Realized I hadn't posted the original shot of the engine bay, and have one of the car sitting in the driveway with my henchdog overseeing the exterior cleaning.





Engine bay looks pretty much like it did when purchased except for the red wire loom and wiring inside of it, I took this photo in early August, I think.

 

Well, some progress has been made-thermostat replaced, the Bosch Platinum +4's that were in the engine are gone and some NGK TRXI55's are installed instead. Serviced the differential as well, it now has a new gasket on the dif cover & some Mobile 1 75/90 synthetic in the dif.

Unfortunately, the plug wires that I ordered from partsgeek came-and were not the correct ones. Despite ordering the V6 wires, I was shipped the LS1 wires, which of course are too short for my application. I've never had to return a part to them previously, but apparently I'm on the hook to pay for shipping back, as well as needing to re-order (and hence pay for shipping a 3rd time) to get the correct part. On the one hand, as they are in New Jersey and the part shipped during the hysteria leading up to Sandy I can understand the mistake-on the other I can't say I'm very thrilled about paying nearly $30 extra to get the part that I ordered (not to mention waiting who knows how long for the refund and another week or so to get the right part).

Rear brake pads are also getting pretty thin, so I think I'm going to have to replace those soon. I was hoping that they would last through this winter, as I'd like to do brakes and rotors next spring (avoiding getting the new rotors salted by the winter weather here), but apparently I'll need to do the rear pads now, and probably replace them again in the spring with the rotors. Probably a pair of less expensive ones so I won't feel guilty about throwing them out next spring.

Also had both of the new yellow bulbs burn out in my replacement turn signal lamps-these have since been replaced with amber LED lights-I think the aftermarket enclosure is getting too hot, those "new" bulbs were a little scorched (or they were just junk, not sure which). Either way I think the LEDs will last a lot longer, and shouldn't generate so much heat either. They look a little odd since they face down instead of out, but I don't see a whole lot of people get on their knees to inspect your turn signals, and they light up just fine with the reflective interior on the lamp enclosure.

So my list of initial maintenance is getting shorter, still need to service the transmission, install the fuel filter I've been procrastinating on, and do the rear brakes. Taking longer than I'd anticipated to start to get to the more fun stuff, but at least the maintenance should help ensure that I get more miles out of the car.

 

It's been months since I've put something up in this thread, not as much progress this year as I would have liked so far.

What has been done:
MSD plug wires installed
Fuel filter replaced
New Thermostat, 180 degree
Rear brake pads replaced
New head unit (Kenwood BT852HD)
Speakers replaced, new wiring run (Pioneer G-series speakers)
Used T-top holders acquired and installed
Taillight assemblies replaced-old ones were letting in some water.
LED overhaul on exterior lights-except for the rear turn signal flashers & headlamps all exterior bulbs on the car are now LED.
Security keyfob purchased and sync'd
Couple clean-up items in the wiring that had been thrown together by the previous owner.

On the docket for next week:
oil pan replacement
I've got a Spectre pan for the car, which is steel-wasn't able to find an aluminum one for the V6. Fel-pro permadry gasket, and a new oil level sensor. Figured as long as I was replacing the pan might as well get the sensor too. The old one has a fairly sizeable dent in it. The new one weighs about 5-6 pounds, but I'm not sure if that's any lighter than the OEM one or not. I've got a minor leak in the pan gasket right now, so it's definitely time to take care of this item.

Next up:
Brakes, planning on ordering a powerstop kit for front and rear, drilled and slotted rotors, I believe it's the Evolution series. Should be more than sufficient for this vehicle. I have noticed a big difference in the cleanliness on the rims between the ceramic pads I put in last year in the rear and the mettallic ones in the front end of the vehicle. Rear rims are almost always clean, front not so much.

Still on the short list-
K&N FIPK, Pacesetter Headers, MSD coil packs

Since I've had the vehicle about a year now, I've got a pretty decent handle on the current MPG. With the setup it has right now, I'm getting about an average of 28mpg on the highway (average speed of 75 mph), based on the trip odometer vs. gallons of fuel filled. Mileage drops significantly for in town driving, and the best trip I've had (with a tailwind) yielded 33.5 mpg at 70-75mph. The one trip I've taken that was an average of 55 yielded 29.8, so I'm fairly close to the original mileage estimate for the vehicle without much in the way of modification except for a K&N air filter.

We're up to ~156k on the odometer at this point, and counting, so I put quite a few miles on last year (I average about 5-600 miles per week, so it gets driven quite a bit).

I'll get some photos out here eventually to compare to the befores already in the thread.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

3 sheared bolts later, the new oil pan is in. Don't think I saved any weight with the new one, but the old gasket was pretty well done in, and it seems to have dealt with the minor oil leak.
Also rearranged my parts priority, since noticing that the outer tie rod ends are getting pretty shot. Have a new pair of Moog tie rod ends on order now, will either put them in with the brakes or before the brakes, depending on time and money.

In unrelated news, I also applied to the state for title and registration for a Harley Davidson/Aermacchi TX-125 Enduro class motorcycle that I've had sitting in various garages for the last couple of decades. Thought that would be an interesting winter project. Time is always of the essence when dealing with the Camaro since it's also my DD, will be nice to work on something that I don't have a deadline for, short of next spring.

 

Well, I've ordered the pads and rotors now too. Should be here Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Won't have time to get to them this weekend (working weekend), but hopefully the week after. Got a set of front and rear Powerstop drilled and slotted rotors with ceramic pads (K1548 parts #). 3 year/30,000 seems pretty reasonable for a warranty-which I'm sure I'll burn through in the next year or so. Might pick up a set of stainless steel wrapped brake hoses before I get into this as well.

Might be a couple months before I get much more done on the car after this. Looking at buying a second house and the Discovery II is going to need a little attention soon too.

 

Well, the Powerstop Evolution kit is installed (pads, drilled & slotted rotors), along with the Moog tie rod ends, and a set of stainless steel braided brake hoses. Tried to paint the calipers with some of the VHT gold caliper spray paint. Looked alright for a couple of weeks but started to flake after a bit, and the initial adhesion was spotty as well. I thought it was because they needed to be heat cured, but doesn't seem to be the case, as at this point they definitely should be. Should have sprung for powder-coating them, but I decided to do it the "fast" way to get the car back on the road. Still looks better than the nearly totally flaked off red that was on the calipers, so not a total bust.

Also bought a new house a couple months ago, so probably going to be a bit before I make much more progress on the car parts wise. Most of my money atm is going to the house to improve or furnish it.
On the plus side it does have a nice big garage (unheated) that will be handy in the summer time to work on vehicels. It's got a double door, but is big enough to put 3 or 4 cars in, depending on size and how you parked them.

Hoping that sometime this spring or summer I'll be able to get headers and a CAI/FIPK installed.

 

When you get a chance put up some pictures of the bike. Up grading a daily driver can get pretty intense especially if things do not go well [ hate that ]. I finally put heat in my shop about 5 years ago and wondered why I waited that long. Congratulations on the house and big garage. Moog seems to be a good replacement part, that is what I try to use if at all possible.

 

Well, nearly five years later I still have the Camaro, and haven't made much progress on the two items I last listed as modifications to make (headers & CAI/FIPK). I suppose I should try to rectify that, since I spent a great deal of time planning what I was going to do with the car. Mileage is somewhere in the low 190,000s at this point, and she's still going. I did fit four cars in that garage, and the bike (which I also have not made any progress on other than some cleaning.) House, the now 3 yo kid, and 1 year long mobilization later I'm thinking I should spend some more money on improving this car!
I see that Pacesetter is still selling the ceramic coated long tubes for this vehicle. I'm also due for some maintenance, and have spent the last couple weeks replacing the crankshaft position sensor, finding out that didn't fix the code it was throwing, replacing the camshaft positions sensor (yay! that fixed the code it was throwing), ordering a new thermostat for a coolant flush, and then today the oil pressure sending unit started pissing oil out of it like it was a cherub statue (lucky I was only about a mile from my house when I noticed the distinct scent of oil burning on the manifold-at about 65 miles an hour.) So I've got one of those on the way to replace now too. So as soon as I get out of this spot of malfunctions perhaps I'll put the cash together to get those headers and slap those on. That would be far more interesting and exciting than the repair work I've been forced to do the last couple weeks!

 

did you get the upper and lower intake gaskets replaced. thats a must if you want to make it to 300k miles.