jlcrew446

I bought the car in March of 2011 with 147,000 miles on it. Carfax showed one owner and that the car spent most of its time in Florida. The motor is extremely strong for having that many miles on it. And the entire car was bone stock including the exhaust. It just goes to show how much longer cars last when they don't have to deal with the salt treated roads we have in PA.

I bought the car as a project car so this build thread will be my journal of the different maintenance, modifications, and experiences that I have with it. I am starting out as a beginner as far as my mechanical skill goes but I'm looking forward to the learning process.

Stay tuned........

jlcrew446

It finally got warm enough this weekend for me to get some work done on the car and get some pictures.

I bought a jack and jack stands originally to get the car in the air and quickly realized that I am not a big fan of them so I got ramps the following day and they work much better.

The jack and jack stands came in a kit from AutoZone. It is the 2 ton kit made by duralast. The jack stands are fine but the Jack is pretty low quality and feels like it is going to break when it starts getting a load on it. It is also difficult to find good jacking points on the front of this car. If anyone has any suggestion there it would be great.

I got the 2 ton rhino ramps from autozone and they have been very easy to work with. No problem with clearance and they get the car high enough to get under very easily. They have a nice stop for the wheel and I have had no problem pulling on them by myself without a spotter.

First thing I did was take the front license plate frame off the front of the car as I don't need one in PA. Unfortunately the grill has three holes in it where they drilled for the license plate holder and the bottom lip of the front bumper is cracked. See the picture below.

I then changed the oil. This was pretty easy. I definitely suggest using a oil filter wrench if you are not using the fram filters with the grips. I did find a really strange yellow film in my oil cap. I didn't see any of it anywhere else besides the oil cap. I used Castrol GTX 5w-30. I will be doing some research on the yellow film.

Next step was to fix my turn signals. My turn signals stopped working but my hazards were still working so after some research I decided to try replacing the flasher mechanism under the steering wheel as my first attempt to solve the problem. It was really easy to get the dash panel under the steering wheel off and the whole process took maybe 5 minutes. You simple unplug the old and plug in the new one. This was my problem and my blinkers are working fine now.

I then put the ramps under the rear end to replace the Fuel Filter. This was a long, frustrating, and dirty process. My fuel filter was so old that the fuel line nut had rusted into the fuel filter threads. I also made the mistake of not bleeding the fuel lines before doing this because I had read that only a few ounces would come out. Long story short...... I still smell like gasoline. The connection closest to the rear of the of the car was easy to get off. I had to use a lot of PB Blaster on the other connection and eventually it came off, but not before I twisted my fuel line up. I twisted it back to normal and it seems to be fine as I have had no leaks. I am guessing that the filter was very dirty because the car runs much better now. I had very slight miss before I changed it and it is gone now. The engine just seems to be smoother through the RPM's as well.

Next up is a spark plug change.............

Shutdown Theory

iTrader: (2)

better let that car cool off before getting to those spark plugs, it will save you much pain...be careful if those are really old spark plugs as not to break them off..

jlcrew446

Thanks! I appreciate the suggestions.....

jlcrew446

Did some research on the yellow film in my oil cap and I am about 95% sure that it is just condensation but I am going to be keeping a close eye on my coolant levels in case it could be from a blown head gasket.

Shutdown Theory

iTrader: (2)

you can get a compression tester with dye you put in your coolant to test for any kind of gasket leak...it detects exhaust gasses

jlcrew446

I have noticed that at speeds of 60 mph and up I get a vibration and kind of grinding noise coming from the front. This is more noticeable if I am turning slightly to the left. If I am turning to the right at all it goes away.

Did some research and it seems that the most likely cause is a bad wheel bearing. I guess that I will be buying a front passenger side wheel hub and attempting to change that out. From everything that I've read it seems like it wont be too difficult be we all know how that goes.

If anybody has any tips or suggestions please let me know.

jlcrew446

This has been a big week for the Camaro! I got some extra cash and made a couple of purchases. I got a new exhaust, front wheel hub, and a SLP lid.

I purchased the Magnaflow 3" with 3.5" dual tips. I installed it in the dark with the car and ramps. The hardest part was definitely getting the old exhaust off. Took a lot of sawing but it came. I highly recommend this exhaust!!!! It truely did just bolt right up and sounds great. I don't really notice any big difference in acceleration. Maybe a little better throttle response but everything seems fast when it gets louder. The tone of this exhaust is exactly what I was looking for. No drone but just loud enough.

I ordered the wheel hub from Rock Auto. I got the Timken for $120 shipped. They are a great company and I highly recommend them. Fast shipping and great prices. I installed it today in about 2 hours. It really isn't very hard at all. Hardest part is once again getting the old one off. I took a short drive and the Vibration seems better but I still feel like its not quite right. I will get back to you on whether or not this fixed the problem.

The lid has not arrived yet. I'll post some pictures and some more info shortly.

I didn't order smooth bellow with the lid. Anybody have any advice on whether or not this part is worth it?????

FSTKMARO

I had a 95 Z that had that vibration. I changed one of the wheel bearings only to discover that a slight vibration remained and was due to the other one starting to fail.
Good luck with your camaro. They are fun cars to drive and it is easy to spend a lot of $$ on them lol
regards,
Jim