I don't know if anyone has mentioned it.. but um.. THE DASH PAD!! I hate the fact that it has been replaced twice in its lifetime and is up to its third one!! Might be 20 of us left with good dash pads, and 100 bux everytime?!?!?! FUNK THAT!!

 

I find that when I turn to wide, I give a lil tap on the gas, let the tires break traction and accomodate for the space I need.

 

I've got 2 dash pads, both in perfect cond. 1 in the car and the other in the garage waiting for its time

 

I hate/envy you man... I've been searching for a dash pad for a year now and every one I find is like $150! How could I forget the dash pad!?!

 

yeah luckly my dash is in original mint condition....pretty much same thing with my interior.......guess thats an up side from buyin it off a chick

 

Heh...I think I'm one of the only ones who has never had a problem with my dash pad! The original one is still there, no fade or cracks. And the car is black, interior black, pad black, etc...you'd think with the heat that builds up in that oven in the summer, it woulda cracked by now!

 

diddo, bought mine off of a woman that babied it, original owner too

 

whats RWHP??? and the squeeks and rattles when you hit a certain speed is probably just resonating. i think.

i hate it when i am changing a fuse or something and i get up to fast and hit that DAMN CORNER THAT MEETS THE DOOR ON THE DASH!!! that piece HURTS!

ihate how slow the power windows are.

i also hate how far you have to push the shift **** to get it into gear.

AND i also hate how the guy that owned the car before me didnt paint the door jams or under the hood. he painted it a sky blue, but before it was almost a navy ish blue. ****er.

 

I hate:

No cup holders
Distributer too far back in the engine compartment
Small back seats
crappy factory rims
no hatch space
Handbrake forever coming apart
MPFI 2.8 gets lower gas mileage than the carb 2.8 (less than 1/2)
vinyl comes off
Back window is $1800 to replace
no where to mount my amps without removing spare tire
UNIBODY CONSTRUCTION
exhaust rattles (only rattle on mine though)


I still think this is one of the best cars ever built. Ive owned an 84 and an 85, excellent cars!!!

Harsh ride? My 85 Firebird rides smoother than my parents 1991 park avenue. Handles great, and can be plowed through a 5 foot wide snow bank without even a scratch.

Speed wise these cars are great. I had my 84 up to 220 KM/H. Verified with a friends porsche.

 

Thats all fine and dandy except for 1 maybe two things. First I have an open differential, so without some slick conditions, or bald tires that aint happening. Two i have the 16X8 85-87 Iroc wheels on it so that means any chance it might of had is pretty much gone. Oh and a third, it's and RS. That means the best i could get (with out the B4C police package 350tpi) is the 305 tbi at 170hp and 255ftlbs. 2.73 gears baby, great for cruiseing at 85-100mph through southern illinoise, not real great for stop and go accel.

 

Same here. Most of my interior looks 8 years younger than the body. I'm surprised my headliner looks so good - not a single sag.

 

I agree with everything said, but the good things is it can all be repaired/fixed with new or performance parts. A couple things that can't.

1) The ugly steering wheel.
2) The lack of air to my intake system.
Can't work on engine unless engine half way taken apart. (just put headers on)
3) Wipers too d@mn slow.
4) Hatch (or something back there) only squeaks while trying to have a converstation with someone in my car. Or if a girl is in the car it goes nuts and make the most amount of noise. Yet you still cannot find it.
5) The WT (white trash) thing. The fact it was in the first post means that it is thought about.
6) Rough idle that no matter what I do cannot be fixed.
7) MAF code 34 to SES light!!!! <--- DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE

Can you tell which one gives me more trouble?
That is pretty much it. I love this thing, but it does have it's times.

 

ok ill add my dislikes here:
crappy design of the rear speaker location
windows never seal around weatherstripping and make that *** awful wind noise.
getting a jack under the right side near the cats is damn near impossible.
front marker lights look dull

doors rub the ground effects and scratch the paint
hood and hatch pistons never work
the heat that comes up from the shifter area can cook an egg in the summer
you gotta break out the fist to get the hood open

BUT I still love my car till death do us part.

 

I do not like the fact that the more money I dump into it, the more things I find to dump even more money into. I have spent enough on my 91 Camaro to put an extremely healthy down payment on something like a Ferrari !

 

Are they not for girls though?

 

A Ferrari is for girls, yeah..... picking up the girls.. ! I only used that brand as an example. I could think of many other cars I would purchase before an exotic like that. A Copo Camaro does more for me than they do.

 

There's nothing else to say except ZL1

 

ZL1.. Oh-yeah !:hail: That is far better in my book than any exotic. They just have a style that the fancy cars don't..

 

What I don't love about my Thirdgen:

1) How every time I pull up next to someone, they automatically think I want to race them

2)Lack of cupholders, and how most cupholders you buy won't fit around the sheer bulk of the doors

3)How the side panels on the doors crack, and the doors sag and creak

4)How those stupid plastic triangular window things pull out and when you try to push them back in, they never line up right the first try...

5)How no matter what you do, you can never see a D*MN thing out of the hatch in the morning! (Haze)

6)Cheap interior trim

7)How if you try to take those stupid Torx screws out of the interior trim panels, the plastic is so old that it cracks and splits

8)That stupid furry material

9)The harshest ride I've ever felt in ANY car....I'm just glad I have a strong stomach when it's me driving

10)How EVERYTHING squeaks, squeals, rattles, and vibrates..and I do mean EVERYTHING

11)Poor headlights....and how long it takes me to replace them. And how complicated those freakin assemblies are..to replace just ONE complete high beam assembly...including the springs, screws, clips, retainer, all of it...hour and a half.

12)Stock, non-rebuilt 700-R4 automatic....do I really need to say more?

13)The air dam...sure, it works...but everyone laughs at me everytime I take an incline.

14)How low the front ground fx lip is

15)How the cheap plastic grille is easily deformed and becomes brittle and cracks with age

16)How one of the smallest V6's produced is the base model engine

17)How some even got 4 cylinders....that's just wrong....

18)How GM decided they make every commonly replaced/repaired part on the car in the most inaccessible place possible with the most CRAP piled in front of it as possible

19)How you have to take off either your EGR or your Alternator to pull a spark plug

20)How everyone thinks your car is so great and cool until they see the RS and go 'oh, nevermind'

21)No glove compartment

22)How pathetically tiny the center console is

23)How, instead of like a normal auto shifter that keeps even height moving back, ours RECEDES into the plating, therefore making putting a cool anondized auto shift **** on impossible without breaking the shift plate in half

24)How weak the dome light is

25)Traction when you want tirespin....tirespin when you want traction

That's all I have for now!! Maybe I'm a TAD picky......... But hey, I still like my car. You know it's love when you know all of the things wrong with it but still accept it.... It's my prized possession. That and it's the only thing I own that's worth more than a few hundred bucks!

 

Wow... I thought I was picky... Just kidding, I hear you on many of those examples...

 

Things that suck about our car? Well everyone has pretty much hit the big stuff.

Things I hate:

1. The thing creeks like someone banging on a hotel bed. ( I just discovered how bad the car sqeaks in the last few thousand miles actually).

2. Massive Trunk

3. L03's get 170 HP at the flywheel. I told my best friend this the other day and the jerk wont stop laughing. Least I didn't mention at-the-wheel HP.

4. Terrible gears and a sloppy Transmission.

5. No cup holders, Ugg..,

6. And the worst thing..... A constant money trap. Constant repairs. Barely any modifications!

Repairs needed (All discovered in the last month):

1. Sqeaky front axel (embarassing).
2. Third brake light still broken.
3. Front turn signal doesn't blink.
4. I think the brakes are shot.

But I still love my car.

92' RS

 

Even with all of my gripes, I love the damn thing, and wouldn't trade it for anything. I's the reason i get up in the morning and go to work, and the reason i come home at night. I couldn't list all of the meaningless little gripes.

 

I dont like the fact that my radiator has just gone...grrrrr

 

I blew my radiator open the very first day I took her for a drive. How about that huh? Over $200 to a repair shop in the first day. That's gotta be a bad omen. And Death, you wanna talk about an embarassing thing..try driving around with a water pump on its way out. Strange enough, it isn't leaking..but it's either making this tinny scraping noise, or the majority of the time, a high pitched chirp/squeal..like someone choking a parakeet.......

 

i hate the leaky t-tops. i will never get t-tops again.

 

I used to want t-tops...but after everything I've heard...I'm quite happy with my plain jane hardtop!

 

T TOP'S RULE!!!!

 

I dont think I could stand all that extra wind to use them....or the extra possibilities of air leaks, etc. I rode in a T/A doing about 80 mph or so on the interstate, with windows down and t-tops off...the dude couldn't hear anything I said, my hair was flapping everywhere despite my Level 400 hold gel, and I'm SURE the skin on my face was pressed back but I couldn't tell...........

 

I do like that a local rad shop is going to re build the rad for £35 ($50)

I dont like the fact that they cant do it until mon 30th Dec, so i'm without my thirdgen for 6 days.....

I do like the fact that this will save me a fortune in chritmass boredom cruising petrol...

 

That is what a good stereo is for. Anything over 100mph will actually hurt your ears!!!

 

If your having problems with leaky / noisy t tops, take a look at your seals / catches.

I always wanted t's so when the car i bought came up i was well chuffed , despite people telling me that i wouldn't keep a t top car for more than a year.

First time my mate rode in it he had to look up to see there were t's on the car, coz they were so quiet.

In the 15 months i have owned the car the tops have only leaked 1 drop once, and that was in rain so heavy it was setting car alarms off, and making driving above 10mph impossible.

A lot of people found leaky sunroofs they didnt know they had that day!

 

I had seriously considered an aftermarket T top setup for my car. T tops just look awesome. But after all that I have read about leaks and such, I am kinda glad I didn't go that route.

 

T - tops do look good, but I would not put aftermarket ones in. That U shaped seal always develops leaks some time down the road. It is not the tightest seal in the world especially in the area where the sides of the T- tops meet the side window. My car did not have T - tops. It would have been nice, but it's not a big deal for me.

 

All-though there are many things that dissapoint me in the f-bodies i've had, and the formula i got

the #1 thing that i do not like is..............The fear of getting hit by another un-aware driver. All the things mentioned don't come close to the loss of a loved and honored f-body.

I can deal with everything else.

 

Yes Yes, a water pump on the way out is bad (Ive had that problem for a long time, your not the only one ). But I just finished jacking up da car and ripped out off the wheel to discover I need new bearings and maybe new brakes. Oh well, I guess I now have PLENTY for Jimmy my mechanic to do this weekend.

92 RS
"In pieces"

 

1. Leaky T-Tops - Spent over $500 on seals, sealers, and they still leak like a bitch.
2. Creaks, Rattles, Squeaks
3. RUST!!! - Car was reapinted before i bought it, washed it once a month, waxed it, now i have rust spots, so i say *** it
4. Ride quality is good, cornering sucks
5. Hood never pops open
6. Driver door needs to be slamed really hard to close, door needs to be open for the window to go all the way up.
7. Headliner fell apart again
8. Engine has a weird idle
9. Tranny is really really sloppy
10. Digital Dash doesn't work half the time
11. POS wing - cracks, falls apart
12. Cop magnet - speeding behind a Neon, and in front of a Civic, i get pulled over!
13 Money pit - cost $2,700 and $5,000 to maintain over the next 2 years, only $1,000 went to stero and headers, and atleast $30 a week for gas and close to $2,000 for insurance yearly.

I agree with everyone else's complaints but i don't see what the big deal is with the cupholders. If you have a nice car, don't drink in it, if it's a pos, who gives a *** if u spill somethin

Now i wanna sell it even more

Dave


And that MF'in coolant leak, where the *** does it come from????

 

My cornering is just fine! Mine's got 105,000 miles on all stock suspension, except the rear has unlabeled, bright red shocks that are stiff as hell....and it handles awesome! I took a sharp left turn last night at around 30 mph-ish..turned right in no problem, and I gassed it on exit and the car just drifted effortlessly for a few seconds and grabbed...I could've steered that out with one hand!! Now, my ride quality on the other hand....HARRRRRSHHH.

Btw..I forgot to add this to my list: Hatch latch. Never stays adjusted and I have to SLAM it to close it.

 

hah, yeah i got the same prob.....always dumping damn bottles of coolant in her

 

Well....

1. Cant see **** is very true!
2. The leaky hatch.
3. Squeeky parts!
4. Driver seats always RIPs!
5. The weak engine (305 L03)
6. The reputation the car has (*******, ******s, etc.)
7. Handling is not that great (probley my tires)
8. Cost 2 much to maintain...
9. Drives like crap in bad weather (slides like nothing, front end)
10. THAT RATTLE THAT COMES FROM THE FRONT THAT NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All these things can be replaced with better things, but I just wish that GM put a little bit more into our cars.

 

i noticed the windows get realllllllllly dirty really quick. i have 3 damn ciggarettes in the car and i can't see out the windsheild anymore. fors some reason it seems to get stuck in or something even with the window down.

then we have the squeeks, for awhile there i thought i hit a parakeet and got it caught in the air damn

then, ever try to put a new side window in one of these bastards?

no complaints about the handling at all! ws6 suspension is the cat's ***, but the rear disc brakes are ****. That rear end ratio is nice though....

The coolant leak, Where does it come from???? sometimes it seems like none of the coolant is even missing and the thing is still leakin. what the hell?

And the white trash red neck thing, with faded paint and dented fenders, me and my project car get that ALOT, know what i say to them? "At least it's not a tempo with 13" spoke rims on axle extensions"

Changing the spark plugs is a job to take to the mechanic

The T-5. it's like shifting a mustard jar with a butter knife Needs a rebuild CONSTANTLY

Theres plenty of complaints to be said, but all in all they are good cars. This thing took me to about 140 mph (according to speedo) and i'll tell ya, i've never gone faster than that WHAT A FREAKIN RUSH. BTW, watch the front end lift on these cars at high speed!.
And the lack of traction in the back, might be bad in winter, makes for fun times showing off and isn't that what fbody's are about? sure they're all performance oriented and corner-ific, but lets face it, they look real frickin cool, and doing a burnout in one, is even more cooler.

 

:sillylol: :sillylol: :sillylol:

what do i hate the most? the dang runner size on my crossfire injection intake, too darn small... 175hp and 250 torque thats about to be fixed tho...i do respect that engine tho, it helped kept v8s alive during the fuel crisis and emissions crap....

it does look pretty cool

 

I hope you had your air dam off when you were doing 140! My air dam starts to raise my front at around 90..I doubt the car will do over 100 with it on because it's such an enormous blocker.

 

I have a leak down in the lower radiador by the hose - I suspect it is the hose since the ends are kind of cut up and the hose has been patched. It leaks no more than a table spoon from time to time so just adding coolant works just fine for me. I plan on just replacing the hose with one of those expensive flexible aluminum hoses. They are kind of pricey, but since that area under the car is prone to dangerous road debris, I think I can justify the cost.



As far as things falling apart or breaking prematurely, I think it has a large deal to do with how often you use your car. I barely drive 2000 miles a year and the previous owner did not drive the car much either. I'm just glad that the stuff that does break is affordable.





One thing I don't like is the bumper design for 85-90 Formulas and regular Firebirds. I don't like the fact that the bumperettes stick out and there is no grill opening. I like vents and openings, which is why I got rid of my bumperettes. I don't think the mesh I put in place of the bumperettes in the rear look that great anymore, but I think it looks better than having the bumperettes on.

 

belive me, it gets there with the dam on there. like i said, MAJOR lift. shaking, the whole nine. when your pissed off you don't like to look at the speedometer. it was a contry road and i blew a stop sign at about 100-110, let this be a lesson, don't let women get to ya. lol. and for the coolant thing again, i replaced all radiator hoses, even the one from the overspill to the radiator, still has that damn leak. no major losses though thank *** just a little bit every now and then.

 

...

 

My hatch pisses me off.. Sometimes it's a perfect seal...others, it's closed, but a week later I pop it and reach in there to grab a tool or rag or something and guess what? I got 2 inches of standing water in there. My carpeting is shot in there now and I've already lost several booklets and manuals to the watery abyss....

 

no f*** cup holders What are BRakes??? head liner , unibody flex, 305 ho what a joke .. huge turning radius ,7.5 rear p.o.s.




I bought my car new changed most of it to fit my wants over the last ten years

 

No back seat. or i should say too small

 

You cant realy call it a back seat, my dad is 5' 3" and can hardly get in, and thats with the front seat slid well foreward.

Its more a convinient holder for shopping bags.

 

So why haven't you changed the 305 for a 350 then?