Awesome! As long as the floors and rear trailing arms are solid it'll be a great project for him, simple to work on, still easy to get parts cheap, tons of aftermarket support, and it's just a great looking car. I always loved the late 3rd gen RS's with the color matched versions of the 15" z28 wheels, and white works best.
The fuel pump trap door is a super common thing to do. Fortunately (I think) for me, both of my 3rd gen cars are carbureted, so they've got the old mechanical pump mounted on the block....15 minute swap. Those electric in-tank pumps are probably the single most common reason these cars get parked, I think it's a good 4+ hour job to drop the tank and change the pump...Plus a couple hundred for the pump, that was out of budget for a lot of 3rd gen Camaro owners in the early 2000s when the cars themselves were only worth a couple grand.
My 84 has 322K on it now on the original 2bbl 2.8L, the carb hasn't even ever been off the engine. Thing still runs and drives like new...I drove it yesterday for the first time in about six weeks. I think the people who have had bad luck with the 2.8L's either neglect them, beat on them, or both. Maintain it, don't drive it like it's a race car, and it'll run forever.
