hey everyone im new to these forums and im buying an 83 camaro coupe. getting it saturday actually. nothing special just standard 2.8L engine, auto transmission, has 87,000 miles on it so its not too bad. i just have a few questions as what i should start working on first. interior? exterior? performance? some of my friends tell me i should go with performance first like a new engine and possible manual transmission and some tell me to wait on the paint job until all the engine work is done. im new to the whole world of cars in general so i dont know a lot about engine specifics and what not but id like to make my camaro look nice and be pretty fast so any suggestions/help would be great.
also if it would be more convenient you can IM me at eyyyyitzthafonz anytime
thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the forum. I tend to agree with Your friends, get the mechanical done first. Depending on what You want, a 350 swap is fairly easy but You will spend some cash. Shop around and figure out what You want to end up with.

 

hey i was thinking of buying the same kinda car this upcoming wednesday, 2.8L auto aswell, 64900kms, but im buying it from an auction the door is beat up on it aswell as the rocker. How much are u buying the car for?

 

Get the car running well, then start working on the interior & body. Make sure the car is solid before you go and invest any more money...

Head out to the tech forums and you'll get more help.

Welcome!!

 

I'm going to have to agree with everyone else. Get the mechanical work done and have it running before you go and do paint and body work. Not only for obvious reasons, but you run less of a risk denting or scratching new paint when you do the motor swap.

 

ya im getting it for only 500 bucks because the previous owner was some vietnamese lady who passed away and the attorney that was in charge of her house and belongings just wanted to get rid of it. the nice thing about it is thats it was right across the street from me so i guess it was a lucky find. right now im starting to think about doing the actual cosmetics first because it doesnt look to great right now and plus it would be awhile until i get the engine and other parts added. i didnt know if it would be a good idea to do the interior all new and repaint it and then sell it for a profit because ive heard many different opinions on this but i kinda wanted to keep it because it would be a nice older car to have. thanks for the advice guys

 

I think they mean machanicaly make sure that it runs well and reliable not performance wise persay because if its not reliable and has problems whats the point of makeing it look nice and wont run ?

 

Exactly. If you have to do major work on the car, it's better to do it while the body sucks, so any damage you do can be taken care of along with what exists already.