Just to clear something up....The Trans Am's ground effects are not at all heavy. When I painted my 89 GTA (all the same gfx), i took the gfx off and weighed them. ALL OF THEM (nose, rear bumper, and sides) weighed about 17-18 pounds. That is not going to make any difference at all. Considering the general rule of thumb with a car is every loss of 100 pounds is worth roughly .10 in the quarter. Just want to let people know before they say their car is heavy due to ground efffects.

 

So what's the difference between Formulas, Formula 350s, and did they make a Formula 500?

 

A Formula 350 has a 350 in it. They started putting 350 on them to show that they didn't have a 305 in them. When they first started using the name formula on firebirds they had 400 and 455 pontiac engines in them.

 

Is GM still sending the SS's and TA's to SLP for the upgrades or are they doing them in house now?

 

Just for further info Pontiac dropped the "Formula 350" door decals in '91 and '92 (perhaps they didn't have them in '90 as well, but I only know about '91 and '92 in this case), but still had "5.7 FI" on the hood bulge.

I also agree that GTA's aren't all that much heavier than a Formula. Glenn91L98GTA weighed his car and I was surprised how light it was, I think it was 3,4xx. I'm not sure where the myth of a GTA's heavy weight came from, but when people report the weight of their GTA's on this site; it is not all that huge.

 

I think they are going to ASC now; the people who handled the third gen convertibles.

 

Well I think it came from the fact that GTA's came with a bunch of options standard. Take a look at the weight table under the tech data section on the main site; it sure adds up.

 

Yes, I definitely misworded myself there. Obviously that is where the myth came, but the fact is that GTA's are rarely heavier than loaded Formula's or IROC's, etc., at least to any consequence.

 

That is incorrect. They were heavier than the IROC's and Formulas, (IROC's actually are the lighter of the 2) when they were fully loaded too.

 

I have to agree with IROCZTWENTYGR8, GTA's were the heavier of the three. But are IROC's really lighter then formulas? I thought it would be the other way around, due to some of the extra weight the IROC has. I know the 1LE camaros were lighter then the formulas, well corect me if im wrong.

 

87 Test:

IROC-Z 5.7 Auto: base/3,341lbs. as tested/3,341lbs.
GTA 5.7 Auto: base/3,476lbs. as tested/3,581lbs. (Optioned)

IROC-Z 5.0 5-Speed: base/3,250lbs. as tested/3,355lbs. (Optioned)
Formula 5.0 5-Speed: base/3,383lbs. as tested/3,383lbs.

It was noted that Firebirds are at least 130lbs. heavier than Camaros when base on all models, and how the optioned out IROC was still 28lbs. lighter than a base Formula. Those are the results.

 

Ok thanks, that answered my questions, now i know.

 

Not to belabor the point, but Glenn91L98GTA weighed 3,410 without him. I bring his car to attention for two reasons, 1) when I read that I was quite impressed, 2) Because he is very reputable to the board and I would highly doubt that he would lie in favor of his car.

I stand by my comment on how the weight difference (using the factual amount of Glenn's) and the 3341 IROC 5.7 is fairly negligable.

That said, I am highly impressed with the weight of an IROC. How much would the lack of airbag from the '91 '92's make? I'm curious.

Good info and interested in your reply.

Edit=removed "in" from first sentence. Added "fairly" after IROC 5.7 is.

 

Things can vary of course depending, but you get the idea. I *heard* air bags added 20-25lbs., don't quote me there though.

 

Good info, as I really did not have an idea on the weight of air bags. So, too, is the fact that cars vary.

 

I think what he was saying is that they are really alot closer than most people say. The gta base model already has tons of options that the formula and the camaro base didnt have. so when you add those options to the formula and camaro the weight is closer. At any rate 100 lbs is roughly 1/10 of a sec. whooop deeee

 

WOW 20 to 25 lbs. I never would have guessed. That seems really heavy but i dont know maybe its true.