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hello everyone, just recently picked up a 02 formula and couldn't be any happier! 100% California car until last week which is awesome for us here in the Midwest area. left the mustang world and came back over to my roots!
Are you going to drive this car in the winter months?! If yes, I strongly recommend oil based anti-corrosion treatments twice a year. Black undercoat is worthless and the oil treatment actually penetrates the undercoat and clings to the metal, resulting in undercoating eventually coming off due to surface rust underneath it. Plus, the oil treatment also gives some lubrication benefits to moving parts it clings to.
it is nice back in the gm world, aftermarket parts pricing is very nice and the amount of hp to bolt on prices cannot be beat on the LS.
as for driving it in the winter mostly likely will not be driving it in the winter at all, i have a few other cars that are driven with not in the firebird.
Yeah, if you can afford more than one car, don't drive these cars in winter. When I started seeing rust forming on her, it was disheartening but the corrosion treatments have saved her from really being destroyed by the salt we use in New York.
It's not impossible to drive these cars in the heart of winter, but in deep snow without dedicated snow tires, it's a mega PITA. I can't tell you how irritated I get when I see SUV drivers and Pick-Ups giving me those looks when my car struggles to go from a dead stop at the light. However, I have my satisfaction when I blow by after establishing necessary momentum in deep snow. Being a former 18-wheeler truck driver, I know how fast I can go, when to start slowing down, and how soon to start breaking.
I have all-season tires on my car, just because I am being cheap by not buying dedicated winter tires with wheels. They work, but in the future, I do plan to see what can be done to fit drag-slick size, big and wide, truck deep tread mud and snow tires on my rear axle with thin dedicated snow tires on my front wheels. This will definitely solve the problems I am having building up momentum from dead stops, or need to drive through deeper snow than what my current tires can handle, and thus getting stuck and need to rock her into motion.
She is my baby and we have our fun and stress during the winter. This Frankenstein winter mod will be interesting when I try it out in the future.
been a long time f body owner going back to 1994 with my first car at 16 being a 89 formula 350. i have owned a few LT1, LS1 cars and mustangs over the years, and yes it doesn't take much for them to start to rust away here in Chicago. i drove my 89 and all my cars in the snow took some time but i got where i needed to go!
My first car was an automatic 6-cylinder Firebird. The black undercoat was not doing an adequate job and the rusting was progressive. I vowed to never allow that to happen to my second car, my current 1997 Trans Am WS6. Before I learned about oil based corrosion control, I got her undercoated, which was a mistake, but the oil treatment is keeping her from continuing to rust. There will be surface rust, but it won't progress so long as you get the car treated ever year. The oil chemistry bonds to metal, not rust, and it will keep working to find metal to bond to, or it will eventually drip off the bottom of the car. The stuff is amazing!
exhaust tips are going and will be having turn downs installed before the bumper, on order are long tubes, y pipe and cut out, and will have speed inc do a base tune for now.
Rubberized undercoating works pretty well actually, as long as you apply it prior to any significant rust and occasionally re-apply it. I used to have a '76 Eldorado that was driven in every Chicago winter from December of 1975 until 1990. It had been in my family since it was brand new, owned by several different members until I inherited it in 2003. The door bottoms rotted heavily (doors were replaced in 1988 or '89), rear quarter bottoms and tail light panel had plenty of rot and repair over the three re-paints that the car received. However the undercarriage (both floor pans and frame), engine bay and wheel wells had been coated every 2-3 years with undercoating - and they were original and free from any significant rust underneath the many layers of rubberized build up. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's what the engine bay looked like in 2007 after a massive detailing that removed all the years of undercoating:
Only the valve covers were repainted, everything else was just deep cleaned to remove the caked on gobs of undercoating. Shocking how nice all the metal and factory paint stayed underneath the undercoating after 14 winters, 110k miles and 32 years - especially for a car of this era.
The trick with the undercoating is, just like the oil treatment you've mentioned, it must be re-applied occasionally. Obviously, it works best when applied to a relatively clean surface and won't stick well to an area that's already rusted, so it's best to start when it's still fresh paint/metal.
Originally Posted by frank1313
been a long time f body owner going back to 1994 with my first car at 16 being a 89 formula 350. i have owned a few LT1, LS1 cars and mustangs over the years, and yes it doesn't take much for them to start to rust away here in Chicago. i drove my 89 and all my cars in the snow took some time but i got where i needed to go!
Welcome back. I'm also from your region and I, too, had an '89 Formula 350 (black w/silver bottom, hardtop) in the mid '90s - but it wasn't my first car. I owned it until 1999 when I bought my first brand new 4th gen, a '99 Z28.
Your new silver Formula looks great. One of my favorite colors for sure.
05-14-2017, 09:49 AM
new formula owner 
I'm also from your region and I, too, had an '89 Formula 350 (black w/silver bottom, hardtop) in the mid '90s - but it wasn't my first car. I owned it until 1999 when I bought my first brand new 4th gen, a '99 Z28.
