Starting another LSx 3rd gen swap - '89 IROC-Z

[BlueZee28]

My wife and I wanted to get my dad a project car for a Christmas present as a way of saying thank you for his help with my car the last couple years. So we went and checked out a roller that was on Craigslist, and we ended up settling on a nice deal today. I'm going to pick the car up on Thursday to bring it home.

It's a 1989 IROC-Z hardtop, roller, rust free and straight. It has no interior other than the dash, and we ended up getting a 6.0 truck block (bare) in with the deal along with the Spohn motor mount pedestals, clamshell mounts, complete 241 casting heads, an Fbody intake manifold with injectors, rails, and throttle body, and an LS1 crank. We got everything including the car for $600

[4thGen427CI]

sounds like a nice thing to do for your dad

[lil_red_v6]

motor car like EVERYTHING? holy jesus this is going to be nice for your dad.

[2010 SSRS]

very nice project car, my 88 IROC was a complete ground up project with a ZZ502 Big Block, I love it.

[Q's 91z28]

Nice find. Keep us posted on the progress.

[Vega]

Ohh nice, i always wondered on when Irocs would start being restored, you dont see many 3rd gens being restored yet, there's not a whole lot of parts out for them yet and unless you're looking for a personal project the prices usually never work out in your favor when restoring a 3rd gen, this is awsome though ;-)
Put an LSX454 in it!

[BlueZee28]

It's the 4th IROC-Z we have restored. And I really need to update this thread later, because the car is really close to being done. It's blue with grey interior now, and he bought a 98 Z28 to use the drivetrain for this car. It's coming along nicely.

[DroptopZ]

Nice I'd love to do this for my '88 vert, but I'm concerned about butchering a #s matching car... maybe I should just yank the motor/trans and save them for later so I can have some fun

[BlueZee28]

My convertible was numbers matching, second owner car, all power options...that didn't stop me from making it a beast

[DroptopZ]

Originally Posted by BlueZee28

My convertible was numbers matching, second owner car, all power options...that didn't stop me from making it a beast

Good to know, lol. My dad and I picked the car out together brand-new when I was five, so I kinda want to keep it close. We will see, though--been thinking of an LS1/4L60E and just yank the existing motor/trans for now... :P I may just keep it factory, though--I don't need anything fast, because if I wanted to have something quick I could have dumped the project years ago and kept my LT1.

[BlueZee28]

Update:

We painted the gas tank, and undercoated the whole car. We also painted the 4th gen 10 bolt, which has 4.10 gears which will be pretty fun to scoot around in. We put the Walbro fuel pump in the tank and got the tank and rear end in the car, and we just ordered the double hump transmission crossmember from Hawks. As soon as that comes in along with the wiring harness that Pocket re-pinned for us, we'll be putting the engine and trans in the car within the next 2 weeks.

[BlueZee28]

Oh ya, and it's blue now too, with grey interior lol

[BlueZee28]

Today my dad picked up the rest of his interior parts from the upholstery shop. He had his headliner, sun visors, and rear speaker covers all re-covered in new material, as well as had his new inner window sweeps installed on the door panels, and had a new cushion cover installed on his driver seat that we pulled off another seat. He said the stuff looks awesome, we can't wait to get it installed. We're hoping to finish the rest of the things that need to be done to start it the first time this weekend, and then we'll put the interior back together. As it sits right now, the only things inside the car is pretty much the carpet and plastics from the rear seats back.



Here's his fuel system. It looks much nicer than mine because we put the filter in the stock location. I'm really thinking about changing mine while I have my car on stands changing the rear end this spring.









We got pretty much everything except the windshield wiper motor hooked up, and we're waiting on the intake couplers and tubing that he ordered to come in, along with a new PCV assembly from the dealership, because the person he bought the car from was running around with this:



It was snapped off completely...oil was everywhere on the block...

[BlueZee28]

My dad picked up his intake stuff today and put it together while I was at work. Just need to put the iat sensor in one of the couplers.