Have the Donor Car. What Now? Pitfalls?

**98 Formula FB** · 07-04-2019, 02:55 PM

Hi. My son's got a wrecked '98 Firebird Formula (thus the username...) that I had some general questions about regarding saving the engine.

It's hit in the front straight on, and probably not worth rebuilding as far as I know. It's been sitting for months, but we started it the other day and it fired right up and sounded great.

He doesn't think he can get much out of it like it is, but he hasn't tried putting it for sale either. I drove the car for several years before I sold it to him, and he has younger brothers, so there's some weight for keeping it in the family too.

I think he's probably better off leaving it as is and just starting it once in a while, until he has a more distinct goal in mind for the engine (and a body to put it in). We really don't have the facilities to work on it for an extended time, or store it once it's out and so forth.

Basically I just wanted some further thoughts on how he should handle what he's got here, pitfalls to avoid in planning a swap and so forth. I'm sure he could learn some things by getting it out and tearing into it (making a 'build' out of it), but I feel his best chances for actually getting that engine on the road again lie in holding back until he's in a better position to move it right into something else. Maybe I'm being too conservative. Or maybe using it as a learner is the best thing he can do with it, if I can make the space in the garage.

It's got about 150k on it, is from a Corvette, and has never been opened as far as I know.

***SMWS6TA*** · 07-04-2019, 03:11 PM

Finding a LS1 car would be ideal however any 98-02 Firebird will work as long as it's in decent body shape.

If you could post some pics (use Flicker) it could help in saying if a full swap is needed or just the front clip.

But if it starts and runs then the engine hasn't taken any real damage it sounds.

Nose piece, fenders & hold can be swapped out fairly easy.

If a full swap is needed then off the top of my head the following will be needed to swap over.

K Member - if the donor is a V6 car.
ECM and wire harness, both engine, trans and inside the dash.
BCM, dash cluster, fuse box
Fuel pump and sender - Not sure if different for v6 to v8 but the 99< have a different fuel pump and sender then the 98's
Engine and trans and maybe the transmission cross member.
Radiator

All can be done in a garage, I've done it,

Harbor Freight has a lot of things that can get you going, engine puller, engine stands, etc for cheap.

**98 Formula FB** · 07-04-2019, 04:01 PM

Yeah, he was pretty much writing the car off, but may need to check into that further before deciding that. There is a body shop close that he could probably drive it to for a professional opinion if he could get it temporarily insured.

He had to have the flexplate replaced and got the trans rebuilt while it was out, not too awful long before he wrecked it. So there's another plus for trying to save the car. I'm not sure about the condition of the rear end; the body and that has 190k on it.

That's more to change than I was thinking about, for a V6 Firebird. I remember now those had a different speedometer.

***SMWS6TA*** · 07-04-2019, 07:35 PM

yes but the engine harness and ecm are a big thing too. v6 cars are different from v8's and a 98 ecm is different design from 99<. The 99-02 share same harness but have different ecm. The most sought after is the 01-02 ecm because they're easier to tune.

The 98 cluster is different than the 99< because their gauges are actual vs static. 99< are static.

**98 Formula FB** · 07-05-2019, 03:09 PM

The whole premise of my thread's kind of changing now you've got me looking harder at trying to save the car. I looked at it yesterday or day before, and it doesn't look too bad with some of the junk removed (front fascia w/Styrofoam, most of headlight assemblies).

What I'd call the radiator support is pushed back a little, far enough that some of the hoses and that are almost rubbing the pulleys, but the square/rectangular frame looking pieces below aren't touched. I'm not even sure the condenser was breached. Hood's trash, all the lights and that. He kinda ran it up under the bumper of a small SUV. Airbags didn't go off.

Would the front end from an LT1 era car transfer to it (what, '93-97?)?

Sorry I haven't put up any pics.

***SMWS6TA*** · 07-05-2019, 07:09 PM

yes it would but you would have those looks. plenty of LS power LT1 cars

**98 Formula FB** · 06-28-2020, 03:15 PM

UPDATE: I've been starting that thing about once a month, and moving it around occasionally or at least putting it in all the gears. Last month I took it out on a whim and made a few short passes on a service road near my house, like just into 2nd gear, and I was impressed again. It still has it, and REALLY takes off. It's got an open exhaust cutout near the muffler, and it sounds like a high perf car running down the 1/4 mile track, it hits the RPMs so quickly.

It looks like it'll be passing back into my hands, so I'll possibly be planning to do something with it before it deteriorates too far. There was a snake skin in the engine compartment when I started it yesterday, but it's been under a canvass cover.

There are currently a few full car parts donors within a few hundred miles from $900-$1500. I may be looking at a different crop of them by the time I'm ready though.