Thoughts on 1985 Trans Am

[Alpin13]

Heres the ad whats everyones thoughts on if its worth the buy.. guy says its running straight pipes and has cam work and headers....what kinda power can I expect to see

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1985 Pontiac Trans Am Firebird
L69 305 V8
5-speed manual transmission
PW, PD, tilt
Reliable daily driver

Upgrades:
Grant steering wheel
Comp cam
Hayes clutch
Edelbrock carb 4 barrel
Boss MP3/bluetooth/radio
Kenwood 12' subwoofer
2 Kenwood amps

Needs:
6x9 speakers
gas guage (stopped working)
Minor body work on rear, driver side
A/C compressor

$1600
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[melsg5]

for prices try www.collectorcarmarket.com or www.nada.com or www.edmunds.com
Looking at the pictures the car does not look like it was well taken care of. The paint is shot, the owner didnt even bother to vacuum the back of the car where the stereo is before taking the picture and the engine compartment needs alot of TLC. Without knowing what "cam work" means hard to say but add about 10% for the headers/exhaust and maybe another 10% for the cam, so maybe 250 HP.

 

[Alpin13]

Yeah I'm not quite sure what was done with it and how well he took care of it. Going to go take a look at it Saturday. What Questions in specific should I ask him? I'm not real familiar with the 80's cars, Mostly '78 and older. This isn't going to be a daily driver more of a learning project for a buddy of mine. He just wants a car he can learn off of with the thought of maybe a drag car one day. But he also wants to be able to drive it right off the bat and not a complete project.

 

[96ws6]

250hp if ur lucky looks like a pretty tired 305
But if the rest if the cars solid n it does run n drive with no knocks/pings/taps etc. u could always through a 350-400 in it n bolt right up to everything

"Straight pipes " prob means no muffler or straight through its alil harder to put straight pipes/true duals on these car

But if everything's good 1600 isn't bad but I would try to get him to already 1500 if not lower

I got a 83 I'm selling n the only reason I can't get 1500-2000 is it needs alil minor work b4 it's running

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[Alpin13]

Yeah I was already going to try and get him down to 1500 at least. more if i hear any abnormal sounds from the car when we go to check it out. Since I don't know the 80's cars to much what things should I be looking for or asking about. I know on the 70's big spots are checking the rear quarters and floorboards for rust since that is always the first to go.

 

[96ws6]

Usually all the same rust locations

 

[chitownmikemc]

rust buckets

In the mid-eighties G.M. was using cheap steel and a lot of the cars from that time frame are rust buckets. Check it out long and hard!!!