1992 RS Camaro. First car for Der Burger.

[bucket]

Man, that car has had some PO's that just did not care.

Yeah, the crossflow 80 series muffler is slightly on the quiet side of things. They do still offer a crossflow type muffler that is significantly louder, but it hasn't been included with any of the '82-'92 cat-back kits in probably 25 years.

 

[Grit dog]

Wow that stereo is gonna thump!
Nice work!

 

[bucket]

Man, that car has had some PO's that just did not care.

Yeah, the crossflow 80 series muffler is slightly on the quiet side of things. They do still offer a crossflow type muffler that is significantly louder, but it hasn't been included with any of the '82-'92 cat-back kits in probably 25 years.

I remembered to snap a picture of the non-80 series model. This one in particular is a 2.5" inlet and outlets. I just now noticed that they are not made in the USA anymore.

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[Catbox]

It never stops.
I should not be looking at the heater core here....

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I sent a kid to the yard to pull the one from the white 92 that has given us so much already.
So we have a non broken unit to put back when we get to that point.

5 screws.
That is all that was holding the dash in the car...

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This is the deepest we have ever gone in a vehicle.
She came out and had a look, she was less than impressed at what has transpired.
Then she was put to work cleaning off all that dirt and grime from the PO's.
Max found a fishing lure inside the duct hole there in the center.
All the Bose speaker wiring has been pulled from the car as we don't need any of it...

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Here is the old headliner from my truck.
It has not been in the truck for a couple few years now as Max pulled it and just never did put it back.
I am going to use it to cover the speaker box after I paint it black.
It should be close enough to the color inside the car and it will be a good way to repurpose the headliner...

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[Catbox]

The fresh dash is being cleaned up now and soon we will get to putting it back into the car.
It will be nice to stop taking things apart and to start simply just putting them together for the final time.

We got let out of work early yesterday, so after a nice nap I got up and went out to continue picking at the long list of items I have for the car.
I still needed to run the speaker wires to the amps, so I went to work on getting those all installed cleanly.

I used a piece of tape to make a straight line in the center of the two units.
Between each set of wires I drilled a hole in the board for the wire to pass through from the back.

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I got smart and marked what the holes go to for simplicity as all the wires have tape markers on them that will stay in place.
You can also see the RCA cables that now pass through the board as well.
One end of the board has the Blaupunkt unit too close to the edge, so the wire simply wraps around the edge of the board.
All the other places will be pushed through the holes.

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Soon this will all be installed for the last time as well.
The board is finished as far as I am concerned, she can when she wants too take it apart for paint or to carpet the board.
Now I need to simply drill the holes for the board mounts on the bottom.
Then I will remove it all and put the carpet back in the car and make all the holes in it for the wires and bolts to pass through.

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Once all that is done, I will be making a mount for the jack to sit on the floor just in front of the board.
It will be held in with a couple of wing nuts for easy removal when needed.

 

[TotalyHucked]

It is truly insane what cars go through in the hands of people that don't care

 

[Catbox]

It is truly insane what cars go through in the hands of people that don't care

I just don't understand how somebody could be so ham-f!sted when working on stuff.
Do they not have any pride in the work they are doing and just care about the end result sort of working?


I forgot to mention that I found the previous owner on the 'gram.
With a simple search I have found some of the lunacy that happened to this poor car in its past life.
This car was known under his ownership as "The Falcon" and "Xena" is his Jeep Grand Cherokee...

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The guy I bought it from wanted these wheels and tires for his Vette as they were what came on it stock.

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Nope.
Its not.
But as a tribute to the past, Max has informed me that this very can will be reinstalled on the car after he is done with the exhaust work.

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Yup.
He is a boob.

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I wonder what "Stereo Foam" is?
I have found no such thing in this car and as you can see if you have read this far, I would have found by now.

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So I sent him a follow request to show him that we are fixing his sins for him and we shall see what comes from that.
Perhaps I will just post a photo of the TRULY can reinstalled on the 3" and tag him in it...

 

[bucket]

Golly. That car is in MUCH better hands now. I hope you realize that you literally saved that car, lol. It was going nowhere but downhill before your ownership.

You didn't throw out the Bose wiring did you?

 

[Catbox]

Golly. That car is in MUCH better hands now. I hope you realize that you literally saved that car, lol. It was going nowhere but downhill before your ownership.

You didn't throw out the Bose wiring did you?

Throw it out, no.
But it was cut at one point and I used a two foot part of one of the wires to the power Blaupunkt doo dad.
Otherwise it is out there in the pile of radio wire stuff.

Some times it is the small victories.
PO awesomeness.

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Victory!

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Over the weekend I buttoned up the whole rear of the car.
One of the items on the list of to do things was to remedy the fact that parts to the auto were missing.
The rear trim panels were missing and the cars we obtained did not have the Bose rear decklid cover.
So, I was perusing the junk pile and the old dashboard was held together with some metal bracketry that is now going to be reused as the missing stop bracket.
As well as the lock tab that the cover lock grabs on too for "security".
Here we are all taped on for proof of concept...

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And it works!
I had a spare door lock cylinder that we repurposed to be the hatch lock and the car it came from had the keys still in it, so we have the actual key for it.

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In the original cluster, the trip meter button was broken off.
We have a complete spare cluster and Max set off to see how these things tick.
We have figured out somebody else had been in the cluster previously as fasteners were broken or missing.
With the rebuild completed, magically it has zero miles...

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[Catbox]

More of the swell lock set up.
I used the sticker from my burger to deem it special...

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From the top all closed like...

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Here you can see it all closed up.
I have trimmed out one of the rear trim panels to clear the parts that protrude to catch the Bose hatch lid.
It closes right up and looks like it is meant to be there even though it is the wrong color piece...

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Opens right up to reveal some doo dads...

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This is fully wired up and ready to go as soon as we have a dashboard to put the head unit into.
The board is screwed to a piano hinge that is bolted to the bottom of the floor.
From the hatch mounts, I have found and installed some metal that holds the top of the board into place quite securely.

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[Catbox]

I spent 24 hours out in the driveway over the last 3 days.
From the doors back the entire car has been reassembled and is ready to go.

However, the dash install has not gone as well.
Max dealt with the gauge cluster clean and rebuild on Saturday.
Then on Sunday, the car won't run.

First it would not fire the injectors.
So we hit it with starting fluid and it would run, easy the distributor module died for some reason.
Que trip #1 to the parts store.

New injector module installed.
Now it randomly fires the injectors, it will start.
But as soon as the key seems to be released as it sounds like it is starting.
Then the injectors stop firing, it stumbles and dies.
Then the injectors fire one more time.
But no dice as it is dead.
Some intronets digging says there is an oil pressure interrupter switch that shuts the whole thing down if no pressure sensed.
Sure, we can do that.
Que trip #2 to the parts store.

So the boy comes back with the new senor and it is wicked huge.
The wrench flats have rounded corners and you need to have a special sensor wrench to get the thing out.
F&%k.
Que trip #3 to the parts store and he took the sensor with him to make sure it fits.
The first store didn't have the right size, so this one took two stops.

He got home.
The stock sensor, has different size wrench flats.
He was pissed.
The new sensor is a 1-1/16th size and needs a super long sensor socket.
The stock sensor is even bigger and does not fit the fancy new socket we purchased.

He ended up cutting the stock sensor in half and using a 1-1/4 socket on the stub to get it out.
New one went right in with the socket and was perfect.

Damm car still won't start.
This is where we are today.
No dash still and now it won't start.
I have an appointment with DMV to get it registered this Friday.
We shall see if we are going to make it, as this is an out of state car so they have to verify the VIN visually.

 

[Catbox]

I have been doing a bunch of reading as I knew we were not the only ones to have had this issue.
On the thirdgen.org forum, I found a recent thread that told the same story as mine.
It was told that it was the function of the VATS system.

Junior went out at lunch and found that he had unplugged the VATS from the harness.
That thread is what lead us to look for that little black box.
Car starts right up now with it plugged in, imagine that.

He was going to pull the chip to see if that was the thing as well because the car will start with out it, but didn't need to go that far this time...

I still ordered the little VATS disable 30hz modulator gizmo they recommended for the car though as it was only $25 for the piece of mind.
Whilst looking the other day we saw the VATS has had the resistors soldered in line as we tested them the other day at 680 ohms on the key and the resistors in the line.
So somebody had already started eliminating the system before we got ahold of the car.

There is also a 1989 305 powered truck in the local junkyard we may go and requisition the computer and chip from as well.
That is stated to eliminate the whole damn thing and is plug and play.

Good times and I guess now she has a couple of new sensors....

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

I have been doing a bunch of reading as I knew we were not the only ones to have had this issue.
On the thirdgen.org forum, I found a recent thread that told the same story as mine.
It was told that it was the function of the VATS system.

Junior went out at lunch and found that he had unplugged the VATS from the harness.
That thread is what lead us to look for that little black box.
Car starts right up now with it plugged in, imagine that.

He was going to pull the chip to see if that was the thing as well because the car will start with out it, but didn't need to go that far this time...

I still ordered the little VATS disable 30hz modulator gizmo they recommended for the car though as it was only $25 for the piece of mind.
Whilst looking the other day we saw the VATS has had the resistors soldered in line as we tested them the other day at 680 ohms on the key and the resistors in the line.
So somebody had already started eliminating the system before we got ahold of the car.

There is also a 1989 305 powered truck in the local junkyard we may go and requisition the computer and chip from as well.
That is stated to eliminate the whole damn thing and is plug and play.

Good times and I guess now she has a couple of new sensors....

Yup that passlock system started on the Camaro, Firebird and Corvette, in the late 80s because of their high theft rate. Didn't get it into the trucks until '98. Another reason why I'm glad my crew cab is a '97..... already dealt with it on Burb.

 

[hey mister]

Congrats on the find.
That is so kewl!
The smile says it all.
Let the good times roll.

 

[hey mister]

Oh my goodness...
I saw the pictures of the flattened pipe and pop can patch and started rolling.
When I was going to college, I had an 88 fizo, 300, metric 5 spd. That thing ate exhaust systems like a fat man in a donut shop.
I worked night shift in the E.R. and would borrow (without returning) 3" and 4" fiberglass cast wrap to patch my exhaust.
Rip open airtight package and fill with water. Gently squeeze out excess water and wrap. Reinforce with wire. That water activated fiberglass was a Godsend for a starving student with wife and 3 kids.
Great truck, cheap *** metal. I had almost forgotten it until I saw your pics. Great times.