Hi guys,

New 4th gen owner here. Used to have a 71 Camaro, an 83 TransAm, and a 73 Chevelle. All sold more than a decade ago when I started a family. The SBC bug never left me so... here we go again. Haha.

I recently got this 97... with a 350 engine. I really don't know anything about 4th gens... I do not know if the swap was done properly or at the very least... safely. It runs fine... need to adjust a few things... like the rough idle and rich left bank mixture. It has a single bbl carb though, so it's probably a spark issue. Distributor is an HEI unit afaik, without a vac advance. Have to replace that, along with the intake and a matching carb. Here are some pic. Hoping to get suggestions for a good reliable daily driver combo... with grunt of course.

 

First thing I would do is verify the fuel pressure. If they are using the original pump and they reduce flow much it will burn out quickly.

Pulling that distributer look like fun, step one pull engine?

How are all the electronics in the car? the 97 should have had a body control module. Since they removed PCM the reliability of the car will be directly related to how well they did wiring. Keeping it running will be how well you know wiring.

 

Carb shown is a Rochester 2-bbl, needs about 5 PSIG for fuel pressure.
As Gorn suggests, engine was ECM/PCM controlled with SFI and so was dist advance, hence no vacuum diaphragm.
Get a Haynes manual for the year/model and read up.

 

Right now power windows work, as do the headlights and wipers. Gauge cluster lights up but the speedo and tach are inop. Shifter indicator lights and window switches do not light up. Rear hatch release clicks upfront but does not release the hatch. Turn sigmals do not work. Electric mirror co trols do not work. Driver seat adjust works. Car starts fine. I do not know exactly what the BCM controls. If everything is traceable back to the BCM,
as in everything... I can probably do a complete rewire using conventional relays... OR, do an Arduino conversion that can control EVERYTHING. so.... What exactly does the BCM actually control?

The fuel pump is still stock, they routed the excess fuel back to the tank. Im prolly gonna have to mount a mechanical fuel pump... Or an electric fuel pump for carbs.

 

Press rear hatch release twice.

 

Why would someone that knows what Arduino system is buy a car with the computer removed? Seems like you would be more inline with a mega squirt system.

You are going to need a GM shop manual seem like the BCM changed from year to year. It also tuff to know what the last owner already hard wired.

The Dash will be kind of a big deal, The gages in the car are not "real gages" they are driven by the PCM like a volt meter. There is no way I know to convert them to a wave signal. I hope the reason for buying this car was not saving money, buy the time you get everything working and get it even close to the power of a LT1 you could have bought a LT1 car done and ready to go.

 

Hehe, yeah I get what you're saying. Thing is... American cars, where I'm from, is hard to come by. I'm from Manila. The big 3 only made an appearance here about 2 decades ago. And even then musclecars and coupes weren't on the menu. So I'd say Camaros are pretty rare. The dealers did offer the 5th Gen here, as did the newer Mustangs. 4th Gens are pretty rare...I'd say there are less than 20 units here.

I miss my 71 Camaro... and my 83 T/A. Can't get those anymore... so I grabbed this 4th Gen.
I'll look into the Megasquirt system... but I really do prefer things to be all mechanical. The arduino would just be for the Interior and the amenities. Everything that has to do with the engine I'd keep off the loop.

 

I didn't know that. Thanks!!!

 

That makes sense, Here a car like that would not be worth finishing.

Manual, I can not find one for a 1997 but I found a 1996. 1996 would be the closest year. Also grab the parts manual from same place. The parts manual has nice exploded views and can be helpful.
http://www.mediafire.com/?40mfgeoe4ctti

As long as the fuel pressure is good and the pump can flow properly your stock pump should be ok for now. The pump uses the flow of fuel to cool itself, a common mistake is to reduce flow to control pressure ad they over heat.

Mega squirt would only be needed if you wanted to convert back to EFI. If you did you could control basic gages with it although most guys would just setup a OB2 type interface and us a tablet.

A lot of the decisions on what you do will come back to budget and what access you have to parts. If you can a 1997 GM manual off ebay may be worth it.

Using an Arduino system to convert the wave signal from the speed sensor to something your current speedo could understand would be neat but I would think unless you are already an expert it would be very time consuming. Most guys that have converted cars make their own dashes. They just cut a piece of aluminum the shape of that gage cluster and cut in holes for new gages. Summit racing has all the gages.

 

Thanks!
I appreciate all the advice. Keep 'em coming.
I just need to know what signals the gauge cluster needs to see, and where to get a speedo signal... like what sending units output what and where to get them and mount them in the first place.
Basically I need to map out all the electrical and electronic connections.
The megasquirt system does look interesting, perhaps for another project in the future. It can revive any and all engines I presume.

I'm scouring Ebay for an carb/intake combo. Any suggestions?
My current engine has a UKT suffix... it's a 350 for vans/pickups afaik. Heads are designed for economy. I can live with that. I just want dead reliability and off the line grunt. No need for top end power for now.

Have to sort out a delayed reverse issue first. It won't engage reverse until warmed up. Like 2 minutes upon first start in the morning.