The car has been hit in the passenger fender. I have only talked to owner on the phone, I have not seen the car. He said it could be driven home. Could anyone give me a "ballpark" figure on what it might cost me to have the frame straightened??

The car has a 305 with TPI, auto, T-tops, red paint, about 150K.
Is $750 a good deal? Also, the car has not been started in over a year.

 

Bent frame? let it go. Or use it for parts. These cars are not hard to find cheap. We paid $500 for ours, In sig. good drivetrain, AC, and not too bad in and out but not great either.

 

3rd gens don't have frames, they are uni-body construction. Let the car go and keep looking.......

 

I agree. A car with 150K miles and a bent (sub)frame is no deal for $750. By the time you replace the damaged sheetmetal & suspension & pay a shop to straighten out the subframe (and paint the car), you'll have at least $2000 in it and you'll still have a 305 with 150K.

 

I would offer 500 for it and part it out. Is it a WS6 or 1LE or anything? If not, the only thing that would really even be worth parting out would be the engine, which would need a rebuild anyway.

 

i very much agree, let it go and wait for a nice solid f-body car (chassis wise with no body damage) with like a blown tranny or engine, that would be a better way to go...

 

Well, I called the guy back so I could go take a look at the car and write down some RPO codes, BUT he said his grandfather bought an '85 Firebird that day and wants to use the '89 for parts. He did say that his grandfather was not going to use the engine so I'm going to check RPO codes to find out which engine it has and depending on that, I may buy it for a rebuild to put into my '86 Camaro. Also, I might buy his '89 rear spoiler and put it on mine. I saw a pic here on Third Gen of a camaro with a spoiler like that and it looks good. Thanks for the replies.

 

Hey, sounds like your in the same boat as I am. Only I'm a little better off car wise.

I just bought a 89 GTA for $1,000. The body is perfect, with only a small dent in the driver side front quarter panel. Seems like someone opened a door right into it.

The car has two problems. Blown head gasket, and a electrical short somewhere that drains the battery. Other than that its in good shape. I'm going to do the heads myself. With the help of my dad and uncle though. All though I understand the theory's behind how a car works and why somethings are done the way they are, I lack the actual experience to do it. But both my father and uncle have torn down engines before. The only real experience I have with engines is with my dads Boat. Its a 1960 Correctcraft Atom skier. Basically it was a low buck ski boat. Has a wooden frame with a mahogany deck. For power it has a single side draft carb. 250c.i.d AMC Big Block with 138hp. Yes, its a 250. I know its a weird size, but thats what it is. Its a older engine so I understand how that works. Its more like a 8cyl lawn mower engine than anything else.

I also suspect that it has a aftermarket exhaust on it. Because no stock firebird I've heard is as loud as this one is. Not even my uncle's babied Formula 350. Its a 88' Formula and it has only 19,000 miles on it. He's also the original owner. He loves that car. I rode in it as a kid. Gotta love it.

 

Look a little harder if you're willing to spend $750 on a car with a bent frame then I would say you'd be willing to pay $1000 for a decent runner which is what I found. 85 TA, T-Tops, 5Spd, 5.0 Performance Suspension(whatever that is, not WS6 so F* it) and then 2 weeks later my room mate found a 84 TA, T-tops, 5Spd, 5.0, 4 Wheel discs for $800, both were and still run today and clean enough to show around town, the only drawback 2 letters 1 number: LG4. Good Luck

 

Well, first, you'd want to make sure the frame is bent, and the guy isn't just guessing. It could just be a bent up fender at the top of the front subframe. Also depends on how bad the frame rail would be bent! The repair I would do would cut out the damaged section and weld a new (or junkyard!) section in. But, if the whole frame is dented in, and the strut tower has moved, that's a lot of welding & alignment.

Now if the rest of the body is in perfect shape, and the interior is immaculately clean, it might be worth buying. But somehow I doubt it...

Fruity one, you could either replace that front fender (not called a front 1/4 panel), or you could try your hand at banging it out, you can find a body hammer for about $15 and a "general purpose dolly" (looks like a 5" piece of a railroad rail) for $7.

 

Damn, your right. I did call it a quarter panel. Opps. I sometimes screw it up. As a kid I didn't have much to work on as far as cars went. I build computers and sold them to family, but nothing to do with cars. No one in my family had an interest in working on them.

But I do, and I'm old enough and have enough money that I can afford to feed this pig weekly. Ought to be fun though. Going from a 88hp, 2300lb car to a 235hp, 3,500lb car. I'm bored, and if I have money maybe I'll have the head on my escort ported and polished cause it has almost no power at all. Heck, a 5hp gain would be noticible on that car.

 

If it looks like this, don't buy it!

 

Its TPI, take the whole TPI, ECM, PROM, that would be worth something...if grandpa dont take it...