Well I have now found myself, fairly predictably, in a most inconvinient situation.

I orgininally planned to restore my 68' Camaro throughout the course of this summer, with my timetable looking somewhat like this: Recieve completed engine from shop in mid June, get the car running on the road by mid July, finish up various interior/exterior items throughout the next two months of summer at my leisure, then return to school in mid-September.

Well, now that has all gone to the trash bin. I just got my engine today, two months behind schedule, and don't have much interior stuff done. But it's not all bad news - if I can just get it running and drivable before I go back to school I can still finish up the interior and other various things as weekend projects while at college.

So here is my basic dilemma - do I attempt to install and configure the engine and transmission myself, as I had originaly planned (albiet under the guidence of a more experienced person - who is out of town for the next two weeks http://www.camaros.net/forum/frown.gif ), or take it to one of the local restoration/speed shops and have them throw all of the vital parts in and make them work. It is just a bunch of little things that I have little knowledge of - the coolant tank, oil lines, fuel lines, water lines, putting the engine and transmission in and mounting them up...stuff like that.

To further complicate this, I have exactly four weeks before I go back to school - so there is some urgency here. How much should I expect a shop to charge me to get my car running? Is it work that I should try to do myself despite being on a time frame? Could a shop even finish this work, seeing as they tend to be pretty lazy from my experience, in two or so weeks?

Thank you everyone for all the advice you have given me so far!

-Kyle

Kyle -

If you have all the bolt-on parts, dress items, and miscellaneous pipes, clamps, etc. and they're cleaned up and ready to go back in, this is a weekend job for an experienced restorer/mechanic (who is apparently out of town - timing is everything http://www.camaros.net/forum/frown.gif ). If you show up at a local shop with an unfamiliar car and several boxes of parts, they'll probably take a week or two (assuming their schedule is open), may or may not get the right parts in the right places, will get it running, and it will be very expensive (hours x $$).

I'd vote for waiting until your friend gets back, and in the meantime make sure you have all the parts you need, all ready to go back in, so parts delays don't slow you down. Don't know where you're located, but there might be someone from this forum near you that could help you inventory all the "put it back together" parts and make sure you have what you'll need, or could even help you get going on the job if they have some time.

Good luck!


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JohnZ
'69 Z28 Fathom Green

I got the camaro painted just after Christmas with the engine and tranny already in. I just drove it 2 weeks or so ago and it still needs alignment, rear shocks, and fine tuning. It takes alot more time and money than you'll ever plan for,this coming from my experience at least.
A word of advice- don't rush it and do a half assed job. Take your time - if you opt to do it your self- have fun, and enjoy watching your project come together.
I kept setting dates as to when my car was going to be on the road- the first one was Feb. HA! Now I've given up, it'll happen when it happens.(only one more paycheck http://www.camaros.net/forum/wink.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by whitey:
A word of advice- don't rush it and do a half assed job. Take your time...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'll second that advice! There is nothing worse then working on something that has to be rushed. Wrong choices will be made, expensive things will be broken, etc.

I recently changed the intake & carburator and restored the engine compartment on my '68. I scheduled about 2 hours a day to work on it during the week, and about 10 hours each day of the weekend, with no end-time established. It was an absolute joy to not be rushed, be able to clearly think about the problems that needed to be solved. In the end, I'm very satisfied with the end product.

Forget about time, and think about what you want out of your car. To me, the best decision would be to let the car sit until you & your expert helper can work on it together.



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David
Camaro - '68 327 Coupe, '86 Z-28 IROC 305 TPI
Corvette - '73 Mako Shark II replica (http://makoshark2.com/djunod/), '79 L-82, '82 Cross-fire, '01 Coupe

Ok, ok you guys convinced me http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif I will wait until he gets back to finish it up. So far the only driving time I have gotten is while winching it onto/off of the trailer...hopefully by the time summers over I will get to really fire it up!

Thanks guys,

Kyle