1990 Chevrolet Camaro RS restoration project

[JCE]

Time to update my old topic with new information regarding the restoration progress. Lots of pics, so 56k if you're there run and hide.

Project updates:
-Tore out the interior and vacuumed the driver side, rear hatch area (+ carpet) and parts of the rear seat area. (3/14/2012)
-Did a good once over with an engine degreaser and some brushes on the top end of the engine bay. (3/14/2012)
-Took off the rear bumper and cleaned out all the dirt, grime and soot. (3/18/2012)
-Took off both side skirt ground effects. (3-31-2012)
-Took off driver's side fender. (4/1/2012)
-Took off the passenger side fender. (4/2/2012)
-Took off the front bumper keeping the chin spoiler and header panel attached. (4/2/2012)
-Clean the hell out of the front end where the front bumper was. OMG it was dirty... (4/2/2012)

Project Notes:
-Going to pay someone to soda blast the exterior once I removed everything from the body minus the engine bay.
-Got some surface rust in various places that are easy to fix.
-Got some medium rust happening on the battery tray.
-Got some medium (?) rust on a few places up front.
-Possible serious rust on the driver's side fender well near the firewall.
-Going to clean out the rest of the old rattle can paint on the floor pan with some aircraft paint remover then spray a coat of primer before laying down some fat-mat/dynomat.
-All of my bolts, nuts and metal fashioners are in desperate need of surface rust/paint removal before being resprayed.
-The windshield and some of the sealant is in disrepair. The windshield needs to just be replaced in general anyway.
-The wiper motors and mounts need replacing.
-The windshield washer hoses need to be replaced.
-So far underneath of the front of the car looks good.

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Have/need lists.

Items I have:
91-92 Radio+tape deck (no idea if it works)
91-92 Hatch in good shape
91-92 Hatch in usable shape
91-92 Rear bumper
91-92 Rear quarter panels
Black interior trim and panels
Black interior trim and panels (flame red painted black)
Console w/o window and hatch switch cutouts
Console with window and hatch switch cutouts
Rear black carpet in good shape
1x black hardtop sunvisor
Stock RS Hood in great shape
Grid tail lights, driver side has a small broken corner piece
Original RS tail lights in fantastic shape
Complete low mileage (58k) 305 engine setup for TBI


Items I need:
90-92 Steering wheel with airbag
90-92 Console auto shifter plate in good shape with no cracks or damage to the P OD D 3 2 1 strip
91-92 side skirt ground effects in reasonable shape with no cracks or missing mounting tabs
91-92 front chin spoiler in reasonable shape
91-92 wheels in reasonable shape
91-92 Fenders to accommodate the 91-92 ground effects
Front black carpet in reasonable shape (no holes or tears) -- Dirty is ok as I can clean it!
1x black hardtop sunvisor
A pillar plastic trim for both sides
Hatch roll out privacy cover
Rubber door trim for both doors
Console rear ashtray
Console lid in better condition or fix mine

Items I need to purchase online:
Black headliner w/ABS plastic backing
Sound deadening materials
New header bar for headlights
New hood insulation

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Here are the pics of the car right after I had it towed to the new house and some degreasing the engine bay.

Pictures of the disassembly.

 

[InfernalVortex]

These cars last forever. THe electronics may not, but as long as the frame dont rust and you keep it filled with fresh oil, the important parts will outlast Cher.

What are your plans for it? Are you on thirdgen.org?

 

[Silverstar]

It's a Camaro invasion in here!! *calls in for backup* j/k :lol:

I have a soft spot for 3rd gen Camaros. As per the above, what's the plans? Are you going to retore the interior, or thinking of throwing in some support and taking it strip direction?

 

[MattD1zzl3]

It's a Camaro invasion in here!! *calls in for backup* j/k :lol:

[youtube=tdegQmtgFSM]INVASION![/youtube]


Resistance is futile.

 

[Scott]

Respect for your passion and enthusiasm, but I personally HATE those cars.

 

[avanti]

I love it! Keep the matte black paint, it looks amazing, really mean!! https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/02/05/scared.gif

 

[MattD1zzl3]

Respect for your passion and enthusiasm, but I personally HATE those cars.

How can you hate anything with an 8 cylinder engine and rear wheel drive?

 

[JCE]

These cars last forever. THe electronics may not, but as long as the frame dont rust and you keep it filled with fresh oil, the important parts will outlast Cher.

What are your plans for it? Are you on thirdgen.org?

I'm on Thridgen.org yes.

It's a Camaro invasion in here!! *calls in for backup* j/k :lol:

I have a soft spot for 3rd gen Camaros. As per the above, what's the plans? Are you going to retore the interior, or thinking of throwing in some support and taking it strip direction?

I'm going to either do a complete OEM restore job on the interior with an LT1 up front, or stuff in a 2000-2002 Trans-am interior with an LS1 up front. My NEXT Camaro I buy (or another 3rd gen) will be my track/strip/street car. Gutted with something special planned for its engine. Think German and V12.

[youtube=tdegQmtgFSM]INVASION![/youtube]


Resistance is futile.

Brilliant. :lol:

Respect for your passion and enthusiasm, but I personally HATE those cars.

Thanks. Sometimes you never know what can grow on you. By all intents and purposes its just a rubbishly slow and cheap American car...but my god is it sexy. And makes a good noise too.

I love it! Keep the matte black paint, it looks amazing, really mean!! https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/02/05/scared.gif

On this one I'm going black on black--no metallic paint--straight black. I'll be keeping the Formula rims and painting them black as well. And I'm installing 0% tint. I might get a custom license plate with some sort of reference to a solid black animal.

How can you hate anything with an 8 cylinder engine and rear wheel drive?

QFT

 

[JipJopJones]

Gotta love the camaro invasion!!! That song was hilarious! iPod time I think!

 

[JCE]

Here's a new video I just did of the exhaust with some revs in the daylight.

[YOUTUBE]0aWIkuofvr8[/YOUTUBE]

This exhaust costed me $320 in 2001. Sounds pretty good for its age. I've had a few Corvette and classic car owners compliment my exhaust--and ask me why its on a spray painted car. :lol:

 

[MattD1zzl3]

By all intents and purposes its just a rubbishly slow and cheap American car...

Not trying to sound like a dick but: Speak for yourself, I sprung for the Z28.

 

[Steve Levin]

I always thought the 1990 model was the cleanest of the bunch -- admittedly, I had an IROC I bought that year. That said, they were, quality-wise, the worst cars GM was building at the time. But they were cool, comfy, and went like heck for the era!

Steve

 

[JCE]

Not trying to sound like a dick but: Speak for yourself, I sprung for the Z28.

*I* don't feel they were cheap--I was just portraying the stereotype. I think they are quite fantatic.

I always thought the 1990 model was the cleanest of the bunch -- admittedly, I had an IROC I bought that year. That said, they were, quality-wise, the worst cars GM was building at the time. But they were cool, comfy, and went like heck for the era!

Steve

What's awsome about the 1990 model is it is the least produced Camaro AND it was inbetween the 1989 and 1991 model designs. I liked the solid non "aero" ground effects and the clean look of the painted front bumper by the headlights that were black on earlier Camaros.

And in terms of build quality you could certainly seperate interior vs exterior build quality. Interior build quality was quite poor--but in terms of the exterior and or the drivetrain it was almost bullet proof.

 

[InfernalVortex]

Not trying to sound like a dick but: Speak for yourself, I sprung for the Z28.

I got my thirdgen that you think is in great shape for $1500. I think that's pretty cheap. That's why there are so many trashy people driving them into the ground. But this is more thirdgens than your 4th gen, but as they get old they'll go down the same road.

And to the naysayers, the thirdgen camaro is one of the best looking cars to come out of hte 80s aside from a few scattered Ferraris.

The 85-90 cars had the same ground fx, 87 is when the L98 (350 TPI) came out. And like the man says, the 1990s are the rarest of all the years. (84s were the most common I believe)

I actually prefer the older ground fx to the newer style I have, but I'll be keeping these on the car. They're the rarest of the ground fx, since they only made them two years. They'll be hard to find eventually.

 

[BerserkerCatSplat]

[youtube=tdegQmtgFSM]INVASION![/youtube]


Resistance is futile.

 

[Scott]

How can you hate anything with an 8 cylinder engine and rear wheel drive?

It is quite simple actually... I generally associate those cars (based on past experiences) with owners of lesser than average taste in just about everything and the mullet factor from those and the slightly older models still bugs me too.

I am sure there are plenty of exceptions to that rule, but I prefer my cars to say more about me than a Camaro says. Nothing against this guy, it is just a general perception on my part and I hold nothing against him or his choice... I just happen to hate those cars!

 

[JCE]

Well as long as you associate me with being the exception that's ok. I love all sorts of cars from all sorts of places from around the world. And seeing is how I'm German and not American the whole "non-American cars suck" attitude that alot of Camaro owners (at least around here) have is not part of my personality.

You know, I used to hate Honda Civics for the same reason why you hate Camaros. I've since come to the conclusion that they aren't all bad--its the people that makes these cars bad not the cars themselves.

 

[MattD1zzl3]

I am sure there are plenty of exceptions to that rule, but I prefer my cars to say more about me than a Camaro says.

This is why many European cars (I'm looking at you BMW!) make their owners look like complete douche bags. I want my personality and actions to say things about me. Not whatever heap of plastic and metal i happen to be tooling around in at the moment.

I bought my car because its cheap to buy, cheap to maintain and goes like a saturn 5 rocket. I dont care what kind of stigma it has, i feel i'm stronger than that.

 

[InfernalVortex]

It is quite simple actually... I generally associate those cars (based on past experiences) with owners of lesser than average taste in just about everything and the mullet factor from those and the slightly older models still bugs me too.

I am sure there are plenty of exceptions to that rule, but I prefer my cars to say more about me than a Camaro says. Nothing against this guy, it is just a general perception on my part and I hold nothing against him or his choice... I just happen to hate those cars!

I think that says more about yourself than about anyone who drives a camaro. Simply understanding the definition of the word stereotype should have gotten you beyond that. I suppose you feel mighty impressive driving around in your Audi then eh? We're all proud of you too.


It pisses me off when I see some douchebag in a mullet wearing a Motley Crue shirt with the sleeves torn off driving a rusty Camaro too. I love these cars and watching people drive them into the ground and running around making the rest of us look like redneck trash really makes me angry. But when it's all said and done, stereotypes exist for a reason, but they are by no means a rule. Stereotypes by definition are generalizations and therefore not always true. People thought the same thing about first generation camaros during the 70s. They thought they were only driven by trashy people and they were redneck cars. Well a first generation camaro will cost you $20,000 just for a rusty shell these days.

It's not about the car, it's about how cheap the car is. Any cheap car that lasts forever is going to develop a stigma, and for whatever reason, these camaros last forever, and they've been driven hundreds of thousands of miles and just aren't worth very much right now.

I for one am glad people like to stereotype them as white trash cars, because that's why they're so cheap. I will enjoy my $1500 hot rod and you can enjoy thinking you're better than everyone who drives one. It's a win-win situation.

 

[MattD1zzl3]

I just think he takes "what his car says about him" a little too seriously.

I mean look, i posted that mullet music video, you think i really care what my car says about me? I think i'm a cool enough person that i think the people that really matter will see something besides a badge.

On the other hand, some people out there worship those little pieces of shaped colored plastic, and are willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money and even judge people. And for that i truly do feel sorry for them.