hello, im new and im sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.. but im looking at a 89 firebird formula 350 (tpi i think), it says it has a 383 stroker engine with around 1000 miles on it. it says it has around 56100 on the body. does it seem like a reliable car or will i just have problems. also one more question i kno it might be kidna stupid but what excatly makes a 383 stroker engine?
thanks alot and sorry if this is the wrong place to post it

 

First things first, welcome to the board.

To comment on the reliability of the car or engine is hard without knowing the history of the car. Some cars are complete lemons others are sweet pieces of engineering. So if you go by what the seller tells you it's a gamble no matter what. Take the car and have it checked out before you buy. You might also want to do some research on this board and familiarize with these cars as much as you can to make an educated purchase.

As for the 383 strocker, it is a bored out 350 block with a 400 crank. If it has the TPI intake it will have great low end torque and that's pretty much it. The top end will be decent but restricted unless the TPI components are modified or aftermarket pieces designed for higher that factory flows.

-Ozzy

 

What he said.
These cars can be very reliable IF they are taken care of. That's the problem with buying a used car (any used car), you don't know if the previous owner took good care of it or not.
Now, with a car as old as the 3rd gens are getting, there will be things that go bad, the trick is to know the symptoms before they fail completely.