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Hey, I’m Matt and I'm I’m in Reno, NV. I figured I’d start a build thread to keep some documentation on the build but more importantly get input on things as I go along. I would like to hear from people that have built 3rd gens to see if there is something I should do “while I’m there” instead of regretting it later.
My plans are an LS swap with around 450whp through a T56 Magnum into a Quick Performance 9” rear end. Full restoration/restomod, AC, Dakota Digital dash, Koni shocks, weight jacks, strut tower brace, bigger anti sway bars, bigger brakes, quick ratio steering box, good seats, 18” wheels as wide as I can fit with 295-315 tires.
My background is more in the off-road world (my last build was a 1 ton LS swap 88 Toyota Pickup) but I’ve been wanting to build a good handling car that I can take around a track, drive to work, or run errands in. Always been a big fan of 3rd Gen Camaros and finally found a good build candidate. This 114k mile 1992 Camaro RS was purchased from auction in October 2020 with a clean NV title for $650. It had a 3.1L V6 and 700R4. The body was mostly straight and clean with no rust.
(And a picture of my LS swapped 1 ton Toyota since this Camaro is now keeping me from ripping it apart every 6 months to change things just because I want to work on a project vehicle)
Last edited by motomatt775; 05-08-2021 at 11:34 PM.
I finally pulled it into the garage in December 2020 and started tearing it apart. Engine and trans were both sold right away and UMI subframe connectors were welded in.
When pulling the front end of the car apart I noticed the front bumper and core support had been replaced...poorly. The core support was welded in by Ray Charles but the body alignment was decent. I fixed the core support and the engine bay was just prepped with black paint but I’ve decided to sand it down again and paint the engine bay body color.
My buddy at B&R Auto Wrecking in Carson City, NV found me an LQ9 and I installed a Holley oil pan to test fit it in the car. The engine will get torn completely apart at the end of the build for a bunch of upgrades. I bought the Hooker Blackheart engine mounts and the motor dropped right in. I also installed some Founders caster/camber plates.
The bumper was an earlier year Z28 and not from a 92. The fenders, doors, hood, etc all looked factory so I’m not sure what happened. I swapped on a 91-92 Z28 bumper and chin spoiler from OER. I got it close but will be working with my really good friend who is a body guy on final fitment before we do bodywork and paint.
I got a great deal on a new rear window (mine had bad tint on it) and an IROC hood. I plan to install the Trackspec hood vents into this hood. They were dirty from sitting in a chicken coop for years but cleaned up nicely.
Picked up an American Powertrain T56 Magnum F from summit racing. This will handle any power I plan to throw at it now and maybe some upgrades down the road. I bought the Hooker Blackheart trans mount and once I clearanced the trans tunnel the trans fit great with the factory torque arm until I swap over to a tubular adjustable torque arm.
The interior was gross. I finally ripped the interior of the car apart and started to clean it out. I will be swapping over to a black interior. The floor pans were completely rust free but the tar that was covering the drain plugs was separating so I removed everything and seam sealed the plugs in. Not the cleanest seam seal job but it will all be covered up by sound deadener then heat shield.
Next big step is bodywork and paint. Before them I’m just waiting on the shifter boot to come so I can finalize the size of the shifter hole and finish cleaning up the interior. I’ve already started to roll the fenders but I’m going to roll them more and make some more clearance in the wheel wells to make room for the wheels/tires. I also pulled a manual pedal assembly from a car at the junkyard so I’ll be getting that situated into the car here soon. Also going to buy the Trackspec hood vents probably next week and fit those in before the hood gets painted.
I also pulled a manual pedal assembly from a car at the junkyard so I’ll be getting that situated into the car here soon.
The 4th gen Camaro/Firebird clutch & brake pedal assembly are also commonly used when swapping in a T56/Magnum type transmission. Just gives you other choices if you want, and it has the right style pin for the 4th gen Tick master cylinder that you'll probably end up using.
Manual trans cars have extra bracing on the firewall to reduce flex. Might want to look more into how you can replicate or improve on that, too.
The 4th gen Camaro/Firebird clutch & brake pedal assembly are also commonly used when swapping in a T56/Magnum type transmission. Just gives you other choices if you want, and it has the right style pin for the 4th gen Tick master cylinder that you'll probably end up using.
Manual trans cars have extra bracing on the firewall to reduce flex. Might want to look more into how you can replicate or improve on that, too.
Thanks! The bracing idea is good to know before paint. I’ll have to look into the bracing. I will be using the Tick master setup and plan on robbing a 4th Gen for the brake booster/master anyway so maybe I’ll see if I can steal the pedals too if I can find a manual car. I just happened to find a manual 3rd Gen at pick n pull so figured I’d pull the pedal assembly since it was there.
Yeah, if you switch to 4th gen brake master cylinder then make sure you use the 4th gen booster too (like you said you are). Lots of people think the 4th gen master cylinder is some kind of upgrade and don't realize it causes a dead pedal at the top of throw because of an excessive gap to the pushrod with the 3rd gen booster.
Looks like a great car to start with, I'm looking forward to watching this build!
I like the gantry that you used, where did you get it? Or was it something you made? I've been thinking about trying a gantry instead of an engine hoist to make things a little easier. Most gantries are huge that I have found and would take up tremendous amounts of floor space, the one you have looks to be about the perfect size.
Looks like a great car to start with, I'm looking forward to watching this build!
I like the gantry that you used, where did you get it? Or was it something you made? I've been thinking about trying a gantry instead of an engine hoist to make things a little easier. Most gantries are huge that I have found and would take up tremendous amounts of floor space, the one you have looks to be about the perfect size.
Thanks!
It was actually a gantry I pickup up from a friend who built a crane system in his shop and didn't need anymore. I originally bought it to pull the engine out of my rock crawler since I needed something taller. Then the first night I went to use the engine hoist to test fit the engine in the car I realized the boom didn't go out far enough then hoist locked up so I was scrambling to figure out something better. I took that gantry and cut it down about 24" to perfectly clear my garage door opening (in one of the first pictures I posted you can see it sitting behind the car on the side of the house at its original height). Works great now for what I need and the electric winch is convenient.
Picked up a set of Trackspec Motorsports hood vents. I cut them in and still need to do a final alignment on them before I rivet them in after paint. Really like how they look and love how functional they are. The car may get driven in the rain on occasion so I’ll probably end up making some magnetic covers for them eventually too.
That car reminds me so much of how mine started. It appears to be in great shape, sans the welding repair. Which magnum did you go with? My magnum has a 6 bolt shifter and I see yours has a 4 bolt shifter. I wonder if they redesigned this. What are your clutch plans and more importantly what are your plans for the LQ9?
That car reminds me so much of how mine started. It appears to be in great shape, sans the welding repair. Which magnum did you go with? My magnum has a 6 bolt shifter and I see yours has a 4 bolt shifter. I wonder if they redesigned this. What are your clutch plans and more importantly what are your plans for the LQ9?
It’s the American Powertrain T56 F that was released a year or two ago. It has an F body specific tailhousing instead of the shifter adapter so maybe that’s why?
The plan as of right now it to run a Monster clutch since people seem to like them. I also noticed Tick now sells a package deal so I may go that route since I need everything in the package.
The original plan was big power with turbos but for the engine I decided I want to keep it reliable, make decent power NA, and focus on handling more than huge power. Going to run a FAST 92 intake (since LS6 intakes are crazy right now) and cable throttle body, Texas Speed cam, and speed engineering long tube headers. I would like to increase compression a bit so for the heads I’m going to either shave the current heads a little or swap to something like 243 heads and also get them ported. I need to play with static and dynamic compression ratios first because I want to have it run on pump 91. Also going to do all of the supporting upgrades when I tear the engine down for the full rebuild (valve springs, rocker trunions or new rockers, lifters, double row timing chain, gaskets, bearings, etc). I swapped from a factory PCM to Holley Terminator X on my crawler and like that system so I’ll probably run that on this car as well.
Last edited by motomatt775; 05-21-2021 at 09:09 AM.
Been a busy couple months and haven't gotten much done. I am making some progress though.
Picked up a test wheel and tire. After some fender rolling and trimming these 18x10.5 ESR wheels on 295/35R18 tires fit without any problems. I did have to use a 1/4" spacer in the rear so when I get the Quick Performance 9 built I may have them widen it 1/2" total to account for that. I also used a 1/4" spacer in the front because I've been taking to Scott at big brake upgrade who told me the C6 brakes I'm going to go with push the track width out 0.300" on each side. These wheels will not work though. I had to ruin them by taking a die grinder to the center bore to make them fit over the front wheel bearings. So I'm still debating on wheels but at least now I have plenty of clearance for different options.
I also stripped most of the interior and started on the first layer of sound deadening. I'll end up doing additional layers of heat shield on top of this then carpet.
Picked up a set of headers from Speed Engineering and they fit without any clearance problems which was good to see.
I also got the pedals & clutch master 95% done and should be posting in the next few days the progress on that.
Auto to manual pedal setup is basically done. Using a Tick adjustable master and decided to use the 91 pedals I already had. Created sandwich plates that I wended to the firewall on the engine and cabin side (didn't get any pics on the firewall side before sealing and covering it all up but it's bigger than the factory doubler that comes on these cars) then also plug welded them together. I just did some rough bodywork on the firewall side and will clean all of that up before paint.
Took a while to get the alignment set so it wasn't pushing in at an angle but the firewall at the master is pretty solid now and I don't anticipate any flex. For the pedals I found somebody on here who drilled out the pin and welded in a 3/8 clevis pin so I went that route. I just need to get the correct cotter pin for it but it seems to work pretty well.
The bodywork for paint begins. Starting on the engine bay bodywork first. It’s been over 100* almost every day for the last week and even though my garage is fully insulated it’s still in the high 80s or low 90s in the garage, so I can only get a few hours at a time done. Progress from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I’m doing a complete color change and the paint timeline is up in the air based on the availability of my friend who does paint & bodywork.
Starting to rip off body panels for bodywork. I’m going to get the doors, fenders, and hood media blasted. My buddy also just bought a rotisserie so we are going to really go after it. The plan is to strip the undercoating down…again. Going to shoot texture on the bottom then color match the entire chassis.
Still a ton of sanding to do but I’m making progress. Found a local guy that does mobile media blasting and he’s here right now hitting the hood, doors, and fenders. One step closer to bodywork and paint. Can’t wait to start reassembling.
Picked up the rotisserie and been stripping all of the rattle can undercoating I had done previously from the bottom of the car to prep for raptor liner. I’m about 75% done stripping the bottom and I never want to look at another wire wheel again.
Built a makeshift paint booth, prepped the bottom of the car, sprayed a coat of gray U-Pol epoxy primer, and then sprayed the raptor liner. I think it turned out great. Now time for bodywork and paint.
Slowley but surely making progress. Between labor, trucking, and shipping shortages everything is taking longer than expected.
Spindles have been cleaned up and sent to Scott at Big Brake upgrade for the machining and C6 brakes.
I tore the LQ9 apart and I'm waiting to get the block, pistons, rods, and crank back from the machine shop so I can start building that. I have a ton of new bearings, bolts, gaskets, etc ready to go.
Started cleaning up the cheap tint off the rear glass and prepping to paint the trim and get it tinted with a nice ceramic tint. Got UMI A-Arms and weight jacks in and waiting for my Koni Sport shocks to come in. All of that will be bolted on as soon as paint is done.
And the biggest thing, the car is finally going to paint!
The body is painted! It was mostly straight and what you see in the first two pictures are the only spots that needed a little skim coat.
After that "we" (aka mostly my friend who does paint and body for a living) primed/blocked/sealed and then painted it with Sikkens GM Hyper Blue Metallic from a 2018 Camaro (paint code WA388A), and did a couple coats of Sikkens clear coat. It still needs to be wet sanded and buffed but I love the color and it's back home so I can start putting it back together. We also still need to paint the doors, hood, fenders, decklid, ground effects, etc.
My C6 Corvette brakes also showed up from Big Brake Upgrade, definitely an improvement over stock.
holy smokes, that is a beautiful color blue. that paint job happened fast ! nicely done !
Thanks! It was a roller coaster ride the last 2 weeks. Everything that could go wrong, did. The paint booth we were supposed to used was no longer an option, multiple broken air compressors, broken heaters, forgetting tools, etc. We didn’t finish spraying until 11pm last night.
I was torn between a few different colors. Since blue and red and super common on 3rd gens I wanted something different and my original plan was Destroyer Gray from the newer FCA vehicles or the burnt orange from 4th gens. But Ive never had a blue vehicle before and somebody at work has a 2018 Camaro SS in Hyper Blue Metallic. It took me a couple weeks of walking by his car in various lighting to make me realize that’s the color I want since it changes between dark blue, light blue, and teal in different lighting. Not too off the wall, but also somewhat similar to a blue offered on 3rd gens. Something that somebody that doesn’t know might think is a factory color but also just slightly different. Also glad I kept with a GM paint code too.
Making some good progress over the last couple weeks. Doors, front fenders, and decklid should be getting painted in the next week.
we should also be de-nibbbing, wet sanding, and buffing the paint in the next couple weeks. So you’ll definitely see some imperfections in the paint right now. My LED lighting also really shows every paint imperfection.
In the meantime I’ve finished installing the K Member, UMI A Arms, UMI weight jacks, Koni front shocks, C6 brakes, 4th Gen booster & master, Wilwood proportioning valve, brake lines, Detroit Speed sway bar & wonder bar, Pro Forged steering linkage, Borgeson 12.7:1 steering box, Walter Racecraft steering shaft, and new heater core.
Had to take a couple of months off from working on the car, but I'm finally back to making progress.
After waiting 5 months, my engine came back from the machine shop. Cylinder walls were honed on a torque plate, line honed, polished crank, new pistons, new cam bearings, and the whole rotating assembly balanced. Started putting it back together and the short block is mostly assembled. All my clearances were within spec so aside from taking extra time to measure and clean everything multiple times, the assembly has been really smooth.
-Texas Speed 228R Cam
-LS2 Timing Chain & TFS LS2 Chain Dampener Adapter
-Melling High Flow Oil Pump
-ATI Super Damper w/ ARP Bolt
-Holley Oil Pan w/ the Road Race Baffle
-All new bolts and OEM sensors throughout
I ordered a set of PRC heads so once those come in I can start buying more parts to finish it up. I'm going to do the CHE bronze trunnion bushings, Morel lifters, new pushrods, OEM head gaskets, and ARP head bolts.
I've run the numbers and I'll be at 11:1 static compression and 8.3-8.5 dynamic compression (using some assumptions from similar comp cams since Texas Speed doesn't release their advertised duration numbers) so it should have no problem running on pump gas.
Got the engine finished for the most part. My buddy stopped by tonight and got the engine bay cut and polished. I couldn’t wait, so I got the engine bolted into the car within an hour of him coming by. So much work left to do but it’s a huge step to have the freshly built engine bolted into the car for the first time since paint. Progress is way slower than expected, but slow progress is better than no progress. And I definitely don’t want to rush this build.
Last edited by motomatt775; 06-29-2022 at 11:24 PM.
Making a little progress at a time. Got a Monster Clutch/hydraulics/speed bleeder installed and the T56 is hopefully in for the last time. Also got a Racetronix 255 pump installed in the 4th gen tank as well as a hotwire kit and got all of the fuel lines and filler neck done.
Champion radiator with dual Spal fans and AN hoses to clear the Detroit Speed wonder bar, AC condenser and lines are done, and got a FAST 92 mounted up with some DeatschWerks 42lb injectors. I hated the fuel crossover on the fuel rails so that's disconnected right now while I wait for my fuel pressure adapter to come in so I can build a new PTFE crossover.
05-08-2021, 10:29 PM
