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Rather clean SC for cheap

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Old May 2, 2019 | 02:27 AM
  #1  
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Car: 89 Formula 350, TTA
Rather clean SC for cheap

This seems to be the forum where people share for sale ads that they come across. So, for any of you theoretical “SC fans” this might be for you. Actually, at 1200 OBO this could be a good deal generally speaking.






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Old May 2, 2019 | 10:25 AM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Sounds like it's priced around market value. V6 thirdgens are incredibly hard to unload. I asked $1500 for my old 3.1 Firebird for so long that I pretty much ended up giving it away to move on to something else.
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Old May 7, 2019 | 03:29 PM
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Car: 1988 Trans Am
Engine: L03
Transmission: 700R4
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

A nice way to commute to work.
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Old May 7, 2019 | 04:24 PM
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Car: 86 Imponte Ruiner 450GT, 91 Formula
Engine: 350 Vortec, FIRST TPI, 325 RWHP
Transmission: 700R4 3000 stall.
Axle/Gears: 9 Bolt Torsen 3.70
Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Originally Posted by Drew
Sounds like it's priced around market value. V6 thirdgens are incredibly hard to unload. I asked $1500 for my old 3.1 Firebird for so long that I pretty much ended up giving it away to move on to something else.
But it says "engine knocks"...... I'm going to say that's well above market value for a base model with borked engine. My guess they will end up giving it away or taking about $1k less than they are asking.

GD
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Old May 7, 2019 | 05:18 PM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

LS SLEEPER!
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Old May 7, 2019 | 05:26 PM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

You got me, I don't think I read the description. Depends on the knock, but if it's the engine is dead knocking, I'd say yeah it's overpriced. The knock makes it a $200-500 project car or parts car.
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Old May 7, 2019 | 05:39 PM
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From: Portland, OR
Car: 86 Imponte Ruiner 450GT, 91 Formula
Engine: 350 Vortec, FIRST TPI, 325 RWHP
Transmission: 700R4 3000 stall.
Axle/Gears: 9 Bolt Torsen 3.70
Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Communist gnomes making weapons in the crankshaft I'd wager. Smog pump has been bypassed. With the cleanliness of the thing I can't imagine they didn't try to run it with the serp belt off. And I've never seen a PS pump, water pump, or alternator make much in the way of "knocking" noises. Loose or broken flex plate maybe. Probably driven by someone's "lady" that didn't check the oil. V6 automatic - that's for women and children - neither of which check fluids in my experience.

GD
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Old May 8, 2019 | 02:29 PM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Anyone that says T-tops don't leak is a darn liar!!
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Old May 8, 2019 | 02:41 PM
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From: Portland, OR
Car: 86 Imponte Ruiner 450GT, 91 Formula
Engine: 350 Vortec, FIRST TPI, 325 RWHP
Transmission: 700R4 3000 stall.
Axle/Gears: 9 Bolt Torsen 3.70
Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Originally Posted by 1MeanZ
Anyone that says T-tops don't leak is a darn liar!!
I sure haven't found a way to get them completely sealed. First time through a car-wash in a T-top third gen is usually the last. You do get a free bath though.

GD
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Old May 8, 2019 | 03:40 PM
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Car: 90 Formula / T-tops
Engine: 305 TPI
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Originally Posted by 1MeanZ
Anyone that says T-tops don't leak is a darn liar!!
Mine never did. I no longer drive in the rain, so couldnt tell you if they do 26 years later. But they don't leak when I wash.
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Old May 8, 2019 | 08:14 PM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Mine don't leak on either of my cars. GM did state that cars with ttops should not be run through a car wash due to the water pressure at the seals.
GM vehicles are designed to operate under normal environmental conditions. The designed
criteria for sealing materials and components takes into consideration the sealing forces
required to withstand the natural elements. These specifications do not and cannot take into
consideration all artificial conditions such as may be encountered in some high pressure car
washes.


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Old May 8, 2019 | 08:18 PM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

The worst leaking t-tops are the ones someone has tried to make seal tighter by adjusting the mounts to the point the rubber gets completely crushed. My res-runner V6 Firebird didn't leak at all from normal weather. Couple drips in the car wash if you aimed the wand near the corners, but the heaviest rain storm or melting snow was never a problem. Drove that car 365 days a year in the worst weather on earth. Lots of silicone and the later designed seals helped. I still would contend the Lexan t-tops seal better, whether it's plastic on rubber, or less weight to move around over bumps and whatnot in the road, whatever the reason may be that car didn't leak.
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Old May 9, 2019 | 03:14 PM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Let me be clear about my definition of a leak. If ANY water enters the car at ANY time under ANY conditions, it's a leak. Chevrolet doesn't tell the owner of a new Camaro not to take his/her car through the car wash do they? We've loosened our standards of acceptability to suit the build quality, era of manufacture, and technology available at the time for our precious thirdgens. I'm as guilty as anyone. A good friend of mine is the R&D director at ECS tuning, a company providing performance aftermarket parts for European imports. He gets in one of my thirdgens, and aside form making the right noises and being shifted the right way, he thinks they are rubbish, and by today's standards he's right.

My T-top cars don't leak during a hand wash or a light rain. As long as you're moving they don't leak (that I can tell) even in a heavy rain. They do leak if they are sitting parked during a heavy downpour. There might be a wet spot on the rear seats after a long hard downpour, not like water is standing in the floor or anything, but a leak is a leak. My cars all have the original weatherstripping that I've augmented with additional silicone in strategic locations, and my newest thirdgen is an '89. Maybe I'm too harsh or have standards too high, but even one drip is a leak in my book.
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Old May 9, 2019 | 03:17 PM
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Car: 90 Formula / T-tops
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Dang man, you better get that sh*t fixed !
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Old May 9, 2019 | 05:47 PM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

I could make my beater Firebird leak if I TRIED to make it leak. If I didn't go out of my way stupid with a high pressure nozzle, it didn't leak.

My Mustang leaks. Finally figured out it's leaking from gaps in the body panels that were (as far as I can tell) never even sealed from the factory. It also had an annoying harmonic buzzing rattle from the roof, that I traced to the structural support bar under the skin not having been welded to the car on one side, and nothing between the bar and the roof skin to actually support the skin. Same car had a steering coupler that was so shoddy it had giant cracks all the way through, and missing chunks. The car doesn't even have 50k miles on the shell. I could go on for days about how absolutely crap a Fox body was from the factory in 1986.

Ever owned a K-car? Any early 90's Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler garbage like a Shadow, Daytona, Laser, or garbage like that? Them cars were pure crap. The Dixie Cup of automobiles. Drive for 70k miles and trade in or send it to the junkyard.

Everything in the 80's and 90's was crap. It all wore poorly. Every manufacturer had paint that didn't stay stuck down. All kinds of crappy build quality issues. A drip or three when I inadvertently spray high pressure water at the joint of the ttop and body weatherstrip was absolutely insignificant.
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Old May 9, 2019 | 06:21 PM
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Car: 86 Imponte Ruiner 450GT, 91 Formula
Engine: 350 Vortec, FIRST TPI, 325 RWHP
Transmission: 700R4 3000 stall.
Axle/Gears: 9 Bolt Torsen 3.70
Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Originally Posted by Drew
Everything in the 80's and 90's was crap. It all wore poorly. Every manufacturer had paint that didn't stay stuck down. All kinds of crappy build quality issues. A drip or three when I inadvertently spray high pressure water at the joint of the ttop and body weatherstrip was absolutely insignificant.
Yep - and that's why even the high school kids do double-take's when my car rolls past. Because really nice looking 80's F body's are quite rare to see in the wild now.

But yeah - my garbage leaks if you blast it with a hose near the corners of the door windows. Here in Oregon we KNOW rain and under normal conditions it's fine. It lives outside and it's relatively dry inside year round. Not NBC sealed - but good enough for a government job.

GD
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Old May 9, 2019 | 07:21 PM
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Car: 89 Firebird
Engine: 355 TBI
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Axle/Gears: 10 Bolt.Posi-3.73s
Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Mine leaks if it's parked in a torrential rain and that only happened once. Wasn't much of a leak either. My Dad said they used to come in the body shop brand new leaking and so did the 2nd gens.
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Old May 9, 2019 | 09:55 PM
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Re: Rather clean SC for cheap

Originally Posted by GeneralDisorder
Communist gnomes making weapons in the crankshaft I'd wager. Smog pump has been bypassed. With the cleanliness of the thing I can't imagine they didn't try to run it with the serp belt off. And I've never seen a PS pump, water pump, or alternator make much in the way of "knocking" noises. Loose or broken flex plate maybe. Probably driven by someone's "lady" that didn't check the oil. V6 automatic - that's for women and children - neither of which check fluids in my experience.

GD

IDK about commies, but might be aliens.... Lotsa stories about aliens up here in the NW....
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