Hey everyone, I just joined the forum after buying my first 3rd gen Firebird yesterday. My previous project car was a 1968 Cadillac, but I realized I was way in over my head with what that car needed, so I got a '91 Firebird instead.

My only mechanical experience comes from demo derby's, so I'm sort of familiar with whats going on under hood, but fixing a car to get 5 more miles out of it, and really fixing a car is totally different worlds (for instance, a sock is not an acceptable air filter...lol).

My Firebird is a 1991 with a 5.0L L03 motor, having been driven 166,000 miles already. Despite the high miles, it runs well except for a water pump in the early stages of death. Its rough around the edges with some dings and a little rust, and the front brakes are starting to squeak. However, the body is straight, all the electronics work well, the headlights pop up just fine, it has the beautiful gold diamond spoked wheels, and its perfectly road worthy at the moment.

This is sort of my experimental project car, and I want to do as much work on it myself as I can (keep in mind I don't have too much experience). I know the motor is going to need refreshed sooner than later, but I'm hoping it will last at least until I give the body some much needed TLC. My questions (after this rambling post):

1) Aside from the normal tune up, is there anything relatively inexpensive I can do to help persuade this motor to last a little while?

2) I'm not that familiar with 3rd gen's, if you'd bought this car, what type of repair issues might you look for on it?

3) Is replacing that water pump really as straight forward as it appears? It looks like you just loosen the belt, unbolt the old, bolt on the new, tighten the belt, and off you go (draining and refilling the coolant of course).

Thanks!

 

hey, welcome to the third gen community!! Sounds like you got yourself a pretty good car so far, and you can turn a wrench. I'm not too familar with the TBI motors, maybe look in the TBI section here, or do an engine swap. I'm most of the way through an LS1 swap myself, from a 350TPI. As far as what to do first, as long as everything is structurally sound, thats somewhat up to you. I put in 98+ brakes explained here, much better than the stockers and will fit behind the 16" Gold 'lace' wheels.

Look through the suspension area, there are a lot of options, depending on what your goals are for the car. Do you want a drag only, fast street, or road racer?? Check your door hinges, if there is any play (open door, have someone lift up on the rear part while you look at the upper and lower) they should be replaced, do a search for the door hinge fix kit from TDS, Lon is a sponser and a great guy to work with. Sub frame connectors are almost a must on these cars, several companies make 'em, do some reading and pick your favorite.

let's see some pics of that thing!!

 

Cool, thanks for the advice. I'll take some pics this weekend when i crack open the brakes. For now I'm concentrating on just doing stock style fixes on the drivetrain real quick, so that I can get to the body, which needs some attention. As for the doors, I think they are just gonna get replaced due to rust.

The water pump was replaced weds, and it went very well considering its the first time I've done it. The old one was so bad that the core is probably not reusable, and it took 2 hours to get it off, but it only took 20 minutes to get the new one on, and I haven't seen a drop of coolant anywhere, so it appears I got the seals down right too.

I'll post some pics of the car after the weekend, which will be the first chance I get with both the car and a camera.