Cascade Crew

steven23 · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 1:08 pm Post subject: New guy says hi!

Hows it going everybody! My name is steve down here in Klamath Falls,Oregon,owner an a 89 Firebird 2.8 thats in pretty dang good condition for an 18 year old car. Just wanted to know if I can join ya'll in the Cascade Crew.

I love this car,it's no vette killer but its mine and I paid for it (I'm 23 btw) and love every inch of it. I was pondering if I could ask for some help from the knowledge on this board perhaps.

I've done a pretty good job on keeping up on this car (no mods just taken care of general things) but now she needs some parts. It seems fuel pressure regulators are ungodly expensive for this machine (bout $20 for my Turbo Z and bout $40 for my Tbird TC yet almost $100 for a 3rd gen Fbody!!?!wtf?).

The car hessitates from a dead stop but takes off as good as a 2.8 can after that so I'm assuming its a clogged fuel/air filter right?(air filter is new though) The car also has a tiny oil leal where the engine meets the tranny(bellhousing?not a mechanic as you can tell lol) and occasionally gives me a burning oil/coolant smell.

At 136k the oil stays amber for almost 1k,holds over 40lbs. of oil pressure at idle after warmed up and wont go over 210F/220F on a warm day,shifts smooth and rides quite well and like I said has as much pep as a 2.8 normally would and throws no codes so I'm assuming the important parts (engine/tranny) are in good condition????? Power everything to! and it all works ,Woot!

So how about mods? Keeping in mind it probaby wont even tough a 4.6 auto stang..... What would a CAI/2 piece under drive pully kit/pacecetter headers+high flow cat+dynomax turbo exhaust do to this thing? It gets fantastic gas milage but I want more power.... Wish it had the 350 but it doesnt so I gotta make best of what I got and I love the car (has Ttops and looks sweet so I dont wanna part with it). And engine swaps are outta the question Sad

unless a local wants to toss in a pair of hands and brains lol.

So what would you guys recommend for some first timer noob mods? I'd love to post some pics but it seems this site wont upload em so I'll have to find an off site to post and link.... Any suggestions?

Thanks to all,take care Smile

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2320

Welcome to the crew. I'm also in Klamath Falls. Sounds like a nice car, you need to put up some pictures of it. Tony, aka Xophertony, has done some of the minor mods to his 2.8 so he'll prolly chime in with some quality advice. Also Blue89 has done some massive 2.8 modding.

Al Hasse · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 1:58 pm Post subject:

Welcome aboard Newbie

Try to get some pictures posted, it's like you guessed, need to host them off-site. You can use a hosting site like photo bucket (www.photobucket.com) for that.

83Z28BlackBetty · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 3:00 pm Post subject:

Welcome aboard! USA

Glad to have some more youngens here. (im 21) There are a quite a few of us young guns actually, then the rest is just a bunch of old farts Pokey pokey

~JAKE

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 3:18 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the Crew!

Jump in and get involved. BIG gathering coming up in a few weeks - Party With The Cows VI in Southwest Washington.

-Schultzy (one of the old farts)

steven23 · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 4:31 pm Post subject:

Right on! Well,here she is.... Not perfect but not to bad IMO. If ya want pics of any specific areas just lemme know Smile

Dewey316 · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 4:33 pm Post subject:

Good looking car. Welcome.

--John
(not THAT old I'm only 26...but slowly getting older)

Sellmanb · Member Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 727 Location: Tigard, OR

Welcome!

Your oil leak at where the engine and trans meet is typically from the rear main seal of the oil pan gasket. Check to make sure it's not coming from the top of the motor at the back of the intake and coming down though.

Your hesitation from a dead stop into gear would more than likely be transmission related actually. I'm sure others will chime in, but involved is TV cable adjustment.

If you want to go fast in an F-Body you can do like Xophertony (Tony) did and keep the 6 cylinder as the daily, and buy up a 8 cylinder for pedal to the floor action. But if you reaaaally want to build up a 6, same things that make an 8 fast will make a 6 fast. Start with getting it back into top stock running shape firstly (full tune-up, etc), then intake, and exhaust are always good to give a little boost. After that, you have to really decide what route you want to go with speed, driving style and budget. (dont get a pulley set, you'll kick yourself).

Again welcome aboard (from a guy who doesnt even have a 3rd gen anymore Laughing

)

steven23 · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 4:53 pm Post subject:

Thanks!
(and rjmcgee,thats a nice Z... I'm sure I've seen it cruizin around town)

I've re-adjusted the detent(tv) cable which helped alot but it still likes to shift soon unless you really gas it! I really want to add another Fbody to my tiny collection but I'd like a 3rd gen Z(black preferably with Ttops). The transmission has zero slip but sometimes will *clunk* in to drive a second after you put the shifter in to D. I've done quite a bit of tune up type stuff to it except the rear end fluid.

I think I'll just continue to take care of it and not really modify it but get it back to tip top condition and buy the V8(my Tbird PWNs this thing at WOT). I only have to put maybe $10-$15 bucks every week (&a 1/2) to the gas tank and its my daily driver (bout 4-6 miles a day) Are these little sixxers pretty durable? I shoulda washed it before the pics huh?lol... dirty car.

Thanks guys,glad to find this place (and Xophertony told about the Ccrew,pretty cool guy).

305 302eater · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 5:51 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the crew... I'm one of the younger one's on here also... just turned 22... Anyways everyone is cool on here enjoy

-Tim
Very Happy

steven23 · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:03 pm Post subject:

Are suspension goods pretty easy to replace on these machines? my bro in law and I are thinking about doing a complete overhaul on the suspension and brakes (got new tires though lol). The sus. isnt to bad as is but considering how this car sticks to the road I LOVE it and couldnt even imagine how it would handle with completely new suspension. Cant wait to get a V8!

As far as power ratings does anyone know how correct this is?:
135HP@4900 160TQ@3900.

Good to meet ya'll btw Smile

.

turbo_jimi · Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 8:51 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the crew...nice looking Bird you got there. If you want some inexpensive mod ideas for the 2.8 liter, check out RS Freaks garage on the sight. We're still working on it, but it's really cool!

BTW, for the oil leak, also check around the distributor as that's where we found RS Freak's oil leak...we made gasket for it in addition to a new ring and it stopped leaking and he no longer has to add a quart every few days. Smile

TJ

izcain · Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 11:17 am Post subject:

Welcome aboard man! This is a great place for you to gain some knowledge and meet some great people. Thats a good lookin bird you have there!

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 6:10 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the crew!

I'm also one of the "younger" croud (I'm 22). Looks like she's got some potential, just needs to have a few loose ends tied.

91RSVert · Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 6:23 am Post subject:

welcome, Now I'm not the newbie anymore Laughing

Nice looking bird.

blue89 · Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 7:14 am Post subject:

Hey hey! I might know a thing or two about 2.8 power (is that an oxy-moron?). Nice bird! You've got the best gen of RWD 2.8 you can get. Its what I started with too. Check out my sig for more details of what I did. Mine isn't a 2.8 anymore, but its still says 2.8 on the block!

Another age thread? Embarassed

At least I'm not one of the oldest ( 28 ) *cough* *Al* *cough*. Very Happy

Al's another 2.8'er that I think has done some go fast mods to his V6.

Al Hasse · Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 7:24 am Post subject:

blue89 · Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 8:42 am Post subject:

Going to the 3.1 would be an easy 20hp, plus stab a new cam and you'll have way more than you do now. That would be the cheapest way to go. Its basically what I did, plus some other little goodies.

You're really limited by heads. Poor head intake design and small valves make the 2.8/3.1/3.4 a bad producer of HP. But they work fine for the general putting around (or autocrossing and drifting Very Happy

) New gears could help too. If your at the stock 3.42, 3.73 would help quite a bit! Look at Scott's 3.73 gears posted in the "for sale" section. That would be an easy 8% jump in wheel torque!

Jenn · Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 9:42 am Post subject:

Hey, Welcome!

Xophertony · Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 8:35 pm Post subject:

hey hey, glad to see you made it over from TGO. sorry i have not posted up, i caught a bug the other day and am just today recovering. i think i need to eat more fruits and vegetables, this is the second time i have had a 102*+ fever this year. Shocked

anyway, nice car man. a 2.8 with ground effects. my little sister used to have one just like that, 1989 white t-tops 2.8 auto.

the best thing you could do to make it faster (and get better MPG) is a 5-speed swap. not that difficult to do and 2.8/3.1 manual transmissions are plentiful in wrecking yards. my 2.8 is a factory 5, but my GTA has been swapped, as have both rodney and jenns fbodys. i think this sight represents about 10 manual swaps at this point. mostly on 8s but the principals are the same.