Greetings all,

I'm relatively new as far as posting here, but over the years I've lurked the boards numerous times while doing research for whatever was my current project in the few 3rd Gens I've called my own.

When I returned from Korea a year ago I knew I wanted another 3rd Gen and got my hands on a pretty clean 1991 RS which I've worked hard to clean up and keep running. But now I've decided to start a project car, and put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into a build.

After much internal conflict, I finally decided what the hell, and picked up at 1990 IROC-Z from Craigslist... knowing that she had kinks and was gonna take some work. But it should be a fun journey...

Check Out My CA :

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Entire IROC-Z28 Photo Album: [HERE]

Entire Rally Sport Photo album : [HERE]

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Day 1 : [Post] // [Album]

Day 7 : [Post] // [Album]

Day 14 : [Post] // [Album]

Day 21 : [Post] // [Album]

Days 22-60 [Post]

June 2013 [Post]

July 2013 [Post] (Link Not Working For Some Reason)

 

1991 Rally Sport To-Do List

- Replace Trunk Motor

- Replace AIR Injector Pipes / Valves [Driver's Side Replaced]

- Finish Replacing Interior (Driver seat redone, have material for other 3)

- Replace Radiator Fan Shroud

- Touch Up Body Plastic / Paint

- Fix / Replace AC system

- Decide Whether To Put Stock Rims Back On Car

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1990 IROC-Z To-Do List

- Prep Body For Paint

- Repaint Entire Car (Theoretically Jambs And Engine Bay Included)

- Replace Entire Interior (At some point in the future)

- Fix Exhaust

- Fix Dash , No Gauges Currently Read Correctly

- Fix / Replace AC system

- Find Fog Lamps

- Replace Hood Louvers

- Replace Sun Visors [Part Ordered]

- Fix Looseness In Steering Column

- Fix Passenger Rear Seat Not Lining Up Correctly

- Fix Rear View Mirror

- Find Dome Light Cover [FIXED]

- Fix Side Markers / Running Lights [FIXED]

- Fix Engine Bay Light [FIXED]

- Replace Air Filters [FIXED]

- Replace Washer Fluid Reservoir [FIXED]

- Remove Tint From Back Window [FIXED]

- Retint Back Window

- Replace Center Console Lid [Part Arrived]

- Replace Door Handles, Interior Driver's Handle Broken [Part Arrived]]

- Replace Door Panels [Part Arrived]

- Replace Passenger Seat [Part Arrived]

- Replace Coolant Reservoir [Part Ordered]

- Replace Wiper/Cruise Lever and Find Out Why Highbeams Dont Click On [Part Arrived]

- Replace Rear IROC-Z Badge [Part Arrived]

- Replace Dash IROC-Z Badge

- Acquire Correct Rims For '90 [Got Rims, Gotta Clean Em Up And Put Em On]

 

This Post Reserved For Future Use / Notes / Etc

Headliner Set:
[$340 New] [$164 New DIY]

Full Weatherstripping Set
[$160 New]

Door Panels
[$190 New Pair]

Fog Lamps
[$305 New]

Louvers
[$170 New Pair]

90 Center Caps
($56 EA New) ($47 EA New)

Stero Trim Panel
[$15 New][$13 Pre-Owned]


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How To Restore Interior Carpet And Plasitc : (Click)

Door Panel Removal : (Click)

Steering Column Dissaseembly : (Click)

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Parts Car : (Click)

 

DAY ONE

Bought the IROC, drove her home, parked it and started taking pictures of everything. I'll try to take as many pictures as possible during the work that I do... and document accordingly.

The IROC looks great and sounds great from about 20 feet away, but once you get close you can see some of the defects in the paint, chipping and peeling, and worn interior etc.






The engine bay was pretty damn dirty, and I found quite a bit of debris in the corners and behind the lights... leafs, dirt, twist ties, screws, a few Dorritos chips... you know, the usual. So the first thing I did was get to scrubbing under the hood to get a decent assessment. For the most part the engine seems strong, its got some old headers and is quite powerful, but I'd like to put some work into cleaning it up and maybe some new headers when I can.


I also vacuumed, dusted, and wiped down the entire interior and gave it some air fresheners to get that "some one elses car" smell out. The interior is ok for the most part, but theres some problem spots.
-Passenger seat worn, seat belt feed held on with glue /screws
-Dome light cover gone, passenger visor gone, driver visor needs to be replaced
-Some parts of the interior were cracked when PO installed kicker and amp in the trunk

And finally, I set about to scraping tint as the sun went down. I at least wanted to square up the tint because the jagged / peeling line bugged me when looking in the rearview. Eventually its all coming out, and will be retinted.

 

Looks like a great start... congratz... do you have any pics of interior and engine?

 

Yes sir, was throwing as updating some of the stuff above.

A full photo album of both cars is in the second post, and those URLs with auto update as I add more pictures.

IROC Pics can be found [HERE]

 

DAY SEVEN

One week later and its finally the weekend again. Work had been hectic all week, and plans that had been in place prior to me buying a car on a whim kept me from getting too much done during the week. However I was able to get several of the things I'm going to need ordered, or bought from people on the site and put in the mail.

With the 2nd Annual Nor Cal Cruise To Santa Cruz on the horizon, Friday was to be a day of cleaning and detailing. So out came the cleaning supplies and I got to work on both cars. Scrubbing anything and everything I could, washing them, cleaning all 8 wheels, and waxing.



Once the cars were all shiny and pretty, I headed out to the junkyard to get myself dirty. Dug around quite a few totalled 3rd gens, mostly just seeing what they had and if it was worth going back. Din manage to snag a few things here and there, and I actually found a black and decker cordless drill that someone forgot in the trunk of an 88 IROC when they were ripping parts off it.

As the sun went down I got bored and went back to work on the IROC, nothing major just busy work. New washer fluid tank installed. Replaced the running lights that had blown out. And pulled the drivers door panel off to see why it wouldnt open from the inside.



Well, at least I know why it wont open now. I'll be on the hunt for new door panels as well, the ones I have arent horrible, but they werent removed correctly before so the holes at the top have been ripped out.

After the first week she's cleaned up, waxed and polished, has all working lights now, a washer reservoir that can hold fluid, slightly less horrid looking tint in the back window, door panels removed to fix the handles, and quite a few parts on the way.

 

man I LOVE that blue! awesome.

 

Thank ya. When I repaint it, I'll be going back to the same factory Blue Metallic

 

Got the rims I needed today. My plan to borrow someones Xterra fell through, so I had to work some magic...but as it turns out you can in fact fit four wheels with tires into a third gen camaro.

Who knew...

 

Serval parts came in the mail yesterday, and I spent some time in O'Riellys with my checklist.... so either over the holiday, or in this coming weekend I'll be able to take care of a few minor issues.

- Center Console Lid

- Interior Dome Light

- Engine Bay Light

- Replacing old/missing screws and fasterners thoughout

- Clean and polish newly acquired rims

I still need to rip the colum apart and find out why it has so much play, and to find out why the highbeams wont click over.

And of course its not even been a week yet and both cars could use another bath.

Busy Busy.

 

[Edited]

 

I gotta say. This is one of the beat, as far as layout and format, project threads I have seen. Good job.

 

Firstly, thanks for your interest, and your compliment.

Secondly, I've actually been planning on making things more organized... So since its too hot to work on the car at the moment, I'm working on a better system for this thread.

-Tinkers with thread-

 

Day Fourteen

With a busy work schedule, and the fourth of July holiday I've been busy and havent got to do much mechanically to the car, but I have been able to get a bit of the cosmetic work done, as well as getting my hands on more parts and tools that I need.

I've also gotten quite a little stockpile building up of new parts waiting to go on the car, and old stuff that Im pulling off.

And every on my mind I've been doing research on what I'd like to do with the engine and exhaust as well as the paint, and trying to figure out which order I want to do those two major projects in.

I spent quite a bit of time over the past week scrubbing areas inside the car, as well as inside the engine bay... and spent quite some time scraping the bad tint out of the back window, its almost all out of there now.

Heres some more pics,



Folded up paper and cardboard wedged in the door underneath the window sweeps.
Found coupons with expiration date 30Jan02, so it would seem they've been there for a bit.





Out comes the scrub brush and hose.



Most of the crud scrapped out of the back, still need some work.



Fronts dont look too shabby.

 

sub'd

 

Day Twenty One

I've started work on the interior of the car, cleaning up what I can, and started taking the seats out. I've discovered that the passenger rear seat doesnt line up with the anchor correctly and trying to figure out why. Underneath the seats (the rear in particular) was utterly disgusting, it shows that at least one of the previous owners had a kid, the carpet isnt too bad off but there was tons of stuff dropped and spilt in the rear seats.

I've also started minor repairs on the door panels and the door handles. As well as some other the other pieces of the interior that are separating or broken.

All of the tint is finally out of the rear window, so not only does it not look like garbage, I can actually see out the rear view now...

Door handles have finally arrived, so I'll be able to repair the divers door and get the panel back on. Trying to decide if I should actually put the panels back on or if I should just leave em off and push further towards pain prep.

[Photo Album]




DOOR PANEL BEFORE




DOOR PANEL AFTER


>




DOOR HANDLE BEFORE



DOOR HANDLE AFTER


>




TINT GONE

 

Between optometry appointments to get cleared for laser eye surgery... and getting wisdom teeth yanked out on Wednesday... doesnt look like I'll get to much done this week.

Think I'm mostly going to spend it doing research, finding parts, and getting some rest.

We'll see what I end up doing.

 

Replace Dash IROC-Z Badge...
What is wrong with your emblem?

 

Slowly but surely coming along. Slow isnt a bad thing, it gives you plenty of time to change your mind multiple times lol. Ive already changed plans for my IROC and I dont even have it yet.
Its all about the quality, it may suck as far as threads go rushing will inevitably lead to mistakes.

 

You cant tell from the pictures but its peeling / starting to come apart, so I'll be gluing it but if I can get my hands on one in good shape, I'd like to do so.

I don't intend for a lot of my "guerrilla glue fixes" to be permanent. For now I'm going through and doing a bunch of temporary fixes while exploring the car and finding issues ... and once I move into major restoration I plan on doing things right.

For example I've tightened the door handles all the way around, and about to replace the broken handle with a used one I just bought, but once I move into painting the handles will be removed, sanded, repainted and then put on the car.

 

So its been a bit since an update, but between wisdom teeth getting yanked (and then having bone spurs on my upper jaw), prepping for lazer eye surgery, tons of work, and lots of other stuff going on I've been too busy to make updates.

I have been getting work done on the cars, and do have some pictures to upload, but would rather do when I have the time to do it organized.

Trying to decide if I should keep the IROC driveable, or start some major ripping projects on it, and prep to pull the motor. Hmm.

 

Also, heres a crappy cell phone photoshoot of the RS.

[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]

Particullary fond of the first and third pictures myself, but the shots arent too terrible considering I just got bored Sunday afternoon and went for a drive, pulled over and took some cell phone pics.

 

what kind of project on the motor are you thinking? you gonna sell me those 85-87 rims?

 

 

Just got my laser eye surgery on Monday, shacked up in bed with all the windows blacked out... can't look at phone too long.

Pulling engine for a tear down and clearing... new valve covers and new headers for sure and replacing anything else I find ghat needs it.

I got no problem selling ya the rims, but they will still be on the car till my new Ines are polished and oowder coated. I'm currently looking to find a shop to do so...

Thank ya thank ya ... appreciate it, trying to keep things organized and easy.



Sorry about any typos, will edit when I can see. Nap time

 

Awesome job so far. Your '90 looks like my '89. Love those colors. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

 

Finally up and moving around. I've been back at work this week, and things have been hectic. But im uploading all my pictures, and typing up what little progress I've made in the last two weeks.

In the meantime, here's a pic in the same spot that the RS was.

 

Day Sixty(Ish)

As explained in previous posts, I've not got to work on the cars as much I wanted due to several surgeries. I had work on my wrist, wisdom teeth pulled, and laser eye surgery three consecutive weeks in a row... all around fun times.

But anywho...



Tinkering Under The Hood Of Both Cars



Tack Welded AIR Injection Pipe On The RS

[Pic Deleted -- Sorry]

Out With Old, In With New

[Pic Deleted -- Sorry]

A Few Dozen Curse Words Later

[Pic Deleted -- Sorry]

~


So I spent a few hours one weekend replacing the AIR Injector pipes on the RS because one had been broken and welded back onto the valve... figured good a time as any to replace both sides. Apparently they're a super giant pain in the butt, and I wasnt expecting it to take so long. And once I got the one side on, the valve still dont look like its on all the way, tons of thread still showing but the damn thing wont budge any further.

Been working on rewiring a lot of things under the hood of the IROC. Dont have pictures, but its not anything worth showing really. P.O. just kinda ran things easy, instead of taking the time to do it right. So the wires going to the sub and amp in the back were everywhere... and the ignition cables dont have the little plastic guides to keep them organized. Which has resulted in one of them touching the headers and melting... Joy.

I bought a complete new set of ignition cables for the RS, and I'm going to get new spark plugs for it soon as well. Will do the same for the IROC soon enough as well, but will prolly just wait till the engine is out of the car and make it way easier.

Time to start looking up body shops in Nor Cal, and doing research / pricing... I'd like to start tearing the IROC down before it gets too cold. Otherwise I might just end up tinkering all winter and pulling the motor next spring.

 

On an unrelated note, I've been acquiring free / cheap car audio parts for helping coworkers move and other random favors. So trying to decide if I'm going to use some of it in either car.

2ea Audiobahn AWC10Q Speakers
400W Pioneer Sub in box with Pioneer Amp attached
Powerbass ASA400.2 2 Channel 800W Amp
MTX Audio JackHammer Sub in box
Assorted Speaker Boxes / Wires / Carpet


So ... hooray for stuff

 

Any new updates?

 

I love how those wheels look. Just hate the big ugly wheel weights. Nice progress.

 

Any updates? I think you should put the stock rims on the RS

 

Had a lot going on recently with work and otherwise.

Have a fair amount of pics to upload at some point. And details or work done and problems that have arisen.

Moving into a new place on Friday of this week... and will finally have a two car garage to throw them in and work on em.

Working on front end / engine in the RS. Rear end of the IROC went out but I knew it was coming and have most of the parts I need.

 

Any updates?

 

Bah. Lots of catching up to do.

Heres a quick summary, and ill edit this to be more organized later:

The rear end went out on the IROC, which I knew was coming, shes destined to be torn down anyway. But what I wasn't expecting was two weeks (mid November) later for the RS to randomly die at a stop light and just not start back up. At this point I had already began the process of getting out of my apartment and into a house, some place with a garage, so that I could start work on the IROC project. So unfortunately both cars sat dead at a friends place so that I could get everything moved to the house (while at the same time pulling 12 hour shifts at work for an inspection that was coming up)

Long story short, a huge nightmare.


Eventually got moved in, and towed both cars to my place and started work on the RS to get my daily driver back. Details below.

 

6 Month Mark

As mentioned in previous post, at this point I've moved into a new house, and both cars are currently dead in the water.

Need to get work done on the RS so I can get back to using it as daily driver. I have a few pictures of the work that I did, however its all on my old phone and I'll have to upload them later.

But for now a quick summary:

Rally Sport



- New Distributor and Rotor

- New Timing Chain

- New Spark Plugs (8)

- New Spark Plug Wires (8)

- New Oil Pan

- New Oil Filter + Oil

IROC-Z28

- Moved Into Garage

- Cleaned Out and Prepped For Work



I've also acquired a tool box full of tools (though some of them have seen better days) from my father, as well as a rusty as hell engine stand.
So will be taking the grinder to that thing as I can and hit it up with a new coat of paint in preparation for the engine being pulled.

 

June 2013

IROC was pulled into the garage at the beginning of April. In June work started slowing down a bit and I got to work on it.

Rear Hatch Comes Off First



Out Comes P.O.'s Ghetto Subwoofer



Taillights And Rear Bumper Off




Starting To Remove Interior And Carpet

 

July 2013

Engine Stand Sanded And Painted, New Jack, and New Creeper



Seats, Interior Plastic, And Headliner Out



Console And Dash Pad Out



I Could Build A Camaro In My Den



Nose And Front Bumper Come Off Next





Everything Gets Cleaned Before Storage



Will summarize in text when I have more time. For now I have bloody knuckles, and an empty stomach... so off to find some food... then probably time to start yanking things from the engine bay.

 

Awesome job so far. Can't wait to see more soon! Best to you on your projects.

 

 

Man, I really LOVE that "night shot", reminds me of many "good times", when I was still young, 25 years ago. Looking forward to more, as your project progresses !

 

Thanks man! Glad to hear.

Took a week of leave from work, and just been tinkering in the garage for most of it. Would really like to see the engine out of the IROC by this weekend..but we'll see how it goes.

 

I know that terrible "sinking feeling" when car projects stall, for whatever reason ( mine was usually money ), and that "hopeless/helpless" feeling comes knocking . . .

It's good that you took some time to "get your sanity back" . . . Draw strength and encouragement from your fellow "car guys" on ThirdGen !!!

You WILL finish this, as soon as you are able, and it WILL be AWESOME, when COMPLETED !

Good Luck !

 

So what ever happened with the rebuild?