I have 2 firebirds and on it tottaled
I want to know what I can do about this
I want to make one it total
I am planning on swaping a few parts.

^^
-1988 firebird WS6 5.0 TBI 136,xxx
PROS: Runs, Ttops, rims, good tires, V8, all lights work, complete body no missing parts, sound system is alright.
CONS: previous owner says to have screwed up timing, RUST!!!! there is a lot of rust, some dents, dull paint, idle is a little weird, says it overheats but no problems while it runs, one headlight motor does not work, nasty spoitler, camaro seats, cracked windshield, smoker car.


^^
-1990 Firebird 2.8 V6 134,xxx
PROS: Very clean interior, clean paint job, NO RUST!!!! ran when not crashed, motor not severely damage, newer year, MPI instead of TBI. complete interior, newer exhaust, new injectors,
CONS: it's crashed!!!! BEnt frame, AC compressor does need to be fixed crashed damaged the AC compressor, does not run.

NOw I wanna know if there is anyway for me to replace maybe the fron clip of the 90 and replace it with the 88?
or if I can get the back half of the 90 and put it on the 88

I need feedback.

 

Just part both out man. Save your time/effort. Part them and save up and get a real nice clean and rust free thirdgen.

Both will need alot of work. That 90 looks like it will be very tweaked. The 88 depends on how bad the rust is. All the other issues are childs play if you know your stuff.

If it was me and after all I have done, I would part them and get something better. Both have boat anchors too... This would be a clear choice for me.

 

Im with Carlos on this one.It looks like parting out both would be the correct choice.Unless you wanted to take the long time and hard effort to remove the rust and properly replace the panels and other parts that have the rust on it. Other than the rust on that one its very repairable,just a lot of time at stake

 

okay i see now
Thanks. I am kinda a project guy and don't mind working on the cars but how much you think I can get for parting them out?
the rust on the 88 is major. there is a hole under the drivers side flooring which sucks.
i was also wondering if i were to remove the front end of the 88 and put it on the 90.
Would it work or too much?

 

With that much of a hard hit most likely the whole body is tweaked. Meaning door gaps, doors dont open/close right, Body bends, etc. If its just front end damage then yea just cut and weld. Still in the end of all that work you are gonna have a 5.0 TBI Formula that needs paint, interior, etc. Why bother.

Also parting them out depends on what they have. Both seem to be a run of mill thirdgens. So not much. I see probably 1500-2000 at best if you get everything sold. Even then parting out takes time, every little bit left sells here and there its never a quick buck unless you price things well.

I am more interested in seeing the rust of the 88. How big is the hole? Where is all the main rust located? Pictures of the areas will give you better opinions.

 

Almost anything can be fixed.

The things that cannot be reasonably fixed due to cost/work/labor/risk are frame damage and rust.

You have two parts cars. Repairing both of them will cost more than they're worth. A crappy car can be parted for $1500-$2000.

 

Since you are a project guy A lot depends on what skills you have , tools you have and what you can do.
If the pans are good in the 90 cut them out and fix the 88s.
get the car painted , swap out interiors, And figure out the engine problems,
thats what I'd do.

 

Good point ! Thanks
I will get pictures up soon
It is cold here in MN AND I haven't had time to take good pictures.
The size othe Rust hole is around the size of a fist.
There is also a rusty rear end
I had to replace a break line that was broken.

The crash wasnt that bad. It hit a tree (according to previous owner)
The front is the only damaged part . The ready of the body is CLEAN

I got the WS6 for 775
And the v6 for 500
What u guys think?

 

yeah dont listen to them common run of the mill dweebs that just part **** out. "oh its too hard, or im too lazy, or i dont give a rats azz about 3rdgens"...the hell with them, im sick of those guys. save one at least. i honestly would probably stay away from the totaled one, BUT use the rust free panels to put on the 88. some people have more desire than others obviously once you look around on this site...be the good guy lol

 

Aha thanks!
Yeah I'm more of a work on my own because I feel like its worth more to me

But yeah I am probably gonna conider that instead
Cut of the panals and replace them

 

Neither of those cars iwll EVER be 100 percent again. you're counting on the mangled front end car having a straight unibody, but its not made of forged steel. It's made of sheetmetal. It's a unibody car. The steel has been bent. You can straighten out some of it, but you may never get it completely straight again. And if you do, it will always be structurally compromised.

A rust car will always be a rust car. Rust is everywhere. Every corner you cant see will have rust hiding in it. You'll cut apart more cars trying to save a rusty car than the one you'd be saving to fix it, and then you'll just end up with rust in areas you cant really fix it easily anyway.

Part out the crappy cars, buy a nice one. The nice ones need to live, the crappy ones have got to be weeded out and gutted so that the others may live.

Neil tried to save a car, and it ended up being a hopeless basketcase.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...one-phase.html

I shiver at the amount of money invested in saving that shell, that's now wasted.

Pick your battles. A solid roller is $500. Buy that, move over the good stuff from the wrecked car. Save a roller, not a rustbucket or horseshoe-framed car.

 

cut all the parts that are rusted pout on the 88 and replace it with the parts from the 90 iff you like the drivetrain and stuff thats in the 90 find a way to get it out of the car anything can be done if your willing to do the work

 

I'm not going to straighten the frame from the 90
Too much work
But what I wanna do is get the most out of te 90 and put it on the 88
I will paint it in the future to get a good resale price
Also I want to place the v6 in the 88 lol so I can re build the 305 tbi

 

Complete waste of time and money - start wtih a 350. New pistons by themselves are gonna cost more than a 350 block. A rebuild done properly is an expensive undertaking and the block is pocket change in cost compared to the big picture. That's why friends dont let friends build 305s. We may not be friends but I will extend that courtesy to you regardless.

 

Why thank you!
But I think I might just get all the way down to the intake and just seal up everything from there
maybe not a complete rebuild
and then I might just get the 350\

 

Dweebs? The more cars you own and the more serious you get into this hobby the faster you realize why people are like this. Go ahead and waste your money fixing up low trim 3rd gens at the end of the day its only gonna be worth a fraction of the money put into it.

I have gone through this multiple times. If these cars have sentimental value then go ahead. If you have the tools and time to do so then go for it. If you have no knowledge and are probably gonna give up half way then part them out. There are a ton of good clean 3rd gens still out there waiting to be fixed up. Some are just way too gone to be fixed unless you have the tools, knowledge and of course the money.

 

first off i do have the tools, knowlege, and a low but managable income..so im a perfect canidate for fixing up so called low trim 3rdgens. its fun lol. but listen to what you say ""Go ahead and waste your money fixing up low trim 3rd gens at the end of the day its only gonna be worth a fraction of the money put into it."" how many times do people gotta tell you guys its NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY. then again....TIME will make ANY 3rdgen WORTH MONEY. yes, even just a 6banger sport coupe or something will be WORTH money in nice extended period of time. right now as it is, those cars in their own little class are freaking hard to come by now because only people focus on irocs, gta's, verts. but within time its not gonna matter what KIND of thirdgen it is since there is barely a variety now, LATER its gonna be "oh wow look at that, i havent seen one of those in 20-30 years" (and just be an RS or something"

 

lol put the crack pipe down...

 

I'll skip all the name calling and put in another vote for finding a solid body car to start with. The frame damage is significant and you can find a body with little rust for $500 if you search around some and if you want to build it yourself.

 

No need to fight now I'm jut looking for both sides of the argument
I will end up parting out what I dot need and anyways i have the knowledge and a shop I can work with
And more experience I have the better I will be later on

I think I will get money parting it out either way so money isn't the issue right now

 

The only way this could possibly be worth it is you do it yourself. The minute you have to take anything to a shop... just move on. Get a solid car... even just a roller and start tossing your drivetrain into it.

 

Thanks InfernalVortex I am gonna sell the crashed one for parts.
And find myself a roller.

 

I was talking to the op about the tools/experience/money and yes once most 3rd gens are off the road by being junked, crashed, and parted they will be worth some money. That is a long time away my friend.


I have everything to fix up any thirdgen but the time. So me fixing up something after all I have learned/done its gonna be something very rare to find. Right now I am brainstorming a 280z ls1 build but yet I want another clean thirdgen to mess around with.

Just get something in better shape op but to be honest, I say grab all that you can from 90 for the 88. Have some extra parts laying around just in case and fix up the 88 mechanically wise and drive it til the rust splits it into pieces.

 

Yeah I understand what your saying
But people have been saying it is hard which I understand.
And I do believe it willl take a long time.

 

Its cool to fix up a car... but the more time and money you spend fixing things like floor pans and rusty strut towers and rear quarter panels, the less time and money you have to put into some bad to the bone cylinder heads/roller camshafts/build transmissions/9 inch rear, etc.

Put that money into making a solid car fast, instead of trying to make a totalled car solid, and then trying to make it fast. As far as money is concerned you'll be WAAAY ahead that way.

 

Yeah that is very true I found a roller for 400 dollars blk but the only negative is that it doesn't have t tops, which I do like about my 88.

Has anyone had or know someone that has place t tops into a non t top fire bird?

 

If I only part the 88. How much money do you think I could possibly get off it?

 

probably around $1500

 

Seriously dont worry about t-tops. The hardtop cars are stiffer s they dont rattle and squeak as much, and there are a lot less seals to worry about. T-Tops are a big reason so many of these cars have floorboard rust issues. To put t-tops on a hard-top car you will have to cut off the roof and put a t-top roof on.

 

oh yea u do have a point. and over a course of how much time to part it out?

 

if you want t-tops, find a t-top roller. You have to think about the long term here. If t-tops are a must, why would you buy the first roller you find that's a hard top and consider converting it? There's no sense in doing all that extra work to be behind in money, time and quality in the end. Get a car that's as close as your budget allows to what you really want and go from there. Don't make it harder than it has to be.

 

Yeah true. That is a lot of work. I just some pictures of the rust of this ws6

 

 

This is the hole, it's bigger then I thought.

 

 

oh my....a little worse than i thought. check the strut towers

 

those are fine I checked them
do the ten to rust fast?

 

i would buy the rims of the nontotalled car if you decided to part it out

 

where are u located?

 

texas 76063

 

Yea I'm in MN Lol

 

from what i can tell, it deffinatly needs floor pans, and quarter panels. and people replace them all the time. but not many will replace rotted out strut towers. so if your good there, then you wont be doing anything extreme to make it live. i think someone on here actually made a thread of him repairing or replacing strut towers and was difficult.

 

Ooh alright sounds good!
I think we are gonna just sell it in the summer