In a nostalgic moment, I searched and found this site. I ordered a 1984 J2000 Sunbird LE four door with the turbo package. I understand that is probably a very rare car. Has anyone here ever seen one? After buying a 1988 Bonneville SSE, I sold it to my brother, then bought it back at the end of 1991. I sold it to a guy I bought a house from in early 1994, and he moved to Chicago. At the time it had 160,000 miles on it and ran wonderfully. I changed the oil every 2,000 miles, and think that was one key to it still running well. I never hesitated to shift it at read line when it was warmed-up. Problems were relatively few - I replaced the distributor twice, the water pump (difficult) two or three times, the driver's seat foam & springs (spring broke and made holes in some suit pants before I noticed it poking my leg!), the AC compressor (came loose and broke a line, was difficult to get the system cleaned of metal bits), and the fuel pump faield when it was relatively new. My brother replaced the muffler, and had an idiot mechanic replace the spark plug wires with the wrong ones which burned-up very quickly just after I bought it back.
I forgot, and do not know how to edit the previous post - my Sunbird also had a manual transmission.
Funny to read this. I kept my 84 because I never wanted to have to try and find one again. Mine is a red 4 speed convertible. I don't recall seeing too many 4-door turbo sunbirds back in the day. Both those and the hatches are the most coveted now... I know of a guy in the Pontiac Oakland club and widetrackers in the area. They have a guy who has a 4-door one. I will see if I can get some more info...
I drove to Logan Ohio to purchase my 1985 four door, four speed, turbo sunbird. Ugly little car but I love it to death. When they catch me at the next light the response is generally "dude, wtf is that? They made a turbo sunbird?" Getting ready for the paint shop now. :-)
Hi, Stephen,
I also had an '84 4-door turbo J2000 - manual x'mission, of course! It was our family hotrod. I sold it to one of the kids at 225,000 mi. Later on, he used it as a trade.... I did replace the blower at about 205,000mi. Rather maintenance-free, tho.... Just change oil religiously every 3500mi!
Best of luck!
Moe Whittemore
('89 Turbo Sunbird - my daily driver....
''98 Buick Regal GS - the road hog....
'07 Pontiac Solstice GXP - the race car....)
Unfortunately, all my cars since '84 are Premium-burners, since they're all boosted!!
