IROC-Z DONOR PAGE CONT...

Bill and I went up August 10th to work on my car and planned to stay through Saturday the 12th.  I mentioned to everyone at church that Wednesday night that this was going to be THE weekend I get my car done.  I had mentioned this plenty of times before, but never got the car finished.  Well, Thursday and Friday there were some discouraging set backs.  We soldered the fuel pump wires instead of wire connectors.  And still no hum.  We got the dash in, like the pod here, and the guages all turned on properly!  We tried to get the exaust on as a whole and we just couldn't do it. So we just cut the exhaust where the cat was supposed to be (the previous owner just welded a straight pipe instead of a catalytic converter), but never did get it on.  We were getting lots of work done, but I was getting discouraged, because I didn't honestly think that we were going to get this car done.  I purchased some tail pipes and muffler for the car.  I got OEM equipment.  And it was kind of pricy, BUT I needed the parts.  We took a circuit tester to the wiring and found that only one wire was hot to the fuel pump.  The other must have been the wire leading to the fuel guage on the dash.  What could be the problem we asked?  We called it a night, we were tired and discouraged.

Saturday morning we finished putting dash in.  Bill and John (mentioned earlier) at an earlier time switched steering columns, because some of the wire connectors didn't match up.  So that was nice to have that corrected.  Well, Saturday morning Bill gave John a call, and he mentioned how we still couldn't get the fuel pump to kick on.  John mentioned a number of things...one that stood out was that it could be a ground wire.  Praise the Lord, because then I totally remembered when my V6 wouldn't start.  It was because a ground wire near the battery wasn't grounded right!!!  We took this into consideration.  When, Bill, Kenny and I went out to the car that morning we took notice of several wires around the battery that were cut!!!  We used some wiring diagrams in the shop manuals, and some comparison with the V6 wires, and managed to connect some wires to the positive battery junction and found some various black ground wires that needed to be grounded.  When we finished this job, Kenny said to just "Turn the key and see what happens."  So we did.  HUMMMMM, the fuel pump kicked on!  It was a cut ground wire that kept it from running! Bill and I jumped for joy!  We didn't start it yet, because I wanted to get some fluids in it.

After we got some fluids in it, we made sure everything was in order to fire this baby up.  We gave the key a crank.  vvvvrrrOOOOOOOOMMMMM! this baby roared!!  We didn't have the Y-pipe on yet, so naturally it was loud!  I called home, and talked with my brother, and we started it for him, and he was excited that we finally got it running!  I tried to get a hold of my dad, but he wasn't home. :(  I'm thankful that we got all of the necessary parts fixed before we got this baby running, like getting a good starter on it.  I thank God for His perfect timing.  It was such a relief to hear that TPI 350 finally run.  For the past few months, my Coupe has made for a nice looking paper weight.  After we got it running.  I took to connecting the tail lamp wires.  Bill made sure that I was connecting the right wires to the right wires.  I wouldn't want my reverse lights to come on when I hit the turn signal. :)  By this time John stopped by, because he was in the neighborhood.  He helped me, Bill and Kenny get my car road worthy.  I was determined to drive it home this weekend! :)

I went to Pep Boys in Bloomington to get a radiator for my car.  While I was gone, John, Kenny and Bill worked on the exaust.  They just put the muffler on the end of the Y-Pipe, but had to heat the pipe so they could bend it down to make some room for the muffler.  We got the radiator in and filled it with coolant.  I had all of the other necessary fluids in it so it seemed like the appropriate time to take my newly built beast for a test drive!  I was sooooo excited to be able to have that opportunity!

Kenny on the right, and John on the left, did some final adjustments to the engine to get her running smoothly.  Right here they are timing the engine.  Again, I'm so thankful that Kenny let us use his space and tools for this project!  All I need to do is find my driver's seat and put it in for the test drive!

Here I am backing it out of the garage.  It is so nice to see it move under it's own power!  And I do mean POWER!  It's so exciting to finally have my car finished.  Such a relief.  I really missed driving my car!  Well, after the test drive, dinner break and oil change, Bill and I will focus on getting the interior in.  But for now, let's see how well this baby will run!!!  I thought to take it home that night, but to be on the safe side I'll be driving it home Sunday after church, when there's daylight in case something happens.  Too bad that I didn't take any pictures of us driving it. :(  I will have some soon I hope!

Saturday evening here Bill and I managed to find all of the interior peices and bolts.  We spent a good few hours putting the finishing touches on this project.  I cleaned up the IROC carpeting.  It had quite a bit of stains on it, but overall it is in much better shape than the Coupe's.

It was nice to finally put down the carpeting, so we didn't have to sit on the unlevel sheet metal.  Here were just needing the front seats to finish off the interior.  At this point, I just couldn't wait to have it done so that I can show my car to my friends and family, and to be able to share with you the end result of this project.  It's been a long process, but it's been truely educational, and a blessing to work with Mr. J, and my twin bro! On the outside it looks like a Sport Coupe! But when I lay a patch of rubber from here to Cleveland, you'll know that there is something not original about this car! SPECIAL THANKS! I just want to thank Mr. and Mrs. J for letting us use there space and equipment.  It's been a real blessing!  Thanks to John, for helping me get this car road worthy on Saturday!  And thanks to all of you that sent Bill and I emails about your projects and giving us tips and pointers on how to do this properly!  I also want to give thanks and praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for blessing me with this fun opportunity to learn about cars, patients, and fellowship!  I've learned to trust Him more!

!!NEW PICTURES!! Here are the pictures of the dash cluster.

145 MPH Speedo, Volt guage, Fuel guage, Temp guage, Tachometer, Oil Pressure guage.  Since, installed horn pad.  IROC-Z dash plaque.

Here's what The 'Ole Sport Coupe has got: -350 Cubic Inch Tuned Port Injection V8 -TH700R4 Tranny -Aluminum drive shaft -IROC-Z Performance Package; Rear anti-sway bar -IROC-Z Performance Package; Oil cooler -IROC-Z Performance Package; Dog house frame stiffeners -16"X8" IROC-Z Rims -IROC Tail lights -IROC bucket seats and carpet -Z28 IROC-Z dash plaque -IROC dash cluster; 145 mph, fuel, oil, battery, temp, tach guage -New Aluminum radiator -New Starter -Accelorator, speedo cables from IROC -Steering column from IROC; w/delay wiper, cruise control switch -Delay wiper motor from IROC -Front passenger brake line from IROC -Factory Fog lamp switch and light capability -Dual cooler fans from IROC -Misc. Interior pieces that were needed.

There are still a few things from the IROC yet that I may be swapping over.  The rear posi unit, or the entire rear axle equipped with the rear disc brakes.

Perhaps this will be my next major project for my Camaro...Converting it into an autoplane.  I wonder if I could find an old wrecked bi-plane for parts?  Hmmmmm.

On to more IROC-Z Upgrade information!! Click Here

Thanks for keeping posted with this project.  Email me if you have any comments about this upgrade.  I'd love to hear from you!!