Hey im supposed to go check out an iroc this weekend and I was just wondering what are some areas of the car I should check for wear and damage. Once in a while I hear about the steering box cracking a part of the front frame but I thought they fixed that. Anyways its an 88 with 305 5 spd, i checked the vin number already and its an LB9 so now im just wondering about trouble areas or just certain things I should check on it. Thanks...

 

when i was looking for cars i checked the body, like under the doors, see if the doors are loose, i dont know about anything else

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Trent
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89 Firebird
305 v8
automatic
ttops

 

Check to see that the fenders line up to the nose and door joints... Look for bowing in the 1/4 panel area, check the T-top lining if it has them.

Check the coolant...if it has any dark stuff floating around in it, keep looking because that could be oil! The reason you may not be seeing water in the oil is because most people will change the cars oil if they know a head gasket is in bad shape to try to fool you.

If you can, jack the front of the car up, and try to move the front wheels side to side (Tierods) and up and down (Ball joints). If there is noticable play, plan on spending a lot on suspension work.

Check too see if the car sits level. The typical thing for these cars is for the to lean towards the rear passanger tire. If it's doing this, count on new shocks in your buying price and make the seller aware of the fact that you know the car needs a lot of work, and that you will have to take that into consideration when considering his asking price.

Drive the car up a hill in a low gear to test the clutch. If it slips, I suggest you keep looking.

Check the RPO sheet (Center glove box normally), look for a G92 or (I beleive it's) a G80 (posi). The G92 was a really NICE version of the 305/5spd. It came with a slightly larger cam stock, as well as other little tweaks I'm sure...maybe some 1LE parts?

If the car came from a state where rust isn't a problem, like California, of Nevada, be sure to check the area right around and above the windshield. Those areas that have dry sandy envirements have an entirely new set of problems. Instead of rust from the ground up, they rust from the roof down, because the sand eats away at the piant, grain by grain, untill you are left with bare metal which will rust!

 

I think that's there's a tech article on this site. It's very detailed and definatly worth the time to read. It mentioned things that I never even thought of looking at when I was buying.

 

I took the tech article from this site with me to look at IROC's to make sure I didn't miss anything. I looked at IROC after IROC from May to November last year. I bought mine in November. Use the tech article and you instincts. On the instincts side, ask yourself if you want to buy a used car from the guy you are talking to (I decided that I didn't in many cases).

Happy hunting.

 

One thing,if you ask motor size and they say 350,be sure to look at the 8th vin if it is a F-305 if it is a 8-350,they all try to sell 350 as 305.They tried w/ mine and I stopped him in his tracks w/ alittle education on camaros.