1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
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1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Hello all.
About a year ago I bought a 1983 Trans Am from the origional owner. The car has 75,000 miles. At some point and time the car was in a small fender bender and the hood and front bumper were replaced with parts off of a 1984 trans am. I found all of the right parts and will be restoring the T/A to origional condition. I have gutted the car and am in the process of painting. I am going with stock colors. I did however find a set of tan leather seats out of a 1983 Trans Am that I will be putting in.
The day I purchased it.
Progress
My Awesome wife wet sanding and polishing it.
About a year ago I bought a 1983 Trans Am from the origional owner. The car has 75,000 miles. At some point and time the car was in a small fender bender and the hood and front bumper were replaced with parts off of a 1984 trans am. I found all of the right parts and will be restoring the T/A to origional condition. I have gutted the car and am in the process of painting. I am going with stock colors. I did however find a set of tan leather seats out of a 1983 Trans Am that I will be putting in.
The day I purchased it.
Progress
My Awesome wife wet sanding and polishing it.
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
Engine: both have a 305.. For now
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Here is the last 3rd Gen We did. This is my wifes.
Before
After
Before
After
#5
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Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
I am getting ready to have my 82 repainted. I am clueless when it comes to painting, so I am trying to find a shop I trust with my baby. I have a question for you about the front bumper cover. Did your cover have the typical dips on the very front? If so, were you able to correct it in any way? It seems that if I could heat it up and push mine back, it would just recess back the way it was unless some kind of reinforcement was added.
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
Engine: both have a 305.. For now
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Well 1 year later, a new house that needed work and our first baby almost here I finally got around to working on the T/A Again. I rebuilt the engine and am getting it all painted and ready to go into the freshly painted engine bay.
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Car: 89 GTA/90 Iroc Vert
Engine: 5.7/5.0L
Transmission: 700R4 x 2
Axle/Gears: 3.27/2.73
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Very cool, great that the wife is into the project, my wife just like to shake her head at me, especially when I tell her 3rd gen #2 is coming ....
I had an 84 T/A, loved that car. was red w/ silver trim.
BTW, can't see the pics in the above post.
I had an 84 T/A, loved that car. was red w/ silver trim.
BTW, can't see the pics in the above post.
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#9
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
Engine: both have a 305.. For now
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Not sure why the pics didn't work. Lets try again. Getting closer to putting the engine back in. I can't wait to here him run again. I ordered my seat upholstry from Classic industries yesterday. im going with the original two-tone walnut and sandstone velour seats. I can wait to be that far along in the project.
#12
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Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Looks awesome! I definitely can't wait to see it done! It's been a very comprehensive rebuild. Now, if your lazy wife would hurry up and have that baby and get some more wet sanding done. ;-)
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
Engine: both have a 305.. For now
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Got some much needed work done on the T/A today. Stripped and repainted all of the accessories. They were a mess but look almost new now. I had to modify the A/C bracket to fit the headers but it wasn't to hard. I also got half of them installed but I lost my water pump bolts so I wasn't able to go any farther until tomorrow.
Before
Not done but getting better.
Before
Not done but getting better.
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
Engine: both have a 305.. For now
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Ok I got the rest of the accessories on today. Next is to mate it back up with the tranny and get her back in the car. My new seats show up tomorrow so I am looking forward to recovering my seats this weekend.
Now that it is almost time to get him running again I will probably be asking for a lot of help with remembering were everything plugs in.
Now that it is almost time to get him running again I will probably be asking for a lot of help with remembering were everything plugs in.
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Car: 1988 IROC-Z camaro
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: tko 500
Axle/Gears: Dana 44 3.31 posi pbr brakes
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Looks great! I wish my GF would help me out on my car projects. I have gotten her to bleed brakes with me and stand on the clutch as i put the trans in the car but thats about it.
As for your motor, i hope those headers are just on there for test fitting and pictures. You wont be able to drop the motor in with the headers bolted on. there really is not all that much clearance. I would lay the headers carefully in the engine bay and drop the engine down to them. Just trying to save you headaches.
As for your motor, i hope those headers are just on there for test fitting and pictures. You wont be able to drop the motor in with the headers bolted on. there really is not all that much clearance. I would lay the headers carefully in the engine bay and drop the engine down to them. Just trying to save you headaches.
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
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Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Well I got a decent amount of work done over the last couple evenings. I recovered one of the front seats. They are not perfect but Im pretty happy with them. They are much better that being ripped up. I was able to get the engine and tranny in the car today. Thanks for the tip on removing the headers by the way. I am so happy to be making progress on this black beauty again.
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
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Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
This is what he is going to look like when Im done.
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Car: 1988 IROC-Z camaro
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: tko 500
Axle/Gears: Dana 44 3.31 posi pbr brakes
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Nice!! Looking good. I like the colors you chose to recover the seats in. Its going to look really sharp with the black and gold exterior. And no prob on the header tip. I did it that way when i did my engine swap and it made it very easy.
#21
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
Engine: both have a 305.. For now
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Thanks. The seats are the original color. Im looking forward to being to the point in the restoration were I can put the seats in.
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#23
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Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Looks awesome! Paint's a little glossier than it would have been originally, but it's not like it's a factory correct resto anyway. Very nice! Hope I can get my engine/trans back in someday...
#24
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
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#27
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
Engine: both have a 305.. For now
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
We'll I finally got to work on her again. Exterior is done except for the graphics which are on order. Interior nearly complete. Mechanical is done except. For some tyranny issues I am trying to work through.
http://s199.photobucket.com/user/tra...a/fb2.jpg.html
http://s199.photobucket.com/user/tra...a/fb2.jpg.html
Last edited by transamman83; 06-18-2014 at 09:04 PM.
#30
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Car: 83 Trans am, and 91 Camaro
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#32
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Car: 84 Z28
Engine: L69
Transmission: 5 speed
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
Beautiful car-! It's nice to see a restored TA, rather than an LS engined orange cone racer.
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Car: 83 T/A WS-6
Engine: LG4 305
Transmission: T-5 Manual Clutch
Axle/Gears: 3.73 Positraction
Re: 1983 Trans Am Resto (Pic heavy)
You did an awesome job. I have an 83 WS-6 4 barrel car that has the 5-speed and no power options at all. It just had A/C and that was it. Car has 70,xxxx miles presently. I done my 69 Chevelle SS like you did your T/A. Our T/A looks pretty good on the outside right now but under the hood it could use TLC.
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