1981 Camaro Z28

[MP81]

Got some major headway on the Camaro yesterday (only for about an hour before friends came over) and today (a lot longer than one hour).



Pile of parts, mostly from the right side of the engine bay.


Right side AIR line's front nut had to come off with channel locks...all chewed up. Oh well.



Right side AIR lines, smog pump solenoids and vacuum lines, EFE & lines removed. Manifold unbolted and loose - spark plug heat shields need to be removed so I can pull it out.



The five downpipe/Y-Pipe to manifold bolts came out without an issue. Cut it right behind the cat so I could get that section out. Cutting the tailpipes off behind the mufflers - got the right side out before I called it a day.





Right side AIR lines still on, three nuts are loose, one is rounding off. A/C bracket removed.



Found out why the speedo stopped working this time - end wasn't snapped off at the trans like the last few times...must've fallen on the downpipe (I didn't think it was near it) and melted it.


More work on it tomorrow - hopefully I can get the manifolds off, and the remainder of the exhaust.

[MP81]

Back to work on the car today - more beautiful weather to be outside and enjoy!




Smog pump, pulley and bracket


AIR tubing and lines. Left-hand came out without much of an issue this time.



Full exhaust removed.






This all came out of the inside of the exhaust.


Stock exhaust manifolds




Engine bay, sans manifolds. Cleaned up the passenger valvecover as well. A lot more room just without the AIR setup.






Where the smog pump used to be


No exhaust



Ready for headers

[MP81]

Also - is it odd that I found no gaskets between the manifolds and heads?

A quick search lead me to a topic on TGO where it mentions they don't have gaskets from the factory.

[DynoDave]

Nice progress. Good time to spend some time cleaning the compartment before the headers go in.

I think no gaskets with manifolds is fairly normal for SBCs, from what I've read (although that's limited...I didn't pay much attention to SBCs in particular until about 3 years ago).

[MP81]

Yeah, I'm going to at least try and clean up some of this grime. Can't be spraying a hose in my garage, but brake clean can be (and has been) put to good use. I've also been using using air to help dislodge a lot of shit - which is why I stuffed the spark plug holes and exhaust ports.

That valve cover was practically black with crap before, and now it is all clean. I don't plan on going crazy, but it's at least something to do while I get my gameplan together of how I'm going to tackle the headers.

Yeah, seems like cast iron manifolds and cast iron heads are able to deal with that - at least, until you remove them, that is. Then you need gaskets.

[MP81]

Did a little cleaning with some brake cleaner and my air compressor, at least until I ran out of brake cleaner. Still have more to do once I have more cleaner.

Right side is the cleanest, since I started there.


Fuel pump cleaned off.


Left side was mostly focused on the AC/lines, and a little on the block/head before I ran out of cleaner.

[MP81]

I'm not having much luck finding any kind of O2 extension harness for the 2-pin O2 the car has...reading a little on the CCC Qjet, without an O2 the car will just run rich at idle and part throttle, but WOT will not be affected, correct? I suppose for the purpose of running open headers just to run open headers (would like to get a few WOT pulls in because open headers - driving it anywhere will surely get me pulled over), not having the O2 hooked up won't be the biggest problem in the world.

I could make my own extensions, but I've heard O2s are extraordinarily picky on what kind of wire is used and what not...thoughts?

[MP81]

DynoDave , I blame you.

I Bought six cans of Brakleen today - and used two of them. I walked out of Meijer with six cans of brake cleaner and two 1" thick, 1 lb Ribeyes. How manly of me!

Focused on the left side of the engine and the intake manifold. The latter is mostly blue now - not grime-colored! Obviously the flash makes it look dirtier than it appears in real life.







I think in regards to the O2, I'm going to buy a new O2 and just extend the wire myself. I can't imagine a 2-wire O2 should care too much, and I'll be using 16 gauge anyway.

[DynoDave]

Yeah, lots of blue now. Good stuff.

Simple green is pretty effective too, and easier on paint. And probably a little cheaper than brake clean, and maybe a touch better for your skin and lungs too.

[MP81]

The benefit to the brake clean is the velocity that it comes out at - blasts most of the dirt off without requiring me to really wipe it down in an area I can't reach (or can't get a good effort to do so), and then the compressed air takes care of the rest.

Used another can today (some on the oil pan, and lower on the block), but I'm getting to a point of diminishing returns. Simple green and a good pressure wash or steam clean might not be a bad idea in the future.

Pics without flash today - makes it look more like what your eyes actually see...

[MP81]

Didn't do a lot today, other than getting the headers out into the garage (they've been laying on the floor in our sitting room for about two months now looking all pretty) and taking some comparison shots. I did take a look at the AC bracketry and I'm glad I did, as I needed to order a specific one for headers (stock one is much too thick to fit). Amazon Prime FTW - should be here Sunday.

Manifolds versus long tubes...should make quite the difference...









Got a new O2 sensor which I will need to extend, as well as a new belt which is hopefully the right length now that I don't have a smog pump.

[MP81]

My brother came over yesterday and gave me a hand installing the headers. Was really helpful having an extra set of hands (and eyes) during the install.

The right side wasn't too bad, the left side was a bit more involved - had to disconnect a bunch of the clutch linkage which I need to remember how to reconnect.









The dipstick on the right side is being a bit of a ***** going back in, I still need to reattach the clutch linkage, and put the plugs and wires on the left side - as well as re-mounting the AC compressor. Then I need to reinstall the starter, and lengthen the new O2 sensor's cable to reach the collector. Need to put the plug in the other collector since I'm not using that bung at this time.

[MP81]

I dealt with re-mounting the AC compressor yesterday, now that I got the AC bracket (steel - so I can use it with headers, versus the stock cast iron one). I spent most of the day on the couch (really wasted nearly all of the day), but finally got out to the car at about 7PM. Man, that was a lot more work than I was expecting, and I noticed the compressor is hissing/leaking from between the housing and the back plate that bolts to it - odd, considering they're both cast iron...it's quieter (but still present) if I loosen the top arc bolt...I'm wondering if it's due to the new lower bracket being misaligned somewhat (I'm not sure if it is - it is as far back as it can go, though. Maybe I need a couple washers between it and the AC compressor. I'll mess around with that today.

If I cannot manage to fix it, I'm assuming it'll eventually leak out all of the R12. If that's the case, then I'd be able to disassemble it all and replace the heater core (which currently is bypassed). I then plan on replacing the compressor with the aluminum version which weighs less than half as much. It'll be pricey, sure, but well worth it.

[DynoDave]

Those headers looks pretty slick in there. Nice and tight to the floor underneath too, it looks like.

[MP81]

Yeah - they fit pretty decent. The right-side one is really close to the floor, compared to the left side, but I'm pretty sure that's just due to how the floor is formed. We'll find out once I go to install the exhaust!

I'm just happy they're in (and that they both went in from the top) - just have a bunch of "small" shit to tackle before I can take it out with open headers to...test it...prior to putting the exhaust system on.