Below are the various places I've dealt with to get parts or information for my project, good or bad. When going through any project, researching which products and vendors work and which don't can be maddening. My experiences may not match your experiences, so YMMV. Nobody is paying me for this, so what you see is what you get.
- ThirdGen.org - I have to start with TGO. If you have a third-gen Camaro and are not signed up on TGO you need to be. The site contains a wealth of information about all years of third gen Camaros and I've already met several people who have been more than willing to share their knowledge and help out with various things.
You'll find me on the History/Restoration board as FormerL69. - Camaro Pace Cars.com - The site is dedicated to all years of Camaro Pace Cars. The 1982 sections aren't very active, but when you post something people do respond and the guys with 1982 Pace Cars seem very knowledgeable. This is where I found my car.
- Parker Trucking - I used Parker Trucking to transport my Pace Car from Florida to Colorado via open carrier and was extremely happy. I dealt with Joanne Parker. Their price was fair and more importantly, they offered door to door pick up and delivery and were right on time. Parker Trucking has their own rigs but they didn't run the route from Florida to Colorado so they had to sub the job out. This is the important part: the company they did use was someone they are contracted to work with. A lot of transport companies who offer to ship cars are licensed as brokers -- meaning they're just finding space on trucks from any company who happens to have space. There may be no real working relationship between the companies. Parker Trucking is a contract carrier (as defined and regulated by the ICC). That means they have contracts in place with specific carriers whom they do business with all the time. That's was a huge advantage in my mind.
- TransportReviews.com - This site is designed to help you find a carrier to ship your car. Look up MJ Parker Trucking and use them. They have nothing but 5-star reviews (including mine). Be sure to read some of the 1 and 2-star reviews people have made for some other companies.
- Rock Auto - My local parts shops did not carry AC Delco stuff, nor did they have CrossFire injection air cleaners, so RockAuto got the call. So far, it's been hit and miss with them. Shipping is quick and they generally have what I was looking for but not being able to see what you are buying gets interesting. For example, I ordered a set of AC Delco spark plug wires for my car and when I got them, I found that the boots on the distributor end did not have the nubs to secure the boot into the distributor cap cover. Not a big deal but not exactly factory correct either. The CFI air cleaners, on the other hand, were spot on.
- Rick's Camaros - I ordered by 1982 Camaro Assembly Manual from Rick's
- eBay Motors - Yeah, yeah. I know. But I was able to find the following stuff I needed:
- Used 1982 GM Camaro shop manual
- 1982 Camaro assembly manual
- Spark Plug retainers
- Proper Z28 rear bumper emblem (w/o the bowtie) - used
- Power mirror switch bezel
- New OE GM AIR check valve
- New OE Delco Heater Core
- CFI flap assembly rubber boot
- New OE GM AIR injection tubes
- New OE GM turn signal stalk
- CrossFire Injection Forum - If you have a CFI car, you need to be here. The community is nothing but helpful.
- Modern Day Muscle - I ordered a variety for interior parts from Perry. Everything delivered as advertised and in good shape.
- Third Gen Ranch - Denny has several OE reproduction and used parts. Specifically, he carries the proper, reproduction power window switch for 1982 Camaros. I also ordered some new power lock switches, a replacement overflow tank and a new header panel emblem from them.
- Auto Custom Carpets - I'll be ordering my replacement interior carpet from ACC. I've emailed them a few times with questions and to ask for samples and every time they have been quick and helpful. The "dark blue" cutpile color their site recommends for 1982 Camaros is #7130. However, I ordered four different "blue" samples and after comparing them to unfaded pieces of my original, factory carpet (parts under center console, kick plates, etc.) I think #840 "navy blue" is the correct color for the pace car interior. I even had my daughter independently look at all four samples against the original carpet and she also chose 840 as a near perfect match.
- Dynamic Crossfire Solutions - DCS specializes in Crossfire injection. They've been around a while and I figured if Crossfire anyone was qualified to clean up my throttle bodies that these were the guys. I had them do a full services on my injectors, which includes cleaning the throttle bodies, adding bushings to the linkages and flow testing the injectors. The results were completed amazing. The throttle bodies look brand new.
Update 9/12/14: DCS has closed its doors and is no longer in business. - Classic Industries - Everyone has heard of Classic so there's not much to say about them. They offer a variety of reproduction parts, but their third gen offering can be a bit thin, especially for early years. I ordered a new set of reproduction front grills (the ones on either side of the front license plate) because my originals had been previously damaged and glued back together. They fell apart when I removed them. The reproductions are perfect. I also bought a new front fascia and bumper cover for them (OER). Both pieces fit reasonably well, but Body Works did need to do some touch up to fix pitting in the polyurethane.
- Comp Cams - Comp Cams Xtreme Energy XE256H cams is specifically manufactured for use with Crossfire motors. I ordered one of their "K-Kits" (K12-234-2) which contains the XE256H cam, value springs, keepers, retainers, timing change and gears.
- Summit Racing - Again, most people have already heard of Summit Racing. Except for the stuff in Comp Cams K-kit, the parts and some tools I needed to rebuild the 305 are all coming from Summit. Their web site was really easy to navigate which made researching and find the right parts a breeze. The Summit part numbers listed here were correct of the time I wrote this in June of 2013:
- Sealed Power Piston Rings Kit (SLP-E-356K)
- Sealed Power Connecting Rod Bearings (SLP-2555A)
- Sealed Power Gasket Set (SLP-260-1024) - NOTE: this is not correct for the CFI motor.
- Sealed Power Main Bearings (stock size, SLP-4663M)
- Sealed Power Plastigauge (green - SLP-SPG1)
- Melling M55 Oil Pump (MEL-M55)
- Melling Oil Pump Screen and Tube (MEL-M55-S1)
- Comp Cams Assembly Lube (CCA-153)
- Clevite Bolt Sleeves (CLE-2800B1)
- FelPro Gasket set for Crossfire Intake Manifold (FEL-MS91440)
- Lisle Ring Compressor (LIL-19000)
- Craftsman Piston Ring Expander (SHC-94662)
- Summit Racing Oil Pump Primer (SUM-901010)
- Phoenix Graphics - I bought the entire 1982 pace car stripe kit from Phoenix (p/n 1982PC). The decals are the correct color and fit well. There are a lot of them. The only decal that is not available is black one for the rear bumper insert where the Z28 and CrossFire Injection emblems go. I had Body Works paint the black since nobody makes a decal for it.
- 1A Auto - Sponsors at thirdgen.org, the 1A Auto guys offer a lot of parts for the third gen Camaro, which I genuinely appreciate. They even have YouTube videos of how to install stuff. I ordered a full weatherstrip kit from them. Everything very well and there according to Body Work (who installed it for me) there were no issues beyond the usual headaches of installing new weatherstripping on a t-top car.
- BAPS Paint - BAPS is in York, PA and mixed aerosol cans of interior blue paint for me. I contacted them based on an interior panel restoration thread on thirdgen.org. I had searched high and low for the correct color/paint code for the blue interior for the pace car, but nobody know what it is. Even BAPS didn't have it in their computer. Rather than guess, I cut out and sent them a piece of unfaded plastic from one of my damaged interior panels. The back side of the panel was not faded and still properly represented the original color. Denis at BAPS scanned that piece of plastic and mixed the paint. He also entered the mix into their computer for future use. So if you call BAPS in York and ask for 1982 Pace Car interior blue, you'll get my color.
- Body Works Custom Painting - I chose Steve and his crew to paint the car. They specialize in restorations and custom paint and they were local, which was important to me. Their results speak for themselves. They banged out the dents, made the body straighter than it probably was when it left the factory 32 years ago, painted and re-decaled the car. They also installed the weatherstrip kit from 1AAuto. The car looks truly amazing. A huge shout out and thank you to Steve, Adam and the guys at the shop who worked on the car. Their attention to detail makes me look good and has raised the bar for the rest of the work I need to do on the car.
- GMPartsDirect.com - I ordered the correct GM head gaskets from here. Quick and reliable.
The head gasket p/n is GM 10105115 and was special order, so no returns on this one.
... to be continued ...