Camaro
Ignition Problems
Submitted by Lawrence on Sun, 28/10/2007 - 00:00The Camaro has been doing 90 miles a day taking me to work and back without too much hassle, apart from when we had a week or so of freak weather and it was raining so heavily it was a struggle to drive at 30mph on the motorway. The car got so wet that the optispark distributor got soaked and was misfiring and popping through the exhaust. It cleared up once it dried out a bit but it's had an occasional miss ever since.
New Engine
Submitted by Lawrence on Sun, 25/02/2007 - 00:00I'd bought a complete Camaro LT1 and 4L60-E off ebay a few years ago and planned to freshen it and replace the Impala one. I got Zane to strip and check it and he found no problems so I ordered up a full set of gaskets and a beefier cam and he rebuilt it ready to swap in. While he had the car I got him to make a new exhaust system for it in stainless and subframe connectors to stiffen the car up. The new exhaust gave me loads more clearance so I can now get over at least some speed bumps.
Rolling Repairs
Submitted by Lawrence on Sun, 23/07/2006 - 00:00With the Camaro back on the road, I started driving it to work. The new brakes at the back squealed really badly, and got progressively louder. I re-bled them which made no difference and after double checking everything got the rear of the car off the ground and took them to bits. They looked perfect, so I put the wheels back on and checked again. The drivers side was wobbling really badly, and after a bit of checking I decided it was another bent axle. I took it to Zane's for him to check, and sure enough it was. I came home, parked it up and ordered another from Summit.
Back on The Road
Submitted by Lawrence on Tue, 02/05/2006 - 00:00With the Camaro back home. I set about the huge amount of wiring that needed doing to get it ready for using again. I decided to change some of it again, and got it tucked up out of the way. I also needed to fit the rest of the Vinage Air AC system so it was starting to get tight under the dash. With it all in I fitted the carpets and the new seat sliders along with the door trim panels. Still needs a few bits and pieces but it's ready to drive over for the MOT test.
It's Painted
Submitted by Lawrence on Fri, 21/04/2006 - 00:00With the body all in primer, and the insides of the doors and shuts painted the body shop started putting it all back together. The replacement doors and wings were not even close to fitting properly, and they spent a day bending and pulling them to fit better. At the end of it all there was a huge gap at the top of one of the wings that they couldn't get rid of. I went to have a look at it and wasn't happy leaving it. They suggested building it up in fibreglass, but I didn't want to botch it, so got them to cut it and build it up in metal.
Repair Progress
Submitted by Lawrence on Tue, 21/03/2006 - 00:00The chassis work that needed doing after the accident was getting done by Zane at Zannetec and when I sat down with him to work out exactly what needed to be done, he agreed to fit the AC at the same time as the repairs. The rear axle turned out to have a bent halfshaft and was in need of a rebuild. While it was all in bits Zane also fitted the Baer brakes and rotors for the rear which should balance out my braking system a bit. The AC took a lot of messing about to clear everything, and some of it had to be fabricated to suit.
Filling the Cowl Vents
Submitted by Lawrence on Sun, 15/01/2006 - 00:00The Camaro was suffering from soggy carpets, and after a lot of testing with a hosepipe I realised it was the cowl vents and the bizarre way they drain inside the car on a first gen Camaro. I'm taking the opportunity to fit air conditioning and heating to the car, so no longer need the cowl vents to supply fresh air to the cabin. I pulled the panel off the car after struggling to unhook the wipers and measured up for a cardboard template. I've always cut out patterns in metal with the nibbler or the grinder, but now I had a bench grinder and a jigsaw I did it the easy way.
Wiring Take Two
Submitted by Lawrence on Tue, 27/12/2005 - 00:00After seeing the state of the Camaro at the bodyshop that was storing it, I decided to pay to have it recovered back to the house and put it on the drive. It wasn't going to be going anywhere quickly as Christmas was in the way and it turned out that I had a load of rear chassis damage and a bent axle. In a moment of madness I decided to re-do all the engine wiring as I hated the way it was when I got it, and it was unreliable as well. I pulled all the engine loom off, cut all the connections and took it back indoors where it was warm.
Big Bad Brakes
Submitted by Lawrence on Sun, 03/07/2005 - 00:00My Baer brakes arrived this week, along with a load of other bits and bobs for both cars. It had been raining overnight, so wasn't looking good to work on the car on Saturday. It was still wet, but I decided to get on with it anyway. I pulled the old disc and hub on the driver's side, then pulled the top and bottom ball joints which were both knackered. With the new ones back in, and the new hubs and discs on it started to rain again. After waiting for ten minutes, it didn't look any better, so I decided to get on with it anyway.