1981 Z28 Camaro Project

[ChaseDale3and8]

This is my 1981 Z28 Camaro. I bought this car a little over a year ago since my 86 K10 project seemed to be stallin, and everyone that has GM trucks around here are doing 67-72s, and don't really care about much of anything else. I wanted to do something different, so I just quit on the truck for now, and started looking for a car to do when i found this one on the Springfield Craigslist.

I bought the body for $1400 which isn't bad since it's solid and rust free, and replacement sheetmetal alone for one of these could end up costing more than what i paid for this body. I had just started building a 383 that was going to be put in the K10, but now it's slated to go in this car. I am backing the 383 up with a fully built TH400. I just got it back from the rebuilder yesterday. I have just started the bodywork. Have a long way to go, but hope to one day have something different. You just don't see many of these cars anymore, not around here anyway. Engine specs are as follows if anyone wants to know what I've got in it:

350- 3970010 4 bolt main block bored .030
RPM International 3.75 stroke crank
Pro Comp 5140 forged steel rods
King engine bearings
Keith Black 2VR Flat top hypereuectic pistons
Melling oil pump
Comp Cams Mutha Thumpr Cam and valve train
Dart Iron Eagle heads with 72cc combustion chambers S.S valves, and Comp valve springs to match the cam
Edelbrock Performer E.P.S. intake manifold
Summit Racing 750 c.f.m. carb

[ChaseDale3and8]

You should be able to tell from the pics that this car is solid. This was the last year that this body style was made. I used to own a hard top version of this same car many years ago. It was brown and had the gold stripes. Mine is going to be repainted the original black with the silver Z28 stripes.

[ChaseDale3and8]

More engine build pics.I changed my mind later on the way that I wanted this one to look. I no longer have these valve covers on it as you'll see later. i also put a 7 quart pan on during the build.

[ChaseDale3and8]

More engine build pics. Starting off with a Skip White chrome fuel pump.

[ChaseDale3and8]

More pics. Couple more engine shots and then the TH400.

[ChaseDale3and8]

Future home of the 383 and TH400. I'm thinking that I can blow this front clip apart and clean up the subframe with a wire wheel instead of pulling it off, and then repaint it while it's still on the car since it's in such good shape. What do you guys think? Note the roll bar. I had never seen a T-Top Camaro with one until I bought this one. I recently found out that they are kind of rare. I was told they were made by Hooker Headers back in the day. I'm thinking about having it re-chromed. Note the trans crossmember is pretty beat up. I bought a new one for the TH400 since the TH350 is different anyway. I'll scrap this one.

[ChaseDale3and8]

These 3 pictures are of where I'm currently at on the quarter panel. It has come a long way, but still got a long way to go. I have some more dents down on the lower portion to pull out and skim fill. Man, I'm glad that I bought that stud gun dent puller! It's a GREAT tool to have for this! ...Joe

[kyull67]

Looks good! I like that motor.

[ChaseDale3and8]

Originally Posted by kyull67

Looks good! I like that motor.

Thanks Kyle! I'm going to pull all the body trim moldings off today so that we can weld up those trim holes tomorrow. I'll send you a PM later with my phone number and directions. Are you going to make it to Nixa tonight for the cruise in? Did you get your truck up and running yet? Hope to see you at Nixa tonight! ...Joe

[VA72C10]

Nice work so far on the motor and dent repairs. I had an 80Z28 restored with the help of a friend. Didn't do the body work on that one though. I have the correct factory air cleaner for that cowl intake with the gasket as well as the metal seal that bolts to the underside of the hood if you ever decide you wanted to run factory looking items....I ran that with a K&N filter in it.....

[ChaseDale3and8]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Nice work so far on the motor and dent repairs. I had an 80Z28 restored with the help of a friend. Didn't do the body work on that one though. I have the correct factory air cleaner for that cowl intake with the gasket as well as the metal seal that bolts to the underside of the hood if you ever decide you wanted to run factory looking items....I ran that with a K&N filter in it.....

I might be interested in it if the price was right. I wasn't really planning to do a factory correct restoration under the hood since everything was gone when I bought this car. I mean, I have nothing stock for it. So my plan is to make to do the body and interior mostly stock. If I run across stock parts here and there such as a correct block, heads, etc, and the price is right, I'll buy them and put them back for it.

That way, who ever ends up getting my stuff after I'm stone cold dead would have the correct stock parts for it if they wanted to change it. I had an '81 like this except it was a hardtop back in the late '80s, and the air cleaner assembly was already gone. The block had a rod sticking through a water passage. It was a 305 car anyway, and these cars were a dime a dozen back then. I just hot rodded it and left it at that. I never thought at the time that one day they'd start disappearing! You just don't see many of these anymore around here. ...Joe

[kyull67]

No, still haven't been able to get these valves set right. I'm starting to think the lifters may be bad.

[ChaseDale3and8]

Originally Posted by kyull67

No, still haven't been able to get these valves set right. I'm starting to think the lifters may be bad.

That is a possibility. At least it won't be too bad to check out on the 6 though. From what I hear, the solid lifter cams have a bad tendency to go flat. What kind of oil are you running in it? Comp Cams just came out with a break in oil that is more like the old oils that these old motors need. ...Joe

[kyull67]

I typically use castrol. They are hydraulic lifters.

[ChaseDale3and8]

Many thanks to Kyle for today's progress! I have a flux core mig welder and wanted to weld up the body side molding holes. Problem with mine is that it splatters everywhere and is a real mess to clean up when you get done. I asked Kyle what kind he had, and he told me that his uses gas. So he came over today and welded up the trim holes and fixed a bad spot on the back end that you'd never really see, but I wanted to do something to make it look better. It looked like somebody put a chain to it to either pull something, or pull the car backward. All they succeeded in doing was putting a nice little rip in the sheetmetal. It's all fixed now! All I need to do is hit the welds with the flap wheel to knock them down ,and put a light coat of filler on the spots, and you'll never know anything was ever there. Many thanks again Kyle! You saved me from having a really big mess to clean up! ...Joe

[ChaseDale3and8]

A few more...

[ChaseDale3and8]

I made some more progress today on the Z28. I got the right rear quarter panel close where it's ready for the first coat of primer surfacer and first blocking to see what I have. It has been a real pain to get straight. All those curves coming in from every direction as it tapers to the back doesn't help. I think that it will be okay for the most part. I may have to do a little tweaking on it to get it perfect by the time it's painted, but it is a whole lot better than what I started with. Looks like they tried to off-road it at one time or something.

I also took a flap wheel to the welds to knock them down after Kyle came by and helped me out with the body side molding holes last weekend. I wish that I would have had enough sense to have used those flap wheels years ago! They sure do make short work of taking the welds down! Thanks again Kyle for letting me know about that! It was a BIG help! I'm thinking that I may wait until next week and go in to the body shop supply store that I use and get a quart of metal fill instead of using plastic against the metal, then topcoat it with plastic if it needs anything else done. I took plenty of pictures again today. I got tired of working and reworking the quarter panel. I finally layed a skim coat over the whole thing so that hopefully it will look good after priming and blocking out, but we will see! ...Joe

[ChaseDale3and8]

Some more...

[FRENCHBLUE72]

That car does indeed look like a nice survivor congrats,,....

[VA72C10]

looking good. keep up the progress. just got paint on mine today...

And like you said....primer definitely will show you any defects in the body work. We ended up doing three coats of primer with icing in between to make it as close to perfect as possible.

[ChaseDale3and8]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

looking good. keep up the progress. just got paint on mine today...

And like you said....primer definitely will show you any defects in the body work. We ended up doing three coats of primer with icing in between to make it as close to perfect as possible.

I've been watching yours too. It is really looking great! Can't wait to see it after you get done. ...Joe

[ChaseDale3and8]

Some more pictures to update this thread. I still have a little more to do on this side, but it's coming along pretty well. 20 years ago I would have already had the whole car done and painted by now. I'm really slowing down in my old age! ...Joe

[VA72C10]

Keep on plugging away. It's getting nicer with each update!

[Mil-Spec]

Great progress!!

This year and body style first caught my attention when i was stationed in Penscola Florida. I had bought a 75 Camaro and just got the rebuilt 350 installed and running the day before I transferred. I left the camaro in the barracks parking lot while I travelled to Norfolk. A couple weeks later I went home on leave and talked a buddy into driving me down to P-cola to pick it up. While staying in a off-base motel I noticed also parked in the motel parking lot a Cherry Red '81 Z-28. From what I could tell it was stock and super clean, with the z28 decals and Z28/MonteSS wheels. I was smitten, truely and beautiful car. In fact later I bought some Monte SS wheels for my 75, but it was never the same.

Keep us posted and best of luck

[ChaseDale3and8]

Those wheels are the N90 option. They are nice, but now are very expensive if you can find a good set of them. I have seen that red Z28 somewhere before! I either saw it on nastyz28.com or on eBay for sale, and now I can't remember where, BUT I know I've seen it before! My car is missing so many of the original parts that I'm not going to worry about getting it that close to perfect. I'm just going to do a sort of resto-rod theme on it. More like what my other one was back in the 80's! I have a set of Rev Wheels Torque Thrust 2s in chrome for mine. They are 15x7 front, and 15x8 rear. Rev Wheels are owned by American Racing Wheels, so they are the same except the name on the center cap, and the price! I'll be posting some pictures of them up sometime in the future. Below is what I'm shooting for i the end on mine. The one with the red stripes has the same wheels that I have. The one with the silver stripes is what mine is going to look like when body and paint are done. ...Joe


my wheels look like these:

my car when it's done will look like this: