lasher_350

Hey everyone, just thought I'd post a pic of what happens when you let your GF drive your car when it snows (I know, what was I thinking??)....and to ask a question. The radiator support that goes underneath the radiator got shoved back and it's just barely rubbing on the crankshaft pulley. I ordered a new support, but before I get under the car (it's freakin freezing), and before I get the part in, can anyone tell me if it is bolted in or welded? I'll have to take a completely different approach to it if it's welded, as I'm no welder, nor do I have any access to welding equipment. The rest of the repair is childsplay, just not sure on the radiator support. Thanks ahead of time

sorry for the link, but for some reason my computer won't let me add the pic attachment directly

firebirdjosh

iTrader: (1)

Check the frame, it may be tweaked. And the radiator support is welded- if you don't want to die in a future accident then I recommend getting good at welding or having someone do it right.

fast89ta

Wow that sucks dude, bet u wont make that mistake again. But yea it is welded and u dont wanna mess around with it if you dont know how to weld, id just call around and find somone professional to do it. Good luck!

lasher_350

Aha, my worst fear realized! I will begin a search for someone to weld it in for me, as I don't want to practice welding on this particular repair! Thanks for the input!

VenomX-87

oh well atleast the hood don't look Bent.

lasher_350

Yeah, I'm totally happy because the hood survived the whole thing!! Not a scratch, bump or bruise! The fenders didn't take much damage either, but I need new ones anyway, so I'm going to replace them in the process.
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Damage from the side view...I guess on the other side of the car, just a few feet away, was a straight down drop into a riverbed about 15ft down. I've got a new front facia coming from thirdgenranch (via ebay) that I gave $75 for, and a brand new radiator support coming for $36. I'm going to order my impact bar and fenders soon. The only thing I'm going to need is the panel that the hood latches to, and the 2 front fender ground effects.

ewwewwnotme

I wrecked my stepdads Z28 almost 3 years ago and totaled the whole front end. We had to cut 4 inches of the actually frame sides off and get the new fron end welded on. It sux bro so I know what you mean. It took 4 months to get the car fixed. Including the 3 it sat at the first body shop.

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

That sucks...and my sister wonders why I won't let her drive my car!

stroker_SS

Sorry about your luck(or hers, whatever). But dang man your gf gets in a wreck and your worried about the car.

lasher_350

You've got to be kidding me. Yeah, all I care about is the car. I'm not some teenage punk, I'm a 37 year old father of 3, and the first and only thing I thought of when I found out she was in the accident was her and if she was okay, and if she had her children with her since she was taking them to school that morning. Only now, a week after the event, am I undertaking the process of repairing it. My girlfriend was FINE. No bumps, no bruises, no whiplash, nothing. I'm so very glad that you'd jump to the conclusion that the car is the only thing I'm worried about. Nice.

Now, on to more mature readers of the post, I have found a 1986 Z28 I'm getting this week for $500. Someone swapped in a 350 from a 1993 truck, and all I know at this time is that it sounds sweet when it runs, no weird noises or anything, and starts immediately. The body is straight except for a decent dent in the rear passenger quarter, right by the taillights. It's T-Top, doesnt' appear to leak, and the interior is decent...and it's got some God-awful 14" rims on it with very heavy backspacing and cheeseball tires...I guess an idiots attempt to lower the car. I'll get some pictures and post them as soon as I get it

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

im surprised she got that far, i cant even drive my car in the snow. the wheels just spin. i can leave the car in drive get out and make a cup of coffee and it will still be sitting where i left it with the wheels spinning.

sorry to see the wreck, but i guess it could have been worse

CarterCarbureto

iTrader: (1)

Yet another example as to why I will NEVER let ANYONE else drive my car when its done.

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

Carter, how is your car coming along? Last time I saw it, you had welded in the new roof and was working on the dash.

92RS(real slow)

I fell your pain I just wrecked my dads truck being stupid went under one fence somehow, and crashed through another one, and ended up in my friends front yard, and wasnt heading to his house

stroker_SS

I never said or meant to indicate that the only thing your worried about is the car,you just never said whether she was alright or not, just most of the time when i hear or read about an accident i just like to know how the driver did before worrying about the car.

I really hate to get personal on a thread, but please don't make judgements on my maturity level before you know me. Not a very "mature" move in itself.

Honestly i'm glad to hear she's ok. Best of luck repairing the car!

lasher_350

No worries. I'm well aware that there are some people out there who only care about material things such as cars and whatnot when the real concern should be with the people. I'm not one of them. Cars can be fixed, replaced, whatever, but people can't. I would rather lose 100 cars (or more, just insert a number there) before I lost my girlfriend or had her hurt. Anyway, car discussion, not people discussion lol...I'll keep an update on this as I go.

CarterCarbureto

iTrader: (1)

Well, no body works been done, its been at nearly a standstill, due to grades, and money issues. The rear end is done, and rebuilt, all my parts (for the rear) have been sand blasted and painted, got new routers, new pads, etc. camera's broken, so no pics, car should be going into my schools shop, were ONLY I will be working on it. thanks for asking ^^

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

WOW! where did you get that good of a deal for $500!?

lasher_350

Well, it's one of those "friend of a friend of a friend" things...my friend's girlfriend's son had it, along with like 5 other cars, and he was moving to an apartment with no place to park them all...and all he had into the car was 500 bucks, so that's all he was asking out of it. I'll see just how good of a deal it is very soon! lol...but what can I say, anything that runs and drives and is pretty much straight is worth 500 bucks easy

90_T/AGTA

that sucks dude should put some primer on that open metal on your driverside fender

Abird4u2nv1

iTrader: (-1)

I'm curious where did you get the radiator support? $36 doesn't sound like you got the actual whole radiator support, i mean your talking about a large by huge piece of metal with all mounting holes and such in it. I used to be in the body business, I've just never seen one that cheap, not calling you a liar, I'd just like to know cuz if there that cheap i'm gonna pick up one for a spare lol

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

well, nontheless good luck. Seems like theres alot of potential...

goalieforlife

iTrader: (4)

Thats why u should store these cars in the winter, not drive em'.

lasher_350

Yes, i know there is rust on that fender, but that fender is GONE, to be replaced with a new fender, so I'm not all that worried about it.

I didn't buy the whole front header/radiator support, just the lower part, the part right under the radiator. Got it off ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/RADIA...spagenameZWDVW



I would love to garage it over the winter months, but it's the only vehicle I have to drive, so it's not really an option at this point. If I had all the money in the world, do you think it would look like it does now?? Ha ha! Yeah, I wish I could afford another car, but now looks like I'll have another. Doesn't get me out of the f-body dilemma though, but gives me options at least.

pg29

if you can only afford one car, then don't drive a trans am. trans ams have got to be the worst winter cars in the world as your GF found out. buy something you can drive year round if you can't get a winter car to go along side your trans am. im not trying to be an *******, im just telling it like it is.

lasher_350

I honestly have nothing to say to that. I guess I'll go out and sell my Trans Am tomorrow and buy a Honda. Yeah, that's what I'll do, cause I love hondas so much. Yeah.

pg29

at least your girlfriend will have a safe car to drive in the winter. hahahaha.

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

No, I think it depends much more on the driver than the car. No offense to your girlfriend, lasher_350. If you're not used to driving a rwd vehicle in the winter, then there is going to be problems. Hell, I've seen drivers with awd and "traction control" wreck their cars in snow aswell. I blame drivers not the cars...

lasher_350

I agree with HCR13 on this, and we just remedied the situation! My g/f is the proud owner of a MINIVAN!! hehe 2004 Chevy FWD!! Well, it's good. It's for her and her kiddos and mine too whenever we go anywhere, and good on the snow. Now on to the repairs of the bird!

lasher_350

Waiting for parts to come in for the T/A...meanwhile, took some tax refund money and bought this: $500 bucks....needs a little tlc, the kid who swapped the engine from a 1993 pickup (5.7 lt), seemed only interested in the motor running...not doing a very good swap job. So I'm doing all the little details to it. Let me know what y'all think!

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, it looks like it needs the tlc. I love your e-brake brick you have going on. Still not a bad deal for $500. Keep us updated on both cars!

lasher_350

Yes, the good old e-brake brick...never leave home without it! The kid didn't get the linkage bolted up right to the tranny, and it won't shift into Park...as soon as the ground dries up some I'll be under there getting it fixed. And so far as the actual e-brake, there are no cables going to the rear end, so that's on my list of things to replace. The interior is surprisingly good on it, went through with the armor all today and spruced it up...there's only a small rip in the driver's seat, but the kid lived on a dirt road and there's dust EVERYWHERE...like when you brush the carpet or tap a seat....dust everywhere....I don't know what happened to pride in ownership, but now this little F-body is at a home where it will be cared for and treated *somewhat* nicely. Here's a picture of the rear end damage:



and an interior shot...(not that good, give me time to get a better shot of interior...)



and finally, the engine compartment:

DigitalMonarch0

Edit: Mod- Please delete.

lasher_350

Well, I've been doing some continuous work on the Z28 while my T/A sits in the garage still waiting on parts. Painted the hood, replaced front brake pads, new plastics under the hood, thourough cleaning inside, wheels and tires from the T/A (looks odd, but hey, better than what it had for now). Had to replace the torque arm bushing, got the shifting linkage lined up properly and installed an Alpine cd/wma/mp3 player. Still need to do rear drum brakes and e-brake cables, switch out shifters, I'm not liking the 8ball style, especially when the plastic shaft inside it is broken and there's no button...going to transplant the shifter and handle out of the T/A into the Camaro. Installed brand new HEI distributor with 65k volt coil and new plug wires, filled the tranny up with fluid and adjusted the tv cable. this baby moves pretty good. Almost time to devote all my time to the T/A! yay!!

before:



after:



and underhood after:

HCR13

iTrader: (5)

Looking real good, alot of good progress

l_dis_travlr

Hey, I'm a bit jealous.
You've got one 3rg-gen with upgraded performance, to drive
daily, with another in the garage. The possibilities are
mind-boggling!!
-- repair the 'bird back to daily driver, then focus on the 'maro
as a week-end cruiser.
-- or vice-versa, get the 'maro to really good (much improved
already ) daily cond, then do the 'bird to a cruiser.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

I have to admit being amused at the mod's -- rear brakes are
still on the queue, but I got TUNES!!!

Glad to hear everyone was ok, and that you're reviving another
of these magnificent machines. Keep up the good work.

1989karr

hmmm....I don't really like the lemon reference....I like this one better...lol

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, sell the lemonade, turn it into a mulit billion dollar business, and use the profits to fix up your car"

LOL

Slepewesel

iTrader: (1)

You shouldnt have to swap out the entire shifters to change the handles. Just pop off the handle from the T/A, and slide it on the shifter in the Camaro.

Looks much better since you got it cleaned up. Gotta love those $500 deals.

lasher_350

I'd love to be able to just swap handles, cause I have a couple of extra ones laying around, but unfortunately, the Z came equipped with the 8-ball style shifter, and that means a smaller shaft diameter, and no "lock" for the oversized staple to fit in...the handle itself is held on by a c-clip. It's a bastage type shifter, and I want to be rid of it lol...

And heck yeah about the tunes man, PRIORITIES!!! lol....no, actually, the rear brakes work fine, I would just like to put new shoes and check the hardware out on them before too long, but that involves money I don't have...and the parking brake isn't even hooked up, so as long as it's not needed, I am not going to fix just yet...the radio and speakers are just swap overs from the T/A....so just busy work basically.

Ucantcme57

Did you paint the hood too?

l_dis_travlr

'karr, I bow in the presence of a master...

That is such a , I'll go plant a lemon tree
in the back yard this very day. And then I can fertilize
it with the residue from 2 Great Danes!!

lasher_350

Yeah, I painted the hood with some rattle cans...then clear coated it, wet sanded it and buffed it...not the best, but much better than the crappy dull black hood that was on it when I got it! lol...

lasher_350

Now back to the original reason for the post...I'm finally getting around to tearing the Trans Am down more and more now that the camaro is getting close to being dependable. These are some pics of what I got it to tonight...sorry for the quality of the pics, but it's a camera phone, and not that wonderful.





and the radiator that didn't get compromised...lol...



and starting to flatten it back out. I don't see it being a problem in the future so far as leaking...what do you guys think?

fast89ta

Everytime metal is bent, it gets weaker. You may get sometime out of it but in the long run, you have it out now, might as well save yourself from a headache on a hot summer day and change it. I've learned the hard way plenty of times.

lasher_350

That's what I was kinda thinking...and you have a very good point. It's gonna be a while before any radiator will be going on, so I will be shopping around for a good price on a new one. The tanks on this one are plastic, is that better than a brass tank one?

fast89ta

I would go with a brass tank rad., or if you can find a good deal on an aluminum one. Check out ebay. They will cool better and wont crack from excessive heat like a plastic one would.