First off let me say this is one of my all time dream cars, and now I own one. There were only 144 Onyx Black SS 6-Speed Convertibles built in 2001. I'm not planning on making this a complete street destroyer or anything like that. This is my daily driver and I just want to restore it back to excellent condition and enjoy the car. Now without further ado....

The Build.

Here is the car when I picked it up from Lake Forest, CA.


The few mods done by the previous owners:
Grille Insert
Flowmaster knockoff muffler and slashcut tips
Eibach Lowering springs and Koni shocks and struts
Pioneer In Dash TV
MTX 1501 amp
Concept 10" subs

Here are some shots of the car after I got it back to San Diego and had time to fully inspect it.

The front bumper has a lot of chips in the paint, there are drag radials in the back, and street tires up front, and the tips are beginning to rust. There were no dents, or scratches in the paint though. The clear cloat looks flawless, and the top scores a 10 out of 10. The car was always garaged.

There were a few problems with the interior, there is a wear mark on the leather on the driver seat, and the seatbelt holder on the passenger seat is broken, the passenger side window is loose in the track, and the ashtray door is missing. Other than that, the leather looks great, the carpet is great, rear seats are fine, seatbelts work flawlessly, pwer seat works great, no cracks in the plastics, and the top is perfect..

The LS1 looks great. This car has 136K on the ticker, so 1st thing I had done was a compression test and the car runs great. The driver side cat is bad, the ABS controller is bad, and the A/C compressor. The T56 shifts great, and the rear end feels fine. The pinion seal needs to be replaced.

 

Just added a hurst shifter and a skip shift eliminator. Here is a pic of the shifter installed

 

Since its a SS you want to bag and tag all original parts. I know it seems like a waste of time now but concider it an investment. The longer you keep the car the more it will pay back.

Nice car. I will be watching

 

The only factory parts i still have is the shifter. I have a set of center mount exhaust at home, and plan on putting the LE stripes from an 02 on it. Maybe a set of chrome wheels, but no real performance parts. I think the car is fast enough, it gets great mileage, best of both worlds to me. I do appreciate the comments though. I will keep all that and start trying to find the original stuff now while it is still available and cheap.

 

BTW, if anyone knows where the hell i can find an ashtry cover for a 6 speed in ebony, I would REALLY appreciate it....

 

Well, as I stated before, the ABS and ASR lights were on, so I started asking around and had a friend who works for GM plug the computer in and found out the brain in the ABS controller was bad. I got on eBay and started looking for gently used controllers. Since the controller itself is a PIA to change unless you have the computer GM uses to bleed the box, I did one of the simplest fixes. Just take the "brain" off using a T20 torx bit and simply replaced it. Reset the computer by leaving the battery disconnected for 2 minutes, and now it works perfect with no lights!

 

Yea well for 2001 Camaro SS Convertibles, there were reportedly only 864 built! It was a low production year overall.

 

Since you said it's a daily driver I would start off improving your suspension, since you want a great handling car to REALLY enjoy it (already on your way with the Konis):

1. Hotchkis Strut Brace
2. UMI Welded SFRs
3. Strano 35/22 sways
4. Watts Link

Well, this is my list, being worked on for my '01 SS 'vert (Koni SAs just arrived! 1&2 are done)...

Oh, and some chrome wheels will really set it off nice -- makes a BIG difference!

 

For the ashtray, try places like Year One, Ecklers (Rick's 1st-5th Gens), or Hawk's Third-Gen. That is, if a local parts yard or the dealership can't provide one. You'll pay roughly $60 for one through Year One or Ecklers, though.

Your car is awesome, BTW. I'll be looking forward to any updates you post. What size tires are you running? 265s or 275s?

 

I really think the car handles fantastic right now, it may have other parts on it I dont know about, but she sticks to the road like glue. The biggest problem I am having is the Eibach pro kit is sagging in the rear due to the system being in there for so long. Looking at going with a set of air helper springs from Strano.