F-body Thread

Can we have an fbody thread?

Im mainly interested in a 4th gen fbody but figured we could have an fbody thread in general since i think we have a lot of turd gen br/o/s here.

I really like 4th gen fbodies and both the LT1 & LS1 power plants. I especially like the LT1 camaros for looks. I think they're a lot more aesthetically pleasing and not too "in your face" like the firebirds are.

I really want to build a car with around 400whp. Something that can be daily driven somewhat reliably while getting more than 5mpg, and also somewhat cost effective. I'm thinking of a budget of 10k preferably less. Id prefer manual but Id be okay with auto too.

What are the major downsides to them besides interior quality? Like weak points.

depends. are you going to do the work yourself? do you have friends who know them well who can help you? theyre mostly popular because of their power plant and looks not because they come from the factory durable and easy to work on.

This

I own pic related. I don't necessarily love them but I don't hate them. I'm conflicted about recommending them to people. It depends on your mechanical ability and what your goals are. Sometimes it'd be much more cost effective to LS swap a car, or buy something like a GTO, corvette, or build a SBC in a third gen, etc.

$10,000 would be fine for what you want to do.
They are good cars to mod with a huge aftermarket.

However they're mostly popular, as the first response said, just because they have the power plants they do, and people like the way they look. Also just because of the fact they're camaros/firebirds.
People dont necessarily like them for how easy they are to work on or because they're bullet proof.

In a T56 fbody. Plan to replace the factory clutch $300-1000 depending on what you do. Plan to either keep replacing $100-300 10bolt rear ends or to put in a 8.8", 9", or 12 bolt rear end ($1000-4000 depending how fancy you get and if you're buying a complete swap in rear or fabbing your own setup).
At this point too most T56 cars unless babied or trans serviced already a lot of their synchros and shift forks are getting worn so you might even be budgeting a rebuild.
They also commonly have issues with hydraulic pressure and you should plan to install an improved tick master cylinder unless it already has one.
The transmissions themselves in good health are very strong.

If 4L60E, plan to rebuild it at some point if you're beating on it. Stock 4L60E's perform decent and take a little beating but regardless torque will kill them eventually. The nice thing is building a 4L60E to handle decent power is way cheaper than building a T56, strong rear end, and having a good clutch.. You will obviously need to plan to buy a good stall and trans cooler. Trans cooler will also prolong the life big time of a stock 4L60E.

continued

I will try to do most work myself
I have friends into cars but mostly 4cyls and a couple mustang friends. I have one friend with a third gen but he hasnt ever modded his much.
thanks this is the kind of info i was lookin for. Sounds like the auto will be least headaches which im fine with. I just want to be able to run 11s or so without power adders .
and i actually have a little 98 civic for a daily driver that i can drive whenever needed i just want to be able to trust the fbody to drive on nice days and cruise on road trips

I've had a 2002 ws6 for 3 years now and just drove it from CA to MA with 0 issues.

My car isn't babied, but it's not stock either. Like the poster above with f bodies I seriously recommend getting an after market built rear end. I got a 9" with 4.11s and I have a T56. It's been amazing ever since even with over 150k miles on the car it's been pretty good to me. However these cars aren't perfect for a lot of shit and for a daily you'll lose a lot of comfort you might be used to in newer cars. For one the t tops at some point will leak, firebirds headlight motors fail even with aftermarket fixes, interior falls apart my drivers seat leather is tearing and the motors for the power seat are on their way out, ive replaced both power window motors and they had been done by previous owner before too, rust under the car gets pretty bad so if you're anywhere like where I'm from you're going to want to get the car on a lift and checked out either by yourself or someone experienced.

All in all it's a really fun car, it's my daily outside of the winter and I would recommend one if you are mechanically inclined. The engine being halfway under the dash is no fucking joke

also gotta think how comfortable you want to keep the car.
Are you okay with losing A/C? Are you open to weight reduction? Or do you want to keep it full weight/modern comforts?

My trans am is currently a heads/cam setup I did keeping ac/cruise/abs/everything.

It makes it much harder to work on it. These cars can be a nightmare just to do plugs in especially LT1s with stock manifolds.

Half of the engine is under a cowl and is a bitch to work under. I have extremely bad back issues and doing my heads/headers/intake/etc was torture to my back. Not only is the motor under the cowl but its far back from the front of the car which has an extremely long nose. Easiest to remove bumper whenever you're going to do much.

The engine mods aren't bad for your goals, heads are the most expensive thing. A full cam swap setup will run around $1500 and you have to think about tuning.

93-95 cars can be complicated for tuning with the varying prom chips, obd1, ob2. 95 especially being obd1 but having an obd port and needing a special cable. 93's also have 700R4 for autos. 96-97 are the desirable LT1 years. 97's also have the 98-02 fbody interiors that are nicer than the previous years.

With an LT1, the optispark gets a bad rap. But just make sure you dont have any water pump leaking or other leaks around it. Dont drive through deep puddles. If its not your daily beater this shouldnt be an issue.
The opti is actually an extremely accurate distributor. It's just located in a dumb spot.
That said the 24x conversion is available much cheaper than it was in the past if you wish to ditch the opti alltogether.

Both LT1 and LS1 can get into 11's with just a cam swap though it will be more challenging on the LT1 and will require much more dedication to the suspension, tune, and driver ability.
I'd plan to do heads & cam on an LT1. You should be fine for your goals on the LS1 with just a cam. Decent LT1 heads can be had for much less than LS1 heads though.

Spent the past couple days at the junkyard. Bought some stuff, stole some stuff... Think I did pretty good considering there were no f bodies and barely any 80s GM cars

all around the LT1 will honestly need more selection needed to your modifications.
From what I've seen they're much more picky with how they respond to mods and tuning.
I see so many people struggle with the go-to CC306 & CC503 cams which are popular as they're bigger streetable cams that are lopey and people have ran good with them. However most people who run good set up their car for them. Too many people just use them with a stock motor and expect similar results.
My buddy runs better with his small hotcam LT1 with stock heads then I've had friends run with their cc503 cars that also had aftermarket heads.
I'd recommend going to Lloyd Elliot and getting his $1600 heads & cam kit with the smaller cam. It'll have a more enjoyable power band.
Obviously headers, y-pipe, and catback will work best. Dumps work too but don't look as nice and are obnoxious to the driver.
At minimum for suspension I'd plan for some LCA's, panhard bar, and subframe connectors. An aftermarket K member can free up a lot of space and save weight.. For an auto I'd highly recommend a yank SS stall. If going all motor I'd do the 3600-4000. I have the 3600 and it's great but I wish I had gone with the 4k. 3.73's or 4.11s will be your best gearing. I have 3.73s but also wish I would of went with 4.11's.

Figure all that but just cam for the LS1 for your goals. I have the BTR stage 3 for a cam and I'm very happy with it.

also worth mentioning you can still get nice LT1's for $4000-5000 often already with good mods. It might not be a setup that works good together but it'd be better to start with a good base and rework the setup a bit if needed. Suspension is something that gets really pricey and if you can find one that already has a bunch done will save you some $.

You can get a LS1 car for $4000-5000 but most in that price range will be beat/lots of issues. $6000-9000 is the price of a pretty nice one.

Shit heap reporting