Starting An Abandoned Camaro IROC Z After 27 Years & Looking Inside The Engine! Storage Unit Find!

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In this video, we properly prepare the engine in my abandoned Camaro IROC Z for its first start in 27 years! We take a look inside the engine, find bad stuff, fix some of the bad stuff, charge the battery, and let her rip. Wait until you hear this!

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[LegitStreetCars]

How much do you think this car is worth?

[KontoVonMir]

The engine is not overfilled with oil, but rather had an internal coolant leak (probably overheated at one point). Then that coolant ran into the oil pan and made the fill level look high, but it was due to a normal amount of oil and extra coolant both being in there.

[i-still-cruz]

I grew up when Mustang GTs, Iroc Zs and T/As were what every young guy dreamed of owning. Seeing these cars take me back to Friday night football games, Journey playing on the radio 😎. Good times👍

[michaelwright]

What I for one would like to see is a teardown of the Engine and see what the inside looks like 👍

[phantom]

I don't care what anybody else thinks, I think that the third gen F-bodies and the IROC Camaro in particular are gorgeous cars, and I absolutely love them. Great color on this Camaro, and I've always thought that the IROC rims are by far the best looking wheels to put on a third gen Camaro.

It's very satisfying to watch you put the penetrating oil and trans fluid into the engine after so many years of sitting and see it breathed back to life, so to speak. I remember working on my buddy's 86 Z28 in high school and seeing what was basically the same setup under the hood... and to think that this IROC had already been sitting for several years when I was doing that, and I graduated over 2 decades ago. I always love seeing cars like this brought back to life after sitting for so long.

[RealRickCox]

Just do what Jarred at Wrench Everyday buy another car and swap everything around until you have 1 good car. LOL

[JohnnyG]

Id like to see the engine pulled, diagnosed and rebuilt. Tons of content there

[jibmaster]

Oh man this IROC-Z takes me BACK!! My Dad took me to the local Chevy dealer in 1985 to test drive a black on black/T tops IROC he wanted to look at. We drove around for a few hours with the tops off, sun out and driving around over the speed limit pretty much the whole time. It was by far the coolest car I'd ever been in! (I'm Italian so this makes sense why I liked it so much lol!). In the end he realized he would have gotten so many tickets with it, and in the end he didn't get it. I was bummed because I was turning 16 in a year and wanted to drive it! Instead, he bought a Ford F-150 with 3 speed column shifter. (aka "3 on the tree"). That is what I passed my driving test on-not the IROC. Lame! In the end, being 16, I ended up really liking the truck when I went out with my GF haha!

[Mechaxthemaskedgamer]

I had one buddy who was a NASCAR mechanic. He had the same problems with his IROC Camaro while he was restoring it. He simply did an itchid swap and pretty much replaced everything on the car, included all the parts with rust on it and just replaced it with carbon fiber parts, cars been restored back to its former glory and runs like a legend

[davehatzakorzian]

Hey Alex I think it would be awesome if you pulled the engine to see what actually happened. Its definitely an iconic 80's car and I would love to see more content on it. But that's entirely up to you, love the videos brother keep up the great work.

[boxfancb]

I know it's been a while since this video was posted, but there is a difference in perspective when it comes to answering "is it worth fixing" when you have youtuber's budget vs not having it. For the sake of reasearch you should refresh that engine and make it worth the 3K the guy originally asked for it. Yes there are 3rd Gen enthusiasts that would pay that money and handle the bodywork afterwards. I have a 87 L98 it's worth everything I've put into it..

[mikeblack]

I would keep it at this point and restore the car. I know the body is rough but the 305 wasn't a keeper engine anyway. Fenders and quarter panels are cheap, the floors can be repaired as well. These really are cool cars and they are starting to get some appreciation. It's not going to be an all original car but it still has a lot of potential. I started with a even less Camaro in even worse condition and I absolutely love the car and have zero regrets with it

[gregarends]

My very first car at 18, was a 1986 Firebird Trans Am with the 305 engine. We had a love and hate relationship for 3 yrs before I went of to University abroad and had to sell her. I still admire the pics of her and everytime I see one in a video or sitting in someone yard it makes me nostalgic. I'll always be in debt to her, she taught me the ins and outs of DIY on cars. 😆

[AnthonyIlstonJones]

I suspect it's had a blown head gasket & maybe been run that way a bit. Would explain the high oil level if the bottom of it in the crankcase is coolant. Would make a thrown bearing more likely too. I'd suggest a teardown as interesting content, and maybe see how much of the engine and vehicle can be re-used. There's a good car in there waiting to come out, just needs a bit of TLC.

[simonriddick]

My L98 Trans AM is still driving around. I had that car when I was 19 and am almost 41 now lol. 305 and 350 in these are pretty strong you would have to do something really stupid to kill them. I couldn't believe when I saw my old girl for sale it was completely original still. I sold it so long ago too and it had about 140xxx miles on it by then already. Great cars.

[mmllmmll]

Small advice : get few bottles of oil flush - spark plugs out, few syringes of oil flush into every cyl and leave it untill everything goes into pan or few days. Then try to turn it without plugs for few rotations with breaker bar. If moves - few seconds with starter too. Then get it running in idle, max 30 minutes. Change oil for something cheap. Let it run for up to 1h. Change oil into desired.
By doing that i've loosen stuck ring in my dads daily & improved compression by A LOT. I think it would free engine thats sized not so hard.
Thanks for video, cheers from Poland :)

[FairyGodPimp]

Been watching this guy for years hoping he would get to a million subscribers a long time ago. Hope we can make that happen soon.

[kenwillis]

DO NOT PART IT OUT! Build it! You will gain subscribers and the views alone will pay for it! Put a crate LSA in it or a blower thru the hood! Fix the body work in house as a diy series!

[chrisstrande]

I got my First car a 85 Z28 TPI that sat for 12 years. I replaced the fuel pump and sending unit & cleaned tank for good measure I refused a trap door, new tires, oil change etc and yes first thing I did was turn her over by hand thankfully it was easy. She fired up. Yes was in a storage unit 💰 But she was my first car. Driving out the storage unit to the highway with thick dust was pretty cool to the car wash.

[taelorwatson]

My brother bought one of these back when they were only a couple years old. Had the same engine. I was about 16 and drove it a little bit when he was gone. This suspension felt so stiff at least in my opinion at the time. It was definitely fun for a punk kid