Hey there... wasn't sure what forum to post this under, this one seems to be the most popular.

I found a car today by surprise, I wasn't even looking.. and its sweet. A 1991 Z-28, fully loaded 305 auto. Ya I know, boo to the auto and boo to the 305... A/C, T-Tops, power everything, tilt, etc. It has the aero style ground effects and high rise wing with the hood blisters... something I like. 140,000 kms. (about 85 - 90,000 miles)

The car comes with a car cover, nice cd player in dash and cd changer mounted in the back. Ungo alarm with keyless entry and an old style cell phone mounted to the side passenger side of the heater controls. The interior is nearly mint, the only thing I can see is a light coloured stain on the passenger seat, appears to be a non-smoker car.

Exterior looks very nice, black with ghost/flat black rally stripes. Ad in window and on internet says one owner and no damage. Looks like recently installed flowmaster muffler and tips, plus 3" exhaust from cat back. The underside of the car looks new, obviously never winter driven... unlike the '88 IROC I have now, looks 40 years old from the bottom. The dealership is closed so I couldn't ask any questions, can't tell if its TPI or TBI... were TBI's avaliable in '91? Also appears to have been repainted and all badges have been replaced with light refective decals.

What to look for on this car?? Anything that I should check for to see if its going to need replacement or changing, or perhaps things that have been recently changed? I'm going to go over Monday or Tuesday and take it out for a test drive. Thanks for the help.

Edit: I removed the poor image from the dealership's website. Keeping with the 'three images' rules.

TPI was standard on 91-92 Z's and that is a gorgeous car from what i can see, good luck

Z28's were not TBI's. they were TPI's..

make sure you look at the car from head on and from the rear.. make sure the frame isnt twisting..

ask them to put it on a lift and check out the undercarrige if you can.. check for any former leaks on the oil pan or anything else.. open the hood and look for any modifications,

on a test drive.. make sure the car doesnt pull to the left ot right when braking.. also, get at least 2 quick stops in it, make sure the trans doesnt slip under quick acceleration..

if you want a good price on it.. dont tell the guy you "like/love it while on a test drive.. point out positives AND negatives of the car.. act like you are not ready to make a decission and make the guy work for your money..

and last but not least.. get a CARFAX if possible.

Glad to hear it is a TPI, I love the torque! Anyone want to buy an '88 IROC-Z... I need to raise some funds.

I forgot to mention the asking price of $10,500 Canadian which is about $8,400 US. I think the price is too high, what do you guys think?? It'll take some work to get them to lower the price, I can already tell. Its obvious to me the car was garage stored and under the car cover else the paint is recent (within two years).

All I had with me was a video camera so I took a quick walk around video and captured a few stills, forgive the quality.

One;

Two;

Three, last image;

Id offer like 4-5K american cash....Take a loan out...Seems like a decent car. But you could get a 350 one for that much...

Looks pretty sweet man!

thats WAY over priced for a 305 with 140k in mileage.. i agree with the other guy... 4500-5000.. no more.. its clean but i think you might regret not getting a 350 for the same price.

i paid 3500 (american) for my T/a...with a 4bbl 305 and 144k...but it was practically mint..

As it has been said before, its worth what someone is willing to pay for it.... but by the sounds of it, its pretty stock, and you would be paying way more than its "technically" worth.

The car looks good, Id say its worth in the 4-5k range.

Well I hope to have time to go and look at it tomorrow...

I'll let you know what I see and what I find, hopefully I'll remember to pull the VIN to run it through Carfax. I'll also shoot an image of the RPO decal inside the center console - if its still there!! Unbelievably I'll seen a few cars where owners have removed the RPO decal

my 106000 km 350 GTA had the RPO sheet still in the box...i paid $4800 canadian the ad in the window said $5500....why do camaro owners think they can get more for their cars? do they think there better than us firebird owners hah just kidding camaro owners!!

ps. my car came with lots of issues i still have yet to work out...for now i just deal with them what part of bc u in?

10,500 is definatly way over priced. A friend of mine bought a 91 Z with 350 for $7000 was in about the same shape as the one you're looking at. There's way better deals out there.

Don't forget, the 90-92 (I think) FBodies had their RPO codes in the lock box in the trunk instead of the center console

Well I went and had a look at the car on Monday and was disappointed, its not nearly as clean as I thought it was on the inside.

It has also been in a couple accidents... Nor could I find the RPO codes.. not in the rear lock box or in the center console.

It looks very nice from the outside and its better then the car I have on the inside... but its not for me. The 305 is very mild, high geared rear end, and it just doesn't nearly have the same fun factor as my IROC. I'll pass.

I don't know how long its been on the lot, but as soon I got there and started looking at it and pointing out obvious things, the price dropped to a "Firm" $8750 Canadian. The car is on consignment, so its only one tax... guy needs to get eighty-five out of it, salesman makes a hundred, another hundred for advertising, and fifty bucks for clean-up. Pfft.. I bet I could have talked them down to $7000 cash if I wanted to buy it on the spot.

Oh well, better luck next time! Thanks for the tips guys.

83Firebird420 - I'm in the West Kootenay's.

Glad you were able to see thru the muck. $8,500 would have to be a mint Z28 with under 90,000(way under) miles for me to buy. Plus I jusst think a z28 or IROC should be a 350. I have a 305 and they are okay but what is the use of having the suspension package, the big brakes, posi, hi rise spoiler, blisters and no 350. Where's the fun? Come across the border and I bet for $4,500 you can find the same <A title="Best car" style="COLOR: #65b45c; TEXT-DECORATION: underline" href="http://69.42.87.204/cgi-bin/ezlclk.fcgi?id=9122" target=_blank>car</A> with a beefer engine. Then you can take the other $3,500 and do your own mods if you want or just keep it in the bank. sound like that<A title="Best car" style="COLOR: #65b45c; TEXT-DECORATION: underline" href="http://216.130.188.208/cgi-bin/ezlclk.fcgi?id=9122" target=_blank> car </A>was paint to cover the accident and now mechanical troubles are starting to creep up and the owner wants to dump it. And he will get the money.

Imagine if you had no Thirdgen knowledge. You would of bought the car. There is a sucker born every minute.

Back in my first post I mentioned I found a car and 'wasn't even looking'. Well it happened again. I stopped in at a tire store on my way home from work last night to see if the tires I had ordered have arrived yet, and one of the guys from the shop comes over and hands me a piece of paper. Someone had seen my car around the shop before (I hang out there often, my uncle owns the place - I get tires at cost) and asked the guy to pass along this paper to 'the guy with the camaro'. The paper is a hand written for sale ad; 1988 IROC, 305 TPI 5-spd Black 75,000 original kms (under 50,000 miles). Has a name and phone number.. and the name I recognize but can't place.

Well thats it for me, I call as soon as I get home and talk to the guy for a bit. Turns out I know who he is and we've talked several times before about IROC's but I've never seen his car. He's the second owner, logs of oil changes since new every 3000 kms, but no mechanical/repair logs. I arrange to see the car later that evening (last night).

Its damned near immaculate, too bad it doesn't have t-tops. Nearly fully loaded with A/C and power windows locks etc but no power seat. Still has the stock tape deck with the 5 band eq. Its completly stock except he changed the exhaust and added k&n air filter replacements. The exhaust is identical to a Flowmaster American Thunder cat back kit except the tips do not say Flowmaster and the cat has also been removed.

Interior; sweet. Its been parked under a roof and all the seats, dash, etc have been under blankets and towels. The leather steering wheel has some scuffs on the left hand side (that was at the top when it was parked for 5 years). The passenger side seatbelt doesn't retract and is pulled all the way out, can't imagine its too big of a deal to fix. The seats look as though they havn't even been farted on.

Exterior; high gloss and very reflective black. There is one little ding on the passenger side door about the size of a pink eraser on the end of a pencil... someone nailed it when the opened their door into the IROC in a parking lot. Two small paint chips next to that but no dings. He showed me where a cat had slid down the car and left a bit of a scratch but I honestly couldn't see it. The stock rims have been sent out and professionally polished, they look great but have a few water spots on them. All glass, lights, etc look great and work. Oh ya it is black with two tone grey/silver pinstriping and silver badges. One piece of pinstripping is starting to come off behind one of the rear tires.

Engine/Drivetrain; Everything seems tight and works or operates as it should. A/C blows cold. The car shifts through the gears well and the engine seems to have alot of power. By the way it is a 305 LB9 with a posi 3.08.. ten less horse then the L98 350.

Bad News; there is actually a few items to note under this category. First off the original owner had an accident damaging the front right side. From what I can tell the hood has been replaced (its missing the decals on the underside) and the front right fender has been replaced/repaired. The fender mates the hood perfectly and the gap goind down the side of the car is great, but when looking down the length of the car from the rear the fender bows out a bit in the middle. Its something that is soo slight that I wouldn't have noticed it right away unless he pointed it out, but I would have caught it during a thorough inspection.

Two; The check engine light is on. The stumbles/hesitates a bit when stabbing the throttle at idol and is a bit jerky when trying to hold the car while driving at a steady speed. He told me the Mass Air Flow sensor needs replacement but he is not sure what else is needed. Hes one of those guys that also told me that it needs an oil change and that should fix it right up

Lastly; other small 'usual' things... the tires need replacement. They still have thread front and rear but are nearly worn. They are also drying out and starting to crack around the edges. He was told the brakes needed to be replaced soon when he last drove the car in 2000.

So he is asking $6500 Canadian and would rather sell it someone 'he knows'. He knows me, so that helps - lol. I told him I thought the price was too high and he said he'd be happy getting around $5500 for it. I'm pretty sure $5000 cash would take it home. I've reviewed the RPO codes and VIN and everything checks out. Its not as nearly loaded as the '88 IROC I currently own (mine has power seats, aluminum driveshaft/drums, etc) but I suppose I could always switch it over if I wanted to.

Damn I wasn't even looking for a car and look what fell into my lap??! I may have to go and see the bank on Monday What do you guys think?!?

Oh ya $5000 Canadian is roughly $4000 USD.

I would look around if i were you, people take huge losses selling these cars day after day. I looked for about 5 months and I ended up finding my 89GTA 67,000 miles 1 previous owner new paint in 99 350 tpi . Picked her up for 3000.00 a couple of years back.

That car sounds like a pretty good deal, but before you do anything scan that SES light and check it out. Might be nothing, but be serious!

i replaced the maf in my car when i got that error....didnt fix the problem...i heard that code (36 is what ull get) could also be fuel injectors...among other fuel problems...my car acts up occasionally. sometimes if i dont let it warm up enough...sometimes it just does it for no good reason...to fix it i just shut the car off and turn it right back on again.

Ya I dunno what the problem/error code is... I quickly tried to jump the terminals with a wire to see what codes it would flash and it didn't seem to work. The light just went on solid. Come to think of it now I don't think that the shift light was working either.

I'm going to make an appointment to have a look at it tomorrow again just so I can see what the actual problems are with the car. Last time I looked under the hood I plugged the mass air flow sensor in. He changed the serpintine belt a while back and he figures he forgot to plug it back in. I fired it up again and the light didn't go off and he immediatly confessed 'oh ya the MAF sensor needs to be replaced, I know its dead'.

He almost seems to be hiding something but I'm not sure. I'm going to take a toolbox and set aside a couple hours tomorrow to have a good look at it.

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...and just as a short explination for you guys saying price is too high, these cars are very rare around here. Even beat ones that have one leg in the grave and rusted to hell sell for 3-4 grand around here when advertised. Theres not many around here and I live within 45 minutes of 8+ towns... these are small communities spread around the mountains in BC.

Cars in 'decent shape' with 150-200,000 ++ kms sell for ten grand in the larger centers like Vancouver and Calgary.

I know it sounds like I may be over paying or like I'm trying to talk myself into a purchase but I've never seen a third gen this mint before... I'm not really looking to buy anything at the moment but if its a good deal on a sweet car I'll buy it as a second third gen.. My current third gen is already a third vehicle for me