Hey guys,

I psoted a thread earlier about my ttop rust. Im doing an internship with an auto body mechanic and he said that the rust along the lips of the roof are bad, and that I'd need to replace it through a donor car.

I have a 91 camaro, and a guy on my island is giving away a free firebird. He doesn't know the year because it was abandoned by his tenant years ago, but he sent me pics. It's a 3rd gen camaro with ttops.

My question is, can I transplant a 3rd gen bird roof onto my 91 camaro? Are they identical is shape and size?

I'm aware about welding support on the car prior to chopping the roof, and hopefully my mentor will help me. I also thought about swapping a hard top over my t top. Could you cut out the ttop portion of the roof and weld on a cutout of a hardtop?

 

I am pretty sure you can, look under the fabrication forum and theres a thread were people post pics, and some guy swapped roofs so that he could get ttops, but i am pretty sure it would work the other way.

 

Thanks for the reply. The more I think about the firebird, the more I like it. Haha. I like the camaro body over the firebird, but this one looks good and its free. It's got 90K on a 305 compared to 130K miles on my 305. Plus its a 5 speed. Cant tell what year it is, but if the hood is rust free ill be doing a roof swap.

Heres the pics he sent me. Dont know what year or model it is, or if it's anything special

 

If anyone can ID what year and model this is I'd appreciate it.

 

it could be a trans am, any pics of the front bumper, thats one of the easy ways for me to ID the year. just looking at it now I would say maybe a 87ish?

 

That is not a Trans-Am. Its just a base Firebird. I don't know what year, but it should be anywhere from 85-90. Ask for a pic of the manufacturer sticker in the driver side door jam. That should give you a production date. Going by the interior door handles i would say its close to a 90... But I only really know about 87's as that is what i own. Haha

 

I dont have pics of the front bumper, but I could ask. He's planning on scraping it by the end of next week, so I have to make a drive up there to see it. Im not sure if he has the keys to it, so I have to pay to tow it. Chances are I'm going to take some interior pieces, the roof, and hopefully swap the tranny and maybe the engine into my car. Dont know if swapping that 305 into my 305 would be worth the time and money.

By any chance does anyone know how much a junkyard would chanrge me if I wanted to cut a roof off a hardtop car?

 

if its free, why dont you just have it towed, and then take w.e you want and scrap the rest.

 

Thats a pretty nice looking bird I think I'd fix that if I were you lol. But I'm not so you should haul it to a place where you can keep it for the time being if you can and get what you need off of it then try and sell the rest on the classifides board on this forum. I'm sure some memeber could use some stuff off of it.

 

Serpentine belt, 3rd brake light & airbag steering wheel.......I'd say it is a 91 or 92.

 

That is a '90 base firebird. '90 was the first year of the airbag steering wheel, '91-'92 had different ground effects and bumpers, also the third brake light was at the top of the hatch glass for '91-'92.

 

Yes, that car is definitely a '90 Firebird. It has the 85-90 style bumpers and an air bag steering wheel. 1990 was the first year airbags were used so unless something has been changed that's the only thing it can be.

 

Thanks for the replies. It seems she's a 90 bird.
I talked to my dad about bringing it home but we ran into a few snags. The guys has no papers, plates, or keys on it and says its his tenants. The tenant left his car there when he moved 2 years back. Will I run into any legal issues if I take it home and strip it? I'm wondering because technically it's still the previous owners car right?

He was originally selling it for the trans and engine and claimed it was running 2 years back. It's a shame he has no key, I'd love to hear it.

 

if i were you i would keep it at your place for now, get a new ignition cylinder & key, wire it up and fire it up, if you like how the engine runs and sounds better than yours then swap it, if you want a 5 speed, then swap it. theres even an article about swapping a manual into an automatic car under the tech articles on the home page. and then if you want to strip the rest, go ahead, its obvious the previous owner isnt looking for it.

 

Get a title for it IN YOUR NAME before doing anything to do. You could dump time & money into it, go to title of t & the owner just take it & everything you dd to it his his for free!

Make sure it beongs to you, before you put $ into it.

 

Stephen is 100% right, get the TITLE of the car in YOUR name first before you do anything to it next!!! I don't now the laws down there, there maybe some small fees to pay, but........its legal and the SAFE way to do it!!!!

To Bakes85-FYI....if he touches it before he gets the Title to it, legally he's in trouble!!! "then if you want to strip the rest, go ahead, its obvious the previous owner isnt looking for it." -Bakes85. Regardless, the CURRENT owner is using the property as his parking lot(the owner/tenant is an A$$hole), the second the owner finds out that it has been taken without his permission, he can legally sue Eban808 for thieft and damages..........Not too Smart!

 

Bake - thanks for the advice. I have to talk to my parents about keeping it at my house, since all our spots are taken up. I would love to take it in though and learn how to swap the engine and tranny. Im guessing ignition cylinder and new keys are expensive? Hope they dont use that VATS key thing, those are expensive.

Stephen, I couldn't quite make out the second sentence. The guy I'm talking to isn't the owner of the car, his ex-tenant is the owner. I asked if he has the owners contact information but he said he doesn't know where his tenant went. How could I get a title for the car in my name when it's the tenants car?

 

Paul - that's what my dad was saying. Even though it may be abandoned, its still the tenants car. He said if I stripped it without having the title I'll be stealing. Im assuming the only way for this to work is to find the owner correct? I sure hope he's still on my island, haha.

 

when you get a new title have the landlord go with you and file it under abandoned vehicle i think two years is the limit before that its not abandoned at least thats how it works in pennsylvania but definetlly take the landlord along because its his car now by law he may have to file the papers then transfer to you if your going to swap the trans id do the motor at the same time and save some aggravation it willl be much easier

 

1990 has vats.

 

You should be an owner of a Maui blue car as your from Maui

 

If it's all original then it's a 90.

 

As said before it's a 90 with a TBI motor. If I were you I'd take it and part it out. People will pay for rust free GM fenders, doors, hoods, etc. You could probably make enough to cover fixing the roof on your Camaro.

 

As rough as it looks in the pics, it's not all that bad. Without a title you can't legally do anything with a car, including part it out. Most junkers won't even take a stripped shell without making you sign a document stating the car is legally yours. Simply taking the car could get you in trouble for accepting stolen goods, so be careful. Getting a title is usually a pain in the butt. If it were me, if I were going to go through all that trouble, I'd fix the Firebird. It's a more unusual car, with better options. The 1990 model year was only a half year production run since GM was in a hurry to bring out the redesigned 1991s. The newly redesigned 91s sold like hot cakes since they were something new, compared to something old of the 90s. For that reason there are about 4 times as many 91 Firebirds as 90s. As a general rule, the Camaro was always more popular (cheaper), making a 90 Firebird much more uncommon then a 91 Camaro. But that's just my opinion.

 

Thanks for the replies! I'll have to take a look around and call the DMV to ask about the laws in Hawaii.

I really like the options that are on this bird. But I absolutely love the camaro's body. In reality I can only keep one car (It was a pain in the butt convince my parents to let me get my camaro). I definitely got to think about which car I'm going to keep. Drew, I agree with the value of this car, which is putting me in a tough spot wether to keep the firebird or camaro.

I dont know how to swap engines or transmissions so I'll have to pay a shop to do it, which will probably cost a couple grand? If I do an engine and trans swap I'll part the car out to make up the costs.

Again, I still need to get the title of the car. Thanks for all the support and I'll keep you guys updated.

Edit - Rutters, Im hoping that 2 year limit is true for Hawaii because that cars been sitting for two years

 

Well, I cut the T-top roof of off a 91 Formula to transplant onto my 83 Z-28. I decided not to swap roofs, but I am skinning the camaro roof. One snag I have ran into is that the formula roof is about 3/16" narrower than my camaro roof. So I have to cut it down the middle and weld the gap. I also found they slightly changed the sheet metal under the skin. (minor stuff) I have pics, but broke my spot weld cutter so I am waiting for replacements before finishing it up.

 

To be honest, I think fixing the bird is the better way to go. Strictly looking at it value wise the bird will be worth more in the future, that's my prediction anyway. There aren't that many base birds with t-tops and a v8, plus it's a 90. Your Camaro, on the other hand, is a lot more common. Also, I think you'll find the interior much more comfortable in the bird than the maro. Although they're quite similar the scenery in a Firebird is much nicer. If I was going on a long trip I'd always choose my bird over camaro.

 

I would go with the bird too

but thats just me, but i personally like firebirds more than camaros. well as far as third gens go.

 

ok if i was you i would probaly just part out the bird. you could always just kinda mess around with the birds engine since it isnt 1 you bought you could always take out the engine and just clean it ( if you are into that ) and lean about the engine and mod the engine if you got the money and then when you are experinced and got the parts you want put the new engine in and ride with a big fat ol smile on you face

but i would keep the camaro its just i prefere camaros if the bird was a TA i would say keep the bird but defintly just stick with the camaro as your'll probaly mod whatever you keep so it wont be worth as much if you sell. just my opinion. plus your never know what could be wrong with that bird its been sitting for 2 years in a field so who know's what the hell crawled in there. if it was a restore i guess keep it but im guessing its not so just keep the camaro. from what iv noticed you get more attention in maros

 

The fact that it has VATS really isn't important since he's most likely chopping it up for parts(T-Top roof, engine, tranny).....

Plus there are many ways to get around the system(VATS)!