Thinking of buying an 87 GTA...

A certain lady friend of mine is selling her dad's 87 Trans Am GTA. I'm not all that familiar with 3rd gens, but I have a love thang with F-bodies so I'm willing to learn.

Anyways, it's an 87 GTA, auto (350 with 3.27's), with only 65,000 miles (:metal: ). I haven't actually been to see the car yet; plan on going over there Thursday this week. She's asking around $2000. I should mention she says the interior is in bad shape, 1/2 the body is primered, but the car runs great. Needs new tires, hole in the muffler (I don't care about that, the exhaust will be replaced.) Like I said, I haven't seen the car myself yet.

I was looking into a cheap F-body to get into the 12s. If the 350 is in good shape, I was thinking of taking the supercharger route. What's the stock compression of these engines? I'm hoping to run 6-8 psi on 93 octane.

I don't care about exterior appearance, I'd like to make the interior decent, and do some basic bolt-ons and go with the blower. Would it be worth it? Right now I'm driving a 93 DSM that should run mid-low 13s (plan on running it Good Friday) and I have $3500 in it including the price of the car. Could I expect similar performance from the GTA? Anyone on here have a bolt-on 350 with 3.27s or 3.73s with a blower?

Like I said, I'm new to 3rd gens, sorry for the length, and I appreciate any help you guys might be able to provide. :)

Stock compression was about 9.4:1 IIRC 350TPI's hit mid-high 14's, and the 87 (beeing the first year) was a bit short on HP ~215 or so factory rating IIRC. Anyway, though the 3rd gen's were a bit short on HP and speed compared to newer ones, they handle excelent, and look great (especially the GTA's)

Yeah, I read the 87 GTAs were rated at 225 hp and 325 lbs-ft of torque.

http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/show_image.pl?image=member_img_b/267000-267999/267569_4_full.jpg

Money is tight right now as always, being a high school student. :rolleyes: I have to think about it. Either way I'm going to look at the car on Thursday and see what's up.

Thanks for the reply. :)

I say go for it, but like I told someone the other day, if the odometer only goes to 99,000 and it says 65,000 theres a good chance that it has 165,000 on it. I mean the car sounds to be in pretty rough shape for 65,000 the way you described it. And definetely try to hagle him some, but 350 TPI cars are getting harder to find especially pontiacs.

Originally posted by andol469
Yeah, I read the 87 GTAs were rated at 225 hp and 325 lbs-ft of torque.

http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/show_image.pl?image=member_img_b/267000-267999/267569_4_full.jpg

Money is tight right now as always, being a high school student. :rolleyes: I have to think about it. Either way I'm going to look at the car on Thursday and see what's up.

Thanks for the reply. :) That ad is from 88. The 87s were only rated at around 210 or 215 horsepower thanks to the lower output of the motor and the garbage air intake the 87s used. Still plenty of potential however.

If the car has a digital dash, the odometer will show up to 999,999.9 miles.

Thanks for the replies guys.

So horsepower is rated at 210ish for 87 GTAs? What about torque #s? Weight? And most sites I've been to quote 87 GTAs as running mid 15s. What are some real world (stock) times for these cars?

Those are real worl times. Thats what most of them will run. They most ran hgh 14s from the factory. Im not sure of the exact numbers but the torque will be sustantially higher than the hp in a TPI car.

TPI car's were never short on Torque. The 87 350 makes about 330 Ft. Lbs. My friends mildly modded 89 puts ~345 Ft. Lbs. to the wheels.

GTA's are on the heavy side, probably ~3500 or so stock. IIRC my friend wieghed his 89 (with plenty of suspension mods) and tipped the scales at ~3800 with gas and himself in the car.

Originally posted by Jess
TPI car's were never short on Torque. The 87 350 makes about 330 Ft. Lbs. My friends mildly modded 89 puts ~345 Ft. Lbs. to the wheels.

GTA's are on the heavy side, probably ~3500 or so stock. IIRC my friend wieghed his 89 (with plenty of suspension mods) and tipped the scales at ~3800 with gas and himself in the car.

Right. TPIs are torque whores. They make awesome 1/8th times but the TPI dies at about 4800 RPM. So I suggest buying yourself a stealthram intake and all. Not to bad expensive and will majorly help your top end so 1/4 times wont suck so bad.