well im gonna do it again!!

the old members here might remember me and my 87 z28 i have and was working on until i joined the military and moved to texas ( i still have it, its just in the wrong state now as i live in texas officially now)

i picked this 89 iroc up from a guy who was driving it about a year ago and he hit a bump and said the car just shut off and he never could get it to restart. fast forward a year and here i come. $1000 in hand and its mine!

goal is to get this thing back to running and driving state that reliable that i can enjoy it all year round here in Texas.

first thing i did was remove this MSD system that was on the car and turned it back to stock ignition. after that i threw a battery in it, turned the key and after some cranking ( and fixing the fuel pump wiring under the dash) it stumbled to life!

ill let the pictures peak for itself and split this up some more

here are some pictures.

on my way to pick it up and finally back at the house #ad
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next was just looking it over it sure is ugly
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i do know its got the wrong iroc wheels on it.

i also went thru all the RPO codes and it is a true built IROC

next step was getting the drivers door open. someone put a door popper kit in it ( horribly) and the solenoid for the drivers door was rusted stuck.

so after pulling the door panel off from the inside i was able to reach in and bend the rod that was connected to the solenoid and i got the door to pop open.

next was removing all the wiring that dealt with the kit. the doors still open with the key lock thankfully. #ad
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now its time to get it running.

removing the botched in wiring job they did on the cheap MSD system.
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i ordered the missing pigtails i needed to return to stock and the stock ignition coil
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after returning it all back to stock and slapping in the battery boom! it runs

 

so now im hunting down my brake issue. its a 4 wheel disc brake car from the factory with the 9 bolt borg warner rear end and the aluminum PBR calipers.

i have the car on jack stands and when i put the car in gear id hit the brakes and it wouldn't stop the rear wheels. you'd here the pads rubbing and they would slow down but never stop.

the brake fluid in the car was super dirty and almost black. so we bleed all the old fluid out first and then tried again. same thing happen.

decided to rebuild the master cylinder to make sure the seals are good.

this was the pistons before cleaning

secondary
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primary
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and then the new primary piston and the cleaned secondary piston



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now i got it rebuilt but haven't got a chance to bleed the brakes yet ( busy with work and VA appointments ) gonna try to bleed them later tonight and see what happens.

i was doing some reading and i'm thinking it might be the proportioning valve going bad

 

i also have a whole ton of wiring issues to fix. the fuel gauge isn't working it just goes up to over full at all times. im thinking its the actual gauge so im gonna order one of those and replace it individually

the temp gauge works but when cranking the car it shoots straight up and gets stuck in the cluster, moving it with my finger will unstick it and it will work normally. same as the fuel gauge im gonna order a new gauge for that

The dual fans wiring harness was all cut up and ill need to order the replacement pigtail to go from engine harness to fan harness and then the actual reproduction fan harness.

also my alternator plug all cut up but the car charges just fine. so i gotta replace that pigtail.

the speedo cable doesn't spin so im gonna check the cable at the transmission and see if the gear is stripped or not.

idle jumps around and im positive same as the 86 i rebuilt that the injectors are leaking and the fuel diaphragm is leaking and letting fuel to drain back and lose pressure. so i'm gonna call southbay soon and get new injectors and the regulator and diaphragm.

 

Funny thing is.... my 89 i put the sa,e wheels on lol..... i like them better than the 3 line ones . Way to go.... guess i get to live vicariously through you.... as of now my 89 has a fuel issue ....she wont start.

Next..... get that awful steering wheel out of there lol.

Not sure if you are going all stock or not... tis good either way. Glad to see you bring one back to life

 

Good job and good luck!

 

dont worry the steering wheel will be gone! im probably gonna put the lumina wheel in it, looks good and still has the chevy emblem on it.

its not going back to all stock. will be doing some engine mods and suspension mods, i plan on taking this one around the circuit of americas and autocross maybe even try to run in the ultima ultimate street car races.

whats going on with your fuel issue? i may be able to give ya a direction to look

thanks ! im excited to get this driving again

 

I have a good thread going in the 3rd gen forum lol. I am at the point I just have to pull the trigger on a couple checks etc.... issue is the pump aint priming .

As far as suspension stuff.... what i have done is a great upgrade from stock.... car tracks straight in the rain..... hamdles great , and doesnt beat your fillings out of your teeth.... and the poly mou ts everywhere are nice too

 

Its called diagnosing fuel issue ....i welcome your input .... didnt want to cluter up your thread with my issues

 

so after the bleeders pulling the threads out of the rear calipers. those are on order and will be in on thursday. but in the meantime. in the quest for fixing our beloved third gens notorious horrible brakes. i got a upgrade proportioning valve spring to give a little more power to the rear brakes.
i'm doing this cause i will be upgrading the front to the LS1 front brakes and i found while up on jack stands that at idle in drive. you can press the brake pedal and it wont stop the rears from spinning. this spring will be whats fixes that and in the end make this old girl stop way better.

here is the stock spring (left) next to the new spring (right) it is a direct swap in part that takes only a few minutes to swap. but you do have to bleed your brakes after
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With changing the spring..... isnt there a chamce of premature lockup in the rear? I have no clue jist asking. Maybe with the new preasure....you want an adjustable proportional valve?

 

yes there's a chance but this is the middle of the road spring compared to the three thats available. i picked this one because it offers more power to the rear but not enough to cause lock up in normal conditions.

the point of this spring is being able to do the same thing the adjustable valve can give you at a 1/16th of the price. they have about 10 different spring strengths you can choose for and there is a great thread on TGO about all the springs and their relative pressure they add so you can fine tune it to your own needs. this was $16 bucks shipped for a pack of 5. an adjustable valve is $70-$150.

 

so finally got the rear calipers in! took a week to get here at orileys but i'm just happy to get em here.

they are so shiny compared to everything else, it's like putting lipstick on a pig. i plan eventually when i do the pads and rotors pulling it all apart again. cleaning it all and painting it all a clean black or silver.

dont mind the nasty rotors and pads. im only keeping those on for the process of saving cash until the car is 100% ready to be on the road and then ill go through and replace it all. ive got bigger fish to fry at the moment

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Purdyyyy lol.. right on man and good luck

 

this car is gonna get the 98-02 front brake conversion as well. i did it on my 86 i rebuilt and the difference was night and day. this car being a daily and an autoX car is definitely gonna benefit from it. going fast in a straight line is cool and all but being able to stop it all safely is a much better feeling.

next step tho is to get the replacement fan wiring harness and the replacement fuel and temp gauge. then figure out why my speedo cable doesn't wanna spin.

 

Right on..... well if i can help by getting you some pics or anything..... just ask.....i dont mind running out there and banging off some pics..... just male sure you are specific on what you want me to snap.

 

You would be so kind. Itd be awesome if you get could get a picture off all the wiring by the battery for the positive side and then also a picture of the harness connector for the fans to should be like a 5 wire connector

I'd really appreciate it

 

K, will try my best to get out there tomorrow boss! One thing though, I relocated my battery in the trunk.... so doubt that will help you. But I will snap them pics of the fan setup.

 

K, i got out there and took some pics.... they arent that great....had an issue getting down to the fans for pics but tue 4 wires are all black but...... drivers side fan..... black with red stripe. .on drivers side....them black with whote stripe on passenger side. Passenger side fan is same wires but opposite. They run along the rad support up to the passenger side headlight area ,into a relay. But here is a pic of the plugs..... sorry they arent better

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That was drivers side. I couldnt get my tablet down in anywhere to get a pic for you. But after that realy.... the harness seemed to run along the outside of where the battery would go, then runs along the passenger side engine bay to the firewall.... its all covered in that convoluted wire cover like right at the fan plug

Sorry this wasnt much better... maybe i cam get ya pics of other stuff