I need a lot of help. 81 z28

[z28n00b]

Alright, so I just bought a 81 z28, paid way too much for it in my opinion, but I've decided to keep it and do my best to restore a lot of it. I'm a new driver and completely new to working on cars. It's not a complete junker, but it came with a long list of problems when it got back from the mechanic. A lot of the stuff my buddy and I can fix, but I know so little about cars it's ridiculous. Please try not to laugh at all my questions. I'll try to post pictures of it, but I'm not sure how on this forum. I was blinded by it's beauty, and didn't really look at all the rust and rotting things on it.

So, the passenger handle is broken in half. I have a replacement, but how do I get in there to fix it? I tried taking off the inside door panel, and I couldn't really find where the handle went on the other side.

What looks to be some sort of weather strips are rotting all around the doors and trunk, along with plenty of rust. What are they even called?

I'd like to replace the tail light cover things, but where do I get them from? I haven't seen another 2nd gen. Camaro or Transam owner anywhere around here.

The outside lining stuff on the back window is leaking so the inside is a bit water damaged, but needs to be re-upholstered anyway. How do I fix that window problem? The plywood that the back speakers rested on was all moldy.

The railing/foot wiping thingymajiggers that the carpet goes under, those guys are loose, and kinda bent on both sides. Where the heck do I find those???

I've looked on rickscamaros.com for lots of parts, but is there anywhere I can get some stuff a bit cheaper?

I'm about to be 18, I spent all my money on the car, and I'm on a very small budget.


To get this car past inspection it needs a lot of stuff. Here's what the inspection looks like...

Mount and balance two tires.

Replace timing cover gasket, transmission pan gasket, fuel pump base gaskets and oil pan gaskets. replace transmission cooler lines.

Replace right and left side inner and outer tie rod ends.

Replace front upper and lower ball joints.

Replace steering gear box.

Replace front left and front right wheel bearing assemblies.

Replace power steering return hose.

Replace upper and lower control arm bushings.

Replace front break pads and rotors.

Replace rubber break lines and bleed system.

Rear differential spider gears have been welded together or rear differential carrier is locked together.

Needs front shocks replaced.


As you can see, the list is kinda extensive. Is there any place to get all this stuff for a bit cheaper? I'm sure I'll have tons of questions after this too. Thanks for any help guys.

I knew this thing would need a little bit of work, I want to learn about all this stuff so I can fix things and possibly take on bigger restoration projects in the future.

[z28n00b]

This should be a link to a few pictures.

http://s1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj634/z28n00b/

[K5JMP]

I'm headed out the door for work... so I won't be much help tonight, but the guys here are great knowledge resource about our cars...

car looks pretty good to me.. get busy and get it passed inspection!

and welcome to NastyZ

[red78z]

Nice car , Welcome

[Jones20992]

Nice car

Got to autozone and buy the manual for your car there 19.99 and you will find everything you need to know, but it will not always make sence after you read how to replace a ball jount do a search on youtube and watch a few videos take your time and dont be afraid to post a question on the fourm if you get stuck

Welcome to the hobby its nice to see some youngsters still like v8 detroit iron you did good picking a 2ed gen there some what easy to work on when compared to newer stuff and a lot cheeper the older stuff

Good luck

[Throttle]

To get this car past inspection it needs a lot of stuff. Here's what the inspection looks like...

Mount and balance two tires.
That you can take care of

Replace timing cover gasket, transmission pan gasket, fuel pump base gaskets and oil pan gaskets. replace transmission cooler lines.
Felpro is your friend

Replace right and left side inner and outer tie rod ends.
MOOG should have you covered there

Replace front upper and lower ball joints.
Same as above.. MOOG

Replace steering gear box.
I will look at my files and see where I get mine-or- you can try adjusting it

Replace front left and front right wheel bearing assemblies.
If they are not in bad shape you can repack them and go from there

Replace power steering return hose.
NPD, Classic Industries, Year One or any of the aftermarket people should have this, even your local Parts Store should be able to get this

Replace upper and lower control arm bushings.
This, you are better off letting a shop do

Replace front break pads and rotors.
Local Parts Store

Replace rubber break lines and bleed system.
If you want to take this on im sure you can find a good write up here on NastyZ to do this

Rear differential spider gears have been welded together or rear differential carrier is locked together.
Another better off having a shop do if you have no idea what you are doing

Needs front shocks replaced.

KYB is a decent cheaper shock you can run

[ls777z]

Door handle. Once you have the inner door panel off you need to put the window glass up or down. You should then be able to see the door handle. There's 2 nuts and a clip that need to be removed/unhooked.

It's called weatherstrip.

Are you talking about the actual lenses themselves or covers? If it's the lense you need to get another whole assembly. The lenses do come apart (members on here have done it). It all depends on how ambitious you are but you still need another lense which isn't sold seperately (last I knew).

If your rear window is leaking it needs to come out and new sealer/gasket put in. Most glass shops can do this. The shelf thing is called a rear package tray. It's cardboard-like and can be bought or if you don't care about originality you can make your own. Somebody on here just asked about making one.

Sill plates. Like everything else you asked about pretty much everything is available aftermarket. Classic Industries is pretty good. It's all a matter of how much $$$ you want to spend.Throw up a wanted ad and you might be able to pick up someone else's used parts or project leftovers for a reasonable $$$.

[81Z4ME]

Originally Posted by z28n00b

Alright, so I just bought a 81 z28, paid way too much for it in my opinion, but I've decided to keep it and do my best to restore a lot of it. I'm a new driver and completely new to working on cars. It's not a complete junker, but it came with a long list of problems when it got back from the mechanic. A lot of the stuff my buddy and I can fix, but I know so little about cars it's ridiculous. Please try not to laugh at all my questions. I'll try to post pictures of it, but I'm not sure how on this forum. I was blinded by it's beauty, and didn't really look at all the rust and rotting things on it.

So, the passenger handle is broken in half. I have a replacement, but how do I get in there to fix it? I tried taking off the inside door panel, and I couldn't really find where the handle went on the other side.

What looks to be some sort of weather strips are rotting all around the doors and trunk, along with plenty of rust. What are they even called?

I'd like to replace the tail light cover things, but where do I get them from? I haven't seen another 2nd gen. Camaro or Transam owner anywhere around here.

The outside lining stuff on the back window is leaking so the inside is a bit water damaged, but needs to be re-upholstered anyway. How do I fix that window problem? The plywood that the back speakers rested on was all moldy.

The railing/foot wiping thingymajiggers that the carpet goes under, those guys are loose, and kinda bent on both sides. Where the heck do I find those???

I've looked on rickscamaros.com for lots of parts, but is there anywhere I can get some stuff a bit cheaper? Start making trips to the local/not so local junkyards. 81's (many parts from earlier cars will fit also) are rare in many junk yards these days but some places still have them.

I'm about to be 18, I spent all my money on the car, and I'm on a very small budget.


To get this car past inspection it needs a lot of stuff. Here's what the inspection looks like...

Mount and balance two tires.

Replace timing cover gasket, transmission pan gasket, fuel pump base gaskets and oil pan gaskets. replace transmission cooler lines. Is all this stuff really leaking? Or is there evidence of oil/fluid in the area? Sorry, just my personal issues with inspections/mechanics from many years of experience. Some will absolutely try to rip you off by telling you that you need repairs you don't need. If I went through my personal list I could write a chapter in a book. Back to your car/issues. I've only seen two oil pan gaskets leak in over 30 years of driving and owning 8 different cars (and 5 SUVs/trucks). Oil from a leaking valve cover will run down the side of the engine, collect at the rear of the oil pan, blow back on the transmission, etc. I'd spray the engine off real good with engine degreaser and a hose first and then see if you can tell where the leaks really are. Having said that, I'd also go ahead and change the transmission filter and pan gasket. That's not hard to do and probably needs done. Don't forget to check/add transmssion fluid to it when you finish up with the filter/gasket change. Why do the transmission cooling lines need to be replaced? My 86 IROC has the original lines on it. If they are leaking at the transmission or radiator try tightening them up. Again, is all that stuff really leaking or did one thing leak and put fluid all over the bottom of everthing else? If you can figure out what is leaking and fix that you'll save yourself a lot of time and money.

Replace right and left side inner and outer tie rod ends.

Replace front upper and lower ball joints. Uppers are easy, lowers can be tough and dangerous - be sure you've got that lower a-arm absolutely supported when you do this one. Also chain/lock that spring in place so it cannot fly out on you. Might want to check out those control arm bushings while doing this to see if they need replacement.

Replace steering gear box. Why? Is it worn out, or another possible leak source? Again, I have cars with almost 200,000 miles on them and I had a truck I put 250,000 miles on and I've never had to replace a steering gear box.

Replace front left and front right wheel bearing assemblies.

Replace power steering return hose.

Replace upper and lower control arm bushings. Oh, see this now. Yeah, good time to do it when replacing the ball joints.

Replace front break pads and rotors. Are the rotors below minimum thickness? or rusted? or???? How you drive has a lot to do with wear issues but once again, even my 86 IROC with 185,000 miles on it has not had the front rotors replaced. I measured them 3 or 4 years ago when I repacked the front wheel bearings and they were still good to go.

Replace rubber break lines and bleed system. Probably a good idea. Do all the brake work and then bleed the brakes.

Rear differential spider gears have been welded together or rear differential carrier is locked together.

Needs front shocks replaced. Pretty easy job but you might as well do it when you replace the rest of the front suspension parts.


As you can see, the list is kinda extensive. Is there any place to get all this stuff for a bit cheaper? I'm sure I'll have tons of questions after this too. Thanks for any help guys.

I knew this thing would need a little bit of work, I want to learn about all this stuff so I can fix things and possibly take on bigger restoration projects in the future.

Good luck with your project.

[z28n00b]

Thank you guys so much! I'll be ordering some parts soon and getting this baby rolling.

[whitesoxfbody]

I have an extra power steering gearbox off a 80 Z28. You can have it if you want to pay the shipping. I've parted out a few cars over the last 10 years and have a ton of extra parts.

[K5JMP]

looks like the guys are on it...
you are in good hands here.

[grzewnicki]

I've got a set of upper control arms off my 72, sandblasted, epoxy primed, painted satin black. New moog ball joinst and polyurethane bushings. Zero miles on them....I upgraded to tubular arms so these are just sitting, $60 + shipping, PM me if you are interested.

[76 LT Camaro]

81 Z 28

Sit back and relax. Determine what project is the most important. Focus on that one for the time being. Getting the car road ready should be first, cosmetic work, interior and exterior last. Covering/getting it out of the rain is important while working on her.
HOWEVER, with the constant increae in pricing, ordering cosmetic parts, the sooner the better. NPD's current catalog, I ordered parts yesterday and they explained over the phone that the prices increased 10 - 15 % from what is currently listed.

Good Luck. Relax and enjoy. It's not a project, but a life long hobby. As long as you have passion for it and do it right the first time it only gets better.

John

[Cardinal]

Buy manuals for your vehicle. Haynes manuals are a good basic manual that will usually explain most of what you'll need to do. They have electrical prints which will definately help with any electrical problems.

THEE best manuals are the ones from Helm, Inc. ( http://www.helminc.com/helm/homepage...8&fr=yfp-t-701 ). I learned a lot about my 1964 Chevy II (that I bought way back in 1970) from the Helm manual and the Helm suplement manual for it. Things like rebuilding the front suspension, how to tram (check the squareness of the frame), rebuiding a Muncie four speed, electrical wiring, just to name a few items from them.