hey guys, just picked up a trans am gta, 1987. ive built chevy motors before, only for dirt race cars though, so when im seeing all this EGR and emissions stuff, im a bit lost. what can i do to really clean up the engine bay, make it easier to work with?? i already took out the cruise control, and removed some AC stuff...

i wanna get some emissions stickers on it and then ditch everything, all egr components and redo the exhaust.

i found these online... fitment problems??? i plan on doing some catted and muffler sidepipes with a set of E cutouts...
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/pts/1391179656.html


pics of the car. $1500!!!













lemme know what you think! thanks,

matt

 

Doesn't look like a bad purchase! Is that a peeling clear coat or faded paint? Either way the body looks straight. Think you'll try to salvage the paint or scuff and repaint?

Those headers WILL NOT FIT. Hooker makes 2 sets specifically for these cars. A shorty style set and a Long tube set similar to the ones you posted. The part number for the long tubes is 2055 and they require a few mods to make them fit also. Trimming the A-Arms a little mainly.. They also rub the factory brake lines, steering shaft, and K Member slightly... They fit but BARELY once you trim the A-Arms a little. For a stock engine, I would try the shorty style. They probably sell a Y pipe also for those shorty headers.

Clean up the bay more? You can buy new coolant and washer fluid tanks REALLY cheap(like $15) if you look around. The old yellow'd grimey ones look bad. Scuff and paint the intake air box/tubing. Repaint those rusty trays in front of the core support. Clean up the paint on the firewall and under the fluid tanks.. Armor All on the hoses and lines. Clean everything! New hood struts are expensive but look better than a golf club. I need new ones myself. Struts, not golf clubs..

I would re-finish the rims myself. Strip and repolish the lips, clear them again. Black centers instead of the gold mesh...Gold looked good 25 years ago.

This was almost my first car...I decided on an IROC instead ONLY because I went to look at the IROC first... Goodluck!

 

wow great help!!!! yea i actually have the paint all sanded down and its getting some nice sleeper black shaker can paint job. dont worry, i buff everything out and it looks legit. the rims are in wonderful shape. the main reason i bought the car was because when i got underneith, i literally couldnt find a speck of rust! no where! i have spent 20 mins looking for rust, which turns out to be a waste of time, i can full out punch any part of the underbody and its all legit. ill have to find a nice shorty set of headers for this thing.. not much room. thanks again for the help


pics more tomorrow as ill be keeping track of the process!


-matt

 

okay, well i couldnt take that shotty *** maroon crumbly paint, so i sanded down the whole car and went black. spray can. im painting the centers of the wheels soon here, at least once i get some money!


pictures















so? you think its legit?



-matt

 

Light years better! Flat is better than faded/peeling.

Did you overspray those rims?!?! Time for black or silver!!

Not sure why you removed the sweet *** sweet windshield banner? Ah wellll.. Please don't put another. haha

 

hah noooo, i haated that banner!!


yea the flat looks great, those were taken right after i sprayed it, so the paint looked a bit funny still... it rained today though, heres a pic!





hah and heres my hooo ride, which i sold today, and my other project car!


you hate hondas i assume??? lol




build pics for the crx












what do you think???

 

I love honda. They make great 4 wheelers... I have 2! haha

The black looks better after drying for sure.

 

yea my little honda runs great, hoping to hit the 11's in the 1/4 in spring. keeping it N/A for the winter here, for sakes that its my only transportation in the winter other than the TA, yea right. i did what you said, painted the wheels. i like them a lot, but i went to a party here yesterday and lost 2 phone chargers, and the cord for my camera hah so i had to just send a shotty pic to the internet from my dying phone!!!

heres whats up. i really like it a lot better than the gold, way more modern looking. ill get more pics up here soon, i got the GTA badges on and painted up the suspension (rustolium paint can and cheap brushes, gloss black)




hope you like


-matt

 

okay well, here i got the pics up.. also found a problem.. when i took off the center consol the one cable is not attached... whats it to???






and some good stuff lol



painted the wheel wells, and suspenion, red calipers, new lug nuts... looks decent

 

Looks like it goes to the Parking Brake.

 

2055 are the Hooker short tube headers.
2210 are the Hooker long tube headers.

The 2055 comes with a Y-pipe.

 

Good call Gord! Thanks for the correction. I don't reccomend the factory "Hot coating". It rusts through in a few months.

Rims look GREAT! Get some tire shine on there now!

What engine/trans combo? 305? 350? What's the 8th letter in the VIN number? It's located on the bottom drivers side of the windshield.

 

thanks! why would that cable run to the parking brake??? doesnt make much sense...

 

Personally I prefer the gold wheels on a black car. Gives a better contrast than the all black look. (Grand Nationals suffer from this)

I do however like the red GTA badges on the black paint.

 

Yes the Red GTA emblems look sweet on a black car. . .
But i also have to say the Black GTA's look even better on a red car

Then you add a stage 3 shift kit and shift improver to the trans throw a set of 3.73 gears in it as well then toss out the 350TPI for a 350TBI and you have 1 fine performing beast till you blow it up. . .then enters the 406TBI. . .

Mike