my 85 camaro MY BABY?

Question

so im 16, and im INLOVE with my 85 chevy camaro. but theres some problems with it...it has a cracked frame where the steering colum is bulted in, the radiator is cracked at the end of the tank, and i have wires that are old and cause the car to lose spark and not start all the time. and on top of that i need all my tires replaced. now i have about 1k or a little bit more. Does it seem the camaro is worth fixing ????

Answer 1

I would love to know what caused your frame rail to crack where the steering gear box bolts on Cause I use to build this car and the FIREBIRD and installed probably 5000-6000 of these over a few months time on the spring & axle dept.But a simple weld job would take care of the problem,although you may have to unbolt the steering gear box just enough to weld down beside it. A radiator shouln't cost more than a couple hundred(try your local GM parts counter for this or look on the sight gmpartsdirect.com ,or Autozone for one.Plug wires and plugs$50-$75 depending on which ones you buy. A distributor cap is about $12-$15 . Tires ,well shop around and look for a good deal on your size tire(stay away from Firestone / Bridgestone tires as they are junk Good tiresareabout $500-$600 depending on size. After you spend all this and do the work under the hood yourself,you should come in under $800 or less. What yo have is the gen 3 Camaro and highly desirable as they are going up in value everyday

Answer 2

Sorry to say this, but no. I'm a mechanic and i know how much some cars mean to some people. When I bought my truck off of a family friend he was almost crying because he loved the truck so much. With the age of your car, and the fact that the frame is cracked, thats going to be a pricy fix, the radiator and wires arn't too bad. When doing the wires you should also check for the tune up (if it hasn't been done/ done in a wile i would suggest doing plugs, wires, cap and rotor, fuel injection service (if the car if FI'ed) or a carb service (if it runs off of a carb setup), and fuel filter. For the radiator, i would suggest doing the thermostat at the same time and doing a flush and replace the rad cap, and then pressure test the system afterwords to check for leaks. To do the job corectly isn't going to be cheap, expically with the frame. Some shops won't even touch it, and you might have to take it to an autobody shop to have the frame repaired. I'm guessing for everything you would be looking in the $1500CDN range, thats just a guess, every area has they're own pricing.

Answer 3

Absolutely fix it! If you only have 1k, you can't buy a decent car for that. The car you have is made of METAL and not the fiberglass stuff around these days. Much safer in an accident.
Cracked frame- Weld it. I drove a 95 camaro for 2 years that had been cut in half and had a new rear section put on it. My weld job held up even when the car was totaled (by the 16 yr. old highway patrolmans daughter who hit me- HA!).
Wires- Plug wires? About 90 dollars. Or if other wires, get a wiring harness from painless wiring (.com) shouldn't be over 300 surely. Radiator- JB WELD! You don't have a plastic piece of junk radiator (METAL). Or you could go to EBAY and get one cheap! Tires= Ebay once again. I run Bridgestone Potenza's which handle great in the rain. Now if your car was blowing smoke or something, you can get another engine for those for around $800. Parts are everywhere- Keep it. Style does not die even when it ages!

Answer 4

I would not bother spending more than a few hundred dollars on a car that old. A 21 year old car? Granted there are only minor things wrong with it (wires are cheap, radiator is $100, steering column I dont know about but it should still be drivable).

Did you get the car for free? if so, drive until something really makes it undrivable (transmission failure, engine failure, or any other $$$$ job). By now everything has got to be worn out, even if the car had 0 miles on it, by this age everything has aged on the car and will not hold up. By everything I mean the plastics and rubbers and such.

Answer 5

i like Mustang. i grew to become into raised around Ford, so i could say Mustang. you in many situations see all Mustang exhibits, yet you in no way see all Camaro exhibits, with the aid of fact there are no longer loads of those that are rebuilding them (a minimum of no longer getting them out) so in case you like commonly used choose for Mustang, in case you like someting which you dont see as lots, bypass Camaro. If I have been you i could get a Stang!

Answer 6

Dump it. Sell it for what you can. More things will start breaking/wearing and it will nickel and dime you to death, besides costing you way too much in fuel costs.

Find a used Toyota, Honda, or Mazda.