Let me start by saying that there's a lot of good info on here. I picked up a 94 Z28 Camaro 6 speed a little over a month ago. Had 74k and some change on the od. Was running but it ran like smashed SH*%. Misfiring, running really hot and had some leaks so I trailered her home. She was a great candidate to start with ie: clean body, paint, interior, rust and dent free undercarriage and everything was intact except for the plastic shifter plate around the shifter. I had been wanting one for a while now (thought it was the coolest car when I was a teenager) and wanted something to tinker with and eventually be my daily driver. I'm pretty familiar with sbc's and especially the LT1 since I have ran 2 TPI's in my 1 ton K5 Blazer. Great engine with a lot of power and potential to make more (plus I had a few LT1 goodies on my parts shelf). So I started by checking all the obvious stuff. My main concern was to find out why she was running hot. I found a small crack by the rad cap and knew that was probably the problem but to eliminate any doubt I went ahead and got the parts to swap the water pump, t-stat, hoses and coolant from Napa but I didn't want to get the rad from there since all they had was stock replacement and I wanted something that would cool better (gets really hot here in NV). I ordered the Be-cool from Summit and figured I'd also swap out the tired dizzy, plugs, wires and coil since I was already there and had the front end torn down. Talk about a tight fit. I ordered a new Optispark along with some NGK Iridium plugs,Accell 8mm wires,Proform coil and a new serp belt. Long story short I gave it a real good tune-up, swapped all the fluids (engine, trans & diff), oil filter which was another leak that got fixed and added a BBK 58mm tb that I had on my shelf along with a K&N CAI with the airflow sensor relocated right by the filter. Changed the fuel filter and added some Sea Foam to the tank. She started right up. I let her Idle for a few to get her up to temp thinking she would go above 180 (180 t-stat) but she hovered right a 180. Took her for a spin and she stayed right at 180 but the SES light came on. Everything was good on the gauges so I took her home and disconnected the neg from the battery while she was idling to reset the computer. I shut her down and let her sit for a good 30 minutes to cool down some while I checked for leaks and what not. Start her up first crank and damn SES light again so I let her idle to temp and as soon as she hit 180 the dang light shut off. Runs like a scolded dog but the SES light comes on when cold then turns off at 180. My guess was a sensor so I swapped the ones at the water pump and rad but it still does the same. Anyways she is up and running great so I can't complain. Here are some pics. I just got these wheels this past weekend. I'll get some more up soon.

 

sweet car. love the color. scann it and find out what the code is. could be a relay or something else completely. oh welcome to the forum.

 

Welcome, the ride looks nice. I'm jealous that you have a 6-speed .

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Welcome to the forum! Good job getting the car up and running, hope you enjoy your stay!

 

Thanks guys. Question though, I'm currently running a Flowmaster muffler (no clue what series as it came with the car: dual exhaust- dual inlet,single out) but I have a Magnaflow 12278 sitting on my parts table. I want a aggressive tone without having to do headers (yet). I plan on cutting my cat out and welding in exhaust pipe as I have no smog regs here. I'm running Super 40's in my LT1 TPI powered K5 Blazer and they sound great but this rig has Doug Thorley full length headers and no cat. Will I be disappointed by the cat removal and will it sound like crap? Which muffler sounds better in these rigs, any sound clips with similar setup and no cat?

 

Check youtube, I'm sure someone has a catless sound clips. Cutting out the cat isn't going to make it sound bad (I guess bad is a pretty subjective word and your version of "bad" may be different from mine...), but it will be more raspy and poppy...

 

Bad as in bad, not cool bad. ????? Yeah that's what I mean. What do you guys think about the clear tail lenses? Not sure if I like them but they were free. I still have the stockers. Any ideas on where to get the plastic shifter plate/housing? I looked at all my local salvage yards but all the Maros & Birds were a dang automatic.!.!.

 

Still have the SES light but it is running great. Turns off right at 180. All gauges read fine and performance is awesome. I took it to get read but the code reader couldn't make contact/read anything.. The guy suggested it might be all the stuff I put into it and might need a reflash on the computer. I'm going to try and reset the computer overnight and go from there. She is running freakin' awesome so I'm not that bothered by the light as it's only on for a few minutes while it gets up to temp.

 

94 is a obd 1.5 so it takes a certain reader to get the codes. it has a obd1 ecu with obd2 plugin. just another surprise from gm on there road to a better system.