The Camaro Club (UK)

She's home at last with a fresh MOT, and a load of new metal.
So - shocks & springs: done.
New boot floor: done.
Bottom of rear wings: done.
Handbrake cables: done.
Sills welded: done.
Tie rods, ball joints and polybushes: done.
Brake hoses: done.
Fuel pump relay: done.
Fuel filter: done.
Waxoyled and undersealed: done.

Feels like a new car, practically. So much quieter and nicer!

Ticking that list off, little by little...

Good work... !!!

_________________
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Cheers man - been a while getting there, but I'm so pleased it's done now!
She's sitting straighter, a little higher too. The old springs in the rear had been cut, so until the new ones settle, she's sitting a touch higher than before. But she looks right, to my eye. I want a stock looking, better handling (maybe performing) car.
Given the lumpy roads round here, too low is a bad thing. I laugh at speed bumps now.

Couple of small snags -
SES light is still coming occasionally. Presumably dodgy connection somewhere - I'll get the codes on Sunday.
Rear boot lift support is shot, and the boot latch needs aligning better, as the boot doesn't always want to close.
Antenna seems to have dropped, so there's a hole in the antenna bezel on the rear quarter. The chrome surround is still there, so I'll have a poke about and see what's what on Sunday. If it's gone, I'll probably just fill it with a screw and vaseline or something for now, to stop water getting in.

Also, I've got some polybushes left over for things like the lower control arms that were already done, and a torque arm bushing that was the wrong 'handed' shape. I bought one of each to be certain it'd fit, so I've a spare now.
When I've got part numbers etc. I'll stick them up in the Sale section in case anyone's interested.

Dropped her off at the garage today.
The SES error code was a 42, as it turns out, which seems to do with ignition signal issues.
They ran a smoke test through the intake to see if there's a leak that's causing the lack of power I've noticed, and it looks like a small leak to the rear of the intake.
On top of which, I've got worn ignition wires.
So, I've just ordered a load of parts from Rock Auto.
ACDelco Spark Plug Wire Set, Ignition Control Module, Condenser, Ignition Coil Wire, Distributor Pick Up.
Probably gone slightly overboard, but I'd rather have something and not need it than be stuck waiting for shipping etc. if it is needed.
Add to that new lift supports for the rear, as one's shot and leaked.
Also going on - replacing the manifolds as there's a blow on the passenger side.
New valve stem seals going on while the manifold's being done.

Thank god I'm picking up some extra hours at work at the moment...

Hi Alex you must have some deep pocket going on there Rock Autos Are xhit hot i ordered bits from them on mon and got deliverd on wed ,did you take one of the first two options on deliverey (so you pay the vat up front ?) the third option was faster deliverey must be delivered before the part breaks down & you know you need it ,but you dont pay the vat ,the other thing is if you oder it from the same supplyer you only pay for one lot of deliverey keep up the good work Cheers Neil

Sadly the pockets aren't that deep!
It'll be a tight month!

I went for the quicker FedEx option - using the discount code gave me about a fiver off, so that's the difference on the cheapest shipping option. The car's booked in for Tuesday, and the parts are going straight to the garage.
Interestingly, the boot lifts I got were £50 inc. shipping - USAutomotive wanted £100 before shipping.

It's a massive pain in the arse to be honest. After the spend on the suspension and chassis work I was hoping to take a couple of months off spending on the car, but here we are...

Dropped her off today.
Hoping the replacement brake hose turns up - USAutomotive shipped the wrong part as it turns out.

The guys are apparently going to photo the process for me. I'll be interested to see what state the heads are in.
So hopefully have pics to share as and when.

Popped in the garage on my way home.


That's 70k miles worth of crud.

So, heads are off and being sorted at a local engineering firm to true the faces, everything else is looking pretty good.
The valve guides are a little too oval to be left, so they're being sorted, then the new stem seals go in.
One cylinder was looking pretty mucky from where the seal on the valves was really bad.
Going to drop in a new thermostat at the same time.

Also new brake hose arrived, so that'll be going on too.

Heads are back at the garage after re-manufacturing with a local engineering firm.
Should be getting her back early next week maybe.

Very small update on this - after what seems like forever, the heads are back on the block.
Various bits gone away for blasting to clean them up - hopefully we'll end up with something looking almost factory fresh.
Judging by the amount of crud that'd built up in the various nooks and crannies, this engine's never been apart. The guys had to dig the mud out to find the heads to most of the bolts.
20+ years of aluminium intakes sitting on steel fasteners meant a bit of a tidy up was required, but all should be good.
The thermostat housing's bolts had seized, so they need drilling out and retapping.
As usual, what I expect to be reasonably straight forward simply isn't, and that's why I let the guys with the right tools get stuck in.

The heads look lovely though, slight polish has been done to seat the valves better - not a full on port, more of a slight tidy up.