Be careful getting those transmission cooler fittings out. Id spray them today with PB blaster and let em soak.

Find a junkyard. Find an early 3rd gen and rip as much as you can off it. Even crap you dont think you need. Trim, screws, *****, sail panels, headlight trim rings, anything you can get your hands on. That is also where you should get the mirror. Ya know that little opaque dome light cover? Damn thing costs 20-30 bucks new. .50 cents at a junkyard.

One other HUGE item to look for...I couldnt tell from the picture but does your car have the grill inserts in the nose? (the two spots laft and right of your license plate). They are specific to 82-85 Z28's and nothing else will interchange. They run over 60 bucks EACH, IF you can find them new. If you find them at a junkyard, JUMP on them. If there is more than one car with them, grab an extra set and sell them.

PS-Welcome to our sickness.

 

wow that car is rough. id say gut the interior, weld in a cage, swap the trans and run it til it dies

 

Got mine at Autozone.

 

Did that, still, had to use visegrips and tap on then with a hammer, and they came loose with no damage.

Called all the junk yards here and only found one with my type of car, went and looked and nothing worth salvaging

No the slots are open nothing in them.

Yeah this is a sickness alright

Well got the new radiator in, its bigger and the top of thew shroud wont fit, even tho its supposed to be a replacement. Also it still runs way hot. Took it to a friend who know about cars and told me that the clutch fan was bad. So Im getting a Flex fan, and will putting that in in the next couple of days. He also noticed that the engine that in there isnt the orginonal engine that came with it, ie: brown goop on the exhaust manifold, orange heads, humps on the heads, one head being a little farther foward then the other. Im not suer if im explaining it good on what he said, lol.

So anyone any ideas, i'll get pictures if someone needs to see.



Seal

 

DO NOT run that flex fan. Flex fans are designed to minimize drag at high rpm's and scavenge horsepower. What that means to you is higher highway temps. Find a plain old solid non clutch fan. Got mine from Summit. If you already bought the fan, return it. Get a solid fan.

If the radiator doesnt fit, its wrong. Ny Napa replacement dropped right in. I guess as long as the hood shuts you will be fine but I hope its the right capacity....

One head is always slightly ahead of the other. However, it does sound like your heads may have been replaced at one time. 'Hump' heads are a pretty common term for mid 70's performance heads. I cant attest to their value, I dont know anything about them. Only way to know if engine is original to the car is to compare the serial # on the block to the VIN.

Like I said, this car is going to be a hellofa challenge for you. Mine gave me fits for the entire first 2 years. Dont give up.

 

Scott, I gotta disagree with the flex fan point. I've had them on a few cars in the past, with absolutely no cooling issues. I even had one on my 69 for a while, but I've since switched over to electric only because I didn't want any kind of belt driven fan. The flex fan works like a normal fan, until the higher rpm's flattens the blades to save h.p. On the open road, there's enough natural air flowing that the engine doesn't even need a fan. I only turn my fan on while driving around town. And with no fan on the highway, the temp stays between 180-190.

 

The flex fan was designed for race cars with wide open noses and plenty of air flow. Our closed nose 3rd gens need every bit of cooling they can get...hence that stupid *** air dam. Ive known at least 3 guys who ditched flex fans because of highway cooling issues. 2 third gen Camaros and a 85 Monte. A straight fan solved their issues.

The fact that you run 180 on the highway without a fan does however put a serious crimp in my theory....... 8*(

I still think he should run a solid to rule out any cooling issues. Cmon, how much HP does a solid fan draw at WOT? 5 HP, tops? At least he knows a solid fan pulls 100%, 100% of the time.

Damn you and your 180 on the highway with no fan. Heresy I tell you! 8*P

 

I'll take a pic of my gauge next time I'm on the highway!
As far as needing a fan on the highway, the factory electric fans don't kick on until 220-ish degrees (I know we're talking about belt driven fans, but still). I used to have a 3rd gen too. On the highway, running temps never got anywhere near 220, actually barely got past 180. That means the fan didn't turn on, and when parked in the drive, the fan was still off. It only turned on in traffic when engine temps got so hot. Not saying that's the standard for every car, as engines can behave differently depending on how it and the car is set up.
Another thought is a flex fan is a bit lighter than the factory thick fan blade. That can prolong the water pump bearing life by having less spun weight hanging out on the end of the shaft.

 

On the question on the air dam, ummm anyone happen to have a picture on what they excactly look like?, I mean, I have the nose piece, is there supposed to be something in the nose piece?



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Why not just run a good fan clutch?,or switch to electric fans from later model. A lot of guys that just do 1/4 mile drives at night around here used clutch fans an never got modified motors hot.