my son just bought an 88 camaro for 800 bucks. its a ttop, in really good shape. 305/700r. got it home and went to pull it in the drive way and fuel was shooting all over under the car. whoom! on fire! i had two hoses on it in less than 30 seconds, and managed to keep the fire to the engine area. he was bummed. only 18, first car. the v8 has been removed, engine area detailed, and we just put it back in today after transfering all wiring, cables, heater, wiper motor, etc.. its only been one week since the fire.

the guy he got it from was called and he "didnt know how that could have happened", but instead of just giving us the finger and telling us to get lost, he offered up an 84 ttops camaro as a donor car. it had everything we needed, plus he'll have spare ttops and other things.

I built a pro street chevy years ago, so im not a novice car guy, but the computer thing on this car has me concerned. all the smog stuff (anything that would burn) did so. we want to abandoned the smog and computer. this thread https://camaroforums.com/forum/showt...760#post429760
says its no problem to do so, that apparently the computer just gets tossed, and the extra wiring is hacked off. before i just do so, i thought id ask to see if anyone has done this, and if it has been a trouble free job.
what im curious about it this;

1- the disconnecting of the computer; does any of the engine running (distributor power, guages, basic stuff) get affected by the removal of the computer?
2- Im fully aware of the bracketing and pulley issues when removing smog pump. is there any other tidbits of info that anyone had come accrossed that we could consider? My buildup of a pro street luv truck needed fabrication and adaptations, im not too worried about making things work, but just looking for some simple input for our next few days of wrenching.
3- we are removing the ac and components too. most everything was destroyed in fire, donor car didnt have ac.
4- the guages apparently didnt work like a lot of you have said when we got the car. (common problem?) does the computor removal disable the guages as well? or is it a different issue.

thanx for any input at all. I'll figure stuff out in the long run, but would like to have some of your experienses to save my precious "old guy time" ( lol im 42)

d

 

1. Yes the computer handles the spark advance and some of the guage info. Not sure but you may have digital speedometer in an 88 which does not use a cable. The trans sends a pulse to the computer and the computer in turn sends a voltage to the guage to move the needle. (not sure if this was used on the 88) The CEL will stay on always. You should not have a problem with the charging system or the power systems of the car. You will not be able to use the factory carb, it uses the computer to control metering and idle. The AC is controlled by the computer but since you are going to use the T-tops as AC you will not have to worry about losing that system.
2. Do you use the V-belts or serpentine belts? IF you use the V belts then you just need to make a spacer for where the smog pump bracket used to go so that everything else still lines up right. This may not be needed if you ditch the AC compressor as well. Also putting all accessories on one side of the engine they will stress the waterpump bearings and you will eat up waterpumps every few months. A serpentine system would need some way to maintain proper belt length and tension. If you can fab new mountings this would be the time to bring out those skills.
3. Should be no big deal since the computer handles the AC and it will be removed.
4. Visit your local O'reillys, Advance Auto or local speed shop and build an Autometer gauge cluster, I have seen this done before and it can be made to look really nice.

If you have a fuel injected car you will have to downgrade to a carb and get a new distributor to remove the computer. If you have a carb engine you will need a new carb (Edelbrock 1406 is a good choice) and a new distributor as well. Cruise control will prolly not work since it uses the digital signals from either the tranny or a light sensor on the stock speedo as its speed sensor.

Good luck here, and have fun wrenching with your son. I know I enjoyed it with my Dad and I plan on teaching my son when he is old enough.

Massey

 

Sorry, I'm slightly cornfused, are you still building the 88 or the 84 now?
To ditch the computer, you'll need a stand-alone distributor and carb.
If you plan on keeping fuel injection, you have to keep the computer.
If going from FI to carb, you'll need a return style fuel pressure regulator.
Your speedo, in either car, is cable driven. Electric began in 1990.
I removed the smog pump in my old 91, and just used a shorter serp. belt.
Not sure if you can get away with that removing the AC as well, or if you'll need to replace it with an idler.
Try Googling that if nobody has a definitive answer on the AC/smog pump delete.

 

thanx for the quick replies. everything that youve stated makes sense, and i can handle these things.

we are keeping the one that caught fire, the 88. its the better of the two cars by far, in fact, its a nice ride for an 18 yr olds first car.

thanx again

i made some copies of the chiltons manual wiring and enlarged it to 200% on my printer and am highlighting wiring as we speak and getting oriented. the v8 is a 305 but not original to the car in that there is no fuel injection on it so a new carb (the other one didnt survive the fire) will make things easier.

ill have my son post some pics of his ride soon. the fire, the teardown, and the fix. hes pretty stoked. any motor head would understand.

 

OK, something you definitely want to look into then. Originally, that car had fuel injection, which means a high pressure electric fuel pump in the gas tank. If the electric pump was still used, but without a regulator, the needle/seat in the carb isn't going to be able to hold back the pressure for long. If that's the case, an overflowing carb could have been the source of the fire.

 

great theory. we saw a fuel line laying acrossed the exhaust manifold and it was melted. the fuel was shooting out of it feeding the fire, and i did question how the fuel was able to shoot all the way under the car on the feeder side of the engine fuel pump. that would make sense. the fuel injection was removed, but doubt the tank pump was.

thanx for the tip bro.

we got manifolds on yesterday, and are beginning the nightmare of mounting all the stock brackets back on to the motor. im sure we will eventually figure it out, but sure wish there was a diagram (couldnt find one after a search) and he dont have the funds to buy aftermarket brackets. itll be a good learning experience.

 

If the fire damaged the carb how did the manifold handle it? If the fire warped it or melted it then you will need to replace it. Also being a FI car you may want to consider getting a fuel tank from an 87 or older carb car. Most 87's were FI tho so maybe look for one a little older. The mechanical fuel pumps can pull the fuel through the electric pump but it will be harder than just going through the tube and sock. You may also just be able to replace the sender and leave your tank in the car. The 84 tank will prolly work just fine. Getting a fuel pump for the engine I would go for a 84-85 fuel pump that has the return line in it, that way it will match the fuel tank lines and the lines your car prolly already has.

Massey

 

If his in-tank pump is still working, it's gonna be a lot less ****in around (time and money wise) to just install a pressure regulator, instead of dropping the tank, buying another tank,
mechanical fuel pump, etc.
Oh, and anything but steel fuel line from back to front (at the frame junction) is a no-no for safety reasons.
Then rubber hose from the steel line on the frame to the fuel pump (if you have a mechanical pump), or to a steel line on the engine.
And hard line the rest of the way from there to the carb. The least amount of rubber line to possibly rub and wear thin, or melt through, the better.
You had a rubber fuel hose run near the exhaust manifold? That was a WRONG thing to do, whoever ran that line.

 

Answer to your PM (it didn't allow me to reply, probably because of your post count being under 10).
That's a mixture control solenoid, which is operated by the ECM. The solenoid works the metering rods and an idle air bleed valve. If you're going to be dumping the computer, you're going to have to dump the carb and get an old non-computer one. Don't even bother trying to use that carb without a computer, you can't make it work like a mechanical one.

 

thanx again for the valuable info. we just purchased a rebuild kit (that we will now return) and put it towards a new carb. after taking off the top of the carb and seeing the computer controlled parts, i figured that we would be encountering some problems, but didnt know if they would be trivial or major. my son says thanx for your input, all of you. we'll keep ya posted on our progress

dave