Looking at buying a 1991 3rd Gen Camaro

Hi, My buddy is looking at a 1991 3rd Gen Camaro RS that had a 5L engine swapped into it with 5speed tranny.

I own a 4th gen Firebird myself, and know a thing or two about our f-bodies.. so when we looked at this car, I examined the interior well, the exterior, under neath the car, wheel wells, rear end, exhaust, and also the engine..

everything looked great, sounded great, only prob i found was one of the headlights wuz burnt out (easy fix) and the hood latch needs to be adjusted so it closes properly...

is there something i missed that i should check for to make sure this car is in good shape?? i am asking you guys cuz i am a 4th gen guy and know not a whole lot about the problems, etc to look for on 3rd gens.

thanks for your help in advance!

looks like u have most of the basis covered. if u started it up or u can start it up,look at the oil pressure and make sure it builds up fairly fast and holds good oil pressure. it depends on the mileage but i would say 30-60 psi is good,but at cold start up it should be more than 30.

also check the belts for oil,cracks or tears and such. look for any oil leaks from the engine,coolant leaks/radiator leaks and such.

Right after start-up check for blue smoke from the exhaust pipes. That indicates bad valve seals, very common on 3rd gens. Not that they're expensive but a pain to replace.
-Rippin

TRue the ole blue smoke///

also check for clucking or grinding in the rear gears...

and broken tranny mount...though easy to fix.... the center console will bump.

How many miles were on the car?

92,000

well man i've been around the block a few times with the third gen's there shiny but thats it. unless you do a complete drive line rebuild or replace.
third gen's are in the shop more than on the road.
there the right years to be high miles poorly maintained,highly abused car's. i bought 3 of them even had a dealer check them out pluse me checking them they where graet for the first month then well.
i have noticed the firebird's are more reliable then camaro's,but thats just my exspirnec. i had a 91 firebird 400 that is a firebird with a dual tbi 400 in it ran great8 month's then spun a rod bearing. not bad 190k miles on it.parked it atr mom and dad's .
bopught an 87 z-28 with only 72,000 miles omn car and 12,000 miles on 335tpi stroker. the z was in the shop 3 day's a week. at 83,000 miles i gave it to the girlfriend for her 85 fifth ave. with a 318leanburn, so that should explain how bad the maro was.
then i bought an 87 gta to drive this summer an in the first week it : alt went out, the exhaust fell off. now it run's rought. but i got the gta upand going now. the 91 is under going a complete restortation and it's get jazzed up a bit more. which i say it should be a 4th gen car cause the body style did change.
in my opion there should be 4 gen's of camaro's and 5 gen's of firebird's. for more info on the 91 firebird 400 go to the third gen post on my 91 firebird 400,it's an awsome car it will be back on the road by summer 04.should have lot's of pic's by then of it.it look's like a vette with a ram air hood at first glance from the front.

SO your friend can go ahead with the camaro but you was warned
when they look good or not they still can fall apart. i'd stay away from the 3rd gen's if you can i really don't like the third gen's i just got addicted to them, there so shinny.
my sugestion is go with a 1st 2nd or 4th gen f-body.
1st and 2nd gen have all the bug's worked out mostly and mostly replaced or rebuilt. 4th gen's are low on miles and on years and high in technlogy so they tend to last so far,haven't heard any major problems with the 4th gen's yet.i think the 3rd gen's problem's are mostly duie to ond there mostly an 80's car they were the first with efi: tbi and tpi so i spose that all had somthing to do with it. i hoipe you have good luck but these are my last third gen's,my friend brant's on his 5th tghird gen and say's when this one dies he's done with them too.

p.s all my third gen's ran 50 psi cold on start up .
the 87 z-28 camaro ran 15psi hot in gear with sae 50 oil.
the 87 gta run's 63psi cold on start up and 23 psi hot in gear with sae60 oil. gta now has 20w-50 and hot in gear it's down to 17psi.
the 91 ran 55psi cold on start up and 45psi hot in gear, 35psi hot in gear after spun bearing.all hot in gaer rating are at idle in gear. camaro run down high way at 28psi hot the gta run's at 30--35psi. the 91 didn't chnge much maybe ran 47psi on highway hot with 4.11 gears. gta has 3.23 gears z-28 has 3.08 gears.
so the 91 i think was the best out of all of them lowest on years but highest in miles so who know's. it's a third gen thing.
so be warned about the third gen's.

No, you just had some bad luck. I now own 2 3rd gen camaro Iroc-Z's and one I've had (an 85 wtih a 305 TPI) for 6 months and put over 4000 miles more on it (it's up to 149000 miles). It smokes alittle when you rev it because the previous owner fully ported the heads and put in a high performance cam in and did a lot of topend work. The bottom end is all still stock and can handle all the power it puts out. It actually is putting out almost 300hp from the stock 190 and he was racing it all the time and started smoking after he bought it (he had it for a year). It has never failed on me yet except for the electronic fan going out and the engine overheating about 3 times, but you couldn't tell because it runs fine and the only reason the fan went out was because of the bad wiring and an old switch and fan motor. I've had small electrical problems, but that's because other owners messed with the wiring and didn't take care of it. The other one (an 86 wtih a 305 TPI) is in great condition and I am actually going to swap the engine out for an 96 350 LT1 I am building. I just picked it up yesterday. The engine doesn't smoke though and it has 120000 miles on it. I just don't like how round the 4th gen cars look and I would never choose a 4th gen over a third gen. The 3rd gen firebird engines weren't all that different than the camaros so saying one is better than the other is BS. Actually for the earlier years for the 3rd gen firebird, the airflow was more restricted than the camaros which gave it less power. My 85 camaro runs at 30PSI oil pressure@210degrees using 10w-40 oil. If your oil pressure is too low, it probably means that the spring in your oil pump is going out.

See, if you want an older car, you MUST know how to take care of it and know when there is a problem and be able to dianose it. If it's a 91, you souldn't really have to worry about problems unless the guy is hiding something. Don't forget though a 91 is still 12 years old and that reguardless of the miles, it still has be suseptable to corrosion and such things alike.

Sorry about your cars Mikey, but not all of them are that bad.
The real question is what 5L was droped in? the 91 has a TPI, while the older ones where carborated and needed a higher level of skill to keep running well. Even still the carb is not that hard to master and is at times fun.
Older cars just need to be watched more. And taken car of. Any car can be crap or cool, depends on the owner.
If your car falls apart a month off the lot, you got owned and should have shoved the car up the sales persons ass
I also dont know how they are more shinny? :confused:

Tell your friend to go for it. 92,000 miles is about on par for a car that old and with ( probably ?) less miles on the engine, that has had its oil changes and generally taken car of is should just be getting broken in.

Older cars just need to be watched more. And taken car of. Any car can be crap or cool, depends on the owner.

Exactly :) If the car is treated like crap, it can be nothing more than just that. Also the more you race it and hot rod it, the more you will have to watch and listen for problems.

the 91 is not tpi NOT TPI it isTBI it has a 6.6L DUAL TBI engine that was sawpted in when the 305 tbi that was in it had 40kmiles so the 400 lasted 150,000 miles. please read the 91 firebird 400 post. to know more about the 91 don't rip on the 91.cause i bought it years ago.it was my first third gen f-body and the beat third gen som far.
and for one i didn't say t/a's are better than camaro's i said "i have had better luck with firebird's and tran's ams' over camaro's"
i didn't say one was beter then the other i said in my case the camaro was the pos and in brant's case there both been crappy car's. it all depend's on who you buy them from.
the 91 came off a dealer's lot he wanted 6,500 for it now i got it for 2500 tax,title ,andplates. i paid 2,000 for stuck 1,200 in repairs to the camaro. i bnought the GTA for 3,000 i've so far got 136 in parts so far much more to be fixed.
the "91 FORMULAGTA" 400 ran me a long time with no break down's no repair's just oil changes and gas.then it up and started knocking at 186,000 mile i drove it real easy till 190,000 ,cause it was just a tap tap when it got to a knock i shut it down and haled it home. i've had 0 problems with my second gen t/a.and my frist gen camaro has been great so new is good old is good in the middle yucky.

i told them i got a 91 firebird t-tops with 400sbc in it with intake #350-5425 4x2 intake. with 2 tbi's from 350 truck engine's adappted to the intake 10.2:1pistons.a built 700r4 tranny from a 1 tom gmc. and a 4.11 rear end gear.
it had a 292 cam in a mild 400sbc with 375hp and 425ftlb torque. i wanted to increase that to about 425hp to 475hp and 525ftlb to 575ftlb torque. they said with that intake and dart head's i'm going to go with the 292*cam with the 575 lift, and reprgram my shift piont's at a higher RPM.
with hoosier p295/50D15's in the rear,and 245/60D15'sin the front. upgraded shock spring's,sturt's,and dual sway bar's. with the 4th gen style ram air hood for it .it's a sweet looking car,especailly with that rounded noise cone and shnazzyfiberglassskirtsandgroundeffect's that the 91and92's have now it looks so 4th gen.now it will have the balls to back up the tough look it's got.
dual exhaust header's with glasspack'sbolted right to the headers.non of this cat back b.s. single pipe dual tip's crap for this car.it also has the dual dump's like the bandit t/a.

that single pipe dual tip's will not go on this carit will choke off my 6.6Lv8

FWIW a single 4" exhaust is MUCH easier to route in these cars than true duals all the way back, and doesn't become a restriction till like 500-600rwhp. It also won't cost you ground clearance like a dual glasspack setup, and the muffler won't blow out the fiberglass packing and sound like ass.

IMHO dual exhaust in a 3rd gen isn't worth it unless you spend some REAL money and do it RIGHT.

sorry i hate the single pipe dual tip sound i don't like the look's so cost don't matter dual's it get's.

I dont see how Firebirds could be more reliable than Camaro's. They're the exact same thing besides interior and body panels....Now if your talking 1st and 2nd gen f-bods that might be true,I dont know, but not 3rd or 4th. You just had some bad luck with your Camaro's. I have had 0 major problems w/ mine. It smokes a lil on start up(typical for TPI) but other than that, it's been just regular up keep.

yes as i stated before in my case the 87GTA trans am and the 91 firebird 400 was both more relaiable then my 87 z-28. but once agian i'll say this is in my case only. your exspirence may vary.

but i have noticed from me and my friend's and other's on the avenue the third gen's are the most unrelaible generation out of all of them. but that could just be us madison wisconsin people's luck with third gen's.

I do think your cars where the minority.

I mean its hard to come into the 3rd Gen forum and talk crap about them, I mean people in here ( like me ) like them

I wanted a 3rd gen because I think the 4ths are not as good looking, but i dont go into the LT1 forum and warn everyone how crappy they are because my Girlfriend's step dad's went south after 30,000 miles. Sometimes sh!t happens, and when it happens three times, it probably isnt the cars fault. ( if you get my drift ) ;)

i love third gen's just my 87 z-28 and my 87 gta arn't the most relaiable the 91 was awsome i'll still keep buying third gen's cause there so shinny and i love the way they look

I do not mean to bust your balls, and i agree with you they look tuff as hell, but what do you mean by shinny?

I MEAN THERE MAINLY A HAEVY SLOW 80'S TINNY ECONO BOX BUT THERE COOL LOOKING,TOUGH LOOKING ,AND THERE PAINT IS ALWAYS SHINNY. BASICLY WHAT YOUR SAYING.
THERE NOT THE BEST GENERATION BUT THERE CHEEP TO BUY THERE ARE A MILLION OF THEM PARTS ARE EASY TO GET.
AND THERE SO SHINNY THE MAKE KEEP BUYING THEM.
OUT OF ALL THE THIRD GEN I LOVE THE 91 AND 92 FIREBIRD'S,T/A'S,FORMULA'S,GTA'S,AND FIREBIRD400'S I LOVE THAT CORVETT LOOKING FRONT END THEY GOT.I'M NOT REALLY AN 80'S FAN OF ANYTHING. BUT IF IT'S SHINNY I'LL BUY IT. I DO BETTER THEN ROUTE MAINTAINCE,AND MY 87'S ARE STILL ****TY CAR'S BUT THEY LOOK COOL.THE Z-28 ONLY HAS 83,000MILES AND 23,000MILES ON ENGINE A 335TPI BUILT NOT BOUGHT STROKER 335. THE 87 GTA HAS 120,000 MILES ON IT WITH ONLY 5,800 MILE ON THE L-98 350TPI ENGINE.
MY BABY OF MY F-BODY'S IS THE 91 FIREBIRD 400 AKA "FORMULAGTA" IT HAS A DUAL 2 BBL TBI INJECTED 400SBC.A BUILT 700R4 FROM A 1TON,A 4.11POSI 2,200 RPM STALL CONVERTER.ECT. AND SO ALONG IT'S GOT 190,000 MILES ON IT NO PROBLEMS VERY DURABLE VERY DEPENDABLE. SO I THINK I SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM 80'S CAMARO'S AND I'LL BE FINE.
SORRY ABOUT CAP'S MY BUTTON IS STUCK TOO LAZY TO FIX IT'S 30 AFTER MID NIGHT HERE.

Thats funny. ( capslock broken )
My ( T ) button broke once, made it pretty hard to type. Your just down the road from me Micky. I will be headin up to Madison end of July here to visist a friend that is buying a house up there while he is going to post grad school up there.

no foolin where are you located at man.
we may have to haneg out and cruise around the f-body's.

I am in Davenport Iowa

cool i use to live in salem,was born in mount pleasant. anyway my dad and uncle raised a lot of hell down there and up here around 72- - 76 with my 69 s/s amx.