Hi Ryan! Glad to see an update on your Camera. So sorry to hear what you've endured the last few months. I know the manufacturing of parts has gone to crap where buying new cam and lifters the lifters material is soft and cause huge problems. Glad it is back and hope you can enjoy all your hard work with this beautiful restoration.
As someone who has followed your journey with the '73 from the beginning, I can honestly say "Don't sell the car!". You have so much time and effort into it. The money is secondary. I have a couple of these early 2nd gens, and maintenance and upkeep, as well as the occasional upgrade, always takes its toll financially, but when they are dialed in, they are a blast to drive and a honor to own. The car is a labor of love, even if it seems like it doesn't love you back half the time. Stick with it, like any relationship, they'll be highs and lows, and just think, one day your own son may be watching these videos on how his father restored the Z-28 he covets.
Glad you were able to work out those issues. Can completely understand why you had to walk away from the camaro for a while. Now finished, you can proudly enjoy and show it off.
Wow, new to the channel. Some great content and taste in cars and trucks!. I have two 70 Camaro's and a 53 1/2 ton Chev truck. I must say the 53 put a test on my patience. It is running a 261 cu.in with two one barrels on a Offenhauser intake and Fenton headers. Shake down sometimes go well and sometimes not. My shakedown on the 261 was a nightmare but finally got it to the point it runs well and fun to drive. I too got so sick of working on it, still have some electrical bugs to work out as I went with a electric fan, 12V conversion, etc. One of my 70's is a stock build and the other is a LSX build on Speedtech suspension. Good luck and hang in there, they test your skills and patience don't they?
Ryan, I just got into the groove with my ‘68 Firebird! Now I’m dealing with a carb and spacer that won’t seal right and I’m getting a vacuum leak and miss fires because of it! I’ve got steering components that went from okay to completely shot! So I’m trying to get everything I need ordered and looking to see what else I might need! Stay positive, if you need to let her sit for 6-8 months let her sit! Go back when you’re ready! Looking forward to the 6spd video!
Heck yeah man! All these “new” parts really can mess with restorations due to manufacturing errors. That firebird will be a great looking car when done!
Ordered a couple of those Head-Band Lamps... My early guess would have "Stem Seals" over the valves ';-) I always used FORD D0DZ-6571-A Hard Plastic ring over the original Factory GM's!
just got my 79 z28 back from being painted. It's been slowly being restored over the past few years (12 or so but who's counting lol.) found your channel and went through all your camaro videos to get some ideas on what all I need to do still. would like to say you've got one of the best build series out here and love all the work you've done to yours! Definitely got a new sub out of me
Ryan glad to see the update. Felt like a car friend had vanished. Edlebrock certainly has problems with quality of their cast parts. I have alway taken my intake and heads to the machine shop to make sure they are straight and mate properly. Glad you found the root cause and are solving the issues. Believe me I have been there.
Use a vacuum gauge it will let you know a lot on these older cars normal cars are between 17-21 a cammed motor usually between 8-13 and how it responds will tell you a lot about it look a diagram up it will help.
I feel your frustration! Going through similar problems with my 302 crate engine in my 67 bronco...builds up too much oil pressure and oil weeps through the rear main seal and intake manifold bolts...its not bad...but ...nothings more annoying than having a new engine and it leaks after 1400 miles
Ryan, I’ve often wondered about your Camaro. I saw a 73 a few weeks ago and thought about how meticulous you were building it. I’m sorry you had the problems and hope they are corrected! Thanks for the update!
I've Totally been there man in that situation i get the Frustration, but one thing i do regret is getting rid of the car I had frustrations with i still wish i had it
What carb are you running with the RPM air gap? I have the same car and was wondering about hood clearance. Is that the stock air cleaner and 3" tall filter?
Ryan l had this car I bought it used in 1977 mine had the turbo 400 auto brown with black interior it was my first car I kept it for 12 years and loved it for the first few years but it was like it was demonic plagued with issues all the time and I finally fell out of love with it and sold after it had been sitting by my parents house for years...I have always regretted it , bought a 72 Chevell after that but it just wasn't the same , don't give up on it it's a beautiful car you have done a awesome job with it. Makes me want to find one again now Im oldman...lol
Hey Ryan, was listening to your thoughts about the Camaro engine problems and I wanted to ask, didn't you say you were doing engine assembly for the first time? You did really well considering your lack of experience in this area. I want to encourage you not to consider what you did a failure and not to shy away from this, if this is what you want to do. I personally don't think less of what you did because you ran into a few complications. Typically, you will always encounter the unforeseen in our lives and you just have to learn from it and move on. In this universe, building an engine is not one of the most complex operation, but it does take some specific understanding of the elements that are coming together to be successful. The shift from books to the internet as the source of information for most of the things we do in life has really limiting us when we need to get down to some very basic and key details, in some technical areas, like engine building and engine performance. It is not really possible for a UA-camrs to pack their videos with all the fine details needed to grasp subjects like engine building. The information is scattered and fragmented and you are left to piece together the facts you need for your work. When I was a young person, younger than you, there was no internet. My brother and I use to go to the library to get information about Internal Combustion Engine, or science, or whatever. I brought HPBooks titled, How to Rebuild Your BIG-BLOCK CHEVY and how to Hot Rod your BBC, and others. We read magazine articles too. These books and articles were full of all sorts of fine details that helped me complete engine builds because they included every step of the process, in print, so the information could be comprehended and referred to quickly. I am not sure if you are going to keep doing this work, but if you are, you may want to consider purchasing books that can allow you to build with great success. I can see you have a lot of knowledge about body work, painting and detailing. Maybe you picked that up from hands on work and had some instruction. You can be just as good at engine building if you just fill in a few areas of knowledge that you missed out on in your first build. If you also consider that you are also doing your videos to entertain a lot of us as you go through the process of becoming better at what you are doing, and we see you accomplish some of your goals, then you really can't fail in that aspect of your work. I think there are a lot of people who like to see a good person like you engrossed in the hunt for perfection with these old relics from the past. Sure the Camaro is interesting. Not the greatest car ever, but very capable. The Camaro is not really what the show is about, its about you, your Dad, your wife and your struggles and triumphs. Yes, long message, but hopefully encouraging.✌
It would have been interesting to follow you through this adventure while it happened. I guess it would have been a struggle to put together the videos, but I think you would have had a lot of interest and maybe some good ideas to help you sort things out. Glad you are finding solutions to your problems.
I had those exact issues with my edelbrok dual plane like the one you had. It was a complete piece of junk. Put a different one on, issues gone. Was very disappointed in edlebrok after that. Tons of issues with my 600 cfm edlebrok carb. I'm sorry to say, I avoid thier products now.
Parts Quality is a Huge Issue everywhere! Sorry you had to Experience the problem personally. Glad you got it all sorted. It’s really good to see her again.
In your headlight commercial the car you are under was a 70 Chevelle?? Did you buy one borrow one oh yeah I see you're from Ohio what part I'm from Akron area
Ryan- I am currently going through the EXACT same thing you wer going through in this video. I have dumped soooo much $ into this car only to get endless problems. Just curious- What transmission did you end up going with? Did you upgrade the stock TH350?
And this is exactly the reason I thought long and hard about either rebuilding my 70 Z28 LT1 or going with a roller crate engine from GM back in 2012 b/c of losing 2 solid lifter cams even when the best oils with ZDDP was used. I chose to rebuild with a roller cam and lifters. Today’s steel cams suck due to bad metal and a crap job of hardening. China doesn’t help either. It’s not the 60’s and 70’s where all parts were made in Canada and the USA. Glad to hear it’s better. I get pissed too when things don’t go right but I’ve had my car since 1981 from the orig owner and would not sell it what issues I encounter. Just walk away from it for a while and come back to it.
Well ryan, as someone who has watched your channel since the beginning. All I want to do is help. So I think I got it figured out I'll go ahead and let you give me that Camaro and take that stress off of you. LOL God bless brother
I would've just slapped a 350 crate engine in it from the get go...thats h.p. parts for ya..it's a beautiful car tho. Not crazy about the tips tho...Takes away from originality...imo.
@Ryan Sampson, I don't know what rings you used in your build, but it takes around 500 miles to break in most rings, it depends on the material the rings are made out of and how the cylinders were honed, and what grit honing stones were used. also don't use synthetic motor oil when breaking in an engine, it will take longer to seat the rings. I love Edelbrock, but their quality has fallen off since Vic Edelbrock Jr. passed away back in 2017. I had a old set of performer RPM heads on my big block they were perfect right out of the box. was building a new motor over the pandemic and on a brand new set of the exact same heads, every one of the intake valve seats were out of spec and leaking. the exhaust seats were with in spec, but marginal. So i had to have a valve job on an brand new set of heads. this is caused by either improperly trained workers, or lack of maintenance on the machining equipment used to cut the valve jobs, all of which comes down to trying to save money vs turning out a quality product the Edelbrock used to be know for. its not just Edelbrock, its all the after market companies now and a lot of it is caused by cheep knock off products from overseas hitting the market and it is putting a lot of pressure on the US aftermarket companies to compete on price. For example a set of Chinese speed master heads are a knock off of the old Dart heads and run around $1300 fully assembled. a set of Edelbrock head run around $2400, and the Dart Pro 1 that is around $3700. so it hurts the bottom line on the aftermarket companies, so they are trying to save money on training employees and maintaining equipment, and it is ruining the quality of their products.
I see other channels talk about it all the time but I never thought it would happen to me. Sad that you have to check everything from now on even “USA made” stuff
bad parts is at an epidemic..multiple YTers have dealt with Chairman Xi and his factories..your coice tells the tale of how bad this has affected you..all that attention to detail and money spent is a stresser..was wondering what you have been up to..hang in there Ryan..
Hi Ryan! Glad to see an update on your Camera. So sorry to hear what you've endured the last few months. I know the manufacturing of parts has gone to crap where buying new cam and lifters the lifters material is soft and cause huge problems. Glad it is back and hope you can enjoy all your hard work with this beautiful restoration.
As someone who has followed your journey with the '73 from the beginning, I can honestly say "Don't sell the car!". You have so much time and effort into it. The money is secondary. I have a couple of these early 2nd gens, and maintenance and upkeep, as well as the occasional upgrade, always takes its toll financially, but when they are dialed in, they are a blast to drive and a honor to own. The car is a labor of love, even if it seems like it doesn't love you back half the time. Stick with it, like any relationship, they'll be highs and lows, and just think, one day your own son may be watching these videos on how his father restored the Z-28 he covets.
Glad you were able to work out those issues. Can completely understand why you had to walk away from the camaro for a while. Now finished, you can proudly enjoy and show it off.
Glad to see you’ve resolved the issues. Sometimes it’s two steps forward one step back. Hope the car shows are going well.
You got that right!
Good to hear an update, whether it's good, bad or otherwise. I hope you have many miles of trouble free driving!
I was wondering where you were. I was there with you when the car was a barn find. I'm glad you stuck with it. Great Job all around.
Ryan, I’m glad you stayed with it. You’ve put so much into the car.
Wow, new to the channel. Some great content and taste in cars and trucks!. I have two 70 Camaro's and a 53 1/2 ton Chev truck. I must say the 53 put a test on my patience. It is running a 261 cu.in with two one barrels on a Offenhauser intake and Fenton headers. Shake down sometimes go well and sometimes not. My shakedown on the 261 was a nightmare but finally got it to the point it runs well and fun to drive. I too got so sick of working on it, still have some electrical bugs to work out as I went with a electric fan, 12V conversion, etc. One of my 70's is a stock build and the other is a LSX build on Speedtech suspension. Good luck and hang in there, they test your skills and patience don't they?
Glad to see you are back. Hope your car show is great. Have a great day Ryan.
Ryan, I just got into the groove with my ‘68 Firebird! Now I’m dealing with a carb and spacer that won’t seal right and I’m getting a vacuum leak and miss fires because of it! I’ve got steering components that went from okay to completely shot! So I’m trying to get everything I need ordered and looking to see what else I might need! Stay positive, if you need to let her sit for 6-8 months let her sit! Go back when you’re ready! Looking forward to the 6spd video!
Heck yeah man! All these “new” parts really can mess with restorations due to manufacturing errors. That firebird will be a great looking car when done!
Ordered a couple of those Head-Band Lamps... My early guess would have "Stem Seals" over the valves ';-) I always used FORD D0DZ-6571-A Hard Plastic ring over the original Factory GM's!
You will use those headlamps a lot! You were very close to the real cause 👍
just got my 79 z28 back from being painted. It's been slowly being restored over the past few years (12 or so but who's counting lol.) found your channel and went through all your camaro videos to get some ideas on what all I need to do still. would like to say you've got one of the best build series out here and love all the work you've done to yours! Definitely got a new sub out of me
Nice to see my old car again! Can’t wait to see it worked on!
Ryan glad to see the update. Felt like a car friend had vanished.
Edlebrock certainly has problems with quality of their cast parts. I have alway taken my intake and heads to the machine shop to make sure they are straight and mate properly.
Glad you found the root cause and are solving the issues. Believe me I have been there.
Use a vacuum gauge it will let you know a lot on these older cars normal cars are between 17-21 a cammed motor usually between 8-13 and how it responds will tell you a lot about it look a diagram up it will help.
I feel your frustration! Going through similar problems with my 302 crate engine in my 67 bronco...builds up too much oil pressure and oil weeps through the rear main seal and intake manifold bolts...its not bad...but ...nothings more annoying than having a new engine and it leaks after 1400 miles
Aghh it’s hard to keep working on something you sink a lot of money and time into. Keep at it though, you will eventually figure it out!
Happy to hear that you fought with it instead of giving up and getting rid of it
Glad you'll be putting more content out and I feel for you because I've been there!!!
Ryan, I’ve often wondered about your Camaro. I saw a 73 a few weeks ago and thought about how meticulous you were building it. I’m sorry you had the problems and hope they are corrected! Thanks for the update!
Hey Don, hope you have been well! All is corrected so far! Thanks for watching
Glad you seem to get it together and everything looks to be ok. Nice car !
Glad to see you back!
Nice find and a great job bringing it back to life I have a 73 Z28 also and love it. Thanks
I understand the new engine blues .. sometimes all you need is a break ... don't give up your almost to the finish line
So true! Had to take a step back from it for a while.
I enjoyed watching and can emphasize your frustration!
Thanks man!
I swear I’m just sitting here waiting for you to post more videos😂 Cant wait. Keep up the awesome work!
Glad your back
so glad for you,love the camaro😀
I've Totally been there man in that situation i get the Frustration, but one thing i do regret is getting rid of the car I had frustrations with i still wish i had it
You got it done! There always seems to be something but you kept on.
What carb are you running with the RPM air gap? I have the same car and was wondering about hood clearance. Is that the stock air cleaner and 3" tall filter?
Ryan l had this car I bought it used in 1977 mine had the turbo 400 auto brown with black interior it was my first car I kept it for 12 years and loved it for the first few years but it was like it was demonic plagued with issues all the time and I finally fell out of love with it and sold after it had been sitting by my parents house for years...I have always regretted it , bought a 72 Chevell after that but it just wasn't the same , don't give up on it it's a beautiful car you have done a awesome job with it. Makes me want to find one again now Im oldman...lol
I understand your frustration. I've been there myself.
Hey Ryan, was listening to your thoughts about the Camaro engine problems and I wanted to ask, didn't you say you were doing engine assembly for the first time? You did really well considering your lack of experience in this area. I want to encourage you not to consider what you did a failure and not to shy away from this, if this is what you want to do. I personally don't think less of what you did because you ran into a few complications. Typically, you will always encounter the unforeseen in our lives and you just have to learn from it and move on. In this universe, building an engine is not one of the most complex operation, but it does take some specific understanding of the elements that are coming together to be successful. The shift from books to the internet as the source of information for most of the things we do in life has really limiting us when we need to get down to some very basic and key details, in some technical areas, like engine building and engine performance. It is not really possible for a UA-camrs to pack their videos with all the fine details needed to grasp subjects like engine building. The information is scattered and fragmented and you are left to piece together the facts you need for your work. When I was a young person, younger than you, there was no internet. My brother and I use to go to the library to get information about Internal Combustion Engine, or science, or whatever. I brought HPBooks titled, How to Rebuild Your BIG-BLOCK CHEVY and how to Hot Rod your BBC, and others. We read magazine articles too. These books and articles were full of all sorts of fine details that helped me complete engine builds because they included every step of the process, in print, so the information could be comprehended and referred to quickly. I am not sure if you are going to keep doing this work, but if you are, you may want to consider purchasing books that can allow you to build with great success. I can see you have a lot of knowledge about body work, painting and detailing. Maybe you picked that up from hands on work and had some instruction. You can be just as good at engine building if you just fill in a few areas of knowledge that you missed out on in your first build. If you also consider that you are also doing your videos to entertain a lot of us as you go through the process of becoming better at what you are doing, and we see you accomplish some of your goals, then you really can't fail in that aspect of your work. I think there are a lot of people who like to see a good person like you engrossed in the hunt for perfection with these old relics from the past. Sure the Camaro is interesting. Not the greatest car ever, but very capable. The Camaro is not really what the show is about, its about you, your Dad, your wife and your struggles and triumphs. Yes, long message, but hopefully encouraging.✌
It would have been interesting to follow you through this adventure while it happened. I guess it would have been a struggle to put together the videos, but I think you would have had a lot of interest and maybe some good ideas to help you sort things out. Glad you are finding solutions to your problems.
Thank you Mike!
I had those exact issues with my edelbrok dual plane like the one you had. It was a complete piece of junk. Put a different one on, issues gone. Was very disappointed in edlebrok after that. Tons of issues with my 600 cfm edlebrok carb. I'm sorry to say, I avoid thier products now.
Nothing comes easy when it comes too hot rods it all learn as you go glad to see you resolved the problems love your videos.
Parts Quality is a Huge Issue everywhere! Sorry you had to Experience the problem personally. Glad you got it all sorted. It’s really good to see her again.
In your headlight commercial the car you are under was a 70 Chevelle?? Did you buy one borrow one oh yeah I see you're from Ohio what part I'm from Akron area
Ryan- I am currently going through the EXACT same thing you wer going through in this video. I have dumped soooo much $ into this car only to get endless problems. Just curious- What transmission did you end up going with? Did you upgrade the stock TH350?
That's hot rodding everyone experiences never ending problems. It's not for the weak! PS Glad to see you got your valve covers on the correct side. 😊
Go with stock parts when possible. That's a lesson I have learned over many years.
And this is exactly the reason I thought long and hard about either rebuilding my 70 Z28 LT1 or going with a roller crate engine from GM back in 2012 b/c of losing 2 solid lifter cams even when the best oils with ZDDP was used. I chose to rebuild with a roller cam and lifters.
Today’s steel cams suck due to bad metal and a crap job of hardening. China doesn’t help either. It’s not the 60’s and 70’s where all parts were made in Canada and the USA. Glad to hear it’s better. I get pissed too when things don’t go right but I’ve had my car since 1981 from the orig owner and would not sell it what issues I encounter. Just walk away from it for a while and come back to it.
Don't give up on the Camaro
I’m not! 🙂
My dad has a 66 cornet 4 door 74 GTO nova style sitting in the back yard needs work he wants to build it
I'm having an Edelbrock dual plane intake manifold installed on my '72 as we speak and am getting scared watching this video. Hope it's not warped.
"Rocker studs needed sealed"? Who talks like that?
Check your PVC valve is sucking up some oil
Uncle Tony’s Garage just had a video about new parts failing.
Well ryan, as someone who has watched your channel since the beginning. All I want to do is help. So I think I got it figured out I'll go ahead and let you give me that Camaro and take that stress off of you. LOL God bless brother
That car is just bad a$$. You’ve sweated the details and have, what I think, is just a balanced well thought out tasteful automobile.
I appreciate that Paul!
Take it for a long drive burn the oil out of the exhaust.
Phasing older Gens out. Best options are newer tech engines and trans if one can afford good luck. You could use a cover for her while it sits.
How much do you want for it?
I need a project if you want to sell it?
I would've just slapped a 350 crate engine in it from the get go...thats h.p. parts for ya..it's a beautiful car tho. Not crazy about the tips tho...Takes away from originality...imo.
ill buy it how much
is that a lt1. eng
Junkerup just did a video on how bad aftermarket parts have become, Keep the car you put to much time into it !
dont use synthectic oil semi or conventional oil ac delco filter valoline oil good day
Hey there.
@Ryan Sampson, I don't know what rings you used in your build, but it takes around 500 miles to break in most rings, it depends on the material the rings are made out of and how the cylinders were honed, and what grit honing stones were used. also don't use synthetic motor oil when breaking in an engine, it will take longer to seat the rings.
I love Edelbrock, but their quality has fallen off since Vic Edelbrock Jr. passed away back in 2017. I had a old set of performer RPM heads on my big block they were perfect right out of the box. was building a new motor over the pandemic and on a brand new set of the exact same heads, every one of the intake valve seats were out of spec and leaking. the exhaust seats were with in spec, but marginal. So i had to have a valve job on an brand new set of heads.
this is caused by either improperly trained workers, or lack of maintenance on the machining equipment used to cut the valve jobs, all of which comes down to trying to save money vs turning out a quality product the Edelbrock used to be know for. its not just Edelbrock, its all the after market companies now and a lot of it is caused by cheep knock off products from overseas hitting the market and it is putting a lot of pressure on the US aftermarket companies to compete on price. For example a set of Chinese speed master heads are a knock off of the old Dart heads and run around $1300 fully assembled. a set of Edelbrock head run around $2400, and the Dart Pro 1 that is around $3700. so it hurts the bottom line on the aftermarket companies, so they are trying to save money on training employees and maintaining equipment, and it is ruining the quality of their products.
Many of the car channels I watch all talk about how bad car parts have become.
I see other channels talk about it all the time but I never thought it would happen to me. Sad that you have to check everything from now on even “USA made” stuff
Factory parts work.
I bet your neighbors love when you cut the grass at night.
I love the car if u ever get rid of it dm me I love it I mean loveeeeee it
bad parts is at an epidemic..multiple YTers have dealt with Chairman Xi and his factories..your coice tells the tale of how bad this has affected you..all that attention to detail and money spent is a stresser..was wondering what you have been up to..hang in there Ryan..
I enjoyed watching and can emphasize your frustration!
Thanks Robert!