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Hey guys, I'm new at this. I grew up watching my dad build all sorts of cars and race them, now I have one. I picked up a 1988 Firebird Formula from a friends cousin for $1,500. It's REALLY nice. Quite surprisingly so to be honest. The car is 28 years old, and has sat for the last 5 years in Illinois. Very little rust on it. It's a 5.0 L 305 V8 with a 5 speed manual transmission. Maui Blue, with t tops and a turbo hood. I don't know too much about cars, so this is my first run with restoring a car and getting to know how it works. I wanted to share my beauty with you guys and show you our progress along the way.
This is all the first night/day I had it. The day after I got it I cleaned it out and vacuumed it out.
Congrats on the new ride!
Is this the one from wood river IL? If so, I drove by that car daily while at work thinking I should stop and ask if it's for sale.
I live a hr north of where the car was.
And now I'm caught up with this week. I found out that what I thought was replaced with tweed, was underneath. The original carpet is still in the trunk.
On Tuesday we started working on taking out the exhaust and fuel tank to get to the fuel pump. Then today we got it out, swapped the pumps, and put it back together. Then we replaced the springs and shocks. It's not entirely put back together. I went and bought a battery and we drained the fuel and I put new fuel in. It starts. It's amazing.
Yup, that's the car. I have a few pix of it b4 you got it and maybe even some you or your dad posted on FB of you loading it up.
Yeah, my dad and the guy's cousin went and got it. I had to work, unfortunately. He was just talking about you when he posted the car on facebook. I'm glad I was able to get it before anyone else. Heh. It's essentially what my dream car was when I was a kid. I always wanted an "85 IROC Z28 Camaro. I intend to have it ready to go for the autocross in Gary on April 10th. My dad is bringing his "79 Trans Am and our friend is bringing his "77(?) Trans Am.
Hey is that an original rear spoiler or is it a fiberglass replacement? If its original that's a huge score!
It's a fiberglass replacement. I've heard a lot about them degrading and honestly, I was ecstatic to hear that they already replaced it. Saved me $500.
Well, I'm not happy. We put the car most of the way back together and I remembered seeing that the fuel meter is broken. I asked my dad about it and he said we'd need to take it all apart again. Work switched up my schedule and I now work 10-5, giving me very little daylight. We have the next two days to work on it after I get off before he goes to overtime. The part is gonna take two days to get here. To say the least, I'm frustrated. I did get the oil changed and tomorrow we're going to get a bolt out that I broke. We decided to work in the night and rain and I still have things going against me. It will all be worth it when I take it to the autocross..
Last edited by Revanmann; Mar 13, 2016 at 08:59 PM.
i have the same exact car except it look like you have the TPI engine where i have the TBI, but everything else seems exactly like mine haha...hope all goes well with yours
Really nice to see someone get this excited about their FIRST car. The fact that you are bringing her back from the edge of total neglect is awesome. When you get to the interior, there is a company called Classic Industries that makes just about every REPRO part you'll ever need to make it like new. As for what you paid for it, with time and effort, you will recover most of your coin and have some great memories about how it came together!
The tank isn't that hard to do, but i understand the frustration of pulling it out for the pump, putting it all back together and then having the gauge not work.
My gauge is pegged. So I assume either I've got a break somewhere, or the sender broke. I haven't mustered the energy to pull it back out again.
I should at least get under there and test the wires from the gauge to the socket. But car is in storage.
Last night we got the bolt out. I wanted to get the corvette seats in, but the tracks had other plans. So we assembled the drivers seat with one of the springs I bought from work and today I'm going to get some more parts and we'll hopefully have them in. I'm going we'll have the fuel gauge part tomorrow so we can finish up the rear end Thursday.
They still need to be wired for power lumbar and heaters but they make the car functional. Used the original seat tracks and custom made brackets to make it work. Sits a little higher but much more supportive than the ripped up originals. Also moved them back a little since we are both kinda tall. Rear seat legroom is pretty much lost but adults don't fit in the backseat of a Firebird anyway.
Mike
I apologize if you were following this with interest, I've been really busy lately. With work changing my schedule up and Dad working different times, it's been interesting. Anyways, We pulled the rear end apart and replaced the fuel sending unit and put it all back together, did the springs and shocks, and got the front springs and struts done. Dad brought it to get it emissions tested and it failed. Needed a new gas cap and it had a high hydrocarbon output. I got the new cap, replaced the spark plugs(biggest pain in the butt on the stupid thing), put a new o2 sensor on, re-welded the exhaust, glued on the review mirror and put in a radio. Then, I drove it around last night for the first time and got a good feel for it. Dad wanted out to work on his Trans Am. He asked me to pop the hood and then started yelling. "Shut it off!!" He jumped out of the way because the heater control valve literally exploded. Yay.. We replaced it today and I drove it around for about 20 minutes this evening. Tomorrow we take it to the emissions and hopefully ti passes, I get plates, and I start driving the beauty. Oh, and we got new tires. Pictures in the next post.
Last edited by Revanmann; Apr 4, 2016 at 07:40 PM.
Been watching this thread while waiting to get mine, amazing job man! I got her finally this past weekend and the only thing keeping her from starting is either a bad/clogged fuel pump or not enough voltage reaching the pump/bad ground. Im praying so hard that I go under the car tomorrow and find that its just a bad ground or something... but I get the feeling it won't be that easy and the pump will have to be replaced. Sucks that my parents won't let me do something that big in the driveway So I'll either have to have someone else do it or find somewhere to do it myself. /Rant haha
So...on the way to emissions, the car flashes the check engine. We go home, look why, and head out again. Flashes again and we go to my dad's friend's work. He gives us advice and also tells us that we dont need to worry about that. We go to emissions, wait 30 minutes and get in. The guy my dad hands it off to was informed it's a manual trans. He gets a look on his face and then proceeds to struggle to get it on the dyno. He then stalls it several times and apparently he can't understand why the facilty wont work, the manager goes and hides, while keeping our paperwork, kicks us out and closes. Are you kidding me? I am so pissed off right now. That is ridiculous. We dont exactly have time to waste, as we are trying to get both of our cars ready for an autocross Sunday and my dad's car is still apart. He works 16 hours tomorrow. Cant get it tested again till Thursday..
Last edited by Revanmann; Apr 5, 2016 at 10:49 PM.
Great build! My wife doesn't know it yet, but my plan is to get a 305 5 speed car I can fix up and try to get her hooked on Auto X. I love the 305 Formula! Keep up the work... I look forward to hopefully seeing pictures of it at the Auto X event you plan to attend.
Some great news, someone in the Great Lakes Firebirds group on fb just picked up an '87 Formula and is going to part it out. I should be able to get the upper dash pad, driver's side door panel, left tail light, radio housing, and right bumper tab from him for significantly less money than other places. He payed $650 for the car. As long as they're in good shape, it'll be awesome to pick these up for much less than repro parts.
Can confirm! got some excellent condition rear tail lights today for less than I could find on ebay or any reproduction site. Wasn't expecting craigslist to save the day, but it did!
IT'S LEGAL!!!! Heh, I drove it for about an hour today. Good gosh, I love this car. In that time, I've gotten waaay better and not killing it on an incline. I also had the smoothest gear transition so far about ten minutes ago. Can't wait to drive it after work tomorrow.
Congratulations - all of the hard work has finally paid off!
The best way to learn to drive a stick....is to drive a stick! It'll become second nature in no time flat. My son is probably close to your age & watching him drive my 91 Z28 stick was frightening & thrilling - both at the same time.
Thanks everybody, I appreciate the support. I definitely intend to drive it a LOT this weekend. I'll end up putting pics of the autocross up as well. The tail light centerpiece is cracked, unfortunately.. I'll get around to every detail eventually.
IT'S LEGAL!!!! Heh, I drove it for about an hour today. Good gosh, I love this car. In that time, I've gotten waaay better and not killing it on an incline. I also had the smoothest gear transition so far about ten minutes ago. Can't wait to drive it after work tomorrow.
So I'll either have to have someone else do it or find somewhere to do it myself. /Rant haha 
