Hi! I have been wanting an F-body for a long, long time and now I finally have a little $$$ to get my dream ride! My total budget will be about 2,700 -2,900 dollars total. My parents will pay Insurance. I will have about two hours every day to work on the car in autotech, so time is not a problem in fixing up the car. Any suggestions for picking a good used third gen f-body for less than 3,000? Would you recomend going with the 350 TPI even if it is harder to find and more expensive? I am thinking it would be better to buy the bigest engine with the least miles that has been taken care of properly. Any tips on how to check if the owner took care of the engine??? What signs of wear should I look out for? I want a reliable street car that I can proudly call my own...... What better looking (and affordable) car than the third gen f-body? To sum up, these are my questions im hoping you can answer:

1. What are the most desireble characteristics to have on the used f-bodies? (TBI/TPI/carb???, 5.0 vs 5.7, Z28 vs Bird vs IROC, etc)

2. How can I tell if the previous owners took good care of the engine? How can I tell if the engine has been pampered or abused by a teenager? <grin>

3. What effective yet very low cost mods should I do first?

Any help would be greatly apreciated.

look for rust or collision damage on the body panels. a shiny new paint job and some bondo can cover up a lot of hidden problems. replacing all the body panels on the car one by one is not fun.

if the oil is changed at regular intervals, engines often last the effective life of the car. But transmissions, engine accessories (alternator, waterpump, etc), and frontend suspension/steering components are often in need of a rebuild or replacement on older cars.

when shopping don't rule out ex-police cars. chevy caprice & the ford crown victoria are both large rwd cars that will have plenty of interior space to haul around all your friends, and a v8 engine too. insurance for ex-squad cars is usually cheaper than an f-body as well.

also take a look at this thread:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...threadid=90232

1. 5.7L TPI - some prefer MAP over the MAF system, I don't think it's that important. The exception to the 5.7L would be the 5spd/305's...I forget the RPO number but they came with a more aggressive cam, and performed much better stock for stock than the 5.7L/A4.

Note: Not all 305's - the vast majority were not these "Special" mtors I'm refering too.... I thin te RPO was G-something- something.

2. Engine oil color, any seperation on the dipstick (water? blown HG), trans fluid color/smell, pull a couple plugs if you can too look at them, your standard ball joint/tierod test, and chek he brake hoses, they seem to go about every 7 years.

3 There lots in the Tech Archives, bt you can start with a good tune up with quality parts, the TB bypass, headers, and DEFINATELY a cat back. There' no much you can do on the intake side unless you had some more $$$, then the stealthram might be a solid choice.

Double post

I Think It Was G92........??

thanks for the advice! Cant wait to start

If you plan on doing major modifications (heads, intake, headers, etc.) AND doing your own tuning (see the DIY prom board), then you are are better off going with a MAP (speed density, 90-92) car. If you want to keep it stock, it doesn't matter. If you want to do minor mods (maybe runners or 1.6 rockers, minor stuff) then the MAF cars are ok and maybe even better than MAP because they can adjust to minor changes to some extent.

to summarize:

keeping it stock: doesnt matter
minor mods: doesn't matter too much
moderate-major mods: MAP/SD cars get big advantage
want to tweak/program your own PROM: MAP/SD

Get a V8 TPI car doesn't matter what size, that's easily fixed-swapping over from a 6 is a pain, and so is adding FI.

Get a 5 spd if at all possible, they are so much fun. -it's also easier imo to go from man to auto than the other way around.

This is the most important part. Get a car that has had ABSOLUTELY NO at home work done to it. Most people don't know what the hell they are doing and it ends up biting you in the butt later.

Don't get a car that has a lot of tar and stuff under the carpet. I HATE that stuff.

When looking for body damage here are some spots

Look in the door jam and see if the sticker is still there. Same goes for the underhood stickers/insulation.

Run the VIN and make sure all of the markings that are supposed to on it are. Most cheap jobs don't replace decals. Look for paint on off color body parts or overspray in places.

Make sure the spare tire and jack are all there.

If at all possible get up under the car and check the trans tunnel for wrinkles.

Make sure the car is the same color in all spots. Check under the carpet if possible.

Bring a magnet because it won't stick to bondo.

Basically make sure the whole car looks the same age.

My two tips:

1) Check the ECM for codes.

Maybe bring a photocopy of the procedure from a Haynes manual, in case the seller has never done this before.

2) Get a diagram of the vacuum hose routing (Vader has posted a pic on this before, usually related to EGR) and make sure it is all there and plugged into the correct places.

Hi yes im looking at buying a 87 iroc thats been sitting for awhile i was wondering if anyone knew how to check to see if the engine is and the compression and every thing its a 5.7 350 tpi with 56000 miles on it the guy used to take it to the track and i really want the car i just dont want to hear those dreded 4 words from me fieance ( I TOLD YOU SO ) and would like to advoid that by checkin the engine first if anyone could get back to me asap it would be very appiciated thanks

First off, I haven't been in a 305 car, or even a stock v6 car, but I have been in a 350 tpi car and that thing was a torque monster...I would def spring for the 350 tpi, but at very least, get a TPI, the 305 still makes nice power.
2ndly, do yourself a favor and get a manual, swapping to one is expensive/
3rd. two things to know about t-tops, the frames are weaker(easily compensated for despite what most people think, there are 1700 hp plus t-top 3rd gens) but also they add about 100 lbs of weight, same with transmission, an auto is about 100 lbs heavier.

Last but not least, things to look for, check the driver side floor pan, and the spare tire well for rust, these are the two most common trouble areas, check the front door posts too, look at the tires, if they are worn around the edges more than the middle its a sure sign that something is out of wack, usually alignment, and check body panel gap.

engine wise, first off its a misnomer that driving the hell out of a car is bad for the engine, if you maintain it properly it will do no harm, one thing to make note of is aftermarket parts, if you can see a shiny new ignition coil and dist cap under there, maybe some new spark plug wires, K&N air filter/s, little things like that usually mean someone cared about that engine. Also check the oil, if it has water in it, walk away....

Last but not least, the first two things that should be modified on any car are intake and exhaust systems, they offer the most bang for the buck, and will maximize any other mods you do, if it doesn't have CAI, get it CAI with the least restrictive filter type possible, RAI even better, put headers on it, high flow cat, and a catback.
If it has crappy rear end ratio, throw some 3.42s-4.10s in it, Personally I like 3.42s its a good all around best of everything ratio, lower will get you more acceleration but less highway mileage and overall top speed.

Haha eight year old thread

yeah, but from a newb who apparently used the search function and then appended the thread with his own inuiry.

Interesting, a 24 year old car that averaged less than 2500 miles per year???

Were they 1/4 mile at a time?

Was it all stop and go and idling within a city?

I would seriously question the miles. But, let's assume that it's true. You will have no clue as to the maintenance of the vehicle unless this is the orignal owner for all 24 years?? So, you should at least count on pulling off the intake and heads and do a top end inspection as well as visual and measure the cylinders. Then you willl be starting with new top end gaskets which isn't a bad thing.

razgrez7 gets points for being new AND still searching unlike many "senior members"