Some of you may have seen my post in the “Calling all 1991 and 1992 B4C’s” thread as I was in search of the B4C I owned and sold in 1998. It is post #653 in this thread: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...1992-a-14.html

I was the first owner after the car was in service for the FBI in Connecticut. Purchased at 95k miles the car was in need of a lot of TLC. Over the course of 6 months we went through the car front to back and dialed it in. It was finished off with a repaint which in September 1998 ran me a total of $1200. Shortly after completing the car I set my sights on a 4th gen SS which is what I sold the B4C to replace. While going through the process my dad and best friend both swore I would regret selling the car.

It took me about 8 years to realize they were correct. I stopped by the house of the kid that I sold the car to some 8 years prior to find it was still there in the garage not being driven. Not only was it still there, it hadn’t seen the road in 5 – 6 years. After a few conversations with the owner the price was a bit out of my range at the time. TPI-Hearse (Fred) ultimately bought it and resold it to a guy in upstate New York. A quick search of the VIN identified it was still in update New York, not driven very much since he purchased it from Fred.

Late fall/early winter 2014 I posted a Craigslist ad looking for the car with a picture of it from right after I had painted it in 1998. In February 2015, roughly 4 – 5 months later a guy who claimed to have the car emailed me. We exchanged a few emails before connecting on the phone to confirm it was in fact the same B4C I owned 17 years prior. In the fall of 2015 I reached back out to the owner asking if he would be willing to part ways with the Camaro. Through some negotiating we agreed on a price and early December I made the trip to upstate New York to pick the car up. Aside from the 4 tires and the muffler on the car, nothing had really changed since I owned it. Just about everything was the same right down to the spark plugs in the engine. More importantly all the documentation I sold the car with in 1998 was still intact. This includes receipts for every part installed in the car and the build sheet from GM.

I got the car home, put some miles on it around Christmas to determine what the car needed. The paint was faded and the clear was peeling off. The engine had a few leaks here and there which is to be expected for 138k miles. Suspension had some wear and a slight whine from the rear end. Nothing to be overly concerned about from a car used in service with miles on it. Overall the car went down the road good, it just needed to be gone through. The important part is the body was straight, not rusted and no rot anywhere. A great starting point for a resto.

January of this year I began tearing into the drivetrain. Much like everything else the project snow balled into a full restoration…

 

Very cool that you were able to get the car back. Makes me wish I could find my old RS.

 

First up was the drive train. Engine and trans were pulled out to be gone through.

After sometime sourcing parts and waiting for machine work a rebuilt short block arrived and a rebuilt set of heads. A Melling high volume oil pump was added, GM single roller timing chain and a 97 LT1 cam installed for a slight upgrade from stock. Adjustments were made to the tune to compensate for these changes.

The SLP headers which were on the car had the AIR provisions and in rough shape. At some point during the last 17 years the dual cats were cut out and someone welded a section of pipe in place of each cat. I am guessing this happened when the headers were installed which required modifying the y-pipe. Since I am running headers I decided not to go back to the dual cat set up.

I installed a set of Hooker 2460 stainless steel headers and matching y-pipe with Stage 8 fasteners. All of the secondary air was removed and discarded to clean up under the hood. The cat back is a stainless Magnaflow system.

In addition I replaced all of the AC components, radiator, hoses, coolant jug, etc. Every bolt was painted right down to refinishing the runners. Note the K&N air filter was only placed on there to send the car to the body shop as the stock air cleaner could not be in place.

Next up is the trans. With 138k on it I wanted to be sure it was going to be reliable so I sent it out to Monster for an overhaul. They built it up to the 500hp spec which I have done with a few customers vehicles in the past with excellent results. In addition to all of the upgrades they put in the trans, I also opted for a 2000 stall converter.

During the initial test of the running gear prior to tearing it down I noticed the posi had seen better days. Most of the time the left rear wheel would not spin. With that in mind I opted for a Torsen Zexel from an 02 SS. The rear was completely overhauled with a master install kit.

 

While waiting for the engine/trans to be overhauled I took the time to go through the suspension. Due to the age and mileage I fully expected to find some worn items which I did.

With the focus around bringing this car back to where it should be everything was replaced between the steering components, ball joints, stabilizer bar bushings, etc, etc.

The car had the Eibach Pro Kit springs, but I wanted a lower appearance so I changed them out for the Eibach Sport Lines which gave me ~2" drop from stock ride height. The 17 year old KYB shocks were swapped out for new replacement adjustable GR-2's front and rear.

The trans cross member was upgraded to a UMI unit which allowed me to relocate the torque arm from mounting on the trans to the cross member. In addition I also installed a UMI torque arm, lower control arms and panhard bar.

Then it came time to clean up the underside of the car. It was washed down completely to remove any dirt, grease and oil. The factory paint was worn but thankfully not rusted. To bring it back I painted the underside of the car with 3M smooth undercoating. The rear end was painted with POR-15.

The brake lines on the rear axle were beginning to show surface rust. A call to Inline Tube had new factory style stainless lines on their way to be installed. The calipers were painted while everything was apart.

Overall this really cleaned up the underside of the car.

 

Next up is the interior.

Window motors were replaced. Drivers side was weak and the passenger side completely failed. Same can be said for the door lock actuators as they were barely hanging on.

The carpet was real dirty and the mice found a few locations to build a home. They were under both rear seats and under the center console. This in addition to all the stains in the carpet, it was time for it to go in the trash.

I ordered a complete ACC carpet front and rear with the mass backing. Even with that backing you can certainly tell the difference when comparing to the factory carpet. The factory has more backing/insulation. To combat this I went ahead and covered the floor with rubber sound deadening material. This was done front to back.

In addition to the carpet the headliner was out of the car when I picked it up. The previous owner provided me with the material to recover it so I went ahead and did so. The seats are overall in good condition. They are not torn, but stained and showing their age. These will be recovered over the winter when the body is back together.

Over the years a number of mismatched screws were used on the interior panels. All of the hardware has been replaced thanks to the interior screw kit from Hawks.

The dash was cracked like many of the 3rd gens. Initially I purchased a replacement from Year One. The fit on this dash was terrible. The front corners at the base of the a-pillar did not sit correctly. Both sides folded upward. In addition the mounting holes at the front of the dash did not have any material in them secure the 7mm screws. The screws would thread in and never grab anything. This was really disappointing. After searching for a while I found one on eBay which fits the bill. Its and original GM dash in good condition. Best of all, it fits correctly.

While I was at it the aftermarket CD player was replaced with a new Alpine unit. Polk speakers in the front and rear. Alpine V12 amp is ready to power my 12” JL 12w3 which will be installed over the winter.

 

Body

This, much like most of the other builds is where the big money and time investment comes into play. As I mentioned in the initial post I had this car painted in 1998, but 17 years took a toll on the paint. The roof and hood were faded. The clear was peeling off in areas around the car. At some point the drivers door had been hit and poorly repaired. It was time for it to be done right again.

The original front bumper had some damage to it prior to my original ownership that was not repaired very well. I went ahead and purchased a new one from GM which bolted on with no alignment issues. A lower front valence was purchased from Hawk’s along with all new hardware.

The front fenders were not rusted, but also had poor bodywork prior to my original ownership. To bring the car back I purchased GM fenders from Hawk’s which were nearly perfect when they arrived.

The rocker panel ground effects on both sides were not in the greatest shape. The previous owner provided me with a good pair he had on hand from a parts car.

All of the weather stripping was dried and cracking along with the window sweeps. Everything is to be replaced as part of the paint work.

Similar to most 3rd gen’s the door pins were extremely worn. New ones were also installed. The hatch hinges were in rough shape. I purchased the new ones Hawks offers which fit perfect, a quality piece for sure.

Additionally most of the seam sealer was cracked behind the fenders and around the trunk area causing a few water leaks. This would all be removed and sealed. The windshield adhesive was also failing which is addressed when the windshield is replaced.

With that the car was completely pulled apart to be sanded and painted. All glass removed, doors and hatch off the car, fenders and hood.

 

The car is currently almost completely back together. I am waiting on the rocker panel and door ground effects to be painted. Once this is done I will be able to install these parts and finish the interior plastics and door panels.

I have a set of Ronal R15 Firehawk rims in the box which are waiting on the BFGoodrich 275/40 17's to arrive later this week.

Beyond that the car should see some road time before winter to identify any potential underlying issues which I will address during the winter. The only other change I foresee coming is upgrading the front brakes.

When the car is back together in the coming weeks I will update the thread with the final pictures.

A big thanks goes out to a couple members here for assisting with this build. 1984HO and ev305TPI really made a difference in bringing this together. John in RI came up big with providing oddball parts to really bring the car back to its original form.

 

Awesome! Subscribing.

 

Can't wait to see pictures of that setup with the lowering. What color are the inserts on the Ronals you have?

 

The Ronal's have the grey inserts. Here is one picture I have with a tire mounted on it. These tires didn't offer the look I was hoping for so I changed the tires. This is also with the pro-kit, the car is lower now.

 

Thanks for the picture. What tires were those? Looks like a lot of sidewall for a 275/40/17. Should look great lowered some more with the BF Goodrich tires.

One last question - are those original, made in Germany Ronals, or are they the New Reproduction you can get from Hawks?

 

Great thread! So happy you got your car back! You're definitely taking care of it!

 

These are the repros. I did not buy them through Hawks, but they all come from the same vendor. My cost through ATech was less per wheel and lower shipping than Hawks.

 

Damn nice job great to see some NH representation in the third gen community. Although with a name like TKO500 where is the manual trans?

 

Cool! Just saw your fitment thread where you had some issues, kind of worried me. Found a set of Ronals (non-replica) and was considering them.

I like that you left them all silver, though it might be interesting with the inserts painted dark metallic red.

 

You are doing a great job! Very nice!

 

This thread is Great! Love a B4C and what a cool story TKO.

 

What a great read! Good for you - it's all therapeutic
Hold on to it and pass it thru the family tree.

 

Man, the car doesn't even belong to me, but makes me sooo happy to hear about you getting it back!

 

I know what ya mean, I wish I could Find my old '87 Iroc. It was my first Camaro.

Btw How much money have you put in Bodywork so far?

 

I would prefer not talk numbers, but I feel what I have into the body is very reasonable with the extent they went to. It helps that a good friend of mine is at the shop to oversee the project. This is the second car they have done for me to this degree so I knew it would be aligned with my expectations.

Providing all goes according to plan the car will be completely back together by Christmas.

 

 

almost bought a very similar car in Jersey a few years ago, best of luck

 

The front rotors were heavily worn and both front calipers were not compressing. Rather than replacing with stock parts, I opted to upgrade to LS1 front brakes courtesy of Bigbrakeupgrade.com. It worth noting the customer service I received was second to none. I highly recommend using Big Brake Upgrade if anyone is going to upgrade their brakes

I purchased the partial kit so I could use powdercoated calipers and EBC rotors with the black geomet coating to avoid corrosion later on.

While I was in there I also replaced all 5 of the factory rubber brake hoses with braided stainless lines. This is an upgrade that is well worth the investment. The difference in braking power is extremely noticeable, especially considering my calipers were barely working.

 

At this point the car is pretty much done. The lower front spoiler will not go on the car until spring. I will be putting the car on my trailer to bring it to a buddies shop to have an alignment and AC charge. With how low the car is now I do not want to risk catching it on the ramps or the deck.

In the spring when the car is all cleaned up I will post better pictures. The car has come a long way...

 

As of a couple weeks ago the restoration is complete. Here it is all finished and road ready.

The car has also been nominated for August COTM which is a great acknowledgement from the members on this board.

 

Wow! How did I miss this thread? Great job!

 

Yes, great job!