Thread: 1981 Firebird

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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.