Looking for a 3rd Gen Camaro or Fox Mustang

Looking for a 3rd Gen Camaro or Fox Mustang

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Discussion

Flip Martian

19,505 posts

189 months

Friday 20th March 2015
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Neither had I - until my first u-turn in a fairly wide road. Which ended up as a 3 point turn laugh Felt a bit of a plonker smile But they are great cars so if that ends up the only bugbear, don't worry about it - but one and enjoy!

Camaro

1,415 posts

174 months

Friday 20th March 2015
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I've got to say the only time I've ever had a concern about the size of my Camaro was going through the width restriction section going over a bridge in Marlow. I knew I could technically fit, but I had no way of eye up the right hand side with the big metal bollard that limits vehicle width.


NDNDNDND

Original Poster:

2,001 posts

182 months

Friday 20th March 2015
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Camaro said:
I've got to say the only time I've ever had a concern about the size of my Camaro was going through the width restriction section going over a bridge in Marlow. I knew I could technically fit, but I had no way of eye up the right hand side with the big metal bollard that limits vehicle width.
Hey, I see you have a '91 RS! Is it still stock with open diff and the slower-ratio steering? How is it? Have you driven an IROC/Z28 in comparison?

There are some tight streets I use, lined with parked cars... somehow the comedy of driving past hordes of Korean econo-boxes in a big V8 still appeals :-)

67roofchop

139 posts

144 months

Wednesday 25th March 2015
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NDNDNDND said:
Camaro said:
I've got to say the only time I've ever had a concern about the size of my Camaro was going through the width restriction section going over a bridge in Marlow. I knew I could technically fit, but I had no way of eye up the right hand side with the big metal bollard that limits vehicle width.
Hey, I see you have a '91 RS! Is it still stock with open diff and the slower-ratio steering? How is it? Have you driven an IROC/Z28 in comparison?

There are some tight streets I use, lined with parked cars... somehow the comedy of driving past hordes of Korean econo-boxes in a big V8 still appeals :-)
He's just fitted a new rear end with tru trac LSD, lowering springs, relocation brackets, adjustable pan hard bar and we are currently trying to encourage him to finish the 350 Chevy motor he has in pieces to drop in to it!

Handles a little better now but as far as I know still a stock steering ratio.

NDNDNDND

Original Poster:

2,001 posts

182 months

Friday 27th March 2015
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Why did he go for the tru trac diff instead of a posi? Was it easier or cheaper to swap the diff internals than swap out the whole axle from an IROC/Z28?

Can anyone give me any pointers on getting a T5 with a mechanical speed sensor to talk to an electronic speedometer? The Camaro in Watford has no speedo. I've tried googling a fix and it sounds like a can of worms.... Can you just stick an electronic VSS into the back of the gearbox, or do you have to take off the tailhousing and swap the speedo drive inside the box (which I think involves withdrawing the propshaft to gain access...)? Hawksthirdgenparts sell an electronic gizmo that will convert mechanical to electronic signals but it costs about $300. Perhaps the difficulty explains why it's been running speedo-less since the conversion!

Camaro

1,415 posts

174 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
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Hi,

Yeah, just finished installing an Eaton Trutrac in my axle, while there I fitted larger Superior half shafts, new seals, bearings and wheel cylinders, as well as powder coating the whole lot. Made it all look very fresh underneath.

I went for the Trutrac over the Posi, or any other clutch type simply because they have far better road manners than Posi carriers. They unlock and drive like a regular diff and only lock up when they sense a torque difference between the two axles. Having driving my dads Camaro before that had a locker in it, I'd rather have the feeling of a standard diff, than that of one that is kinda locked up most of the time. Also, there are no wear problems, as it is all mechanical via worm gears. So you don't need to worry about wearing out clutch packs or using friction modifiers.

I see you're looking at the car in Watford, to be honest, I can't imagine its a terribly difficult job to fix. Worst case I would assume is that you run a GPS speedometer. Looks a fairly decent car though, but of TLC will have that running nice, the guy that is selling it runs American Technique, not a bad bunch, but never had any work done by them so can't comment on what they're like. They're just one of well know two who service these cars. AutoPontiac are the other in Hounslow, Robin won't put you wrong if you get into difficulties!

Camaro

1,415 posts

174 months

Saturday 28th March 2015
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I also completely missed your point about swapping axles, the long and short of it, a third gen that came with a factory posi, if it has been driven for this long, is probably on it last legs. From the factory, unless they were 9 bolt, they came fitted with an Auburn centre carrier. They are notorious for wearing out and are completely non-serviceable. The 9-bolt rear end is a Borg Warner setup which is serviceable but costly, they also only tended to come with low ratio gearing.

An alternative is fitted an 4th gen rear axle. The only issue with these is they run about 2" wider than stock 3rd gens, so you'll either need to run 4th gen wheels, or be prepared for a slight over hang each side, other than that, they are straight bolt ins.

I could've bought a 4th gen Z28 axle with an LSD and 3.42 gears in it for about £300, but I wanted to learn how to do this. If you check out my build thread on hotrodders.com you'll see it is quite an involved process, but not totally impossible!

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/definitive-order-s...

Regards the steering rack, all completely stock from the factory smile

NDNDNDND

Original Poster:

2,001 posts

182 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
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Thanks for all the information!

Installing the trutrac does look pretty involved - I'm certainly not up to machining my own tools! I guess I'd have to get a shop to do the work making that option pretty expensive. But that's getting ahead of myself, I don't even have a car yet!

Camaro

1,415 posts

174 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
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It's a pro of my job!

I got a few quotes and was told by everyone 'it's a hard job, get someone else to set it up!' That was a week or so after just servicing and rebuilding one of my machines at work, so I was feeling cocky about how hard can it be to set two gears up. The toughest part is just making sure you're following the correct procedure everytime.

The quote I got for doing it was £900+ Vat including all the parts, plus they'd only want my axle.

In the end, I spent half that (on the axle) learnt lots, and in my view, finished with a better result and a hell of a sense of achievement!

LittleEnus

3,218 posts

173 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
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NDNDND- are you one of these people that always very nearly buys a car? You've been looking for months and several have come up. The one Rocky has in Watford at American Technique is perfect. The speedo will be easy to sort out. The steering ratio wont make the slightest bit of difference. Get stuck in smile

NDNDNDND

Original Poster:

2,001 posts

182 months

Sunday 29th March 2015
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LittleEnus said:
NDNDND- are you one of these people that always very nearly buys a car? You've been looking for months and several have come up. The one Rocky has in Watford at American Technique is perfect. The speedo will be easy to sort out. The steering ratio wont make the slightest bit of difference. Get stuck in smile
Ha! I don't want to be that guy! As for several coming up, there have been two third gen manuals that I've been aware of and I've driven both of them... I made Richard an offer on the car in Watford but he didn't bite. I need to get back to him actually...

LittleEnus

3,218 posts

173 months

Monday 30th March 2015
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NDNDNDND said:
Ha! I don't want to be that guy! As for several coming up, there have been two third gen manuals that I've been aware of and I've driven both of them... I made Richard an offer on the car in Watford but he didn't bite. I need to get back to him actually...
Good to hear it smile

I know Richard really well, he's done loads on mine over the years. The car is priced about right in my opinion. Get it bought smile

NDNDNDND

Original Poster:

2,001 posts

182 months

Saturday 4th April 2015
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Ah well, I contacted Richard and it seems someone else had bought it already - first person to view from eBay had it. That'll teach me to look a gift horse in the mouth!

So I'm back in the hunt...

At least I now know that they're a manageable size, I can see out of them, and third gens do look fantastic in the metal... Third time lucky, eh?