Vitric

I'm new here, and I joined here to look at classifieds and ask some questions around, as I've been interested in buying myself an older Firebird in a year or so. But here is my situation. I met this guy Earl, and we've been really good friends since we've known each other. He's a car nut too and he told me he had an 82 Firebird back in Michigan, where he lived before he moved to PA. Now, the car was being set up to be a circle track race car before the owner got cancer and could no longer work on it. It has a 383 stroker in it, a blown 700R4 transmission (this comes into play later) and some other modifications, I don't know all of them. He told me if the guy he co-owns it with (technically) decides to sell it he told me. Well I started asking more questions about this car and was told it constantly blew transmissions. No idea why. Maybe the 700R4 was too weak (which it probably is, considering its a 383 pushing close to 600hp), but I know the way that motor was made, it needs to be externally balanced because of the 400 crank, which Earl told me it wasn't. That could be a reason too. He also told me the car would drive like new if it had a working trans in it. Sorry for the vague description, I don't know as much about the car as I should but what else could be a reason it blows transmissions? Is it even worth buying in its current state? How much would I be looking at to get it up and running again if its not just the transmission?

Big Dave

Running the wrong balancer on an externally balanced engine would make me look for engine problems, and not necessarily the trans. I'd say the constant tranny issues are more a result of the 600hp he *claims* the car is making. The 700r4 can be made to handle some respectable power though.

Is it work buying? That depends on the price and condition of the car as a whole... as well as what you're planning to do with it.

Dave

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

I'd say that more likely, the motor has NOTHING AT ALL to do with the repeat transmission problems; rather, he's been having the same guys (Pete and Re-Pete) work on it every time, and whatever is wrong with it, he hasn't actually found it and fixed it yet.

I don't know about all this "co-owns (technically)" BS; but if it doesn't come with a clear title, DO NOT buy it expecting to license it! If the title says Cletus Smith and BillyBob Jones "co-own" it, then Cletus and BillyBob, or their legally empowered (power of attorney) representatives, HAD BETTER be present in front of a notary to sign it over, or no money should change hands. Seems to me, that's a bigger deal at this point than all the stuff about the motor and trans. You can fix that: you can't fix a fornicated title.

A 600 HP 383 in a supposedly circle-track car is probably fantasy land. If this REALLY was a circle-track car and still has the stock chassis, then it was probably running in some kind of a 2-bbl or "lift rule" or "205/70-15 right rear tire" hobby-stock class, not any kind of "professional" competition; not even as exalted as a "claimer" class. Sounds like pure unvarnished monkey-spank to me. I wouldn't put too much stock in that.

If you like the car and the price seems good and (IMPORTANT!!!!!!) the title is clear, buy it. If not, don't. Don't let yourself get misled into some romantic "600 HP" "circle track" la-la land dream and get conned out of your cash. Keep your feet firmly on the ground and your head out of the clouds, and DO NOT believe a SINGLE word out of the mouth of a used-car seller unless YOU can verify it independently WITH YOUR OWN EYES. Remember, the used-car rule is, if you can't see it, it's not there, no matter what the seller says.

ploegi

Good advice.

Also, NEVER buy a car sight unseen. I have read too many horror stories for that. Being as it was a "circle track" car, does it still have an interior? Heater? All that other stuff that adds weight, but is totally unnecessary in a race car? Don't buy from just pictures either.....

Vitric

My bad, I guess I was unclear on what I meant by co-owning it. His friend owns the title to the car, but they both paid half of what the car cost. And its not fully setup, the guy was in the process of turning it into a racecar but didnt finish it, and I suppose the only thing done was the motor. I've never seen the car in real life, as I said its in Michigan and I'm in Pennsylvania. I have pictures but thats it, but I dont know how old they are (never asked) so I dont know the real condition of the car. I havent asked him a whole lot about it, I was just informed of it and thought if the car would be fixable without putting my life savings into it, I'd look into it more. I was told if his friends going to sell it instead of fixing it, I would know by mid-spring or so, so the most I can do now is ask him some more questions. I would definitely look at the car in real life and check it over myself, and hopefully be able to take my neighbor friend whos a mechanic to look at it too, before I decided on it... and if its not worth it, I guess I'm looking for another 'bird, probably an LS1 formula or TA.