87 Firebird...

[emopunksucksnuts]

There is a 87' pontiac firebird for sale down the street from me. i know its a little out of the muscle car era, but i figured id ask you because you all seem to know what you're doing. Is there anything i can drop under that hood to make this thing burn rubber? any suggestions?

nick

[kratefan]

Originally Posted by emopunksucksnuts

There is a 87' pontiac firebird for sale down the street from me. i know its a little out of the muscle car era, but i figured id ask you because you all seem to know what you're doing. Is there anything i can drop under that hood to make this thing burn rubber? any suggestions?

nick

The '89 T/A did pretty well with its version of the Buick V-6. It had the 3800 heads on the Turbo Regal block.
Jeff

[emopunksucksnuts]

any more suggestions?

[Musclecarclub]

What engine / transmission does it have? What's the price? Whether or not it is worth it depends on a lot of things. If it doesn't have the V8, why bother?

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by emopunksucksnuts

There is a 87' pontiac firebird for sale down the street from me. i know its a little out of the muscle car era, but i figured id ask you because you all seem to know what you're doing. Is there anything i can drop under that hood to make this thing burn rubber? any suggestions?

nick

Well, lets assume you have the money to make the car safe and roadworthy....chances are, a cheap Firebird has some problems which require attention first.
Is it a v6 engine? If yes, don't bother with it. A decent V8 Firebird has the suspension and transmission you would need to support a decent engine.
The V8 Firebirds had a 305 (210hp) or a 350 (230 hp) engine, (small block Chevy) These engines are common and easy to build for power. You can easily build one of these to produce as much power as you can afford.
The trick here is the transmission. The 5 spd will not tolerate much more than 210 hp in its stock form, so it never came with anything bigger than the 305.
The 350 came with the automatic only. The 305 could be had with either the manual or auto.
If you can live with an automatic, look for a 350 engine. There are vast amounts of modifications that can be made to easily give you 400 hp or more. Assuming the car is well tuned and in good shape, I would suggest a performance exhaust system, with matched headers, pipes and muffler, along with a K&N air filter would give you the best performance increase for the money.