Steel

I am a new owner of a '93 Firebird. I don't know much of anything about these vehicles, so I'm hoping someone can help me out. I'm transitioning from owning European cars so it's difficult for me at the moment.

The car is an LT1 V8 Automatic Formula model. It's all bone stock and has 77k miles.

1) New tail lights? The tail lights on mine have air bubbles under the lense on each side, do I have any options to replace these with new parts or able to fix them somehow?

2) Headliner, the interior is like new.. except for the headliner. It has fallen across the entire width of the car over the front seats. I have a sand/beige type colored interior. I took it to two local upholstery shops and they don't want to recover it for me.

3) Rear hatch struts. The struts to keep open the rear hatch on the car have failed, I ordered a set on Ebay.. they aren't the right part and I had to return them. Can someone link me to the proper parts? I went to Autozone/Advance Auto but no luck there either.

4) Basic maintenance - what are the trouble areas on these vehicles? I've replaced the coolant hoses, thermostat, alternator and battery. Is there anything I should check and or replace as a precaution and to avoid being stuck on the side of the road?

5) Lastly, are basic performance upgrades worth while? Cat-back, intake etc? I am surprised how quiet the vehicle is and it's quite sluggish. Basically wondering if there are any basic type bolt ons or things I can do to improve the performance? Or would those be a waste of time and money?

I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions, but those are my main issues. Overall I really like the car and it's nice to have something that isn't the size of a golf cart for the first time in my life.

Nathan C

Classic Industries has new headliners you can purchase. My friend bought one for his 1998 Camaro and it fit perfectly. You can also get the hatch struts from them or from Hawks Motorsports.
As for tail lights you can replace them with any tail lights from a 1993-2002 Firebird, including the honeycomb tail lights..
I previously owned an Lt1 Z28 Camaro and put a Flowmaster 80 series muffler on it and it sounded pretty good. The Ls1 has more power but a muffler will make it sound better.

JD_AMG

Do some reading into the optispark, you will hate GM for the design...
Other small things are the headlight motors gears can get stripped (there is a sticky for that at the top of this section) and the power window motors can die pretty easily but are cheap and easy to fix/replace.

Make sure you do a tune up before anything else, it will be quiet but shouldn't feel sluggish (although the stock auto isn't helping).
Heres where you will love the car compared to what you are used to. Most American V8s respond very very well to mods. CAI, LT headers and a full exhaust with a tune will probably net you a good 50rwhp. Don't forget a stall for the auto and possibly gears as well.
Search the LT1 section for suggestions and general reading material on the drivetrain.

Jaxem

iTrader: (3)

-Tail lights are hit or miss, you can find them on the classifieds pretty often, or ebay. Or, you can get a set of vinyl decals from brent franker's website to cover the clear areas and re-spray the rest, the results i've seen on the forum are pretty dang good.

-Hatch struts, just order from Rockauto, you'll get the right ones from them

-Maintenance, do a tune up for sure, plugs and wires get neglected on these cars big time because they're such a pain to do. i'd do a fuel filter too.

-boltons, headers are well worth it, along with a CAI, assuming your engine is healthy that should wake it up quite a bit, along with some gears and a converter if you have extra scratch.

OnA Fan

iTrader: (6)

Congrats on the new bird. Post some pics when you get a chance.

1) As stated above, taillights can be tough. I got lucky and got a really nice set from the classifieds here a few years back. Your other option is getting them blacked out with some VHT Nightshades.

2) Do you have a hardtop or t-top car? I had mine done locally, but I pulled the headliner panel down myself and took it took a local shop. They were reluctant to do it and weren't sure if the material would stick to the aged panel, but it has held up for about 10 years now (garaged).

3) Mine still work, sorry Rockauto is a solid source though

4) Plugs, wires, hoses... (not jinxing my opti here)

5) CAI, cat back, tune at the very least. A tune with a 93 involves getting a chip burned to your desired settings. As others said, long tubes would be a great idea also. Check the RPO codes to see what gears you have. Some of the autos came with 2.73's.

GU2 Axle, Rear 2.73 Ratio
GU5 Axle, Rear 3.23 Ratio
GU6 Axle, Rear 3.42 Ratio (T56)

Steel

Interesting this optispark... had never heard of it and it looks like it gives everyone a headache. Is there a replacement optispark part that solves the issues people had/have with the OEM optispark? I checked locally and it's a pretty expensive part to replace.


Will do. Before I buy much I want to see what parts/brands I should be considering.


No luck so far on tail lights, I hit up some parts yards and they're literally all gone already or completely destroyed/ruined. Ordered the hatch struts from Rock Auto and received them earlier today. Perfect fit..

Do you have a recommendation for plug/wires? I was going to ust buy Delco, then read all of the Delco replacement parts are Chinese now.. I'm not sure what to order at this point.

Also do you guys have recommendations for the CAI/Headers?

Steel

The VHT Nightshade do you have issues with seeing the tail lights actually lighting up? I'm considering doing this route at the moment, especially if I can find some brighter LED replacements for the stock lights.

I have a hard top car, I simply stopped by the shops and showed them and told them I would remove the headliner and drop it off.. they both said unless I had a solid fiberglass replacement board to work with that they wouldn't work on it as the original OEM headliner boards crumble and are flimsy and prone to the material falling off of them.

How do I check these RPO codes? I'm curious what gearing I have so I know what I'm dealing with.

OnA Fan

iTrader: (6)

You should be fine if you don't get crazy with it. Also, use a gloss clear coat after. I didn't do my tail lights, just the front turn signals and spoiler brake light and the are plenty bright.

Same thing I was told but it has held up. You may be able to find a new panel on ebay.

Open your glove box. There should be a sticker on the door.

OnA Fan

iTrader: (6)

The OEM AC Delco/Delphi units have proven to be most reliable. The opispark's biggest problem is it's location. The failure is most often due to contamination from either oil or coolant entering the unit, which is not uncommon as it sits in front of the timing cover and behind the water pump. The cheap aftermarket units tend to fail due to poor manufacturing process.

Steel

Wow finally researched it and took a peek myself.. what a poor design. I also noticed my waterpump is leaking, ever so slightly, it's a wonder my opti isn't dead. I'm going with the Meziere electric pump.

I've decided to drop the cradle after really inspecting everything visually. I really love this car and I'm going to go over everything very closely and give the car the attention it deserves. Appears to be much easier to do things properly and allows me to access everything for detailing, replacement, upgrading and painting. I'm going to give the LT1 a chance and stick with it. Since the engine and trans will be out I'm planning to go a bit further than the basic bolt ons.

I tried to post pictures days ago but it said a mod would have to okay them, I guess they haven't yet.

Anyways thanks for all the info, I'll have a build/rebuild thread up in the near future.

Also if anyone has a mint set of tail lights please PM me with pictures and your price~~