I am fixing to go look at a 1989 Firebird Formula with a 350tpi. He says that it starts up and then goes to a rough idle and dies in around a minute or so. Supposedly he had someone from gm come look at it and said it was the wires to the box (ecm im guessing) or the box. I am thinking it is vats and with the vats bypass it will be fine or it needs a fuel pump. I was just wondering what all you think about it and if you think im gonnna end up getting into a nightmare with electrical problems or if my ideas are right. BTW the price on it is $1500 so I didn't think that was too bad of a buy.

 

Wrong
If VATS it will not crank or start; period
Sounds more like a fuel delivery problem ; weak pump , blocked filter , injectors ,bad fuel , etc

 

They had two sets of keys so I was figuring one was working and the other wasn't. Today when we looked at it, It didn't start, but it would crank. They said it started all week, just not today. Also it would idle for a while and die so im thinking it is something else to now. They said they put a new fuel pump in it along with a distributer not to long ago. Guess I need to check the injectors and filter on it. The other problem with it is that it has a th 350 in it now and not the 700r4.
That is what it looks like. My question now is how bad of a buy is it. Will I get hurt buying it for $1500 or not. It also needs the headlights fixed. They don't open and close by themselves anymore.

 

check the fuel pressure dont just assume.

 

Well I called up and offered him $750 for it tonight. He said lowest he would go is $1000. I told him to think about the $750 and get back to me. I have a couple 350 4 bolt blocks I can get my hands on for $100 so im not to worried. I just don't want to go that route and don't want to get into a big headache.

I should have done that, but I was in a hurry to get back home since it is 3 hours away. I'm not going to look at it again unless I buy it cheap. I just don't want to waste gas going back and forth and I know im going to need to trailer it home anyways.

 

If they take the 750 or even 800 to 900 I think it would be worth it from what we talked about on the phone. 350TPI L98 motor alone is worth close to if not that much with all the TPI attached. Probably a fuel injector is not opening, or something.