Does anyone know of any specific problems with the 81 firebird, with the v6?
I'm considering buying one, and don't want to get in over my head.

Buying anything that old you can run into problems. Can you be more specific like what motor etc? If the car was taken care of then it should be ok. Or it could have been road hard and put away wet then you could have some real bad problems.

Good luck in your car buying adventure.

Watch the door bottoms and bottom corners rear rocker panels near the doors they rust alot, trunk floor rusts if they left the stupid plastic mat that came in them.

Check up under the dash for any creative electrical wiring.

It depends on what you're looking at... is it a stock (or close to it) 81 that's just tired and you need to spruce it up, or as Jeremy said, did they beat the hell out of it. If they beat it make sure your offer is low enough to cover the high costs or REPLACING stuff, as really abused stuff is very hard and in the long run, more expensive.

yeah any car that old, u would expect alot needs to be done unless they really took care of that car, or its a rebuild

I had an 81 with the 3.8 and believe me...when it ran good it really ran...o.k. There is a ton of emissions under that hood and I was going to try to swap a Buick Regal motor of the early 80's w/ the turbo...never got around to it.

Is the body straight and you just need a daily driver? Then the 3.8 is a decent car but if I had to do it all over again, I think I would swap it for a V8. Not sure how to go about it legally with emissions but others can chime in on that.

I've got an 84 with a 2.8 six and it works great!! I got the car for $2000 6 years ago and have not had any problems with it. No power to play with the big boys but its a great ride.

The 2.8 in the 84 will walk all over the 3.8 in the 81, no comparison IMO.

I bought one with the 5L in it. TONS of rot in the trunk like said before, rusted out bottoms of the doors... Typical stuff like said up there.

Just to show typically how bad those spots are rusted out...
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/Dksixpackrider/Car010.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/Dksixpackrider/Car013.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/Dksixpackrider/Car016.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/Dksixpackrider/Car017.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/Dksixpackrider/Car020.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/Dksixpackrider/Car022.jpg

(Sorry for picture overloads)
Does anyone know if trunk pans are able to be bought? Mine is rotted terribly with a very bad chop job from the people I bought it from... lots of half ass work with it. Firebird(or anyone with a car like it) owners that drive it be cool and not care seem to jimmy rig so much on these cars, so watch out. It's just what I've seen no one take offence.

Yes trunk pans are available new.

Some sources to try:
Ames Performance, Goodmark Industries, Classic Industries, Performance Years, Year One.