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Currently have a '98 Firebird Vert, red with black top. Apparently they only came with the dark grey (not sure of factory color designation) interior. Bought from a used car lot from dealer who states that it was one owner, woman of course, and that some kid took it for 6 hour test drive. 4 hours later he called dealer and told him "It was knocking so my brother and I added 3 quarts of oil", called back an hour or so later and said "Your car is at such and such location, come and get it". After pulling engine I found that he had grenaded the #1 rod bearing.
I found a totaled '97 hardtop with 3800 for $400, it had been sitting for over a year, he couldn't get it started but it was turning over and sounded ok. Was about 60 miles away so we picked it up. I replaced all of the top end gaskets (both intake, exhaust, etc.) spark plugs, some exhaust manifold studs (put anti-lock on all of them) and dropped the engine in. From purchase date to taking vert off of jack stands and starting it was right at six weeks, started it in Sept '07. Not too bad for not having lift or very large garage space. Started right up- can't tell you how relieved I was when that happened- having not heard the engine run and having no guarantees on it. What a pain in the arse to swap engines in these things, having to drop the t-member and all.
Top is in extremely good condition- must have been garaged and be a second car. Vert has 156k miles on it (had 152k when I got it), the donor engine had 126k on it.
Looking forward to communicating to you all, have already found some great information on here and a couple of other forums.
I have bought, but not yet installed, Flowmaster 80 catback system with chrome duals, looking forward to those.
My other vehicle is a ZJ ('98 Grand Cherokee) Laredo SE, the Laredos are the base models with the grey body cladding- the SE model made only in '98 has the color matched body cladding. It has the 4.0 liter I6, and all options except leather (when I got it), as of about a month ago it now has leather- I found someone parting one out.
Some questions:
The airbox intake system looks like a poor design to me, with the downward kink in the flow. I understand (per wikipedia) that they redesigned that in '99 to be a straight flow design, but it also looks like they redesigned the throttle body too and it is now a drive by wire. What can I easily/cheaply do about my kinked downflowing intake system, short of buying aftermarket airbox/intake? (Can I just swap in a '99 air box system? or will I need an altered/redesigned throttle body too?)
Would it be worth it to get a limited-slip rear end? or are they not all that useful for traction (I am not talking burn-outs and hole shots- just DD)
Will a hi-flow cat do me any good with my new exhaust system? Or should I leave the factory cat to keep my power curve down lower (I prefer it lower as I don't red line or WOT)? I also understand the Flowmaster 80 series is not the most preferred around here, factory cat should help keep it quieter too? Mostly just want a throatier sound at acceleration/idle- do not want loud. Prefer to be able to carry on decent conversation with top down on hiway- like I can now.
Good to be here.
I found a totaled '97 hardtop with 3800 for $400, it had been sitting for over a year, he couldn't get it started but it was turning over and sounded ok. Was about 60 miles away so we picked it up. I replaced all of the top end gaskets (both intake, exhaust, etc.) spark plugs, some exhaust manifold studs (put anti-lock on all of them) and dropped the engine in. From purchase date to taking vert off of jack stands and starting it was right at six weeks, started it in Sept '07. Not too bad for not having lift or very large garage space. Started right up- can't tell you how relieved I was when that happened- having not heard the engine run and having no guarantees on it. What a pain in the arse to swap engines in these things, having to drop the t-member and all.
Top is in extremely good condition- must have been garaged and be a second car. Vert has 156k miles on it (had 152k when I got it), the donor engine had 126k on it.
Looking forward to communicating to you all, have already found some great information on here and a couple of other forums.
I have bought, but not yet installed, Flowmaster 80 catback system with chrome duals, looking forward to those.
My other vehicle is a ZJ ('98 Grand Cherokee) Laredo SE, the Laredos are the base models with the grey body cladding- the SE model made only in '98 has the color matched body cladding. It has the 4.0 liter I6, and all options except leather (when I got it), as of about a month ago it now has leather- I found someone parting one out.
Some questions:
The airbox intake system looks like a poor design to me, with the downward kink in the flow. I understand (per wikipedia) that they redesigned that in '99 to be a straight flow design, but it also looks like they redesigned the throttle body too and it is now a drive by wire. What can I easily/cheaply do about my kinked downflowing intake system, short of buying aftermarket airbox/intake? (Can I just swap in a '99 air box system? or will I need an altered/redesigned throttle body too?)
Would it be worth it to get a limited-slip rear end? or are they not all that useful for traction (I am not talking burn-outs and hole shots- just DD)
Will a hi-flow cat do me any good with my new exhaust system? Or should I leave the factory cat to keep my power curve down lower (I prefer it lower as I don't red line or WOT)? I also understand the Flowmaster 80 series is not the most preferred around here, factory cat should help keep it quieter too? Mostly just want a throatier sound at acceleration/idle- do not want loud. Prefer to be able to carry on decent conversation with top down on hiway- like I can now.
Good to be here.
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