First let me introduce myself, my name is Jason from Utah. I just picked up a 1983 Z28 Camaro. There are some issues to work through, body and more, but overall I think I got a great deal at only $200.

First the bad:
1. It got smacked in the right front corner, and currently doesn't have a fender on it, the side skirt is there though.
2. The front bumper cover needs to be replaced do to the aforementioned accident.
3. The hood has been damaged on the right front corner, I think it may be repairable, but if not I will replace it later on.
4. Currently it does not have a carb on the 350 that is in it. The carb is there but it was reported they were having issues with it. More on this later.
And the good:
1. It has a carb'd 350 in it. I plan to eventually restore the crossfire injection that was, I believe, originally on this car, but upgrade the injectors to power the 350.
2. Very little rust is visible anywhere, and what is there should be fairly easy to repair.
3. Interior is in very nice shape overall, needing only to have the headliner redone, but since this is a t-top it doesn't interfere with my sight lines (I'm 6'4").
4. It was only $200!!!

And now a couple pics, sorry I had already put it into my garage to work on getting it running, so they don't show everything.







The carb problems, I believe, are being caused by this car being an original LU5, which of course had the crossfire injected 305 from the factory. Just a quick look appears to show that when the 350 was swapped in they did not use a pressure regulator. Either that or someone did a lot of work to wrap the fuel line around the back of the engine from a mechanical fuel pump. I had planned to work on it this weekend, but things conspired against me and I didn't get to it. I will get it up in the air tomorrow and take a look.

Right now I know it has been sitting for about 4 years with no carb on it. Although there is some corrosion on the manifold, there doesn't appear to be any water in the oil, and I am fairly confident that the engine will turn over. I will attempt this by hand first, as well as check the fuel delivery system to confirm my thoughts on the carb issues.

Plan is to use this as a driver while I take my 1980 K5 Blazer offline for a major resto. Not sure if any of the pictures will show it, but the t-tops are off because I cannot open the doors with the rust free Blazer tub sitting in my garage. Once the Blazer is done I am planning to do major overhaul to the Camaro, paint, engine, interior, and possibly some custom work to use the hood intake to boost the cool air to the carb, if I cannot find a proper crossfire injection setup.

Anyway, wanted to introduce myself, as I am sure I will have some questions. Mostly just using the search feature here, and finding pretty much everything I need.

 

Right on with the 83, got one myself. Mine as well was a Crossfire and I did a carb swap to it. That pressure regulator you mentioned is a must if you still are running the in tank fuel pump. That pump is designed to push out ample fuel pressure, way too much for a carb. If you need to buy one, go with the Mallory return style one, it's adjustable and works awesome. Also, check to make sure that your return line is still good and that the previous owner didn't block it off. A lot of people think that with this swap you don't need the return line... I don't know why. Goodluck though and nice grab, especially with that Goodwrench 350.

 

Yeah the regulator is my concern. Once I get it in the air today I should be able to verify my suspicions. I hope I am wrong, since money is tight right now, but I will do what needs to be done to get this car back on the road.

As for the 350, I have it's twin in my Blazer, so I figured worst case scenario I can swap it into place if this one won't run. This has the added bonus of giving me an excuse to use with my wife for needing a 383 for the Blazer.

Also have a buddy with a set of original Z28 5 spoke wheels, but I don't yet know if they are the 15" or 16" wheels. If they are 15's I will pick them up and restore the, I believe, original 215/65-15 tires to it. Eventually I will change to wider tires on the rear, but for now the focus is driveability. Unfortunately the original RPO sticker is missing, as are the door jamb stickers. Fairly sure this car was originally white, then repainted black, and the purple was added about 4 years ago. I am not even close to thinking about what color I want, although I really like the bright green the 5th gens are available in.

 

nice looking car, especially for the money. Great find!

 

Great find and welcome.

 

1983 did not have an RPO sticker. There is a data tag attached to the radiator core support.

 

Thanks guys, I think it was a deal that was too good to pass up. Especially when I needed another running vehicle to get on my Blazer project.
I will take a look for this today when I am working on it. Never seen a 80+ GM product without an RPO sticker in the glovebox or center console lid. Thanks for that information, it will make tracking down some of the original information much easier if it is there.

 

Well, just got home from work and took a look. No obvious sign of a data tag on the radiator support, but I didn't spend a lot of time looking. It may be somewhere other than the top of the support, and I haven't had time to inspect enough to be sure.

I do however know that it was an LG4, not an LU5, so no crossfire injection originally. The only way I am certain of this is the vacuum routing tag under the hood that shows a quadrajet carb, and it isn't a 5 speed so no way it was the 305 HO.

There is a mechanical fuel pump, so I am going to attempt to use the carb he had for it, and if I cannot get it to run because of fuel issues I will pull the quadrajet off my Blazer and try it. It is already properly set up to run a 350, so I shouldn't need to make any changes, just swap it over. I know he said he had issue with the carb, but it was running and driving, since he managed to get hit while racing it (stupid kid stuff). Crossing my fingers that I can turn the engine over by hand and try starting it later today.

 

The tag should look like this. The first few years of the thirdgens did not get the sticker. It should be on the core support right in front of the shroud. I actually see it in the underhood pic of your car right next to the AC lines.

 

What is the 8th digit or letter in the VIN? That should tell you exactly what motor it originally had.

 

Yeah, I found that one, but the info on it is so faint I can't make anything out. I will try lightly sanding the top of the stamped lettering to see if I can make any of it out.

As for the 8th digit it is an H which should be the LG4.

Unfortunately the engine that is currently in there is rusted internally from sitting exposed with no carb and nothing plugging the intake opening. Not sure where I am going to go at this point. One option is to fill the cylinders with diesel and let it soak for a couple days, that may get it free. The other option is to pull the engine out of the car and the truck, then drop the truck's engine into the car. The plus to the second option is that I could scrap the engine and probably make back the money I spent buying the car. I could also have it running next weekend, since I can pull the whole front clip off the blazer and it will be wide open to pull the engine. I would just need to get started in the next day or so tearing the Camaro down. If I can keep to a decent schedule, without outside interuptions, I should be able to pull the engine out of the Camaro on Friday, followed by pulling the Blazer engine Saturday and swapping the exhaust manifolds, drop the engine in late Sat and complete reassembly Sun.

 

Welcome aboard lectric80! There is so much to learn here at TGO. Very nice find there, that car is gonna be bad *** when you are done with it I'm sure.

onthedownlow

 

Thank you!

Well, I may still end up pulling the engine, but in the meantime I am going to pull the intake and heads and see if I can hone the rusted cylinder(s). I have done this operation before, with good results, so we will see. Worst case scenario I pull the heads and the cylinders are too bad to fix and I can use the heads on the other engine in the blazer. Right now the blazers heads have some broken exhaust manifold bolts, and the bolt hole for the alternator pivot is egged out. So, these heads can be cleaned up and then used on it if I can't repair the existing engine.

How much of the original CCC stuff can be ripped out? Well I kind of know, I will need a vacuum advance distributor, but what controls the lockup of the torque converter? Is there a vacuum module somewhere, or is it controlled by the computer? If it is computer controlled, is there a way around it? I want to eliminate as much of the wiring that is no longer being used, the CCC is gone replaced with a basic q-jet. Plus I will be stripping the AIR system, and all the extraneous vacuum stuff that I no longer need. The idea is when I get this running the engine compartment should be much neater and easier to troubleshoot.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/torqueswitch

This will manually lock your torque converter, just don't drive around with it all of the time when it is unneccesary, that's bad for your tranny and converter. When I did cfi to carb I lost my lockup as well. Since you went CCC to non CC, this is the easiest thing you can do. They sell kits to do it right but my money situations the same as yours.

 

Yeah, I was just reading through the TCC thread in carbs so I can understand the switch setup. All the CCC stuff is going to go away, I think, since the CCC is no longer there. It makes me wonder if the PO ran the codes from the computer to find out why the SES light was on, not realizing there was no CCC anymore.

I will be starting teardown of the engine tomorrow. Hoping to get the AC and alternator pulled off, as well as start removing all the AIR system components. No emissions here, so no real reason to continue having all that crap under the hood. Should be much cleaner when I am done, with only vacuum for the TCC, distributor, brake boost and AC system.

 

If you're buying tires, then forget the 215/65R15s and get 235/60R15s. They won't change the speedometer accuracy at all.

 

I will keep that in mind when I get to that point.

Looks like I have to slow my plan down a bit. I had planned to get it running and on the road by the middle of July, but the van needs a windshield so it is going to take a bit of time before I can afford everything I need now. I am in the process of tearing the engine down to see if I can get away with a hone. If not then the engine swap. But, I need to get it torn down and then still buy a top end gasket set.

My buddy gave me the Z28 5 spoke wheels. I will get a pic as soon as I can get them up here. Should be later this week or next, but it isn't really a rush.

 

that car is in great shape, 200 is a wayy low price, very fixable, goodluck

 

Thanks!

On the TCC thing, looks like I can take the lockup controller off my spare Blazer body and use it on the Camaro. The Blazer was not computer controlled, and has a simple vacuum lockup switch for the 700r4 trans. Saves me some money, and some time.

 

data tag is under the emissions cover behind the bumper cover. I have an 83 z28 CFI without rpo sticker

 

Okay, so I have been away for a while, and the poor Camaro has been sitting there lonely. Unfortunately, beyond the windshield for the van, I had 2 deaths in the month of July, and between them and dealing with the aftermath, I haven't had money or time to really deal with it, until now.

When I get into a rut like that, especially when I know that a lot of what I need to do requires cash, I tend to get stalled out and not get back to it. That has happened to the Camaro, so I decided to do some small stuff to get the motivation back.

I started by trying to fix the high beam selector on the column, but I need to grab a follower from a spare column or the wrecking yard. So, I moved on to the shift indicator plate on the center console. This had been broken when I bought it, but I found that all the parts were still there under the cover. I pulled them out and looked at how I could repair it, then used CA to re-attach it. Once it dried for a while, I put the bulb back in, making sure it worked, and put it all back in place. It is now looking good and actually lights up.

Next I started replacing all the burned out bulbs, but I need to pick up some more 194's.

I am ordering a few small parts from Classic, as well as a headlight header panel off of ebay. Those should be here by next weekend, and I can get to work getting them installed. I will also start the actual teardown on the engine to get it running soon. I am aiming to have it running before the end of next month. I want to have it licensed and on the road by April at the latest, but I am hoping to have it done sooner.

I will update as I can, and my search skills are improving so I am liking the forum more these days.

 

Wow two hunnert bucks? A steal. That steering wheel leather center cap with tri-color logo is worth about a hundred bucks on the open market if in good condition.

 

The center cap on the wheel is in great shape, the wheel itself is rough on the leather. But, I like the car, and now to get busy getting this thing back on the road.

 

As of right now, she is running!

I spent the weekend doing some simple attempts to get the engine to turn over before I went whole hog tearing into it.

I used some PB Blaster, 5w30 and STP oil treatment mix, and let it soak in the cylinders overnight Friday. I knew from the plugs, that #4 was the only cylinder that had gotten any water into it. I then, with the help of a buddy, rotated the engine backwards at the flywheel, until it got tight then loosened up. This was the piston hitting the bad spot in the cylinder, but without much effort it passed over. After this was accomplished, I kicked the starter and the engine turned freely without any noticeable slowing.

I then spent the remainder of Saturday removing all the vacuum stuff I don't plan to keep, installing the carb, re-installing spark plugs after gapping and removing the AIR pump that I am no longer using. As I installed the q-jet, I noticed the rod to open the secondaries was missing. I called a buddy of mine and he mentioned he had a q-jet on the shelf that came off a late 70's Vette 350 that I could have. I decided that since the previous owner had mentioned a bit of a power issue he thought was the carb, I would just go ahead and switch them. I am glad I did, since looking at the bottom of the carb showed that the secondary butterflys were completely corroded shut and could not be opened. It appears that someone threw a junkyard manifold and carb on, and nobody ever noticed the secondaries weren't opening.

I know that this new carb was just rebuilt before it was given to my buddy, and I know the guy that did it, he is another friend of mine. Once the carb situation was mostly solved, I attempted to start it and after a splash of fuel in the carb it fired up and idled well. Nice smooth idle, but I am not making any adjustments to carb or anything else until I can burn some of the old fuel out of the tank and start getting some fresh stuff in.

Total invested so far, including purchase, $205.00. Of course now starts the stuff that is going to cost money, like fender, bumper cover and new tires. But, it flat out feels awesome to have this thing fire up.

 

Fired it up for the second time today, and found some issues I need to address:

1. It won't start without a small splash of gas in the carb.
2. No charge from alternator
3. Missing horn spring in column - May just grab a junkyard column, or throw a button on the dash for now.

So, I know that the alternator issue is the main power wire having been hacked up by a PO. I will have that fixed this weekend.

The starting issue I am not certain on, but I plan to attack it for longevity. This weekend will see a rebuild of the carb, since I know it sat for a while and did get some bugs into it, that may resolve the issue. While I am doing this, I am also going to throw a new fuel pump in, since it is a possible point that is allowing fuel to drain back. It could also be caused by the bad fuel in the tank, it is possible it just won't fire up with the bad fuel, but as soon as it actually gets that heat there it will run, but I think this is unlikely. It is more likely the accelerator pump got stuck in the bore and tore, no longer giving that initial squirt of fuel the car needs to fire.

I will also be throwing the AC pump back into place. I am ordering the headlight header panel, and possibly picking up a new fender for the right side. If I can get this stuff done and bought, I should be able to do the front bumper cover next month. Then it is only a matter of getting a set of tires mounted up and I should be good to go, and I should have money for this when my taxes get paid out.

Finally, my buddy is going to attempt to locate the vacuum advance HEI dist for me to put in, and I can finally remove the last of the computer harness. This should also allow me to get rid of that annoying Check Engine light that has been on since I removed most of the computer connections. My guess is the spark is retarded a long ways, but I am not going to worry about it until this part is complete.

Other plans this week/weekend include installing plugs in the manifolds where the AIR tubes used to be, plugging the AIR tube inlet on the cat, pouring in some octane booster, and trying to add some 91 fuel to it. I also want to get the oil drained and refilled, new filter installed, and hopefully test the trans to see if I have any issues I need to be concerned with there.

 

Not that anybody is ever around, but I will still update:

Carb is rebuilt, and working great. Car now easily starts off the carb without even pumping the gas, let alone needing to dump fuel into the carb. It was a total pain to get the primary metering rods back in place, but once that was accomplished it went pretty smooth. I need to change the setup on the secondary choke pull-off, but that is a quick easy operation.

Alternator is fixed, this was a simple matter of replacing the fusible link. Now there is another slight issue, the battery post on the back is loose. I will get this fixed tomorrow.

Horn is bad. I picked up the new lead for the steering column, and I can hear the horn relay click when I hit ground, but no horn. Tested with a test light and I get power to the horn, so that means a bad horn.

New brass plugs are in the manifolds to fill the holes left by the AIR removal.

My buddy and I were able to locate the vacuum advance distributor, so that will be going in this week. I will set the base timing to about 4*, since that seems to be where most of my SBC's are happy. While we were looking he located an older cast iron water neck, with only one opening which is already plugged. I will get this swapped with a new 160* thermostat this week.

Plans this week are to fix the alternator, re-install the AC compressor and quite possibly swap out the old tin valve covers for the Edelbrock aluminum ones my buddy gave me. They need to be polished but are otherwise in good shape. I have new rubber gaskets to help ensure a good seal. I will also drop the distributor in and set the timing, as well as get the front bumper cover off finally, I have been putting it off while I dealt with serious issues getting it running, but now it is time to get ready for body work. I am also hoping to see a new follower for the headlight selector on the column, just waiting for it to come in and then I can tear down the column and finish it up.

With everything I bought this weekend, I am now into the car an additional $120, but still well below what I could buy a decent body 305 version for around here.

 

My thread seems to be going the same way don't let it bother you give it time for people to look through getting pics up will help also keep the thread going as a documentation of your build not any other reason all in all it seems like a great car to start with and for $200 thats a really good deal
im looking forward to seeing this finished what color will you be doing the car?

 

Nah, not too worried, more of a joke really. I know by seeing the view count that people are looking. Pics, yeah I always seem to forget those, but I am going to be posting some very soon, right now though there really isn't too much to see. Once the computer harness is out and I get the valve covers installed I think I will get a shot to show the work. The 'junk' parts pile is growing fast as I pull more and more unneeded junk out.

As for final color, I plan to do synergy green with flat black accents, but it is a long way down the list. At this point I consider this stage I of the build, which mostly involves getting it on the road and running. Then my Blazer will go into the garage for a frame up resto. Once that is complete, I should have a better idea of what I want to do to this car for stage II, including which engine I am going to run and any other changes I want to make to make it perform better.

 

I'm new to thirdgen, I'm 16 bought an 83 for 300 and working on it. Can I post pictures on threads straight from my iPhone?? And how

 

I really couldn't answer that question, I don't care for Iphones at all, and I don't use them. I always load my pictures to a free Photobucket account then hot link them directly, but I don't know how that would work on the Iphones.

Now back on topic:

Old carb throttle body view


Old carb float view


Engine now

'New' Edelbrock valve covers


As you can see, I still have a bunch of wiring to strip out from the computer harness, but that will be finished once the distributor is swapped. I had the choke off in the pic because I need to get it adjusted, and I managed to get it stuck a bit. That has been resolved, just took a few minutes.

The car will start from cold without even touching the gas, but I needed to get the choke fixed. Idle is high when cold at 14-1500 RPM, so I may need to make an adjustment, but I still need to wait until the dist is done.

 

Nothing is ever easy on this car, that's for sure.

Today was supposed to be a quick easy process, and it did start out that way.

First I removed the alternator to tighten down the battery post, and found out it was a lot of wasted effort since the battery post on that alternator is a stud. I could have just tightened the nut down on the back while it was still hooked up. Not a big deal, took about 10 minutes and it was back in the car.

Next up was re-installing the AC compressor, which went smooth and only took about half an hour. A lot of that time was getting the upper bracket re-installed, then it was quick and easy to get the belt installed.

Finally was what should have been the easiest operation, swapping distributors. The swap itself went smooth, and the rotor dropped right in the same spot as the old one had come out of. The housing and electronics were positioned right, and everything looked good. I plugged off the vacuum port that previously ran to the MAP sensor, and plugged the new hose for the distributor. Hooked up my timing light then attempted to start it. It cranks and cranks, but won't fire. Not even a whimper, which tells me I am not getting spark. To confirm this I pulled #1 and grounded it, then cranked it over, and didn't see a single spark jump. I also tried cranking it over and watching the timing light, but no flashes were seen.

Now, I reused my cap and coil, I know the wiring to the cap is correct, and I know it ran before I put the distributor in, so I know the problem is confined to the ignition module, pickup, or something simple. I will work on it this week, and possibly just replace the ignition module with a new one. I know the module off the other distributor will not work, because that was a computer controlled distributor. I am just glad I thought this through a bit, and made sure after each step I have taken that the car still ran. Makes it much easier to troubleshoot when you only change one thing at a time.

Does anyone know what besides the trans lockup is tied into the computer harness below the car? I see about 4-6 wires that run into a loom at the back of the engine, and I know at least 2 should be the lockup, but what are the others so I can strip them and get that harness out?

 

Local Napa didn't have the ignition module in, but will have it this morning, well techincally last night while I was asleep. I will get it swapped this morning and let you all know how it goes. If this works it will leave me with pulling the bumper cap off, and finishing the removal of the computer harness. By tomorrow I hope to test the transmission.

 

She is running again! Just need to lock in the timing now, but after swapping the ignition module and tweaking the distributor she fired up. I am really close on the timing now, but I just need to fine tune it a bit more to ensure I am at 4*.

I have a new right front fender and headlight header panel ordered, and I will pick them up Monday. Unfortunately the company I am getting them from does not carry a front bumper cover for the 82-84 cars. I am not sure what I will do for this issue, may just order new from Classic. Going to run to a local wrecking yard and grab the one headlight bucket and right front turn signal housing.

This weekend I will get the hood back on, the Edelbrock valve covers on, and hopefully get the oil changed out for some fresh stuff. I have a bottle of high zinc additive to put into it when I change the oil. I will also finish stripping the computer harness, just need to get under it. I will also be removing the bumper cover and headlight header so I can install the new stuff next week.

 

Just need to finish pulling the nuts/bolts on the left side fender that attach the bumper cover, and I will have it out of the way.

Going to run to the wrecking yard later today, hopefully before snow flies, and grab the turn signal and headlight bucket. Going to see if either of the older Z's he has have an intact horn button while I am there. Also going to try to work out a deal on a bumper cover, going to try to talk him down to $75-100 for one, since a new one is going to run about $500 with shipping.

She fires up smooth now, and throttle response is nice and crisp.

 

That's a big project. But I like it. I have an '83 also. I love my car. You need more pics.

 

Once the new valve covers are on and the bumper cover is off I will grab some pics, and have plenty to show as I get the front end rebuilt over the next week or so. She is getting so close to being ready to drive that I can almost taste it. The more I get done the more excited I get to actually get her out on the road.

 

Valve covers are installed, engine is nice and clean internally with no sludge buildup. Makes me feel a bit more confident about the engine life for now. I have pics, but before I could get the final pics my camera died. I have the battery on charge now and will get pics uploaded either later tonight or tomorrow.

Re-routed the PCV valve to the passenger side valve cover due to the heater hose location. Those hoses are right in the way for using that side for an oil fill, unless I drilled through the valve covers, which I wanted to avoid. I am using a temporary Mr. Gasket PCV oil cap, eventually I will get a regular push in oil cap. The current cap is internally baffled, so having it open shouldn't be a big deal for now.

Also ran to the wrecking yard and got a new headlight bucket and passenger side front turn signal/park light assembly, not a bad price at $25 for both. I will be pulling the bumper cover off tomorrow, I kinda feel like taking a break for tonight and spending some time with the other lady in my life.

 

Of course I didn't even think about the new issue I created. I need to get an open element air filter housing to replace the stock housing. The stock housing snorkel sits directly over the opening in the valve covers for the oil fill. Just one more little thing that I didn't think about until it was too late. Oh well, I like the look of an open element filter better than that huge stock housing.

 

I couldn't believe how much better my car ran with an open element filter, than the stock Single snorkel.

 

A few pics of the progress:

Nice clean view of the driver's side valve train

New valve cover installed

Passenger side valve cover and new PCV routing, sorry I didn't realize the autofocus locked onto the AC accumulator

Engine bay overall

New parts


Not much more to show for now, gonna get on that bumper cover tomorrow morning then I should be ready for some new parts on Monday.

 

Picked up my new front fender and headlight header panel. I am very happy so far with the quality of the panel, in spite of it being a cheap panel. I spent about $90 on both pieces, and the fender is actually pretty straight. No dents or dings and only one minor little wave at the bottom front of the fender just above the point where the chin spoiler will lay. Not a huge deal, I will probably fill it with a bit of plastic filler and then block the fender out once it is mounted.

Picked up the open element air cleaner as well, although I wasn't able to find the finned version I was hoping for. Went with a 14" Edelbrock, mostly because it had a provision to allow me to hook up the 5/8" pcv line on the new oil cap. That will help keep the mess down.

I will be working on getting the fender in place today, although I can't install the headlight header and finalize fender mount until I can locate a bumper cover and possibly a bumper reinforcement if I can't get it straightened out.

Sorry no pics at this point, I didn't have a lot of time to get to it, but I will grab some as I get going today.

 

Due to family life, I didn't get anything done today. Well, that's not entirely true, but I didn't really do much.

I did remove the hood hinge and do a test fit of the new fender. For whatever reason the PO removed the antenna mount, so I had to make a few adjustments there and still need to do a bit more. I had to actually bend the tin brace a little to get it to line up properly.

Overall, this shouldn't be too bad to install. I do have a bit of massaging to do to get all the body gaps correct. I know that the top corner directly in front of the door has a great door gap, but it is a bit too far out at the a-pillar. The bottom corner in front of the door needs to shift forward a tiny bit, and there may be some minor adjustments to the front as well. I figure I will need to invest at least 2-3 hours getting everything lined up perfectly. I may just leave the fender in e-coat outside for now. The car is not going to be driven all the time, and won't be exposed to snow or much of anything. I haven't decided yet, mostly just waiting to see how things line up cash wise and getting this thing going on the road.

Now another question, I obviously don't know the history on the transmission so I am wondering what I could do to help ensure a decent life. I don't want to spend a bunch of money on it because, quite frankly, I want a manual trans and when this one dies a T56 is the plan. So, besides the Corvette servo which I already plan on, a fluid/filter change which is required for the TCC lockup switch install, what else should/could I do to help with longevity of this trans?

 

Finally got the front bumper cover off, and found damage was more severe than I thought. Not really all from the original wreck, but a PO towed the car by hooking to the hood latch brace. It is ripped out of the bottom at the core support, and twisted up a bit. Probably going to have to replace it, as well as the bumper reinforcement itself. I have pics, but I will wait until a bit later to post them, it's time to do more teardown.

 

Ok, that went a bit easier than I thought. The steel for the front frame horns is pretty weak and I was able to bend it out a bit to get the last bumper bolt off.

After bumper cover removal, also missing the headlight bracket because it has to come off with the cover:

Headlight header panel:

The damaged area of the bumper reinforcement:

^The shadowing makes it appear the bumper sticks up much more than it really does.
Top view:

Through the turn signal housing opening, you can see the upper bolt that I was worried about is pointed directly at the frame horn, but it is really flimsy steel.

Here you can see where the chain was hooked up:

Bumper reinforcement removed:

Passenger frame horn damage, this was pretty much caused by the twisting and pushing back of the bumper reinforcement. Should be fairly easy to get close to straight:


And a closeup of the bottom of the hood latch support:


Next up is to get the computer harness wiring removed then mount the fender. Once that is done I will get the headlight header panel partially mounted up so I can get the headlight buckets all mounted while I wait for enough cash for the parts to complete the front end.

 

The stars aligned in a big way for me today, and I now have a lot more invested in this car.

Ordered a new front bumper cover from Classic, as well as a side marker lens. I need to see if the spring clips for the side marker are in the car, if not I will grab them from the wrecking yard. I found a couple of front bumper covers on ebay, but they were used or NOS. NOS they wanted $400 for, plus shipping, and used varied but for around $200-250 shipped, it was worth it to spend a bit more and get something new. Let's face reality, the cars that have the correct bumper cover are ~30 years old, so used just didn't do it for me.

Parts should arrive early next week, and I will be working on getting to the wrecking yard for the reinforcement piece and hood latch support. Once this is done the next major expenses will be TCC lockup and new tires. It is getting so close to being back on the road I can almost feel the road.

As for stars aligning, the tax refund came in today and my wife allowed me to get the parts ordered. Of course she had a requirement of her own, and the new fridge will be delivered in a couple days.

This brings my total investment, including purchase, to about $800 so far. With very few body parts remaining to be purchased, I should end up right close to $1000 total including TCC lockup. I am not counting tires since I consider them a routine maintenance item, not like body panels and other critical components to make it run.

 

New bumper cover arrived yesterday. This is a very high quality part, much better than I expected to be honest. Nice thick material and a relatively smooth finish. Going to take some work to get it prepped and painted properly, but that is part of buying parts.

This week I will be working on the fender and bumper cover installation. The fender needs to be done before the bumper cover, but paint needs to be on both before they can be installed. I need to make any adjustments to the fender before paint, so I have my work cut out for me.

 

Having an issue with my DD, so I have had to put off work on the Camaro for now. Not a big deal, but I needed the car able to move in and out of my garage so I could get the Toyota in. I am very happy to say that she runs very good, and the transmission, although low on fluid, works great. Nice solid engagement in the gears but I didn't really drive it anywhere.

I did, as is now standard procedure, find that the power steering pump is bad. It may have just leaked all it's fluid, but either way it is getting replaced. However, that has to wait until I get the new rockers and cam for the DD. I am hoping to get going on the body panels soon, like within the next week or so, but have to deal with this snag now because of gas prices.

 

Progress is looking good, keep us posted even if we are quiet!

 

Great thread, enjoying the pics.

At 4deg initial, what is your total timing?

 

Total timing should still be around 34-36*, but that is just a guess. In this case my timing mark was way off, and when it got close to being visible the car wouldn't run. So, I used my ear and set the timing where the engine ran the best, and had the best throttle response with no lag. It is not the best way to do it, but it certainly appears that either the balancer is twisted, or something else is off, but it runs excellent so I will live with it until it is time for a new engine.

Thanks for the good words guys, haven't done much because my Toyota is taking up my garage space for a top end rework. I was hoping to have it done today but an issue came up that may make it tomorrow. As soon as it is done and the cam is broke in, I will pull the Camaro back in and start with getting the body work done. I need to align the fender and set the door gap, then straighten that bumper mount.