FinallyGotMyZ

Hey, all! Excited to be here on the boards! I picked up my first ever Camaro last Saturday, a 1986 Z28 with the LB9 305. I have been a Camaro fan since I was a little boy, and I always dreamed of owning one, and I now I finally do. It hardly seems real, but it's out in the garage! Decided to post here because I'm going to have some questions to see what is original on my car. I've checked the sticky threads at the top, and I will refer to those, but I also want the help/opinions of the sages on these boards. All for now, just wanted to introduce myself! Have a great day.

82RZ

Welcome to the Best 3rdgen F-Body site on the Internet!

You're right, the stickys are a Great place to learn and refer to them often. Read and learn about your car and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Just remember: There are NO dumb questions - Just dumb/stupid answers.

Enjoy your new to you car.

2007xl50

Welcome to the site, you will learn alot here if you want to, i know i sure have. Any pix of your car?

FinallyGotMyZ

Thanks, guys, for the welcome.
No pics yet, but don't you have to have so many posts on here before you can post em anyway?

Coyote850

iTrader: (1)

Just got mine out today. Ohio weather finally got good enough. Welcome to the boards. Where you at in Ohio?

beths91camaro

iTrader: (35)

Welcome aboard!

Richboll

Welcome. Let's get some pics of your new ride posted.

FinallyGotMyZ

I'm over on the Ohio River, near Steubenville. At my daughter's track meet right now, will post some when I get home.

Motown

Awesome dude! Welcome. Cant wait to see pics.

UNCLE TOM

iTrader: (1)

the only dumb/stupid question is the one that is not asked . good luck .

JT

iTrader: (1)

All accounts that are confirmed have the ability to use the Attachment feature, the Albums, or remotely host them using IMG tags.

If you have problems posting pictures, please see the following thread:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/prob...mages-tgo.html

If you still have problems, email (jt@thirdgen.org) or PM me.

scottmoyer

Hey now. What are you saying? We never give dumb/stupid answers on THIS forum.

Javier87z28

iTrader: (1)

Welcome,and congrats on your car man!

FinallyGotMyZ

OK, here are a couple shots.

jermdm

Welcome to the boards. You have a really nice car. Looks like its been very well taken care of. Treat her good and she'll treat you good.

FinallyGotMyZ

Thanks! And thanks!

usc iroc

Sweet....man this site has every answer about a 3rd gen you could ask and plenty of experienced people that are willing to help. Welcome

FinallyGotMyZ

Music to my ears, b/c I've got a lot of questions!

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Or at least we never ADMIT to giving dumb/stupid answers.

Welcome and congrats on your Z! Looks like a solid ride.

FinallyGotMyZ

OK, first I just want to say thanks for the warm welcome. I am really excited to be here and asking questions because I actually have my first Camaro. Still can't believe it.
At any rate, now that I've gotten it and have really, REALLY taken the time to get to know this thing, I'm pretty sure (based on my extremely limited knowledge) that this Z isn't all original. I've read people on here talk about leaving cars alone as survivors, but I think there are enough parts on my Z that it's not really a survivor anyway, and that's enough reason for me to just get it back to as close to new as I can. That's my mindset - I never got to own one when they were on the road, so I would like to "turn back time" so to speak and make it as close to original as I can. It was true enough to being a Z28 that I was comfortable buying it to make mods and tweaks later to get it to what I want it to be, but I present my first question:
the steering wheel is obviously missing the horn button, but I was under the impression that all '82-'86 Camaros had the three-spoke steering wheels (spokes at 9:00, 6:00, and 3:00, so to speak). Was there ever a steering wheel in a Z28 like what's in my pic, or is that a castoff from somewhere else?

jermdm

The steering wheel is not the original wheel for your car. Its from some other car. You are correct that the original wheel is a 3 spoke. As far as I know, the 3 spoke are on z28's and irocs only but I could be wrong. RS and SC cars got a different wheel with a rectangular horn pad. 90 to 92 thirdgens got a completely different wheel with an air bag.

FinallyGotMyZ

Alright, that's what I thought. Thanks for the help!

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Your 86 should have a three spoke wheel. The 82 through 84 cars have a trim line cast in to each spoke, whereas 85 and later only have the line cast in the horizontal spokes.

Kudos to you for wanting to put the car back to factory appearance and condition. I'm a big believer in that and appreciate cars that are as original as possible. I like well done modded cars too, but it's always more interesting to me to see how they came from the factory back in the day, That's not always possible since a lot of OE parts for third gens aren't reproduced or aren't reproduced to correct factory spec.

FinallyGotMyZ

Wow, I wouldn't have known about the subtle little detail like the 85 and up having trim lines in only the horizontal spokes. Thanks!

And thanks for the well-wishes. I hope to do it justice. Like I said earlier, I never got to own one back in the day, so I'm going to try to bring "the day" to the here and now.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

I'm curious if your car was originally red or not. The lower rockers have been painted because they should be silver and not body colored. Only IROCs were monochrome until the RS' in 88 or so. At least who ever did it seemed to have done a decent job since it looks like they replaced the "Tuned Port Injection" stickers on the rockers below the Z28 emblem ...

If someone painted the rockers I'd bet the car was resprayed at the same time. The headlight buckets, however, do appear to be done in the correct satin finish (another recent topic around here).

FinallyGotMyZ

Since you bring it up, that was another thing I've noticed. It has definitely been repainted at some point. This is something that'll be down the road a ways, but when the time to comes to get it back to original, where do you find the info that states what the car's original paint scheme was? I found a sticker on the underside of the console armrest that has a bunch of (I think) three digit codes - is it included in there somewhere?

eseibel67

That is the SPI sticker, it will have a VIN # on it. If it matches the VIN on the car, that sticker will tell you EVERYTHING that car was built with at the factory. It's like a recipe.

82RZ

Ummmm, no comment........LOL

82RZ

Just a Note:

FormerL69 - Randy - Is a Great Guy and has a wealth of knowledge about 3rd gen cars.

He is doing a fantastic job on restoring his original 82 Z28 Pace Car (Current thread on this forum) so feel free to ask him any questions.

Most important is to enjoy your car!

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

As eseibel67 said, the center console decal you found is the SPID (Service Parts ID) tag. It lists every RPO factory code your car was built with which is a huge thing to have if you are putting the car back to original. Make sure the VIN on the SPID matches the VIN for the car in case someone changed the center console lid at some point. There are plenty of RPO decoders out there which will tell you what the codes mean. There's one available from the home page here on TGO.

You should also look for the factory build sheet. It may or may not be folded up and tucked under the passenger seat springs. You need to remove the seat (4 nuts) to remove it without potentially destroying it. The Build Sheet will tell you not only what your car was built with but also when it was built. It's a cool piece of history to have if you can find it. If the sheet isn't under the passenger seat, it might be elsewhere in the car. There was no standard practice for where to put it or to even leave it with the vehicle.

As for your paint, look at the trim tag. It'll be riveted to the upper radiator support, just behind and to the right of the hood latch. The trim tag will list your original paint and interior codes. Again, there are various trim tag decoders you can search for which will decode the numbers for you. If your car was originally red it will have the code "74L 74U" (Bright Red) or "81L 81U" (Flame Red) on the tag. Not sure what the difference in the reds is.

Let us know what you find out.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Thanks. I appreciate that! Just trying to give back where I can.

FinallyGotMyZ

Well, good news. The VINs match. I was sweating a little because I was out and about when I checked this thread on my phone and saw that the VINs needed to match. Couldn't wait to get home and look! Am relieved that they jive.

Will head out in a bit and check the paint codes and see what pops. Hopefully it wasn't painted over or removed.

Don't want to gush too much, but very thankful for all the help I've gotten thus far.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

The trim tag is a metal plate and the data is stamped in to it, so painting over it would do nothing (other than make it another color ).

If the tag is not there at all, that would imply bigger things happened to the car in the past, but I really doubt that'll be the case. It sounds like the previous owner(s) took pretty good care of it.

Your enthusiasm for the car is evident. Have fun with it & post what you find out.

scottmoyer

I need to clear up a few issues that I found in this thread. First, the steering wheel. The notch in the steering wheel spokes was only on 82 and 83 cars. They went to the notch on two spokes only starting in 1984. Secondly, The RS was available in 1987 in limited markets. It became nationally available in 1989 to everybody as the base Camaro. Thirdly, there is no trim tag on the radiator support for 1986 cars. That stopped in 1985. Your paint codes are listed on the SPID label at the bottom. It will be a WA-xxxx code. There is also a numbered code mixed in the RPOs. Red is usually 81U if I remember correctly. In regards to the build sheet...The pace cars are known for having the build sheet in the passenger seat springs, but there is no specific location for a build sheet in any other Camaro. They have been found in many places and there are multiple threads that discuss where the build sheets have been found.

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Thanks Scott. My history is a little rusty here and there.

FinallyGotMyZ

OK, concern averted, because I could not find a stamped plate riveted anywhere under the hood. There is a WA code on the SPI sticker, WA-U8774.
Gonna try downloading the RPO Decoder now.

edit to add - 81U is present on the SPI sticker

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Scott is the master. 8774 is bright red, so it looks like someone painted your ground effects to match at some point.

FinallyGotMyZ

OK, downloaded the RPO decoder and entered all the codes. Some gave me back a "???" as a response. Got some other answers, though. Found out, for example, that it had the cassette deck with the equalizer. What's sitting in there is simply an AM/FM unit with electronic tuning. Some of the other stuff, though, I have no idea what it means. Stuff like, 16P: WHEEL COLOR, BRT WHITE (91). Camaros had bright white wheels? Anything you guys could help me make heads or tails of would be fantastic.

burnout88

WA-8774 is Bright Red

FinallyGotMyZ

Great, thanks!

FormerL69

iTrader: (2)

Post which codes looks wrong and maybe we can figure them out.

RS models with the 5-spoke Z28 wheels (Scott, correct me here) had body-colored spokes If I recall, the only colors originally available were Red, Black, White. Teal came in later.

I suspect the RPO Decoder is reporting that 16P was the bright white wheel option in '91. Your car being an '86 Z -- that doesn't make sense.

FinallyGotMyZ

I will do that. I have to tear myself away from the computer to take my son to a baseball scrimmage. I am addicted, going through these codes! Have to post some of the erroneous codes later...

scottmoyer

Most RPO decoders use the 1991 RPO codes. GM reuses the RPO codes from one year to another, so they ay not always align. Anytime you see a (91) after the RPO code, disregard that as a possible description unless your car is a 1991. You will even see the RPO Z06 on a Camaro during the years that the Corvette wasn't using it.

82RZ

Yep, the codes can get confusing but there is help. And that help is the 'Camaro White Book' published by 'Motorbooks International'. Its available to purchase on line or call 1-800-826-6600 to order.

They also publish the 'Corvette Black Book' which is a Standard with the Vette guys.

The White Book contains a wealth of info and is a handy reference to 'decode' your questions. In time, you'll become comfortable with all the Camaro 'Slang'.

However, keep in mind: There is NO ONE SINGLE SOURCE THAT IS 100% CORRECT ALL OF THE TIME and that is the reason for this site and the knowledgeable users here.

What is Most Important is to Enjoy Your Car!

FinallyGotMyZ

Just looked up the book. $20? Seems like a steal! Will be getting that ASAP. Thanks for the tip!

FinallyGotMyZ

Ok, so earlier this morning, 82RZ pointed me to the Camaro White Book, which I fully intend to purchase. In the meantime, there were a few codes I entered that either gave me the "???" response, or "ERROR: Code Not Found". So as to not put too many irons in the fire, I'll throw em out one at a time.
First one was B9K, and it gave me back "???". Any ideas?

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

Are you sure that's not B4K, which is the radio type?

http://www.nastyz28.com/camaro/camaro86.html

Very nice IROC you got there, I love the LB9's.

82RZ

^^^ This, or is it B91 which is Black Door Edge Moldings?

FinallyGotMyZ

The second digit is definitely not a "4", the code right next to it is B84, and there is an obvious difference between the "4" and the "9". In addition, I have the code UX1, which reads, RADIO, AM/FM STEREO CASSETTE EQUALIZER, so don't know what that would mean regarding the radio.
Thank you, lonestar, I'm very glad to have it!

FinallyGotMyZ

The digit in question is most definitely not a 1.

Does anyone ever post pics of their SPIDs for other members to look over, or is that verboten?