Yor

I just found a ad on Craigslist for an '84 T/A anniversary edition. It apparently has a 350 Goodwrench crate motor in it, 5 speed manual transmission, T-Tops, power options, etc.

He wants 3,000 for it, low NADA value is 5200, the front seats need to be re-done as is common on F-Bodies, I'm going up to look at it tomorrow, he's only an hour away.

I'm really excited because this sounds like a pretty good deal, I'm going to look it over before I buy it, but it sounds like a kinda too good to be true.

UPDATE!:
I have pictures of it, it was a bit of a drive (Only an hour 10 minutes) but I was pretty happy with what I saw.
Some minor defects with the car-
Passenger side power lock doesn't work (Makes locking noise but does not lock)
Power Antenna is frozen I believe
2 fairly small dents, Quarter sized
Some decals are a little old and chipped.
Needs seats reupholstered eventually
T-Tops leak, sadly (Minor/no rust on the rail though)

Other than that, it's ROCK SOLID. I got under this car and it looked BRAND NEW, it's crazy how clean it is for a northern car.
I found one spot of surface rust on the passenger fender about the size of a dime, down under the ground effects.
She's a beauty, and with a few hundred dollars in new parts will be back to 100% condition. He even has receipts for the motor, slotted/drilled rotors, new calipers, heavier sway bars, and almost the whole suspension (struts shocks, etc. etc.) I can't pass this up for 3,000, it needs to little to be mint and even now it could be driven if not for the fact it's put away for the winter.

Brother Al

Yes, that is a very good price for a 15th Anniversary if she is relatively complete and solid. They are a fairly rare car to begin with approx 1500 depending on whose numbers you go by, and there were only about 500 built with the 5 speed. This is amongst the more sought after T/A's. They were very expensive when new and featured a bunch of unique parts and trim. They were the first T/A to sport 16" rims, and also the 1st GM car to use 16" rims. (The 1984 Corvette also used 16's but didn't come out until halfway thru 1984.) It also used a special upgraded version of the WS6 suspension with beefier parts. The original seats were Off-White/Gray Leather Recaro seats which are NOT the typical 3rd Gen seats. They are quite rare, expensive to replace, the mesh headrests are near impossible to find, no repro parts are out there, and recovering them needs to be done by a quality shop. Unique parts include: painted tail lights & center section w/ Blue Bird emblem, Blue 15th Anniversary badges, off-White steering wheel, horn cap w/ Blue medallion, White 16" rims, White dash map pocket w/ Blue Bird logo, off-White E-brake handle, off-White shifter ****, and a few other items... also the correct engine should be an L69 HO 305 and a functional induction hood, but a 350ci is fine unless you plan to restore her to 100%.

In all honesty, if you are serious about this car, you should read up on these cars and I suggest you visit: http://www.earlythirdgen.com/forums/

Yor

Yeah, it sounds like a GM Crate motor was added to it. I'm so glad I can check Craigslist on my phone, I saw that online and as SOON AS I GOT OFF WORK, I emailed him that I had 3g cash and could be there tomorrow morning to get it.
Here's the ad
http://nh.craigslist.org/bar/1591882383.html
I even sent him my number so I'm hoping to hear from him today, since it's my day off.

pontiacguy1

Looks like a real 15th anniversary car there! Look for production code Y82 in the codes... That indicates the 1984 15th anniversary package. The cars originally had the L69 305 H.O. engine in them, but I figure that a 350 conversion was pretty common on these. The H.O. exhaust manifolds and exhaust system would easily support the 350 engine.

Both of my 15th anniversary cars are automatics. They made 1000 automatics and 500 manual trans anniversary cars. Wish one of mine was a manual!

Let us know what you find. Hopefully it will be something that you will be able to get and restore.

Yor

I'm heading up to check it out in a few actually, I'll be sure to get pictures and let you know what goes down.

It has 130k on it, the crate 350 was put in in 2001 apparently. Sounds like a real solid car to bring back to cherry-condition.

Brother Al

I know that car! Seen it a couple times, awesome car that doesn't need much really.
Yes, I will attest that she is the real thing! Congrads!!!

I scour Craigslist all the time, dunno how I missed that! Buy It and treasure her! If you need help with anything, please feel free to pm me here, on http://www.earlythirdgen.com/forums/.
Also, Seeing as your in the area, sorta, you should check another site out: http://www.necamaro-firebird.org/forums/index.php
It a New England 3rd Gen site/club. We've got a great group of people, lot of TGO regulars, a few gurus, and lots of fun!

Yor

It's a beauty, I looked it all over and got to check every terrible spot on these cars for rust, nothing at the pinch welds and wheel wells. Only spot was up on the trunk hatch where the louver clips used to be. I'll have to buy the rear window louver for it, the guy he bought it from originally didn't have it any longer. It also had a dime size bit of surface rust on the passenger fender by the ground effects. This thing is a beauty overall, it need soooo little to be a real show car again. It has an edelbrock carb, intake manifold, I believe full flowmaster exhaust, and a goodwrench 350 crate. I've looked into Goodwrench 350s before and apparently with a good exhaust, carb and intake they can put out about 250hp and 340 lbs torque.

I'll be sure to favorite those two though man, I didn't even realize you were up in the New England area! Lol

Yeah I'm a Craigslist machine, I can find practically any camaro or firebird listed, no matter what it's listed as or what name. lol

Drew

iTrader: (58)

It looks nice, the fun part is trying to keep them nice while driving them.

Yor

Lol I can only imagine, white painted rims probably get dirty real fast. >_<

scottmoyer

I had a 93 Indy Pace Car with the white rims and they are very difficult to keep clean. Upgrade the brake pads to ceramic instead of semi metallic and that will help alot. I found simple green was needed to keep them white. The problem with that is that you need to wax them after every simple green use since simple green will remove the wax.

85 T/A WS6

Nice score, there was a recall on those rims for cracks. I would be careful especially with that 350 in there if the recall wasnt processed.

http://www.internetautoguide.com/aut...ird/index.html

88gta_hiflyer

iTrader: (1)

Looks like a sweet T/A. I'm sure you already know this but NADA value really has no relevance since the drivetrain is not original. You might want to find out if the transmission has been rebuilt or upgraded as T5s (especially non WC) were not built to withstand anywhere near the amount of torque that your 350 can pump out. Definately worth $3K IMO though!

simo

Here is the TSB number.

TSB Number Issue Date TSB Title

85C04 FEB 85 Recall - Hi-Tech Turbo Wheel Fractures In Hub Area



First Design - Bad - Smaller Center Cap



First Design - Bad - Smaller Center Cap



Second Design - Good - Larger Center Cap

Guest

Good info on that recall Simo. Thanks.

Yor

Yeah i understand the NADA value really doesn't apply any more due to the 350 goodwrench, but it's the value to ME, finding such a rare/desirable vehicle for my summer cruiser/resto project meant a lot to me. I wonder, would it be possible to find an L69 that would be considered a match to the original one, or are the Transmission and motor numbers connected somehow so no two combinations of 305 HOs and T5's are the same?

The goodwrench 350 doesn't put out a terribly large amount or hp and torque, similar horsepower to a 305 HO and I believe 240-ish torque, with some aftermarket stuff maybe a bit more. I don't plan on beating on this car, so I'm presuming the Goodwrench shouldn't cause any difficulties.

He has a lot of receipts from the last owner so I can look into it to see if it was upgraded/built up though, don't wanna wreck a transmission over a sub-par crate motor.


NOTE: Also, zoomed in the closest picture I had of one of the rims, and it LOOKS like it has the larger center cap.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

The big thing is the original engine has a partial vin number stamped in front of the passengers side head behind the alternator. That'll never match up correctly unless the engine is original. That's what people mean by "numbers matching". Technically the transmission should have a partial VIN stamp too.

Yor

Ah, I understand. I never ENTIRELY understood what they meant, I kinda thought it just meant an original style engine (Any 305 HO) with any 4speed auto or 5 speed manual that would have bolted it up from the factory.

Drew, from what I've read and heard around the boards you know quite a lot about F-Bodies. If I were to be gentle on the T-5 in it, meaning just simple daily driving (I baby all my cars, I hardly ever even drive about 70 on the highway), would you think that would hold up for a fair amount of time? I drive about 20 miles a week (I live 1/2 a mile away from where I work), and I think it could sustain a 350 if I didn't shift harshly or dump the clutch.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

There are a lot of people on this forum that know more then I do. 90% of the time I'm just passing on what I've learned. I don't have any direct experience putting a T5 behind a V8 and making it last, and I've never killed one dead with a V8. But that said, I know the T5 in general is a weak transmission. Chances are if you're nice to it, it'll be just fine behind a Goodwrench crate 350. If you want to prepare for the rainy day, there's always the T56. If you like the car, I wouldn't pass on it just because it's got a 350 in front of the T5.

Yor

Thank you for your opinion man, it's just ever since I first got on this site a long while ago when I was first really looking into 3rd Generation F-bodies, I'd noticed a lot of your posts had really useful information I didn't know of before then.

I figured it would be fine if I'm gentle on it, I baby my cars, I'll eventually consider stepping it up to the 6 speed T56 because they're a much more solid manual transmission.

Thanks again though guys, if I end up bringing the 15th Anniversary home this friday, I'll post again in the transmission related areas looking for good T5 info.

Guest

The earlier T-5's are weaker than the later (88-up WC or 'World Class') versions, but both are hindered by having a small case that limits the gear sizes and the strength of the entire package. If you plan on getting some decent power out of that 350, I would just plan on ditching the T-5 idea completely when you get around to doing upgrades. There are better options out there that will be less costly in the end.

Yor

Yeah I've been looking into this since I found out about how weak a T-5 is in comparison to other transmissions, I will eventually pull it out and replace it with something better, it's just for the time being I want to make sure I'll be able to cruise around town and to work and back without working about my gears going to the crapper just because of the goodwrench 350.

Guest

Should be fine for a while, just dont drop the clutch or race it a lot. Its mostly torque and torque spikes that will kill it.

Brother Al

Madmax is right about the trans. In all honesty, the T-5 in your car should be fine so long as you don't beat the hell out of it. Yes, World Class T-5's are marginally stronger and have a few improvements over the earlier T-5, but replacing yours with a WC T-5 really isn't worth it. A T56 trans swap is complicated and expensive, I'd leave the T-5 alone, unless you want to visit NED on a regular basis. Originality wise, Sure, the L69 is gone, but I wouldn't ditch the original T-5 if you ever want to sell it. It took me awhile to find an '84 Recaro T/A that wasn't hacked. My L69 & T-5 are just fine. You could also find another "date correct" L69 and restore her back to original.
Simo is the man! He's an Early 3rd Gen Bird Guru has all kinds of awesome info he's collected up.
As for those rims, Yes, your car does have the recall replacements, so don't worry about them.

Yor

Thanks guys, that was my one real worry about the car, seeing as how I've heard of people chewing up their T5's pretty easy, some people 3 times in the time they've owned their 3rd gen.

I got under the car and the tranny looked like it was practically brand new, so it may have been rebuilt at one point, the guy says the last owner gave him a large amount of receipts for work he had done to the car, so I'm going to sift through and see if any have any hints as to whether or not he might have replaced, upgraded, or just rebuilt the T5.

Thanks again for all the help guys, I'll hopefully have the 15th T/A in my parking lot tomorrow afternoon.

86TA4SALE

Nice find and good luck with the car. I wonder why he put the LG4 air cleaner on that 350. Why not use the better L69 dual snorkel?

~Matt

Drew

iTrader: (58)

That's the air cleaner Pontiac used on the L69. There isn't really anywhere for the scoops on the dual snorkel to pick up air.

88gta_hiflyer

iTrader: (1)

If your crate motor only puts out 240 ft. lb. of torque the T5 will be fine. Your earlier post said 340 ft. lb. That's why I was saying the T5 can't handle it. Even WC T5s are not rated to handle much more than 300ft. lb. according to guys on the transmission forum. That's why there were never put behind the L98. You won't have any problems if 240 is correct for the torque. Should be a really fun project.

86TA4SALE

Oh. I thought all the thirdgen L69s got the dual snorkel. Sorry.

~Matt

Yor

Hey guys, just brought the 15th T/A home today, drove great!

However, I just looked up the vin through compnine, and it came up that this car was originally an automatic. I looked up the vin and came up with the codes MD8 MX0, both of which refer to the 700R4 overdrive auto transmission.
...
...

That now brings the question.. what does it have in it??? ><

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Compnine has data on a 1984 T/A? Weird, was it a canadian car?

Yor

Yes it is, actually. It has a RPO code for Canadian upgrade or something like that, the first registration was done in Ontario!

The man I bought it from had a ton of old paperwork and a carfax, it has a clean history and it was first registered in Ontario Canada.

It does have the Y82 code, so it's a legit 15th, but the motor and transmission are not original, neither is the center console, as it shows details from a completely different car that was not a 15th.

86TA4SALE

Congrats on getting a beautiful car. Original parts or not, that is a really nice find. That 350 and 5 speed are more fun to drive anyway.

~Matt

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

I've had a non-WC T-5 behind my 350/330 for several years without issue. If you drive reasonably, there's no reason to fear a failure. Looks like the AC has been dumped, which may or may not be a concern for you.

JamesC

navy02ws6

Sorry to burst your bubble, and I was hoping you were correct as I'd rather this be F-Body trivia than Corvette trivia, but the Corvette Black Book states that the 1984 Corvette was introduced in March 1983 as a 1984 model. It was actually supposed to be a 1983 model, but was introduced so late in the 1983 production year that they decided to make it a 1984.

Don't get me wrong though, I'd buy 10 1984 15th T/As before I would be caught dead in a 1984 Corvette. Also I think the '84 Corvette 16s might very well be in my top 3 list of ugliest wheels ever put on a production car.

SolarGoldRaptor

They're in my top 10 favorite wheels

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

ROBERTDMERRILL

iTrader: (1)

Could you have checked compnine before you bought it? Would you still have bought it if you would have known? Did you ever ask the seller or did the seller ever tell you that the trans has changed? I think it hurts the value of your car but you only bought it for $3K and thats a great buy. Good luck and enjoy!

87_Injected

I think you got a good deal considering what needs to be done to it. Maybe down the road if the funds are there for you, you can put back in an auto tranny and take out the incorrect center console and replace it with the correct one. Depends on what you want to do.

SolarGoldRaptor

Compnine doesn't work with 84's, I've tried several VIN from 81 to 84 and non worked.

AmorgetRS

iTrader: (6)

It works with 84 Canadian cars.

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

The 85 and 86 L69 Trans Am got the dual snorkle due to the change in hood design. The 83 and 84 gets the additional air from it's hood bulge like on the cross fire injection engines. That's why the 83 and 84 Trans Am's air cleaner looks like an LG4 but with an opening on the top lid.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

Posts 30 & 31 explain why Compnine has data on this car.

86TA4SALE

Ok thanks MY87LT that explains it.

~Matt

MY87LT

iTrader: (2)

Your welcome.