KNIGHTE

My VIN is 1G2FW87H3FL645501 which from here...

http://www.transamworld.com/3genvins.php

tells me that my car is an Automatic

H = 305 ci V8 LG4 MFI w/AT (1985-1986)

Thats also the wrong engine. I have a 305 V8 4BBL.

Are VIN's sometimes just inaccurate?

I found this site which seems to list availability options

http://www.kultala.com/Mina%20fordon...generation.htm

and i can definitely see my motor combination there (5 items down in the 4th box)

1985 Z28 Trans Am M5,A4 LG4 V8 9.5:1 5.0 (305) 155@4200 245@2000 4bbl 3.23 ---- 3.08 --

I have no idea if that is accurate though, as its an old site.

JT

iTrader: (1)

Probably way less frequent than wrong information found online.

The characters in the VIN does not directly decode the transmission. Additionally, the LG4 VIN H was the 4BBL carburetor for your application.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

VINs are for all practical purposes NEVER inaccurate.

Parts get swapped into cars sometimes, which makes CARS inaccurate to their VINs.

VIN "decoders" such as you find on the Interwebz are NOTORIOULSY riddled with errors, whereas production line controls, emissions registration, fuel mileage taxes on vehicle producers, and other similar things are relatively airtight.

Your car is a 85. It is FAR older than the Internet. (or at least the www part of it) "Old" doesn't really matter too much in that context; somebody could have come along and posted that on the VERY FIRST DAY that it was possible to do so back in about 1994, and in spite of being over 20 years "old" now, it would be just as accurate today as it was then.

LG4 = the low-perf 305 4-bbl, which is of course what your VIN says you have.

The VIN doesn't directly contain the transmission, except to the extent that a particular motor or chassis was or wasn't available with a particular transmission. (e.g. in 85 the LB9 TPI 305 was only available with auto trans) But since the LG4 was available in your year with either the T-5 or the 700, I doubt there's anything "inaccurate" involved. You've got exactly .... what you've got.

KNIGHTE

Thanks, makes sense, i was thinking it had to be right, and it is much more likely that stuff was swapped INTO the car over that time :-)

84redta

iTrader: (34)

pull the shift plate and see if the transmission tunnel was hacked to make the opening and possibly have extra brackets that were trimmed that would show it was originally automatic. The way to identify things to a T, look for the vehicle SPID sticker, for your year, it would be in the center console, there will be a bunch of 3 digit codes that are called RPO codes, and that sticker will get you a clear picture of what the car came with from the factory as long as the Vin on the sticker matches the Vin on the car (if someone swapped center consoles in it's age). If that sticker isn't able to be seen, then pulling the shifter panel may give you some insight to see if someone took the time to swap transmissions.

okfoz

I would take what you find on other sites with a grain of salt, Around here we are always learning, but there is a wealth of information on our cars and we can usually get you the data you are looking for (if it is available)

John