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Is it time to call the Fourth-Gen a classic car??

Fourth Gen Trans Am Restoration Stories
Posted December 27 2012 08:19 AM by Chris Phillip 
Filed under: Editorials, Pontiac Firebird, 1990 Pontiac Cars, Chris Phillip

 It's officially 20 years since the first fourth-generation Firebirds and Trans Ams entered production, way back in model year 1993.


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 Have you recently bought a fourth-generation Firebird or Trans Am and are looking for tips and stories on restoring yours?

Be sure to post your thoughts and feedback, as your opinion can help drive the type of stories we consider in 2013 and beyond.

Here's the question again: Is it time to start treating the fourth-gen Trans Am and Firebird as classic cars, and bring you restoration tech stories on them?

We're standing by, High Performance Pontiac readers. Please, what do you have to say?


Reader Comments:
1. I have been operating my 1994 Firebird Formula since Dec 1993 when I bought it from James Pontiac in Brandon, FL.

Over 357,000 miles. Keeping it running is a entertaining battle since many of the parts are not being made new. (some are, some are in GM Vintage).

Parts you cannot find at the dealer, a junk yard (like one that specializes in F-Body's can be usefull, TA Creations is one that has useful parts, including trim. Picked up some seat belt parts from them a while back).

(This is not my only Pontiac, I have a 2002 Trans Am Convertible, Maple Red, but it is not driven much, only 30K on it).

If you are going to buy one to bring back, a less beaten up one is best. Avoid the early Lt1 models (including my 1994), unless you are prepared to deal with Opti. Gm had 3 different designs of that distributor, and the 1993 and 1994 were the unvented design that is realy touchy on any water.

The LS1 are nice, but be wary of ethanol, I seem to had more problems with the LS1 over the corn gas than the LT1. The ethanol tends to get water, so I have started using only ethanol free gas (the suspected water fuel contamination misses stopped soon after stopping all ethanol in the LS1).

srd275    - Posted December 27 2012 10:21 AM

 
2. Where do you find ethanol free gas?

Chris Phillip    - Posted December 27 2012 01:57 PM

 
3. As a current owner of a 1994, 1995 and 1996, I find it a little tricky in obtaining parts. There are plenty of aftermarket options for performance, but when it comes to restoration items, they can be few and far between. These cars often lived a hard life, and materials used originally didn't fare so well over the course of time. Used parts are getting to the point where they aren't much better than the ones they are replacing (condition wise), and costs continue to rise. I think these cars, those that have survived that is..have earned their place. It might even help others to resurrect cars that would have previously been too far gone to see the road again.
Just my .02c.

Firebird_Ben    - Posted January 11 2013 01:12 PM

 

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