rickyb1968

I have a neighbor that is getting a little older and wants to sell his 1971 camaro z28. The car is totally stripped down and primed for paint. It has a 1970 350 LS1 engine that has been totally rebuilt and a 4 speed manual transmission. My neighbor wants 14,000 for everything he has and the only parts he doesn't have for the entire car are the seat covers. He wanted to wait until car was rebuilt before he ordered and installed them. Neighbor is getting older and not in really good health but has told me that he would help me put the car back together and we can do it in his shop. The only thing we cant do in his shop is paint the car. Does this seem like a good project to undertake.

A little information about me. When I was in my teens the first car I ever purchased was a 1978 pont firebird and it had a 350 and was an automatic. As I grew up and had kids the muscle cars left for cars that were more suited to a family man. As I was sitting with this guy garage drinking coffee the other week I mentioned I thought I would like to get an older firebird because I really like that car and think it would be a good investment. This is when he offered me this deal which I am thinking of doing because by building the car I will learn a lot about the car. The motor was rebuilt by some popular motor shop as was the carb. It seems like everything has already been rebuilt or ready to install. The carb has never seen a drop of gas since rebuilt. The motor was started and ran for a day but has been sitting in his garage for the last 10 years as everything else. The neighbor borrowed a carb to do this and never used the holly carb he had rebuilt. The only thing like I mentioned the guy doesn't have is the seat covers. So hello and do you guys think this is a worthwhile project or should I run from it.

This was the only place I could see to post this question. It seems like If I undertook this project I will have to learn a lot about the z28 and would get a lot of information from this site. Thanks RIck

Injuneer

Welcome to CamaroZ28.com!

I will caution, not a lot of 2nd Gen owners on the site any more. Hopefully someone will respond.

One thought, you mention "It has a 1970 350 LS1 engine"..... That would more likely be the 1970 LT-1 (note the hyphen) engine, from the Z28 (350ci /360 HP). Excellent engine, probably the pinnacle of the SBC. There was no "LS" engine in 1970 or 1971 that I am aware of.

http://www.nastyz28.com/camaro/z28lt1.html

Sounds like a great project. Price would be highly dependent on condition of all the components.

95LT4Z28

My first camaro was a 72 z28 (3 others since) . loved the car. bought it in 73 so it was hot at that time. whether its a good project to undertake , thats up to you. if you are looking for a 70's muscle car go for it. if its rust free it sounds like the price is reasonable. a numbers matching engine would add to the value. a 70 LT1 was a solid lifter 4 bolt main 11 to 1 compression 350-370 hp. in 71 due to the gas crunch it was basically the same engine - 4 bolt main solid lifter but it had heads that had larger cc's and flat top pistons that dropped the compression down to 9 to 1. so was the engine swapped or was it rebuilt to 70's specs ? those cars were much easier to work on compared to newer ones. mine had no power steering, no power brakes ,no a/c and manual crank windows LT1, close ratio 4 speed, posi 373 rear. . as simple as you could get. if i could be of any help just give me a shout. good luck

Al