grossesexy

Allright, so I own a 95 z28 and enjoy the car quite a bit. I am planning however on purchasing a late third gen Trans Am. Ive seen quite a few here at school this year, and i have to say I really love the styling, and especially love them in black
Here's the thing, I know just about nothing about the 3rd gen F-body's. Yes I know, I should, I should. So, my limited knowledge leads me to believe they came with an engine called the LB9? Something that makes roughly 240 horsepower and 300 something torque behind a 4 speed automatic. Pricing, modding, I know little about. Anything you good folks here can fill me in about would be greatly appreciated. I'm not really interested in the 305's and such. Info on the 88-92 Trans Am's I think are the years that came with the particular 350 I am interested in.

Thanks for the info in advance guys, I know you wont let me down.

DarthIROC

got to www.thirdgen.org they probably have all teh hp listings on them.

They did come with an LB9 thats the 305 TPI. The motor you want is the L98 TPI 350. Any year after 87 came with the 350 option. 89 is the best year to get, cause you get the upgraded 700-R4, and you may find one that has the 9 bolt rear end.

FastWhiteTA

Third gens are nice, love the styling, esp on the T/As...I had an 87 Camaro Z28 w/ a 305 TPI as my 1st car, I bought it myself when I was 16 (back in 1995), then in the summer of 1997 put an L98 350 in it. It was enjoyable.

The L98 is a torque monster (335 flywheel ft-lbs, full torque available from I swear 1500 rpm on) with low amounts of power at the top end (>4500 rpms it starts dying, peak horsepower varies between 220-245 or so depending on the year you get). The fastest 3rd gen I saw were the 1990 A4 Iroc Zs. Saw a time in Motor Trend once 0-60 in 5.8 seconds. That's almost LT1 territory. I don't remember the 1/4 mile for that one, I think mid 14s. It's a good stop light to stop light racer. With a better intake system you can change the top end power, at the expense of the bottom end. But if you find one that's been taken care of, that's a good find. Have fun man!

grossesexy

ah thanks for the info and for the link darth. you guys got any idea on what kind of pricing i would be looking at for an 89 trans am L98 then? are there any major problems that i should know about that differ from the 4th gens, or i suppose in common with the 4th gens too?

Z28James

Forgot who it was, think it was in a "v8 to v6 conversion" thread some guy said he paid something like $2700 for his L98 IROC-Z and with only flowmasters it ran mid 14s.

doug791

from the factory l98's did run mid 14's but as we all know 10-13 years of wear and tear on an engine will hurt its performance. I havent had my car to the track but with true duals, gears, shift kit, supposedly ported and polished heads but im not sure if i believe the guy i bought it from, and thats about it id expect to be running high 13's-14 flats

dj haf

i bought my 1990 iroc-z and ran it down the track the week i got it. with the mickey mouse tires it came with, i hit a best of 14.8 - and all i had was a new accel cap and rotor and new 8mm plug wires (really doesn't do crap though). guess how much i paid for my iroc? $2700. good deal if you ask me... the lady i bought it from never ragged on the car, and i know this for a fact because the moment i bought it, i started to rag on it and i had to replace the break booster, fuel pump, and the alt. then i did did all the mods listed in my sig and ran a 14.5 with the same crappy tires. now i've done a few more things to it and i figure realisticaly, i'd break 13's next time i go to the track - and im going with some better tires... my 'mickey mouse performance tires' kept peeling out all the way down the track.... and i have video's to prove it, lol

grossesexy

so a high mileage L98 equipped trans am from 89 or so should cost around 3 grand, or did you get a great deal? im looking for kind of an average price and i would really rather hear prices from real people as opposed to checking Ebay and i dont have access to any autotrader magazines right now.

DarthIROC

3-4 grand should net you a nice one, with decent paint and interior if you be patient and look around a bit.

dj haf

well, she wanted $3500 for it, and the paint job was kinda messed up on the hood and the roof of the car. the ac compressor was ticking, and she told me a mechanic said it would cost 600 bucks to fix it, so when i offered her 2700$ she took it and i walked away with my iroc to fix my ac compressor it cost me $50, and i'd rather throw in money for mods right now than for a paint job... after the headers, she's getting painted

it's not that hard to convince a chick that her car isnt worth what she's asking... i came to her house looking really interested and left looking like i didnt like the car... then she called me up and told me she had someone else look at the car and asked if i'd make an offer... i said $2700 and she asked "when can you pick it up?"... was a pretty sweet deal if you ask me... but not a lot of people have my luck, lol

dj haf

oo, and the interior was perfect... you can tell she kept good care of the car, even though she barely drove it. i have to say though, i couldn't wait to take off her damn seat covers when i turned the corner of her house... silvester and tweetybird don't really go with the car if you ask me, lol

doug791

i paid 7000 canadian (so 4500-5000 american) on my iroc but its a 1990 iroc, had 86 000 kilometers (what is that like 55 000 miles?) never seen a winter and the paint and interior were both immaculate, not to mention a bunch of nifty little bolt ons. Mine i think was a rare find i think the car was probably worth 9000 just based on the condition it is in. On the other hand i keep breaking stuff on the car although i dont think i got a lemon i just beat the hell out of it and things keep going on me

grossesexy

awesome, thanks for all the help guys.

Jim85IROC

That depends on your idea of "nice" and also has a lot to do with your geographic location.

3-4 grand around here gets you a whipped 120k 87 305 with a sh*tty interior and paint that isn't much better. 4-5k starts to get you into nicer stuff that only needs minor things.

locosteelersfan

In case your looking for it, you should know
that there were NO manual transmission with
the 350(L98). You could get a 5sp 305 Z28.
Also know that there is a big difference in the
305's. The RS is a TBI and isn't very strong,
while the TPI has a lot of TQ and with the manual
is a fun car.
The TPI's look nearly identical so check the VIN.
People frequently claim 350 when they don't have it.
The 8th digit is F for 305TPI and 8 for 350

Hope this helps