Hey this is my first post on these forums. I'm coming from the GameFAQs Car and Truck forums which are a bit trite. Hopefully I can get a bit more advice and help here.

Anyways I just graduated from high school and my parents said that for a grad present that they would buy me a cheap project car. I've been looking around for a few months and I've found that here in West Texas (where I live) theres alot of old 2nd and 3rd gen Camaros for sale, many of them under 3k. I have about a $2,000 budget to start with here, so I figure I'll have to settle for a Camaro.

I've come across this one:

http://abilene.craigslist.org/car/705145807.html

Just about what I'm looking for. I'm kinda going to work toward a plain jane street rod, since this is my first project. I want to learn as much as I can from this. I already know quite a bit from auto tech at school and helping my buddy out on his '74 Ramcharger, but I want to expand my knowledge and I guess getting my very own project is the best way.

So what do you guys think? Good first project or not?

I would say so. Depends on what you want out of the car when its done(by the way, they are never done). The 82 is dog. I am guessing you want to do a engine swap at some point. Are you a stick guy or can you put up an auto?
Keep this is mind when building anything with wheel and engines, it always costs more than you think it will. I am glad that there are young guys out there that want American Power instead of 4banger ricers shitboxes. I helped a friend of mine put an 85' IROC together about a year ago. Jimmy and I both learned that the TPI TBI and Crossfire all suck ass. It is cheaper and easier to throw it in the trash and buy an aftermarket system. Let me know what you want to do with the car and how much you want to spend, at 1st and I can be more help.

Yeah, I really don't want to mess with the 305, so I'll probably swap for a good crate 350. Any good suggestions on a good crate motor?

Also, I would prefer for it to be a standard. My current truck is a standard, and I have enjoyed driving it for the past 2 years. Any good suggestions on a transmission?

Like I said, I want a pretty basic street rod. Nothing too complicated, since this is my first. I'm not looking for a 500 hp devil-wagon, just a simple modest rod.

I'm probably going to remove the A/C and some of the extraneous luxuries so I can focus more on other aspects of the car. I'd like to stick to carbed engines instead of FI ones, because I have little to no experience with carbs and I want to learn more.

Don't remove the air...lol,you will come to enjoy creature comforts once the engine hits the 450 horsepower mark..they put off heat something fierce at that level.

If you remove the AC, consider a centrifugal Supercharger.

Low boost Centrifugals can be added with little modification to internals, and give you a nice increase for the amount of work you have to put in.