CrimsonDragon

Great story!!! We were virtually homeless a couple years ago and still managed to keep our IROC. We got healthy and are so glad to have kept it. We tried to let her (my wife calls her pretty girl) go but our little boy wouldn't allow it. We have had it since 90, bought it from our friend, with a couple 1000 miles, who ordered it in 89 and have so many memories that we constantly are reminded of. Best one was when our son was 8 months old, we raced a 69 Firebird on the way to the grocery store, (won) and when we we got to the store our son was laughing his little butt off, smiling from ear to ear. Come to think of it, he was probably conceived in our IROC!! Glad you got your baby back.

911rsq

Thanks....It's cool you got to keep yours too. I know what it's like to be broke......it SUX. Welcome to the boards by the way....

82knightrider

iTrader: (1)

mac n cheese time baby

911rsq

I plan on keeping this updated as best I can. I have several projects going right now, so keep an eye on all of them. The 2.8L is gonna be coming out for sure. I loved that little engine, but if I am gonna rebuild it up the way I always wanted, the midget engine has to go....
I am gonna go down and pull the rest of the interior tonight and hopefully get some good pics of ALL of the DynaMat that we installed years ago when she was an SPL car....

911rsq

I finally got to go down and work on the ol' Roach the other night and it was sure fun. I started by pulling as many of the panels that I could get to with the hatch locked down (the guy I bought it back from lost the keys and the battery is missing, so no hatch pop). The kick panels, rocker plates, most of the center console, radio and bezel, gauge bezel, sunvisors, and the beginings of the door panels came off, as well as the tail lights (already unbolted), the rear trunk panel (unbolted as well) and all the screws and bolts were gathered up. I left the doors propped open for a while and she really aired out. I could even sit in it and not gag for like a whole 30 seconds......Darn mice!
I got to looking around it and this guy really started to unbolt everything on her. The front bumper cover was pretty much loose, and the rear cover was gone. The ground effects are almost ready to come off and most of the screws were gone in the interior. I pulled a few of the decent parts from under the hood and put them up in storage with the rest of it as well.
I was a little concerned for anything that wasn't bolted down, as when I got down there to work on her, the driver door was opened and the hood was popped. Someone had been peeking at my girl....
I plan to get a battery down there on my days off (Monday-Wednesday) and pop the hatch and pull ALL of the interior out and put it all in storage. All the extra parts bolted on will prolly come off as well. I can see now that I am gonna need both doors, pass side fender, drivers side (or both) quarter panel, new hood, front and rear bumper covers, and 91-92 style ground effects just to get the body back into shape.

Pics are soon to follow, as the progress begins!!!!!

92 Formula

iTrader: (2)

Great story. I'll keep checking back on this one.

I sold my '92 Formula in 1996 so I could buy my '97 SS. I didn't think I would miss it, but I did. In February of 2000 I caught wind that my old Formula was for sale and I bought her back. I felt really lucky to be able to do that.

91rsowner4life

man where doyou keep your cars? i hate to know some one has been looking throught my stuff when i am not around.
i lock up my car any time i cant look out and see it. but i cant weight to see some pics

911rsq

My dad owns his own business and we have 5 acres behind it that we turned into storage units. It is parked there with my other "projects." It really pi$$ed me off a little, but I knew there really wasn't anything worth taking out of her. It's principle I guess.... Code38 is locked and under watchfull eye at all times. Even at work it sits where there is a camera on it . I have 3 days off coming up on Monday, so pics are really soon to follow...

911rsq

It really is a great feeling to get them back. I just hope I can get it all done and show worthy. I think I have some really high expectatioins for this one...

sub_limek

never let em go ever

911rsq

911rsq

Update time!!!!!! This year has been full of ups and downs of all types and I really didn't get to do much with ANY of my cars this year. I've been off the boards for about the last year because of all of it. The ol' lady moved out and I worked nearly 3000 logged hours this year....hence, the ol' lady movin out.... Anyways, priorities changed, and I've decided to go ahead with things in life that I want to do....
Plans are in progress and parts are enroute for the true love of my life. I put Code38 up for sale if any are interested to help fund this "little" project. I've always been a speed junky and have decided to take that to the next level. 150mph scared me enough and to the point that I needed to go faster. The original plans were for a stout little small block and to make her "street fast." Those plans are long gone (along with my budget)!

I went down and took my prelimenary project photos...the "before"'s if you will.






As you can tell...time has taken it's toll. I have aquired 2 mint OEM quarters to fix the small spots on these that need some help. The rest of it is pretty much EBay bound. The interior (black and for sale) is all coming out and the doors, hood, fenders, rear hatch and bumpers are gone too. She's getting a complete fiberglass makeover courtesy of VFN fiberglass. New fiberglass nose, with hood, doors rear bumper and 91-92 style lightweight fiberglass ground effects. All the glass will be replaced with lexan and she's getting a full 14+ point chrome moly cage, an LS2 6.0L w/T56 and TONS of Sphon chassis parts.....she's getting built to the hilt!!

200mph is no longer a goal, it's a number on a timeslip that will soon be mine!

911rsq

A full project budget is in progress and will soon be posted up....some will faint...i know i almost did. This will not be a cheap toy. It's gonna be built with the best in safety and performance to do what she's designed to do.

Anyway's...it's 5 in the morn and I gotta get to bed so i can go to work today at 2pm. I'll try to throw up more of the plan tomorrow or the day after depending on the sleep schedule this week..... please let me know what you all think. I'm pretty open on good ideas. The major components are pretty set but I am willing to look at others as nothing major is purchased yet. I've built and worked on a lot of different cars in my time, but this is going to be the most extensive makeover by far and any ideas are very welcomed.
thanks all

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

Good to hear you got your car back. My dad has an '88 firebird formula 350 that he needs to get rid of...But, I get my license in a month and I am going to buy it from him really soon for 3500. It is all modded and everything. It hasn't been smogged since 2004. I sat in it the other day with it idling and music came on. I remember that music from 2001 (I was 10) when he got the car. It brought back alot of memories. I can wait to drive it soon. I know that he doesn't want to sell it and I don't want him to sell it. So I am going to buy it and get it painted and get the interior reupholstered. Ahhh, so many memories of him racing people and messing around. I can't wait.

91rsowner4life

nice to hear an update that will be one nice car when finished

911rsq

Another long night at work leads to no time to play on the boards, but just for a sec.....
Bullydawg - that's cool that you will be building up your dad's car. i would give up all of my rides to find one of my dad's old cars and build it up and give it back to him. good luck on the build up. it's a long slow process so don't get discouraged.

As for the ol roachster....
the basic plan is for an all out road race car that is streetable enough to get me to and from local car shows and to and from hotels at car shows that she gets trailered to. The car is going to be expected to be able to run AND sustain 200mph for at least short distances. The fiberglass and lexan will be from VFN Fiberglass from up near Chicago. I've seen several hoods from them and have been impressed with all of them. They sell a complete front clip which includes the fenders and bumper cover assembly as 1 piece. I will also be getting doors thru them and the rear hatch and rear bumper cover and side ground effects. All glass will be replaced with scratch resistant lexan. The interior will be stripped to the basics. A Kirkey 20degree road racing seat will be secured to the 14+ point roll cage and integral subframe connectors and will sit in an empty interior, who's only factory looking part will be the shell of a 91-92 dash that will be holding the gauges, switches, and computer components. Dragging this along will be an LS2 based 6.0L that will turn a custom build T56 with some talllllll gears. This will all be set on a complete compliment of Spohn suspension and chassis parts. This will def be a multi year project and I will post more as I have it. First step is bringing the old girl home to the garage and stripping her down. I'll post some of that as it happens....prolly after the holidays.

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

It is in good drivable condition, it is all one color, it just has some chips and some rips in the interior. If you want, I can post pics of its current condition. It isn't bad at all.

911rsq

yeah, throw a couple up here.... again, as you can see on my posting time, it's well into the morning and i just got home from work.....apparently saving lives and stomping out disease takes a lot of time these days! i should be getting off work at 11pm tomorrow so i will try and post up my "budget" that I had made out.....

OUTATIME GTA

iTrader: (2)

Wow, timing is impecable for me to come across this thread.
I JUST posted a similar story to this as the opportunity has presented itself for me to buy my first car and I am debating what to do.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/west...uy-my-1st.html

911rsq

i posted one up in your thread....BUY IT!!!!!!!!!

BruceEmbry

HI,
I know what you are feeling. When my 82 Bird got hit in 2002, I decided to keep her and return her to her glory days. Well in one month on Jan, 26, 2007 I will have had my 82 Firebird for 25 years. She not the same anymore, under neath she build like a brick ***** and inside its still 1982. She's my special girl and is taken very good care of.

88 350 tpi formula

iTrader: (9)

I have been thinking off and on about buying a bolt on hood from them. not that I need it but a fiberglass hood would be a nice weight saver on these tanks we call cars

911rsq

i've seen a lot of hoods from a lot of manufacturers....most out there are junk. Harwood and VFN are some of the nicest i've seen for fiberglass for our cars. CrazyN8 bought a pin on hood from VFN last year and I was REALLY impressed with it. I've been checking out dif pics of fiberglass front clips for 3rd gens and i've not been too impressed with Harwood. It looks close, but there is no doubt that something's been changed on the front of the car. the VFN front clips that i have seen have been pretty much spot-on and if you didn't walk up and tap on it, then you wouldn't know that it was all fiberglass.
----------
Here's the clip I'm going to order soon....hopefully!

maroon85

i would put her back the way she was, the way you remember her, find another camaro to do that stuff to, if that car has as much sentimental value as you make it sound, you'll regret it later, a few mods are ok, just don't go ape-****.... -just my 2 cents

911rsq

Honestly, just before I sold the car I thought a whole lot about going that route. I thought that I would just keep her (as she wasn't really costing me any money, only storage space) and fully restore her to original condition. While she was gone I bought my '91 Z28 that is lovingly reffered to as Code38 that you see in my sig. I've put tons of time and money into putting that car back to DEAD STOCK. It was fun restoring it and tracking down the parts and going that route on a car that was that close to begin with, but I don't think I'm up for that challenge on this ol' girl. The day I bought the Roachster I had dreams of making it a 91-92 Z28. It's an '89 V6 RS. I wanted to put the big motor, the 5-sp trans and the hood louvers and wing, and the vented ground effects...... Well, as fate would have it, I already own that car. It's sitting in my driveway right now, so I don't have to build it (minus the 5-sp of course....she's a 5.7L car).
Stock has been fun on that car, but I'm a "modder". Stock always has it's place, but I look at it another way. I have an opportunity to create something that I have ALWAYS wanted, and am going to be able to do it with a car that I really LOVE! It wasn't the door panels and the center console and the factory 15" wheels that I fell in love with on this car. It was all the experiences that happened in and around her. Making my dream car out of my baby girl, to me, isn't destroying it. It is giving a car that long ago could've headed to the crusher a new lease on life and the opportunity to be one of the best out there.

Sure it would be cool to go back to stock and I really do respect that opinion because I've been there and done that. I've got that car. This car has always meant something different to me. It was probably always about the freedom that it gave me when I was 16. Now it's many years later and I'm getting that opportunity to have that freedom again and I think that I'm going to take this car and make it something above and beyond what I could have even dreampt of at 16...........

AaronIROCZ

iTrader: (5)

I know exactly how you feel!!!!

911rsq

I wish i spent as much time finishing my projects as i do typing about them.......(prime example)!~ Hopefully we're going to get Project Free Cavalier out of my garage sometime tomorrow, and ol' Code38 is going into dry storage tomorrow too, until someone buys her, so hopefully the garage will be opened up then. 1/2 a day to clean and re-organize and I may just have her home by the NewYear!

911rsq

Well, the New Year has come and gone. A few things changed, like I sold my '92 RS that I bought last year. I had to get that one into the garage from storage to pull the MSD and to change the wheels out. Work was busy as usual, so I didn't get her in by New Years. GOOD NEWS tho! Project Cool Cav is outside ready to be picked up and since the '92 RS is gone, the Roach FINALLY got to come home and sleep in the garage tonight!!!!! 2 close friends helped out TONS today by helping me load it up and get it here, and then the other, who shares nearly all of my memories of this car helped me tear her down tonight. He and I are best friends from WAY back. We laughed for 4 hours about the stupid crap we used to do with this car. Amongst all the stories, we got some work done, too. The doghouse came off (minus the front bumper bar......see pics below for why the bumper is still attached), the radiator and fan, the coolant and washer reservoirs, the wiper motor and wiper trans, the hood, a lot of the wiring, the side ground effects, and a little bit of the interior came out as well. It has rained for the last 2 days, so everything was muddy and covered in muck, so everything was slow going. Hopefully it will be dried out by tomorrow (another day off) and I will be able to get some more done.

911rsq

So here are some pics of tonights adventures. We were pretty tied up tearing it all apart, and it was filthy, so no "in-progress" pics tonight, but I will be doing that as I go on with the project. This is the aftermath.....

911rsq

Here's the front bumper carnage...... As you can see, the front bumper and frame horn are kinda tweaked from my close encounter with a traffic light YEARS ago. The bolts holding the bumper bar on the driver side are as curved as a banana (sp?). The bar itselft is bent back and the frame horn is a little crooked...will all be fixed soon tho. We also accidentally cracked the he11 out of the headlight bar that was in mint shape as we pulled the fenders out to clear the front as we took them off

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

I still need to post pics of my car...I forgot about them. I just took some, I just need to resize them and upload them.

911rsq

so i got all of the bumper bolts out, except the one in that last pic on the bottom. that bolt is pretty bent up. probably torch time for that one. I started work pulling the interior last night too. 5 years out in the elements sure makes em smell nice. Hopefully the the carpet and seats will be out soon and that should help eliminate some of that. The dash is about 1/4 of the way out, console's gone, parking brake arm is locked up. Rear seats to come out tonight, along with the fronts and hopefully the carpet. If I can get some power, I will get the hatch opened up too and remove most of the plastics........
----------
speaking of which.....does anyone have any good ideas on how to open the rear hatch if there is no key and no power (just in case)?

911rsq

Front seats out, lower rears followed, took out inner seat belts, undid rear seat from mount, pulled carpet, crawled in the back, "hotwired" rear hatch to open it and removed rear carpet tonight. The carpet has def been the home to a few mice, which is no surprise seeing where the last owners "stored" the car. The smell coming from the carpet was almost unbearable. It's been removed and dumpsterized.
Here are a few shots from during cleanup tonight.

As you can see, the front is nearly gutted. Also, there is plenty of Dynamat from back in my stereo install days. Anyone have any good ideas on how to remove several layers of Dynamat Extreme????

The back is covered too!

The dash is coming out next!

Anyone need a decent set of black door panels with custom speaker holes cut in them?

If all that Dynamat wasnt there, you could see how good of shape the floorboards are in.....

911rsq

Pulling Dynamat is fun
While pulling the Dynamat in the rear I realized that the VIN sticker on the rear hatch was falling off as it was stuck to paint with some rust under it. I finally got it to come off. I had to clean the pic up a little as it was pretty dark on the right side. I think I am going to save all of these stickers as I remove items and then reinstall them all back in the car when it's done. Not out in the open, but just so they all stay with the car.....

911rsq

Alright, 2 hours later and progress can be seen on the Dynamat, but I sure hope it comes up quicker as I get closer to the front. This is about 3 hours worth of work....a lot of goofing at the same time. I work the next 2 nights, so will get a few hours in on it, but hopefully on my Friday night (Saturday) I will get some long hours in peeling this stuff up and it will be done.

911rsq

No real work on the car in the last 2 days. Work is eating up life. Getting the extra parts cleaned and ready sale is the rest of it. I have the next 3 days off, so hopefully a lot of progress thru then. I will keep it all posted up.....

911rsq

so about 12 hours worth of work later and I'm to the half way point of dynamat removal......
all of the rear hump area is removed, the frame rail sections that protrude into the well area are cleared off, the spare tire area, and the back panel area are all cleared off now, as well as half of the area behind the rear seat. the driver side is left to do and then the pass side floorboard and under the pass side rear seat, then all of it will be gone.
hopefully at that point it will be just warm enough to get it outside so i can use some chemicals to get the left over residue removed and then hose the ol girl out a little.......it's filthy.
at that point it's coming back in the garage and all of the factory seam sealer is coming out....
until then.....

Alpha 1 [BAI]

man thats sweet to get back your first ride. i only wish i could get mine back. it was an 89 s10 rusted with spots of paint and a blown engine. bought it when i was 11 dropped an engine in (2.8 nuttin special) turned it into show quality and only have two pictures of it that are lost from a move. saw it a while ago with a 350 with another man holden her tight.
it hurts... but six cars later ive learned my lesson, so just try to pry this 89 rs away fom me


thanks for the trip down memory lane

alpha 1

911rsq

That's what I thought when I saw that I could get this ol' girl back.... now she's here and I'm puttin the time/money into it that I should have the first time.

Alpha 1 [BAI]

i wish you the best of luck my friend. hope to see more pics soon
ill be follawin

911rsq

I spent a few hours tonight removing quite a bit more Dynamat and then the rear interior panels and the factory seatbelts that will not be reused. The back is about finished in the Dynamat area and the only have the bottom of the well area and the pass side floorboard to complete then my Dynamat nightmares are over....... Once that's done, then it's on to the fun stuff of removing the dash and engine/trans combo....

911rsq

For a little change up from pulling Dynamat, I decided tonight would be a good night to go ahead and start removing some of the factory seam sealer that is globbed all over the car. I decided an angle grinder and a nice wire wheel would do the trick. My pick for wire wheels for this task is actually called a knotted wire cup. Here is the best pic I could find for an example...

This did an AWESOME job of removing all of the factory seam sealer where I started. It practically disappeared. It seemed that it was creating a lot of smoke and I thought it was just getting the seam sealer hot and burning some off. What was actually happening is the wire wheel was turning the sealer into a fine mist and throwing it into the air. It did not smell at all, it was just a huge cloud of vaporized seam sealer. Needless to say I stopped, opened the garage door, and let the "cloud 'o' death" escape. I decided that this job was more suitable for outside conidtions with better safety equipment such as dust masks (probably the ones that filter drywall dust for a comparison on partical size) and safety goggles that completely enclose over my eyes and a change of clothes that I could just throw away if ruined by this process. Basically, not much got done on the car tonight, but good plans were made...

ZZ4 86 Z28

iTrader: (1)

wow, what a story. good luck on the resto. i cant believe im tryin to sell mine...its my first car and ive only had it 2 years. you know what...so what if it gets like 7 mpg and breaks down a lot and is probably the worst car in the world for traveling to college. im gonna lose a lot of money on it too if i sell it. i got a great foundation to work on...and its my first car, less than 80k on the body. you just knocked some sense into me like no one ever has.

david068513

iTrader: (2)

i still have my first car the 92 z28 and its beautiful but i wanted to do something that would be my own so because of that and this tread im looking for a project iroc and i found too that i like so we will see what happens

911rsq

I think that there is something very nostalgic about your first car that really gets to you. I think nearly all of these cars deserve to be restored, or at least kept in good enough shape to stay on the road. I'm doin my best to get this one back there. Good Luck!!!!!

911rsq

Your 92 is a beautiful car... (check my sig) I've kept my '91 VERY stock on purpose because that's the way it was when I got it. Sometimes that's just as neat as modified. The '89 RS on the other hand has been beat down a little in her day and I'm not sure I could justify taking it back that route. The modifications continue with this project! Good Luck and keep us updated!!!!

911rsq

Okay, update time. Last night several of my friends came over and we put in a few hours on the car. Most of the engine bay wiring was disconnected and pulled. The rear hatch was unbolted and taken off of the car. The rest of the seatbelts were removed and the upper part of the back seat was removed. The dash was unbolted and laid down on the floorbaord, and minus some wires that I don't want to cut, is pretty much un-installed. We worked pretty hard to remove the doors without cutting wires, but it was getting late so we clipped em and the doors are now sitting on the floor. The steering column that was destroyed when I got her back was also taken out and found its way quickly to the floor.

911rsq

Last night we also got that bent up front bumper removed and the frame horn looks pretty good for the most part. From what I can tell, it's a little bent up, but hasn't really moved at all. I looks like I should just be able to heat it up a little and bend it back into place. Also, the core support just above it is bulged out a little? Probably from the same thing. I think I am going to take some measurements to make sure all is ok, but from what I can see, it doesn't look like anything is twisted or moved. I checked all the way to the firewall for any ripples or buckles in either frame rail and both were clean.

Here is the passenger side frame horn for comparison. It is in great shape.

Here is the drive side.

This is from the drivers side of the drivers side....

Here you can see both of the fram horns and that this one really isn't buckled back any, just bent up on the mounting flange areas. Also, you can see the area just behind the wire loom that is buckled out about 1/2 inch.

Here's another shot of the buckled area on the core support.

I am assuming this area is supposed to be flat, because it is flat on the passenger side? Anyone know for sure?

Alpha 1 [BAI]

well i dont know about how straight its supposed to be but it doesent look like it could be that far off, ive seen worse

92 Formula

iTrader: (2)

I posted that on August 27, 2005 and on October 28, 2005 I traded it and a couple of other things for my '87 IROC-Z 'vert (1 of less than 744). I have no clue where my Formula is this time so I probably will never get it back...

Now I just have to restore the 'vert...