87 z-28 or 355 in my Bird?

Well I know a guy where I live who's selling a 87 Z-28 for 1500, bad T-5 tranny, doesn't have a fifth gear. I was thinking about getting that versus swapping a 355 into my 1990 3.1L Firebird. My firebird, not trying to brag, is clean as hell and it would be awesome to have a 355 in it. The Z from what I've heard is one badass car, nicer that my firebird. Which way would you guys go. 87 Z with a 305, or swap a 355 into my firebird. Or buy the camaro and swap the Bird's engines later?

[wezeles]

well then you could keep the firebird as a daily driver for now... and build up the camaro... its not hard to toss a auto into a t5 car. just need the new cross member but ditch that 305...

[MattODoom]

Well I know a guy where I live who's selling a 87 Z-28 for 1500, bad T-5 tranny, doesn't have a fifth gear. I was thinking about getting that versus swapping a 355 into my 1990 3.1L Firebird. My firebird, not trying to brag, is clean as hell and it would be awesome to have a 355 in it. The Z from what I've heard is one badass car, nicer that my firebird. Which way would you guys go. 87 Z with a 305, or swap a 355 into my firebird. Or buy the camaro and swap the Bird's engines later?

I have a bird, thats "clean as hell" and yes, it does rock to have a 350 in it. I would probably buy the Z and swap in the 355, lol. Youd probably have to dump the T5 though even if you rebuild it, they're not notorious for taking a beating. The 305 in the Z will probably give you imediate satisfaction over the 3.1, but you'll wish you had a 350, since it is widely accepted that building up 305s is a dead end to some extent.

My $.02

-Matt

[thursday12889]

well i have a daily driver, my s-10 (anyone intrested in buying??). I wouldn't run the sh*t out of the Z, it would be the car i drive more often than the firebird. A rebuilt T-5 would work fine for me.

[wezeles]

ya really with that 1500 bucks you could easily get a straight up 350 crate motor just stock... and the cross memeber and springs to fit it in your bird... i mean you would have 2 cars for the same price but one that needs a trans on top of it. do you have any pics of the z?

[MattODoom]

well i have a daily driver, my s-10 (anyone intrested in buying??). I wouldn't run the sh*t out of the Z, it would be the car i drive more often than the firebird. A rebuilt T-5 would work fine for me.

In that case, buy it up. It is also widely known that one cannot own too many F Bodies.

[thursday12889]

I would drive that firebird alot still but whenever I'm working on it or if I just wanna go drive I would take out the camaro, just cuz I wouldn't want to rack up the miles on the old Bird.

[SS4Matt]

your bird certainly looks very nice from your avatar....i would say for $1500 you really can't go wrong. especially if you said that camaro is very clean as well.....worst comes to worst, you could always sell that camaro back off if you change your mind! i vote for [BUY THE CAMARO] ..... and as the other Matt said...there's no such thing as owning too many F-Bodies!!!

[thursday12889]

yeah my car is pretty clean, i metal cooler fell off on to it a while back, put a few small dings in it, but its the nicest firebird/camaro i've seen this side of michigan. Well nicest 3rd gen

[phoenix_rising]

Buy the camaro. It has nowhere to go but up in value since they are not made any more. Build up the Camaro and keep the bird as a backup or showcar. I mean thats the main idea right? The firebird looks really good? And the Camaro performs really good? Makes sense to me. Plus if that firebird has the original motor installed it will be worth more.

[thursday12889]

never really thought of it that way, the camaro is all original too, well besides the shift kit, i really wanted to build up the Bird, just cuz they look meaner than camaros.

[wezeles]

you could always do that later on... what kinda s10 do you have and how much are you looking for it?

[1bad83ta]

you guys are supposed to tell him to swap the v8 in there so I have some business.....

[thursday12889]

well uhh its a 1989 s-10 90,000 miles, i was looking for 2500 obo

[wezeles]

its a 3rd gen v-8 swaps arnt that hard...