I found a guy selling a "5speed out of a camaro". I emailed him, he said it sat behind a 350 in an 81 berlinetta. I did some checking and this car never came with a 5 speed, meaning it must have been swapped in. what would be the best way to identify it to see if its from a 3rd gen or not? I asked him to check for a tag, but beyond that I have no idea how to tell what it is.

The tag will tell everything. It should be on one of the bolts that holds the tail housing on.

alrighty ill see what he has to say. if it has no tag though, is there any other way to tell if it would fit in the firebird?

Check the T5 sticky at the top of the page.

JamesC