plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

This is sure to be a lengthy thread full of more detail and pictures than I'm sure aNYONE but myself will care about, but nonetheless, I have a history thread going on a local car club website (http://www.607motorsports.com) and wanted to share the story of my 1986 IROC-Z on thirdgen.org - the site I know and love.

Background:
I joined this site back in 2008 shortly after I got my car. I am 23 years old now and live in Binghamton, NY, I am married, I am a youth leader at my baptist church, and I enjoy my career as an IS Specialist/IT Technician. Now here is how it alllllllll started =)

My uncle is a car nut and a gear head (one in the same I suppose) and his cars have always fascinated me. He has a barn full of 5 or 6 finished and unfinished project cars at any given time. He will build one up, drive it for a season, then sell it (save for a 1950 something VW bug, and a 1940 something Ford sedan). I never understood why he liked investing so much time in a car, building it literally from the frame up, and then turn around and sell it. I knew that if I ever got into something like that, I would keep it forever!

On July 4th, 2008, he decided to bring a 1930's roadster combination he had to our family's July 4th party. It was a two seater, no windshield, all open including no hood. It had a flathead in it and some kind of weird high/low each gear 4 speed manual transmission. Regardless, this was the first time he offered to take me for a spin in one of his cars, and I jumped on his offer instantly. I jumped in, looked around for a seatbelt, and he laughed. "Real cars didn't have seatbelts, Kevin." D'oh! I felt like it was some kind of party foul to have looked for one. He pulled out on to the main road in front of our house, and hammered it. Now, in hindsight, the car really wasn't that fast - perhaps a 0-60 in 8 or 9 seconds. But with it being my first ride with no windshield, no seatbelt, and wind blasting through my hair, it felt FAST and I had a smile ear to ear for every second of that ride. I felt my elbow dangling over the edge of the passenger door almost like it was second nature in such a cool ride.

That's how it started - I was HOOKED and vowed to get my own project car ASAP.

The Car:
July 11, 2008. 1 WEEK later. Loan approved, cash in hand, I found my stallion on craigslist after searching 'HOTROD'. The car sounded PERFECT for what I was after - 350, 5 speed, RED, t-tops, southern car, and apparently FAST. YESSS!!! And the best part - he only wanted $2500! I was in heaven. I went to meet with the owner with a buddy of mine who knew cars better than me (his name is Josh). To give you an idea of how little I knew about what I was buying, I asked the owner if the 350 was a big or small block - d'oh! My buddy laughed, but gave the car a once over and gave me the nod of approval to go ahead with the deal. I didn't haggle with the previous owner - I gave him what he wanted. Here is what I bought:











Most of you will probably think I was a little off my rocker for giving him the whole $2500 - especially after noticing that the paint is heavily oxidized single stage, a TERRIBLE interior with missing pieces everywhere, and a mess of an engine bay with no real way to tell if it was a 350 or not other than the valve covers that read '350'. Regardless, she was mine!

I went back the next day to pick her up and take her for my first drive (I didn't even test drive it before other than moving it back and forth in his driveway, no plates = no drive). The first stop was Sears where she got new shoes – I believe they were Sumitomo HTR-Z tires (I loved those tires!). The old tires were checked beyond belief and I didn’t feel they were at all safe, so off they came! When I got it to the shop, I fought with the starter on the car to pull it out of the shop. It had a bad starter motor, but we slapped it around a bit and got the car going, which meant one thing… time to hit the highway! My buddy had my 1998 Sonata 2.0l at the time and was following me. I dropped it in 2nd and hammered it and left him in the dust. It was EXHILERATING! All that power at my disposal and I was only 20 years old – a recipe for trouble if ever there was one. I got the car home, and then the real fun began – making it faster.

The Project:
The next chunk of my story takes place from July 2008 until today, November 9, 2011. It will get detailed, but I’m sure some may appreciate the dedication put into the car and will want to wade through.

Before getting into the car too far, I decided to pull the VIN and do a check on the car to see just how many miles it might have, if it had been in an accident, and where it really came from. The report show that in 1992, the car had 60xxx miles on it. The next checkpoint said the car had 52xxx miles in 1998. So, since the car only has 5 digits for miles, that’s 152000 miles. The last check put the car at 96xxx miles. That’s 196000 miles. Phew! No accidents on the report, however, and the car was originally registered in Virginia and the title I received from the previous owner was a Virginia title as well. Couple this with the fact the car was rust-free from top to bottom, and the deal I had gotten was looking better and better. The car has had about 5 owners altogether it looks like. From what I can tell, this car came from the factory as an IROC with a carbureted 305 and a 5-speed - sweet! Power windows to boot!



Quick picture I took shortly after I got the car and waxed it up. To keep the car looking red instead of pink took Meguire’s Gold Class Paste Wax once every WEEK. It was grueling, but I couldn’t stand the look of the car if it wasn’t shiny. And yes, the Sonata was mine at the time along with a 1995 Mazda B2300 4x4 – the third best vehicle I have ever owned.

So the modding began. The car came with a Grant GT steering wheel and the original stock steering wheel had seen better days, so this was the first ‘mod’ my buddy Josh and I did to the car. I also threw a set of gauges in the car because the stock gauges didn’t work.



So, my need for speed started to build. I hit the internet and found out that the local 1/8th mile dragstrip (http://www.skyviewdrags.com) hosted Test ‘n Tune nights where anyone could run their car down the strip – perfect! I got a baseline for the car, and it wasn’t pretty.

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

Best time: 9.99 @ 72.1mph with a 2.3 60’. Ouch! At the time, I knew nothing about track times or really how it all worked, so I was pretty excited about even getting to run at the track with the ‘big boys’. I remember it being so intimidating to have a full out drag car rumble up next to me at the lights and blast down the track ahead of me. It was frustrating too because I couldn’t hear my engine and the tach wasn’t accurate, so I had to do it all by feel. It ALWAYS got my heart racing and my adrenaline pumping, though!

Here’s a quick video of me racing my buddy’s Envoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUUCIe2n8e0

Winter came, my other cars came and went, and at the time I had this 2000 GMC Jimmy 4x4 I was using in the winter.



It was a great truck, but terrible on gas. With work 35 miles away, driving it became expensive and was taking too much money away from dumping into the Camaro! (lol)

After prowling around on this forum’s classified section, I came across a great deal on some interior pieces that I needed to switch from tan to black. Specifically, I ordered a set of black seats from a member. I found the rest of the interior I needed at a local junk yard of all places! Score!















It looked TONS better – I’m sure you’ll agree. I don’t particularly like the gauge overlays I have anymore, and the a-pillar gauge pod is not there anymore either (seemed like a good idea at the time!).

It was about time to start getting faster times at the track, so my buddy Josh and I decided to swap a new rear end into the car. I’m not sure what the original ratio was (felt like 2.73’s), but the new one had 3.23’s and a posi, and that’s all I needed to hear before I grabbed the Jimmy and went and picked it up.

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

After a bit of wrestling and busted up knuckles, we slapped the new rear in along with a true dual exhaust system owned by another member on these forums, complete with shorty headers! Goodbye stock manifolds! The car was SO loud compared to how it ran before… Check out a video the exhaust half done! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy3byGuYfGc



Below: my buddy Josh hard at work on those brakes!



We also did a brake job on the new drum brakes, added a nice aluminum driveshaft, and some Spohn rear LCA’s.



To fix a slight stuttering problem, I decided to get rid of the old Carter and threw a brand new Edelbrock 1406 on instead. It is basically the same carb, but I didn’t want to try a rebuild at the time and spent the money on a new one – it ran tons better after that!


So now we are in 2009. Spring is upon us and I can drive the car on a regular basis again (I avoided driving it in the winter like the PLAGUE – I had seen too many of these cars end up as rust buckets and knew I had a nice solid one). Watkins Glen International does an opening day every year at the track. For $20, you get 3 paced laps that are supposed to be 55mph, but you can easily hit 100+ if you want. So, my dad and I went cruising around the track for the first time! That was a REALLY cool experience to pull out on to the track out of the pits…


Shortly after my romp at the track, I toasted the stock T5 transmission on my way down to Carlisle, PA for the Carlisle Performance and Style show. Here is a quick video I threw together of that show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQLyxE74ezI

I made a quick trip down to New Jersey to get a nice World Class T5 with a B&M short throw shifter. I got back around 11pm at night and my buddy Josh and I were so excited to get the car back in action that we stuffed the new transmission in the car in about an hour and had it on the road by 12:15am that night, haha!

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

Of course, doing that was rather a moot point I suppose, because a couple months later in July I sold the Jimmy and funded my first ever ENGINE BUILD PROJECT. Of course, like any engine build, the budget went out the window and I soon found myself in search of a T56 to swap in as well to handle the power I planned to make in a 350 + .060” buildup. A few people in my circle of friends on 607motorsports (referenced earlier) pointed me in the direction of Poughkeepsie, NY for a complete T56 swap for $1500. SOLD! I hopped in the Camaro with my buddy Justin and enjoyed the beautiful drive out there from Binghamton, NY. I rolled back into town with the following bad boy in the rear well of the Camaro:

If I said I was giddy with excitement about my NEW engine and my powerhouse T56, it would be an understatement. Since my uncle was busy at the time, and I had no confidence in myself to build an engine without some sort of guidance, I had to wait until he wasn’t busy for another couple of weeks. But then, the day came. In 3 short days, we accomplished the following:

Drew

iTrader: (58)

You don't have to use so much code... Just stick the image tag where you want it, type your text, and let the board software handle it. Click the quote button under this message and look at how little code I used and how it appears...

Example...

<edit: deleted>

Motown

Ive always admired your car man. I was the guy who asked you where you got your IROC-Z door stickers. I actually just spent the last 20 minutes watching various videos on your youtube channel. I also have a Grand Prix just like yours, but mine is red.

91 Droptop

brother I give you lots of credit, You knew nothing about cars but caught the bug. The best part about all this is you are the one doing the work, I got a huge kick out of the picture of you with a repair manual looking at the rear brakes. Keep up the good work, the car bug just gets stronger as you get older, trust me lol

jcd

Amen. I've been through this with my first car too (not a Camaro though). I still have it and won't get rid of it. But yeah, the car bug is stronger as you get older. Then you search out other cars and do it again. Maybe even join a new message board to seek out that new car and see nicely done cars like this one. Keep up the good work.

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

And, as a joke, RIGHT after I fired it up the first time, my uncle did this:

HAHAHA! But it’s okay, because I can tell him crack kills from this picture:

ANYWAY, here is a breakdown of the new engine:
*Small Block 350 + .060" (5.9L, 360cu)
*10.5:1 compression, 93 octane fuel
*71' Corvette Heads - Pocket porting, double spring, 1.60/2.02 valves
*XE274 Comp Cam, 230/236 @ .050, .487/.490 lift
*Holley 750 DP w/ Holley HP main body (in the pictures you see a Edelbrock)
*Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap intake
*Hypereutectic Domed Pistons
*Fully Balanced Rotating Assembly
*Centerforce 700107 conversion flywheel
*ARP bolts
Originally, the engine was built using en Elgin cam with 204/214 duration – that didn’t last long, because it only had about .410 lift as well. I swapped in the XE274 with Josh one afternoon and had it back up and running MUCH stronger that evening.

I also decided to swap out the true dual system in favor of my own, home brewed true dual system with Hooker longtube headers, 2.5” pipes, and flowmaster 40 series 2 chamber mufflers. After Josh made this great crossmember for me, we had some clearance to mount up the system:
First, here’s how it sounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOHvNGNbv9A

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

I should mention that during all this, I have busted up the 10 bolt 3 times.

I have swapped in 1 set of 3.73’s and 2 sets of 4.10’s. This last time I rebuilt it, I decided to do it right and build up the 10 bolt to it’s full potential. Most will ask why I didn’t just go for a 9”, and my answer: cost. This last buildup has lasted well over a year and a half and includes the following:
*4.10's
*Aluminum girdle w/ support caps
*Moser 28-spline axles
*Moser wheel studs
*Zexel Torsen differential
*Solid pinion spacer


So naturally, when everything is progressing nicely in a build, DISASTER STRIKES. I was at a friends play at a church and had taken the Camaro on a nice summers evening. I parked way out in the parking lot, but someone apparently decided parking next to me was a good idea. When I came out of the play, I found the left front of my car banged up pretty good – some older couple in a truck had cut the corner on the car when pulling out of their spot and trampled it pretty good.

It might not look to bad, but the fender was dented, the front bumper had chunks missing out of it, the valence got tweaked, and there was some nice paint trading going on. Fortunately, they had left me their insurance information and I got in touch with their insurance company – and received $1100 in cash to fix the car. YES. So, instead of having a shop fix the car up and have little/no chance at matching the paint, I decided to pull the trigger on getting the car painted. This required me to do some body work (something I had never done before) to fix up the fender. I went ahead and bought a brand new front bumper cover and some aftermarket fenders on the off chance they would fit – they didn’t. So it was on to repairing my fender.



^^Sanding, sanding, and oh yeah, more sanding!

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

The last picture above is the day it left to get painted by a guy named Jimmy Carl – the owner over at 607motorsports.com. For less than double what the insurance company gave me, I had the car painted. This is how she came back to me:




And yes, I was EXTREMELY happy to have the car back – it took about 1.5 months before I had the car back in my hands (he does painting as side work):

In a nutshell, that about wrapped up the 2010 season – I went to the track several more times and got a new best time of 8.51 at around 84mph with a 2.0 60’.
This video is earlier in the season, but is from 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2IHCdio95k

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

2011!

Watkins Glen Opening Day again! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g-zJl-xmMY
My good friend Luke took the following photo for me early this year – it is now up on my wall in my office and is my favorite picture of the car:

Taking the gloves to the car early this year to wake it from hibernation:

One of the first things I did this year was get rid of the stock T56 clutch I had been using. I occasionally used a set of Mickey Thompson ET Streets at the track, and they always hooked great, but the clutch could never keep up with it, thus the 8.51 and 2.0 60’. I knew getting the car moving was the issue, not so much the power any more. To remedy my clutch issue, I called up SPEC and they sent me their SPEC Stage 4 6-puck solid unsprung clutch disc for me to use with a LT4 pressure plate. I believe it was around $200 shipped to me. WELL worth it – the clutch grabs like no other and I have never once smelled it get hot even after abusing it. Track times improved quite a bit AGAIN and I’ll get to that in just a bit =)
I decided to paint the taillights with some VHT. I did an amber delete first, then used the black VHT nightshade to darken it up. I’m not in love with how dark they are, but light comes through perfectly fine.




Something that had bugged me for a long time was how filthy everything was underneath the hood. By now, I have this great looking car on the outside, inside, and underneath, but under the hood was disgusting! I decided to tackle painting under the hood while the engine was still in the car. This thread shows how I did this in detail:
PAINTING UNDER THE HOOD: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto-detailing-appearance/619949-repainted-engine-bay-cheap.html
And a video of the paint: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5tLB6CGefk
Here’s the jist of that thread in pictures:

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

TONS better. MILES better. Cheap to do, too. Cost about $60-65 if I recall correctly.

That brings us up pretty current to where the car is now. I take it to a few shows a year and I have a best in class and third in class to show for it so far.

So, here is the in-depth breakdown of where the car is today (here is a video I put together earlier this year breaking the car down bit by bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fll_Yu4Vyok)

2011 RECAP:

MY BEST IN CAR DRAG VIDEO : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA90Gc8XOqI

Engine

*Small Block 350 + .060" (5.9L, 360cu)
*10.5:1 compression, 93 octane fuel
*71' Corvette Heads - Pocket porting, double spring, 1.60/2.02 valves
*XE274 Comp Cam, 230/236 @ .050, .487/.490 lift
*Holley 750 DP w/ Holley HP main body
*Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap intake
*Hypereutectic Domed Pistons
*Fully Balanced Rotating Assembly
*Centerforce 700107 conversion flywheel
*ARP bolts

Transmission

*T56 6-speed
*Pro 5.0 Shifter, UMI Short Stick, Hurst 'H' ****, leather wrapped
*SPEC Stage 4 solid 6-puck unsprung disc
*LT4 Pressure Plate
*Hawks Double-Hump T56 Crossmember

Exhaust

*Hedman Longtube Headers
*True-Dual 2.5" straight pipe exhaust
*Flowmaster 40 Series 2 chamber mufflers

Suspension/Tires

*BFGoodrich g-Force Sport, 245/50/16 front, 255/50/16 rear
*Spohn rear lower control arms, tubular, polyurethane bushings
*Spohn lower control arm relocation brackets
*Subframe Connectors
*Spohn poly panhard bar, polyurethane bushings
*Edelbrock tubular torque arm
*36MM front/24MM rear sway bars
*Polyurethane front and rear sway bar bushings
*Polyurethane transmission mount
*Polyurethane torque arm mount
*Wonder bar
*Bilstein shocks/moog springs

Rear end

*10-Bolt 7.5"
*4.10's
*Aluminum girdle w/ support caps
*Moser forged 28-spline axles
*Moser wheel studs
*Zexel Torsen differential
*Solid pinion spacer

Exterior

*GM Victory Red base coat/clear coat
*Tint: 5% rear/20% sides
*Custom made aluminum nose emblem
*VHT amber delete; red and black taillights

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

Here are a couple pictures of the ground clearance with the new Hawk’s double hump crossmember:



You are seeing that correctly - that's 2 2.5" straight pipes coming off of longtube headers connected to s-pipes running straight back under the car - and they are tucked HIGH and don't hit the body of the car. That Hawk's double hump crossmember is worth it's weight in gold.

I’m sure I forgot to mention a bunch of stuff – I’ll probably go back and edit it from time to time. I’ll continue to add to this thread in the future as I continue on with my project.

She went into storage for the winter tonight. Sad day

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

Thanks for the comments guys - I didn't know if I would be wasting my time posting all this or not. I guess it's more for reference for me to keep a timeline of the car.

Did I mention that I'm sad I had to store the car yesterday? I always hate doing it... But I know it's for the best. The car hasn't seen rain in over a year, and it has only seen snow it's first winter with me a few times.

Opening day at WGI can't get here fast enough to kick off the new year!

Drew

iTrader: (58)

I don't know about anyone else, but 50% of the time when I try to open this thread Firefox wants to lock up. The number of pics is what's doing it. They don't need to be so big, the forum scales them down to 800x600 anyway. The larger size just means it takes longer to load since our computers still have to download the full 1024x768 image.

88blackiroc

iTrader: (1)

Great thread and love the story! It must of been sad to put it away. Im probably going to drove my iroc daily unless its rain or snow or some other natural disaster happens! Beautiful car to btw, when you got it I wasn't sure if it has the front emblem missing or shaved lol. And I also like the taillight job to. However I prefer the covers, finally got another set and they help complete the look on my car!

Motown

plasmeh, the clear pictures you post are really appreciated by those people who use a computer from this century. Nothing worse than grainy pics. Youre doing a great job with the car by the way. Looks amazing.

puma1552

iTrader: (1)

Car looks good, amazing what a body man can do for $2k in terms of paint.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

I'll say it again, since you misunderstood it the first time. The forum software automatically resizes embedded images to 800x600. It doesn't matter how high the resolution of the actual image is, the forum is going to display it at a lower resolution. Anything over 800x600 is wasted, and just makes the thread load slower. If you want to actually view his images full size, you have to click the image with the right mouse button and click view image. That will open the image in it's own window without the forum software's formatting. That concludes Internet 101 for dummies.

Anyway, it was just a suggestion. Not like it's that difficult to click the upload options and put the bullet in 800x600 instead of 1024x768.

SKELITOR117

iTrader: (3)

Very nice. And are those true duals i spotted? Noice.

Shadow Z

iTrader: (2)

Man, this is super neat to see. I've checked out all of your Youtube videos from the beginning. I still think that open header fly by video you did a long time ago is awesome. (I'm the other Kevin who also has a 1986, lol)

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

Thanks man! I hate putting it away every year... But I know that I have to unless I want a rust bucket - living in upstate new york takes a huge toll on cars quickly in the winter unless you take extra care of it. Just never want to risk it. I've fine with it being a fair-weather car, especially since it gets about 12mpg lol. The covers for the taillights you mention look great in certain applications, I didn't think they would look great on mine, though. If my car was black - different story!

Thanks for your comment. I hate taking/posting blurry pictures... so thanks for noticing! The car is progressing nicely. Most people wonder what else I could possibly do to the car, then I give them a laundry list of things I want to do still, haha.

I think the guy did a fantastic job with the body/paint as well. In the future, I may try my hand at a whole car myself.

Yup, true duals tucked nice and high with that hawk's double hump conversion t56 crossmember - love that thing!

Long time man! No doubt I remember you! Yeah, it's always fun getting loud in your neighborhood from time to time, lol. Next year I want to throw a set of cutouts in right after the header so I can get that sound anytime I want. This engine is a 10.5:1 comp too - that one in that video was about 9:1. Should be even better with longtubes as opposed to the shortys in that video :P

SKELITOR117

iTrader: (3)

Man. I voted yours one of the Nicest cars on the site before I even saw all of this. Very nice.

IROC212

iTrader: (1)

Nice build!! Looks great!

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

Thanks!

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

The IROC made it into the MSD 2012 Parts Catalog on page 59

91 Droptop

Outstanding, great work; how did you get the feature pic?

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

I posted a picture on their FB wall and about a month later I got a message from them asking me if they could have permission to use it in this years catalog, so of course I said YES! haha

UNCLE TOM

iTrader: (1)

very long post (i read it all) , great job . 2 things wrong , 1. black interior (too hot in the summer) 2. drivetrain belongs in my car (i wish) . great job . good luck .

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

It DEFINITELY gets hot haha, but I think the color combination goes really well together, especially with the black tint. The T56 gets soooo hot in the summer, just plain cooks my feet. But I love it! A little blistering on your feet is a small price to pay with the drivetrain this has (and no you can't have it lol)

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

The car was parked in my shelter logic car canopy over winter and unfotunately a wind storm took the canopy away and curled it into a ball. The car got a couple small scrapes out of it, but nothing major. The rear hatch glass has some scrapes on it now though that will probably be there for all eternity.

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

However, I touched up the spots, and you'd never notice they are there until you are about 2 feet away from the car, so I'm not sweating it.

I picked up a new DSLR recently - Canon Rebel T3I with a 18-135mm lens. I started experimenting with it. I am by no means a photographer or even an amateur photographer, so go easy on me.

91 Droptop

Could have fooled me, picks look great. my wife has a Cannon EOS 30D (she is a grapihic artist) with all filters and 3 or 4 differant lens. I plan on having her do a photo shoot on the car when I am done, than manipulate the pics on her Mac with some cool effects.

Did you polish compound the the rear glass with a high speed buffer? that may help

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

A high speed buffer is next on my list of things to get. I haven't tried compound on the window yet - I'll do that the next time I get the car waxed up (aka soon).

Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

suscribed.

RevItUpZ28

iTrader: (1)

Very nice build. I liked seeing the progress you've made.

plasmeh

iTrader: (10)

Thanks guys, I'll have more pictures up soon. The season is just starting to open up around here in Binghamton, NY. The weather has been nuts!