Just wondering if anyone has any advice or Tips to help me out in restoring my 89' T/A. Never done anything like this before & just wanted some help on it. Thanks!

Joe

 

Make a checklist of what you want to do, it will help motivate you when you either get really frustrated or start to lose interest (and one of those WILL happen).

Label EVERYTHING too, and use LOTS of ziplock bags for nuts, bolts, small parts, etc.

 

What exactly do you want to do? Is it a full resto, or just exterior and intererior...upgrading anything?

Read this board extensively and remember the search button is your best friend.

I was reading this board for a few years before I even signed up and or bought my car, that way I knew exactly what I was getting in to.

Good luck with everything, let us know how everything turns out =)

 

Use a digital camera to take as much pictures as possible when taking things appart as well as taking individual pictures of parts you are either restoring or need to replace helps from a documentaiton point of view and you can easily e-mail pictures of parts you need for easy identification.

I also planned ahead (just restored a 1989 TTA, see link below) to make sure I had everything in need of replacement like weatherstripping, emblems, door handles, etc before I started taking the car appart this way I new I would not get stuck somewhere down the line waiting for parts or trying to source parts also this helps you spread the cost.

Links to my step restoration of my 1989 Turbo Trans Am
http://la.rsson.com/tta1078resto/

Cerafully plan each step and what you need to do and what you like to do and whats involved both from a cost point of view and if you have tools / knowledge...

Good Luck!

 

Thanks Everyone!
Basically I want to do a full restoration on my T/A & upgrade a few things...mostly the suspension, before I procced with my Knight Rider KARR Replica. It has almost 160,000 miles & the car can't go anymore, litterally the trany and/or torque converter went out. Kinda sucks...

Joe

 

One thing I would do different if I had to do it again is the order of things I did my TTA.

I started with the rear end suspension and stuff, cleaned everything, powder coated stuff and installed new bushings etc as well as undercoated the complete car. When I had it respraid no matter how well they covered things there were always some slight overspray somewhere so I had to clean and re do some of the parts as well as do the undercoating again in some areas.

I would to the complete respray first and finish interior and other stuff THEN do the suspension front/rear, new exhaust, undercoating to avoid the extra work and hazzle. I was not bad what I did but to save others from extra work this is what I can recommend doing.