a radiator blow. Could be the radiator was weak and it's time was up. But, the pressure on the radiator cap should have let loose before the radiator did. Did the guy duct tape the cap in place too? Or put on a radiator cap with too high a psi rating? You were building a lot of heat and pressure to blow a radiator like that. Your whole cooling system needs a good looking at.

 

Its good to see a fellow 82 owner. That car is in rough shape, but I bought my car from a junkyard and looked about the same as yours. Im not a historian but from what I see your hood and doors are not original. (The IROC model did not appear until 1985 as you stated)......now here is the interesting question....Inside your car, on the passenger dash, is an emblem that says "IROC Z28". My car has the exact same badge. If the Iroc didnt come out until 1985, then why do we BOTH have the same Iroc emblem inside the car...???

Either way, you have a bit of work ahead of you. Im not real sure about the hot transmission fluid blowing up your radiator.....the integral tranny cooler shouldnt get so hot that it boils your coolant. Ive stated this about a dozen times over the last month but Napa has a direct fit radiator for 100 bucks that works fine.

Good luck with that car. Ive got a feeling she has plenty more surprises for you.

 

Yeah Im actually looking foward to it.

As in regards to the the z28 iroc badge on the dash here is a pic:



an other interesting thing about the car is that all around the bottom edge or the car its silver and above that is silver pin striping.

Also, just thought of this, there are no electric locks or electric windows its all manual( not sure if the doors that it came with had them electric or not)


Seal

 

Look closer, it's not an IROC emblem.
He has the crossfire emblem like this: Z28 82-84 Crossfire Emblem
This is the IROC Emblem: Z28 IROC emblem
You can see his emblem has writing across the whole width, below the "Z28". The IROC emblem isn't like that.
Sounds like someone made yours an IROC wannabe. Isn't that all it takes, an emblem change?

 

Now thats too funny. It seems somebody years ago got rid of my "Crossfire" badge and added the "Iroc Z" badge. Seems pretty silly to just change one badge inside the car????? (No other Iroc markings anywhere else on my car.)

I guess with almost 3 decades of various owners, anything is possible.

 

Maybe my eyes see things differently but the interior badge says Z28 crossfire injection. As far as the cooling system goes, when I first bought my 87 in 95, I had split the radiator (not blown like that), but it does seem some higher than normal pressure as well as some added heat can make those plastic sides go pretty quick.

 

About the radiator, lol i cant find the radiator cap any where, but if the inside of the radiator is that crusty, could it have been that the radiator cap was crusted on hard enough not to allow it not allow the cap to blow on lower pressure?


Seal

 

Update:

Ordered a Northern All Pro 2 core Radiator, should be here Tuesday.
Took my radiator out today and also took out my thermostat.............and guess what I found, it was installed upside down. Well since I bought a new one already I will be installing the new one on Sunday or Monday. Then Tuesday after work if my radiator comes in, I'll be installing that and hope all goes well.


Seal

PS: Anyone know where to get the mirror glass for the driverside door mirror?