Camaro or Firebird???

[chevy-stu]

First mod has got to be decent springs and shocks, poly/solid bushes and bigger roll bars good too... My old IROC seemed ok on the braking front but never great. I've got drilled discs, EBC greens stuff pads and stainless lines now on th 2nd gen and makes HUGE difference.. The suspension mods seem to help braking too.

Gotta get decent rubber on there too, tyre technology has moved on a bit since these cars were designed, I'm running Yokohama AVS sports, but Goodyear F1's, Toyos, any decent modern non-budget performance tyre seems very sensible..

Edited by chevy-stu on Tuesday 14th August 20:15

[acrman]

I have a 2 owner 94 red with black leather convertible, genuine 34k miles which I have to collect in Spain in the next couple of weeks,its UK registered and very clean, if anyone here is interested let me know.

[somnv]

Pezz, not managed to test drive one as yet. Living in the Scottish Borders I do find most are down south so will have to travel down at some stage.

To be honest, I think my best bet would be to hold off until spring time because I wouldnt really want to drive it over winter plus I am going to have to try to organise somewhere to keep it as my garage is full. Might be able to rent some space locally.

If anyone happens to live around the Borders area with a Camaro or Firebird and wouldnt mind me coming to have a look and a banter about them, that would be cool.

Cheers

[ws6]

http://www.pontiac.org.uk/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?b=...

[ringram]

Im with Lus1fer on this one. Get a 4th Gen.
Prices are sharp now and you get a better engine. EFI is much better for economy and power. I used to have a camaro, but prefer the look of the Pontiac's. For best results get an LS1 engine smile
You can tune your own with a scan/tune tool for under £200! Ive done my LS1 H/C Holden and arguably put down more rwhp than a 6L VXR500 Supercharged Monaro as both measured on vixpy1's dyno

[ken morris]

I have had a few Camaro's and there realy reliable, parts are cheap and easy to get.Make sure you know what your looking at in the States though because i have heard some horror stories.I have a Camaro for sale, a rare SS 2002 which is advertised on Pistonheads, have a look and give me a call, it will be cheaper than importing one.
Ken.

[senatorc]

For what it's worth, 3rd gen Camaro, with a carb would be my choice. But what ever you do, AVOID t-tops if you intend tuning it. With the roof panels out, and a bit of over enthuisiasm with the right foot, you can actually distort the roof. Result, leaking t tops.

[qube_TA]

senatorc said:

For what it's worth, 3rd gen Camaro, with a carb would be my choice. But what ever you do, AVOID t-tops if you intend tuning it. With the roof panels out, and a bit of over enthuisiasm with the right foot, you can actually distort the roof. Result, leaking t tops.

Unless it's got an aftermarket engine in it the carb powered 3rd gens were hopeless. The only stock engine that was any good was the TPI model but even that was a bit breathless which is why a lot of folk fit induction kits n HSR's.

The chassis is notoriously floppy but £150 on some welded on subframe connectors fixes all that regardless of what kind of roof you have.

[senatorc]

Depends what you call "hopeless", The 305 is a much under rated engine. I had a tuned one an El Camino, and that was "adequate" as far as performance was concerned. Good cam, a bit of headwork, decent carb and intake/extractor manifolds, 280 bhp and still reasonably economical. Because of their relatively lox c/r they also respond well to a blower, although they do not a bit of internal toughening up. My Z28 is around 210 bhp, and that's with a set of headers, gear drive, and a stock carb/cam [but very carefully set up] Not loads. I'll admit, but enough to have fun with, and economical enough to use as a dailly.

[senatorc]

Depends what you call "hopeless", The 305 is a much under rated engine. I had a tuned one an El Camino, and that was "adequate" as far as performance was concerned. Good cam, a bit of headwork, decent carb and intake/extractor manifolds, 280 bhp and still reasonably economical. Because of their relatively lox c/r they also respond well to a blower, although they do not a bit of internal toughening up. My Z28 is around 210 bhp, and that's with a set of headers, gear drive, and a stock carb/cam [but very carefully set up] Not loads. I'll admit, but enough to have fun with, and economical enough to use as a dailly.