I have a 1987 Firebird with a 2.8L(173 cid)V6. I have only owned it for about 4 months, and the only thing i have done so for is change the oil and keep an eye on all the other fluids as well. I plan on taking my car to my school soon to replace the doughnut gaskets and the fuel filter.

There are minor rust spots getting ready to turn into cancer in all of the usual places. the bottom of the spare tire compartment has decent sized holes in it. and the interior is in bad but savable shape.

I want to build the crap out of the motor in this car and restore the car itself to.

The only performance parts i have found for this car is a set of pacesetter headers, a MSD distributer cap, coil, and distributer inards, fuel injectors, and other ignition stuff. I would really like to know where i can find major performance parts for this car. Also i would like to know how much i can bore out this dinky little motor.

Will have pictures soon.

 

How dare you tease us like that lol....

Get those pics up soon....

 

If your serious about power, make your engine a Hybrid with a 3X00 heads and intake then turbo it or add no2. Alot of info about hybrids can be found by serching or checking out the stickies at the top.
The question that must be asked though, how much money and time to do you have to spend on this car and what are your goals?

 

But depending on power goals and resources, a v8 swap should be considered. And if its a 2.8, just stroke it to a 3.1 not much point in boring it imo. If you really want more displacement, either a v8 is the way to go, or if you want a 60/6, start your hybrid with a 3.4 block.

 

I have a very limited budget since I'm in high school so I just want to build a nice street rod. Basically a street light racer.

 

With a very limited budget, you'll have a very limited car. Turbo's and NO2 woiuld be the best bacg for your buck, but a small budget will buy neither. I say just start with some light cheap stuff. UDP, catback, 1.6 lifters, tune up using good plugs, wires, etc. This is basically the path I took and am still working on it, I do it because I like to work on cars, not because I'm planning to race it much.
As someone who's not long out of high school and still in college, you don't need a V8 for these cars to be chick magnets, most of them don't know the diff anyway. These V'6 sound better stock than most of the rice i see driven by high schoolers. So build a nice looking car, that handles better than a V8, doesn't sound like a ricemobile and be happy, that's my advice.

 

Ok with all this talk of v6's having better handling, I'm curious how much better it is? I mean obviously the more weight you have sloshing around under your hood the worse the impact on handling will be, but any idea what the actual weight difference is between a v6 and v8 F-body, all other things being equal?

 

I would say it would be 500lbs. at most because of two extra cylenders and the beefier suspension. Just a guesstimation