Should the Camaro die?

I'm at the stage in my MGB GT LS1 alphabet soup project where I need a drivetrain. No worries, I bought a Camaro a bit over a year ago. And today I drove it into the garage and started pulling parts off.

I'll be taking the engine, transmission, differential (but not the rear axle assembly), engine computer, probably the gauges and a few other bits and pieces from the car.

I'm thinking the remnants might make a good drag race candidate for someone. Drop in a big block and a 12-bolt rear and go drive in straight lines for ten seconds or less.

The car has a welded-in roll bar complete with door bars that go from the floor at the front of the seat to about half up the opening. Basically, just a hoop with rear support and those bars. I have no idea if it's a legal cage for any sort of racing. The hood is a big male enhancement piece with (I'm guessing) about a 3-4" rise. The body is a good 20 footer, with 1/4" of bondo flaking off one rear quarter, a non-original nose, the usual collection of missing fasteners from a body shop and a cracked windshield. The car has bad shocks and feels to have the structural integrity of cooked pasta. I have a clear title for the car.

But here's my dilemma. I don't live in a major metropolitan area, so I'm not sure how easy it will be to get rid of the roller - if I can at all. The car's probably worth more to me in parts. Headlights, clear corners, fogs, tails, T-tops, wheels, brakes, AC parts, ABS, etc, etc. The interior is nothing to write home about, probably nothing salvageable there.

To remove the engine from this thing, I apparently have to pull the intake manifold and get at all the bellhousing bolts to disconnect the transmission. It's a huge car, but the packaging is really tight around the engine. A couple of quick sawzall cuts to the radiator support and I could probably pull the engine, transmission and front subframe straight forward and save me a whole bunch of work. Huge amount of work.

So, does the world need another rough 4th-gen, or should it give its life to keep others on the road and in good shape? If you answer the former, are you interested in buying it?

Would Dillard's notice if you return it w/o the engine? do you still have the receipt?

As I understand, the "easy" way to pull a drivertrain from a 4th gen is to unbolt the front subframe, and use your engine hoist to lift the front half of the car.

Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly.

yes.. let it die.

It was dealt a mortal blow when someone put that cowl induction hood on it. Put it out of its misery.

I say part it for CASH.

You know, one time i had to buy a used t-top, and it was $180! I picked up a customer car, and apparently they didnt believe in LATCHING THE T-TOPS, so i had a fast-n-furious re-enactment on the highway at 70mph and never saw the thing again after watching it shatter on the highway 300 ft behind me.

So right there there's $360 in t-tops.

Kill it

Man, tough crowd! I expected at least a little bit of Camaro love

eastsidemav wrote: As I understand, the "easy" way to pull a drivertrain from a 4th gen is to unbolt the front subframe, and use your engine hoist to lift the front half of the car.

I just got back from the garage, and this is exactly what I was thinking of doing. So, there's one thing that my Camaro and my classic Mini share. I'm having trouble coming up with a second

Kill it!!! Kill it!!! Kill it!!!

Seriously, part that thing out to continue to fund your garage of awesomeness. If you can sell the complete remains for what it's worth in parts plus a fair approximation of your time spent in parting it, sell it complete. Otherwise parts is parts - don't look at it like killing another Camaro as much as helping several others to continue to live.

Those are ugly beasts, kill it and mount the horns on your favorite wall

I would just pull the parts you need then to Craigslist it goes. If it doesn't sell, then repost the ad but sweeten the deal with a 6 pack of Bud tallboys and Dio's Holy Diver disc.

It'll be easier for you to pull what you need and then sell the car as a roller. I think someone would make a drag car out of it or toss in an auto and LSX for a street car (if you just sell it less engine and trans).

cut it up, sell it in pieces for cash on eBay.

I would check and see what parts are going for on ebay. With every junkyard out there flooding ebay with parts, the parts for more common cars (like camaros) have dropped down to hardly worth pulling it prices.

google for a semi-local camaro forum and post to find out what it's worth. Also, see if you can find a semi-local drag car shop and ask them if they know anybody who might be interested. If that fails, hack it, cut it, burn it, send it to hell.

for me that is the ugliest of the camaro styles... so I have no qualms with you killing it.

I thought this was going to be a thread about the new Camaro.

Shawn

Keep it! Build it into a drag car, circle-track dealie, or some sort of ridiculous hillclimb car.

I like to live vicariously through other gearheads.

Im just surprised they used split sub-frames so long... we were splitting 2nd gen trans am's years ago. its amazing how quick it can be done after you blow up the "good" engine the night before short track day.

"Local" is a challenge. There really aren't any local drag shops. Small town in ranch country, you see. And I don't have any interest in building it as a drag car.

I have the engine out. I didn't cut anything, so nothing unrecoverable has been done to the car. I pulled the engine, transmission and front subframe out from underneath. I made an unholy mess in the process - transmission fluid, power steering fluid (whoops, forgot that was attached to the subframe) and of course, my nemesis, coolant. Oh, and some nice ice water to mix in with it as the car thawed out. 9 hours from beginning the shoveling and trying to coax the car back in to life to saying "okay, that's out, I'll clean up this unholy mess tomorrow". No speed records, but I did have to deal with things like the factory-sealed clutch hydraulics.

I would probably part it out and sell the shell to metal recyclers if I were in your shoes!

I'd sell it to somebody. Put it up for sale somewhere. Give someone else a chance to love it. If not a full restoration, I'd expect someone to make a good affordable drag racer out of it. My bets are that if that was a Miata, we'd have 3 Non-profit organizations and a website set up to save it. I could imagine the mayhem now.

CLNSC3 wrote: I would probably part it out and sell the shell to metal recyclers if I were in your shoes!

A good Fbody death IMHO as well.

Don't kill it. Drag it. That thing is a 12 bolt and a big block on spray away from easy 11s. You people have zero forethought.

It's a sad, sad day when a car person kills a car with life left in it. It's not exactly like the world is starving for 4th-gen F-body parts right now. Before someone says it's not starving for 4th-gen F-bodies, that isn't reason enough to kill one (Model T, Tri-year Chevys, Miatas, Mustangs, E30s anyone?)

Put it on Craigs for 2 weeks whole with what you think the part-out value is, less your labor. Then if it sells, let it go. If it doesnt, start parting it.

I would rather get a little less for a whole car than have to deal with parting something I am unfamiliar with. If you dont have a network of Camaro friends, its tough to unload some parts, and then you either end up selling them at scrap prices, selling them on Ebay (yech) or keeping them "'round back" till you get your act together and start building Camaros.