The new to me 1992 Z28, Photos and build information inside Options

[trackbird]

Well, we've managed to accomplish a lot, but we have a lot to do. Many of the things on the list are critical (and it's still not running). few I'd do over and some things I'll change. The breaker panel in the back... I'm not real happy with it. The Accusump might be relocated too. I tigged up a set of dash brackets, then a bolt stripped out of one and I'm still trying to sort out a few

[firehawkclone]

You are moving along at a pretty good pace, Keep at bud. Its a better pace than i do, I think it has to do with how much beer i drink!

I have just over a week to put my motor back in, dyno, alignment, radio, and a few odds/ ends. The dyno/alignment are a day each, with no sleep(night shift) +2hrs a day for the rest. It would have been worse if i did that ls2 5.3L i have sitting at the motor shop.

The car is looking great by the way!

[trackbird]

We have been living in the garage all week. Sadly, we had to pull the plug and didn't get the car done. My girlfriend has been spectacularly tolerant and she is an amazing goddess for putting up with this. However, I promised that it would run this weekend or I was "hers" for a few days/weeks, etc. So progress is going to be slow for a bit and hoestly, I'm about sick of being covered in metal chips and grease/dirt. I'll post the recent progress when I get pics.

More to come!

[nape]

You are moving along at a pretty good pace, Keep at bud. Its a better pace than i do, I think it has to do with how much beer i drink!

I have just over a week to put my motor back in, dyno, alignment, radio, and a few odds/ ends. The dyno/alignment are a day each, with no sleep(night shift) +2hrs a day for the rest. It would have been worse if i did that ls2 5.3L i have sitting at the motor shop.

The car is looking great by the way!

I agree with John. 4-5 hours of sleep has been the norm lately. Keep plugging along and you'll get it done. I always find some way to do it even if I end up pulling all nighters.

Leaving for Putnam Park tomorrow after work. Hoping to bring home some hardware and find the tenth of a second I missed the track record by last time. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[trackbird]

Ok, here's the pics of where I left it. I just got home from NFME (they only ran the road course today, so we didn't stay for tomorrow, I'll post about all that in another thread...hint: we took a Mustang with us!).

It's all wiring and fitting the lexan. Honestly, I was going to just have a windshield put back in the car and stuff the lexan in a closet until I feel like dealing with it. I may still do just that. I'm not sure I feel like dealing with the care and feeding of lexan until I get to sanctioned events. I did go with a remote master switch (solenoid) and a solenoid for the alternator disconnect as well (paving the way for a 1 wire alternator later) as well as a couple breakers and a remote starter solenoid (so my large starter lead isn't hot all the time). I know you guys will give me crap for the panel and I don't love it (but I was running out of time). It's probably one of the safest (electrically) cars you'll find on grid, but it looks unconventional. Sue me. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

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[trackbird]

The dash panel is wired up and the gauges all power up (speedo runs a self test, etc) and the light switch works for the dash lights (just in case). I am going to drop it in the car and run sensors to it in the very near future. Any progress is good progress.

[92Voodoo]

Any progress is good progress.

Agreed. Sorry it's taken so long to post comments. It's taken this long to get all of the metal chips and grease/dirt off.

Thanks for including me in the 3 1/2 days on the end of the thrash to get tragically teal on the track. You don't owe me anything. Your calm advice the other day more than paid the tab not to mention I really enjoyed myself. Sorry we didn't make the deadline though. Would have been fun chasing you instead of James G. He was driving the wheels off that car though. You're so close to finishing. Only a day or 2 worth of work left. Just a little wiring, windshield, distributor, passenger seat and belts. If you need another deadline... pick one from here: https://www.pdadrivingschool.com/registration.php I'm going to try to make Monticello and a day or 2 @ Pocono.

Thanks for the help with the mustang at NFME. And we should have entered it in the car show. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/rotf.gif) I also owe a thank you to Jonathan and Shanta for the ride, instruction and help with the tire. Only disappointment with the event was the reduced road course track time. Thought they'd keep with the 2 days planned when the didn't drop the cost but went to a 2 day event. NFME needs to reach out to new camaro owners to increase attendance.

And yeah, I'm going to give you crap. The breaker panel and accusump are fine. The panel is overkill safe, simple and organized. Maybe it's different and adds 1/3rd lb but it's where it needs to be. The only place that you have left to mount the accusump is under the hood which presents it's own problems. If you're worried it'll pop, put a shield over it. Your car is the safest camaro on the planet. Just get it on the track.

[trackbird]

Sooooo, it's only been....uh...a while since I last updated this thread. I've been pretty torn on what to do with this car (no secret there). But the market sucks and it's still taking up most of my garage, so I guess we have to finish it. And finish it we will...

A few weeks ago I pulled the dash panel apart (removed all the wiring and gauges) and cut a notch to allow it to drop over the steering column to lower it for better visibility (and reinstalled all the wiring and gauges). Then I cut out the dash brackets and ground off the mounts, lowered them and welded them back to the cross bar.

In the last few days, we've put power and ground on the dash panel, put power and ground on the ECM, grounded the fuel pump and hooked it to the output of the fuel pump relay from the ecm, hooked up the battery and did a power test of the breakers, solenoids and switches, wired up the distributor and the MSD...ah, the MSD...I'll get to that. We grounded the cooling fan up front, grounded the engine block to the roll cage tab that I tig welded to the strut tower bars, hooked up the front master switch and starter button, installed the mechanical water temp gauge into the engine and hooked up the oil pressure gauge, etc.

Last night, we did a full power test on everything and cranked it... It didn't light and we realized why. There's no power source to the red wire on the MSD. I thought (incorrectly) that it came from the distributor, but the power needs to feed the coil (now the MSD) and the distributor. So, I need to add a switched hot lead. No sweat...

Then I realized that I likely need a tach input lead to the ECM, but I don't remember seeing it in the wiring harness (oddly enough). So, I may have to pull the ECM wiring diagram, find the lead and add it. That should get us close enough to start. Also, the inlet air temp sensor wiring harness is too short, so I'll be extending that so it reaches the intake. I have lots of practice making leads longer on this harness, maybe a bit more than I wanted, but it's nothing we can't handle.

Anyway, we should have it running the next time we get to the garage (92voodoo, Racerdad and I).

[StanIROCZ]

Then I realized that I likely need a tach input lead to the ECM, but I don't remember seeing it in the wiring harness (oddly enough). So, I may have to pull the ECM wiring diagram, find the lead and add it.

It's a white wire, IIRC, coming from the back of the dizzy. Double check your wiring diagram though.

[trackbird]

Then I realized that I likely need a tach input lead to the ECM, but I don't remember seeing it in the wiring harness (oddly enough). So, I may have to pull the ECM wiring diagram, find the lead and add it.

It's a white wire, IIRC, coming from the back of the dizzy. Double check your wiring diagram though.

Right...lol. I had that part worked out. It's one of the 4 wires on the coil (+12v and tach signal on one connector, coil hot to the distributor to feed the module and the ground pulse trigger on the other). Except my blaster coil is two wire, and none of the harness wires were supplied with the techrods kit for the power and tach pickup for the coil (if I was using a stock or stock replacement one, which I'm not). It's just MIA. I'll pull the pinouts for the ecm, hope there's a wire there and feed it a tach signal. This harness has been an adventure, everything that's not too short is just missing. But I have wire, solder and heat shrink tubing...

[Blainefab]

And finish it we will...

Hey, hey, that's great! Have a beer on me!

[trackbird]

And finish it we will...

Hey, hey, that's great! Have a beer on me!

Thanks Alan, I just might do that. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Besides, I'm part of a group that just got surplused at work and it will be easier to move if it's running (and I wind up having to move it, sell it, stuff it in storage or turn it into some kind of a twisted daily driver). Anybody out there need any avionics technician/telecommunications guys?

[StanIROCZ]

This harness has been an adventure, everything that's not too short is just missing. But I have wire, solder and heat shrink tubing...

Maybe I'm not so crazy for fighting with the stock harness...

[Todd]

This harness has been an adventure, everything that's not too short is just missing. But I have wire, solder and heat shrink tubing...

Maybe I'm not so crazy for fighting with the stock harness...

I don't know that I'd go that far...I just finished putting my harness back to stock from the megasquirt setup that I was running...there are close to 3 times as many wires as "necessary" for the stock ECM. One example...the fuel pump circuit is supplied power from the battery via a fuse directly from the battery, it goes to the relay on the drivers side engine compartment, runs across the firewall and passes through with the ECM wires in the passengers kick panel. Then it runs across the car on the inside to run down the drivers side wire channel. Its no wonder I had a severe voltage drop...it was close to 40ft of thin wire that was 20+ years old.

Trackbird, good to see you back on your project!! For me, mine went back to stock and is on the chopping block...

[trackbird]

This harness has been an adventure, everything that's not too short is just missing. But I have wire, solder and heat shrink tubing...

Maybe I'm not so crazy for fighting with the stock harness...

Maybe. This one has required me to extend and heat shrink (with the shrink tubing with the sealer/glue in it) several wires in the harness. It's been really frustrating, but it's in better shape than my stock harness (new connectors on the new harness, most of my old ones were cracked or dry rotted and I'd replaced a bunch of them already). But I wish this had been a better fit to the engine.

Trackbird, good to see you back on your project!! For me, mine went back to stock and is on the chopping block...

Yea, this car is on the list with buying a house as two of my worst financial decisions. But since it's here, I'm going to try to finish it. It may be sold after I'm done, traded for something else, autocrossed, run at the occasional track day or I'll toss a cover over it and let it sit. Either way, I've got to at least finish it. So we'll keep plugging away and then on to the next adventure. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[StanIROCZ]

I don't know that I'd go that far...I just finished putting my harness back to stock from the megasquirt setup that I was running...there are close to 3 times as many wires as "necessary" for the stock ECM. One example...the fuel pump circuit is supplied power from the battery via a fuse directly from the battery, it goes to the relay on the drivers side engine compartment, runs across the firewall and passes through with the ECM wires in the passengers kick panel. Then it runs across the car on the inside to run down the drivers side wire channel. Its no wonder I had a severe voltage drop...it was close to 40ft of thin wire that was 20+ years old.

haha, I found the same thing and simplified that circuit, but there are other examples like that where GM decided to just run wires in circles around the car but that is the best example. In TB's case he paid $ for a harness that he has to lengthen wires with. With the stock harness I paid nothing but had to trim out a lot of stuff. I hate to guess how many hours I have in that harness.. 40-80?

[trackbird]

I used the matching colored wires from the stock harness to extend the new harness and have the color codes match all the way through. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Todd]

I don't know that I'd go that far...I just finished putting my harness back to stock from the megasquirt setup that I was running...there are close to 3 times as many wires as "necessary" for the stock ECM. One example...the fuel pump circuit is supplied power from the battery via a fuse directly from the battery, it goes to the relay on the drivers side engine compartment, runs across the firewall and passes through with the ECM wires in the passengers kick panel. Then it runs across the car on the inside to run down the drivers side wire channel. Its no wonder I had a severe voltage drop...it was close to 40ft of thin wire that was 20+ years old.

haha, I found the same thing and simplified that circuit, but there are other examples like that where GM decided to just run wires in circles around the car but that is the best example. In TB's case he paid $ for a harness that he has to lengthen wires with. With the stock harness I paid nothing but had to trim out a lot of stuff. I hate to guess how many hours I have in that harness.. 40-80?

I decided that my factory harness was too far gone to adapt, so I bought a generic harness for my megasquirt setup. I spent 20-30 hours to build it and integrate into the factory in-car harness. And then I decided to go back to stock...so I then spent another 10-15 hours repairing the factory harness. And I have to repair the same things on my Turbo TA too...I must be a glutton for punishment.

[trackbird]

It runs. After much checking, we removed vats and it lit and runs...

[firehawkclone]

Woohoo!!!!!!! Beer thirty!