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My new toy!!!

lectric80

lectric80

3/4 ton status
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Posts
9,704
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Location
Grantsville, Ut
Picked up an 83 Z28 Camaro for a song, well almost a song at only $200. It came to me in non-running condition, but I suspect that I can get it running. Somewhere in it's life someone swapped the original crossfire injected 305 for a carbed 350. If I am correct that this was an original LU5 crossfire car, it appears the carb problems likely result from the lack of a regulator. It appears to be running the electric fuel pump to a quadrajet, and we all know how well that works.:rolleyes:

It has also had some damage to the right front corner. I am going to repair most of this before I get it back on the road.

Interior is in decent shape, with no tears in the front seats and some sun damage to the rear seat back. T-tops are intact, but the headliner is toast.

It doesn't have the original Z28 wheels, but a buddy of mine has a set he is willing to sell me. If they are confirmed to be 15" wheels I am picking them up. The current tires are heavily weather checked and need to be replaced, I will be going back to the original 215/65-15 tires. At least for now.:grin:

And now a couple teaser pics. I had already pushed it into the garage, and I cannot get around it with the rust free Blazer tub in there. I also cannot open the doors, which is why the t-tops are off right now.
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I will try to keep this thread updated as progress starts happening. Ideally I would like to get it running and on the road no later than next month, but it is going to depend on $$$, just like everything else.

The plan for now is to run it as a DD until I can swap the body on Krusty and get her back on the road. She is rusting away far too quickly, and I needed another running vehicle to take her offline for the work.

This fell into my lap for a price I couldn't beat, and I am fairly confident that the engine is going to run, in spite of having had the carb off for a few years and being exposed. There doesn't appear to be any water in the oil, so I am hopeful it will spin over by hand later today. Should there be any issues with getting this engine to run, I will swap the 350 out of Krusty, giving me an excuse to buy a 383 to get into Krusty.:grin: I really hope it doesn't come to that, but we will see.
 
Hmm, you just gave me an idea if I do find there isn't a fuel pressure regulator. I have the doors on the tub, a pickup tailgate, and a Blazer tailgate that need to be scrapped, might get enough cash to cover the regulator.:grin:

I really hope I don't have to pull the engine yet, since I would like to refinish the engine bay to clean it up, and I can't afford to do that right now. I guess we will see this morning after I get off work.
 
73redblaze said:
has it been a month or is the ck5 post calendar off?
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Yes it has been a month. Unfortunately life got in the way. I need to replace the windshield in my Safari so it will pass inspection next month, and that chewed up the money I planned to use for the Camaro. And I have had 2 deaths in the last 2.5 weeks to deal with, one of which was in Idaho and cost me a bunch to attend. Camaro unfortunately got put on the back burner while I focused on this other stuff. It is coming back up to the top of the heap, however it is still below getting the kids squared away for the new school year.

Deuling said:
Nice camaro!!!:thumb: Im diggin it
Click to expand...

Thank you! I think it will be a decent car once I can get it back up and going. I am truly hoping to get going on it over the next few weeks and get it back up and running, just got to deal with a few other things.

A bit of an update on where it stands, since not everyone makes it over to the blogs. The engine does have some rust to deal with, I am currently working on getting the heads torn off to see if I can possibly make it work. I have done this in the past, and my buddy's 79 Blazer is still rocking a strong, clean running 454 that we did the same operation to. Once I get it torn down to that point I will decide the next course of action. It will either be get it running as is, or pull Krusty's engine. Either way I still feel this was a good buy, just life causing issues. It no longer has an AIR system on it, and I found out it was an LG4 with the CCC. The carb is long gone, but the distributor and other components are still connected to the computer.:doah: No wonder he could never seem to get it running right. Once I get it all back together it will have a standard HEI dist, and I am working on setting up a vacuum controlled lockup system for the torque converter lockup.
 
Added a new toy (literally) to allow me to take my time a bit more with the Camaro. Picked up this little thing to drive to work, as well as for parts runs and stuff.

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Getting about 22 MPG right now, but that was before I took the shell off. It is 5 speed with a 22re in it. No plans to change it at all, just plan to drive the wheels off it. It looks so cute sitting next to Krusty!
 
To be honest, I really don't know yet. The truck belongs to my Dad, and he bought it about 2 years ago. During that time he has put maybe 200 miles on it. The rest of the time it sat, or I used it a few times when Krusty was down.

A couple of months ago he decided he wanted to sell it, and listed it for $3000. With the economy being what it is, he didn't get a single call. Last month, Mom decided she wanted to get rid of her Dodge Nitro, in favor of something that could tow the boat while Dad uses his big Ram to haul the 5th wheel. When she got looking, she couldn't find anything she liked, until she went into the showroom, where she promptly bought a fully loaded 2011 Ram 1500 with 13 miles on it.

This meant their car insurance is going to go up, and with him retiring, he just didn't want to keep the Toyota around. In the meantime I had been driving it to work to save miles on my Safari, so he offered to let me make payments to him until I get my taxes back next year. The only thing he has said on price is that we will work it out later, but it won't be anywhere near the 3k he was asking. I know he originally paid $1400 for it, so I figure I will probably give him around 15-1600 for it.

Regardless, it is a great little truck, with almost no options on it. It doesn't have power anything, and I do mean anything, even the steering is manual. It gets great mileage with the little 4 cylinder, and I used the 4x4 once earlier this year when I brought it in to work. Of course it was just because I couldn't get the little thing to move when I stopped to open the gate at work.:haha:

Unfortunately, the alternator went out yesterday, so it is parked while I take the alternator to a buddy to get new brushes put in. When my buddy looked at it, he said he is almost positive that it is the original alternator. This means it only lasted 190,000 miles.:eek1:
 
Those Toyotas will take a beating. My buddy had a '92 extended cab V6 4x4 that he BEAT on while we were in the Marines. Had that thing airborne several times and even rolled it onto it's side once when he hit the side of a hill going to fast down a twisty SoCal dirt road east of San Diego in the mountains.

I looked for one like that a number of years ago and just couldn't find one that wasn't a basket case. Nice score.
 
Well good deal man. And thats pretty crazy about the alternator, ive always heard those are pretty nice little trucks
 
Thing you have to remember with most Japanese vehicles of that vintage are they were still "world vehicles".

They put some extra "Flair" into them and sold them here but the same basic vehicle was being used in Africa by some guy with a click in his name and a monkey wrench and also sold to some guy in the Middle East who welded a machine gun mount to the roll bar and then put 25 of his best muj buddies into it and went off to kill someone.
This isn't a S10 we're talking about.
 
Yes they were very different. You know you look at S10's or Rangers of the same vintage, they just didn't hold up well. This one has very little rust, what little I have found is surface rust, and aside from paint fading on the one side of the bed, it is remarkably intact. The lack of extras like power steering and windows/locks, just helps prevent a lot of issues with the relatively weak 4 cylinder engine.

As far as the alternator, the buddy I was talking to ran an automotive electrical shop, and has been doing that type of stuff for 25 years. He said that when people would call with a Toyota and say they had an alternator going out, he would ask about their mileage. If they told him any less than 150k, he would tell them the problem is not the alternator, it is something else. 95% of the time, it was something else. They just built them to be simple, and last forever. I have a buddy that wanted to buy this one, but didn't want to spend the cash, and he has 2 94's with 22re's. One has 245k, the other has 197k, and both are still running the original engine and in almost identical condition to this one.

It currently has a Cabelas seat cover on it, and when I lifted it up to see the condition of the seat, I can find no rips, and very little fading. May just have had a cover on it all it's life, but it is really nice. This little thing has the factory plastic bedliner in it as well. Lots of little things that really make me happy. Now just to fix the leaking oil pump, and track down where I am losing a little antifreeze, plus of course repair the alternator.
 
They are great little pickups. I hate torsion bar IFS 4x4 but theirs is actually designed well with the bars going to the UPPER control arm...yah know...so they aren't at the bottom HANGING DOWN like GM and all the US morons did.

I was looking for one around 2003 or so. Could NOT find one (didn't help I was in Michigan) that was decent. Was looking for a 4cyl, stick, extended cab 4x4. Just not around. Was driving down Grand Rapids, MI's "used car lot avenue" and one place had a little red single cab much like that one but with power steering and air. I liked it. Smoked a bit on start up but fired right up and drove nice. I REALLY wanted an extended cab and then when I talked to the guy he dropped the price from $4000 to $1500 in a heart beat. I walked out then but have sorta wondered if I passed up a good deal.
 
DAMN. i have two buddys here that each have a solid axle version 22r 5 speed ex cab 4x4 yota. both paid around 1300-1500.

(of course the sorry bastiges used to be my full size wheeling buddys, now theyre mini truckers)
 
Well I won't be switching to mini-trucks, at least not as my wheeler. Krusty is getting ready for a major rebuild, this is just my driver to get me to work. Having 4x4 is a must in the winter for me, since the plows are going the opposite direction when I get off work in the mornings.
 
Well, got around to pulling the alternator Friday, and my buddy was correct. It took me longer to pull the thing out than it did for him to swap a new set of brushes in. Putting out 14.4-14.6 at idle, and the only thing he touched was the brushes. Should be good for another 100k or more now.:grin:

Finally washed it up as well, but I didn't get time to adjust the driving lights on the front. I am hoping to do that this week, as well as install a relay to power them. They are true KC's, so they should have really nice output to boost the weak stock lighting setup. I plan to swap some Silverstars into it, but that won't be for a bit. I want to focus on the critical stuff right now, since this is my driver.

I am also planning to drop the air pressure in the tires. I think it is at the sidewall listed 55 PSI, which is way too much in a truck this light. It rides really rough, and you feel EVERY pebble in the road. Everyone I have talked to with one of these, and the same tire size, says the same thing, drop it to about 35 and you will be good. So, after I get some sleep today I will be trying this. I will report back after the trip back to work tomorrow.

In other news, I also got so busy this weekend that I didn't get to the Camaro. I will be starting to get more of it torn down this week. As of now I don't have any plans for next weekend, but things seem to change quickly, so I am not going to plan anything until then. However, if I have time I will get the heads off the Camaro. Then I can see what needs to be replaced/repaired in the engine and start getting her ready to run.
 
What are they, 31's? That was a factory size so there's probably a factory listed spec for the air pressure.

Think my buddy ran his at 30psi.
 
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