I am looking into buying a third gen prefferably with an eight and manuel tranny. Any thing that I should know about these cars before purchasing them?

 

Yes, have a good checkbook balance. Reason you are buying a old car ( 20+years) and it may have been beat on in its lifetime. So get ready for repairs.
With that said, we are not mind readers and some additional info would help like Year, Model, body condition, Mileage, Motor type and etc etc....

 

Uh, your going to want to go with the 350 v8 if you want performance, for mild performance and fuel economy the 305 v8 will be good.

Check for rust. And all the usual stuff. Give the car a good look over, take it for a drive, let the steering wheel go, see if it drifts to one side of the road or not.

As blackz87 said, these older cars will most likely have you in the shop more than usual. But if you spend a good buck on a clean low mile 3rd gen, you will definatly be happy!!!

Good luck, post pics if you end up getting one, or post the ad of the car your looking at and we can tell you a little more about it.


-C4maro

 

Watch out for fraudsters. The 350 is indistinguishable from the 305 and can be verified through the VIN number as well as the stamp on the block itself.

There were no 350 cars with manual transmissions. If it has a manual, it's a 305, or the transmission was swapped. The reason for it is that they weren't particularly strong and supposedly couldn't handle the torque output of the 350 engine.

 

agreed, if its a stick and a v8, it will most likely be a 305. Which is a good motor for just going and sounding ok. But if your wanting a lot of get up and go a 350 is what your looking for. on the drivers rear of the block above the bellhousing it will be stamped with either 5.0 or 5.7. 5.0 being your 305 and 5.7 being your 350

 

its just my opinion, but you CAN avoid alot of the bs related to theses cars buy getting an early yr...
saay...82-83-84....
still a 3rd gen but most still had the older tech of the previos generations, as far as driverain is concerned anyway...
all are easy to upgrade,,,
newer drivetrain swaps are simple as all the parts are readilly avail...
just be caareful...
there are plenty of sheisty mf'ers out there,along w/alot of hacks..
do your homework ...
check the car over with a good mech by your side that you trust not to give u just what u wanna hear...
but his HONEST no bs opiniion
COULD SAVE YOU ALOT OF TIME-MONEY-FRUSTRATION-SANITY the list could go on but you get my point...peace out...an good luck
82

 

Nice place for discussing all the stuffs here. Its really works a lot.