rkerr

Hey Guys,
I'm a pretty young guy and I don't know too much about 3rd generation Camaros, Trans Ams, or Firebirds but the style of these cars has always caught my eye. I'm thinking about buying one in the next year or so once I've got a bit of money put away in the bank. I justed wanted to know somethings I should look out for when considering to buy this type of car. Is there any specific areas where these cars tend to rot? Do they have any other common problems? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Richard

NomadTA

iTrader: (1)

My son and I are learning quickly on buying 3rd gens. Three cars so far.

If the car has been winter driven and is from ON then it's likely a rust bucket. The 85 we got has a rusted driver side A post, I've seen others with bad posts too. The 85 also has a bad driver side floor and it started behind the wheel well. Remove the plastic filler panel behind the front wheel to see this area. Rockers also go. Also crud gets trapped up in the front mount of the rear suspension arms and eats through to the interior. Bottom of the trunk well will also rust.

My R7U is mint, no rust anywhere. The 85 is not worth rebuilding. Just got an 89 from the US which so far looks very clean with only some minor surface rust.

Hope this helps.

Steve

zedder 1 9 9 0

If you are looking at a 3rd gen, you should be mechanically inclined or at the very least have a family member or good friend that is. The newest 3rd gen F body is now 14 years old(most cars that age are in the junkyard or have been recycled). The best piece of advice I can give you is save your money for the right car, if you want a good one you are gonna have to spend some bux. There's some great info about rust in the post above. The southern US is probably a great place to look for one as they appear to be quite cheap in that market and rust is less of a concern down there. A good rust free example up here is probably in the area of at least $7, 000.00 + give or take.If you are looking at a 88- 92 TPI, one of the things to check out are the fuel injectors, there is a procedure on this site for checking them out with an ohm meter(hot and cold), another typical problem is an intake gasket leak. These are one of the better cars to come out of the 80's. Reliability is pretty good over all, and most parts are relatively inexpensive compared to newer cars.

NomadTA

iTrader: (1)

As a further not I would say that the body & structural steel is the most important part of these cars to consider when buying one. You can't easily buy all the replacement panels that you can for 1st & 2nd's. A floor for a 3rd will cost you ~400$ for a replacement part.

I would consider the drivetrain to be a ways down the list of items I'm concerned about. Junkyards have bucketloads of SBC's and auto's that'll go in a 3rd gen, but as zedder says it depends on your abilities. They still need fixing at times and while they have a low cost of entry if you want a "new" vehicle you'll spend big. If you want a nice clean driver you can get away with something pretty good for not a whole lot of money compared to what else you can buy as a kid.

The 85 was bought for my son & I to work on (he's 15) but turned out to be more work than it was worth so we just picked up an 89 for 2k$. It's pretty much rust free (so far in the investigation), runs, shifts, ttops, musty interior. If you watch for deals you'll find them.

Steve

90_T/AGTA

i have to agree when i bought my 90 t/a it looked real nice from tthe outside till i took the interior out