Below is a picture of my current project I hope to have on the road by summers end. I bought it this past fall for $250. It had been sitting in a garage for 10 years. The owner had lost the keys and lost interest in the car. He wanted it out of the space in a hurry, so I oblidged when I heard the asking price. Its an 87 Sunbird SE convertible with 2.0 and automatic transmission. I think the rpo sticker codes out with 3.43 gears and WS6 sport suspension. The car needed a fuel pump to get it running. It had a sticky hydraulic compensator and worn cam follower, so those were taken care of. I also replaced the water pump, timing belt and serpentine belt. Today I put on the Sunbird GT rear spoiler I scored off of ebay. Last night I put pills in the headlight motor to get it working again. I also put new rear shocks on it today too.

Hmmm....that picture didn't post. Maybe this one will of my J-body convertible collection I gathered up in 3 months time this past for a grand total of $1,350.
The blue Sunbird I am currently working on is on the left. It was only $250
The white 89 Z24 was $475
and the blue 89 Z24 was $600


As found....





After a quick bath showing potential of summer fun going topless!


You saw the good and ugly, now for the bad....the big bad dent in the rear quarter behind the door.

Very nice catch Bill!!

Surprising it doesn't have the Turbo, but that'll make life a lot less complicated as you go about the repairs/restro.

Just curious when you replaced the hydraulic compensator and cam follower if you pulled the cam carrier or used the special tool.
Factory recommends pulling the head and replacing the head gasket and head bolts if cam carrier is removed.
Legend has it these engines are zero tolerance, although I've never read anything to testify to that in the Factory Manuals.

Isn't amazing how a dent can just ruin interest in a car, especially a nice one like this. Might take time and money, but dents can be fixed.

Also how does things look down under? I hear the Verts suffer from the rotworm rather harshly underneath. Seen some really horror stories on here. Such a shame too, some of them looked gorgeous all around.

More owners working on more 1st gens!! ***SUPER*** Looks like it gonna be a wonderful year here on J-Body


Keep up the good work, Love the photos!



...........................................................................*FRENK

That not a dent its a creator. Don't worry all the good js have one.




On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.

Nothing a gallon of body filler can't fill (;




On the inside my car looks like a fighter jet.

Cool cars you have.That blue bird has potential and in time you can fix all the things on it.Man that thing was def dirty.Tired long day trucking for me so short it is.I like your j stuff.

Orlen Brown wrote:Very nice catch Bill!!

Surprising it doesn't have the Turbo, but that'll make life a lot less complicated as you go about the repairs/restro.

Just curious when you replaced the hydraulic compensator and cam follower if you pulled the cam carrier or used the special tool.
Factory recommends pulling the head and replacing the head gasket and head bolts if cam carrier is removed.
Legend has it these engines are zero tolerance, although I've never read anything to testify to that in the Factory Manuals.

Thanks for the comments guys,

Orlen I used the special Kent Moore spring compressor tool to replace the cam follower and hydraulic compensator. I originally bought head bolts and thought I would have to take off the cam carrier which I wasn't too enthused about disturbing the head gasket which had been replace 50K ago before I bought the car. Which by the way, the car came with $6,600 dollars worth of receipts to showing its history of care of maintenance. Anyway, on a whim, I did an ebay search for the kent moore tool number found the lever part of the spring compressor for $17 with shipping which I figured my dad and I could make, but knew that even though the tool would probably used only once, it was much more appealing since we didn't have to engineer the tool before making it, so I sprung and bought it. Then I copied a ton of picts of the fixture base and my dad made that part to fit the car with having to take off the alternator because at that time, I didn't know how laborious that task was. I sure am glad I spent the money to buy the kent moore spring compressor, rather than have to take off the cam carrier. It was well worth the redirected route by saving time and not disturbing the replaced head gasket work done which was not leaking. I also bought a well used timing belt tension gauge off of ebay for $17 with shipping. So even though I have $35 invested in tools I think I will probably only use once in my lifetime, I figure that's about the same investment as having a mechanic do the job, but now I own the tools and like being in control of my own destiny. Besides, I figure this way I can help out a friend or be able to redo the job again if need be some day. A technical note. I had a difficult time getting the compensator out of the hole, so dad made a tool to help with that. He bent a piece of metal into a 90 degree "L" shape, then cut a big slot in the end that slides under the bulb / head of the compensator so that the compensator could be lifted up out of the bore hole much easier with more leverage and grip. It worked super slick. I love working my dad.....he is the best tool in this boys toy box. My dad is 64 and I am 43. Working with him is a great way to spend my Saturdays.

Anyway, I would recommend investing the kent moore spring compressor tools if they can be purchased for the same or cheaper price than a mechanics time. The job takes time and patience to get the compensator out and get the button the cam follower rides in all aligned properly, but I did the job in a few hours and was so glad I avoided the issue of antifreeze mess everywhere and the cost of a head gasket and then there is the task of tearing the end of the motor all apart to take off the timing belt which I would avoid if I had the choice. Now I just replaced the timing belt 3 weeks ago and the water pump to since that job only cost me $28 for the timing belt, water pump, new water pump bolts and power steering fluid. Definitely buy the spring compressor tools to avoid the other tear down hassles and maintenance costs unless they are planned in your future anyway. Just my opinion and insight.


As for the big dent. I will have to post picts how that got smoothed out soon. Dad and I didn't have to put a single hole in the car or do any welding to get it to the point it will only take a moderate skimming of putty, but considering it was a crater, I know we did a surprisingly super job of moving the metal back into place and getting the door jam to go back into place too. I bought a $100 harbor freight stud gun which helped at the end of the repair, but we moved most of the metal into place with a long digging iron for leverage.

The cars have no rot in the bottom. The sunbird has the most rot of the 3, but is the nicest in the bottom. The bird has a spot of cancer around the wheel about 4" long on the drivers side by the big dent. The drivers door bottom is rotted out because when the water ran inside the door, it could not get out the drain holes due to some extra rust coating sprayed in it years ago which dried up, cracked in the middle to have the water lay in the crack and rot the door bottom because it could not escape. The skin is the best of the 3 cars. The converts have sweet bottoms and not rot at all. They just have super creased driver door skin lower halves and large dents around the cars. The white Z, appears to have sat the longest in a damp area with flaky rust on tubing and tubing fittings which makes me cringe thinking of how the brake job is going to probably turn into a task of replacing metal brake lines and fuel lines too. Some day I would like that car to be a triple black car with silver skirting.


thanks for the interest and hope to keep updating

Looks like you got some good cheap j bodys there Bill. Like you I got this brown 84 Cavalier vert for $250 back in 2010. The middle picture was taken in the previous owners driveway before the tow truck picked it up. I was planning on using it for a parts car for my blue 84 Cavalier Convertible. But it was just in too good of shape to cut it up, so now the restoration is on. Like yours the brown one did not run and all it took was a $23 coil and it started right up and runs great. It also has a dent in the right rear quarter, similar to yours. I have pulled it out slightly and plan on getting the car painted this summer if I can find the time. I scored a pair of rust free vert doors from Ron and will be replacing those soon. I also plan on doing a manual trans swap and have been accumulating the parts one by one, because I cannot find a cheap donor car to purchase. As you can see in the bottom picture I did replace the top and did it myself. Came out pretty good (it was practice for the blue one), but not perfect, but hey the car is not a $25,000 trailer queen. Good luck with your car and feel free to ask questions here as there are allot of good guys here with a lot of information.

John

Thanks for the info Bill!!

I also have the Kent Moore Tool, picked mine up on EBay. Came with both the 1.8 and the 2.0 valve compressor feet. Like you, I didn't want to mess up my Head Gasket. The car is 29 years old and the rest of the engine is sweet, so why mess up a good thing. I'm very glad to have come across someone that has been in there where I'll be going soon. Good confidence builder!



Just assumed I have a bad cam, but now you got me rethinking and rather curious what just might be the source of my ticking. I'm planning on replacing all the compensators while I'm in there anyways. Question - did you need to pump up the compensators before installing them or were they ready to go out of the box? I'd Love to see your home made extractor tool I bet that is awesome!! :-)

Hold on to those tools,Bill!! Sounds like the way your luck is running, you might run into another J-Body or 2 down the path. Firenzas and Skyhawks both have the Brazil Engine. Cimarrons came only with the OHV 4 and V-6. There are a lot of Factory Service Manuals out there on EBay very reasonably priced too. Paul94Z28 got me started on them and now I just get one instead of buying the ones at AutoZone. AutoZone wants nearly $27 for one of their books nowadays......I remember when they sold for 10 bucks. 84 Conv did a Wonderful job retopping his Verts he has some good photos on here of his adventure. Ron Love - if he can't find it, I'll bet you dimes to dough nuts he can help you get one - he is a regular here and knows Geegobs about the J's. Paul94Z28 knows his stuff about the Brazil Engines - and is deep this winter into his own Blown Vert Bird. Just a great bunch of folks here! We gonna have to try and get Paul & Ron an extra J or 2. Ron probably got enough parts to put a couple together in his garage!!

I Love your story of you and your Dad working together!! Take lots of photos and Videos of your time together when you can. You will cherish them more than you can ever imagine many years down the road. I have a couple of photos of changing some brakes on my Old Man's car together 22 years ago - he passed away when I was just 28 and I cherish those photos!!



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Thanks orlen for the vote of confidence in finding stuff.I certainly do enjoy hunting and guess my luck has found some pretty solid stuff.I may plan a trip this wk to my fav yard time pending looking for some things.And bill if you do need something specific just ask as I do check my places on a general time frame so it does not get squashed before I can get what I want.Long day as normal and winding down geez the traffic was loco today for some reason.Guess early spring travels idk.

Decided to try and get serious about the Blue Bird project today by tearing out the interior to reveal the floor pans. WOW....they were even better than ones I took out of the GT and put in my friends Z24 convertible. I also began to run the wires to the trunk to try and install a remote trunk release and trunk light.

Today I am to meet my Dad for breakfast and afterward work to replace the drivers side door bottom. Once that is done, then I can put the window track parts back in the door, strip the paint and paint the door edges silver in preparation for two toning the car silver with a blue top done in the same paint scheme as the GT cars, but instead with Dark Sapphire Blue, rather than black. I like the oddity and look of the blue convertible top and don't want to repaint the inside the trunk and under the hood. Besides, I think the different color combination will have it stand apart from her black and silver cousins. After that, the new hinge bushings and pins can be installed so the door can be put back on the car. With some luck, that will be done by this time next week.

Almost have my driver side door bottom cancer cut out and replaced. I have one section to complete. I have also painted my floor pans with black rustoleum. I replaced the only cancer in the body which was a small spot around the drivers wheel well. Most of the body putty will be covered by the GT fender flare. I have the drivers side quarter panel and deck lid stripped of paint. I am working to strip the steel for now and will decide if I want to strip the bumpers once the steel is stripped.

Can't wait to get it painted since that is the least amount of work I have to get done this summer so I can finish putting the car together this fall if needed.

Hope all is moving along well with your project and cruising.