1981 Camaro Z28

[MP81]

Or I turn it into a coffee table.

Even if the wife doesn't like it - what's she going to do, move it?

[JoeliusZ28]

[MP81]

I mean, nobody is going to buy a used California 305, so I might as well turn it into furniture.

And I mean the entire engine. As in, encase fully-dressed engine in glass.

Oooh, that'd be cool in the bar downstairs! Now I'm getting ideas. I'll have to disassemble it, get everything washed/cleaned and repaint the block so it's all pretty, but damn that'd be neat.

[farmington]

I remember taking a bare Mopar 440 iron block down the basement stairs then having to get the whole short block back up. Thank god i was younger back then.

[MP81]

Dammit!

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.c...od/prd1156.htm

Their new RTX series really does a top-notch job of looking completely stock. But I'm not spending another $1300 on gauges.

Plus, me being so particular, I don't like having a redline that wouldn't match the engine eventually going in, so I'm plenty fine with mine.

So, something on my list for spring is to figure out what to do with the top rails on my door panels. I need to put new interior window felts on (I replaced the exterior ones last year, so that's all good as far as the weather-proofing ones), but the stockers are stapled to the plastic top rails of the door panels...

Problem is, as you can probably guess, 38 year-old plastic is extremely brittle...so, I can't even get to the staples to remove them to pull the old felts off.

The obvious solution here would be to buy new top rails...which I would do...except they don't make them. You have to buy a complete assembled door panel to get new top rails, so I'm going to have to figure something out. Whether it means I just break the top edge of the top rails and figure out a way to reinforce the area and put the new felts on, or something similar, I don't know. The whole top rail is covered in the vinyl of the door panel, so it's entirely not visible, so whatever I do can look pretty crude as long as it works.

[DynoDave]

Dammit!

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.c...od/prd1156.htm

Their new RTX series really does a top-notch job of looking completely stock. But I'm not spending another $1300 on gauges.

Damn, those are pretty though.

[MP81]

Yeah they are - this was a new addition to the RTX line - it's really cool what they did with some of the factory "sweep-style" speedos and how they managed to keep that design and add the features of the HDX screens like I have.

They make a top-notch quality product, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one - well worth the cost.

[MP81]

https://www.hotchkis.net/product/che...k=&yr=&md=&sm=

Well that's pretty beastly.

Even cooler - the coilovers are Bluetooth. Here's an article about them at SEMA:

https://www.lsxmag.com/features/sema...rolled-system/

[DynoDave]

It's a nice piece of work. But if you are going to completely redesign the rear suspension, and spend $10k to buy it, wouldn't you want a watts linkage rather than a panhard bar?

[MP81]

That's what kind of surprised me about it as well. Even our Cruze has a Watt's Link.

[DynoDave]

Spring is here, the Rendezvous is fixed (hope)...what's next for the Z-28?

[MP81]

Christ, aside from an actual alignment, hopefully nothing! I'm trying to keep myself from doing something that takes it out of commission for any length of time, though we'll see how the carb behaves.

[DynoDave]

Glad to hear it's close to ready for cruise season.

[farmington]

Need to do an oil change, put on other set of wheels and tires (satin black with DR?s on back), replace and Loctite axle nuts, put on catch can, and up load a 93 octane tune. Hopefully all on one day. One and done.

[MP81]

So thinking about it, besides the alignment, I do have a couple other things to take care of.

Most "importantly" is relocating the cluster's coolant temp sensor to some place that ISN'T the thermostat housing, so I get a coolant reading all the time instead of just when the t-stat opens. . Just need a plug for the current port, and then a few tee-fittings for where it'll be going (as there is a sensor there currently, so it'll need to feed both).

Secondly is the shift knob. While the T-handle looks cool as hell, I really don't find that it works for me. I am thinking I am going to switch to a regular round knob, but I need to decide what color. I'd love the idea of one of those brushed aluminum or stainless ones, as they're very sleek and fit my "theme", but I very much do not love the idea of burning my hand instantly if the car sits outside in the sun at some point. So, I'm thinking either the white of black Hurst knobs with the pattern on it, for classic-ness. The black would match my quest for subtlety, but the white cue-ball is pretty iconic, and also would match up well with my overall-white lighting theme (white LEDs down in the courtesy lights, as well as my cluster is set to a white backlight, for now, at least). The white cue-ball appears to be cheaper, too.