I ran across a hardtop L98 1987 firebird all original with no mods. It has the disc brakes on the rear if that makes a difference. The front swaybar looks huge but then again, I'm not familiar with the 3rd gen too much. It has 186k miles and the motor has a knock in it. Body is surprisingly straight but paint is faded/chalked. Headliner is in very good shape as is most of the interior with the exception of the drivers seat. The sticker with all the RPO codes is gone though so I cant tell if it's a WS6 car or not. Guy wants $1k for it as is. I was thinking it might make a neat toy/project. Thoughts and opinions appreciated.

 

Thats alot of miles. It has to be a Formula to have a 350 stock, they just look something like the regular Firebirds.

 

buy it.
i have the almost exact car except its an iroc and has t-tops.
i would think that a ws6 comes with a 350 is it 5 speed or auto
auto has 3.27 gear
stick has 3.45 gear
if its a 350 it will be an auto
also it has discs in the rear which is awesome and it has the 9 bolt which is very strong.
186 thousand miles is not bad if you are gonna make a project out of it
just replace all the gauges with autometer.
the way your talking you will need a motor pretty quick so i would build(i am building) a 383 for it and beef up the trans and rebuild the rear end
good luck
ps the 8th digit in the vin will be an 8 if its a 350.
also it will say 5.7 where the bell housing bolts up on the top drivers side(may be difficult to see.
also the 350 red line at 5500 not 5000 like the 305 and the auto shifter will be more square and the 305 will be round

 

I'm sure it's a 350 L98 car, no doubt about that and yes it is an auto. I was wondering if it was uncommon or anything special about it. Like I said, I may pick it up as a toy project. I've allready been thinking stealthram+heads+cam+stall+gears+boltons= alot of fun. I had an L98 powered vette and had it running pretty decent so I'm familiar with that motor. Heck, I can get a new L98 shortblock from GM for $1k.

 

Nah nothing rare about it. If you wanna pick it up and have fun and know what you're doing, get it.

 

L98 87 TAs are somewhat rare, but L98 GTAs aren't. Because the GTA was considered the more desirable model, the L98 TAs don't really have any special features that would make the car worth any more than a GTA.

But... a grand is a good price, so it could be a fun project car just the same.

 

Check the VIN if the 8th Digit is 8 then its a stock 350 but remember there were some 305s that were made with TPI that look excatly like the 350 you cant tell unless you check the engine codes.

 

is it missing the stock center caps? and what does the speedo go to 120 or 140?. id have to say that a 5.7 with disks has a very good chance of being a ws6. and also i think i read somewhere that the ws6 cars came with poly bushings? but ive never noticed that on any of my cars and my 91 ws6 had alum drums on the rear so id have to say check theformulasource.com or maybe transamgta.com they may have a better way to tell rather than just guessing. but either way it sounds like a pretty good body to build on. just swap in some 4th gen seats as an upgrade and then put a nice paint job on it and a health drivetrain and youll definately have a respectable formy! id do it if i had the money and didnt already have a broken 89.

later,
Nick J

 

Ours is the WS6, 305 4bbl, automatic, hardtop. Figure that combo out! Still has most of its original equipment. It's the paintjob and the fact that it's still in good shape that makes it rare.

Get it. Check the odometer first though. Ours has read 139299 since the day she bought it. Still reads the same a year and 4 months later... and it's a daily driver

Screw that, get it anyways!