1994 Firehawk #181 questions

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Phil
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1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by Phil » Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:18 am

Hi Folks,
I've been looking through online ad's for Firehawks (hoping to add a second one to the fleet for more regular use) and came across Firehawk #181. I see a couple of weird things about it however.

This car has the 115 mph dashboard and doesn't appear to have the 3.23 rear axle ratio.

I thought the high performance rear end (which obviously comes with the 165 mph dash) was mandatory with the Firehawk option?

Is this car just a super rare example that slipped through the system?

PontiacFan
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by PontiacFan » Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:03 pm

Do you think this might be the car?
Automatic? (Not enough other detail in the registry on the color, etc., only the previous or current owner.)
Is it still in Illinois?
http://www.firehawkowners.com/car/3725.html

The gauge cluster would make me wonder, but I don't know any different on the early cars.
Someone with some good knowledge should reply soon, ...

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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by HawkLT1 » Thu Feb 27, 2014 12:29 am

$15K sounds a bit high to me too for a car that has the wrong speedometer in it among other things. 3.23 gears seem ok as I think the 6 speed had 3.42's in it. If I'm wrong someone will pipe in. Good luck.
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Phil
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by Phil » Thu Feb 27, 2014 7:58 am

I'm not sure on the rules about posting links for cars so please feel free to remove it if I'm violating anything

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale ... ex=1&Log=0

There are a few things on this that are a little "off".

Like I said previously, it has the 115mph cluster for the 2:73 equipped cars, not the 3:23 equipped cars. The other giveaway that it has the 2:73's is that there is no "1" on the shift indicator because you couldn't manually select 1st gear on the 2:73 LT1 cars (drive by noise regulations from what I understand).

It also looks like it has the V6 exhaust on it, not that that would be a difficult change to make. It also appears to have a monsoon head unit which I don't believe was available in the 94's, so the radio has been replaced also.

I thought the early cars had the interior Firehawk numbered badge riveted on also, but I'm not familiar enough with that to be sure.

As you guys saw, it seems to have incomplete data on the owner's database, or does it really have the 2:73 rear end?

This is priced a little high, but could be an interesting anomaly to own if it is equipped like it appears to be. Plus, I think I might like having the 2:73's for my long highway commute. If I wasn't over 1000 miles away I might take a look at it and try to get to the bottom of things.

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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by PontiacFan » Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:16 am

The exhaust looks odd because I thought the ToTL had straight cut tips.
But the ToTL would be acceptable, if the tips weren't so different.
Searched a bunch of photos, seems some of the photos had shown angle cut tips, & some were straight cut.
So, need someone with some detail knowledge on the ToTL.

The gauge cluster still seems odd too.
Easy to change out, so maybe someone wanted one with lower miles on it.
But someone needs to confirm if the 115mp is acceptable or not. I say not.

If seriously interested, I'd either ask a GM guy to run it thru the database & look at the mileage records.
Or run a CarFax report & see if there are any discrepancies.

Phil
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by Phil » Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:00 am

Pontiacfan:

The dealership has the carfax online and it looks legit. I could never buy a car that far away.

At this point I just think it would be interesting to find out how much an anomaly this car is, a Firehawk with the 2:73 rear end must be 1 of 1. Not meaning it is desirable buy anyone, just kind of cool to find the odd car out.

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zmaro
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by zmaro » Thu Feb 27, 2014 12:24 pm

Is the speedo thing different for LT cars, because I thought that all V8 LS cars got the 155 speedo no matter what rear gears were in the car?
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Phil
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by Phil » Thu Feb 27, 2014 1:00 pm

zmaro

I 99.99% sure you're right. I had a 2000 T/A with the 2:73 rear end and it had the 160mph cluster. It also had the ability to manually select 1st gear.

All of the LT1 cars have been just the opposite. I think the top speed was limited to 108mph with the 2:73's on the LT1 cars also, at least the early ones.

missmy97hawk
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by missmy97hawk » Thu Feb 27, 2014 3:41 pm

The interior Firehawk build plaque shows this to be a 300HP car, so it would not have the ToTL. If it did, it would have been badged as 315HP.

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BLACK-HAWK
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by BLACK-HAWK » Thu Feb 27, 2014 9:12 pm

Call SLP and give them the Vin number. A phone call is mostly free. get a picture of the RPO codes located on the inner glove box door. If it has R6V, then its real.... Sometimes the gut feeling is the best to go buy... But if it is real and it has a manual verses the automatic its supposed to have that drops the price
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Phil
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by Phil » Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:27 pm

Black-Hawk...
I know I know. I could call and email and request. I just thought I'd keep the board alive and try to start some brainstorming discussion on here. I think, if it is a real Firehawk, it must be pretty unique.

So much for trying to have a fun back and forth with people without being told to shut up and call :wink: (I kid)

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zmaro
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by zmaro » Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:21 pm

Phil wrote:Black-Hawk...
I know I know. I could call and email and request. I just thought I'd keep the board alive and try to start some brainstorming discussion on here. I think, if it is a real Firehawk, it must be pretty unique.

So much for trying to have a fun back and forth with people without being told to shut up and call :wink: (I kid)
Don't even have to call anymore. Just make an account (free) and check it yourself.

http://www.slpcamaro.com/
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Phil
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by Phil » Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:28 pm

zmaro...good call!

So the mystery gets deeper..

It is Firehawk 181, and was equipped with the suspension and exhaust so....

Why doesn't the console badge reflecting the 315hp with the exhaust, and why does it have 2:73 rear gears?

This may be a weird one that slipped through the system.

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BLACK-HAWK
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by BLACK-HAWK » Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:25 pm

yeah, I keep forgetting to call SLP to unlock my account. Glad it's real. that's all i have left to say
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Scott Chab
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Re: 1994 Firehawk #181 questions

Post by Scott Chab » Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:52 am

Phil wrote:zmaro...good call!

So the mystery gets deeper..

It is Firehawk 181, and was equipped with the suspension and exhaust so....

Why doesn't the console badge reflecting the 315hp with the exhaust, and why does it have 2:73 rear gears?

This may be a weird one that slipped through the system.
Can't see it slipping through SLP and GM. If it was originally a 315hp car, it would make sense that the dash plaque isn't riveted on since it isn't original. Maybe something happened to the factory rear and it was swapped out and maybe the speedo was swapped out as a result? Only way to know is to locate the previous / original owner or maybe the original dealer.
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