Last month, I bought a 1986 Firebird S/E, from a kid who can't be more than 21.

The body of the car (the panels themselves) are in great shape, and 99.9% rust-free. This thing must not have seen any winters.

The interior of the car is another story: torn apholstry, cracked dash, sagging headliner---pretty typical for cars of this age and make, though.

Also, the weather stripping needs to be replaced, there is a problem with the hatch pulldown motor, and the hydraulics need to be replaced.

Now, I am not a mechanic, but all of these esthetic problems is work I knew I could handle, and I have been looking forward to doing so.

I bought the car for $900, which was apparently too much money. (Again, assume I know nothing about car engines.)

The car has 175k miles on it, but it seemed to run fine, and the test drive went well.

The day I picked it up, I got the car on the highway, and she overheated.

I got a call from the mechanic that she needs a new head gasket, mass airflow sensor, possibly new wiring harness due to some really botched electrical work on the car, and probably even more. He wasn't able to give me a good estimate because he wasn't really willing to dig in until we had some sort of arragement. He ballparked the total cost at around $3,000-$5,000.

Looking at the actual parts required, I know that the raw materal cost for new gaskets and sensors and wiring harnesses are about a tenth of that cost, so if I was able to do the work myself, I could save a bundle of money; but as I said, I'm not a mechanic. That said, when I bought the car, I already bought the 1986 Firebird repair manual (the $80 one) which hasn't arrived yet.

Personally, I LOVE the car, which is why I'm coming here, to a place where there are other like-minded third-gen fans for some advice I can live with.

My wife, who is being considerably more practical than I am at the moment, thinks I should just try to get all or some of my money back from the kid, cut my losses and junk the car.

I would love to have the $5k to dump into this to get it on the road. I don't, and I don't know if I want to get in debt.

So, what do I do?

First off, am I better just purchasing a rebuilt engine and putting that in the car, or just replacing the gaskets and taking care of the problems as they come up? Is a motor this old worth salvaging?

Second, do I really have to have a mechanic do the work, or is this something that (with patience and over time) be able to handle myself? I understand that replacing the head gasket is a long process due to how much you have to disassemble, but despite the complexity, none of the work seemed particularly hard (no welding, for example). I'm a computer programmer, so I'm used to complexity. How bad is it, really?

Do I buy another Firebird with a good engine and a poor body and swap parts? Do I buy new/aftermarket parts to fix the existing engine from sites like RockAuto.com? Do I put a whole new engine in?

I love this car, and I'd hate to give it up for junk. I'd love to restore it, but I don't have a lot of confidence in doing so. I certainly don't have the expertise to do a high-quality rebuild on the existing engine.

Lastly, the whole point of getting this car was to have a daily driver. It doesn't look like using this car as my primary means of transportation is in the cards any time soon, so I need to get another ride.

Further, if I take on the repair work myself, is there anyone on this site from the WNY area who'd like to help me out with this project from time to time?

Well, that's my story. Am I crazy for wanting this car? Should I just give it up?

 

i would do some research and figure what would be the cheapest route to fix it and hang on to it,cause third gens are getting scarce and more expesive all the time,so if you got one and you really want one i would hang on to it,just my

 

seems like you have another vehicle for everyday use. If so, then let the engine stuff wait, and do the cosmetics you can do.
Meanwhile, think about the engine. This is a sports car, not just an image car. And if you were to swap to an LS1, it could get just as good MPG as that 2.8, with triple the power.
I say make this a long term project, but work on it at least every other saturday, to keep it going.

 

don't blow your money on mechanics. 99% of them are out to screw you. The other one percent does the work for enjoyment and will do a nice job. Not good odds messing with mechanics.

 

Keep the car........
Consider it your hobby
Tell your wife you could be out in the bar getting Sh&? Faced every night
but instead you`ll have this to have fun
I`m 41 and just got mine after wanting a car for a long time
Life s to short not to do things that make you happy
You will not find easier motors to work on with limited skill and tools.
Seek advice and do it yourself.
You will have the satisfaction of saying I did it.
Good Luck

 

Thanks everyone. When I was buying this car, I knew sooner or later I would need to do work on it, so I purchased the Pontiac Service Manual for my model.

It just arrived today, and like I thought, changing the head gasket (if that is the root problem) seems time consuming, but not necessarily difficult.

While looking at the manual, based on the problems I'm having, the root cause may be the MAF sensor, which the previous owner said he bypassed for some as-yet unknown reason. Like I said, most of the electrical work on the car needs repairs, but I'm hoping to wait until the summer for that. As it is, I'm going to be serving the brakes (if nothing else) in the middle of a Buffalo NY winter.

I've decided to go ahead with the repairs myself. Thanks again for the advice.

Wish me luck!

 

I'll do more than wish you luck.
First, get a roll of good masking tape and a sharpie. Label every hose and connection. Then get a good camera and good lighting. Take plenty of pics.
Then disconnect the battery and start working on the car, but first make sure you can put every single wire and vacuum hose exactly where you found it.
Get you some ziplock bags. All the upper intake manifold bolts in one bag. Use the sharpie to label it. And so on.

 

You can't own one of these unless you're able, or willing to learn, how to work on it yourself. AND they're super easy.

With the help on this board you can get through practically any job. Imagine trying to do something like this back when you and I were in high school...we had no where to go to get good answers from guys that had done, and were doing, the same things to the same cars.

I tell my wife that the $ I spend each month working on it is still less than the car payment on her ride.

Actually that was 1983Zsled that was in high school in the 80s, but you can still imagine, right?

 

The best way to learn is to do. Get some good manuals. The manual you have purchased should be a great help. I would also recommend getting a Hayne's and a Chilton's. Between the three of those manuals and the help you will receive on this forum there isn't much you shouldn't be able to accomplish. What I tell everyone who is a bit overwhelmed going into working on cars is to break it down into smaller pieces. You're a computer programmer. Just think of each part of the vehicle as a subroutine. Learn what each part does independently of each other and then how they all interact.

I was going to come up with some corny if, then, else statement to explain all this. My inner geek coming out I guess.