I never thought that I would ever be making a post like this, but circumstances/time/money/family are forcing my hand. I have been a J-Body owner since October 1992 when I took delivery of my '93 Sunbird SE (Jamaica Yellow, Tan Interior, 3.1 V-6 5-speed) from the dealership. I have had many adventures with this wonderful car over the years, and it will always be special to me. I took this car off the road as my daily driver in August 2000 when I bought my 2000 Grand Prix GTP. The Sunbird was starting to get some rust, and I knew I needed to get it indoors before it got too bad. In about 2005, I lucked out and found a 1992 Sunbird LE for sale on Ebay. This car was a southern IN car that never ventured north of I-70, so it never experienced the salt that my Sunbird was exposed to in NY, PA & WI. This car was also Jamaica Yellow with tan interior. The 4-cylinder engine and Isuzu 5-speed were toast, but I was buying it to restore my car. This parts car has remained stored indoors since I bought it. In about 2007 I managed to get a seasoned 3.1 V-6 block that I used as the basis of a race-engine setup. I put $2,000 into building a balanced & blueprinted short block that was overbored 1.5 mm (engine is now nearly 3.3L). I got ahold of Ben Phelps from 60degreev6, and had him work up a wild set of heads and intakes for me. I had decided for originality to stick with the MPFI top-end instead of building a hybrid motor. I spent another $2,000 to get the best head & intake work that Ben could do for me for an MPFI set-up. With the basic tuning that we were able to do on the car, and running thru the highly restrictive stock log manifolds, the engine managed to get the Sunbird down the 1/4 mile at 14.869 @ 90.96 mph. We were working on a custom set of headers for the car, and with those and complete tune, I fully expected this car to be running very low 14s (maybe even 14 flat) NA, and be one of the quickest/fastest NA MPFI J-Bodies out there.
Then life got in the way. I got divorced, which meant I had no money short-term to put into the Sunbird. Then when Pontiac got killed off in 2009, I took the premature leap to buy a G8 GXP manual before they were all gone (I still have this car and plan to keep it forever). Then I met a wonderful woman, got married, and had a child. Everything kept pushing the Sunbird further back on the back burner unfortunately. Now I found out that my Mother-In-Law plans to sell her house in spring, so my free storage for the parts car is going away. I don't have time or money to complete the project now, and I hope to find someone else who has some space, and ability to finish and live the dream I had. Here is everything that would be included:
1993 Pontiac Sunbird SE (runs and drives, but has old dry-rotted tires as well as rust issues from it's daily driver life). Here is info from my profile:
MODIFICATIONS
Engine:
•Hypertech Thermomaster Chip
• 160 thermostat
• 3 angle valve job at 100K miles
• throttle position enhancer
• 2 1/2" custom mandrel-bent exhaust w/ no catalytic converter and Dynomax Turbo muffler
• cold air induction (via modified Z-24 hood and air intake)
• 62mm TB from FDP (via badz24.com Thanks Wes)
• Intake ported to match TB
• TB Heater Bypass
• JBP poly front mount
Suspension/Wheels/Brakes:
•Heavy-Duty Rear Shocks (to keep front end planted on drag strip)
• 215/60R15 Michelin Pilots
• 205/50R15 BFGoodrich G-Force Drag Radials for the track
• Heavy Duty front struts
Interior:
•AutoMeter shift light with RPM activated module for consistant shifting in bracket racing
Exterior:
•'93 Z-24 fiberglass hood modified for direct cold-air induction
• painted to match body with WS6 "Ram Air" decals
Audio:
•None
• The stock AM/FM with cassette from the factory is pretty good. If you want real music roll down both windows and floor it.
Miscellaneous:
•I finally toasted the original transaxle at about 145K miles so it was sent out to be completely rebuilt
• The new tranny was done so well that I toasted one of the original C-V joints so I replaced those as well
• I have broken the inner driver's side C-V joint & the broken the driver's side axle shaft (possible casting flaw) & the inner passenger's side C-V joint
Future:
•The future is almost now!
• Original engine is being replaced by a balanced & blueprinted 3.1 bored over .060" 3.24l/198 cu. in.(Silvolite skirt coated Hypereutectic pistons p/n 1496c / Hastings piston rings / ARP rod bolts / reconditioned stock crank and rods / Melling Hi-Vol oil pump )with a Crane 272 cam (shortblock built by Bailey Motor Sports of Sun Prairie WI)/2000 GM #25323971 injectors/rails/fpr.
• The shortblock is on the engine stand in my basement right now
• Ben from 60* will be porting the upper & lower MPFI intakes reworking the heads (new springs/valves/etc) and custom burning a chip for me.
• I am having a custom set of headers built for the car as well.
• I hope to have the new engine together and in the car by mid-summer.
• Hope for close to 200 HP at the crank and 1/4s in the mid-14s or better
1992 Pontiac Sunbird LE shell. The bad engine & transmission are already pulled and disposed of. It is already stripped down to a solid shell that would be the basis for the build up using all the good parts from my original '93 Sunbird. All removed parts from the parts car would also be included.
Custom Tow Dolly - I drag raced the Sunbird plenty over the years, and the tow dolly was how I got it safely to and from the drag strip later in its life
Original 3.1 V-6 that came in the car. Then engine was running fine when I pulled it, I just removed it to replace with the race engine that I had just spent WAY too much money on.
Spare set of 15" Star Aluminum wheels
I am asking $4,500 for everything listed above, or best offer. Please email me at sunbird93racer@yahoo.com for details.
'93 Sunbird SE 3.1 5-speed
'09 G8 GXP Manual Transmission (White Hot, Manual Trans, Onyx/Red Interior, No Sunroof, 1 of only 10 ever built in that combination)
sunbird93racer@yahoo.com
Price reduction to $4,250 for the whole package.
'93 Sunbird SE 3.1 5-speed
'09 G8 GXP Manual Transmission (White Hot, Manual Trans, Onyx/Red Interior, No Sunroof, 1 of only 10 ever built in that combination)
sunbird93racer@yahoo.com
This is a really cool project. I hope you're able to find someone interested in making this what it could be. Unfortunately, there are so many cheaper and easier ways to make power in a jbody that most people are going different routes. To me, that makes this project more interesting and fun. I hope someone else sees that too. Sadly, I live in Boston with 0 space for even 1 car so there's no way I'd ever be able to pick this up. GLWS brother..
"In Oldskool we trust"
Thanks for the post. I realize that I may not be able to find someone else who will share my dream. I may just have to split things up and sell them individually. Sadly, if I do that, I realize that the engine and transmission in my original Sunbird are really the only things of value. I could likely sell the tow dolly outside the J-Body Community. I really hope I can at least find someone interested in the rust-free parts car shell. Finding a rust-free 1992 Pontiac Sunbird shell or car is nearly impossible anymore.
'93 Sunbird SE 3.1 5-speed
'09 G8 GXP Manual Transmission (White Hot, Manual Trans, Onyx/Red Interior, No Sunroof, 1 of only 10 ever built in that combination)
sunbird93racer@yahoo.com
Price reduced to $4,000
I would really prefer to sell everything together, but I would entertain offers to separate parts of the group (tow dolly, parts car shell, race engine/transmission)
'93 Sunbird SE 3.1 5-speed
'09 G8 GXP Manual Transmission (White Hot, Manual Trans, Onyx/Red Interior, No Sunroof, 1 of only 10 ever built in that combination)
sunbird93racer@yahoo.com
Price reduced to $3,500 for J-Body.org members.
'93 Sunbird SE 3.1 5-speed
'09 G8 GXP Manual Transmission (White Hot, Manual Trans, Onyx/Red Interior, No Sunroof, 1 of only 10 ever built in that combination)
sunbird93racer@yahoo.com
Had to put a new battery in the Sunbird to get it running, but once I did it fired up without too much hassle. I even got the car down off the lift and drove it around my neighborhood. It seems to have shrunken a bit since I last drove it. If feels a little smaller inside than I remember, LOL!
'93 Sunbird SE 3.1 5-speed
'09 G8 GXP Manual Transmission (White Hot, Manual Trans, Onyx/Red Interior, No Sunroof, 1 of only 10 ever built in that combination)
sunbird93racer@yahoo.com
My Sunbird and the parts car are now sold. Sadly, I think my original car may have been purchased just for the drivetrain, but it is what it is. My brother bought my parts car to have reserve parts for his '92 Sunbird. He is the original owner of that car with over 250,000 miles. He just paid good money to have an amazing restoration done on the car. It is guaranteed the nicest looking 250,000 mile 1992 Sunbird on the planet now!
'93 Sunbird SE 3.1 5-speed
'09 G8 GXP Manual Transmission (White Hot, Manual Trans, Onyx/Red Interior, No Sunroof, 1 of only 10 ever built in that combination)
sunbird93racer@yahoo.com
Hate to hear of one in good original condition get parted out. Good to hear your brother got the other one though.
Would love to see some nice pictures of his 92.
Xs2 cause my 92 is just a beater....
Doug in P.R.
92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!
