IronEagle455

Hi there, this is my first post here.

I´m currently searching for a cheap 3rd gen and found a 92 Firebird with T-Tops, l03/Auto for 750 USD.

The car runs good, has 100k miles on it, the outside is rough however, needing new paint ASAP.

Anyway, what I would like to know is, how mod friendly and how reliable is the TBI system? I don´t care so much about performance right now, but I know someday I´ll want to add more cubes and horses to the car(383 maybe?).

Right now I´m just looking for a reliable 3rd gen to drive from point A to point B without too much hassle.

What would be common issues with this cars to look for? Sensors? TB?

How friendly is the computer when adding a dual exhaust and headers?

What mods need a new chip?

I know they are too many questions, but any advise is appreciated before I go and buy the car.

mu33rto

Issues include rough idle, VATS acting up. Electrical problems due to age of the car or previous owners. You can try plastic dipping the car if the paint it awful. I use my 3rd gen as a daily driver so reliability is good. Make sure to buy or get a good repair manual as it will come in handy.

Formula 305

VATs is a pain, but can be tuned out easily. A full exhaust would probably benefit from a tune too. The LO3s are pretty reliable. I drive the ***** of mine & its never let me down.

Formula 305

For low miles like that you really can't go wrong for $750 running & driving. Rust should be your biggest concert. With the T-tops floorboards car get rusty, rocker panels are a rust prone area too.

Caveman305

iTrader: (8)

your not going to have any issues with reliability, so long as the first thing you do to the car is a full tune up.
change all fluids(rear end included), spark plugs, cap/rotor, coil, and wires, make sure its not a rust bucket/or wiring mess, get it some cheap(new) tires, and you will be ready to daily drive

vats can be disabled/bypassed very easily, and all thirdgens '89 and newer have it, sensors on any car can go bad, good thing about thirdgen's is all of them are easily reached for changing

for $750 i would jump at it

IronEagle455

Thanks for the answers!

I should be picking it up this Saturday if everything goes as planned!

It turned out to be a 91 and not 92, the car looked good when I saw it, it has minimal rust on the top near the t-tops, but nothing to bad, Original red car with black cloth interior.

Being my first third gen and my first FI car I´m still thinking about the route to take with the TBI, I´ll love to keep it if tuning isn´t as hard, but I want to be able to someday have a cool cruiser which can at least do mid-13´s on the 1/4, is this possible with TBI?(I was thinking of a 350/383 vortec swap later on)

What do you guys think? I´m really a noob when it comes to TBI and FI (previous cars only include a 1979 6.6 Trans Am and a 1968 GTO which I´m currently restoring)

mauijerky

Buy the car and read the crap out of this website. Just about everything you will need to know is archived somewhere on here. $750 is an awesome deal if the body is mostly good. I got mine for $700 and had it towed to my house. Got her driving in no time and is now my DD. Its a never ending project, but F-ing fun. If you plan on changing to a bigger motor or any changes for that matter, you will need to understand how to tune the ECM. I'm still learning (haven't even burned my first chip yet) main thing is research, research, and more research.