I'm in the market for one. If you haven't noticed, I like doing unusual engine arrangements, my current plan is to buy a tired beater and plop a 454 and th400 with a manual valve body and air shifter in one. Just a simple build for now, chinese aluminum heads, cast bottom end, hypers for pistons, you get the idea. It won't be street legal, just a bracket car. Someday I want to build a killer 454 with a blower sitting on top, twin holley carbs, and a bird catcher on top of that. But for now I want something to screw around with other than my six.

Don't try to convince me to do a small block, I'm hungry for some 454, and can't wait much longer.

What I'm interested in is general used car buying tips, i.e. where do they rust most often. I'm trying to find one that is wearing the same teal as my 96, but I might just have to shoot it myself.

 

You summed third gens up in your title, lol.

Seriously though, Common rust spots are underneath along the unibody, around the wheel wells, bottom of the doors, etc. Basically just like any other car.

Since you're looking for something to turn into a bracket car, I wouldn't be concerned with options and such, considering anything and everything in the drivetrain/suspension needs to be changed and I'm sure the interior will be gutted.

 

Actually I'm going to make every effort I can to keep the interior as complete as possible, just for the hell of it. Did they only come with the crappy 10 bolts? Or was there another option on the earlier years?

 

Unless you're very lucky, you won't be able to find a teal 3rd-gen, as it was only offered in 91-92. Probably aren't very many.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/1...lCamaro012.jpg

Rust spots will be in the wheel wells and floor pans mostly.

And other people know way more than I do so I'll shut up now. >.>

Edit: Ninja'd :/

 

lol, damnit I had a feeling about the color being uncommon. That widens my search though, I'll just shoot it with some single stage. Thanks for the advice, rust was my biggest concern. You can spend thousands fixing cancer, not something I want to play around with.

 

make sure you dont get t-top 3rd gen because the camaro body is just a huge uniframe and to much hp could shatter your ttops and build anything that will pick the car up..you always notice it picks up that one tire...thats the frame bending actually..so you'll have to do some work on the body if your putting alot of hp on it other than that alot of engine bay room lot of good potential i cant wait be sure to take pics of everything and let us look cant wait man!

 

This project will start next summer. The idea is to have my six dyno tuned, rebuild the rear diff, and use what I have left over to buy a roller. I picked the 3rd gen because of the room under the hood, after my experience, I don't want to screw around with an engine swap on a 4th gen. Too much work lifting the body off the engine. Originally I wanted a 2nd gen, but out here I've never found a cheap one that didn't have severe cancer. It'll be similar to my 96, teal with black and silver stripes (my trademark mod), I'd like to figure out how to get some chrome ttm's in some fat and skinny 15"ers, we'll see.

 

T-Top cars are built the same as solid roof cars; they've just had a chunk of the sheet metal chopped out to fit in two bits of glass.

But, since you'll be making a ton of power, you'll want to look into doing some work to avoid corkscrewing your car. Subframe connectors, roll cage perhaps. It'll be a track car anyway, right?

 

It'll probably get a simple affordable 6 point cage, sfc's are a must of course. It'll be a hardtop mainly to match my 96, I'm not into the mullet thing either though, lol

It will be a dedicated track car, but all the lights will remain functional. If I wanted I could get a trip permit and drive it around a bit. It'll be transported on a trailer for the most part though.

I'm shocked at the ease of the 454 swap, everything is out there in the aftermarket, oil pans, headers, shorter mounts, all kinds of stuff. Now I'm getting overly excited about this

 

Too bad you didn't want one sooner. I sold my 91 this past winter. No rust on the body, underneath was clean, and interior was flawless. Oh yeah, did I happen to mention it was teal?