Treated myself with a Camaro!

[Pyramid_Head]

Hello everyone.

I recently bought a 92 Camaro RS 25th anniversary edition for dirt cheap. It was originally white, but was probably spray painted black by some young kid long ago. It has power everything, an LO3, 2.73 rear, t-top, and an auto transmission.

So far, i've bought suspension parts to remove all the crusty, old parts decaying underneath the car. I've bough UMI springs, UMI outer sub frame connectors, Heidts inner connectors, kyb agx fronts, kyb rear mono tube shocks, 3.42 rear end from an 02 camaro ss, ls1 front and rear calipers, UMI torque arm, UMI wonder bar, UMI panhard and lca set, UMI lca brackets, new steering links, UMI front and rear sway bars, UMI sbc solid mounts.... i know i'm missing a few more parts, but that's most of it.

Trying to build this camaro to move a little faster, but not fast enough to break my 3.42, or my stock transmission for now.... i may just fix the LO3 to make it reliable, and probably just get a 95 LT1 engine later (cant go too wild cuz of commiefornia dictatorship).

[MP81]

Welcome to the site! Have any pictures of the car?

[Pyramid_Head]

[Pyramid_Head]

I know... i got a very long journey ahead of me.... it runs rough, but it drives.

[MP81]

Definitely looks like a real solid base to start with. I presume it's always been a California car?

[Pyramid_Head]

Yup. Southern California all its life. No rust, but suspension is completely shot. Thinking about starting there, move to paint and body, then focus on the engine and transmission at the end. Always wanted a third gen ever since i was a kid.

[MP81]

Sweet, that'll be a massive help. My '81 has lived it's entirely life (well, up until May-June of 2016 when it made it's voyage across the country up to Michigan) in SoCal, which meant that upgrading the entirety of the suspension was no problem - everything came apart. Removing the exhaust manifolds and the entirety of the exhaust? Never broke a single bolt (even the U-clamps came apart and came off). What an absolute treat.

Meanwhile, my brother's '01 Mustang GT that I did an entire suspension upgrade on this summer, which has spent its life (well, nearly all of it, aside from a brief stint in Denver for a few months) in Michigan, as a year-round car...that was another story. I did a lot of swearing and beating with a hammer. And an air hammer. And a sawzall...and ultimately cutoff wheels.

[Pyramid_Head]

Nice. Hope i can get to fixing it soon. I'm also trying to fix up my house and sell it, so i might not be able to start this project yet til i do that. If i do start it, i'll post up my progress and pics. Right now, i'm just gathering parts here and there. Still need a lot more.... wish me luck.

[MP81]

If it's your thing, that could be a fine project thread here, so others can follow along. I, for one, am always a fan of that kind of stuff.

[DynoDave]

Welcome aboard Al! I had a '91 RS much like your. Fun cars. Sounds like you have quite a stash of parts thus far. All good stuff.

The one thing I don't think I saw mentioned was a "wonder bar". This is a cross-car brace that bolts under the front sway bar mounts, and helps prevent flex in the driver's side front frame rail in the area of the steering box. Without it, cracks can form in the frame rail over time. They were a factory item on IROCs with the 16" wheels. I see your RS has 16s, like mine did. I don't recall from back in '91 if my RS had a Wonder Bar or not. Check under yours, and if you don't see one, I'd add that to the list. Several folks make them. I prefer the one from Lon at TDS.

http://www.top-downsolutions.com/ste...or-firebird-(a

[MP81]

Oooh that's a good suggestion - my IROC obviously had one, but I remember reading about them and it seemed like it was kind of inconsistent what non-IROCs actually got one. Oddly, I think it was a Camaro-only item.

[DynoDave]

It was. My WS6 suspensioned Trans Am with 16" wheels does not have one.

[Pyramid_Head]

Thank you for the suggestion Dave. I bought one from UMI not too long ago.

Still thinking what kind of engine to get. I'm for sure going to keep it sbc. I dont need much power, but i've been reading so many articles and thread builds, that i cant decide. It's mainly going to be a street vehicle, and i'm just going to keep/ rebuild my 4l60 with a better stall (owned too many cars with manual shifting in my younger days). I do have a 7730 ecm i can work with though.

[MP81]

I mean, what kind of limits do you have regarding engine swaps in California?

The article I always return to in regards to 305s (since I have one), is this one: http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/eng...-add-168-rwhp/

Especially handy, because the vehicle is retaining emissions equipment. Could be useful for you, as well, if you can't (or don't want to) move up to something larger than the 305.

[DynoDave]

Yes, if your goals are modest, there are things you can do to get more out of the 305. I plan on keeping my TBI 305, with some upgrades.