Cursed 92 Camaro is back...

[JipJopJones]

Too bad to hear about your issues. But it sounds like the car can do a lot more than that, so I'm excited to hear the full results of TEST 2!

[InfernalVortex]

Originally Posted by Spectre

Yes, but too high a line pressure at the carb can literally blow the float valve open and flood the carb. Did you check the pressure at the carb?

The way my regulator works I've got a gauge on one port and a feed line on the other port. I could put a gauge in on the carb but it'd just give me the same reading the gauge on the regulator is giving me.

Besides, as intermittent as this problem is... I dont see it being a fuel pressure problem.

[InfernalVortex]

Okay here's waht I did today. I saved my old line in case Im barking up the wrong tree here because Im not really impressed with how this looks. If it fixes the problem or even just seems to stay at normal temps after a drive, then I'll probably keep it and get some brackets to hold it in place instead of these zip ties.



I'm not sure if having a line that long will cause problems or not... we'll see I guess. But it's well out of the way of any major heat sources or moving parts or fire hazards... so I'm confident that it's safe at least.

I also popped the bowls off and cleaned them out with carb cleaner really well. The floats do not seem to be hanging at all... so if the problem persists I will just get a rebuild kit and replace the rubber o-rings on the needle and seat assemblies.


This is what I think is happening given my symptoms.

I think the fuel line was going over the valve cover and the waterneck and soaking up heat off of both of those. Under hood temps are already high. Somehow or another, that fuel is boiling. It only happens after I turn the car off when it's hot. When the fuel just sits in the line AND it's not under pressure. Both I think are key. I took this car for a 1 hour drive yesterday and it ran BEAUTIFULLY the whole time in 95+ degrees F heat. In a band-aid effort to prevent drivability problems I've noticed I can always crank it warm if I dont switch on teh fuel pump for a minute. It's only when I switch on teh fuel pump and fresh fuel is getting pumped into the carb that I run into problems with tons of fuel getting dumped into the motor and geysers out of the bowl vents.

I think the hot fuel getting pumped into the bowls is boiling from not being under pressure (pressurized fluids dont boil as easily) for a few minutes and being exposed to heat. That hot fuel flows into the fuel bowls and wreaks havoc. It's filled with air bubbles, causing the floats to lose their buoyancy and sink. This allows excess (hot) fuel to get pumped into the carburetor... and before you know it there's geysers of fuel spraying out of the bowl vents at 6 PSI, fuel bubbling out of air bleeds and shooting out of my squirters. I've watched my squirters intermittently dump fuel sporadically with the car off and no manipulation of the throttle linkages at all. I have no explanation for this other than the floats being stuck, or the fuel is boiling (percolating) causing stuck float symptoms. Also I should note, that when this happened yesterday at the track, I was able to hold the throttle open and keep it running and it wanted to die and ran HORRIBLY for about 20-30 seconds. After that it ran seemingly normally. But this was after I flooded the motor and soaked my air cleaner. The car was running pig rich and starving for fuel at the same time because of that, hence the car dying during the 2-3 shift. I think it just wasnt getting enough air. It's a bit constricted as far as breathin goes anyway because of how terrible my aircleaner flows at the moment. (I have about a half inch, probably less, of clearance between the lid and my drop base at teh carburetor)

The fuel line near the carb is extremely hot to the touch. The fuel line near the regulator is, pretty much just outside temperature. The heat is soaking in as the fuel goes over the engine. But I think in normal operation the fuel doesnt sit long enough to boil, plus it is pressurized. It's when it's depressurized that it boils. And then as soon as I hit my fuel pump again, my symptoms return. I dont have a problem running the car for 5-30 seconds on jsut the fuel that's in the bowls, so this tells me it's not the carburetor soaking up heat from my intake manifold.

I'm just meditating out loud, and that's what I think is happening. My new fuel line routing should prevent any of the old heat making it to the fuel line itself. If the problem persists, it's gotta be a problem with the needle/seat assemblies in the fuel bowls, but the symptoms dont really match that. When this happens it happens to both bowls at the same time. It may not be the exact same symptoms on both bowls, but they both do really odd things at the same time. It's not like it's always one bowl that does it. The air cleaner lid has two big clean spots above the bowl vents where fuel has been sprayed all over it. I always orient it the same way, so these two spots get cleaned regularly, and I can tell a few times where I had it in a slightly different spot because there are matching less clean spots slightly off axis.

My only concern is this new line is too long and taht will cause problems, or that it will pick up heat off the radiator shroud. But it's just plastic, and it gets warm, but it doesnt get as hot as teh valve covers or water neck does. So hopefully it wont be a problem. The only otehr options I have for fuel line routing is I could run it around the back of the engine bay, but I have to bring it right back across the motor right near the valve covers, negating half the advantage of rerouting it. Or I can rout it through the front of the car in front o the radiator and bring it back around past the A/C compressor and tensioner like it is now. I definitely dont want to run it back over the passenger side valve cover. I'm not sure putting it in front of the radiator is a great idea either in case of an accident, but it is behind (And above) the bumper.

[InfernalVortex]

Not a big update... but I've got myself a new hood. I've got to fix it (only way I could afford a hood is to buy a cheap one) but it should be servicable before too long. No idea how long it will take to get it done, but it's gonna be a lot of work.










I also decided to remove my fog lights. They werent wired in and I didnt feel like wiring them so they came out. Better airflow through the radiator maybe. I think the car actually looks better without them.

[Wizegui]

Car looks fine without it. Whats the car that's parked beside the Camaro?

[InfernalVortex]

Originally Posted by Wizegui

Car looks fine without it. Whats the car that's parked beside the Camaro?

My sister's Dodge Stratus R/T. I'm reasonably sure it's just a Dodge-branded Eclipse. It has a Mitsubishi 3.0 v6 in it. It's sorta fast... almost. They're supposed to weigh something like 3300 lbs and they've got about 200hp I think. When my car was stock it would have probably beaten it. lol.

[Dr_Grip]

Originally Posted by InfernalVortex

My sister's Dodge Stratus R/T. I'm reasonably sure it's just a Dodge-branded Eclipse. It has a Mitsubishi 3.0 v6 in it. It's sorta fast... almost. They're supposed to weigh something like 3300 lbs and they've got about 200hp I think. When my car was stock it would have probably beaten it. lol.

To me it looks more like a lawnmower

[Clegko]

Onto the hot fuel problem. I had to get myself one of these when I replaced the V6 in my truck with a V8. Just mounted it behind the radiator, on the 'cool' side of the radiator.

Not too sure how safe it is, or would be in a wreck, but the truck is already a rolling death trap so i'm not too worried.

[InfernalVortex]

Rerouting the fuel line has fixed it. It's ugly, but works. Havent had that problem at all since.

I got my rad tail light lenses almost done. Just need to get some 1/4 inch black pinstrping tape on em to make em look like the stock tails.







I also scored a set of ROH ZR6 wheels. These are some of the best looking wheels on thirdgen camaros if you ask me... but they were discontinued a decade ago and ROH doesn't import to the US anymore at all. SO these were a rare find, and I got em for $150. They're 17 x 8.5

They're curbed and the clear is trashed and one of the wheels is missing a center cap. I've got some ideas on how to fix that unless something pops up on ebay (I have af eeling it will eventually) but in the meantime I'm busy restoring them. I think I'll hold off on a complete polish and just try to clean em up.

This is how they looked when I brought them home.



And after one pass with paint stripper, I have one of them looking like this. So most of that grime is just unmaintained clearcoat and brake dust.



These are going to look sweet when I get done, I just hope I can find a center cap or fabricate something from my stock ones that will work.

And to get an idea of what they look like on the car, here you go:




I'm hoping to get started on the fiberglass repair on my cowl hood tomorrow. Cant wait to get that sucker on the car.

[Wizegui]

I never really did get into the look of the third gen Camaros, but those wheels look HOT on that car. Kind of reminds me of the old Impala SS. Pics soon??

[JipJopJones]

Those wheels look nice.

I also really like the IROC wheels. I want a set of those for my future 1979 El Camino.

[InfernalVortex]

Originally Posted by Wizegui

I never really did get into the look of the third gen Camaros, but those wheels look HOT on that car. Kind of reminds me of the old Impala SS. Pics soon??

I've got to restore them while saving up money for new rubbers for them. Plus I have to see if I can find the centercap I need. It may be 6 months-year before they're ever on the car since I just bought the BFG's that are on the car now.

Im almost done with those tail lights now... I'm going to get started on the pinstriping whenever I get around to it, for now they still look quite good. The pinstriping will help hide the seams, though.





Despite these being smoked red... they seem brighter to me than the lenses when lit up... Very cool.

[Mischief007]

That's neat. I prefer the stock tails but I do like yours. It is very different.

[InfernalVortex]

Stock taillights:






I got this one because a storm was rolling in...

[Crazyjeeper]

Looks great.

Needs a longer fuel line though

[SoxXpupPeT]

the cars come along way. looks great. congrats on getting it to where its at.

[InfernalVortex]

Nothing big to report but I have a video.

+ YouTube Video

Please excuse my really, REALLY redneck sounding friend. He's a good ol' boy but he's halfway through an engineering degree, not a dumb guy. Im just ranting abuot nonsense through most of this but unless you've got good ears you wont be able to hear it.

Got some really cool pics of the car too.





And here is anotehr friend's 79 Z28... This car needs a bit of work though... well, a lot of it. There's pretty much nothing in the drivetrain I'd keep except maybe the engine block and MAYBE the transmission.





And this is probably gonna be my last post in this thread for a while. So enjoy it guys.

[Mischief007]

Car sounds awesome.

[JipJopJones]

Car sounds great. Glad to see your standard driving has improved since the last video.

[InfernalVortex]

This thing has been a couple of months in the making... A LOT of hard work here, and Im still not quite satisfied with it.



It's not a perfect repair, but I'm really happy with it. I think the work I've got in it shows. I fixed a lot of inconsistencies in the mold and this hood is FLAT now. No more of that fiberglass wavy nonsense.

First major repair:




Notice all the cracks... we decided to drill out the big ones. There are cracks all the way along this bottom edge. The ugly thing in the picture before this one is visible in the upper right.











Second major repair:











The bondo isn't as thick as it looks, we used fiberglass filler for most of it.





We got the sides and the back painted... but missed the front somehow... But whatever, we need to give it a couple more coats of flat black on it anyway.

There's a lot of things we missed that need to be addressed. Some random pinholes in a few spots, a crack that was more noticable than we expected, and Im not sure I got enough sealer on it to hold the moisture out of the fiberglass... but it will wait until I get the whole car repainted and it gets painted to match the car for all of those to be seriously fixed. This is more of a temporary solution as far as finish work goes.