Just a little update on my life (not that it matters to any of you ) I graduated high school and am now attending San Francisco State University, I am as of right now undeclared in my major. Still without a job but whatever living at home for college I don't exactly have major expenses. Now for my car predicament.

It's been four months now since I sold the 99. I've been searching every day for a 3rd gen but have yet to find one appealing. I've been looking for 87-90 GTAs and Formulas with a 305 tpi and a 5-speed. No luck yet but I did find this 1989 pontiac firebird 5.0
Albeit I'd never pay that much. It is a 5-speed but it's got an L03 in it . I figure if I can get them down in the 3k range I'd just suck it up about it not having a TPI and do a swap. It's got 90k on it too which ain't to shabby. I like the color, definitely not my favorite (black), but with the black undertrim and the t-tops it aint bad, also I think If I painted the spoiler black like they did on the the 86s it would look good overall and null my indifference to white. So what do you guys think about it? Should I just suck it up and wait some more or what? It is getting to the point where I will need a car, my mom's Infiniti died, my brother's is in college down south with his, and my dad needs his for work everyday, plus I'm not looking forward to riding my bike in the rain this coming rainy season.

 

Starting college and want to keep a 3rd Gen? Then you should seriously consider that car. If that LO3 is in decent shape, it will be low maintenqance and decent on gas -- both things you will learn to respect while on a college budget. If you still like the car after school, you can yank it and put in something else. On top of it all, it is a stick!

The only issue I see with this car is that it might be a tad over priced. Typical for a dealer. This may be because the car is in great shape (one can hope) or maybe not. If you are interested, head down there with 3K cash and I bet odds are good you could drive it home.

Just south of SFSU,

 

So what can I do with an L03 car before an eventual swap? I'd like a mid-high 14 second car for once and I know how slow it is stock, is it viable to get it down in that range? I figure suspension and rear end work would only help for an eventual swap to, posi if it doesn't have and going to 3.42s because I think all the L03s had 3.08s.

 

Do stuff that you can keep for future engines, Headers, Cat-back, Gearing maybe? Or even just work on suspension so you can take off harder.

 

God I hate SFSU.. for multiple reasons.

Anything that isn't internal will swap to a bigger motor. I'd suggest doing exhaust, gearing and suspension.