My mom and dad got my 14 year old son a 90 firebird. It was originally my cousin's car who had quit driving it a few years back. My dad pulled it out of their barn. It had mice living in it. They car is a 3.1 L V6. It has T-top a 16 year old boys dream car. It was going to be a project car that my dad and son could work on together so my dad could teach him different think about a car.

Since getting the car they have completely cleaned the interior and all dead mouse smell is gone. They have changed the fuel pump. They have bought 2 new quarter panels and a new hood. They have replaced the floor board on the driver side because it was rusted out. They have put a vat bypass system in it.

They are having problem with the alternator. They actually have 2 which are both testing good. But the car is showing the voltage dropping. (It does run but dies after a little while). It has an oil leak. They think it may be the head gasket but have not tore the engine apart to check it out. All the electronics on the dash are not working. Dad had thought about taking out this engine and putting a carborated engine in it. Is this a good idea or not?

He loves this car and would love to fix this car up and restore it. Do you think it is worth it or should we look for another car? Are these problems major and just seem major to this mom? What am I looking at price wise to just get the engine going in the right direction. Please help this confused mom. Thanks

 

the v6 car is a great car to learn on, the engines are very simple to work on and they last forever.

chances are the mice ate up some of the wiring, or the connectors on the sensors etc got corroded from sitting
i would stick with the fuel injected v6with the way gas prices are,and would u really want to give a new driver anything with any kind of real power ???

the 3.1v6 will make just enough power for him to do dumb stuff with the car and or get him in trouble, dont give him anything more powerful right away

edit

nice looking car btw

 

Thank you. Just didn't know if we should try to fix it or not. It seems like one problem after another. He just became an eagle scout and is completely in love with this car. I feel like he has earned it. What a great thing 10 years down the road for him to say he worked on the car with grandpa.

 

when i got my first car @ 16 it needed an engine rebuild some woring fixed all new brake and fuel lines etc.

having to do all that work on the car before i could drive it made me apreciate the car that much more once i was able to drive it

go over the wiring harness in the car and just look around se eif u see anything messed up, take pics and post them up in the v6 section lots of us smart guys that know all about the v6's will help u guys get that thing back the way it should be in no time