Hey all, I'm Josh. I've wanted a 4th gen since the mid 90's when I was very little. Dreamed of a LT1 4th gen in black with t-tops since I could remember, than the LS1 WS6 came out and I wanted one even more! Unfortunately, even though I work 55 hours a week I couldn't justify spending my life savings on an LS1 WS6 so I improvised.
I ended up with a 1995 Formula, T56, t-top in black last week... dream car. I decided the firehawk hood wasn't what I wanted to keep and those pointy noses weren't as cool as I recalled them being. I am currently converting the front end to a LS1 style.




Got it fairly cheap. The previous owner didn't take care of it, 6k miles over due on an oil change but wasn't burning a single drop of oil and it was very clean. The PO said the guy before him bored the motor 20k miles ago, I can't prove it but the motor mount bolts are scored like they were removed.
133k miles, T56, long tubes, CAI, throttle body bypass, and what looks like an SLP loudmouth exhaust. Picked it up for $3,300 and so far I have about $3,900 into it overall between the new front end and basic maintenance.

Got the LSx style fenders and hood for $180 Krylon Gloss Black has since been applied to the fenders, wet sanded and is awaiting a clear coat. They match the paint perfectly and it is starting to look very good!


I'm still on the prowl for the bumper, brackets, and headlight assembly.

The tires are terrible; Tiger Paws. I can't find a good set of tires for a 14"/15" rims so I am going to be investing in a set of 2002ish ZO6 rims and want to run 245/45/17 fronts and 275/40/17 rears. After that I want to regear to 4.10s and then leave it alone til it's off the road in the winter. Looking to buy a low mileage spare block over the winter and building a 377 with Lloyd Elliot's 190cc heads and something slightly larger than the LT4 HC.

Trying hard not to kill my bank account, I'm setting aside half my paycheck every other week to fund the project and it's working out good + I'm still paying my bills without touching my bank account. I'm new to the 4th gens but I've owned several 3rd gens, built a 355 TA that blew high 13's with no second gear and an open diff, low 14 second 305 Z28 and a 468 big block IROC which I never ran at the track but it had hand ported oval ports and a mild cam; imagine it was capable of low 12's with the right gears and stall.

 

Great buy! and beautiful add-on in that first picture. What part of jersey are you in? Sounds like you have your plan all together now just have to execute it. You should get a video up of that exhaust set up sometime, is it still running cats? If so should sound good.

 

You got the car last week and you started a front end conversion already? Nice work!

Where in Jersey are you from? It looks vaguely familiar.

Check out clevelandpickapart.com for the bumper and headlight assemblies. They probably have them.

 

Yeah I'm going to be building a motor over the winter. Got a nice chunk of change set aside, debating if it's worth having it stroked and getting a crank, rods and pistons or leaving it a 350 and just running forged pistons with moly rings.

 

Welcome

 

If I were going to replace the pistons anyway, I would have it stroked. There's no replacement for displacement

 

Oh by the way, I'm from Sussex County. The car is from down in South Jersey near the shore though.

Got my fenders and hood, I lucked out and got a black hood. I sprayed and sanded the fenders a bunch of times, it looks pretty good. They match up almost perfectly. (Will be getting the car painted in a year or so, I want a WS6 hood before I have it sprayed professionally).

Going to pick up mu bumper from Pottstown, PA tomorrow after work. It's coming off a 1998 Firebird, trying to keep the Formula look and not the Trans Am look.

Next is headlights and motors... I pray to god I can find them a tad cheaper than what I'm seeing. Otherwise I'll be in it for a hair under a grand after buying the lights/motors/brackets.

 

Im in Bergen County, also up North but on the East side of the state. If you check the parts classifields on here you might get lucky and find someone who is parting out a 98-02 firebird/formula/trans am.