89 FBird, 2.8 L 5 speed, worth upgrading?? little money & experience

i have an 89 firebird v6 2.8L 5 speed w/ 113,000 miles. i make $8/hour, and make about $600 a month. i am about to go to school, i am paying for my car for the next 6 months, and will be paying for an apartment in 8 months. are there any upgrades that aren't too expensive to purchase and have installed that are worth doing? is it worth upgrading the older 3rd gen f-bird, or should i wait a few years and get a newer one?

I know that this is an older thread, but anyways.....

My 85 Firebird has pretty much the same engine as your 89. Being a college student, I know what its like not having much extra cash. There really aren't very many performance mods for the 2.8 that are cheap. If you have never had a tune up, it could possible help some. Replace things such as the air filter, distributer cap and rotor, spark plugs, plug wires, and maybe the 02 sensor. Replacing the fuel filter can be a good idea too. Mine went bad and caused my fuel pump to go out. (The fuel pumps are a pain to get to in these cars.)

In my opinion, it really isn't worth spending tons of money on the 2.8 liter. The best thing to do is just try your best to keep up on the maintenence of the engine. The 2.8's aren't bad motors, they just aren't all that powerfull. I've put nearly 30,000 miles on my 85' in the past two years and it is still running strong. (Its currently at 110,000 miles.) The only real work I've done to it is replacing the fuel pump and radiator. Most parts aren't horribly expensive for these cars and assuming you have a car manual of some sort they aren't too bad to work on. Being on a tight budjet, they are fairly easy on gas.

Personly, I think that you should just be happy with the 2.8 for now. They really aren't that bad, just don't expect mad amounts of power from it. Keep the 2.8 running strong, and when your done with school, get the V8. (Thats my plan anyway.)