I am not an expert mechanic. i am handy w/ a wrench but i am still learning. i bought my 2.8 firebird a few months ago and just recently it has been acting wierd. it runs like a champ but in first gear (its a 5 speed) if i punch it (not even slipping the clutch at all it will take off fine but around 4500 rpms it makes a low noise that almost sounds like metal dragging. but nothing is. it only makes that noise if i step on it hard. lightly it's fine... where should i start looking for the problem? think it's clutch related? it sounds like it happens right under the center councel more towards the front.... help a brother bird out here... thanks

 

hi, welcome to the boards. i would check the tranny mount, first. the torque arm picks up on the back on the transmission and if the tranny mount is broken, it will throw the tranny into the floor pan.

 

If it's the trans mount that's busted, be prepared to call the dealer and dish out $170 bucks for it. It's hydraulic, so it's REALLY expensive. Mine broke recently, and I am a professional mechanic, so I thought I'd be able to get it somewhere aftermarket...nope, it's a dealer only item and it's $170 list price.

I just made my own adapter bracket to use the $6.25 mount for the automatics.

 

what are you talking about? i just replaced the one on my auto trans with a brand new one for like $15 bux and the one that is on the stick trans that is waiting to go into my car looks the exact same. its just a peice of real hard rubber that is all. mine was caused to break by not having one of the motor mount bolts in and the whole thing kept junping up and smaking the hood and that caused the trans mount to rip by twisting it. i switched it by putting the front wheels on a kurb and loosening the bolts i could get to and the pushing up with one had i undid the rest of the bolts and swapt parts then put every thing back. its real easy to do.

 

The mounts are different for auto and stick...at least from the factory.

Go onto the transmission board and you'll find lots of posts about it. The manual trans came with a hydraulic mount and it's more like a hockey puck. The auto trans is just a nice hard peice of rubber.

Some people buy the auto cross member and convert, but instead, I just made an adapter plate to make mine work.

 

oh then i apologize for my comment i was misinformed

 

i'm thinking that i've heard that you can swap directly to the auto one. i could be wrong though. if you do that or if anyone is replacing theirs on an auto...i strongly suggest the energy suspension poly mount. it is far stronger and really can't break completely apart the way its made.

 

Thanks. i was starting to think it had to be a mounting problem of some kind. i will have it checked out and reply w/ the prices and way i find to do it. thanks for all the info...

 

hydraulic mounts are only on 90 to 92's with manuals

if that thing was on your 88 someone must've swapped it over before you got ahold of it, but I wouldn't see why unless they had a parts car sitting there with crossmember and all

you can't just "swap to a different mount" on it without changing the crossmember and doing some slight modification

yes

the dealer wants 170+ dollars for it (190 out here)

but I got mine used in nice condition from House Of Camaro for 25 bucks

I still worry about it since it IS a 12 year old mount

but it's better than 200 bucks for a piece of rubber with oil in it

try to go to a parts store and they will look at you funny, search the computer, find nothing, then look at the book, find nothing, then try to sell you the energy mount, claiming it fits "all 3rdgen camaros"