AmpleUnicorn88

(I hope it's ok to post this here. I read through the guidelines and didn't see anything that said I couldn't post this, so if I am wrong, somebody please correct me)

There is a junkyard in the Phoenix/South Scottsdale area that has a 91 firebird that had a 350 TPI in it. I talked to one of the owners there and he said that he knew the guy that owned the car, and the guy drove it into the junkyard with it running great. No idea why the guy wanted to sell it to a junkyard though. I went just to get some ac bolts and the motor was still in the car at first. I asked just for informational purposes how much they would want for the motor, and the girl at the desk said $600, but she could probably let it go for $400. That was weird, but I just said thank you and left. I thought $400 seemed like a good deal though, but I don't have any desire to drop a 350 TPI in my car (at this time). I went back again a few weeks later to get the tensioner out of the car and the motor was pulled. I walked around and the section where they put all the motors that they pull it was sitting at the side of it, so it was easy to get to and pull the tensioner off. I was talking to some guy there that seemed to know a lot about the place so I asked if he was the owner and he said yes, so I asked him about the motor, and then he told me of the history of it. They got it with it running, and judging by the looks of it, it was probably rebuilt recently, because the valve covers are painted blue, and the motor looks like it has fairly new stuff on it. It has newer yellow accel wires I believe which are kind of pricey. They said it sat for about a month in their yard and it either didn't want to start or wouldn't start. He has no idea why, all they did was pull the motor and relocate the car to another area in the yard. He said he was thinking of moving it because he thinks it's still a good motor, so hopefully we did, because it has rained twice since they have pulled it and left it sitting outside.

He ended up telling me he will take $300 for the motor for everything attached to it. The distributor cap is smashed, so the distributor may be damaged. The wires still look new, and the motor overall is semi clean and looks decent. I took the tensioner off it so it's missing that. It has an ac bypass on it, waterpump, powersteering, pretty much everything else is still on the motor and complete. I just wanted to post this somewhere on here because i feel like $300 for this 350 TPI is a super good deal. I am thinking of taking the rear end and steering column which are still in the car, but right now, I am not looking to do a motor swap, so I want to pass on this opportunity to somebody who may be interested. If interested, I can tell you where it is at, and I also have the vin number written down so you can confirm. I didn't take any numbers off the block, but it was in the car when I first saw it and I ran the vin and it said it was a 350 originally. I also called GM to confirm it, as well as the rear end.

Again, hopefully it was ok to post this, I just though this was too good of an oppurtunity to pass up. I am somewhat contemplating getting it still at this price, but it would probably just sit in my garage for a few years.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

Right on my way home.

I think you're referring to Tempe / Scottsdale border.

AmpleUnicorn88

I think technically Phoenix is on the west side of Scottsdale road and Scottsdale is on the east side. I could be wrong. but then Tempe is just south of there so it's like where they all meet. It is just off the 202 and Scottsdale road. You should go buy it so I dont.haha

jmd

iTrader: (4)

Way too many backlogged projects lol.
I hadn't visited any thing off the 202 until a couple months ago for a condensor bracket. Got that, but the condensor in a T/A was kinda beat up so I skipped it. They weren't especially big on third gens; kind of a variety yard.
Actually, now that you mention it, I think that Firebird was at the yard I went to. Some guy was buying wheels off it and it had an AC delete pulley.

AmpleUnicorn88

I'm pretty sure it's the only junkyard in the neighborhood it's in so most likely it is the same one. It's called Pluck-a-part. On the south side of the 202 not very far south of it is the pick a part that almost always has some 3rd gen in it. They had an 89 camaro with a V6 manual that was red that was in very good condition and I saw it the day after they got it. Don't know why it was junked. They got an 88 camaro in about a month and a half ago maybe a little longer. And thank god because when I was converting to ac I found out that the evaporator and hardline line are different between an 88tbi and 89-92tbi.so I had to pull it from that car and thankfully it still have the line.

AmpleUnicorn88

So that motor was bought last week. The guy actually contacted me on our craigslist ad for our parts left over from when we restored our 3rd gens and one thing led to another and found out he bought this 350 TPI last week, but for only $100. This is a steal considering the car it was in drove before the motor was pulled and was rebuilt not long before. Would have been nice to snag it at that price even if it just sat in my garage for a year or 2.

Vanilla Ice

Damn. That's insane.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

for $100, I'd have pulled the harness etc. from my 86 and put the engine in my DD.

I texted one of the numbers in the ad re: AC brackets. Ever find them?

AmpleUnicorn88

Are you referring to the ad I posted with all the parts I have left?

If so I have gotten lots of texts but so far only 1 guy has shown up and he was from Tucson.
But I have both ac brackets still. One is the longer one that attaches to the exhaust manifold/header and the other attaches to the intake manifold but it's for the TPI motors. The other one is for the TBI.