tate richards

Hey all. I'm new to the forum and actually new to Camaro's. I had some cool cars when I was a youngster; a Chevelle, Firebird and a Vega. Then I did the responsible family man bit for twenty some years. Now I'm gettin back to my roots. I bought an 83 Z28 from the widow of the original owner to have something to tinker with. It has 100899 miles. It's pretty much all original, except for the passenger door. The body and drivetrain are in good condition. The interior needs help. I got some antique plates to put on it, so it's exempt from state inspections. My plan is to drive it occasionaly while I'm fixing it up. Hoping to keep it mostly original. Maybe tidy up a bit under the hood. Cam, headers, get rid of some emissions crap, etc... It wouldn't idle when I got it, so I rebuilt the carb. It seemed to run a little better, but then I discovered a fuel leak from the tank. I've read about a lot of leaks in the filler neck area, but that doesn't seem to be the issue here. Looks like I'll have to drop the tank to investigate further. Any way, I had other projects to do around the homestead, so I threw a cover on the car and haven't touched it since. I'm now wrapping up all my other projects and hoping to get back to the car this weekend. What I'm hoping to find help with is the passenger door. Apparently it was damaged and replaced with a used door. The problem is, it doesn't fit right. What research I've done lead me to think that all 3rd gen doors were the same, but I know that can't be true. This is a little hard to explain, but here it goes. The car has plastic all around the bottom. Ground effects, I guess. The piece on the bottom of the passenger door sticks out past the pieces to the front and rear of it. When I look at the drivers side door, at the bottom it has a crease, or indent like the rest of the car. The passenger door has the same contour all the way to the bottom (no indent). So, I'm wondering is this a Firebird door? Are Firebird and Camaro doors different? Are Z28 doors different? Or is it a model year thing? I want to find the correct door, but need to know what I'm looking for. Thanks in advance for any help.

navy02ws6

All 1982-92 doors themselves are the same as far as bodylines and contours; the little differences come in with the holes for various factory bodykits that were offered on both the Camaro and Firebird.

IIRC, there was no factory bodykit available for the 1982 Camaro (or at least one that would have pieces to mount on the lower door sections). More than likely you have a door off a later Camaro or Firebird that had a factory bodykit.

Post a photo of your passenger side so that we can tell you what model/year range your passenger is, or try a google image search (I'd search "1986 Z28" and "1992 Z28" as they're likely Camaro doors, and those were two of the more popular factory bodykit styles).

Could be a Firebird door as well, but probably 1990 or older as the 1991-92 cars had HUGE lower passenger door sections to match the rest of the bodykit, which would stick out like a sore thumb on an '82 Camaro.

tate richards

Passenger door.

Passenger door.

Drivers door
Sorry that didn't work out right. The white door is the passenger door.

fyrebird68

iTrader: (1)

Looks like the door has a GFX piece from a different year car, or possibly from a Firebird. Don't know Camaro stuff well, so I'll leave ID to the Camaro guys. Since you said the door was replaced I'll bet that's the issue.

If the door and body line up WITHOUT ground effects, then the door is a good fit. You could go looking for the right year GFX pieces or another door with the pieces you need.

navy02ws6

I stand corrected, your closeups make it obvious that the 1982-84 Z28 did indeed have a factory bodykit, which is different from both the 1985-90 and 1991-92 Camaro bodykits.

Will need to wait for the Camaro guys to chime in as I don't know those cars like I know the Firebirds. The only style we can rule out at this point is the 1991-92 Firebird ground effects.

I'd keep the replacement door itself (assuming that it has no rust or other major problems), and I'd just look for the correct ground effects piece to put on it. Hawks lists them used for $100 on their site, although it says call for availability. http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/pr...eces-Used.html . You will have to drill holes as the mounting locations for the correct piece for your year car will be different.

You might also check the parts classified forum on here and see if anyone is parting out an 82-84 Z28, would probably be cheaper.

tate richards

Thanks for the help. I have a theory and I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong. After looking at several pictures of other Camaro's, as suggested, it looks to me like the cars with the body kits have a different contour at the bottom than the cars without body kits. I think they put a door from a car without it, drilled holes in it and stuck that piece on there.

white gold 88

Is it possible that someone repaired the bottom of the door with a patch panel maybe and just didn't put the contour back in the door. I don't remember the third gens having different doors but they may have. IIRC the second gens had different doors for the Camaros and Firebirds but not third gens.

Arizona IROC

iTrader: (4)

So you have a '83 Z/28 and the white door is off of a '85 -'90 Camaro or Z/28. The easiest thing to do is just buy a new passenger door ground effects on Eblah or somewhere and change it out.
They are cheap

http://www.ebay.com/itm/82-84-CAMARO-Z28-RH-R-DOOR-GROUND-EFFECT-GFX-PASSENGER-SIDE-ON-DOOR-BLUE-/390467957723?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1983%7CModel%3ACamaro&hash=item5ae9b433db&vxp=mtr
You may have to drill new holes.......

tate richards

You are a genious. After reading your post I went out and looked at it again and it's so obvious that the ground effect piece on the R/H door is much bigger than the one on the L/H door, I can't believe I didn't notice it before. I'm glad I didn't buy another door. Thanks!

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

FYI, you're going to have issues with that white door...

Some of the window parts will be different between the sides of the car. The front tracks are completely different between 82-84 and 85+. On the 85+, the triangle part and the guide track are one piece. On the earlier cars, they're 2, and the mountings are completely different.

Just keep that in mind should you need to replace something in the future.

tate richards

Thanks for the info. That's good to know.

dangerboy

iTrader: (1)

Thirdgencustom is a guy on the forum who has a yard in MD with alot of parts. He may have what you need. He is also "This week in camaro" on FB.

tate richards

Well I decided to pull the engine to go thru it and freshen it up, so I'm in no hurry to find that gfx piece. The pick n pull here has 3rd gen Camaros occasionaly, so I'll keep checking and hopefully I can find one there. I did finally get a chance to clean the car up a bit and take that gfx piece off of the R/H door. It looks better already!

sonjaab

[quote=Maverick H1L;5568770] On the 85+, the triangle part and the guide track are one piece. .


Mav................My late build 84 has the triangle with the track piece
built into it.

Arizona IROC

iTrader: (4)

You should turn around and sell that piece on Eblah to make some or all of your money back

tate richards

I think I will, now that I know what year cars it belongs on.