What year 3rd Gen for Autocross

Hey guys (and girls). I am new to this board and new to f-body's also. I am planning on buying a car primarily for autocross and 'sunday drives' with my two boys. I wanted something that was fun, cheap, and easy to build upon. A four seater is a must (with 2 kids). I could think of nothing better than a camaro.

My favorite body style was always the 3rd gen camaro's. 3rd gens in decent shape also seem to be right in my price range. On top of that, my father in law has a 76 vette that he is about to swap a motor in so I might have a nice 350 at my disposal come this winter.

Anyway, what are the best year 3rd gen cars? Which ones handle the best, what years should I avoid, what things should I look out for, etc?

Any help you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Steve

In general the later the year the better. As far as autocross, the suspension lay out was the same for all third gens. In stock config. the early IROC's had the best components.
As you will probably end up changing the shocks, springs, swaybars, etc. just get the best one you can find.

Is it hard to do a rear disk conversion on the early 80's cars?

Well hard is a subjective term. I would not consider it hard. Maybe a two on a one to five scale. Lots of kits out there, plus the later third gens. came with them so there'e plenty of Chevy parts too.

The 91 and 92 models had stiffer subframes IIRC, so you'll probably want to go with one of those.

The 91 and 92 models had stiffer subframes IIRC, so you'll probably want to go with one of those.

I don't think there's much validity to that statement. I've never heard that claim before.

Your best bet is an 89-92 Firebird/TA with the WS6 package. They have the better rear disc brakes, and the 90+ models have a Speed-Density FI system rather then MAF. Nothing wrong with MAF on a stock car, but it's one more expensive part that can fail and the older 8-bit systems couldn't be tuned well with heavy mods.

It all depends on what class you want to run though. You'll probably want to search www.frrax.com for some answers. Please search and read rather then just putting up posts about what the best car is though.

He's not looking at a Firebird, though -- he wants a Gen3 Camaro. Those run in F Stock with a V8 powerplant and G Stock with the V6.

An engine change to a Corvette powerplant would put him out of Stock classes entirely and opens up a completely different can of worms -- probably straight into Street Modified.

EDIT: OK, I stand corrected. Not SM -- C Prepared. :bow:

Engine change is not allowed in SM either. I put a LT1 into my 3rd gen and that placed me into CP. Best thing to do is just buy a 3rd gen (82-92) and run in FS for your 1st year and just get familiar with how things work. In year 2, then make some changes to the car. Ask around while you are at the auto-x site, lots of racers love to share info.

Guys, Nape is right. The best handling third-gen was the 1989 - 1992 Firebird Formula with 5.7L TPI engine package and WS6 suspension package. It had less mass than the Trans Am, and probably less mass than the Z28.

In terms of Camaros, the best base third-gen would be the 1990 - 1992 Z28 with the same L98 engine.

Both the Formula and Z28 were offered with an optional 3.42 gearing which made them perfect for autocross. In fact, the third-gen was competitive in national competition pretty much all the way through 1997: Check the SCCCA records!

My friend Dave Siniff of Bay City, Michigan still owns the 1990 Trans Am that took the SCCA F-stock national championship in 1990. The same car continued to place well at the nationals up through the late-nineties.