84redta

iTrader: (34)

Guy was ready to junk her...so anyways, $450 later and i got a L03, TBI 305 with a WC T5 . Took her down the road, and she was stumbling, but i knew i could manage it. First out of 5 cars i've picked up that actually ran . (got the rest from free to $300, and parted them all out)

Anyways, here are two shots to start her off, this is when i got her this past summer. Right now she's got a green driver side fender, blue doors, green hatch/spoiler, and red rear bumper.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/vbga...image-5451.jpg

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/vbga...image-5452.jpg

Here is the low down of what the build is going to be...right now she's down to bare minimum, all she's got for an interior is the dashboard and steering wheel, all that stuff, no center console, no carpets (except i can't get front out becuase one of the rear seatbelt bolts won't come out), no paneling, no roofliner, nothing else. Plan on fixing the floor boards of thier swiss cheese habits and giving her a fresh metallic silver paint job by spring

Modifications so far...this car was a BONE stock firebird, only thing special other than t-tops were the diamond spoke wheels that it came with (god i'm so happy to have found these instead of those salad shooters). Anyways, since i've had the car in august/october, being in college full time, part time job, all my other side jobs and what not, i've managed to:

- re-line the roof liner
- install roof console and wiring harness
- install 91/92 formula spoiler + 91/92 third brake light (entire hatch setup)
- 91/92 formula rear bumper cover (to round out rear, hate those black bumperettes)
- added power windows/locks/mirrors/antenna
- added upgraded 5 band equalizer pontiac stereo tape deck (soon to be newer pontiac cd player)
- upgraded speaker package from firebird with the better stereo
- added lighting package for the interior (cargo, front foot area, center console) and the underhood light
- got new un-cracked dash pad
- installed air adjustable rear shocks
- installed over axle to muffler portion of exhaust from donor '87 bird

future modifications before completion:
- still gotta do front struts
- newer model pontiac cd player (orange/red text)
- 4th gen firebird cloth gray seats (possibly black, depending on what i find)
- dye interior plastics black, and switch to black seatbelts, for two tone gray carpet/sail/headliner with black interior
- create custom grills molded into front black bumperettes with conceilled room for fog lights
- polish taillights to smooth and shiny

Let me know what you guys think and if there are any bases that i should cover with this basic daily driver worthy resto!!

burtreynoldss

good find! i agree about the "salad shooters". good luck with it!

89RsPower!

any current pics?

Randy82WS7

***********

rwdtech

i was gonna say leave it in the junkyard, but then i read you are putting 91+ formula bumpers on it! nice save! cant wait to see it finished

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

You gonna fix all that rust?

Randy82WS7

hmmm now i understand why so many have been junked


oh its not a 91 or 92

oh, it has some rust

so what ?


some real third gen f body enthusiasts yall are...

pffft...


redta did the best thing you can do as an enthusiast

he saved one from going to china

i commend him

and here i actually prefer the 82 83 84 ones by FAR but to me it had nothing to do with the year of the car



damn kids.

rwdtech

you got that right, i am NOT a 82-90 firebird enthusiast. there are very few that come out well if done right.

GeeJenn91RSV8

One mans junk is another mans treasure. Good find

LMSkyliner

iTrader: (1)

and here i was thinking that the only firebirds that i hate are 91-92

84redta

iTrader: (34)

as far as current pics, i don't have any, i got more of the "before" stage, and right now it's in my garage, stripped and surrounded by junk as i was cleaning up for company this holiday season so it's a little burried but...i'm trying to find a welder to fix the floor boards, it's not bad, just some dime holes, maybe 5 or 6 and one thats about a quarter and a half big, but not all that bad. rockers are pretty solid with just the "normal one spot" on the driver side. Figure fix the floors, clean up underneath, pour-15 it, then use a nice coat of rubberized undercoating, and it should last me

naw it's an '88, and i like the smooth a$$ of the 91/92, but didn't want to pay the unreasonable exploded prices for the front. didn't want to pay $100 for a formula spoiler from that year that would just crack if it wasn't already, and didn't want to pay over $300 for a f/g year correct one...so i scooped up a 91/92 formula spoiler for cheap. As far as the front, i've staired at some pics face on...and i'm seeing some C5 corvette in it...but maybe it's just me. i don't mind the front nose, i believe it should have been a little lower to the ground, but the side ground effects don't do anything for me.

as far as rust, it's mainly all surface suprisingly. i replaced both doors, replaced the driver front fender, and replaced hatch, as for the rest, grind it down, bondo, and smooth. No half-a$$ jobs, it's going to be my "parts car." it's going to surve as my daily driver as i'm putting over 35,000 miles on my 2.5 year old truck a year, and i'm about to cross the 100k mark...point of no value...so i need something to hold off the inevitable. I plan on making this last me 4-5 years until i can go down south a bit and pick up a rust free bird with no motor/tranny and no rust.

rwdtech

yeah dude, make it look like this

84redta

iTrader: (34)

thats just about the look i'm going for, but i think i'm going to stay with the nose i got, i think i got a little i can put into it, and i don't have enough money for the headlight buckets and front cover, as it is i gotta get the rear bumper cover i'm getting from GA because i can't find anything withing NY in the junk yard computer network. But yea thats the look i'm going for for the most part. I'll get more of the "before" pics up a little later, and then some present pics once i dig my car outta the garage.

do you know where that pic is from?! those houses in the back ground are intersted...i would like to see who the heck designed the rooves (sp??)

The White Knight

Same here. I may be only 20, but Fbody = Fbody, to me I perfer the 82-90 The best, the 91-92's are ok but in no way would I transplant a 91-92 nose onto my 88. Its to smooth and not masculine, I love the orange cat eyes and lines of the front..

Cant say that front end isnt sexy (Although I do plan on painting the black rubber things body colour) :






Good job man! I wouldnt let any 82-92 Birds or Camaros hit the yard! No matter you do with the car, it'll be cool just for the fact you wont be drinking dr. pepper from it in 2 years!

84redta

iTrader: (34)

haha, amen, yea i actually like the front end...suprisingly....i rarely like the base model of anything, but i don't mind the bodys on the formula and base birds, and i definally agree with you on preferring the front bumper of the 85-90 compared to the 91/92. Although, i do like the smooth rear of the 91/92, it just changes it up, gives the front it's character and masculinity, and makes the rear look smooth, and functional. IDK maybe it's just me, lol. Just didn't see the point of the black "bumperettes" of the rear bumper. As far as the fronts i plan on making grills into them with fog lights behind them so that it's all hidden and conceilled and again, functional, lol.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

any chance you got a back shot of yours with that 91/92 spoiler?

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

^ I'm in the same boat with one of my old projects. I'm very close to selling it as is, but I'm still waiting for one of the members here to follow up w/me. The more I wait though, the more I look at it, and the more I want to do something with it instead lol....;

The White Knight

Sure do, I for sure love the 91-92 Spoiler on it, I don't like the rubber "Aero" wings that would have been factory on it.

Here they are :

84redta

iTrader: (34)

thanks, i always wondered what it would look like with that bumper, it actually looks really good Thanks for the shots!

84redta

iTrader: (34)

here are some more shots just to show how much of a project this is...it's still the "before" stage, and once i get all the body panels i'm swapping in and get them mocked up on the body i'll take a "present" shots.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

couple more:

The White Knight

Not a bad car at all! Def savable, hows the underside?

84redta

iTrader: (34)

not terrible, surface rust that will be cleanable, i got maybe 5-6 pea size holes on the driver side, on that is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (biggest prob and it's for rear driver floor pan), and the passenger side isn't that bad, only one quarter size hole...the side rail on the driver side does have that normal hole, all 5 f-bodies i've had had em, don't know why, but it's on the driver side right by the front door edge, and it rots a rectangle inside, then goes through the side rail and rots the rectangle underneath, that will be a simple clean and patch job though inside and out. All in all, about 3-5 hours on body holes. Not too bad, and i'm going to re-inforce the entire floor so.

I plan on making this car last me 4-5 years so that i have time to build up a decent amount to find a rust free car down south, and this car will end up being my parts car, thats why i'm making it fully loaded the way it is, so that i don't need to store any of these parts, i can enjoy them day after day. I just picked up a lit-rear-view mirror from my '91 cutlass, i gotta wire that in the car soon. That should help light up the interior a bit more, plus the added function is why so many people are doing it to thier third gens, it's just i am friends with the person that i sold my cutlass to so they let me swap mirrors with my plain one for free Didn't really need it becuase i got the roof console with the map light but more light is always better

84redta

iTrader: (34)

ok, time for a little update. Car hasn't done much. All in all i've picked up an 88 Trans Am hood, working on filling holes (ground effects) in a set of doors i had from my old 88 Camaro. Also filling in the mirror holes in those doors as i picked up electric 4th gen firebird side view mirrors. In the process of hooking them in (thanks stephen for all the help!!).

As far as the car, i've fixed the holes in the floor, and i've undercoated it. I had a problem when i went to change the radiator fluid and i broke one of the water neck bolts off in the intake. I picked up a new intake and already did the swap, so all i need to do is do an oil change to get the rad fluid out of the oil, do a flush, refill and she should fire back up. Gotta do that and work on the metal work of the doors this weekend hopefully. I gotta dust all the rust off the car and i will try and pick up sum picks this weekend of how she sits now, only thing not on the car yet is the doors/mirrors.

I picked up a lot of fourth gen stuff also like the 7 band equalizer cd player out of a 99, picked up the 99 center console with 4 cupholders. I got the auto shift panel. If anyone can hook me up with a mint shifter panel that would be great. Other than that i picked up some 95 camaro seat set and i picked up a 95 power seat track seperately of that, thats all wired in.

Thanks for all the support and help, and all the pics, i can't wait...after this she's ready for spray and reassembly. So far she's on course to being on the road spring time .

slow_90firebird

Your car in those pics kinda reminds me of what I expect my car to look like in 5 years!

84redta

iTrader: (34)

lol yea the guy before me let it go quite badly, you can tell it was strictly a daily driver, nothing he really cared about. I've already redone most of the engine with new sensors and cleaned it up meticulously. When i took off the intake...i can't understand the point of EGR. I understand what egr is supposed to be for. But when i took the intake off, my heads don't have a hole to match up with the intake's egr holes. IDK, maybe it opens up into another area. Haven't a clue. But yea, i'm going to bring this bird back to where it belongs and hopefully i can maintain the car for 4-5 years...get outta college and either potentially re-do the body perfectly or find a mint body and use this one as a parts car as it's getting power everything, everything new, and all unrusted, going to be well maintained body panels.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

time for a tiny update. Frankenstein moment!! It looks hidious at the moment i know!!! Got two pics linked of how she sits at the moment. Got the t/a hood, which looks pinkish/red because of the sanding and prepping of the underside put a lot into the air, lol, just needs to be dusted with the rest of the car, 4th gen mirros (driver side at the moment, pass should be done 2nite, haven't gotten the doors on yet, new driver side front fender, newer hatch with the aero spoiler and newer rear bumper from a 91/92. Also notice the 97-02 4th gen console sittin on the roof.

Got the underside prepped, cleaned and undercoated, got the engine back together and about to fire it up to do a well needed oil and rad fluid flush, and then it's on to prep and body work to get her ready for spray. All on schedule so far for spring

rwdtech

man i think ur really gonna regret leaving that old style front bumper on there. those black "bumperette" things just dont flow...

there is a guy on the boards that used the 82-84 base front bumper (painted it all one color) and it turned out pretty good. his name is MNformula350, here is his cars webpage http://home.comcast.net/~mnformula350/main.htm

ignore the front liscense plate



good work so far tho, the 91-92 rear looks good on there, and i think the 4th gen mirrors will look cool too.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

yea i like the 91/92 nose, but i don't have another $150+ just for the cover and more for the headlights, so for the time being i will stick with this, i actually kinda like these fronts. So unless someone is donating a good cover i'm sticking with this, lol. I'm going to grab extra paint and clear so if a day comes that i get offered one then i will go ahead and paint it with the same batch of paint so that it will match pretty well.

Yea i didn't like the front bumperettes so much...i was thinking about making grills out of these but for the time being i'm going to use them as is and possibly work with them later. But i absolutely HATED the rear bumperettes...that one has honestly no purpose...it just balanced out the front. Wasn't a fan so i wanted a smoother a$$ so i figured 82-84 rear bumper or 91-92...and i ended up finding a 91-92 so i went that route.

As far as the mirrors they look good so far so i'm holding out faith in them. I did it slightly different from other applications that i've seen but i think the end product will be a success.

rwdtech

gotcha

86FIREBIRDSBC

ha, i hate the 91-92 bumpers. my dadworks at a junkyard and there is a 92 firebird v6 with a mint body. i think its ugly. i could have got the bumpers for free. (his boss lives me) i just dont like it

KrisW

iTrader: (5)

Nice save!

I like the 85-90 the best, so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree about bumperettes. The only thing I think of as third gen retarded is the 91-92 Z28 rear wing. What was GM thinking?

Anyway, I think the 91-92 Firebird wing you got is awesome. By far the best looking piece GM put on our cars.

Great job on your resto. I only have one suggestion; after you're done why not keep it? No need to make a parts car out of such a fine autombile after you're finished!

You can always get ANOTHER ONE to restore from down south and do it all over again!

Anyway, good save and great job! Keep the updates coming. Are you doing any other colors, like a two tone or just one solid? What color?

84redta

iTrader: (34)

i love the 85-90 firebird as it sat...but i wasn't the biggest fan of the rear bumperettes. My only complaint on the entire car, lol. So thats why i went 91-92 rear bumper. Rounds off the back, puts a little roundness to the car with the squareness of the classic bird. Plus with the addition of the 4th gen mirrors i'm doing right now it just works perfectly with the entire car. So glad i did the mirror swap.

As far as keeping her and doing another one...i'm going to try my best, but if it gets to the point i need to re-do the entire floor boards again i don't think i wanna do it, i'm not sure yet. It's kind of a play it by year thing at this point, i just want to get her on the road and back together by spring. Right now she keeps throwing a code and it's kinda pissing me off, i'm hoping that NY inspection isn't too strict. I don't know yet, but i'm replacing almost every sensor the damn car just to clear it. But that's still a work in progress...getting the SES light to go out.

As far as color, i'm going '88 style, with a medium gray metallic. I know it's a camaro color but i don't know what the firebird version is...there was another for '88...gunmetal metallic...that might be the firebird version...idk. But i plan on doing single tone just so that i get the car done semi-quickly. I am however going to do the 85-87 Trans Am hood bird to go inbetween the vents. So that and all the little birds are going to be in a silver metallic vinyl. And i'm most likely blacking out the entire tail light set, cutting around the back up lights, and then putting a bird on the outside of the vinyl tint. All in all should be pretty good looking. I'm just taking everything slowly and dealing with the little gremlins of all the little swaps i'm doing.

I just finally fixed my power antenna so i can put that on to replace the fixed one that came standard on the car, and then i just gotta wire it into the 99 T/A cd player i got so that it all works together.

All in all slow and steady...i just planned my college schedule so i have 3 days of classes a week...tuesday, wednesday, and thursday...so i got 4 day weekends every single weekend this semestor till summer so :-D...i'm definally going to have time to work on this car and ensure getting her done!

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I admire the work your putting into it, but in all seriousness, I would have left it in the yard

KrisW

iTrader: (5)

Heretic! How can you say such things??

89RsPower!

wow thats messed up.. the car isn't THAT bad.. a little body work and some paint and it'll look really nice..

84redta

iTrader: (34)

It didn't start as the best beginning of any car...but i had something to start with. The tools i already had....the supplies i already had...so i was like why not. I go to college and need weekend projects to keep me occupied...i got a 2 1/2 year old truck that i've been using as my DD since brand new for college and i'm almost over 90K on the truck, and i need something to slow the miles down on the truck. So i was in search of a car. Last summer was my first f body, it was my 88 RS, and that ended up being close to this one, but i didn't have the money once i had to put an engine and tranny and just about everything back into it...so i had to sell it. I fell in love with f-bodies and how easy they are to work with, how readily available parts are, and the support of the people of this website to help you out.

So all in all, i had the time, equipment and the patience, so it was kind of a i wanna see what i can do to this car...i want to see if i can pull a 360* with this car. Kind of a..."if i can do it to this car imagine with more money and more time what i can do to another" kinda thing. ANd i mean this is just basic, simple, low budget restore, kind of a "what if" i had the more money. So it's kind of a self acheivement for me, not to mention other people are interested in my progress as once i'm done with this they want me to work on their cars so.

So all in all, everyone has to start out sumwhere. I had a little start in the past, getting 4 f-bodies for nearly free if they weren't already, so i've had the practice at dismanteling, and now it's just putting it back together and getting her back to a decent "almost brand new" form is the next challenge and i can't wait to see the outcome

TAdan

84redta: Nice work so far. I am enjoying watching the progress. Keep up the nice work.

89RsPower!

I hear ya man, I just bought a 89 IROC for a dd for back and forth to work, been puttin too many miles on my 99, it's only a tpi 305, nothin special, but the body is rust free and looks good and the interior is in nice shape. Needs a tranny which I had laying around from my old RS so $650 later I have a fairly nice IROC to drive back n forth

84redta

iTrader: (34)

yea, i'm doing a budget restore on this one...not spending more than it's value, and i still got wiggle room even after the paint job so. I plan on keeping it as long as she wants to stay kicking...i think i have leaking valves in the engine because of the smoke in the beginning but i haven't really trouble shooted that yet. I'm thinkin i may want to rebuild it next winter once i take it off the road but we'll see. For right now i'm just getting her ready and if the body looks fantastic by the time i'm done i won't feel bad about doing an engine swap if need be or if it comes out working perfectly i won't feel bad about putting another penny into it. Right now i'm dumping quite a bit of money in and i've got no return yet so it's kinda a bad feeling, but once i get her on the road in the spring all the time and work will definally pay back

Derek The Great

Ill have to second this message.. I dig the black bumperettes

karl's-92'-z28

iTrader: (5)

wow car came a long way from when you first got it, keep up thegreat work.

Orinackra

wow, looks like alot of work ahead of ya! Great start tho!

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

I will sell you a 91 nose for $50 + shipping. It needs some work though. where the blinker goes, there is a crack following the curves. Looks like an easy fix if you know what you are doing, which it looks like you do. Most of the tabs are broken, and you can see the cracked part in the 2nd pic.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

wouldn't mind it but unless it includes the headlight buckets and turn signals to do a complete swap i can't afford it much less i don't think shipping would be too kind to me from cali. I Thank you for the offer!


I thank you all for the kind words!!! I really need it at times...i get one thing done and it's like i'm not getting anywhere cause i still can't use the damn thing or i still can't get it started, lol. Finally gave in and decided i'm going to replace the fuel pump, so help me god i better not have gotten a weak dud otherwise imma be pissed if i have to do this twice.

I'm looking into axles...really wanting a 4th gen but i can't afford it unless someone has one kicking around :-D. would love a 98+ 3.42s with LSD from the performance package v6's with the 12" PBR discs, but the getting what i can now and changing gears later is intimidating me as i don't have a lift so it's not terribly easy to work with things under there, so i looked into my berli camaro and saw it's got 3.23's...wishing it was one year later to get the 3.42's but of course i can't win (meanwhile this past summer i just got rid of three 3.42 axles with cars i scrapped...GRR!) so i'm thinking 3.23s to give it a little boost...what you guys think???

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

I don't think I could get the turn signals. Anyway let me know if you ever decide to go this route. Anyways, You have done some god work, and I can see your car turning out very nicely in about a year.

Orinackra

not to be offtopic, but if hes not interested, I'll definitely buy it if you wanna ship it to PA. I have a project in mind that that would be perfect for.

thats what I got, 00 3.42 lsd with the 12 in disks and tcs. Just keep looking, the one I got cost me 90 bucks. I got it under the car and found out that the axle housing on the one side was bent(junk car must been hit hard) but uhh, it kinda worked itself out, and now I have no problems. So theres definitely deals out there.

84redta

iTrader: (34)

Go for it, i might be up in a different financial situation, can't do it. And yea, i'm waiting out for the right axle, damn thats one more 4th gen thing you got...why didn't you buy a doner 4th!? lol. Doing good so far tho!!

Orinackra

well if my experiment works, I'll have my old 91 bumper thats pretty much mint that I'll probably sell. So maybe by that time you'll be ready for a bumper.

And yeah in hindsight I should have bought a donor car lol. Oh well, too late now I guess.

OH! and I dont have 4th gen mirrors, nor want them. So theres one thing not 4th gen! :P

84redta

iTrader: (34)

haha, yea i saw that. Those are a love/hate thing. You either like them or you don't. ANd they happened to appeal to me so, i know noone around me is going to have a car look like mine nor will i run into anyone else that is exactly like mine so i'm satisfied with that . Prey tell on the experiment???