blackphoenix

Hello & thank you for reading my post. I need some input & opinions as I am on the fence with what to do with my GTA. My husband & are torn, please give us your opinion:
My husband has a 86 Trans Am Automatic w/ a bada** motor ready for racing BUT it is automatic
I have an 87 GTA 305TPI MANUAL 5spd that runs & drives excellent. It has pretty nice interior but it needs some MINOR body work. We were thinking of taking my 4 wheel disc brakes out & the T5 out & putting it in his Trans AM. Then we were undecided on either putting his 700R4 & rear end in the GTA & selling it as a whole running car, or parting it out.
Since finding out there was only possibly 706 manual 87 GTA produced I feel like I would be letting a rare piece of this cars history slip through my fingers, but at the same time I think of how sweet my husbands Trans AM would be with all the "goodies" out of my GTA. At the same time I feel like I would be ruining my GTA & letting go of my favorite F-Body. What would you do? Thank you for looking at my post I know you will all help us jump over the fence & decide on what to do. Thank you for looking at my reply, thanks for helping us.

TAdan

Two Trans Ams are better than one.

If you feel sick about the idea of letting the GTA go now imagine how bad you would feel if it was gone.

As for swapping everything, it sounds like it is more trouble than it is worth. Your husband would end up with stock 87 parts behind his bada** motor...he may as well invest in some components that will stand up behind the upgraded motor.

Keep your GTA stock, and keep modding the 86.

8T9 BANDIT

keep the gta as is, just do the bodywork and make it great. if his motor is so bad ***, then he needs a bad ***, manual tranny and rear. because if u did swap it over, and then later he blows out the rear and or the tranny. then it would all really suck. 1 last note, i hate people the part out good titled gta's and irocs. that sucks for the future of our sport!

blackphoenix

Thank you both for your input, we have been talking about this all night & day & we have already decided to keep the GTA. I can't let the car go. Thanks again. Shenna

8T9 BANDIT

remeber, dont crush em, restore em

Iroctopless

Ditto here. For parts, buy aftermarket or even a another "lesser" F-body and swap parts, but please leave GTA alone. If you don't, there will be regrets down the road. And that's not the right road to take.
Go with you gut, and it sounds like it's saying, "DON'T DO IT!".
Otherwise you wouldn't have written.

blackphoenix

We decided we are not going to touch the GTA. We are going to leave it as it is. Just get a bad transmission for his car as it has already ate 7- 700r4's. eventually we will make his manual, but for now since my car is closer to being street ready we are going to get mine on the road so we can have some fun & get a bigger motor in it. thank you for your reply. Everybody has pretty much sealed our decision.

ta collector

thats good to hear that the GTA will live on the GTAs are getting rarer every day

FrankieRider2

Glad to see your decision.... naturally, I'm somewhat biased.

We GTA owners and enthusiasts need to grow our ranks, not lessen them. I think you'll be happy with your choice in the long run.

blackphoenix

Again Thank you for everybodies response. We were leaning towards keeping it but needed that extra nudge.

Shannon91 GTA

iTrader: (2)

Trust me You would have really missed the GTA I am in the process of restoring my 91 GTA at times I think Im nuts But, whenever I take her out for a ride It makes all the work worth it
Shannon

okfoz

Honestly the 87 GTA will have more value in the long haul than the 86 Trans Am, especially if they are in the same exact condition.

John

8T9 BANDIT

okfoz knows his sh**zzle's!

FrankieRider2

John is correct. With 1987 being the first year for the GTA option on the Trans Am, future values will likely be higher for the GTA, condition-to-condition. That 5-speed transmission will probably affect the value even more.... those are not often seen on GTA models.

blackphoenix

Thank you for your reply. I know you are right. the first mistake I made was when we purchased car I let my husband drive it, I have not driven it yet. He also said once I drive it I could not part with it. It is really messed up because we were in no condition to get another car as we have 4 already & just sold one of our nicest 3rd gen, but my husband was still always looking. The night before we found my car I said the only way I would get one was if it was a GTA ( my ultimate favorite F-Body ) had to be manual, had to have 4 wheel disc brakes, had to have t-tops, and had to be white, what were the chances he was going to find that. For 8 years of looking I had never seen a manual GTA in our price range. I am very picky when I get a car, it HAS to HAVE certain qualities for me to even look at it. To my surprise he found EXACTLY that & we went to look at it & I fell in love. I was so excited about the car I really did not analyze it, I was in shock it was everything I had wanted. We have not yet picked up the car & we went to refresh my memory of my baby GTA & when we went we seen some body damage done that we had not first seen. It kind of set me off track & got me upset, so we started discussing what we were going to do. My husbands T/A is beautiful. It only has 28000 on it & was only used for racing. The motor is crate 350 small block with lifters, bigger cam, 650 Edelbrock Intake. Mallory fuel pressure regulator, headers. dual flowmaster exhaust, Pete Jackson Noisy Gear Drive, & some other goodies. His car screams at 2000 RPM & is so sweet. I think it sucks b/c it is AUTO ( no offense to anybody but I only want a car if it is manual- I think nothing compares ) so we were throwing some options around & since I was even considering it I wanted to know what others thought. I am glad I did b/c not only did it seal my decision, it also educated me alot about my GTA. thank you to everybody. I love this forum. Now all I got to do is get my car up to speed to kick my husbands a**. Maybe you guys could give me some help as he might selectively leave some tuning info out so I can't take him. Thanks again. Shenna

blackphoenix

Hello. Everybody says you are the guy to talk to about GTA's. I have read your page & love it. You did an awesome job. Thank you!! It was funny b/c if I got rid of my GTA I was going to get a 90 or 91 Nissan 300zx twin turbo 6spd 2+2 or really wanting 98 Toyota Supra Twin turbo 6 speed ( way out of my price range though ) on your one article I think from 87 Hot rod it actually compared the 2 ( 87 300zx & 87 GTA ) & it ranked the GTA as being overall a better car. It was too funny, my mouth dropped when I seen it. If there is any other useful information regarding the 87 GTA that may be useful to me I would love to know it. By any chance do you happen to know approx. how many of the 11,000 were with T5 I can not seem to find it ANYWHERE. Somebody said they believe it was 706, but no certain. Great page again. Thanks for your reply. Shenna