brooklynyte

This is it, I would like to see what everyone thinks, I will list all of my cars pro's and cons and we will vote on whether I should leave it as it is and drive it into the ground,,, OR ,,, Little by little fix it up and put some money ito it, all comment are welcome and appreciated as well as advice, now take into consideration i work in a body shop and can get discounts on everything...

• Cons!!
• Driver window motors burnt out.
• Hatch pulldown motor burnt out.
• 185,000 miles
• v6
• Mucho rust under car
• Brake fluid currently in is a cruddy brown color.
• Power sterring fluid same brown color.
• Needs all new tires.
• Of course needs full tune up.
• Quarter was hit.
• Dings all over hood (prolly need junk yard hood)
• about 5 other dings around car
• Needs new left fender.
• When brake is pressed, all interior lights and fog lights come on. no clue
• Needs new suspension.
• Needs paint job.

Now the pro's

• Sister in law was original owner.
• has new alternator.
• rims are in perfect condition
• Runs beautiful.
• Interior is in perfect condition
• has new windshield
• Has new muffler
• brakes and rotors are good
• has a little sentimental value since ive always seen this car since 1990
• i have a fair knowledge of cars and alot of friend who KNOW about cars
• has t-tops with barely any leaking

I'm gonna put up a page on cardomain with all the pics, ill post the link as a reply when i do.

1991 Pontiac Firebird v6 3.1 power everything
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/585187

RedTtop5spd

iTrader: (1)

I'd personally say keep it and peck away at the problems. That's what I've been doing to my car. I have some pretty nice rust holes in the rocker panels from harsh New England winters. I've been slowly working at the rest of it and been doing the mods to it as I get the chance. Mods being more important to me. Good running engine is what makes me want to keep fixing things. The link in my sig has a pic of my car. Hopefully more to come soon as my digital camera should be arriving tomorrow.

brooklynyte

Yeah it runs pretty good, and that was the original idea, little by little, but i want the engine to still be running by the time its done. lol, heres my cardomain site i just made with all the pictures of the vehicle in question.

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/585187

Thanks for your opinions! Peace

hammy

I know how you feel I had a 91 v6 t top wth a list like yours! But I now have a 92 v6 bird with a few options my 91 didnt have and wnt from lexan tops to glass, Take a look around i spent 2600 + tradeand got the best of all worlds with only a few things needed_300 catback and mufler and gets an alarm this week.

Get an idea what that 14 will cost and if you can trade it for a good bit and maybe even get a v8 if you want it

yellowmaro

I would keep it and slowly fix it up to your liking. Any 1967-1969 camaro in a shape like yours would be restored. This car is now way out of production. As people fix these cars up, many will be scrapped to save another. Think of all the 6-cyl 67-69's that were trashed to save an 8cyl model.

Look in the scrap yards... there are not as many 82-92 with salvageable parts as one might think.

BigMike1610

the lighting prob is either a park light in the brake light socket or a brake light in the park socket, i dont remember which way, i believe its the first one, the different light bulb grounds out part of your electrical system and makes your interior lights come on........................this was mentioned a few months back as a good practical joke

TechSmurf

BigMike, please avoid cluttering the boards and edit your typos like the rest of us (excluding those who just can't type) instead of creating a whole extra one-word post just to point out the obvious

TomP

What kind of dings are these? If they're shallow enough, it's 100% acceptable to use bondo to fix them. Bondo is only meant for thin "skim coats". It was never meant to fill a huge dent- and that's how it got it's bad reputation. I even put Bondo on my hood, and it's been fine for 6.5 years.

Tip: If you do your own bodywork and bring the car to Maaco for a paint job (like I did), somehow mark the areas with bondo so when they sand the car, they don't ruin the bondo job. The jerks ruined the contour of the bondo on my hood (they dug in with the sander).

Anyway, it's up to you whether you want to fix the car or not... I'd tell you to keep it, but then again, I totalled mine and rebuilt it- had an auto body shop weld on the front frame from an '84 parts car! So, I'm sick like that... I'll always fix my car- so I'm probably not the best one to listen to.

RedTtop5spd

iTrader: (1)

Like I said before. I'm all for fixing it. I personally like using West System epoxy considering I worked at a boat yard for a number of years. I tend to cut heavy dents out and replace them with west system epoxy and fiberglass. Just my opinion. Course I'm also telling a buddy of mine to go to a auto body shop to fix the dents on his 92 firebird from a deer.

brooklynyte

the dings are very shallow TomP, yo could see in my cardomain pics, theres a pic of th hood with all the dents, maybe im better off buying a new hood from junkyard but the others are same size, maybe some bondo sounds good, i work at a bodyshop and everyone is telling me polyester putty,ill see, right now im concentrating on the engine, i changed the oil using gunk engine flush, got some lucas oil stabilizer, lucas tranny stabilizer, flushed the radiator, tomorrow gonna detail the engine and see where all this grease built up on my engine is coming from. thanks for your 2cents, please i need alot of 2cents, i wanna be a millionaire, i was just wondering everyones opinion, i'm just not sure on what to do with the engine, should i get it rebuilt, swapped for a 3.4,im confused, and cant find price ranges anywhere on these boards, cuz if i get an idea on how much it might be, and i can aford it, then i can say that ill definately keep it, the engine is my top priority. Anyone got some price ranges for me????

brooklynyte

hiood

TechSmurf

Bondo on the hood isn't a good idea.. these hoods flex and would probably pop the bondo right out. You're better off finding a junkyard hood.

brooklynyte

yeah, no bondo for hood but the other dents are same size. anyone wanna buy her? lol, gimme a price

TurBo BirD

I say you get rid of it and get a V8 b/c they aren't expensive enough for it to be worth keeping that anemic little 6.

TurBo BirD

Just to clarify, I mean a whole other thirdgen, not just a v8. You should be able to find a 305 RS for pretty damn cheap.

Goumba T

I say do a little research. Give yourself time (say like 2 weeks if you can) to find out how much time and money it'll take to get it where you want it. If after the research you feel its not worth it then get rid of it. If you can't decide, keep it.

TurBo, he's not going to find a V8 bird around this area in any better condition than that for "pretty damn cheap" in this area. I've seen F-bodies like that (minus the rear quarter dent) going for $2,000.

TurBo BirD

I got my 89 GTA for $3000 with one dent in the whole car, if you wait it out and keep your eye open you can find some really good deals. Car Craft just did a story on "Affordable Budget Blasters" and I will quote from the article (MAY 2004) "At this point in time, even 5.7L TPI models can be had in the neighborhood of $2500 in fair condition, particularly clean examples run closer to $4500 while beaters hover in the mid-teens. Older carbereted versions are usually much cheaper, though they too hold potential". I believe that says it all.

Goumba T

Car Craft is also on the West Coast where used cars in good condition tend to be cheaper, at least that's why I hear from friends who have gone over there.

Hey, I'm not syaing he can't find a good deal. But is a V8 in the same condition as that for $1500 to $2000 really a good deal?

Brooklynite, reading your post and his options again, this how is I'd go:

- If you have a decent job, run this one into the ground and save in the meantime. When its time, get yourself a really nice V8. Only con to that is some stuff will need to be replaced, cutting into your budget.

- If you don't mind a project, get yourself a V8 Third Gen now, and work on that little by little.

- If you have the money now, get yourself a nice V8 Third Gen now.

- Evaluate what it will take to get this car fixed up. If all you want is a nice looking cruiser, keep it.

As afr as the engine goes, as long as it was well maintained, and you continue to maintain it properly, you should be fine. Look around, some of these guys have racked up insane mileage on their F-Bodies.

Brakes should be bled and the hoses and lines checked if you've got that brownish color.

Tune up you can do yourself.

Tires (('ll probably get shot for this) go with a chain store's specials until you decide what to do (I Had cheapos from Strauss on my V6 and never had any problem with them).

As long as you're careful you can use the same fix I used on my last Bird for the hatch pulldown: throw a bolt through each track and make it a non-moving piece. C4s were like this and their hatch was completely gas. As long as you don't slam, I can't see a problem. Never had one with mine like that.

Quarter panel: I used a hammer and 2x4 after my mother whacked a Saturn with my V6 and it came out pretty good (first try). And you say you work at a body shop so I know you'll probably get it much better with the right equipment. It really can't look too much worse then you have now, right? Or even replacing that small section with a piece from a junkyard quater.

Other than that quarter panel dent the car looks good. Every car has dings, and I wouldn't let them bug you too much. Some rag just had an article on easily fixing those small dings I'll see if I can find it again.

brooklynyte

hey goumba, thanks for the advice, i didnt even see it till today and i did eactly what you said, and made up my mind without reading it lol. I've decided to keep this as a beater for about a year or 2, just keeping it in good running order, i have faith in it, i had a 89 cavalier with 300k miles on it and it still ran strong, and ill saveup in the meantime for a half-project car, something that runs good and gets me around, but still needs work to make it perfect. thanks to everyone for their help.