1981 Camaro "Best Used For Parts"

Video Description

- Turn on subtitles/CC's if you'd like explanations on what I'm doing throughout the video. - I paid $750 for this 1981 Camaro. Its last registration was 2002 and the seller claimed to have had the engine running 6 years ago. Seeing the small block v8 with headers and an aluminum intake, and the clean title, I promptly brought it home. Despite the sellers words that this one is "best used for parts", I set out to try and get it going down the road once again after 23 years. I don't want to spoil the ending, but if you'd like to know more about the outcome, scroll down past the timestamps section below. Chapter: 00:00 - First Look 00:37 - Getting it home and off the trailer 07:00 - Cleaning out some of the trash 10:55 - A look underneath 11:49 - First checks under the hood 14:01 - Putting in a battery 16:04 - Will it run? 16:43 - Sorting out the fuel system 22:51 - Freeing the shifter up/mouse nests 26:40 - Does the transmission work? 27:06 - Do the brakes work? 29:03 - Adding an exhaust system 33:57 - Putting on some tires that hold air 49:26 - Reassembling the interior 44:41 - Vacuuming/Cleaning 55:18 - Inside the trunk 58:43 - First drive 1:00:28 - Uh Oh 1:01:21 - In conclusion, 1:04:37 - F250 Off-roading/Trip to the North Shore. 1:22:07 - Cat The seller had mentioned as I was loading the car onto the trailer that it was '"beat on" by the owners who put it together. Right then I questioned if the motor was blown up from abuse. The seller said it sounded fine when he had it running, but it was hard to tell over the sound of the open headers. I too thought the engine sounded fine once I first fired it up, but after putting on a muffler, it was apparent that the engine had a connecting rod falling out of it. I decided I didn't want to shatter the engine to pieces and parked it back into the garage and listed it on Facebook Marketplace for parts. In truth, this car was likely never going to be put back on the road the right way, at least not by my hands. Even if the engine was good, the rust was beyond what I consider worth fixing. It was at the point of the rear axle about to fall out of the car due to rot in the subframe, and rot in all the places the subframe was attached to. I like to think that if the engine wasn't blown, I may have fixed the frame, or vise versa, but not all of these cars can be saved. Hopefully this one will help save another.