im about to start a restoration on my 88 firebird formula. i will try to get pics up as i tear it apart and repair things. im gonna be starting this week on tearing it apart. its going to be more or less a resto/build. ill post pic as i progress and i hope any members will help me out with anything as this will be a new experience for me. this is my second car i use to have an 89 base firebird 305/auto. my current one has a 305/manual. i figured this would be a great project to start on since im starting college this fall to become an automotive technician.

a little history behind the car

i bought this car in virginia, i found it last october on craigslist. i knew i had to have once i saw it. the seller originally wanted 1000 for it. the onlything wrong at the time mechanical was it wouldnt start. i talked him down to 800 and he raised it up to 900 because he managed to get it started.
this was no beauty as you can imagine a 1988 firebird formula with 175xxx miles on it for 900 isnt exactly your idea of a show car.
the only good about this car was that it had the performance package with all the goodies like the hood spoiler suspension rims and tires. it was optioned pretty well it has deluxe leather interior ttops(leak like crazy). it also come with a full stainless steel magnaflow catback exhaust system.
the engine however was just a complete mess. it had this giant holley air cleaner that didnt fit just sitting there it would knock sputter tick and hiss.. it was an abomination to all third gens. somehow the two ENTIRE headlight assemblies were completely missing. it has a random trans am door as the driver side door the hood and fenders are not aligned at all and there was duct tape on the bumper and fender. leading me to believe that it was probably wrecked at one point.
so we take it for a test drive it drove pretty good but it had a ton of wind and road noise inside the car. the gauges barely worked but damn that transmission shifted real good. words cannot even begin to describe how slow the car is. i think a stock 300 thousand mile 1980s honda running on 2 cylinders with no tune up since it left the factory had more power than it.
but i was in love. i had to have this car so i bought it and had it towed from manassas va to middle river md. i began tweaking with it i eventually got it to shut up by tightening the rocker arms but due to my luck i had removed the engine bay harness and while i was removing the bulk head connector on drivers side the hood struts gave out the hood slams down and the wiring harness is all cut up and messed up luckily i was searching for a tool at that time other wise my head would have been hurting!! so i have basically given up on her for now. but this week im taking her completely apart removing everything heres some plans for her

painless 18 circuit harness
full edelbrock performer rpm 350 roller engine
3 inch long tube headman headers open
full ac and heater removal
bmr suspension
10 bolt posi disc 3.42 rear
walbro 255 intank electric fuel pump
steel braided fuel lines

cant really think of anything else atm but she should be pretty decent when im done

 

good luck!

show some pics

 

got the dash removed took about 20 minutes not that hard as others said it would be

 

not really got any progress done lately as the car is at my grandmothers and i dont live there. hoping to get some stuff done when it cools down. been really hot here in md lately

 

door cupholders what year did they come 4 the birds? 90 or 91??

 

not sure but i dont think it was an option in this car because the driver side door isnt even a formula door its a trans am door is has the gfx holes drilled in it. the other door is a formula door because it has the formula sticker i would like to find out about this car though because i though 88 was roller cam. i took the engine out and opened it up it was a hydraulic flat cam i was a bit shocked