Hi guys, first of all i want to applogise for such a broad and ignorant post. My mechanical knowlege isnt very great...

Ill try and make this short and sweet. I have been working at the same place for about 6 years now. 3 years ago i saw one of the co owners mint condition, 1990 firebird formula in person. it has 40k OG miles on it and was babied. we talked about him selling it to me but he wanted 7k for it and i just didnt have that kind of cash. (BTW, im 22 years of age now.) So since then by 2 best friends who are both very mechanicly inclinded have both gotten Scion TCs and i have hung around them a lot while they tooled on em. Naturally I wanted a ride of my own to tool on with them... So i did some reasearch for about a year and decided on a mitsubishi eclipse (06) with a RIPP supercharger and few other goodies. I was waiting for the holiday season to be over till i started dropping cash on this little project.

Then my boss comes up to me a few days ago and says something along the lines of this... " I know you have wanted the Formula for a while and I dont drive it anymore. It just sits in my gargage and goes for a ride around the block once every few months. what can we do?" I asked him what he wanted for it and he says " If its for you, and not one of your buddies, ill let it go for 2500 cash or 3000 if you want to make payments on it."

As you can tell, this totally threw a wrench in my plans. Now my mindset went to this "what has more potential for less money, a stock 06 ecliipse for around 12k or a stock 90' formula for 2500?"

So here is my question. I had to do hours and hours of research to get the basics on what to do with the eclipse to not blow it up. I had to make up for my lack of car mechanics with a **** load of reading. This time im going to take the lazy way out and just ask you guys...


A) do you think 2500-3k is a good deal for a mint formula with 40k miles and not a scratch on it?

and B) if you had about 5k to put into it right away what would you do and in what order?


one thing i learned from researching the ecliplse is you cant just throw big boost like a supercharger on something without beefing up other parts of the car first. thats one thing i liked about the GT eclipse is everything was built enough stock too throught the RIPP supercharger on it and everything to be safe.

another thing that i was worried about was the other co-owner of the companies response to him selling it to me. "thats a bad *** deal for that car but you dont want an early 90's GM, they had a **** load of problems..."

That being said, again, what should i upgrade when i first get it? This will not be a daily driver and will be garaged. Im looking to start off with about 5k into it and stop for a while once im there. then down the road do some more work.

any input at all withh be much appreciated. once i get little tidbits of info i am going to go out and do my research from there. I just need some info/suggestions to start with.

Thanks again in advance. i really appreciate any help or insite.

 

First off do not go down the Mitsubishi rout. They are imposible to work on and are very cotly to do up. If your boss is giving you that kind of deal it would be silly to pass on it. GM cars are easy to work on and have a **** load of potential. If I were you I would get the firebird, and If I had an extra $5,000 sitting around go to a junkyard and get a nice 350 motor and 350 trans. Then rebuild the motor to a 383. With a light little Firebird with a 383 you will whope the **** out of your frends Scions.

Take my advice or don't take it maybe you think I am retarded but that is what I would do.

Mitchell de Moor

 

all you have to do is drive a strong TPI 3rd gen

 

If you are at all attracted to the third gen body style, you will be much happier with the Formula. That's a great deal on a car that is quickly becoming a classic. In stock form, it will probably blow a modded Scion of the road, but the beauty of the third gens is how easy it is to make power. They will also handle like they're on rails with a little work.

That's just my opinion, good luck!

 

First off, welcome to TGO. And second, $2500-3k for a '90 Formula is a hell of alot better than paying $10-12k Mistubishi Eclipse. You didn't say whether or not it was regular Formula or a Formula 350. Either way $3k for the Formy and about grand for bolt-ons and you'll be out there putting a hurtin the guy with the $12k Eclipse with $10-15k worth of mods done to it(especially if it's a Formy 350)

 

I'd go for the Formula.

Whats the colour/engine/trans ect ?

It's possible that some maintenance might have to be done (it is an old car after all) But there is nothing inherently unreliable with an 3rd gen F-body.

As for the 5K you want to spend on upgrades....it depends what engine your starting with and if you want to upgrade the suspension.

How fast do you want to go?

12" LS1 front brake conversion is an idea. I found the front brakes to be a joke! I bought the kit and it really made my car more fun to drive.

They are very reasonable priced and bolt on affair.

 

Great suggestions so far guys. For everyone that asked, its the stock 305 formula.

 

being a 305---it can be TBI or TPI---which is it---and whats the transmission?

 

Ill find out the specs on it monday.

 

Sorry guys, I have been trying to reply all day on a blackberry while christmas shopping in chicago... Anywaise, here's what I want to do. I want to put an exaust on just because I love how powerful v8s sound with nice exausts. I want to add power before the suspention for the meer "my dicks bigger then yours" aspect of things when it comes to power. Then after I get something reasonable power wise I will upgrade the suspention. From what I can see the regular formulas have about 170 hp. Is it crazy to think that with 3-5k I can get around 500hp? Without nitrous that is... Ill try to get more info on it monday. Thanks for all the help so far.

 

Check the VIN#. The 8th character is the engine code. For the Formula, there will only be 3 choices:


E = 305 w/TBI , 170hp
F = 305 w/TPI, 190hp(auto) & 210hp(man)
8 = 350 w/TPI, 240hp

Firebirds with TPI generally have 5-10 hp less because they have a more restrictive air filter assemblies.

 

225HP with the 5 speed. (TGOs tech is out to lunch so don't even check there)