When moving to el paso my cats came disconnected from my catback, needless to say my mid pipe dragged thru the snow on the road and completely packed all the way to the muffer. I have to drive over 150miles to get to some small town to the nearest mechanic, so i used the telephone cord from the hillbilly hotel we stayed in that night. When I bought the car the previous owner had and extension cord wired into the ground of the hatch motor all the way up to the fuse box so he could use his house amp to run home theater speakers in the car.

Ok, lol, I'm still finding things but here we go: I bought an 88 firebird formula from a guy a few years back. Before I start compaining, I will say that so far, the engine and TPI have worked wonderfully with no issues... Props to him (or whoever dropped the 350 in it.)

Now, upon a closer look, I've run into a few, well, weird things to say the least. The car was a little low, even for a firebird and the exhaust was hanging about an inch and a quarter from the ground. Well, I'm guessing that the PO wanted a low rider or wanted it to look like the tires were tucked nicely, so instead of getting a lowering kit or buying the right wheel/tire combo, he thought he'd just remove the shocks from the front end and toss them. ..... As for the exhaust pipe, not sure if he went to a crappy shop or just picked out the wrong exhaust tubing but the slight bend or elbow that makes the cat-converter tuck beside the tranny on the passenger side was about 2 inches shorter than it should have been. So instead of tucking, the exhaust just ran about an inch and a half below where it was supposed to all the way back and made his own brackets to hold it that low. (HOW INNOVATIVE!). When I go over speed bumps the cat-converter drags. Nothing turns heads in a parking lot like the sound of a scraping sports car. Following the exhaust back, I noticed that there was no muffler... I thought the car sounded a little mean.... Instead of purchasing a nice glass-pack muffler, he just got super huge exhaust pipe. nice. My local emissions office is going to love this. Following the exhaust toward the engine, I noticed a strange dent in the oil pan. Wait! I know that shape, Its the same shape that is on the top of a floor jack... NICE! at least it doesn't leak...

On a side note: I found a small set of sockets that had fallen behind the back seat! Score!

this thred will not die and its always great stuff

Not that I'm trying to call BS, but how could the car even drive without the struts.......without them, there's no way to control the wheels....that had to be one helluva interesting setup.

Nice score on the socket set- tools seem to be a common find in our cars!

I'll have to snap some pics of this but i'll try to describe it...

the previous owners (one of them, not sure which) must have stripped out the bosses in the subframe for the trans cross member. When i went to drop the trans out i found large cuts in the "frame". I had to fold the metal up to get to the bolts they had ran through to attach the cross member.


I'll also have to post pics of the exhaust system that was on it... LT headers, 2.25" pipes off them, Y'd into a single 2.25" pipe, then a weird Y pipe at the back. no mufflers, just some weird resonator tips.

Here is my current project. My 86 IROC had so much trash in it; I didn't know it didn't have a back seat! And when I get it cleared out; lookie here! The PO had needed to work on the fuel pump; so instead of dropping the tank - let's just cut right through to it!???

Wow, well crap that sucks. Nothing a little welding can't fix though. I have seen some really nice fabs for those doors, if you wanted to consider keeping it.

wow thats generous of him. he could have charged you out the *** lol. I think whoever had it before me was on crack or something. there are wires cut under the hood that i don't even know what they go to. they were just capped off hanging from the carb and other random places, only 2 of the 4 settings work for the air, the other ones don't do anything. the headliner was stapled to the ceiling, there is also an orange wire hanging from the under passenger side dash that i dont know what is for either but i think something plugs into it. oh yeah and i think there was a bent rim lol

I bought a dodge daytona in high school that had the clutch linkage held together with zip ties. The guy said it didn't shift right and that he was dumbfounded on what the problem was.

i found a 10m 15m 14m 13m 19m under the hood
7m 8m 9m in under the carpet
1/2 and 3/8 ratcheted in the spare tire well
just about everything you need to take the car apart
someone left a set of drivers in the back
with a pack of zip ties under the driver seat

i have my first tool set form this car hah

the PO couldn't get the hood to closes right so he took out the safely latch and the spring, the t-tops was silicone to hell he said it leaked like a river with it rained surprisingly there's no rust under the carpet, no sun visors and found a to do list under the dash he had big plans for this little car

Just removed these babies tonight...




also, here is where they cut holes in the subframe to run the bolts through the trans cross member.




crummy blackberry pics, my regular cam was dead.

Wow! That thing was really whistling Dixie!

SpeedracerX, either you don't know how the front suspension on 3rd gens is set up or you explained it incorrectly. The front struts on our cars must be mounted for the car to even sit on its wheels since there is no upper control arm.

I had wood screws all over the car holding interior trim pieces up and stuff. Would have preferred 3M double sided tape to wood screws. I mean cmon...

R those electric horns, or air powered horns?

Air, that's the compressor right behind them.


I'm going to see if they work tonight.. i'm sure my neighbors will be happy.

Are you going to sell it?

^^ Please don't. Go to www.hornblasters.com if your looking for a cool setup. Although if it's not in your price range then...go for it. That is, if you are indeed trying to get those horns from him, I wrote this in assumption that you want them.

I'll shoot some pics of mine so you can see it. The previous owner of my car did the same thing, but the dumb *** cut the hole over the gas tank with a cutting torch! He bent the crap out of the flap, welded it back into place, then slathered it in Bondo.

wait, so why did you remove the horns? id like a set of those bad boys, my neighbors would be so happy too. lol jk, all i can think of right now is dukes of hazard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULkHSlXzz-Q ...heres another cool one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mov3...eature=related

Who in their right $%@&$@* mind would use a TORCH cutter to cut directly above a GAS TANK! It is a pure miracle the fool wasn't blown sky high. I'm too nervous to even use a cutoff wheel to fab my access door for fear the sparks culd set something off.

Possibly..


Still need to test them first though. I'm not an air horn type of guy, i'm happy with the stock one(s).


I started to remove the neons from the car tonight, after that i'm going to attack the trailer hitch. I will be putting the hitch up for sale since it's in great shape.

The guy who owned the car before me was a retard. That's just one of the many dumb *** things I've seen done to the vehicle. I found deck screws drilled into the the metal which held the cardboard box in the rear storage compartment in place. I've found the most ghetto stereo wiring you've ever seen complete with home audio RCA cables. The guy hacked the crap out of the wiring harness to install stereo equipment as well as an alarm. He tried to install a steering wheel without the steering wheel puller and jacked up the steering column. All the bearings spilled out onto the floor. He tore the overly when installing the 160MPH Corvette speedo in the instrument cluster. When he installed the fiberglass hood, he failed to use weaker gas struts, so the fiberglass has cracked out.

So his solution? Big bolts and some deck screws. I pulled out 3 different screws and bolts when I removed the hood. The car sat so long that the oil in the engine separated. So when I drained it all I saw was murky water, then a sludge like substance that looked very much like snot. The speakers in the dash pad were simply set in place. They weren't screwed in at all. All the jacking points were crushed. I've found bolts or screws simply shot into the body of the car for seemingly no apparent reason. Oddly, aside from the deck area of the trunk, there is no Bondo anywhere in the car. That's the one thing the guy didn't seem to do. It had 4 different wheels on it when I got it. Basically I bought the car as a parts car, then decided to restore it. One good thing about it is the Recaro seats that came with it. They aren't in perfect shape but they are in damned good shape for the most part. They didn't originally come with the car. He installed them after he got the car. He pulled them out of another third gen. They appear to be 1982-1984 Recaros.

Somehow the moron managed to run over something and he dented the crap out of various points all over the floor pans. Oh, the gas tank isn't where it should be. Its fallen down and halfway torn off the filler neck. This car is a HUGE piece of crap. But it won't be when I'm done. I felt bad for the car and decided to give it a new lease on life.

87WS6, it sounds like that car would gladly take a bullet and end its misery. Best of luck, you should post some pics of the biggest offenders.

The air horns work!

had to take apart the pump and clean it all out then lube up the gears. I might just have to put them back in the car...

Did he run over something, or did he blow up a tranny or two?

Out of lost hope, I drilled 2 screws to mount the rear cargo cover right at the hinges I tried hitting the junkyards to find a good panel that already has the door/hinge in good condition but no dice. Does anyone have a custom hinge that makes theirs look decent?

lol, usually if you run over something you would dent the oil pan(i hit a dead dog on the highway lol, only damage was a dent in the oil pan and my shifter linkage was jammed with fur and guts) or break a sway bar or end links(if they are old and rusted to hell), sounds like he blew a tranny lol

WOW alot of hack jobs.

My 89 rs had hackjob wiring, the fuel pump outhouse hole( they covered it up with the carpet and did the one line fuel line deal . The real dosey was all but one of the transmission mount bolts were broke off, i am sure there is more but havent found it yet.

I found my fuel pump relay power wire "jumped" off of my coil! Also on the passenger side there are a bunch of red (assumed hot leads) wires connected in a wire nut. Wouldnt it be nice if there was a way (by vin maybe) to trace the PO's to just get some info about whats going on!!!

GOOD= PO decided to take the 4 Cylinder out and put in a V8 All Rebuilt. Atleast from what I understand he is good at motor work.

BAD = Lets pull every wire even the ones that have no association with the engine.

He pulled the entire wiring harness out and through it in a bin... Not to mention every plug was a friggin mess. He totally butchered the whole setup. He then decided to pull all the wiring from under the dash. Hacked it up so bad I couldn't tell where it ended or started. After 3 straight days of trying to figure out where all this crap went I finally just said F**K it and yanked everything out. Bought myself a wiring harness, and I am in the process of rewiring the entire car. I am sure some of you have seen my posts about hey what is this plug, or wire...

I seriously just had enough of all the hack work so I took out the entire interior wires and all. Broke the dash really bad in the process because some Dip Sh*t had JB welded the drivers side down where I couldn't see it. Gave it a yank because I thought I had all the bolts loose and SNAP!!!! Ugh was I ever mad. So now I will have a completely custom dash. Which I am also in the process of doing. But alteast the body is really solid.

I also got a couple of 2x4's which are for holding up the trunk and hood...

Wish me Luck!

Here is the torch cut rear deck area I was talking about. This is after he "fixed" it.

that sucks, but rooney428 clearly wins! his looks like a wolf chewed it open

Its worse in person. You can't see all the distortion of the entire section of metal from the picture. Plus he covered up the bulk of the welding marks with Bondo. While roony428 may win in the grizzly looks department, it isn't nearly as stupid as what the previous owner of my car did.

Cutting over the gas tank with a torch is just ****ing stupid.

was it a 2.8 6 cyl, or a true Iron duke 4 banger, if it was a true 4 banger, i would have rather had that, Iron Duke thirdgens aren't common

Everyone says that but I used to see a **** ton of them in the junk yards. As far as surviving cars go, that may be another story.

Nope no Iron Duke... Thanks for the reply

Haven't been paying much attention to this thread, but this caught my attention.

You mean that my crudded up, barely running, constantly overheating 2.8 auto wasn't the only 2.8 in the country that the PO had a trailer hitch on? Did he notch the bumper cover around the hitch and leave the trailer wiring harness as well, like mine did? I was so when I saw that, before I found out that neither bumper cover is factory... I keep wondering if that's what killed the TCC in the transmission.

i've never seen one with a factory 4cyl in it, ive seen one in a junkyard with a 4cyl but it was a re-manufactured engine, but yes i think its more of the 4cyl survivor type thing

so it was a 6 cyl?

I'm not real sure.. He had the motor changed in it already when I bought the car... I paid 250.00 bucks for the car... I thought 250.00 for a car where the body is in excellent shape... Well then hell yes! I'll deal with the hack job on the wiring.

Yeah mine has hacked up wiring as well. Mostly in the engine bay and in the radio pod. Of course mine has body damage and rust that goes through the floor pans in a few spots. However, with that said the good thing is that the body damage is all located in areas of the car you would never see if covered up by the interior, ground effects, etc. I'm fixing these things because the rust only gets worse, never better, and because I know the damage is there.

Sorry to hear about the rust man. I don't miss that at all. I am originally from Ohio, and that is what killed my old Trans Am. Tried to stop it but there was no saving it. I live in North Carolina now, which is where the car I have now is from... Thank God for that. Much easier to find non rust vehicles here.

Best of Luck man!

lol just sounds funny idk

Old picture of summer 09, Car looks way diff now, no rust is visible! Needs paint though

Haha look closely at the door graphics, See whats very screwed there? (Sorry had to!)

Another would be a shirt in the back trunk area covering a rust hole

I dont know know why I found it funny, more work for me to fix. God dammit.

Thats odd Aftermarket rear wheel, OEM rim, Rally Sport ground effects. Nice. It's all good though.

The car was in a crash with the previous owner and He replaced the front end, and put on the chicken rim since I am guessing the rim got bent up. He included the spacer and cap from the vette wheel. I have the rim in the garage, Just waiting to get new front tires to slap it on but yea its 3 Waggon wheels and 1 chicken wheel. As for the graphics He also decided not go get a hold of the clips and just screwed in some what look like drywall screws.

Its all good though, nothing is impossible with some fixing time.

Now I see the issue. I didnt see the screws but now I do. That sucks.

I used 3 phonebooks as a seat in my 92 bird when i was removing the interior

my car: so far there were custom glow gauges that were grounded by loosely wrapping the ground around metal near the fuse box that caused my headlights to flash. (fixed with speaker wire leading to a ground location under hood) 2 hockey puck style air fresheners inside my center cabin vents, 2 pcv valves installed (man I felt like dumb **** after i replaced them both and found out there was only supposed to be 1) and I'm going to see if he messed up my headlight wiring when he replaced them because my high beams come on very dimly when the low beams are on and don't work when high is on. Oh and he didn't really do anything but the kid had the car on craigslist as a Z28 and had a picture of the rs emblem in his post, but the L98 too. Said he didn't know what was wrong with it because he didn't work on cars. asking $1700. After confirming the l98 and idaho department of law enforcement sticker I talked about how royally f'ed up the car was (really not bad besides above) and brought him down to 1300. ran some fuel injector cleaner through it and the problem he noticed is almost gone.

does tearing the smog stuff off count? he did that too and I have to pay to fix it

my d-bag ex room mate found a heroine or crack injection kit in his quarter panel. complete with rusty spoon syringes and lighter.

I found tons of stuff like that in my 86 when I bought it 12 years ago.

I had household wiring from what looked like a lamp running to the speakers. Not speaker wire, lamp wire. Also had a piece of 14/2 running to the brake lights.

Stereo was duct taped to the console under the cover plate.

wiring harness was at one point was cut and spliced back in near the firewall with wire nuts.

Exhaust had a piece of sheet metal riveted over the hole that rusted in it before the muffler.

also found a 2x4 in the cargo compartment to hold the spare (that was worn through to the cord with a hole in it) in place.

half of the ground effects were installed with double sided tape.

Found an old license from 1988 in the car when I tore it down to rebuild in 2001. The guy was definitely not the smartest looking dude, complete with a mul let
Why is mul let a bad word on here? lol