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Finally getting the 89 RS back on the road. Sold the SC last year so this is my last "running" Camaro.
Changed the oil, replaced the radiator hoses, gave it a full tune up, then replaced the brake hoses, calipers and rotors. Went with the Raybestos Element3 parts. I've been running them on my Xterra and K2500 and I've been really pleased with them.
Also replaced the grill. The original one was crumbling. Literally. I leaned it up against the wall in my shop after I pulled it and it was just a pile of ruble the next day. And got some custom tags for it!
I like that shade of blue on these cars, I would love to see more pics if you get a chance. Good call on the Raybestos Element 3 brakes, I've been using them on my cars lately and I've been impressed.
I really like their stuff. I've got the Element3 pads on all our cars now and their rotors on everything except my wife's Malibu that already stops so hard it hurts.
I've got to get the car out and get some good pictures of it. Just a bunch of it on stands right now.
They are more of an all season crossover tire in my research but by all accounts they will do what I need done on this car. It's a cruiser, not a hot rod by any stretch.
So far I'm really happy with them. I've put about 50 miles on it just riding around town and running my errands.
I'd prefer a GoodYear or Cooper (the last American tire company now that GoodYear bought Cooper), but these were a very very lightly used bargain I could not refuse. I have some Falken WildPeak trail tires on my Jeep that I really like.
I'd prefer a GoodYear or Cooper (the last American tire company now that GoodYear bought Cooper), but these were a very very lightly used bargain I could not refuse. I have some Falken WildPeak trail tires on my Jeep that I really like.
I've got 4 friends I wheel with that run the Wildpeak AT3W tires and they go great. But they are heavier and stiffer than my Coopers AT3 XLT. I messed up and bought a set of Nittos and I'm trying to wear them out now. They go great off-road but are HEAVY and LOUD. If I wanted that, I would have gotten Interco Truxus MTs.
Gonna hopefully get rear shocks and some bushings ordered this weekend.
Picked up my fan switch from NAPA today and got it installed. Verified it functioned properly but I was soaked in coolant and sweat so I didn't take it for a drive.
Kinda looks like my water pump is weeping a little. After sitting for nearly a decade, I'm not surprised. Guess I'll go shopping for one soon.
Also, need to research alternators. Mine seems weak.
Yesterday I ordered a replacement air dam for under the bumper to hopefully help with highway cooling.
Mknday I checked the timing and initially set it at 4° BTDC from the -2° it was at. But I decided since I was going to try some data logging, to put it back to 0° tonight and establish a good baseline first.
While doing that, I noticed an occasional -1/2° "tick" (for lack of a better term) in the timing. I suspect the 90k mile distributor has some wear in the thrust bushing and is allowing the shaft to hop up and down in the housing.
Before buttoning it up for the night, I popped the air deflector/silencer out of the air cleaner to allow it to breathe around the injector pods a little easier.
Tomorrow I'm going to drive it around some after work and play with TunerPro RT a little more to get comfortable with logging.
We put about 200 miles on the Camaro this weekend.
I took my middle daughter to the big cruise-in in Roanoke Friday night. Did some nice prostreet style burnouts for the folks lining the streets. The new tires don't make a lot of smoke or noise though.
Then today the oldest daughter and I took a nice long drive over to Buena Vista and down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Roanoke for a late lunch at Macados.
The old car is running pretty good. It's had a couple bad hot starts. Kinda like it's flooding. I'm not sure what to do just yet. I'm going to pull the air cleaner lid the next time I shut it down and watch the injectors for leaks.
After work today I installed the FS113 fan switch. It's on at 215°F and off around 203°F. Combined with the newly installed air dam under the radiator, my engine stays nice and cool around town now.
During some test driving in the city this afternoon i never had the fan come in with even the slightest amount of motion and after sitting long enough for it to come on, the fan quickly dropped it to 200°F and then no hotter than 208°F for the short and slow drive back to the house.
Just ordered the KYB AGX rear shocks and a "new" Remy 105 amp alternator.
My alternator doesn't do a great job. I think it's an AutoZone special the previous owner put on there and probably the 85 amp version if I had to guess.
Now to save up a little more money and order the front struts to match and new strut mounts.
I got to spend some time in the garage this evening and got the truck air filter base installed.
The reason I wanted to do this is two fold.
Firstly, the factory snorkle REALLY necks down and limits potential air flow.
Secondly the ThermAC heat riser port on the car base stays open all the time.The truck base has a two part system. One flap opens the cool air feed to the snorkle and there is another flap that closes off the heat riser port to help maintain and control the inlet temperatures.
Here you can see the original base and intake hose. It has a truck lid installed on the factory base in this picture.
The truck base has a built in spacer but it's not as tall as the factory spacer. I used a 1/4" plastic spacer under the base to allow me to clock out without grinding out the ears in the neck of the filter. This allowed me turn the snorkel from the passenger side to the driver's side to clear the AIR box and heater hose fittings. I hole sawed holes for the IAT sensor and PCV vent breather in the proper locations and then sealed the old PCV breather hole with duct tape for the time being. Then I was able to install the factory car lid and air filter as well as use some 4" drier vent tubing to hook up the cold air scoop behind the driver's side headlights. I had to put a vacuum cap on the old ThermAC supply port on the throttle body as well.
I was even able to use the factory heat riser tube from the manifold to the snorkle to help warm up the engine and maintain inlet temperatures.
Here you can see the factory snorkle and how it necks down at the tube that attaches to the scoop.
As it turns out, the truck base doesn't shroud the injector pod as much as the F-body one which should allow for more and better air flow into the throttle body.
A little test drive without any hard data makes me think it helped. IATs were better than I expected. No higher than 120°F idling around town and a cool 95°F on the interstate
Been a busy spring and I finally got the Camaro out a few weeks ago for the big cruise-in in Roanoke. Our night ended early when the cooling fan motor died and I boiled over before I could get pulled over.
Ordered a new Delco brand motor, installed it and it works great. Also changed the oil since it got so hot. I want to change the transmission fluid soon too, partly because of the heat and partly because of how old the fluid is.
06-16-2021, 08:34 AM
