I am currently looking at an '89 GTA w/ the L98 motor. It will be my first ever F-body (I am very excited). The car does have quite a few miles (~120,000). So I am wondering what things should I expect to have to be changed on it soon. What are the most common failures that thrid gen's experience this far into their life cycle. It will be about 6 months before I can put the car away and start seriously working on it. I am also looking for a good source for 6-speed manual trannies to install into the car when I gut it.

Thanks for any advice. I am really looking forward to getting this car and cannot wait to work on it.

Peace!

 

Hey,

I recently got my very first thirdgen 3 weeks ago (an 87 GTA) and since it had t-tops the Headliner, dash pad, seats, and carpet were all shot from the 15 years of sun. On most thirdgens the headliners are saggy and the dash pads are cracked. Other than that, my exhaust was pretty rusted out, and my air pump was seized.

The six speed that most people use on thirdgen's is the T56, foung mainly in fourth gen ( 93-2002) firebirds and camaros.

Good luck gettin the car, and have fun diggin in and gettin dirty!

Matt

 

Make sure the body is straight. These cars, especially the 350-powered cars, are notorious for body twist, because of all the torque and a pretty flimsy body.

If its got T-tops, take the car to a car wash and see if they leak. If its only a little, thats not too bad. Almost expected, really. If its excessive, you'll know.

Everything else is pretty much universal 'check-this-because-its-used' kinda stuff.

BTW - for the T56 6-speed trans, the most commonly used ones are the ones from a '93-97 Camaro or Firebird. You can't use one from a '98-02 Camaro/Firebird.

 

Really Adam? I'm new so i didn't know about not using the ls1 T56's, why can't we use them?

Matt

 

I can't remember why. Different input shaft and bellhousing bolt pattern I think, but I could be wrong about that.

 

Thanks for the input so-far everyone. Looks like I am supposed to pick up the car this Thursday (July, 8). I am pretty excited. It is a one owner car - owned by an older guy (50+) and apparently he has every single reciept of work ever done on the car. I'm impressed enough with that. I was considering waiting it out for a Formula with less miles and saving cash to travel and pick it up. But this GTA is only an hour away - so with the history of the car documented and part of the deal, I couldn't resist - even if it's a shade over a 100K miles.

As for the chassis twisting - I don't want to go to a dealer to check that out. I figured there must be some specialty shop here in the southeast US that has a machine that checks the body's integrity. Does anyone know of a place in Al, GA, Fl, MS, or Tenn that might have a shop that will check out the cars frame for a reasonable price?

Thanks again for the help - I will be posting pics of the car a day or two after I get it. Peace.

 

Moved.