I'm looking at what appears to be a fairly clean firebird for the price. They are asking $1600. What are the major issues I should be looking at for this price range? I know about the floor pans, sub frames and rear quarters I'm just curious as to what my expectations should be.

If I were to get this, I fully expect to make it a street/strip vehicle. Only concern I have of the motor and trans is for it to make to my house.

Thanks!

Here's a link to it: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/m...633086370.html

 

Looking at the listing there are a few things to be aware. 1. Probably the biggest - it is a crossfire injection. A fairly rare system that not a lot of people understand how to work on. It will probably need a bunch of new vacuum lines, and whether the engine codes call for it or not, it would make sense to replace almost every engine sensor as the ODB 1 diagnostics are weak and the sensors are 30 years old. That is coolant temperature sensor, map sensor, o2 sensor for sure. Probably a new fuel pump as they generally get weak over time and probably a fuel relay sensor. Get that done, get all the brittle vacuum lines near the TBIs and the cruise system and you might get it running well. That probably is somewhere near $300 or so in parts.

Other things to look at would be the frame/body area around the steering box to make sure it hasn't been cracked or torn from too much twist. Being it is a hardtop car it probably is ok, but if it is cracked there, run very fast!

Another concern is you are looking at a car that has obviously had some work done to it such as 85 up nose, ground effects, steering wheel, aftermarket hood, etc.

If it is rust free and you are up to the task of getting the crossfire to cooperate and the steering box area is ok, and understanding there will probably be unnoticed hack jobs once you buy it and dig into it later, you might want to offer $1,000 or so and see what they say.

 

Id be looking for the org hood.

 

Thanks a lot for the detailed response! I am very familiar with the issues of a crossfire motor. My father owns an auto electrical shop and I have worked on a lot of corvettes in the past with these similar problems. No 3rd gen camaro or firebirds myself though. Maybe my dad did. As for the issue where the steering box is, are there any pictures of failures so I know exactly what I should be looking for? does the subframe actually tear from the body?

Any special reason for this? Just curious.

Thanks again!

 

Just my .02. To me the cowl hood belongs on a camaro.

 

That's completely understandable.

I took a look at it tonight. There's a little bit of rust at the bottom corner of the driver door, a small amount on the rear driver quarter panel(nothing all the way through) but that's all I could find(my magnet couldn't find any putty in the usual areas). I pounded on the floors pretty good with a dead blow hammer and it all sounded fairly solid. There's no sign of moisture in the trunk or spare tire area(it rained here pretty good all day yesterday).

I jerked the steering wheel back and forth pretty hard and didn't hear any noise and couldn't see and cracking on the frame rail near the steering box.

It does have the typical crossfire high idle but the check engine light goes out after start up. During the test drive, I got the car up to 3rd gear and pressed down on the gas hard. The trans kicked down but the motor pegged the tach so I let off real quick. The engine speed dropped immediately. I didn't hear any misfiring and the engine has no hesitation at all. As far as the interior goes, the dashpad and driver door panel needs to replaced. As well as the plastic in the back where the trunk latches. All of the struts are fine and both headlights open right up. The hood pinches slightly on the passenger side though

The only thing I didn't like at all was the speedo wasn't working and the odometer wasn't. I offered the guy $800 but after "claiming" he didn't know anything about the odometer not working he didn't want to take anything lower than $1000. Considering the shape of the undercarriage, I gave it to him.

What do you guys think?

 

I also have an 83 TA. I live in NoVa. My tach didnt work when i bought my car either. If i recall correctly i just took the cables off from the tach to the cruise control and cruise control to the trans and cleaned them with wd40. If you want an original hood i may be willing to trade you because i dont think mine will close with the 350. Also i have alot of crossfire parts if you want to buy some spares.

Shawn