Dan's 1997 Camaro, aka project "NYTRDR"

[DanDalessandro]

Well, I bring good news. The car is fixed by the looks of it! It's puffing out a little white smoke out of the exhaust, but its been sitting for about 4.5 months.
I'd like to give a big thanks to @mcalus for hooking me up with a new shifter boot and ring. Also got a new knob to put on as well.
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I also have a strut tower brace, but it doesn't want to fit. While trying to fit it, I "accidentally" dropped the nut that is on the tower, and lets just say I'd rather just get another one. Anybody know the size on that nut?

Lastly, I'll throw up a video of the car, the exhaust is rattling like hell on wheels, so just ignore that. And the audio volume sucks because it's a 5 year old camera

[mcalus]

Boot looks great! Glad i could hook someone up!

[DanDalessandro]

Well, I will not be driving the car anytime soon. Went to go check on it today. And long story short. Coolant is in the oil, looks like head gasket, or a cracked block/piston head at the worst. Man what a time to be alive.
I don't plan on doing the head gasket. I don't have enough time since I'm in school. School > camaro. Also, I flat out don't think that I can do it alone. I'm only 19, I'm not a pro at any of this...

So... if anybody has any good places in mind, I'll give them a call. The money aspect of it isn't important, just nothing outrageous.
I'm honestly at the point where one side of me considers selling the car, and the other side telling me not to because of how much I have learned off of it.. It sounds stupid, but it has changed my life.. I used to be a couch bum before I bought it.
But I ain't selling it. F that. I've put too much blood, sweat, and tears into to get rid of it.
So, if anybody has some good places to take the car to, let me know. Thanks guys and gals.

[DanDalessandro]

Temp gauge climbed today into the danger zone. Pulled over, no coolant on the ground. Had air in the system though. I'll refill and bleed the system. Don't know why I'm getting air in the lines again.

[s.reef]

New radiator cap?

[DanDalessandro]

That was changed when I did the radiator.
What about the overflow cap? I've never changed the cap on it.

[JoeliusZ28]

If the radiator was recently done this might still be air in the system working its way into pockets and causing this. If so i wouldnt worry quite yet.

[dawdaw]

Go to shobox find the instructions for properly bleeding the coolant system. .. bleed it...

2nd of all I don't know if you have a factory gauge for coolant temp but if you do a lot of them don't read so accurate. ..

Bleed it and throw a leak down tester on it

[DanDalessandro]

Everything is bled, I should be safe for awhile now.

So this is what I did today:
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Just waiting for another batch of LEDs to come in, gotta get a new flasher too because this genius ordered the wrong one. I'm moving away from the blacked out look the PO had.

[DanDalessandro]

Let's change this here...

[DanDalessandro]

Eh, so I whined yesterday. Change of heart. I'm fixing this car once and for all. Not going to shortcut anything.
So give me some moral support.
Putting it under pressure when I get home. Got well over $500 o make this sucker right.

[DanDalessandro]

Funny story, my grandpa had a 55 Plymouth Belvedere. It was his "black beauty" and his first really nice car, which is similar to my case. His car had the pretty much the exact problems I'm having. Leaky coolant, electrical problems. He took it to countless shops, nobody could fix it. Well, I'm not going to run into that, (hopefully).

So checklist:
-Fix leaky coolant
-Fix my electrical problem.

My electrical problem/issue is that I keep having headlights burn out. My driver side light went out around April 2014 if I recall correctly. My passenger side just went out again. I replaced it this past July (2014). So I'm not sure what the heck is going on with it. I've replaced both high beams and low beams, in around a three month time frame. My license plate light was shot, looked like it shorted out. Housing was partially melted, bulb was black and has melted into the socket. Volt gauge in the car is reading 3/4 of the way to max, but I think it just needs a new battery. Curious to know why my headlights only lasted maybe 2 months? Maybe it's time to get a set of unsealed headlights.

[mcalus]

Sounds like you need to just tear into it. Get some buddies over to help you. There is plenty of info on the Web that will walk you right through it.

[DanDalessandro]

Well I found my leaks! They are minor however and I am puzzled to why I found a small puddle. Well they are both heater hoses, so I gotta get em. The one with the bleeder on it is leaking at the coupling, and instead of repairing it, I'm just going to replace it. So, now I gotta call some dealers or find them online

[DanDalessandro]

Getting them from GMpartsdirect, part# is 10261147. $130 at my door in idk how long, don't care. Car doesn't need to be fixed asap! Let's hope this is the be all end all of my problems.