ejscarfo

...can anyone run a CarFax?

The car has 119k on the rust-free body, but the TPI 305 has been rebuilt in 2009. There is a small tear in the drivers seat, but otherwise, the interior looks good for a 28 year old car.

I had an 87 Firebird with a 2.8 MPFI when I was in college and loved it. It was great car to beat on and very dependable. Is there anything about the older F-bodies I should know about? I know it has the WS6 package and the only option it seems to be missing is power seats. The front end is all new along with the exhaust as well.

lonesomeloser

Did you buy it? Here is the best resource for third gens: http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/

ejscarfo

Yup, I bought it. The deal was too good to pass up.

NytmereZ

The 85 tpi motors were the strongest of then all, the hp actually went down in 86 from 215 to 190 due to more strict emissions and not as aggressive cam.
I know my 85 vette was rated at 230hp but made 256rwhp stock, with like felted large tube runners, ported plenem, cat-back, throttle body air foil and my cutting open the air box , putting a k&n in, the car ran 13.40's, it was my 1st vette, I was 18 years old.
This is in 93 whe the ZR1 was king, I ran right next to them, and beat most on the strip.

ejscarfo

That's good to know. I figured it was better or the same as the years progressed.

I finally got it registered and took it out for the first time this morning. It's got ball$. Almost as fast as my C4. This is going to be fun.

leadfoot4

I didn't think that the TPI motors came into play until '86. I had an '85 Firebird "SE", with the base 305 (165 HP), and it had the electronic feedback Quadrajet. And, although the HP 305 (190 HP) wasn't available in anything but the T/A, I'm 99% sure it was a Quadrajet equipped engine also....

ejscarfo

85 was the first year but you could only get it with an automatic. The 190hp motor was carbed and available with manual tranny. Those were the 2 motors for 85 I believe.

leadfoot4

My '85 was carbed, and an auto, FWIW.....

ejscarfo

So we finally got the car registered and took it out this weekend. What a blast! This thing is faster than I thought it would be. It handles well too, not as good as my 85 C4, but OK for a car this big in my opinion.

Now to address the no-heat issue, replacing the heater core.

leadfoot4

There's a very strong following of autocrossers, who love the 3rd gen F-bodies. They actually feel that the front end geometry, even though it's a "modified" McPherson strut, works better than the 4th gen cars. I kept my '85 for a little over 10 years. Traded it for a '96 Camaro, but still have fond memories of it...

wu6fiend

I'd like to see some photos of the '85. I owned two 3rd Gens (an 1987 IROC-Z and a 1991 GTA). I still miss the IROC-Z, as it was my first "real" car. I should have fixed the tired engine/trans/rear end, but traded it on the GTA, which was mint. I still love 3rd Gens, and would love to own another one, one day (either a 1989 TTA or 1990 GTA 5.7L would be my preferred choices).

Jig A Low

I had an '86 T-A, with the carb'd 305 in it, spent a ton of money restoring the interior and transmission then ended up selling it shortly after that.

the one thing that I know is a problem area is the hatch pull down motor, IF the hatch gets slammed down, it can break the motor which causes it to run all the time and will draw the battery down overnight. it can be very hard to track down unless you know what to look for.

ejscarfo

Funny you say that, the motor in this car doesn't work. I wonder if that's what happened. I spoke to the previous owner yesterday who owned the car since 1990 and he said the motor never worked, he didn't even realize there should be one there. I haven't pulled the rear panel off to check yet so now I'm really curious if the car even has one.