Vehicle Description

        The EBay listing: 1994 CAMARO Z-28 Running/Driving Project Car This is a running/driving project car and a perfect example of what can happen when you've had a couple drinks and decide to show you’re butt in a car with this kind of power on a wet road. I bought the car like you see it with the intension of putting the motor and trans into my 79 Camaro, but got a killer deal on a big block, so, this one must go to make room in the garage for my other project. UP'S The car runs and drives straight as an arrow w/a slight pull to the right. The motor is very tight with no leaks and doesn't tick, knock, or smoke when you crank it up or any other time. The motor also has some performance upgrades like an MSD coil, 8.8 wires, bigger throttle body, slightly heavier than stock cam that you can hear and feel and was told that the heads had a port and polish job done to them @ 86k miles. Needless to say, the motor pulls like a mule. The trans was rebuilt about 3 months before the wreck and shifts perfect. The interior is in good shape with power everything except the passenger seat. Again, this car runs and is drivable. I drove the car home, (about a 45 min. drive) after flogging the crap out of it on the 15 minute test drive. It showed no smoke or weird noises, 1st gear shifts right @ the rev limit and never stops pulling. It's got killer brakes and comes back down from 100mph without drama. All the lights and turn signals work perfect and the air bags are still intact. It has flowmaster exhaust and a brand new battery. DOWN'S Both front fenders are gone, it’s got Formula wheels w/close to sorry tires on it. The ABS “INOP” light stays on from the driver standing on the brakes when it started to slide. The “COOLENT LOW” light stays on, I think it's just a bad sensor; it's got plenty of coolant and doesn't run hot. The passenger door is gone as seen in pics. The rear spoiler is bad along w/the driver’s brake light. There's a small cut in the center of the rear bumper cover. The headliner hangs and the driver’s window won't go back up without help and it needs both outside mirrors. One of the tail pipes got bent and had to be cut off, but I still have it for the chrome tip.

The reality after purchase

        The car does track well with no pull at all, no squeaks or rattles. The tires are very sorry with dry rot and tread down to the cord. It was a very scary drive back to Atlanta, but they held up. The car does not pull strong to red line in fact to misses badly from 4500 RPM and blows black smoke upon punching it. But it feels strong on the bottom end. It got very good gas mileage on the way home and did not overheat including during the 1 hour traffic jam we got caught in. Transmission performed perfectly. The driver window will not go up and the trashed door will not open at all and the window will not go down, that was expected. The really bad news was told to me when we picked up the car. The AC does not work because the fan will not run and draws a lot of current. The heater box may have taken a hit in the wreck; at least I hope that’s what it is. Not bad for $1500, the transmission alone is worth most of that. The rebuild invoice for $850 was in the console. Hopefully the engine issues are only tune up problems. I plan to use this engine temporarily until I rebuild my other 350 LT1.

Tear down

Day one

        I started tear down at the front. First to go was the trashed passenger door skin. Basically I tore it off, I was surprised how easy that was. Since that was so easy I removed both busted front fenders, not too difficult helped by being plastic and the use of minimum bolts to hold them on. Then I decided to remove the front bumper cover. This was much tougher. The snap on fasteners GM uses are not that easy, would have been nice to have the correct tool but I got them off without too much difficulty, Vice Grips rule. There were ton of bolts and screws many not shown in the GM shop manual, but eventually I found them all and didn’t have to resort to brute force. Too bad the one side was trashed the rest is in good shape. The only parts salvageable were the turn signals which will become EBay parts and the driving lights, one of which had the bulb come out is several pieces. I will probably use these.

Day Two

        My first objective is to attempt to get the AC working. Since the fan seems to be stuck it seems logical that the passenger door post was moved in during the wreck and hit the heater box. To discover that I had to get the door opened or better yet removed. Now that sounds like an easy task but it wasn’t. I couldn’t get to some of the bolts because of twisted metal. I needed to remove the wiring which I could not do with the inside door panel installed which normally requires the door being open, catch 22. Plus the window was up and would not go down since the door is all out of shape so I had to work around what room I could get. After much cursing and some brute force I was able to get the door panel off, remove all the wiring, get the window out, and beat on the latch until it finally let go. The glass is in tact and may be of some value, but the electric window motor and mechanics are riveted to the frame, guess they didn’t want it to move. I’ll see if it’s worth pulling out. I was also able to salvage the Bose speakers from the doors, they could be worth selling or even using. One of the switch panels from the doors may be useable, the other is broken. I discovered the driver’s door window is out of its track which is why it will not operate. It does look like the door post took a hit and is bent into the dash. While I was working inside the car removing the seats and dashboard pieces I thought maybe I should investigate how to remove the airbags before one of these things blew and totally destroyed me! Seems like these can blow even after the battery has been removed for two months. There are fuses that should be removed to prevent that. But it got too late and I was too tired to investigate further.

Day Three

        Much needed rain has hit Atlanta putting this project on hold. Man, I wish I had a bigger garage, working outside is not fun. During my online search for airbag information I stumbled onto Fbody.com message board. There are some very knowledgeable people who are very passionate about Camaros and Firebirds. I did ask some questions but kept the fact I was going to stick one of their beloved LT1 drivetrains into a Datsun quiet! There is a classified section on this site and I sold the hood from the donor car, pretty cool. I may start listing more stuff here rather than on EBay. Since I can't work on the Camaro in the rain I cleaned up the seats and the driving lights. These seats, although not perfect, are really nice looking and extremely comfortable. And the driver's seat is powered! I know someone who installed Z28 seats in his Z, I just might try that.

Day Four - Six

        Memorial Day weekend and other than some reflection on the men and women we owe our freedom to what better way is there to spend a holiday weekend than tear apart a Z28. The rains predicted for the holiday weekend never came but the heat did. But I was able to accomplish quite a lot working in the cool of the morning shade. After lunch was intolerable outside and I spent much of that watching the Indy 500 and the NASCAR 600. I did manage to get those air bags removed without killing myself. The one in the steering wheel was pretty simple, four screws and on connector and it was free. The passenger side however was not a walk in the park. I could see what I had to remove but couldn't get at the screws. With the dash all broken and metal bent I once again resorted to brute force. I was finally able to get to all the mounting screws and out it came. I then move back to that AC fan which now was visible and it was easy to see why it wouldn't turn. The wreck had totaled the housing and plastic pieces were stuck in the fan itself. After getting it out I attached the motor to the floor and fired it up, it ran but only on high, still an issue but at least it works. I then removed the hood and the rear hatch. The hatch survived without damage although its spoiler is cracked badly. I may attempt to repair that, just to practice my fiberglass skills. Next I removed the rear bumper facade and honeycomp bumper. Then the console, back seats, all the interior plastic trim, seatbelts, taillights, sail panel and all the rear wiring harness was freed. Just for safety sake I hooked up the battery and started the car, it still runs! Check out the video. There is not much left on the car other than the running gear. I still have to free up some more stuff on the dash and prepare for the engine and transmission pull. But that will have to wait until I get the Z ready for its transplant operation.

        Until I can get the 280z ready for the Z28 drive train there isn't much left to do on the donor. So I started parting out what I don't need. I sold the turn signals on EBay and headlight assembly and fog lights on Fbody.com message board to a guy in Wisconsin and sent the exhaust manifolds to Chicago for $30. I sold the rear suspension and seats for $400 to a local guy and the tail light panel for $75 to someone in Kansas. The donor car investment is $730 less now.