http://www.wolfyserver.org/jake/car/trans.html

i got it yesterday, man i LOVE this beast.

350 cubic inch engine (15,000 miles)
auto trans (17,000 miles)
133k miles on the body.

the guy i bought it from claims its 350 horse power, but i dont know for sure. and i dont know any other way than a dyno on how to check what hp it has

 

350 cc engine, wow what a power wagon:sillylol: , i take it you meant 305 CID.

Nice car BTW, keep it clean

 

nope the guy dropped in a 5.7 liter v8 a year ago . still 2 year warrenty on it

 

350 cubic centimeters is different than 350 cubic inches... thats what josh was talking about

But yes, very nice car, I like the color. Any plans for it? Keep it clean and have fun.

 

ROFL haha i didnt even notice

 

and yes, i do have plans for it. ive never owned a firebird/camaro before, in fact it's my second car. but let me tell you, i sure as hell love these 3rd gen's. wow, theyre great.

i like the color as well...its pretty damn good shape for 133k miles i think. as far as plans go, first i want to get the dents out, especially that big one on the left side. also i want to put in a exhaust (dont know what yet) and new intake and air filter. havent really thought past that yet..lol, i just got the car a few days ago. i dont know much about these cars yet but im extremely eager to learn.

i was also planning on repainting the car after i get the dents out. and of course the same color as it is now . it used to be white actually, the paint is scratched at some places. overall, i think the hunter green looks a hellova lot better. i also heard that the rubber spoiler was no good to paint since it will just get chipped again in less than a year. is that true? what can be done to get around it?

thanks for the comments

edit: also this guy with a 4th gen camaro was telling me that i should put in a strut bar. i cant really consider that yet since i got the car a mere 2 days ago. anyone else think a strut is a good mod for a 3rd gen? thanks

 

Well its not really rubber, its a composite material made from every material on planet earth. And yes, depending on whether the paint has a flex additive, and can crack, chip, etc.

The best thing you can do it buy a fiberglass spoiler from one of the website sponsers (links at top of page) and repaint it to match. Those spoilers are a lot lighter in weight, and will last a lot longer than the factory one, but it will cost a pretty penny ($400-500).

And the strut bar, unless you are going to be doing a lot of track racing, it wont do that much...just stiffens the cornering, less body twist.

 

Well you came to a good place to learn. If you have questions, first try the search button. A lot of the same questions come up over and over so with a simple search you can get plenty of information. I've never owned a Firebird, but I have heard that those spoilers crack very easily. One option is an aftermarket one, I think GTA Auto Accessories makes one. You can get to their website here

Repainting it hunter green definately sounds good. When it was painted, did they do it right? What I mean is are the door jambs painted or are they still white? How about the engine bay?

As for exhaust, I like Ravin. If you want you can click the link in my sig and I have sound clips of mine on my webpage. Its 3" and was $300ish installed from Midas.

Edit: The STB won't do too much since you don't have t-tops. But I've heard it helps with a lot of the rattles on t-top cars. And who do you know has a 5th gen Camaro? Is it a 5th gen with a 350CC engine

 

Looks great, apart from that damage on the rear driver's side quarter panel. I think your car is the firs 85-90 style TA with that particular shade of green. Any plans for it?

 

the painted it pretty good. the fact of the matter is, the hood needs some work (not the paint, but so i can open it propery lol) i cant pop the hood alone, someone needs to stand there and pull on the lid as i pull the latch inside the car. secondly, the pistons that help push the hood up and keep it open are totally dead so i need to jam a stick in it to keep it open. soo i cant reall get a good look of the eginge yet, but i do belive the the engince bay is paitned. how much does a good paint job go for?

as for the link in your sig, i dont see it . just post it in the thread if you could...

the 4th gen camaro i saw wasnt really my friend, it was just some dude i talked to at a car meet. he suggested the strut, and i told him my suspension was pretty tight as it is but that i'd check it out. he also told me about how i cant get the auto trans to shift better, so i could beat maunual shift cars easier. know anything about that?

thanks for the replies...

 

5th gen??? Do you mean a 98-02?? Technically they're still 4th gens. Anywho, from what I've read, the strut tower brace is a good mod, it's supposed to tighten up steering response quite a bit. I plan on getting one soon to finish up my suspension mods(the BMR 2-point), I'll let you know how I like it!! Heck, I havent even driven the car since we put on all the suspension parts, should feel quite a bit different!! Cant wait!! Have fun with your new found beast (wishing mine was a 350 GTA), love that color too!! Later.

Joe.

 

Looks good man. First thing ya need to do is take those GTA emblems off and sell them on ebay. Then you can deal with the rest.

 

noooo way man. they look great, i like them

edit: yeah it was a 4th gen camaro

 

question, how do you know its 350hp? Any pictures of the engine?

Obviously they either A.) stuck GTA emblems on it, or B.) had to replace the front bumber cover and lost the original GTA emblem on it.

More info, more info!!!

 

well, the guy put in a new engine a year ago and said it was 350 hp. i have a reciept for the new engine, but all it says is "one long block engine, unlimited miles."

about the emblems, i don't really know. how can i found out if my car is a true gta? what the differents between gta and non gta?

thanks

 

the correct answer is A.
- don't have the GTA std lumbar seats
- the rear filler panel bird (between the tail lights) is silver. GTA's all had gold, even the white ones, from everything i've seen.

 

are there any performance differences?

edit: also, he said it did not have the original seats, now that i think of it. but about the panel bird, i don't know

 

Not really, you can run your VIN through the decoder listed on main page of this site. You can find the vin decoder here.

If anything the GTA would probably be heavier as its more of a luxury option than anything else. Though my own GTA is a real GTA and its missing MANY options that the GTA's could come with. Essentially I have a GTA that is body only.

But thats what I get for buying a $1,000 car with, what I later found out, a cracked block. Stupid me was just thinking it was a blown head gasket, not so when I took it apart. Two cracks in the water jackets of the block. Between Cyl #3, and #5 on driver side, and #4, and #6 on the passenger side. Both cracks were about 3" to 4" long.

 

oh, i see. ah, thats not bad then, but i do want to remove the GTA emblems then. dont wanna look like im faking a gta or something, lol.

sorry to hear about your engine man, tough luck. i paid $2000 for mine, it wass a good deal. hopefully i wont find a rotten egg like you did :\

 

well, the more i think about it, i might've jumped the gun a little, since one way or another a bunch of swaps were made:

says GTA:
white emblems on previously white car
fenders w/o vents
wheels

says TA:
seats
front bumper
tail light bird


do you have the steering wheel radio controls? that would lean more toward GTA. also, to be a GTA, it would've had a TPI engine from the factory, (8th VIN digit F=5.0L TPI or 8=5.7L TPI ) and a TA could have those or E=5.0L TBI in 88.

but i guess from having a GTA, it seems more work to go away from it, and you lose value, so it's more common to make TA's more GTAish.
but that's just common sense, who knows what any individual owner would do. they may have had interior damage and just gotten a cheaper TA interior to avoid spending more money.

 

vin decoder results:

Made in: United States
Manufacturer: General Motors
Make: Pontiac
Carline Code: F-Body
Carline Series: Trans Am, Formula
Body Type: 2 door coupe (hatchback)
Restraint System: Manual belts
Engine Code: 350 ci V8 B2L/L98 (1987-1992)
4 is the CHECK DIGIT
Model Year: 1988
Assembly Plant: Van Nuys
Production Sequence: 215992

 

Thats cause I try and put my sig only once per thread, but the movies are here

 

nice looking car! good find..

 

nice

thanks, yeah im very happy so far


as for my vin results, does that show anything of significance? doesnt look to be gta...

 

Not sure if you know this, but if you want to find your RPO codes check the bottom of the center console lid, or the rear glove.

Or if your like me, and didn't have a center console lid then your SOL cause you can't really get those RPOs without paying for them. Local GM dealer wouldn't print them out for me, or couldn't print them out for me. Anyone else have problems with this? It thought GM had the VIN/RPOs in their databases. I really don't want to trust the "Pontiac Historical Services" at this point.

 

what are pro codes exactly

 

the RPO codes are all th options the car has they are in the center console on the lid. To get them from a dealer I beleive the car has to be at least a 95 to do that since GM didnt really keep option records on cars till then.

 

thanks. ill have to look for them tomorrow

 

i also found a yellow stitched GTA logo on the leather pocket on the passenger side on the dash. hmmmmm. no radio controls on the steering wheel though

 

yo FruityOne i looked in the armrest, the ash try and the passenger side pocket and i couldnt see any codes . where else could they be?

 

on the 88 cars, they would be in the center console. you still might want to check in the back locking compartment, and the spare tire well.

Other than that i think that you are out of luck...unless you happen to come accross a build sheet, which is usually between the padding and the springs underneath your seat, or sometimes under the carpet.

 

nice car looks good make sure you take really good care of it.

 

thanks . yeah, i will take care of it, i love this thing!

 

one question though, what does the interior look like? got pics? we've seen the outside now lets go to the inside...

 

About your last part there regarding transmissions. IMO, but it all depends on what you have for a auto tranny....weather its built or not. I know alot of people out there with hept-up auto trannys and can really smoke standards(not to say standards are bad). When i got mine i raced around with it and got beat by quite a bit of standards......at 125thou....my tranny went...so i had to get it all redone. I went with a built tranny, 2500 stall, B&M stage one shift kit, new pump, and new real main seal. The guy i went to was real nice......gave me a resonalble price....and even told me that someone had been in my tranny before...(before i bought the car). Whole thing ran me $1150 installed and tested with a 35000 mile warranty. So it really depends on what you want and how much you can $$. It also matters on the driver....cant forget that. You got to know what your doing behind the wheel.

 

Glad to hear you're happy.

 

yes. interior pics here: http://www.wolfyserver.org/jake/car/interior/index.html

i've got some problems, all that fun stuff is going to have to wait...

 

EDIT: wwoops wrong thread

 

any plans on restoring the interior like the side peice on the door that is all scratched to hell and the hole in the driver side seat any interior conversions to a 4th gen planed? other than that looks good.

 

yes. definatly some 4th gen seats and new carpet...i dunno if i really like the 4th gen dashes too much, i know i dont like the steering wheel.

 

sounds cool what about the door thing gonna paint it over or do something else are you keeping the car green or repainting it a different color?