Andre

Any opinions?I am curious about numbers, problems, opinions from people who have driven them as compared to the 944 or 951. reliability?anything would be helpful.

thanks

ribs

The only things these cars have in common with a 944/951 is: 2 doors, front engine, rear drive, big bubbley rear hatch, 4 wheels, 4 seats and a steering wheel. These cars are heavy (real heavy if you are talking pre 1993), have tons of torque down low (assuming you are talking trans am/formula/Z28's with the 5.7L V8), pushrod motor (the engine is the same basic design from the 1950's), the pre 93's with the 5.7L V8 you can't find with a manual transmission, they handle with lots of slop (the rear suspension is a live axle...just like a pick up truck), are not too quick stock (they got hell of quick by the late 90's though), can be modded until you turn blue in the face (I know a couple of guys with 600+ HP camaros/firebirds), are mainly used to go fast in a straight line, and if you are a self respecting kind of guy, will not like the kind of females these cars attract.

Just think about all of the guys in similar cars with 12 year old mullets drag racing from stoplight to stoplight listening to styx and whitesnake, and you will understand why the image the car carries with it turns me off personally.

ribs

Oh...in consumer reports the f-bodies have gotten continually blackballed for a lot of stuff every year, and everybody I know with an f-body that is more than 10 years old has to either junk it/part it out or rebuild it from the ground up. That is a far cry from normally just performing maintainance and fixing 1 problem at a time as we do with our porsches.

Andre

How much do they actually wiegh?anywhere i can get numbers?like slolem times, acceleration, hp, torque, type of engines, blah blah blah.

also i am very curious about the reliability?are they known for having problems like our porsches?

ribs

The motors last a while and are very cheap to replace (no rebuilding going on there). The transmissions are pieces of crap - my one friend with a '91 formula has been through 2 transmissions after rebuilding the first transmission 3 times...this was an auto, too. The interior quality is a complete joke, and the plastic interior pieces cost more than similar pieces for my porsche. What else...they are total squeak boxes, and the t-top versions have so much body flex that you can actually see the bar in the middle of the roof flexing left and right as you go around turns if you don't have the t-tops in.

I think the curb weight on my friend's formula is 3600 pounds...somewhere around there...they lost aroun 250 pounds when they went to the newer body style though. Here are some performance numbers I ripped off a web site that has a huge list of 0-60 and 1/4 mi. times:

1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA (auto) 7.1 15.5
1988 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA 7.4 15.9
1989 Pontiac 20th Anniv. Trans Am 5.1 14.2
1991 Pontiac Firebird Formula 6.5 14.8
1991 Pontiac Trans Am Conv. 7.0 15.4
1993 Pontiac Firebird Formula 6.1 14.7
1993 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 6.3 14.8

Oh...the 20th anniversary trans am has the GNX turbo 6 motor in it IIRC...the rest are 5.7L or 5.0L V8's. 1991 5.7L V8's have 275 HP 305 ft-lb torque IIRC, the rest of the years are less (1987 5.7L has 215 HP I think), and they kept getting heavier each year until the newer body style. Hope that clarifies things a bit.

Andre

my friend is looking at a 92 camaro, 5.7 with the infamous "police package"(if anyone can clear up what a police package is that would be great...)

will those numbers hold true for camaros too, so he should expect high 6s from the thing? its only got 45000 miles and is selling for 5500. Why so cheap? oh and its 25th anniversary edition (again needs clearing up)

thanks for the help

scular

ribs
Most of us are driving 80's cars so why dislike Styx and Whitesnake. What would the world be without Mr. Roboto or Here I go Again?
These are just two of the soundtracks I love to play when riding in my brothers Delorean. Oh yeah the car of the 80's.

ribs

For some reason I always picture the stereotypical porsche driver in the 80's as being just like the main character in American Psycho. I don't really know, I never made it out of elementary school in the 80's, so all I had was the mullet and the musical tastes of my older sisters, which actually wasn't that bad...pink floyd, led zepplin, aerosmith, the beatles, jimi hendrix, and queen (those are the ones I remember the most anyways), all of which I still occasionally listen to. BTW, if you haven't seen that movie, rent it, but make sure you send the kids out of the room when you watch it.

Tabor

For 1992:

RS Convertible Manual 3220
RS Convertible Auto 3275
Z28 Convertible Manual 3377
Z28 Convertible Auto 3479

RS Coupe Manual 3105
RS Coupe Auto 3160
Z28 Coupe Manual 3273
Z28 Coupe Auto 3375

marksportcts

One of my cousin's had one, an '88 or so. We took it out for a drive once since he was getting rid of it, and went to a gravel parking lot. Did some donuts and then caught air at about 80 miles over a dip in the lot. First thing I noticed was that even with my seatbelt on, my head hit the roof quite good, and half of the interior panels flew off. Got out and the paint had more scratches and the fog lights were destroyed, and the engine bay was full of dirt and rocks. You get what you payed for, great beater car.

Untier

the 90s use a lt1 and lt4 motor. these are a little different design, reverse cooling, 10.5 cr. very low intake to fit under the hood in a 944. can not use all older chevy stuff, too much power for the trans. past postings have said the motors are exspensive and now this bb says their cheap? make up your minds please. mine is in my 944 and id like to put it up against anyone of yours matching costs, hp, speed, weight, handling etc...

Dan in Pasadena

Geez Ribs, got a bit of a "hard-off" for Camaro's, or what?
The other day this board was aflame over the "friggin 911 guys" and their attitudes...well guess what? Some of you guys sound exactly like those 911 on the subject of GM F bodies!

You don't like those cars? Fine, but this isn't supposed to be a board for GM F Body fans in the first place. As you well know there are lots of guys that love American muscle cars... even some of the more tepid ones, and yet I sense noses going up in the air at the mere mention of the name Camaro/Firebird.

Personally, I consider myself a "car guy". To me this means I appreciate automobiles; even some of the ones I'd never want to own personally - if they are nicely kept and well performing for the intended purpose. I've seen Nash Metropolitans at car shows that were very nicely retored, and I'd NEVER want something like that. I've seen lowriders that were incredibly well planned out with unbelieveable attention to detail for THAT KIND OF CAR! I wouldn't be caught dead in one and I tend to think, "WHY would someone do THAT to a car"? But my point is - the effort was well done IF you appreciate that point of view. I'm not pushing for low riders or F bodies or trucks or anything else over Porsches, I'm pushing being a "car guy". My point is just take a breath before you jump down someone's throat for mentioning an American muscle car on a Porsche web site.

I would have loved to have as nice a car as a clean Camaro when I was 20 and in college.

One final thought: Geez, some of the jackass comments, "took one on a gravel lot spinning donuts and caught air AT 80 MPH!!!" and then bitches that he hit his head on the roof! Well try that in any Porsche - and see if it's even running afterward. Think you could repair it for that same cost as the Camaro? Jesus, Mark - get a friggin clue! If it were a prepped off road truck or a Baja Bug, meant for that type of driving - great, go for it. But abusing a car, any car, just because you were selling it and laying off the damage on some other guy (likely young guy JUST LIKE YOURSELF!) That is just wrong and you are not a "car guy" until you understand that.
I just know someone will try to defend that type of asinine behavior - gotta hear this one!

Andre

I agree with DAN, cant really complain about having dirt in your engine bay after you take a bucket of pebbles and pour it into the engine.

So pretty much i haven't heard anything bad about the cars.....seem to be reliable, kinda heavy but they have the power to make up for it and sounds like a fun car for my buddy who is a muscle loving 17 year old.

thanks for the thoughts

*Michael.*

Andre,

If you are looking into a F-body this website will come in handy....

The best Mullet reference on the web!!!

Tabor

IMHO, get at least an '93. It will be heavier, but will have much better rear suspension.