Thread: 1981 Firebird

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First timer here,
Just thought I'd drop off a quick line to introduce myself. I recently rescued a81 Firebird from a bean field in Iowa for $200. Some new gas and an old battery started it right up, I was shocked! Found a $25 tranny for it and now it goes down the road. The car is in fairly good shape, some rust on the bottom from sitting on the ground for 10 YEARS!!! But it has potential. What it doesn't have is power. It sports a small 231ci. 3.8 liter and it won't even bark em' off going around a gravel corner.....yes, that bad. But it ia project car for my kids to take to prom and criuse with. (At least that's what I'm telling the wife) If anybody has body parts (mostly rocker panels and seats) I would love to hear from you. Thanks in advance...Ed

How are the door jambs, I know they rust out on gen 2 camero's but, i'm not shure about the Firebirds. www.classicindustries.com, you'll find the parts you need. Rip out the 231 and swap it out with a 455 Pontiac, you may need to change the motor mounts but, that's no big deal, replace the cam, intake and carb. Try to get a good dual plane intake, a crane cam or comp cam and, if you have 542.00 to spend on a carb get a Predator ( available from JEGS ) or, if you don't want to spend that much on a carb, a simple 650-750 Holley is fine, double pumper is a good Holley.

The door jambs are a little rusted at the corners, but all in all this is a great car. I will try to get pics up tommorow as I'm at work right now. I located a rebuilt 400 and 400 trans for $1500. It's sitting in an old La Mans. I might go that way if I can scronge the money up. They only have 1000 miles on them. Is that too much? I know for that kind of money I could probally get a new 350.

I also have a 283ci. sitting in my garage waiting for the TLC to put it back together. It has a step up cam and has been bored .30 over. Would that be better than the 231 at all. Oh, and I already have that Classic Industries Catalog. My tank had a hole in it and will only hold $7 in gas without leaking on my garage floor. Classic ROCKS. They have it all.

The 283 would be better, specially if it's bored 30 over, ur gonna have to change the tranny tho, unless ur 25$ tranny is multi bolt pattern as some are.

The guy that sold me the tranny said he had a building full of unibolt 350's and that I could just have one if I decided to put in my 283 or a 350.Cheap is good for me, free is better!

First off welcome aboard. I also have an 81 Firebird that's been converted to a TA clone to include a 400 TH350, all the TA suspension posi etc. (rescued mine from a wrecking yard).

I'm 52 and have worked as a mechanic and run my own shop for a number of years. I think I've read most of your posts so far and thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

Two of the things you wrote .......

" I located a rebuilt 400 and 400 trans"

"but I would like to see my kids driving this around town one day soon.".......

Brings to mind some of the things I've seen over the years.

I don't know anything about you and your kids, but from your age I would say your children are just approaching driving age. My personal experience with new drivers and High Preformance cars is that it's not necessarily a good mix. Around the shop what we generally call a 16 year old with such a car is "JOB SECURITY".

My Firebird is very fast and can be a lot of fun to drive. It is currenly for sale and one of the people who is intrested in it is my 22 year old son in law. Currently he's a little POed at me because I refuse to sell it to him. The reason... I want my grandson to grow up with a father.

If this is going to be a kids car, I personally would keep the horse power to a reasonable level for now until you know the kids can handle it. A bigger engine can always be put in latter. A 350 or even the 283 might be a better choice for now.

About 6 or 8 months ago we had a kid here who posted on a regular basis. (Maybe one of the other people who have been around for a while can remember his name?) You might want to look up his posts on how he totaled his car when your deciding on how much motor you want to install in your firebird.

Yeah, Mike's got it nailed, Me being 15 know that, I like to go fast and, like that pedal all the way to the floor, the 283 would be a safe driver for a 16-18 year old, it would be safe pumping out approx up to 300 HP now, if ur gonna want to drive it, u could get the 400/TH400 and run a restrictor plate so, it would be restricted when ur kids drive it and, you could take the restrictor plate out when you want to drive it. Myself I know that I have to restrict myself so, I'm getting ither a '67 GMC truck with 4.56's and a granny tranny that, only has a top speed of approx 70 MPH or, a 1940 sumptin 4dr Chevy with stock drivetrain, that would go about 90 MPH top speed.

Mike has a good point, I would be careful to match the horsepower with the ability and maturity. If ya got a drag strip near by, a bit of bracket racing for the kid (and Dad!!) might be enough to encourage sensible use on the street.

I'll have a long time to woory about all of this, my oldest is only ten..... I have 7 kids, and I plan on teaching them all how to drive responsibly. I really think it's great that you are all concerned. I really just planned on them driving it to prom and stuff like that, not an everyday car. Hopefully they will all be involved in the rebuild. My 5 year old has already received his first set of tools and is helping dad tear the 283 apart. It's a lot of fun for him, but sometimes it makes me nervous having him in the garage, I really have to keep an eye on him. I keep my garage very clean so that there is less for him to get hurt on. I even put the engine on a stand on the floor so he could reach it.( And I don't have to worry about it falling off a engine stand.) Thanks again for the tips and concerns, I will keep all of it in mind during the project.