I swear these are like unicorns now. Took a couple years to find one.
Plan on doing a complete tear down and rebuild with a 3400 swap.
It has the 5 speed and manual windows. Sunroof leaked and has some rust I will have to address, but nothing TOO bad as far as I've seen.
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Nice find! Interesting how "Z-24" is not embedded in the sidepod.
The friend that bought my Hawk is planning on a Honda V-Tec engine.
Wondering if that would be a much easier job.
Good find. I looked for years up here in New England for one as a donor. Finally, I gave up and sold my project cavalier vert. The 3400 swap is the way to go in my opinion as it has been done many times.
Are you sure it is the sunroof that leaked? The vent cowl on J bodys are notorious for leaking onto the front floors. Keep us posted!
Oh yeah, it was DEFINITELY the sunroof. Looks like I will be fabricating some replacement parts to fix it. Gutter is pretty bad in spots.
Dropping in to see how this shapes up, love me some first gen.
DRIVING FORCE FABRICATIONS
It is definitely going to take a while. I am in the middle of a move at the moment. But as soon as I'm finished with that, disassembly will start. My goal is to be driving it next spring.
Looks like a decent start! Hopefully it hasn't been leaking for real long, I see how fogged up the windows are.
Around here I couldn't find a single 82-87 in any of the pick your own yards for a long, long time. Seems like they were all crushed. I haven't seen one on the roads around here in a long time either, but every now and then I'll see one.
1987 Chevrolet Cavalier 2-door coupe
with 1996 2.2L MPFI
Well, I have this donor car to help with anything missing or too rough
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Looking forwarding to following your project. I like the 86, 87 Z24. The hatchbacks were cool too. Don't recall ever seeing any for sale, in my area
Are those power window doors on the sedan?
I don't think so. I believe they are both manual.
I have seen 1 hatchback Z24 in 10 years in my area, not for sale though. I've only seen 2 in my lifetime.
I have had the same problems nowadays sourcing parts too. Much like 84Conv I finally threw up my hands and cried uncle. I had been searching for a donor for my '86 Wagon I've had since 2002. The engine and transmission were tired with around an estimated 250K on the clock. The engines on the '86 were only the same for only 2 years '85 & '86......a similar complication with other models due to heads/ignition/fuel/emission changes. Once I found one in a salvage yard (on ebay) and jumped only to get refunded because they didn't check the engine out until it was purchased. This year I ran into a guy that had a low milage Type 10 that I had posted earlier about and had made plans to purchase - only to had the owner screw around with me. Fed up , about a month later ran across a '94 Coupe / 5 Speed that perked my interest as a possible replacement for my tired Wagon - only to once again get screwed around with a jackass seller. Considering how much crap I had been through trying to make any progress on the old Wagon - I finally sold it to a simi-retired co-worker and am in the process of digging up nearly 18 years of this and thats I had accumulated/hoarded over the years for the car.
The '84 Sunbird seems out of place now without it's cousin nearby. I Replaced the Wagon with 2 Owner-2003 Mazda B4000 4x4 which is certainly an upgrade. Most recently I have kinda inherited my step daughters '97 Corolla with a fun sunroof that has me scratching my head if it is time to relinquish the Pontiac as well. The Pontiac runs great but needs babied due to my budget paint jobs. I struggle to keep it covered and have to be careful on the days I have it out - wind is a headache with car covers and tarps. Of course if it rains I have to wait till everything dries up , wash it to make sure it is free of dirt before trying to cover it back up. Of course as I get older all of that special attention is getting more of a PIA than it once was....
Just don't be surprised if I happen on here one day in the future passing along I have sadly ended my 1st Gen days. Seems as if I am following in the footsteps of many that have gone before me!
It has been a lot of happy times with them - no regrets.
P.S. - I have noticed that corporate greed has done a lot of damage to this forum over the years. All of those wonderful photos that dedicated folks shared during the years has gone due to all the sites we used to post them up on wanting money to keep them available for sharing. It is a lesson everyone needs to think about with everything going on the cloud nowadays. One day they going to want lots of money or they going to block access to your stuff.
Orlen you are Correct with photoscum wanting $$$$$ for hosting pics.I refuse to pay for said hosting when it was free for years .Seems like what they allow to be Free is so small you need readers and a microscope to see on the size or amount.Btw Good luck on your project I am sure it will keep you plenty busy .Just chiming in on Our brand new computer.Our 2011 acer was on windows 7 (no longer supported) so updated to a 2020 dell inspiron model 3670.Its Fast!!! Ron
I can't help but keep my eyes peeled for parked 1st and 2nd gens in people's yards that I can stop and ask about. I have the best luck with back roads in rural areas. I already have my eye on another 2nd gen Z24 that hasn't moved in a few years. I just have to get finished moving first. What a pain this move has been.
I find myself doing the same, I'm really hoping to find a vert or hatch one of these days.
DRIVING FORCE FABRICATIONS
Anyone have a spare chip for the computer? A stock one will do for now. I have 2 computers but no chip.
Or if someone could let me know which other models are compatible because Z24s are hard to find these days.
Thanks!
Or does someone know if the automatic and manual are the same PROM?
Here are some pictures now that I have pulled it under the carport and might actually slowly start working on it. The sunroof area is the worst from what I've seen. I have gotten most of the replacement parts ordered to get it fixed up, but I will have to fabricate some of it to get it right again, and the rust removal is going to be painstakingly slow.
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That doesn't look too bad surprisingly.
DRIVING FORCE FABRICATIONS
I was surprised to find there wasn't any rust through the floorboards. The underside is pretty clean. Going to start pulling everything out of the interior and seeing what all needs repairing.
Well the seats and center console are out. Broke 1 bolt removing the driver seat.
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Nah that's passable for sure
DRIVING FORCE FABRICATIONS
Well now that this covid mess is calming down and we finally sold our house, I can finally dive back into this project. After more research and soul searching I will be going with the 3500 swap, OB2 conversion, and adding a limited slip.
Now that the interior is stripped, time to yank the tired 2.8
