FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Thanks in advance for a warm welcome, I've been lurking here a while and figured it was time to participate. I was born and raised a Pontiac lover and was actually a Pontiac salesman until 2010.. Still am a GMC/Buick/Cadillac salesman, just no longer offering our beloved Pontiac.. I'm a homebody with a wife, two dogs, three adult kids, some of whom have children too

On to the cars:
The wife's pride and joy (my Yukon in the background):




Our most recent acquisition:

Needs some work but has lower miles (73k) and isn't too rough. 305 Automatic with T-Tops.. Headlights need some repair and major adjustment:


I'll be using this thread to compile my list of needed repairs, though I'm not NEAR as detailed or efficient as some of you on here. Meantime feel free to toss out any criticisms or suggestions.

Paint needs some TLC, seals need replaced, interior could use a refreshment AND the hatch is out of adjustment pretty bad. First things first though, the headlights. The motors work but it appears as though some of the components are broken so I'll need to take that all apart... And probably pucker up, eh?



Glad to be here!

Zane M

iTrader: (1)

Great foundation. Looking forward to seeing you progress on this.

DD9TransAmGTA

iTrader: (1)

Looks good, 1990 is a rare year for these cars. Only 4,000 or so Formulas built that year.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Nice, I'm a black 89 formula 350 owner myself.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

That's one of the main reasons I traded for it! I was hoping to doll it up and have a decent investment, though so far I'm probably into it for more than its value, considering the repairs and reconditioning it needs. I'll probably go through and get some more extensive photos tonight or this weekend...

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

You and I both!

Nice! Thanks for the welcome, folks.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Probably bit off more than I can chew, once again. Oh well, I'll learn a few things, I'm sure..

Under the hood:



Missing the under hood heat shield, eh? And that underside of that scoop, is that factory? Bolted on like a high school student did it....

Oh, then there's this:


Eeeeewwwww..... Hopefully a coolant flush will cure that one. Damned thing needs an oil change too!

The wheels:

Pitted pretty bad, wonder if they could be sanded down and re-cleared?

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

The hatch has a few gaps so bad you could throw a cat through em...


Up top:

Trims a lil rusty too....

Think that's why I was smellin' a lil exhaust? lol

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

The paint issues are there, though I have yet to fully examine them... But I can already tell that the repainting wasn't that "professional" and the paint issues go from bad:


To worse:


Same spot with or without flash, there's some sanding marks and such but hopefully they're in the clear and I can operate...

The interior is actually in very good shape!



The headliner area has seen better days though:

Steve86TA

iTrader: (57)

with the hatch up that high, I would say that the hatch motor may need adjustment or repaired. Good start though

Barlow8869

iTrader: (1)

looks like the hatch pull down is broken ... not to bad of a fix most of the time

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Yup, haven't messed with it at all, other than to notice that it's been messed with and possibly jimmy rigged...

I'll readily admit that I'm no mechanic though, that's one reason why I came here!

Barlow8869

iTrader: (1)

looks like a nice car to start with anyway

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Thanks! It's "good from far it far from good" IMO , but I've got a few skills with paint and such and I am a quick learner... Here's what I did with the TA's paint:

So I'm excited about that!!

83Z28/L69

Very nice bird! Congrats on your new toy and Welcome. Big deal if it needs a few things, thats half the fun of owning an older car.

formula forever

Welcome to tgo. nice formula. I love them all. Easy fixes ahead of you. hatch motor alignment and a new headliner. very easy to drop and redo yourself. Did mine for alittle over 30 Bucks. Like mentioned above. Haft the fun is fixing it up one part by one enjoy that bird.

zbird90

Love to finally see someone posting about their 90 Formy! I will watch this with great interest since I've been working on putting back together my 90.

zbird90

BTW, may I ask what size are the tires on your car?

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Thanks! I'm actually kinda looking forward to the projects.. Some of em anyway.

Apparently they are "rare birds" to some degree.... Thanks for the welcome!

245/50/16 if memory serves right...

zbird90

Thanks for the reply and I hope you have half as much fun as I've had over the past 2 years working on your car.

BTW, speaking of our year being rare due to short production, I read there were a little over 4800 Formulas produced for 1990. However a couple of years ago I read somewhere that of the 4800+ produced, only 52 of them came with the 350 v-8. 5.7 engine. My old computer crashed where I had saved this info. and have been unable to find it on the good ole interweb since then. Can anyone point me in a direction to find this info again, or verify what I read?

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

This may be a start.
http://www.3rdgenformula.com

zbird90

thanks for posting the link!

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Think I figured out at least part of the problem on the passenger side headlight housing.. lol

DD9TransAmGTA

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, thats definitely broken lol!

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I priced that part, then I put the heavy-duty epoxy on it! lol I think it'll work perfectly, it's drying now...

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Had a bulb out in the rear so it was a good time to mess with this, well, fuggin mess:



Seems a previous owner has stained the plastic with something.. The crap liked to have never come off.. Hit it with a microfiber pad and some Ultimate Compound:



Fun, fun... You can still see a hint of the stain in certain light.

Dunno if you saw the missing patch of black paint on the inside of the panel:


I plastidipped that, it disappeared! Awesome sauce....

Got all the tail lights back in a realized that now I'll have to buff both taillights too. I knew better! :sigh:

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Meanwhile on the headlight front, here's what remains of the lil plastic bearings, a familiar sight on this site:


Then there's this:


I'm waiting for the epoxy to dry on those broken lamp bucket components and ordering a full repair kit for the headlamp motors, of course...

formula forever

those headlight housing always seem to break on those firebirds. 2 birds I owned over the years had them broken also. I searched ebay for replacements and found some,

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, sounds like I'm going to have to formulate another plan as well, epoxy just isn't making a strong enough bond on that thin of a spot... Damn, these headlights is gettin' 'spensive!!

Capt. P

iTrader: (1)

I also have a 90 Formula same setup as yours ,but red. Need to re-do interior and it will be complete. If you enjoy this as much as I do you will have a blast. Welcome to TGO.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the welcome!!

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Well the epoxy fix on the headlamp bucket didn't work... Luckily one of you fine members has contacted me and has one, so now we just wait for the parts to come in and get it all re-assembled! Meanwhile I've decided to go ahead and take the passenger door apart and find out what's wrong with the window/motor/regulator, etc.. When I roll the window down it gets about halfway then falls over.. When I roll it back up it get to the top and makes a horrid racket. I'm sure it'll be evident when I get in there.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

http://s781.photobucket.com/user/Fis...d4unq.mp4.html
The sound the window makes when you attempt to roll it up followed by the sound the window makes when you roll it down. It goes about 3 inches and stops.

Help?

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Need a new window regulator. The teeth that the window motor runs on have striped out. Kinda like the gear you pulled out of your headlight motor.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the reply! It was my suspicion that there were some teeth broken off of a gear somewhere.. So is there a way I can be positive of whether or not it's the regulator or the motor that needs to be replaced, aside from simply drilling the rivots out? Is it possible to take that whole setup out and spin that gear around where the stripped teeth are no being used (similar to that headlight gear you reference)?

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Nope, unless you have a welder, its a R&R.
What they look like.
https://www.google.com/search?q=82-9...w=1242&bih=591

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Ah, thanks.. Spose that will be my next expense!

TallTim

iTrader: (2)

I can tell this is the start of a long term relationship like I have much to the chagrin of my wife. Hey TTOP is there a diff outside b/w our 89's and Fishins 90? I can't tell em apart.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

I think the only major differences are the airbag, cup holders in the doors,switch to SD and going back to the ten bolt.
Other than that, not much.

Edwardgp

Another thirdgen saved, on the way to being saved. Way to go and welcome aboard.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Yessir, it is!! The good news is that my better half can't complain, she's got the newer one that is WAY faster... (Which will TOTALLY be a parts/LS1Swap car for me when I find her that 2002 6speed WS6 she's always wanted.. But that's years down the road, methinks)

Yeah, it was going that way quick, too.. Who carries a dead deer in the back hatch of their Formula?!? lol

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

So I received my headlight repair kit, that's what I get for buying off of eBay.. I thought I was getting the whole tube of grease. lol

Anyway.. Should have the other components by Monday, looking forward to putting it all back together and moving on to the other parts that need repair.

ericjon262

new high quality headlight gears are available if you need them.

http://rodneydickman.com/catalog/pro...roducts_id=228

these are what I run on my Fiero.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, I did see the option for a better gear like the anodized one you linked but I have found through my research that the gears rarely go... even on your link it states:

"NOTE: Gear failures appear to be rare on 87-1992 models"

AND I had one gear with zero damage, so I think I'll be good... Thanks again for the link though, can't have too many options.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Hey, isn't there supposed to be some type of honeycomb grille insert in this spot on the hood scoop?!?

KrisW

iTrader: (5)

None of my hoods ever had anything different than what you got, except an 83 T/A I had with the functional hood scoop stuff.

I usually take out the plug and let out some hot air with it. I've never had a problem with water or anything like that getting through there.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Only on 82-4 trans am with the RA option. Well, the 91-2 Firehawks get the mesh grill also.

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, I was curious about that..

Should have the remainder of my headlight parts in tomorrow, I'm excited to get it put back together and start on the hatch or the passenger door or...

IROCgiraffe

iTrader: (3)

Nice car!

FishinCricket

iTrader: (1)

Thanks!