I picked up my 1987 Trans Am back in October, at the time it looked in mainly perfect shape.. But you know that always changes when you bring it home. Haha. I decided that I wanted to make the car look "new", since than I've been getting things, and planning, and now everything I've done is finally getting me somewhere.. Keep in mind that I'm only 17.

I scraped up enough money for a hawks reproduction spoiler.

I went to a junk yard and found a decent front bumper cover.

I found an auto body guy (who restores classics) who will do all the paint and body work on my car for $1700, we start in March!

AND FINALLY I found someone who agreed to remove and replace my rear hatch tint.

The way I look at it, for being my age, I'm doing pretty damn good. ALL of my money is going into this car!

Now what do you guys think.. once all the exterior work is done.. Do you think I should keep the car stock? (305 TPI with 65K miles)? I'm no drag racer, but I like going fast, and I like to brag about HP. HAHA. Which well.. I don't have alot of atm.

The question is, should I keep the engine stock, and do upgrades such as gears etc? Idk, throw some suggestions at me, I cant wait till this car is finished (but are they ever?) haha.

 

do a full tune up, including drive train and suspension, get to know the in's and outs of your car like your girlfriend, then start with free mods and bolt ons, then, if you're not satisfied, do an engine swap, LT1, LS1, or even just a 350 with a stealth ram.


The best piece of advice I can give...

FINISH ONE PART BEFORE YOU START THE NEXT.

trust me, you'll regret it if you don't.

Best of luck, have fun with it-

Eric

 

Alrighty man, I will keep that in mind. Thanks alot for alot your advice, I doubt I will do a swap ANYTIME soon.. But its an idea. Where could I even find an LS1 or LT1? .. Or even a good 350?

 

i would just do some mods and then wait until the 305 goes bad but i got my 350 from Jasper Engines, they are a good company and they will answer any of your questions.

 

I am 17 as well with my 88 GTA. I am doing the same thing as you pretty much. I am making it look BRAND SPANKIN new before touching anything else. Next on my agenda is to buy those repro gold GTA crosslace wheels from classic industries with new tires. I also had to fork out for the Hawks fiberglass spoiler as well. I get all the time at school kids telling me my spoiler costs more that their cars lol. Anyways, As far as making some power out of the 305 I would start with the exhaust. Get some shorty headers, a high flow cat, and a nice catback. Then, I would work on porting out the TPI. Get some SLP runners, and have them port matched to the plenum. That would give you a little but more of the power you are looking for. On my 350TPI Thats about the order of things I plan to do. After the exhaust and the intake, the intake manifold, heads, and cam would be things to look at next.

 

if your going for a completely stock look go to hawks....they refurbish original rims

 

What shorty headers do you reccomend? I was looking at some hooker competition headers.. are they okay? http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HOK-2460HKR/

But yeah.. Some people just about vomited all over themselves when I told them how much I payed for the spoiler, but I think it was worth it. Alot of people think I'm crazy for restoring the car as well. Most people just said.. "Repaint what needs to be repainted and straight pipe it", but thats not my thing. And there's alot of rice around here too..

 

PLEASE DON'T STRAIT PIPE IT! it'll sound like crap I can guarantee that (experience!)

as for the headers, alot of guy's run those, but you might check with Dyno Don, he makes headers for our cars, they're supposed to be pretty good, and all the pic's I've seen support that.

 

being that your is CA i would recomend a SMOG friendly header....like the hooker 2055 found here: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HOK-2055HKR/

 

Were the ones I posted not CA Smog Friendly? :/ Are these headers any better than the ones I posted before?

 

I HATE THE SOUND OF A STRAIGHT PIPED CAR. ITS TOO RASPY. Believe me I KNOW! HAHA. MY friend straight piped his 5.0 Stang. God it sounds bad. Haha.

 

By the way, what % Tint should I get on my hatch glass? I dont like super dark tint, or really dark tint at all.

 

well don't ask me then, i say 5% on the hatch, 35 on the sides

 

Does getting it dark on the hatch look wierd? I've never really seen it, do you have pics?

 

i didn't have a pic of my car, but same thing on this one

 

35% tint is a moderate percentage. Not too light, but dark enough that it looks good. I'd personally put 20% all around but it's up to you. Maybe 35% in the front and 20% in the rear?

Also I noticed that you had a 2.73 rear end. If you had like 3.42s, 3.373s or even 3.23s it would make your car take off a bit quicker.

 

im only 18 also with a 90 formula

i went dark as hell. 3% tint all away around. i have the stealth ram ready to put on with the old tpi intake off but awaiting for the fuel rails to get in. for some reason i thought the stock rails would work. by the way clean car!

 

Thanks man, I appreciate that. And pretty soon It will be hell of alot cleaner, with fresh paint, new tint, etc.

 

How the hell do you see anything at night?

 

just know where you're going and who else is driving on the streets lol.

 

i don't have any problems driving at night. only backing up in my drive way at night if the porch light isn't on.

 

the only difference is the AIR tubes....they flow the same these just have the provisions to retain the factory style emissions