First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Andrew and I am a college student in Northern California.

I have been driving about 2 years, and I have had my own car for about 3 months. It is a hand-me-down 88 Mazda 929 with TONS of problems. It has served our family well for 156k miles, but its on its last leg and the end is near.

So lately i've been looking around and i've decided I want to live a little, and buy something a bit fun and flashy. I love the look of the 3rd gen Camaros, and I want to buy one for under $4k.

What should I look out for, since I have never boughten myself a car? Are these cars easy to work on, easy to learn (how to work on cars) on?

Is the oil easy to change?

Reliability?

Here is one of the cars that I have found that I am considering:

89 Black Hard Top Camaro
118k miles
It orginally had a 305, but at 80k miles this was replaced with a TPI 350
5 speed manual transmission
Oil change every 3k
Straight body/frame, no wrecks, clear title
Interior needs headliner and carpet, otherwise clean

$3000

Should I take it? What kind of gas mileage can I expect? In my current Mazda I get 13 mpg if I drive like a maniac, 17 if I drive sane. How much worse can I expect?

Sorry this is long, but I would really appreciate any help or advice that can be given. Thanks!

 

7 years ago i paid 3k for my firebird, not in good shape, if its running good then 3k sound be a decent price. I cant see gas being much worse that 929 or 626 should be doing better than u said.

 

Oil, trans, rear diff.,air cleaner, and the accessory belt are all easy maintanance chores you can do yourself. Plugs and wires however are a bit of a task. As long as the body and drivetrain are sound, then the 89 you are looking at looks like a good candidate.

 

Anybody else have any advice for me about these cars and more specifically them being the first car that I am buying?

 

Ask about and check the wiring, make sure it hasnt been monkey'd around with too bad. Thats probably been my biggest problem with my car. Not always easy to figure otu what the back yard mechanics did.

 

Make sure that you take it to a place you trust and have them check it out.
Make sure it will pass emissions before you buy anything.
Maybe hook it up to a computer and make sure there is no problems with the ECM IE the car's computer.
Since is was converted over to a different type of fuel injection.


Chris G.

 

Here is the description:

This is a 5spd, hard top, aluminum head, TPIS stage V 350. Everything on and in the engine is from TPIS except the short block. It has the following: ported intake, large tube runners, big mouth manifold, 24lb injectors (matched), AFR 195cc heads, bosch platinum +4 plugs, Taylor 8mm wires, 1.5 Crane Cam Gold rockers, 2.02/1.60 valves, ZZ9 cam, SLP 1 3/4 headers, 3in. Flowmaster exhaust. The rear end has 3.23 posi 4wdb. Factory T5 transmission, center force dual friction clutch. The suspension was upgraded to tokico shocks and struts, eibach 1in. springs, hotchkis front and rear sway bars. Interior needs carpet and headliner. Other than that it has 1996 charcoal vinyl seats (f/r), new black vinyl door panels, black arm rest, new vinyl shifter boot, take off wood grain steering wheel, alarm and a kill switch.

$3000

I really want to jump on this, but its about 25 miles away and i'm having trouble finding the time to go out and take a look. I'm trying to convince my father to come with me since I have never boughten a car on my own and I dont know "How its done".

 

For the price and the amt. of mods. it has, it sounds like a nice car, but that is all depending on what kind of shape the body is in.

 

That 5-speed will NOT hold up behind the 350. Chevy never put the T-5 behind it from the factory(can't handle the torque). Remember this incase you drive the car hard.

 

Aha, that is exactly what I was afraid of. Since it originally had a 305 I figured that everything behind the engine was made for a 305 and therefore will be a bit much for a 350. If I get it i'll just drive it easy, and down the road maybe i'll put a new tranny in it. I plan to do some work with it, but I dont have a time scale and I want something that can still be my daily driver without any work because I dont know when I will have the aditional time or money.

What about the drive shaft, dif, axle, brakes, etc? Was there any difference in those behind a factory 305 and 350?

Oh, and this may sound stupid, but what about the frame? Was there any reenforcements made for the 350 models that this car would not have?

 

Some of the third gens came with the 1LE package which added some beefier brakes along with 4 wheel disc, better suspension componets and tires. There were no frame reinforcements on the 350 models over the 305s.

 

I owned 3 hard top 3rd gens with modified 5.7 motors and had small stress cracks on all 3 at the top rear corner of the passenger door window. You know, in the roof. The 3rd gen chasis was really flimsy, IMO. The 4th gen chasis is 25% stiffer.

If I put the jack under the frame rail of my 3rd gens, behind the front wheel, and jacked it up so both the tires in that side came off the ground I'd have problems with the doors rubbing when I opened them.

On my 4th gen *convertible* I can do the same thing and the doors still line up perfectly.

 

Your not a kidding, my 88 Formula was ridden with stress cracks all over the roof and the dashboard. My 4th gen has not suffered any of those problems with almost 100K on the clock.

 

Well thats kind of a turn off to be honest. Guess i'll have to think about it some more

 

Yeah, well, that is kind of the nature of the beast. You start putting up some big torque numbers and that is what is going to happen, twisting and flexing of the chassis. There are parts out there that help with this, such as subframe connectors, which only run about 150.00 and do alot to keep the chassis tight. Also,an all out roll cage will definitely help to keep the chassis in good structural condition.