1974 Camaro Z28
Discussion
Thanks chaps. As a minor update, I managed to get in touch with Summit last night who were holding the order for another month due to some minor hardware being out of stock. A common-sense conversation later (they had the parts in stock individually...) and the order is now moving again. They've even thrown in a carb rebuild kit for free!
Edit - No they're not as it happens. They've just tried chasing me up for £560 worth of shipping for the £35 rebuild kit. After trying to justify it several times, they finally admitted they added a new carb by accident (which they didn't apologise for) and then blamed me for the delay with the order, even though they were the ones who didn't reply for five days and then couldn't figure out how to take screws out of two separate packets they had in stock to place them in one.
So far, I wouldn't recommend Summit at all!
Edit - No they're not as it happens. They've just tried chasing me up for £560 worth of shipping for the £35 rebuild kit. After trying to justify it several times, they finally admitted they added a new carb by accident (which they didn't apologise for) and then blamed me for the delay with the order, even though they were the ones who didn't reply for five days and then couldn't figure out how to take screws out of two separate packets they had in stock to place them in one.
So far, I wouldn't recommend Summit at all!
Edited by Rogue86 on Wednesday 17th June 18:50
Bobberoo99 said:
That's just rubbish!!!! Not a good advert for them at all!!! End result is I've been refunded for the carb I never ordered and the shipment is now on its way.
The new HEI distributor arrived yesterday so next job is to get that fitted and the timing sorted. I've also been getting quotes to have the spoiler fitted, a chin spoiler made up and a respray including the chrome bits.
Glad you like the car, I'm hoping this will be a really nice thing when it's done!
The new HEI dizzy arrived, largely the same (and nicely made) but with a lead cover at the top.
Refitting was straightforward enough, in with the new.
This is probably the part I should add I am not a mechanic. Armed with a few episodes of Roadkill garage under my belt, my friend Steve came round with his timing gun and we gave it a go. I was a bit busy here so only one photo to show roughly what I was looking at.
Theres a small timing trim tab on the block and at some point someone has (very, very roughly!) tried to mark top-dead centre on the harmonic balancer pulley. By turning the distributor by hand, you can see the markings move with the pulley relative to the trim tab. We first set initial timing in order to settle the idle, then went for total timing. Mainly it's done by ear and then a quick test drive, though we had some rough guides to aim for.
I've always had a misfire under load and it turns out its always been as a result of the total timing not being quite right. The car now drives brilliantly!
While we were messing around with the coil, we fitted a temporary rev gauge in the bonnet cowl. I'll replace it with something a bit prettier and analogue in the future.
So, back to Summit Racing...
After being promised on the phone last week that the order would be shipped there and then, I was told to expect it Wednesday (yesterday). Having had no shipping information, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and waiting until the order clearly wasn't coming. Several more failed attempts to get in touch online, I opted to phone them again. I was a little worried when the girl on the phone immediately said "uh-oh I better pass you straight onto customer services" upon opening my order.
Long story short, the order hasn't moved and they don't know why. Once again, I'm promised that the order will be shipped immediately, but as I'm writing this now the order still hasnt moved. Another chat with customer services and they assure me it will leave today, so watch this space.
All I can really say is that I would not use them again. With so many competitors in the US with much better service, there's no reason to put up with this. As it stands, I don't trust their refunds process to be any better than their ordering process so I'm letting them put it right.
In the short term to give me some motivation now I can't fit my parts, I've tried a quick mock-up of how the car should sit with the parts fitted.
Original:
After:
It's given me some hope at least!
Refitting was straightforward enough, in with the new.
This is probably the part I should add I am not a mechanic. Armed with a few episodes of Roadkill garage under my belt, my friend Steve came round with his timing gun and we gave it a go. I was a bit busy here so only one photo to show roughly what I was looking at.
Theres a small timing trim tab on the block and at some point someone has (very, very roughly!) tried to mark top-dead centre on the harmonic balancer pulley. By turning the distributor by hand, you can see the markings move with the pulley relative to the trim tab. We first set initial timing in order to settle the idle, then went for total timing. Mainly it's done by ear and then a quick test drive, though we had some rough guides to aim for.
I've always had a misfire under load and it turns out its always been as a result of the total timing not being quite right. The car now drives brilliantly!
While we were messing around with the coil, we fitted a temporary rev gauge in the bonnet cowl. I'll replace it with something a bit prettier and analogue in the future.
So, back to Summit Racing...
After being promised on the phone last week that the order would be shipped there and then, I was told to expect it Wednesday (yesterday). Having had no shipping information, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and waiting until the order clearly wasn't coming. Several more failed attempts to get in touch online, I opted to phone them again. I was a little worried when the girl on the phone immediately said "uh-oh I better pass you straight onto customer services" upon opening my order.
Long story short, the order hasn't moved and they don't know why. Once again, I'm promised that the order will be shipped immediately, but as I'm writing this now the order still hasnt moved. Another chat with customer services and they assure me it will leave today, so watch this space.
All I can really say is that I would not use them again. With so many competitors in the US with much better service, there's no reason to put up with this. As it stands, I don't trust their refunds process to be any better than their ordering process so I'm letting them put it right.
In the short term to give me some motivation now I can't fit my parts, I've tried a quick mock-up of how the car should sit with the parts fitted.
Original:
After:
It's given me some hope at least!
Yeah the shipping experience with Rockauto is absolutely incredible. I'm not quite sure how they do it, other than secretly trading in my neighbours garage - it's the only way I can think of that allows them to get parts here so fast!
Glad you guys like the mock up too, if it looks half as good I'll be happy.
I've had shipping confirmation from Summit at last! Although it does say 15 business days, so another 3 week wait. I would've thought they might try to pull the stops out given their mistakes but obviously not. I will definitely be avoiding them in future.
Glad you guys like the mock up too, if it looks half as good I'll be happy.
I've had shipping confirmation from Summit at last! Although it does say 15 business days, so another 3 week wait. I would've thought they might try to pull the stops out given their mistakes but obviously not. I will definitely be avoiding them in future.
To start with, a little bit of artwork I made for the garage wall 
Then after multiple headaches and £120 in phone calls to Ohio later...
The order from Summit finally arrived! Alright, so it took 5 weeks and both Summit and GDN lost the package from their systems (meaning it was missing and nobody knew why until it turned up at my door)...not to mention it was fairly badly packaged so the carb rebuild kit has been crushed, but at this point I'm willing to write Summit Racing off and just be happy that the bits are here.
Everything seems relatively as advertised, but the dash carrier panel really stands out as being a nice piece. The image I bought this based on didn't show it was textured or had the chrome rings, so I'd planned to get this wrapped but as it is I think it will fit nicely.
You'll see some of the more notable parts there - Hotckis 2" lowering springs, circuit-board for the back of the dash plus some assorted trim pieces and hardware. The gearshift retainer ring is too small but the tunnel it's designed to fit onto won't go on with the Hurst shifter/lockout, so I'll likely cut the trim piece into sections and custom make a gaiter to cover the hole.
First things first, I thought I'd tackle the issue that my car has never had a full interior while I've owned it. Now unfortunately it turns out that Summits advice on what I needed wasn't quite right and they'd sent me silver screws instead of black, so this was more of a mock-up fit.
It even shuts properly despite missing most of the clips behind the panel.
Maybe I'm and old romantic or maybe its the toxic fumes from the petrol this thing burns but there's something about seeing the interior finally coming together that does funny things to where I wee from. Regardless, it's not quite right so it'll have to come out again. I've measured the screws up and bought some black ones locally which arrived this morning and I've tried my hand at ordering with Ecklers (Ricks Camaros) for the door clips I actually need. At the same time I ordered some other bits from Jegs, balancing my chances of finding a new reputable supplier for when RockAuto dont stock something.
In the meantime, I thought I'd tackle some more basic jobs. The paint was coming off the radiator fan shroud and the top arms haven't looked the same since the coolant explosion. Out came the Hammerite - very much a work in progress this engine bay so bear with me.
The state of the park lights has bothered me since changing the bulbs as they're probably original and very cloudy. Having little luck with US suppliers lately I thought I'd try my hand at restoring them myself.
Using Holts headlight restoration kit, I set to work and within 30mins the results were in.
(before on the left, after on the right)
Quite predictably the Holts stuff was excellent...and now means I can see the park light housing assembly which, for want of a better word, is shagged. Looks like I'll be ordering new ones then! While the chrome trims were off, I thought I'd coat them black too. I actually didnt mind the chrome here, but because the housing is (supposed to be) chrome too you could never actually see this intricate little piece of detail.
Now being an old car, the headlights are about as useful as sticking your phone torch out of the window and using memory to navigate, even with Osram nightbreaker bulbs in.
Turns out Jegs won the new dealer contest and my new headlight retainer rings and switch nut arrived this morning. Great service from them and I'll be using them again for sure!
More importantly, my new Trucklite LED headlamps turned up at the same time - I wasnt expecting these for another few weeks! A quick test fit and they modernise the front end by just the right amount, making the car look a lot sharper.
They plug straight into the H4 mounting for the bulb and voila, brighter than the Sun!
Onto some bigger jobs now...
Then after multiple headaches and £120 in phone calls to Ohio later...
The order from Summit finally arrived! Alright, so it took 5 weeks and both Summit and GDN lost the package from their systems (meaning it was missing and nobody knew why until it turned up at my door)...not to mention it was fairly badly packaged so the carb rebuild kit has been crushed, but at this point I'm willing to write Summit Racing off and just be happy that the bits are here.
Everything seems relatively as advertised, but the dash carrier panel really stands out as being a nice piece. The image I bought this based on didn't show it was textured or had the chrome rings, so I'd planned to get this wrapped but as it is I think it will fit nicely.
You'll see some of the more notable parts there - Hotckis 2" lowering springs, circuit-board for the back of the dash plus some assorted trim pieces and hardware. The gearshift retainer ring is too small but the tunnel it's designed to fit onto won't go on with the Hurst shifter/lockout, so I'll likely cut the trim piece into sections and custom make a gaiter to cover the hole.
First things first, I thought I'd tackle the issue that my car has never had a full interior while I've owned it. Now unfortunately it turns out that Summits advice on what I needed wasn't quite right and they'd sent me silver screws instead of black, so this was more of a mock-up fit.
It even shuts properly despite missing most of the clips behind the panel.
Maybe I'm and old romantic or maybe its the toxic fumes from the petrol this thing burns but there's something about seeing the interior finally coming together that does funny things to where I wee from. Regardless, it's not quite right so it'll have to come out again. I've measured the screws up and bought some black ones locally which arrived this morning and I've tried my hand at ordering with Ecklers (Ricks Camaros) for the door clips I actually need. At the same time I ordered some other bits from Jegs, balancing my chances of finding a new reputable supplier for when RockAuto dont stock something.
In the meantime, I thought I'd tackle some more basic jobs. The paint was coming off the radiator fan shroud and the top arms haven't looked the same since the coolant explosion. Out came the Hammerite - very much a work in progress this engine bay so bear with me.
The state of the park lights has bothered me since changing the bulbs as they're probably original and very cloudy. Having little luck with US suppliers lately I thought I'd try my hand at restoring them myself.
Using Holts headlight restoration kit, I set to work and within 30mins the results were in.
(before on the left, after on the right)
Quite predictably the Holts stuff was excellent...and now means I can see the park light housing assembly which, for want of a better word, is shagged. Looks like I'll be ordering new ones then! While the chrome trims were off, I thought I'd coat them black too. I actually didnt mind the chrome here, but because the housing is (supposed to be) chrome too you could never actually see this intricate little piece of detail.
Now being an old car, the headlights are about as useful as sticking your phone torch out of the window and using memory to navigate, even with Osram nightbreaker bulbs in.
Turns out Jegs won the new dealer contest and my new headlight retainer rings and switch nut arrived this morning. Great service from them and I'll be using them again for sure!
More importantly, my new Trucklite LED headlamps turned up at the same time - I wasnt expecting these for another few weeks! A quick test fit and they modernise the front end by just the right amount, making the car look a lot sharper.
They plug straight into the H4 mounting for the bulb and voila, brighter than the Sun!
Onto some bigger jobs now...
Edited by Rogue86 on Tuesday 21st July 15:46
I've had some concerns about the fuel tank for a while...
With my fuel gauge not currently working I've always had to guess roughly how much fuel I have in there. Before I headed out to Rome last year for a long weekend, I decided to brim the tank by putting 70 or so litres of fuel in. When I came home, the house (which has the garage underneath) absolutely stank of fuel. Sure enough, the car was sat in an ocean of unleaded.
After some fairly basic checks, I could see a small fuel leak from about halfway up the tank - it looked to be coming from around the filler neck. I bought a Spectra fuel tank from RockAuto, a modest £90 upgrade (which then cost me twice that in shipping...) and in the meantime only kept a small amount of fuel in the car with a jerry can (and fire extinguisher!) in the boot just in case. I thought I'd tackle it last night and sure enough, that tank looks to be the original unit and definitely ready to come out!
In fact, with the tank out it was possible to work out that it was more suitable for draining pasta with several shady patches and ill-fitting parts.
Interestingly enough the new tank has the breather pipe welded in, which is as well as the original unit failed here among other places. The pipe itself is shorter though so I need to forage for some pipe to vent it out properly. The new tank though seems like a really well-made item.
Need to paint it now so its not quite as conspicuous, along with ordering a new fuel sending unit as that also looks like an OEM part. It seems like every time I start a new job on this it costs me another £100 The irritating thing is the part is always cheap from the US but the British Government want a hefty piece!
I intended to start the suspension tonight but suspect the drop-links will also probably need replacing, so I've ordered some more. £2 each for some fancy ones, cheaper than a pint
With my fuel gauge not currently working I've always had to guess roughly how much fuel I have in there. Before I headed out to Rome last year for a long weekend, I decided to brim the tank by putting 70 or so litres of fuel in. When I came home, the house (which has the garage underneath) absolutely stank of fuel. Sure enough, the car was sat in an ocean of unleaded.
After some fairly basic checks, I could see a small fuel leak from about halfway up the tank - it looked to be coming from around the filler neck. I bought a Spectra fuel tank from RockAuto, a modest £90 upgrade (which then cost me twice that in shipping...) and in the meantime only kept a small amount of fuel in the car with a jerry can (and fire extinguisher!) in the boot just in case. I thought I'd tackle it last night and sure enough, that tank looks to be the original unit and definitely ready to come out!
In fact, with the tank out it was possible to work out that it was more suitable for draining pasta with several shady patches and ill-fitting parts.
Interestingly enough the new tank has the breather pipe welded in, which is as well as the original unit failed here among other places. The pipe itself is shorter though so I need to forage for some pipe to vent it out properly. The new tank though seems like a really well-made item.
Need to paint it now so its not quite as conspicuous, along with ordering a new fuel sending unit as that also looks like an OEM part. It seems like every time I start a new job on this it costs me another £100
The irritating thing is the part is always cheap from the US but the British Government want a hefty piece!I intended to start the suspension tonight but suspect the drop-links will also probably need replacing, so I've ordered some more. £2 each for some fancy ones, cheaper than a pint
Bobberoo99 said:
Excellent updates, love reading about this car!!
Thank you, really starting to feel like the car is coming together now. She's definitely running sweet at the moment! mkjess12 said:
It's a shame that you have had the problems with Summit. I've used them in the past and always had good service from them.
Jegs on the other hand proved to be an absolute nightmare and I swore that I would never use them again
Yeah we've obviously had completely different experiences. Jegs posted the order out within an hour of me having paid for it, estimated 8 day delivery and it turned up in 5. Tracking info was kept up to date and the parts were well packaged. Ultimately they couldn't have done much more for me. Jegs on the other hand proved to be an absolute nightmare and I swore that I would never use them again
The experience I had with Summit was so terrible I still haven't really got my head around how they managed it. Ecklers seem to be similar at the moment, still heard nothing from their tracking or their customer services.
Decided to make a day of it and start by plumbing the lights in properly, removing almost 50 years of bodging with self-tappers...
The light-set as it mounts to the car, with the bucket, lamp and retaining ring (as well as the sealed beam halogen 7" lamps).
The buckets themselves needed a bit of tidying up, so sanded them and then good old trust hammerite.
This is where they sit on the car, it's part of the bumper frame and someone incredibly rough-handed has tried to drill through the other side and snapped part of the mounting off. Another example of a seemingly straight-forward job requiring a drill and a bit of ingenuity!
That said, it went on easy enough. They are incredibly bright (this is on high-beam though).
Still some final adjustments to make (and the bezels to go on around them) but they look great.
Also sorted out those black screws for the door cards too, another little touch that just makes the car a bit nicer.
The light-set as it mounts to the car, with the bucket, lamp and retaining ring (as well as the sealed beam halogen 7" lamps).
The buckets themselves needed a bit of tidying up, so sanded them and then good old trust hammerite.
This is where they sit on the car, it's part of the bumper frame and someone incredibly rough-handed has tried to drill through the other side and snapped part of the mounting off. Another example of a seemingly straight-forward job requiring a drill and a bit of ingenuity!
That said, it went on easy enough. They are incredibly bright (this is on high-beam though).
Still some final adjustments to make (and the bezels to go on around them) but they look great.
Also sorted out those black screws for the door cards too, another little touch that just makes the car a bit nicer.
Following the lights, I plucked up the courage to tackle one of the bigger jobs I need to do - the wiring. I have a really, really basic understanding of electrics so armed with a multimeter and Google I set about it. How hard can it be?
Well just to be safe I tagged-in my friend Josh to come round and drink some beer while we found out
Steering column lowered and the lower dash removed (I think I'll paint this while its off).
With the connector still plugged in, I thought I'd assess the damage. It's clear that the printed circuit board needs to come out, but the cable ties were a worrying sign as it seems someone has sacrificed the circuit board to put them on.
Sure enough, someone with robot strength has snapped the gauge cluster away from the housing...
The state of the circuit board, checking for burns our obvious breaks that might cause me worry further down the line.
With everything out, we took some time to reseal everything, clean all the contacts and use the headlight restoring kit from earlier to buff up the gauge faces. They look like new again!
With the new circuit-board out, we did some testing of both it and the bulbs.
Confusingly none of the bulbs worked in the dash, but did on another car (theyre basic 501 bulbs). We were getting some power to some of the gauges but not all. Time to start investigating. Not many photos of this bit, lots of searching US forums, reading the Haynes manual and lots and lots of wire-tracing. This was taken at 0320hrs this morning before we finally decided to call it a night.
However what we did discover will hopefully prove vital. So on the off-chance you might be re-wiring your 2nd gen Camaro, this might be helpful to you too!
The main connector and the readings we got from the multimeter:
1 - Brown - 0V - Tach lead
2 - Green/white - 0V - Temp gauge to sender
3 - Pink - 12V - 12V switched from 8
4 - Light brown - 0V - Fuel gauge to sender
5 - Grey - 0V - Dash/clock lights
6 - Black - 0V - Earth
7 - Light brown - 0V - Emergency brake light
8 - Pink - 12V - 12V switched from 3
9 - Light blue - 0V - Left indicator
10 - Light green - 0V - High beam (headlight)
11 - Dark blue - 0V - Right indicator
12 - Blue/white - 0V - Oil light to sender
Given the readings and what we could get working, we think we're chasing a bad earth and a bad wire for the dash lights. The fuel gauge works and the tach worked intermittently, so we feel like we're getting somewhere.
I'll probably pick this up in a couple of days once I've done some tidying in the garage and made the final adjustments to the lights.
Well just to be safe I tagged-in my friend Josh to come round and drink some beer while we found out
Steering column lowered and the lower dash removed (I think I'll paint this while its off).
With the connector still plugged in, I thought I'd assess the damage. It's clear that the printed circuit board needs to come out, but the cable ties were a worrying sign as it seems someone has sacrificed the circuit board to put them on.
Sure enough, someone with robot strength has snapped the gauge cluster away from the housing...
The state of the circuit board, checking for burns our obvious breaks that might cause me worry further down the line.
With everything out, we took some time to reseal everything, clean all the contacts and use the headlight restoring kit from earlier to buff up the gauge faces. They look like new again!
With the new circuit-board out, we did some testing of both it and the bulbs.
Confusingly none of the bulbs worked in the dash, but did on another car (theyre basic 501 bulbs). We were getting some power to some of the gauges but not all. Time to start investigating. Not many photos of this bit, lots of searching US forums, reading the Haynes manual and lots and lots of wire-tracing. This was taken at 0320hrs this morning before we finally decided to call it a night.
However what we did discover will hopefully prove vital. So on the off-chance you might be re-wiring your 2nd gen Camaro, this might be helpful to you too!
The main connector and the readings we got from the multimeter:
1 - Brown - 0V - Tach lead
2 - Green/white - 0V - Temp gauge to sender
3 - Pink - 12V - 12V switched from 8
4 - Light brown - 0V - Fuel gauge to sender
5 - Grey - 0V - Dash/clock lights
6 - Black - 0V - Earth
7 - Light brown - 0V - Emergency brake light
8 - Pink - 12V - 12V switched from 3
9 - Light blue - 0V - Left indicator
10 - Light green - 0V - High beam (headlight)
11 - Dark blue - 0V - Right indicator
12 - Blue/white - 0V - Oil light to sender
Given the readings and what we could get working, we think we're chasing a bad earth and a bad wire for the dash lights. The fuel gauge works and the tach worked intermittently, so we feel like we're getting somewhere.
I'll probably pick this up in a couple of days once I've done some tidying in the garage and made the final adjustments to the lights.
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