Finally!

[art b]

sounds like your incontinent  

[Andy]

Finally get a good bit of weather, so no excuse for not getting the rad out.

I currently have a really really bad water leak in the car. Going to need to sort that out sometime this year.

Anyway, following both Haynes and Chiltons manurals, I sussed this one out. Only difficult bit was the lack of room between the fan shroud and the serpentine belt.

Firstly unhook the battery and remove from the car, then unclip the fan from the wiring loom, then remove 4 x 13mm A/F bolts, which removes the fan from the shroud and mount on the bottom.

Then remove the air intake hose to allow more room for removing the radiator and getting at the top hose.

Undo tap and drain radiator into a bucket. Mine really needed changing by the looks of it. Yucky yellowy brown colour.

Remove the top hose, remove the lower hose. Undo 2 x 1/2" A/F transmission lines. Top one was bone dry, but the lower one leaked a little. Will have to check fluid levels ones refitted. I did bung the lower tube with a piece of glove and an ear plug.

Remove the top radiator cover which also doubles as a mount. Then haul the entire radiator out in one upwards. Very easy to pull out.  


Bay minus Rad... using this opportunity to clean and maybe paint some lower parts.


Fan and top fan shroud / mount


Radiator on leak test. Filled it up to see if I could see the leak. It appears to be pissing out from inside the black plastic tank somewhere. Pretty gutting, as its just below the overflow tank level, meaning it'll only ever be 3/4 full. I possibly could've got away with it if it was higher.

[Andy]

Oh and for some reason if you eBay 'Chevrolet Camaro Radiators' theres a stockist for Nissens selling a match for mine.

Cross compared it with the model numbers on RockAuto and have a matching rad for £90 with free delivery. Just waiting back for them to confirm it is what it is, should have a new rad here by friday.

[Incursus]

I assume you've tried additives such as radweld etc ?

[Roadkill]

I don't think rad weld would work on a plastic bit.

[Andy]

Quoting: Incursus

I assume you've tried additives such as radweld etc ?

Really not keen on stuff like rad weld. I would prefer to know i've got a fresh unit in there that might not fail sometime later.

Quoting: Roadkill

I don't think rad weld would work on a plastic bit.

this too.

Someone said if it was in the metal rib part I may have got away with flattening and soldering it.

Supplier has just rung me and sent me a pdf, they have to be imported from the Netherlands but are the same price, but also have to be right. Looking promising so far though!

[Andy]

Radiator ordered. Now looking at receiving it next Friday / Monday. Hopefully the Friday as I'd like to get it up and running again.

[Andy]

Wow, haven't updated this for a while.

Fitted the new radiator, and changed the coolant. Now working like a charm! Do have a feeling the engine temperature sensor isn't working, so the comp doesn't know when to turn the fan on. However, when driving the thing barely gets above 40 on the gauge, and if I need to I can just turn the non-working AC on to get the override to kick in.

Had its MOT today, which is passed, only two things noted. My third brake light bulb has gone and there is play in the front struts. The tester was a bit confused by it as all the bushes seem fine, there is just play though. Nothing to worry about he says and its nothing too serious.

So all signed off for another year. As he mentioned last time though, could do with me going over the under side with a wire brush to get some of the surface rust of and giving it a lick of paint.

Today I also just bought 2000 extras miles for the pricey sum of £35. This is for my getaway in summer hopefully down to Le Mans, although the main planning hasn't got further than that.

Apart from a little paint work on the boot that needs some attention, I'm very happy with her and eager for the summer to get here!


Just about to leave this morning in convoy to the MOT station.

[Incursus]

Quoting: Andy

engine temperature sensor isn't working, so the comp doesn't know when to turn the fan on. However, when driving the thing barely gets above 40 on the gauge

Probably not much good for your MPG either

[Andy]

You reckon? I shall have to dig the books out then and investigate! I know it runs cool anyway, at least the coolant temp is always cool.

[Cunning Plan]

Very good buddy!

Nice property there too

Although, why are your Xmas lights still up?

[Andy]

Quoting: Cunning Plan

Although, why are your Xmas lights still up?

Only put em up on Christmas Eve, i'm fooked if they're only staying up for 12th night!

Nah, its on my list of things to do...

[Andy]

For MOT reasons and Dave not being in the country at the moment, I've had to do a quick swap over with the wheels for the MOT tomorrow. Only the rears on Daves were illegal, probably due to scrubbing caused by the LSD.

However, I really like the look of the white wheels...

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

probably due to scrubbing caused by the LSD

You get "scrubbing" with a spool rear end . . . . I don't think an LSD should be that bad . . . ?

[Andy]

The one fitted in the white one is bloody awful! Rips up the drive pretty bad just moving it. Will be interesting to see how our mot tester gets on with it today.

[F Body]

Quoting: Andy

Rips up the drive pretty bad just moving it

May I suggest a few modifications to overcome this problem

[Andy]

Right, haven't updated this thread in ages, so best spend a bit of time catching up...

Last year saw me take part in a whole bunch of RWYBs cruises and events. In other words, the cars probably been driven more in the last 12 months than it has in the last 10 years!

So heres a quick bunch of photos and captions and stuff:



Really didn't like the look of the manky rusty air filter thing, so rubbed it down and sprayed it... VHT High temp stuff was probably a bad choice, but no one sees it anyway!

Decided to try an air filter... way too small and also lost me time at the track, binned!



It became my regular Friday treat to take it into work when the sun was out. Seeing as last year I discovered Darkness on the Edge of Town, this was mostly what was blasting out. A small paint shop opened up on the estate and after checking out some of his work on other classics, he quoted me about £150 for rubbing down and respraying my rear deck lid.





If you look closely, the headliner is becoming a victim of abuse Will sort that out though!



One of the many trips to the track, seeing me set my personal best of 16.66, not going to set the world on fire, but I'm happy with it!

Then the day before a big trip out with the V8UK guys down to Portsmouth, she develops a really good starting issue, intermittently wanting to start that is.



A good going over of the cables, checking both the cables and the crimped connectors, nothing too bad found, but gave all of them a good clean down and tighten back up, seems to have cured it.



Now I know Ryan recently had issues with electrickery not working in his car, but when it comes to driving down a country round and flicking between high beam to low beam and finding low beam no longer exists, that ain't fun.



Ended up getting my dad to drive in front while I only had side lights for the last couple of miles home. I then hit a bump about 1/2 a mile from home and boom, lights come back... sticking relay thought to blame. Will be sorting that out when I redo the front light wiring soon.

Then a little scouting around on the website I discover this thing called a twin snorkel set up... I want one! I find this Corvette Cowl hood setup on eBay going for peanuts (Less the Edlebrock thing that sucks balls)...



Before:


After:


In the after shot, you can see I removed the AIR Pump diverter valve, and then blocked off the pipes going to the Exhaust manifold and the Cat. This is something I'm likely to change back, as although its not needed for the MOT, part of its purpose is to warm the Cat up quicker on cold starts, and without it means the thing is pumping out vapour for quite some time.



Me and my dad comparing motors... his is exactly the same engine, just has a lots of things going on underneath.

I decided to do something about the lack of exhaust noise mine put out. Rather than go the whole hog and buy a new system, I felt like experimenting myself and trying to do it on the cheap (while at the same time, coming up with an edxcuse to do a bit of tig welding.)



Got me one of these to replace the back box...



And looks something like this under the car, going from one side and straight out the other, except for a little kink to duck it down under the body kit.





Then recently me and the front grill have been having a love hate relationship. I hate it, and have never loved it, I also hate front number plates on these things. So for the last couple of months its not had one and so far I've done ok with just having it stuffed on the dash board.



After reading a thread on Third Gen about fitting Z28 / IROC grills, I decided to pull the trigger and get one from the States.

But before that, I also saw a link to someone selling the parking lights, and thought they looked pretty alright for what they were. They're not the same as the originals that have a louver in front of the bulb, and they also give the fried egg look, but if I'm going to get a new grill I might as well spruce other bits up!

Before:



Half way through:



Done:



Now over the Christmas period I got very bored... this bored:





Body finally fitted and lined up. Waiting for the next race date to see how slow it is!



Now remember the grill, well I bought it one night, when I was pretty drunk.... yay! I shouldn't drink and be signed into eBay.



And now the car as of today. Right now its living in our barn as its got some water issues. I mean it soaks up water better than a sponge. So right now I'm just looking through the RockAuto site trying to choose which company is the best to go for for replacement weather strips.



Also this Thursday its going back to the guy who sprayed the rear deck lid as he's spraying the front bumper for me. Where I removed the original RS grill it was obvious that the previous paint job had been down with it in place and it has just been masked around.

So the next year will see me sprucing her up a bit. I'm possibly going to put the original back box back on once I've removed the innards.

[FUBAR]

Andy,

Not sure if you'd be interested (because to retro-fit front fogs could be a ball ache)  But I have these which I may be persuaded to part with now you have the right grille installed for them:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/P1000399_zps62b775d0.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> ) with Original NOS items from MDM a couple of years back.  My intention was to rub down and repaint the black surrounds and sell them on ebay as they're rare as over here, but as you can see they've stayed in the box.

The RH one is in excellent used condition and the LH one has some rust as you can see above, also the other end powder coating is loose as there is some rust underneath it as well. As far as I can tell the reflective surfaces are in good condition in both.
They are the light housings only, mounting brackets wiring, plugs etc are not available as my IROC needed those
Hawks sell them:
http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/categories/82%252d92-F%252dBody/Camaro/Exterior/Lamps-%26-Components/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/categories/82%252d92-F%252dBody/Camaro/Exterior/Lamps-%26-Components/

Let me know if you're interested.

[F Body]

Quoting: Andy

I also saw a link to someone selling the parking lights, and thought they looked pretty alright for what they were.

They look way way better than the originals

A lot of the 4th Gen's have the after market clear front indicator lens fitted which are available with LED's, they look great on a black or dark car, but IMHO on a red car the original orange one's blend in better

http://s29.photobucket.com/user/fbody007/media/1999%20Camaro%20Z28/Cam5.jpg.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">

Well not forgetting the totally red rear lens

http://s29.photobucket.com/user/fbody007/media/1999%20Camaro%20Z28/Camarolightfunctions.jpg.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">

[Andy]

Ryan - Wow, was just looking for some of those the other day. What would you be looking for them?

I plan on rewiring the whole of the lights system at some point so that the light switch is instead powering a relay and a direct feed from the battery, instead of what is now happening where the power for the lights is going all the way from the battery, to the light switch and then back to the lights. So adding in some extra fog lights / side lights would be a fun addition to that project!

I was going to ask you if you had any experience with replacing T-top seals as I've just bought a load from Rock Auto. A complete weather strip kit, including the internal and external window wipers for the doors. I'm so fed up of the current leaky states.

Mart - Agree, the orange blends well! Dave's has the clear ones you mention, but then orange side repeaters which look a little out of place.

In you infinite knowledge, do you know anywhere to get a stripe kit like his has. Its a thick twin stripe with two thin ones either side... if that makes sense?!

Or like this:

[F Body]

Quoting: Andy

In you infinite knowledge, do you know anywhere to get a stripe kit like his has. Its a thick twin stripe with two thin ones either side... if that makes sense?!

Or like this:

No but somewhere I have a phone for a Guy who did all the stripes on the Atlantic Sports Cars, i,e Vipers, Mustangs etc

[F Body]

Quoting: F Body

No but somewhere I have a phone for a Guy who did all the stripes on the Atlantic Sports Cars, i,e Vipers, Mustangs etc

Don't know if he is still working or if this number works

But his name is Jay and he was a true craftsman

Number : 07941 311775

NB : Let me know how you go on

[Andy]

I'll pass it onto Dave, it was more at his request really as his are starting to peel off and it lets the exterior down a bit, but cheers!

[FUBAR]

Andy, for the stripe kits see below for an example:http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/categories/82%252d92-F%252dBody/Camaro/Exterior/Decals-%26-Stripes/

For the fog lights i'd be looking for £150 for the pair as is. (NOS ones are about that each!! ) I'll also throw in some 3M weatherstrip rubber adhesive as well as I have some spare tubes.

Weatherstrips

The single biggest piece of advise I can give is to replace the T-Bar panel while you have all the seals off.

Here:
http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/products/Camaro%7B47%7DFirebird-85%252d92-Stainless-Steel-T%252dTop-Bar.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/products/Camaro%7B47%7DFirebird-85%252d92-Stainless-Steel-T%252dTop-Bar.html
Its pricey @ $300 + shipping but is a common sense step if you have the cash as it will be rusty after 25+ years

Here is my old one:
This is what I could see before removal which prompted me to replace it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/T-BarRust20-11-2007.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/T-BarRust20-11-2007.jpg\" border=\"0\"  alt=\"\" width=150>

And this is what it was like when the rubbers were off.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/Old04_zpsb6f455ae.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/Old04_zpsb6f455ae.jpg\" border=\"0\"  alt=\"\" width=150>

When you have the T-Bar panel off and have cleaned off all the old rubber adhesive (Take your time, its a pig of a job):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/Old08.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/Old08.jpg\" border=\"0\"  alt=\"\" width=150>

Get yourself a can of this: http://www.frost.co.uk/por15-clear-rust-prevention-paint-473ml.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.frost.co.uk/por15-clear-rust-prevention-paint-473ml.html
and paint all the hidden surfaces with it, this is the underside of the new T-Bar panel, the hidden roof surfaces and every surface that you will be sticking the new weatherstrips too, including all the little nooks & crannies in these channels:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/Old01.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ryanbudd/89%20IROC/Old01.jpg\" border=\"0\"  alt=\"\" width=150>

When you then use the 3M Rubber Weatherstrip adhesive to stick on the new seals in the "staple shaped" channels in the above pic put a bead of adhesive in each curled over end of the staple shape and a good zig-zag down the middle.  This will ensure a good and full seal in the edges to stop water getting into this channel.

[FUBAR]

With new weatherstrips, new T-Bar panel, a good POR-15 treatment and good use of the rubber adhesive to keep out the water this will give decades of protection to the T-Top roof.

don't expect it to stop the front corner of the T-tops leaking though That's a Designed-in feature that is virtually impossible to stop..  Cheers GM