Hey guys, I am not a new member, but when it comes to cars my knowledge is extremely limited, so any help would be great.

I am looking to purchase a 1993-1997 Camaro. Love these cars and my one friend had one when we were in our teens. I want one for a little less hopefully less than $5000. I would like to restore it in a way, hopefully with a rust free frame. I want to get on this project as soon as I can because I have a garage to store it in and work on it in now, but the problem lies within my lack of knowledge in the area. And I know thats the biggest problem.

Any advice on how to do this. I want to do it right and redo the interior as well as the mechanics. I want it to be able to run right and hopefully pretty fast by the end. And hopefully be able to show you guys someday this insane project.

Where do I start? What are the key things I need to know when shopping for it as well as giving the car longevity in the end?

Thanks guys.

 

figure out your goals and start researching.

not only will you want to decide what color, but you'll want to figure out the options you want. auto or manual? hardtop, ttop, or convertible? cloth or leather seats? interior color? standard or SS?

then figure out which options you're willing to bend on, and those you ARE NOT.

my ABSOLUTE criteria was that the car be manual trans
my SEMI-ABSOLUTE criteria was ttops or convertible....mostly wanted ttops though.

color was not a major issue
interior was not a major issue
z28 or SS didn't matter...in all reality i was even looking at the T/As and WS6s if the rest of the car fit my criteria.



Next is to just search and search…and don't give up. With times as they are, people are selling their "toys" for good prices. Don't limit yourself to a small area or region. Sometimes it worth a $200 train, bus or plane ticket to get the car you REALLY WANT.

 

Having a manual transmission is definitely a must, but my one friend who is a mechanic said that if I can't find one, you could convert an auto to a manual. Every freakin car I find online is an auto...How hard would this be to do?

 

What I would suggest you do is either...

1) Spend the extra money to get one that doesn't need restoration.

or

2) Get one that is in really excellent shape interior and exterior-wise, and hopefully not have to replace a lot of trim parts because that money adds up quick!

I know of a guy who spent $20,000 restoring his '99 SS with new paint, new leather, new speakers, etc.

Rather than me retyping what he had done, here's a link to the topic:
http://www.texas-fbody.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2320

So if you're wanting a show car, or a completely restored car, you're better off just buying one for $20k on ebay that has practically no miles at all. They show up every once in awhile.

My plan is to do exactly that in (hopefully) the next 5 years. I'm going to find a 2002 Z28 or SS with fewer than 20,000 miles, do a front end conversion to make it look like a '93-'97 (my fave Camaros) and have essentially a brand new car. Now, I know you're thinking "why waste the money doing the front end conversion when you could just find a '95 with 20,000 miles and call it done?"

Answer is: I want the better brakes the '02s had, more reliable engine, better weather stripping, better automatic transmission (supposedly GM upgraded it in 2001 with stronger parts), etc. etc. etc. Buying an older car and adding all the stuff I want that already came stock on the '02s would be cheaper, but time is money, and the last thing I want is a project that takes me 3 years to slowly complete. Easier to just have it done ASAP.

For my situation, I will want everything done properly without any compromises. For example, fortunately the '97 Camaros had the daytime running lights, so treating an '02 as if it is a '97 should be more feasible and easy than if I had to treat it like a '94. Hypothetically... at least.

Back to your situation, if you're going to get rid of any underbody rust, it's going to be very expensive. Not sure of the price, but I would assume a couple thousand for disassembly, media blasting, repainting/powdercoating/rust proofing/whatever, and reassembly.

A quality leather interior will always be very expensive. You can cost cut in this area, but take it from a dreamer who has been dreaming a very long time: where you put your butt in your dream car should fulfill the dream. You don't want vinyl or cheap neoprene or some other crap. You're going to want some high quality leather that exceeds the type used stock. The '93-'96 leather WAS higher quality than '97+, but go the extra mile and get something up to par with what Pontiac used in the Grand Prix GXP, G8, GTO, etc. if not even better. If you're interested in going the extra mile, GAHH is the supplier for Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, and I believe Bentley as well.

Carpet is extremely cheap. If a car you're looking at has bad carpet, who cares? For about $300 you can have an entirely new set of carpet from stockinteriors.com, keep that in mind.

I've probably already typed too much, but if you have any other questions you want my advice on, post em up.

 

Oh, about converting A4 to M6, keep in mind that unless the auto car came with the performance axle ratio (RPO GU5... I think?) it's going to have a really low rear end ratio, and thus not all that fun for a 6-speed to have. So you'd have to/want to switch that out.

If you want an even bigger headache and amount of work, get a V6 car, change out the engine, dash, speedometer, computer, rear axle ratio, etc.

 

Thanks for the post man. Will take all you said into account and you've helped me a great deal moving forward.