Pontiac Firehawk Third and Forth-Generation: Which One To Buy

I think most automobile enthusiasts would agree that very few vehicles from the mid-'70s to the late '80s could be considered high-performance vehicles. Between higher-priced fuel due to oil shortages, the EPA clamp-down in search of better emissions, and sky-rocketing insurance rates, there was just no market for higher-performing cars, especially with the US bouncing in and out of recessions. 

But still, in the ‘80s, there were some well-performing cars that gave us gearheads some hope for a change—a light at the end of the tunnel that would get us out of an era that produced mostly disappointing sports cars and sad muscle car attempts. 

So when did the tides start to change for the high-performance automobile industry? 

It is tough to pinpoint when or where, but there are a few vehicles like the Buick Grand National, GMC Syclone and Typhoon, prototype 454 Corvette ZR-2, and some other impressive attempts to revive the high-performance auto industry. 

One very important contribution to the reviving process was the creation of the Pontiac Firehawk. Let’s take a look at how these cool cars got their start, what made them awesome, and how they evolved. 

The 1991 and 1992 Pontiac Firehawk 

When Pontiac was ready to give their sports car a boost in the right direction, they looked to the SLP company. Starting in 1987, SLP has been a huge contributor to high-performance parts for vehicles of all kinds. 

Pontiac just didn’t place some of the SLP high-performance parts on the soon-to-be Firehawk, instead, the two companies joined together to create a new performance RPO code name B4U or better known as the Pontiac Firehawk. 

Built off the Firebird trim package, this Pontiac received an L98 350 V8 engine that pumped out 360 horsepower 390 lb.-ft. of torque thanks mostly to upgraded pistons, intake, exhaust, and a set of well-ported heads.

Other upgrades included:

• C4 Corvette ZF 6-speed manual transmission 
• Aluminum driveshaft
• Limited-slip differential 
• 275/40-17 tires

Firehawk $9,000 option

• Recaro front seats
• Aluminum hood
• Roll Cage
• Five-point harnesses 
• Stiffer bushings for the rear control arms
• Brembo® brakes
• Optional fuel cell

Performance Results 

There are no official times that any one source can tie down as a positive, but an easy 13-second quarter-mile time at 106 mph seems to be about on target with its 4.6 seconds 0-60 mph times.  

  

Production Numbers

Between the ‘91 and '92 third-generation Firehawks, a total of 25 were built. The first eight Firehawks were built as 1991 Pontiac Firehawks, and the last 17 were built as 1992 Firehawks. 

Fourth-Generation: Pontiac Firehawk 1993

The first Firehawks were so well-received there was no doubt Pontiac was going to carry the nameplate over to the fourth-generation Firebirds. Unfortunately, these Firehawks would receive fewer upgrades from the original ‘93 Firebird Formula. Most people believe it was to not take too much away from the new-generation look and drivetrain. 

Fourth-Generation Firehawk Upgrades

With both Camaro Z28 and Firebird Formula now receiving the new LT1 that Corvette started using just one year earlier, more power became a little bit more achievable. In stock form, the 5.7-liter LT1 engine would make 275 horsepower. With some special Firehawk tuning, the LT1’s power was boosted to 300 horsepower and 330 lb.-ft. of torque. 

 

Other Upgrades Included: 

• Lightweight composite hood with functional CAI ram air
• Firehawk graphics
• Stainless exhaust tips
• 17-inch x 8-½-inch aluminum alloy wheels
• P275/40ZR17 Firestone Firehawk tires
• 201 Firehawks produced in 1993 with the RPO code of R6V

1994 Pontiac Firehawk 

These fourth-gen Firehawks would get an increase of 15 horsepower and an increase of 5 lb.-ft. of torque from the previous year. The increase was achieved thanks to a 3-inch dual system with a less restrictive muffler. You were also able to option up a Level II Bilstein suspension package for some great handling attributes and better launches. 

1995 Pontiac Firehawk

Although mostly unchanged from the previous year, Pontiac did make a move that made the Firehawk more desirable to a wider audience. For the first time, a Firehawk buyer had the option of purchasing one in a convertible configuration. In fact, 102 convertibles were said to be built for ‘95. Unfortunately, although the convertible Firehawk received all the other performance upgrades as the other Firehawks, they were unable to be ordered with the Level II Bilstein Sport Suspension. 

1996 Pontiac Firehawk 

1996 was a low production year for the Firehawk due to the interest that SLP found in the WS6 Ram Air Pontiacs and Camaro SS. Only 41 were produced, but the nice thing was that the Firehawk performance package ended up costing less than it did the previous year. 

1997 Pontiac Firehawk 

1997 was another special year for the Firehawks. Although it is unknown how many were produced, 29 were produced with a Corvette LT4 engine. Since in ‘97, Corvette had moved on to the new and improved LS1 engine, there were extra LT4 engines left over. Some of those engines went into the ‘97 Camaro SS SLP Edition, and the others went into the Firehawk. Other than the bigger engine package, not much changed from ‘96 to the ‘97 for the Firehawk.  

  

Some More Upgrades Through The Fourth-Generation Years That Could Be Order Depending On Year And Configuration Were:

• Engine Oil Cooler Package
• Performance Lubricants Package with synthetic rear axle lube, semi-synthetic power steering fluid, and premium quality synthetic media engine oil filter
• Torsen Limited Slip Differential (includes Performance Lubricants Package)
• SLP Hurst short throw shifter with H-shift knob
• American Racing Equipment chrome-plated aluminum wheels
• LT4 Engine Upgrade (only for ‘97) 

1998 Pontiac Firehawk 

No Firehawks were made in anticipation of a big entrance for ‘99.

1999-2002 Pontiac Firehawk

These generation Pontiac Firehawks would get the brand new Formula/Trans Am bodystyle. Outside of their Firehawk emblems and sometimes different rims, there was one sure way you could tell a Firehawk apart from a Pontiac Formula or Trans Am, and that was the Ram Air Induction. All Firehawks had a distinctive ram air with two solid hood scoops for the induction system, whereas the Formula and Trans Am ordered with the WS6 Ram Air package had a hood that looked like it had four air inlets. 

The big changes for the ‘99-’02 Firehawks were the horsepower, a selection of suspension upgrades, and the chance to finally get a Firehawk in a Trans Am trim. Thanks to the success of the LS1 engines, Firehawk Trans Ams were popping up all over the place, and they were mighty feared competitors on the streets. Horsepower changes for those years are as follows: 

• 1999 - 327 horsepower
• 2000 - 330 horsepower 
• 2001 - 335 horsepower
• 2022 - 345 horsepower  

As The F-bodies Fade Away  

It was sad to say goodbye to the F-bodies and Pontiacs in general. The Chevrolet Camaro came back to life, but it will soon disappear as well. It’s gems like these that need to be preserved, and although it's hard to find a Firehawk for a good price, they are still out there and probably worth the high price tag that car enthusiasts are asking. 

NHRA Pro Stock Turbo: Buddy Ingersoll's Buick V6 Pro Stock

It was back in 1986 when Buick started to master the turbocharger game. Turbochargers have been around for quite a while before the first 1984 and '85 Buick Grand National and T-Type turbos came out. The '84 and '85 Buick turbos lacked the power that the 1986 and '87 Buick turbos did due to a lack of an intercooler and other things. But even with the success of the two-sedan being faster than all of the American sports cars at the time, no one expected to see one compete in a professional Pro Stock class. 

Read all about the '86 and '87 Grand National success here. 

700+ cu.-in. Pro Stock Engines Racing Against A 286 cu.-in. Buick Engine

Buddy Ingersoll's Buick V6 Pro Stock

This was when the drag racing world started realizing that it is not always all about big blocks and displacement. This race was from 1986, but later the Buick setup would be deemed illegal in the Pro Stock classes. Of course, the reasons for the outlaw were a bunch of smokescreen excuses to hide the absolute truth - old-timers didn't understand it and didn't want to believe a V6 could beat a V8. 

To me, it sounds much like when Nitrous Oxide exploded on the drag racing scene - if you didn't understand it or you couldn't figure it out, it was easier to just say using NOS was cheating. 

Early '90s GS Nationals in Kentucky 

It was in the early '90s when I attended my first Buick GS Nationals at Beech Bend Raceway for a week (a week off school - a week at the drag strip)! That's when I saw the first single turbocharged Grand National break into the sevens (1/4-mile), and when I saw a T-Type in stock trim ride its bumper halfway down the track while still turning in a time of 10: something. That was when my cousin and I, best friends, knew we were watching something the drag racing world wasn't ready for yet. 

Slowly but surely, the drag racing world caught up, and now you'd be hard-pressed to see a drag car that isn't racing in a highly regulated class that doesn't have at least one turbo under the hood or another kind of power adder.  

The lineup to get into the GS Nationals—all Buicks—and the track entrance is quite a ways away. 

 

2001 Corvette Z06: The First Modern Day Z06

  

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know about the extremely potent 2023 Corvette Z06 that is on its way to the market sometime in late 2022. If you want to read about that, just look up any automotive website on the web and you can find out everything you know or you can go to this ride-along video/article with top engineers on the project, written by me for Muscle Cars & Trucks (C8 Corvette Z06 Engineers Share Untold Details On New Supercar: Video.

1963 Corvette Z06

Since we all should know everything about the new Corvette Z06, I decided that we should take a look back at the birth of the first modern Corvette Z06. But first, let's take a short look at the birth of the very first Z06. 

The first Z06 became available in 1963 and there were only 199 produced and sold. These Corvette Z06's sole purpose was to be sold for road course racing. They came with a 327 cu.in. (5.4-liter) engine, four-speed transmission, a beefed-up suspension, a massive brake system upgrade that included dual master cylinders, and an optional 36.5 US gal (138 l; 30 imp gal) tank.

The thing about these C2 Corvette Z06s was you didn't just go to the dealership and buy one, you had to know someone who knew what boxes to check in the order form if you wanted one of these race-ready (RPO Z06) Corvettes, and just like the 2001 Corvette Z06, you didn't get many luxuries with the car, it was truly for going fast. 

2021 Corvette Z06

This Corvette was built to surprise and dominate the market. The Z06 was designed for the track and pushed the boundaries of what was really possible from a production car that could drive to the track, make better times than its competition, and drive back home with the air conditioning kicking and the radio blasting. 

Basic Spec:

• 5.7-liter LS6 V8

• 6-speed manual

• 385 horsepower and 385 lb-ft of torque

• New FE4 Suspension (four-wheel independent suspension)

• Bose speaker system

• Leather bucket seats

• 17" front and 18” rear rims wrapped in Goodyear Eagle F1 SC tires

• Hardtop only

• Brake coolers

• Curb weight: 3,118 lbs.

• Gas Mileage: 17 city / 26 highway

Engine And Transmission

The LS6 is essentially a more powerful version of Corvette's LS1 V8. The LS6 engine upgrades start with a redesigned intake manifold with better flowing internal passageways. Reengineered cylinder heads create more flow through the intake and exhaust valves, and the combustion chambers were redesigned to reduce valve shrouding.

All these upgrades led to a higher compression ratio which then led to a redesigned thin-walled cast-iron exhaust manifold system to provide a smoother exit for the combustion escape.

Of course, all this extra flow wouldn’t be worth much without a redesigned camshaft. So a beefier cam was installed by Corvette engineers with more valve overlap and greater valve lift. Chrome-vanadium-steel valve springs and stronger pistons cast from a more durable alloy were implicated in the engine’s design for toughness. And finally, the LS6 was engineered with windows cast into the internal crankcase walls to help air retreat from the underside of the burning hot pistons.

This new engine setup gave the New Corvette Z06 385 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs and 385 lb-ft of torque at 4,800 RPMs, and a redline RPM of 6,500. In between all the power and the rear wheels was a beefed-up clutch (with lighter pedal effort), a larger-diameter driveshaft, and a revised six-speed manual transaxle. This new M12 gearbox was introduced with shooter 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears to better utilize the new higher-revving LS6. All gears were 10-16 percent shorter except for the 4th gear which remained the same.

2001 Corvette Z06 Suspension

More power always means more changes all around. To accommodate the power of the LS6, Corvette went with a new FE4 suspension that included revised shock calibrations, a stiffer rear transverse leaf spring setup, and stiffer anti-roll bars for the front and rear.

To add ground support, each corner of the Vette receives 1-inch wider tires, bringing them up to 9.5-inch wide in the front and 10.5-inch wide in the back. New custom light-weight 10-spoke wheels were wrapped in Goodyear F1 Eagle tires: 265/40ZR-17s in the front and 295/35ZR-18s rears. The F1 Eagle SC tires were designed with more flexible sidewalls achieved by doing away with the famous run-flat tire design. This permitted a half-degree more negative camber to keep the tread flatter during hard cornering for track use.

To prove the Corvette was built for business, engineers found places around the car where they could shave pounds off the curb weight. Helping save weight was the deletion of the run-flat tire design, mufflers were made from Titanium, and the windshield and rear glass were all lightened to help bring the Corvette’s curb weight down to 3,118 pounds, that's 38 pounds lighter than its original form. A lot of weight was saved in the Titanium mufflers alone, but the weight of the new suspension offset the weight-saving by a lot.  

Step Aside Cobra R

The Cobra R was making some big waves at the track. Performance numbers were pretty impressive, and the Corvette Z06 was Chevrolet's answer to those performance numbers.

The Cobra R and the Z06 were pretty close in performance numbers at the time (numbers for Z06 below). The Cobra R turned numbers out of its 5.4-liter that looked a little like this: 385 horsepower and 385 lb.-ft. of torque (the same as the Z06), 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds, a quarter-mile time of 13.2 (Ford tested) and 12.9 (Motor Trend tested) with a top speed of 170-mph, and stops from 60-0 in 127-feet.

Although the numbers were somewhat close, the Corvette beat out the Cobra R in other places. The Cobra R lacked air conditioning, an audio system, rear seats, sound dampening, and cruise control. The Corvette also lacked a back seat, but that's because it was never meant to have one, it wasn't a compromise. Also, because of the limited number of Cobra Rs that were built, the sticker price showed $55,5ish, but you couldn't buy one for under $75,000. The Corvette Z06 stuck pretty close to its price tag of just under $50,000 without a lot of limited edition inflation.

Let's Go Over Some 2001 Corvette Z06 Numbers 

The 2001 Corvette Z06's proof of superiority is in the numbers. A 0-60-mph time is recorded at 4.3 seconds, and a 70-mph to 0 stop takes only 152-feet. In a quarter-mile sprint, the Corvette can cover it in 12.7 seconds at 113-mph. Hitting a 150-mph will only take you 28 seconds total, while a top speed of 170-mph is easily manageable. Although the top speed does suffer a little bit as the C5 Vettes will hit 175-mph, but that's because of the Z06 closer transmission clutch gear ratios. 

Hitting corners is another place where the Corvette Z06 shows no mercy to its competitors. Pulling .98 Gs in and out of corners is just what this sports car does, and that actually beats out all other sports cars out of there including the Viper GTS and the Ferrari 360 Modena, which are above the Corvette Z06s price bracket by a lot. 

Z06 Performance Built

Making sure everything was performance built was what this Corvette was all about, even both the dual mesh grilles in the front and the rear brake coolers in front of the rear wheel wells are completely functional. 

The 2001 Corvette Z06 is just like the new Z06s, although classified as a sports car, they perform like a supercar compared to their competition.