History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
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I had a DEVIL of a time getting the rubber trim out from around the windshield... I think the last guy to install a windshield in this car must have glued the trim in place...
We are taking out the door window sweepers as well. They are totally shot, and we'll get a better paint job with them off anyway.
Hey Tim! Glad to hear you guys got the car out the other day! I'll be keeping an eye on this thread... and if you decide you want that T5 at some point just let me know. ]
And Justin89 - Of course there's other guys local! Where in the Lynchburg area are you?? Everyone knows this area is the place to be
I'm in Moneta now. I lived in forest for about 3 years then moved here a year ago. Theres about as much going on in Moneta as Lynchburg lol
As an FYI with the windshield, when the company replaced mine, the trim went around the full edge of it sort of like C channel. May be your case too. Looks great! I hope there are still cars to do this with my lil guys in 14 years.
looks like everything turned out great man congrats!!! im getting some decals made if you and your son woul be interested! they will say "Blue ridge F-body" hope to do some cruises with some locals up on the parkway once the weather gets a lil cooler!
__________________ 86 Trans Am: 5.3 hot cam th350 3500 stall 3.73's
03 Yukon Xl:tune/full bolton + cosmetics
92 Z28 Camaro: magnaflow catback magnaflow cat vette servo air foil cut moog 5662/5665
2-stage urethane, base coat/clear coat. I'm an old-timer, so it was a little bit of a challenge, as I am accustomed to painting with lacquer, using a single spray gun.
I would suggest to anyone who wants to tackle this:
Use a separate gun for primer and topcoat. This is especially true if you spray a urethane primer, which is a better choice than lacquer. The reason I say this is because the viscosity of the primer is much higher than the topcoat and clearcoat. Also, it is a chore to clean the gun between priming and topcoat.
Although the difference in viscosity between topcoat and clearcoat is within reason, the clearcoat is thinner, and you'll probably want to change your gun settings before applying the clear.
Use lots of light all around the car, or have someone follow you around the car with a bright droplight. It's very important to see the 'gloss' if you want to avoid orange peel and/or runs.
Remove as much as possible in order to get a good result. Nothing looks worse than overspray on lights and door handles.
The cost of the paint for this type of job (including primer and reducers) is about $400. Lacquer is cheaper, but the result you see on this car is straight out of the gun, with no sanding or polishing. We will probably do some of that, as I did manage to run the paint in a couple of spots.
looks like everything turned out great man congrats!!! im getting some decals made if you and your son woul be interested! they will say "Blue ridge F-body" hope to do some cruises with some locals up on the parkway once the weather gets a lil cooler!
Are we talking window decals? You got a pic of them?
Yes they are windown decals! The company im using is a friend of the familys parents so...its taking a lil longer comunicating but it will be cheaper! They have a design ready for me but have to send samples first! Anyway...hopefully we will be painting my 82 soon and my truck so i guess ill need to be checking out what to do and not to do lol.
Got her lookin' great! How does she run? A little polishing on the wheels and some tire shine on the rubber, and that thing would really turn heads!
__________________ F-bodies I own:
1992 Firebird 3.1 V6 (Used to have 75 HP nitrous shot)
1984 15th anniversary Trans Am (2 cars, future project to take both cars and make one good one)
1969 Firebird 400 4 speed. Actually has a 455 in it. Almost done with the complete restoration.
Amen, pontiacguy. She runs beautifully. In fact, at idle, you'd swear it was a V8... a nice, throaty rumble... and the trans shifts smoothly and the car handles great. All in all, it was a success.
All that is really left is some interior beautification, which we are doing gradually.
On his way to school yesterday, Alex called to inform me that his car had quit on him on a busy road into town. Fortunately, at that point he was just a short walk from school. With the help of a couple of guys who stopped, they pushed it into a parking lot.
My wife and I headed out there later that day, to find that his alternator had quit working. I had noticed previously that, although it was within limits, the voltage at idle had seemed a tad low. As it happened, there was an auto parts store a couple of blocks away, and we got a replacement, and in a few minutes, the car was running and charging nicely, almost a full volt higher than it had been before the failure.
The next thing I noticed was that, like most teenagers, Alex seems to think that the "E" on his fuel gauge stands for "Excellent". So dear old dad had to top off the tank, or I would not have made it home with the car.
Later that evening, after having suffered the ignominy of riding home on the school bus, Alex went to his Tae Kwon Do lesson with the car... and called me at around 9PM to tell me that the headlights wouldn't pop up. I have been smacking the relay whenever that happens, but it's getting worse instead of better.
I'm sure that most of the 'bird owners here have dealt with that one at one time or another... those relays are not easy to find. I have an 88 GTA that I picked up for parts... we'll see if the relay out of that car works any better. If not, I am already planning to get out the wiring diagrams and try to engineer a replacement that you can make from commonly available parts. Stay tuned.
Hey Murphy is my copilot. Send him back, no wait you can keep him. I thought I was the only on that had luck like that. Great project and keep us posted.......
Well, it pays to get a good parts car. The GTA that I picked up has all kinds of goodies... including a headlight door relay that works like new... one less thing to worry about on the project car.
I changed it out today and that was the end of our problems with intermittent headlights.
I also managed to get a piece of steering column (the part where the key switch and turn signal lever mount) to replace one that was damaged... and a new turn signal lever/wiper switch. I wanted to replace the ignition lock switch, because the damage to the column included the 'ears' on the key switch. Also, the turn signal switch was kind of mushy, without that positive 'snap' that happens after the turn signal cancels.
I got all the parts out of the GTA, and since they are all part of a single assembly, I decided to do it all in one shot. I did have to purchase a new key switch, but all the rest of the parts came out of the GTA. I got 'em all swapped out, and now everything is working nicely. The GTA has the pushbutton steering wheel, so the turn signal switches were different... but I was able to salvage the parts I needed off the GTA's switch to restore a proper detent to the old switch.
We're going to try to finish the door panels tomorrow, and maybe try to get the radio working.
Very cool project! I just found this thread yesterday and you've made some incredible progress with this Bird. But (as usual) I skimmed over it and I noticed that you first had an '86 named "Nellie" and then an 87? I'm assuming that the 87 is the one with all the work done to it but what happened to the '86?
Thanks for asking... I am sure that "Nellie" appreciates your concern. She was my son's original car, bought from a family friend. When he banged her up (two deer, run into a ditch, and run up an embankment) I started cruising around for parts & info. That's when I found thirdgen.org and starting reading some resto threads. I thought it would be cool to do our own.
Also in my search, I found a guy with an 87 bird that he said he would take $200 or send it to the crusher. We needed parts, and I figured it would be a cheap way to get the parts we needed.
As soon as my son saw the 87, he noticed how clean and straight she was, and he proposed that we restore that one so he could still have a car while we worked (a wise decision, since it took 7 months). It didn't hurt that this car was a 5-speed, and we figured we could do all the stuff we had planned to do with "Nellie", and he could drive "Nellie" in the meantime.
When we finished the '87, "Nellie's" wheels were swapped over to it, and now she is sitting alongside the garage. She'd be in the garage, but I found another parts car, and right now that one is in the garage. Again, I am faced with the parts car being in terrific shape...
I have been amassing parts for "Nellie", and I had already acquired all the body parts that I need to fix her... including a set of wheels just like the ones she gave up that I did some wheeling and dealing to acquire.
I bought the parts car (an 88 GTA) for the motor (TPI 305) and related parts.
My plan is/was to repair "Nellie's" body, and continue to drive her to see how long the engine and trans will last... she now has 230K on her clock, and no signs of slowing down. When the engine and/or trans goes south, the plan is to swap her over to V8 and WC T5. I have the T5, and a bellhousing and pedals... now the question is, do I scrap the parts car, or do I fix "Nellie" and sell her to finance repairs on the GTA?
Oh, did I mention... my wife is sick and tired of parking her car outside...
OK, it's been a while... we have rebuilt the door panels, and thanks to our friend, 1brd2brd3brd4, we traded a set of GTA gold crosslace wheels for some seats and a few assorted odds and ends.
I gave Alex the seats as a Christmas gift -- you should have seen his face. He couldn't wait to install them. We also gave him some rear hatch lift cylinders... so now all that's left is the headliner... there is a minor T-top leak that needs to be addressed first. Other than that, his car is looking fine.
Now, its my turn... I picked up a no-title 88 GTA for parts. Alex, with his newly-trained eye, persuaded me to fix this car instead of parting it out. So, I figured it's time to start a new thread:
It has been a long time since I looked at this thread. But I just finished reading it and it looks like Nellie had a hell of a journey. I'm glad you both enjoyed working on the car and learned a lot. Now you are right...it is your turn. Hopefully you son will help you with it. Just keep the keys away from him, because trust me, the V8 is a world's difference compared to the V6.
I got my car running as you might recall, what you didn't hear or might have not read about is the adventures that happened afterwards. First time out of the driveway in 7 years, I went around the cul de sac, stopped after I was confident that everything seemed to be in good order. Went back to the end of the cul de sac, sat there for a second. Then dropped the clutch and tore down the street. Now, it wasn't any melting tire burn out as I dropped it at 2200 RPMs, but it laid rubber on the ground for at least 25 feet. Now it wasn't the intention to burn rubber or I would have dropped the clutch a lot harder. After some fine tuning at the mechanic, and having the exhaust put on, I had some fun with it. However, I had the feeling that it was going too well. Little did I know I was right. I was heading up to the county fair for the cruise night. Ran like a dream, handled flat, threw you back in the seat when you nailed it in 5th gear (has 3.73 gears in the rear), and when I was sitting on a hill due to my unfamiliarity with the car on hills I again dropped it too hard and it burned rubber through all of first gear and some of second. But the fun was short lived as then the idle started acting up. It would die as I came to a stop, the alternator showed signs of possibly not charging, and finally the cu de grace was the heater core decided to give out when I pulled into the show area. We got the car home, and I re did the heater core, replaced the alternator. The smog pump seized on me, and finally I just decided to put it in the garage for the winter to do the weather stripping as well.
I have the car running again, and it still won't idle. It will warm up at 2000 rpms then as it reaches curb idle of 750 it will stay there for a couple seconds then die. Yet will run strong when you keep your foot on it. To my amazement it doesn't leak a single drop of fluid. So I must have done something right. I'm going to take apart the intake, make sure it is sealed right, then possibly rebuild the carb with new sensors and all. Finally I'll finish the weather stripping and make sure the charging problem is fixed (it seems to be but I can't confirm for sure). Since its not my daily driver I'm taking my time with it. Its not going anywhere. When it fired for the first time in 7 years I called my dad's best friend since childhood as per his request. With wide open exhaust and a roar that was music to my ears he said "That is fu*king awsome!!!! Dad would have been thrilled" and told me to enjoy it. Later he came to visit and he asked me about it (was laid up because of the heater core) I told him that I now knew why Dad liked the car so much. Now the hard part is over, the nickel and dime part is well in progress.
PS. My brother and cousin were doing oil changes on their cars when I was working on the TA that fateful day 6 months ago, the look on their faces when it roared to life, was priceless.
OK, if you follow my GTA thread, you know that I took a break this morning to help my son install the muffler I gave him for his birthday into his 87 bird.
As is often the case with exhaust, it turned out to be a big project just to get the old muffler out, which appeared to be integrated with the intermediate pipe. At first glance, it looked like a slip-fit, but with no welds or clamps. Even with an air chisel, it took a while to strip away the muffler nipple, only to see the pipe disappearing inside the muffler. So we got it out with a sawzall and a hacksaw. Then it was a bit tricky because we had to buy an adaptor to make the new muffler fit.
This took all morning and into the afternoon, after which I was feeling every one of my 52 years... but now we are that much closer to having Alex's car juuuuuust right. Now it makes a nice, throaty gurgle, that will likely fool the casual observer into thinking he has a V8.
OK, if you follow my GTA thread, you know that I took a break this morning to help my son install the muffler I gave him for his birthday into his 87 bird.
As is often the case with exhaust, it turned out to be a big project just to get the old muffler out, which appeared to be integrated with the intermediate pipe. At first glance, it looked like a slip-fit, but with no welds or clamps. Even with an air chisel, it took a while to strip away the muffler nipple, only to see the pipe disappearing inside the muffler. So we got it out with a sawzall and a hacksaw. Then it was a bit tricky because we had to buy an adaptor to make the new muffler fit.
This took all morning and into the afternoon, after which I was feeling every one of my 52 years... but now we are that much closer to having Alex's car juuuuuust right. Now it makes a nice, throaty gurgle, that will likely fool the casual observer into thinking he has a V8.
hi great thread i read the 1st and 4th page and plan to read the rest sometime.. but you guys do a great job and glad you didnt trash them. i also have to put on my new muffler on my 87 iroc-z and my mufler is stuck to the two passanger side exhuast pipes i alrady got the drive side pipe off by twisting but im not sure what to do with the others on how to get them off any suggestions i dont have a saw or torch. iv been trying to get the sleve off the pipes from the old muffler with a cheisle and hammer along with wd-40 but no luck really they are just rusted together. so what do you think i should do? and will i be fine with clamping the driver side tailpipe to the new muffler even though its not connected to the rest of the pipe. if i can get the old muffler off what is a decent cheap saw to buy? sorry for hijacking your thread i havent had much help from others any you seemed very smart at this stuff. good luck on your other projects and that blue lookes AMAZING!
__________________ Hushpower muffler, gutted air boxes, weight reductions, other small stuff.
I hate to say this, but it's often necessary to spend some money on tools to get this work done quickly and efficiently. However, if you are young and strong, you can work the hard way... just get a hacksaw, and cut the intermediate pipe as close to the muffler as you can.
As long as you leave yourself at least 3" of straight pipe on the end of intermediate pipe with no bends, you can hook up your muffler with an adaptor. The other pipe is a tail pipe, and they are only about $10 each. Just leave it on the muffler and buy a new one.
I know a lot of you guys who followed this thread know that Alex wants to go to West Point. Well, he got his Congressional nomination this past week. It doesn't guarantee admission, but it makes him eligible. We are crossing our fingers for him.
Hey, good luck with that. Hope he gets in. I have a good friend of mine who just tried for the Air Force so the military pays for schooling. She missed out on the "final exam" in boot camp by 20 seconds. But her knees and joints were shot to hell when she did it. Now, does West Point still give out vettes for graduation?
Wait... vettes? As in Chevrolet Corvettes? If so, then screw UCONN I'm applying to West Point! lol.
Congrats to your son's big leap towards West Point admission. I'm actually the same age as him... senior in high school applying to college. lol
Yes, and as a bit of triva, in either 76 or 77 the black and gold trans ams were so popular that they said screw the corvettes and got black and gold TAs for the graduating class instead. I know it used to be a tradition that the grads would get vettes but I don't know if they still have that tradition. So I wouldn't jump at that right away.
My son, Alex, who got me started with the whole thirdgen experience, has gone missing since Thursday, from the Wal-Mart parking lot in Rocky Mount, VA. His car was found parked there.
If you live anywhere near here and have seen him or heard anything, please let us know. You can learn about him on my facebook page: Tim Ernandes
Yes, he was found murdered. They have his killer in custody.
I can't begin to tell you the kind of pain that I feel. I will say that folks here have been extremely kind, and it helps for me to remember that it was Alex who originally inspired me to belong to this online family.
Alex was about the best son I could have had. I take great comfort in knowing that I can look back fondly with no regrets.
How'd you go about paint, Tim? Roll? 2-stage spray? Looks good from the pics! 
