I am 17, and the proud owner of a 25th Anniversary 1992 Camaro RS with the 305 TBI V8. It has somewhere around 125,000 miles. I bought the car for $2,000 in Orlando, Florida on eBay (I live in Wisconsin). I had it shipped up here for another $900. This was my OWN money. The total purchase price of the car was about $3,200 with all the title, tax, dealer fee, and shipping. That'd be a good deal if it ran really well and was taken care of. It actually was for the first 11 years of it's exsitance. One owner had it the whole time, all in Florida. Always garaged, routine maitenence (car had a great CarFax record!), and he never beat on it. Then in 2003, some idiots bought it, beat the hell out of it, tried switching it to a carbuerated car without changing the air-intakes or anything else it would have needed, hacked apart my computer, raised the shift points insanely high, ran bypasses on all the heating and air-conditioning, cut out all of my fuel gauge wiring (so now I have no idea how much gas it has), jacked around with the fuses, (I had to have them fixed so they would stop blowing up), they tore the wiring for the odometer at 121,610 miles (it is stuck), and then, when the previous owner found out that all the stupid things he did to the car made it not run so well, he raised the idle to 3,000 rpm! So the car jumped three feet when you shift it into drive! Bottom line is, if you beat on a car, you or someone in the near future will pay for it! I've put $2,500 into repairs for my car so far... and it still needs some work. It drives great now, it just doesn't go too fast when you step on it (the timing doesn't advance). It's been the cause of a lot of stress, and tons of money that I don't have (I owe my parents $1,500). I guess in the mean-time, I should keep my job! My hope is to someday restore the car. Next year it's getting a rebuilt 350 from a 1988 Iroc-z, with the tranny and computer, so I should never have to worry about merging or problems with the engine again (both owners of the Iroc-z were adults, and it was a show car before it was totaled). The car is stored for the winter, so no more repairs for now, but I put about 1,000 miles on it in a week before I got it stored, and it drove great... money well worth it to me!
Email me... aaron_erickson_5@hotmail.com.
Yes, I've had issues with my ignition too... but it always starts! It just clicks a lot. I'll need to replace that sooner or later.
Continued from last post...
The interior is is excellent shape, nearly flawless, except for the dash. The exterior is still in decent shape. Has a crack in the front spoiler, some dings, etc. Paint job is okay, but it was repainted in all except for the driver door and dirver front fender, and the paint doesn't match 100% (it's a bit lighter than the original color). It'll be gorgeous when I'm done with it... just like the first day of it's existance.
I have a 92 that has been in the family since new., it just rolled over 200k miles of city and highway driving.
I replaced the fuel pump once because it was hit by something and got a crack. I don't know where the guy who posted the original post has repairs done.. but you are paying wayyy too much. This is by far the best car I've ever had, and least expensive to maintain.
My 92 Rs 305 (no 350..neither Z28) is rusting away after 13 years of reliability plus 2 more years in our daughter hands going to high school.. still blowing OEM A/C.. many miles of speeds I don't want to discuss.. no track times. Reasons for putting it to sleep? Resale value too low to do cosmetics..
I bought a red 91 IROC-Z V8 350 with t-tops 5 speed automatic for a drive around city car about 1 year ago. I'm 21, take very good care of everything I own, and will always own a 91-92 IROC-Z or Z28 Camaro for the rest of my life if possible. I really love the rocker ground effects, hood blisters, and rear spoiler of the 91-92 year.
Got it for $4,750 with 64,000 miles on it, which even after I found all the problems, I think it was well worth it. It looks great and the paint in some areas are slightly faded with a few small sunspot (from 15 feet away you can't tell) but I plan to have it repainted when I get the cash anyway.
After I bought it, I drove it from Florida to Arkansas and started to notice problems like overheating, having to cool down after a lot of driving for 5-30 minutes after I turned it off, bad starter, a few times backfired on me, oil leak in gasket, dying on me at stops because of bad module, and a lot of little things like fuses, fog lights, CD player didn't work, power mirrors, power locks, driver side power window motor, cruise control, hazard lights, all had some form of problem or didn't work.
I took it to tons of mechanics and some of them fixed some of the problems, but only to create another. Like my overheating was fixed, but then my car cold started... or things like that.
After about 1k into repairs and parts (mechanics 5 times) everything worked for about 11 months until I drove around for 5 hours a few Sundays ago, came home and parked. I went to sleep, woke up, and my car wouldn't start the next morning. It does crank and try to turn on, but doesn't seem to do work. I think it is the power coil in the distributor. So I'm about to have that replaced, and if that doesn't work I'll take it into a shop again.
All in all, I'm very happy with mine. Although, I could be happier ^_^;
My god, the reviewer is over paying for all those repairs. Whoever is fixing your car is ripping you off so so so bad. Those dollar amounts on cheap parts are scary. Never heard such prices man. Weird, unless he's making it up.
I have a 1992 RS with the 305 v8. I have owned the car for the past ten years. The car now has 350, 000 miles, and runs fine. No major repairs, except for body work after hitting a deer a few years back. Like others say, the car is reliable so long as proper maintenance is performed. It has never left me stranded (it is a manual transmission, so I was able to pop the clutch when the starter went out).
Sadly, they are hard to find in unabused condition.
I am on the verge of purchasing a 92 Camaro RS 305 TBI V8 with a 5speed manual and roughly 70,000 miles. The current owner (and original) babied the car it's entire life and never abused it. (even the door jams were waxed) He truly appreciated the car for what it's worth. The car is in pristine condition and is 100% mint inside and out. I plan to make the Camaro my daily driver (at most 9,000 miles in a year). I live on Long Island and have a spot for it in my garage.
My question: Regardless of the pristine and unmolested condition, will I still incur so many of the problems listed already b/c I'll be driving it daily? I don't mind spending some money for repairs here and there, but I don't want to crack a 100,000 miles and start seeing rust and a laundry list of problems. I don't plan to modify it, I want to leave it stock, just enjoy the car and drive it like 'normal' person.
Leave your comments or email me @ physics981@yahoo.com.
I own a '92 Camaro RS Convertible, TBI 305 V8. White with black top and black tweed interior.
I bought it used 4 years ago for $3000. It had a problem with the passenger side power window, the power driver seat, and a broken transmission mount. I repaired all three things myself with the only expense being the price of the new tranny mount.
The other two electrical problems were just things that after so many years needed some special attention. Like the window problem was due to a plug coming loose from years of opening and closing the door. The power driver seats power wire was cut, so I repaired it and worked fine after.
I replaced the shocks because they were worn out, and replaced the springs with some lowering springs (with the new body kit Chevy gave this year of Camaro, they look so much better with that gap between the wheel well and tire gone).
I replaced the factory 16" rims and standard tires with some 18" chrome IROC rims and low profile Z rated tires.
Last thing was to remove that ugly black rubber door ding stopper on both sides of the car, it was faded and IMO the car looks cleaner without it.
I replaced the exhaust from the manifold back with 3" pipe. A high flow, high performance cat. converter and a single in dual out Flowmaster muffler. The car breaths better and sounds mean (even though the 305 in these cars are weak and I wish my car had the 350 TPI in it!)
I also replaced the EMC prom with a hypertech performance chip.
I replaced the 200 degree thermostat with a 160, because a cooler engine means more horsepower.
This car runs great and is a total head turner. I am constantly complimented on how clean this car looks for being almost 20 years old.
Now with all that said and done, looks aren't what makes the car move from point A to B, and I have had her leave me stranded twice. The fuel pump went out after 16 years of pumping gas to a thirsty engine, understandable. And the common, as I understand it, with this year of Camaro, the "nothing happens when I try to start it!"
That turned out to be the VATS system in the ignition. I wanted to share this with everyone in hopes that it might save you a lot of time and money. The ignition keys in these cars have a chip in them that sends a signal when inserted to the security system via two contacts in the ignition switch. Over time, the contacts on the key wear down. The VATS (vehicle anti theft system) not receiving the signal from the key stops the current generated when you turn the key from going to the ECM (the cars computer) making the components needed to start and run the car non responsive to your attempt of operation. That's why you hear and read a lot about people trying to start the car and "nothing happening" not even the clicking of a faulty starter or a fuel pump priming the engine, no sounds of any kind.
IMO the way to fix this is to eliminate the VATS completely. I know you're saying eliminating the anti theft system is stupid, and if someone could tell that you did this when they looked at your car, it would be! I doubt a car thief would randomly gamble on your factory anti theft system being disabled. It's a 1992 Camaro for god sake, a dime a dozen! If your car is that great that it attracts a lot of attention, then I would recommend getting an after market alarm professionally installed, like a viper alarm with a pager that signals you if your car is being tampered with, turning you and your handgun into the anti theft device!!
Anyways, this link is the "how to instructions" for this fix that cost me $.99 (yes, cents!) (http://www.thirdgen.org/vats_passkey_system) I love my car and I'm a Third Generation Camaro lover forever. The Fourth and new 2010 Camaros have changed the body styling so much that I think I'm jumping ship here and going with Dodge and the new Challenger. Its looks and power together do it for me, the new Camaro's body lines are so square that it looks like a Chrysler 300M or something along that line. Chevy fumbled on this one as far as I'm concerned!!
The engine in the 2010 is the best, but the cars styling and body lines have just changed too much for my liking.
Well that's my 3 cents worth.. any questions you can contact me, Gary @ cyber_macgyver2005@yahoo.com
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