so after months and months and many hundreds of dollars spent, my 89 bird is on the road. we've put in new plugs and wires, distributor cap and rotor, fuel pump and filter, fuel lines, fuel filter, brake lines and hoses, new brake caliper, timing chain and sprockets, timing chain cover, new MAF, and a muffler and tail pipes. she runs, beautifully. it's hard to keep it under 40. i've never driven a car that hugs the road so well. i love it. it's been my dream for as long as i can remember, and it's the coolest thing ever to finally be driving it.

 

If you think it handles well now, wait until you put another grand into rebuilding the steering and suspension.

 

oh yeah, all with time. it was sitting for a few years, so i wanna get back into it gently, but i plan on eventually either beefing up the 2.8 that's in it, or swapping it our for a 350. actually, i've been talking to a guy about a 400 small block, but i think i may hold off on that. she needs paint bad on the hood, roof, and a few spots on the sides, so for now i'm gonna worry about the cosmetic stuff.

i love my sexy car.

 

And also wait until you put a set of 16s on it with 245/50 ZR16 tires on it!

My little 6 thinks it's a Formula for real!

 

Awesome! I cant wait to put my firebird on the road. Shes almost ready. Should be done by next month, unless something else goes bad *knocks on wood*

 

not trying to be a douche, but if it's anything like mine was, you'll run into quite a few problems. every one we fixed turned into two more. but once you get it all done, it's awesome. hell, just for the timing set and cover, it took us almost a week of working every day. but the payoff is supreme, finally having the car i've always wanted. good luck man.

 

makes me feel a bit beter after spending 4 hours with my exhaust that should have been 25min job........
i am not ALONE !!!!!

 

Dude, ur not LOL. I have been working on my firebird for over a year. When I fix something, something else breaks. But now everything us looking ok.

 

yes 16" tires with 265 wide and you'll feel like you are on rails.

 

I've got 15" 225's and a poly bushing kit on mine and she handles like a champ. And the limited slip out back makes powering through corners a breeze. So you know, you'll loose all that handling you love if you go to a v8. With the v6 you have a near 50/50 weight balance.

 

How easy is it to change the bushings?

 

It's alot of work, but totally worth replacing the crusty worn out originals. Everything firmed up wonderfully.

 

what is the actual weight difference between the v8/v6 cars ?
with the v6 im going for smaller tyres to stop drag and increase speed ;-) as they handle so well you can drive it loose styley just as fast as anyone else, also it makes for a more fun drive at slower safer speeds when you like. big tyres are good but slow the car down and you have to go some to get the on edge feeling- thus if it goes wrong, its guna hurt.
also i think on cars getting this old its best to keep the stresses of running wider tyres and putting more g's through the car down.

 

Depends on the model and options your car has, v6 cars weigh anywhere from 3000 to 3300lbs. V8 cars weigh anywhere from 3500(?) to 3900. Don't know metric measurements, sorry. The reason you have to push a car with wider tires harder to get that 'on the edge' feeling is because you can push it harder with wider tires. More contact are makes it more stable, but like you said increases drag. That's partly why everyone uses skinnies up front on drag cars. I've seen firsthand what wider tires can do to an old car, about a month after putting alloys w/ 225's on my car a crack developed under the steering box! The extra load those sticky, wide tires put on that part of the frame was just too much for the old girl. Which is part of the reason I'm switching to a r&p setup. No more cracks with even load distribution.

 

Im running 15" 235. I forget how she hugs the road, as I haven driven my car in a while, although I can tell you that my "summer rims" makes my car stick to the road a whole lot more that my stock ones. That and the backspacing is different and the wheels stick out further...so I also have a slightly wider stance.

 

re:- I've seen firsthand what wider tires can do to an old car, about a month after putting alloys w/ 225's on my car a crack developed under the steering box!

yeah thats just convinced me thanks
215 lower profile than standard- smaller diameter quicker ;-) sorted
looking into spacers to kick it out a little for the loss in rubber.

 

Did you have the steering brace (aka wonderbar)? I hear that's supposed to prevent those stress cracks.

As far as the weight difference, I had an '86 with a 305 and aside from not having a tilt steering wheel or ground effects it had all the same options as my '91 3.1L does and it was 200lbs heavier (obviously all up front). Just thought I'd throw that into the mix. If you're wondering, my '91 easily outhandled the '86 and both were stock.

 

Yep, wonderbar and all. Admittedly I was hammering the corners pretty hard, but that crack stunned me. Welded it up with extra bracing, but needless to say I take it easy now.

 

unless i skimmed over it, subframe connectors!!!!!!!!!! even better than a wonderbar. dont get the bolt in though, get the weld in ones. god are they nice, IMO, better than a wonder bar. if you have T-tops or a sunroof, im sure youve heard the "creak" when you go over railroad tracks or similar. that noise in mine was gone once i got mine welded in. these cars have enough body twist in them to crack the paint.... mine was just above the upper back corner where the windows are on both sides.

 

I am wishing that I didn't sell mine now. Its hard to believe that subframe connectors will make that much of a difference since the wonderbar was really a big difference.

 

Early unibodies suck. No t-tops though . I thought about subframe connectors, but my camaro's on a diet. Didn't want the extra weight.