Last August I bought a 1991 Firebird 3.1 V-6. Through a little research I found that I was the fourth owner (not the third like the previous owner had told me)

This car is really F'd up! I am now beginning to rebuild the 3.1 V-6. The drivers seatbelt will not extend unless you push down a little clip inside of the seatbelt box next to the seat. It is the only seatbelt in the car that is dark red, the others are gray.

The rear glass hatch sticks out about 1/2 inch from the body of the car, it is rusted out and the paint is faded on the trunk lid, but the fading stops at the rear panels. The hatch also comes with a power motor to open the hatch with an interior button... but the car never came with a power hatch, power windows or power locks... how odd!

When I ran the VIN number, it shows that the car was bought in the color black. The car right now is painted black, but for some odd reason there is red paint showing under a few chips and flakings.... could it be primer?

The steering wheel covering is coming off. The airbag light doesn't come on when I turn the key.

There is lots and lots of rust on the drivers side wheel wells, panels and underbody, but on the passanger side there is absolutely no rust at all.

There are two Firebird decals on both sail panels, and they are both uneven. There is no decal on my hood... could it have been removed or did it never come with one?

I love this car, even with all of these problems! As soon as I finish the rebuilt (about two more weeks) It's off to the paint shop for a new paint job! I am going to make my baby road worthy, and sharp looking!

If anyone can answer any of my questions above I would be very greatful!



Thanks, Firebirdjoe

 

how much did u pay hopefully not to much cuz i think u got ripped big time

 

Possibly not, just sounds like it's been in a collision, possibly smoked in the side. If the price was right, nothing beats an ugmo-to-beautiful F-body conversion! Good luck.

 

If your 91 is like my 87, each body panel has the VIN # on it, check to see if they are all the same vin. Could be the car has been in a wreck, and the hatch and door could have been replaced.

 

I hope your going to take care of the rust problem before you paint it.

 

sounds like you bought a real winner.


Anyway, all 86+ thirdgens have the power hatch motor. When you close the hatch, it sucks it down gently.

 

Is that true?? Sheesh, none of my body panels will have any matching numbers on them

 

I don't know if it is that way on all 87's. My doors, hood, and hatch have a sticker with the VIN # on it. I remember several years back some dealers would offer ingraving of VIN # on the T-Tops, and glass. Maybe this is another variation ?

 

It does? I dont think mine does..

 

It does if it isn't broken. All 86-92 thirdgens had the pull-down motor.

 

i had the seatbelt problem happen to me not too long ago.......first off...undo the bolt and let it hang outside the car.....then check to see if any coins fell down in through the whole where the belt comes out of....heh i had a quarter in mine....next, get some wd 40 and spray it into all the gears and crap and keep pulling out the seat belt.....keep workin it until its like new.....hopefully urs will be as successful as mine was

 

It just sounds to me like someone wrecked the car, then used used parts to fix it and didn't do a very good job of it. My guess is that it was wrecked pretty hard and someone was hurt in it so they cut the factory seatbelt the replaced it with whatever they had, that would explain the different color. As to it not working I would replace it with one that is dark grey. The hatch motor is just a pull down so even if it didn't have a remote trunk release it will still have one of those. It probably never had a tag on the hood just a little one on the nose. Don't worry about buying a fixer upper, you would never hav guessed that 7 years ago when I bought my Formula it looked like a crumpled piece of tinfoil! Good luck!

 

Thanks for all the help!! I still haven't been able to fix my seatbelt, it's going to be a project for tomorrow evening when I get off work. As for the rear hatch, it could be broken. I have to slam it real hard for it to close all the way. It's also wobbly and leaks water. I just bought new seals and a headliner for the T-Tops and new seals for the trunk.

I'll keep ya'll updated on my progress

By the way, here is a link to pictures of my car...

http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...page_id=328070

 

My 89 IROC-Z the female end of the seat belt is Brown and the rest are gray, and the plastic piece surounds it that keeps it in the up position is cracked so it flops over.

I will get a pic once I find my camera.

Kevin

 

most all cars will have a sticker with the vin number on it. i work in a colision repair shop and i see that all the time when i take parts off. also i can see em on my car. i kno both my front fentders and hood have been replaced but i have the vin stickers on the doors hatch and quarters. ill take a pic of the sticker later.

 

I also saw red paint where i had a chip in the rear bumper. Do u think someone replaced my rear bumper?

 

Yeah...sounds like car was wrecked and repaired badly...
I was in similar situation...
I brought my firebird a year ago and whole interior was f*cked up
look at photo...


Whole steering column was converted from european ford scorpio ,radio trim was made from wood!! and wiring was completly mess up, oh I forgot - rust on driver side and hole in the floor...
but slowly I restoring it to factory setup, so I wish you good luck in recovering your bird...

 

heres a pic of one of my vin stickers. its o nthe pass sisde door. just thought id show it off. i owuld have gotten a pic of the inside of the quarters theres stickers there too, but its cold here. 22 outside ouch

 

just so you know in case you didnt when you finally get around and repair the hatch 2 important things

1. never let anyone else close it for you

2. never ever ever close it without being as gentle as possible and i mean be really gentle the motors are so fragile and there are plastic glides that can easily crack and break

just some advice if your replacing/fixing the motor go to top down solutions.com and get new glides (made from diff material to be stronger) and motor housing along with any other parts you need in order to make your motor 10X stronger and longer lasting

 

I have an 85, how much would it cost to get one of the pull down motors? Is there any special wiring that it needs other than just power or is it just mount and give it power?

 

On my 92, the hatch motor is preety much self contained. You should only need to give it power and everything else comes with the motor.

 

your 92 motor is gonna be different than the older ones. in late 91 they switched to a smaller style that is really hard to find parts for now.

 

I know. It's a bitch trying to find working parts for that thing.

 

send an email to Lon at TDS(Top Down Solutions), he is a sponsor on this board and is really really awesome to deal with. he is local here in socal. i met him on a few occassions, he deals with these kinds of parts, he should be able to help out.