Bobby_80s

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Ok here's a brief history before you see what i had to work with and what i've accomplished:

Back in Aug. 2006. I purchased a 1986 Trans AM. It was owned by a guy straight from the 80's....kinda. ******, beer in his hand, no shirt etc... A

Anyways i already knew how to redo interior from restoring my 1987 camaro my father gave me. Since i wanted to keep the camaro original for it being very sentimental i wanted another car i can tweak, customize and mod in my own image.

i searched for other camaros but started leaning towards trans ams just becuase i already had a camaro and tried something slightly different. i already had tons of left over parts i could switch over since i knew camaros and trans ams were very much alike parts wise.

i wanted a car in decent body shape but i wasnt afraid to learn body work etc... and i wanted the interior to be shot to bring the price down.

all i wanted was a decent body and a decent running engine that just needed a good tune up.

well the first car i saw i jumped at. i had a friend come with me to tell me the car runs fine. and the owner told me the new rebuilt transmission only has 10,000 miles on it.

it has an automatic, i know shame on me but i wanted a car i can just cruise in and not have to worry about shifting, my camaro is a 5speed so i was ok gettign an automatic.

since my camaro is only a v6 2.8 i wanted bigger. so this trans am has the v8 305 tpi fuel injected engine.

at the time a v8 was a v8 to me. i didnt learn about the difference between a 305 and a 350 till later on. but i'm not tryign to race this car or burn serious rubber. just a nice looking car that i can say i did all by myself.

the car has t-tops jsut liek my camaro so i was happy with that.

they didnt make the car i had in my head so i was going to make it by modding things and switching parts between different body styles between 1982-1992 trans ams.

so anyways i bought the car for 750 it ran like **** but thats because it sat for a 1 1/2 yrs. the jerk left it out in the snow because he didnt have a garage.


i got it home and coudlnt' do much to it besides replace the rusty exhaust pipes and clean out all the leaves in engine bay. i have a nice picture of a mouse nest pinched between the radiator and ac condenser.

i know this sounds like im nutz. and the pictures will verify it. but once you see the end result even i'm impressed along with everyoen who said i was nuts including my mother haha.

so heres the starting out pictures without me doing anything yet:

Bobby_80s

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here are some more:

Bobby_80s

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here when i first had the car in my garage i had a pipe holding up the hood and a piece of wood holding up the trunk when i was installing the shocks.

the passenger fender was smashed in but no damage to teh subframe or inner fender.

and wow how lovely a nice mouse nest wedged between the radiator and ac condenser

Bobby_80s

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i had to swap out the hood because the hood cable broke on the previous owner and he had to use a crowl bar to pry open the hood. and gave the nose part of the hood a nice lip upwards.

also swapped out the trunk decklid becuasse passenger corner was rotting from water leaking through the spoiler mounthing hole.

second picture you can see i already stripped out the interior. and se the surface rust on the floor pan. wasnt bad at all actually i sanded it down what i could and used POR-15 on the entire floor pan including the trunk.

Bobby_80s

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ok the next few picuters will be my work on the engine to verify the car is worth the body work and interior work.

i replaced the throttle body and put in a 1988+ cold air induction kit. i got rid of that ugly and stupid air filter system in my 1986. i bought a kit for the later years and bought on ebay the rubber elbow that attaches to teh throttle body and bingo works great.

i also took a week off work as vacation time to strip out the plenum and runners and replaced the leaking valve gaskets. and painted the valve covers silver.

89transam*pearl

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Looks like another T/A about to be saved from the brink of death....
Good luck and keeping posting pics as you progress with the restoration.

Bobby_80s

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ok while i had everything apart i replaced all 8 injectors with aftermarket ford 19lb injectors.

car runs a heck of a lot better with them. i also replaced the distributor cap/rotor, wires and plugs.

i installed an adjustable fuel pressure regulator from crane. and repalced the fuel regulator diaphram. i had to cut teh crane screw shorter since like for most people its too long and hits the plenum.

and the last picture you see i started stripping out the front end. both fenders were shot. the front bumper was cracked and it all went bye bye

Bobby_80s

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ok i wanted to paint what i could of the engine bay first because when the car gets painted i didnt wana have to keep opening and closing the hood.

so i painted the radiatior support and hood latch tray.

also repalced the radiator way back but forgot to mention it.

and i'm not disrespecting the 85-89 style trans ams but personally i favor the 82-84 style. so of ebay i bought the front and rear bumpers and inner honey comb bumper for the front for 150 including shipping from ga to ct. a freaking steal if you ask me. they needed work but i took care of it.

like i said they didnt make the car i had in mind some im swapping and mixing parts and customising to make it.

stay with me theres more to come

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

ok here are the 3 worst parts left on the car. the spare tire area held water and was just shot. i cut out the bad area and welded in a patch. the ground effects later on covered it up perfectly

the second bad spot that i cutted and patched was on the driver side undeer the ground effects in front of the rear tire.

and in the inner fender on the corner of the driver side compartment i could see straight to my brake pedal. patched it all up and the entire lower part of the body was lined with POR-15 and covered up with ground effects.

Bobby_80s

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here you can see me fitting in the 82-84 style rear bumper

second picture you can see the body wokr begginning. lots of sanding and fiberglass body filler for small spots that i grinded down some minor rust

and you can see only the driver seat remains with my POR-15 floor

Bobby_80s

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ok the side pillar on the driver side had a nice cracking bondo patch job. i think at one point in the cars life it was hit and the entire rear drivr quarter panel was cut out and replaced. i found hatch glass stuck under the rear seats.

and there was welding done under the bondo patch. there was a good foundation and i grinded out all the bondo and replaced it with fiberglass filler.

some would of replaced it with flush metal replacment and i would agree but this was the route i took and it came out just fine.

in the second picture the hood and trunk lid was from a 1988 GTA. i wanted a 82-84 knight rider style rear spoiler. so i filled in the old holes and drilled in 4 new ones to support the different spoiler.

and in the last picture you can see i have part of the front end back on along with the 82-84 style inner bumper frame. i purchased new fog lights and had to fabricate fog light frames and bolt it in myself since this bumper was not equiped to hold foglights. possible from a firebird not a trans am.

either way no one can tell and the fog lights beam through the front grilles just liek they should. so i did a good job bolting them in the right spot.

Bobby_80s

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ok just like anything, nothign fits "perfectly"

i had to use a light coat of plastic filler to make the front bumper very flush with the hood and fenders.

in the second picture you can see i filled in the higher ground effect holes, drilled in lower ones and started installing the 83-84 door ground effects.

and in the last picture its pretty muc all back togther just multicolored.

i used 83-84 door and rear ground effects but used the 1982 trans am front fender ground effects.

a nice mix match i did in photoshop before i actually did it for real to give myself an idea since i never saw anyone else do it. i hate cars that have very low front end spoiler things. they keep getting scratch and damaged

Bobby_80s

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here are two more pictures of the car before primer

and the last picture is my garage that i tapped off my garage bay with plastic sheets.

Bobby_80s

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ok here's 3 pictures of the car primered.

the next few posts will be of my interior work because i let the primer set/cure and shrink for a month. while waiting on the primer i did alot of interior work to get it ready so when the car was painted i could immediatly start putting it back together.

Bobby_80s

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ok i started to strip off the old seat upholstrey

i wanted black interior so intead of buying all new interior panels i painted my gray panels with SEM plastic paint. i did all the steps with cleaning sanding with 400 grit plastic prep etc...

and i bought old original carpet that was faded and used fabric paint to make a nice deep black again.

im sry if my painting interior methods sound cheap and a hack job.

i really tried to save money where i could. so i spent 40 bucks on used carpet instead of 300 for front a rear brand new carpet.

also re-used my old headliner insted of 150-200 for abs plastic headliner

the end result was pretty darn good you will see.

Bobby_80s

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my dad knows a guy who does car interior and one who does embroidering

so i got the fabric with the foam backing for my headliner and speaker covers.

had the firebird logo stitched in and looks so nice.

Bobby_80s

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i steam cleaned and scrubbed these old fadded gta style rims. they were probably charcoal gray, but i painted them black with calipier paint and they are brake dust resistant.

Bobby_80s

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here are mixed pictures of the car painted before and after clear coat

i wet sanded the primer. painted the ground effects black, taped them off and painted the car a metalic gray kind of like the mustang in gone in 60 seconds.

un-tapped the ground effects and clear coated.

wet sanded the day before and painted and clear coated in 1 day. took me 11 hrs. straight to paint and let things dry etc..

i also did the hatch gutter area and door jambs

Bobby_80s

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heres a comparison to old seats and new seats

personally i hate the headrest adjsuter front seats. makes me tihnk of a buick or olds mobile.

so installed solid front seats rom earlier trans ams and camaros

and purchased a black vinyl uplhostrey seat covers and installed them myself

also purchased off ebay a nice set of black door panels from a camaro for 100

Bobby_80s

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before putting teh carpet in i installed this special insullation on the floor pan

it was also off ebay. it was left over from someone else's project. they had it imported from austrailia. they use this stuff in NASCAR according to him. it has a foil on one end and copper shield on the other. it also has a plastic bubble packing in the center. suppost to help with sound deadening and heat sheilding.


also i removed the ugly t-handle and installed a 1982 knight rider style shifter handle with the red ponitac symbol on top.

19CAMARO85

iTrader: (5)

great job... from rags to riches. awesome work... what was your total amount of time to get to this point? -Matt

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

sorry heres the picture with he floor pan insulation

Bobby_80s

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new windshield installed, insurance took care of it didnt cost me anything

Bobby_80s

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ok here is the cool part.

i have nothing against the stock guages only that they arent perfectly reliable. just good enough as a reference. i like seeing the needles move.


but as a fan of back to the future and knight rider. i need those digital gauges!!!!

i was soooo lucky enough to find an auction on ebay where this guy removed his digital gauges made for 82-90 trans ams.

he didnt say in the title they were digital and you couldnt see any pictures until you looked inside the auction

so i won the auction for 20bucks go figure.

since i went to a tech high school and took electronics for 4 yrs i felt comfortable intalling them my self.

i ahd to contact the maker to mail me the intructions

the company discontinued this after market item and i have never seen a set of gauges specifically made for trans ams before or after this auction

stil messing around with the gaug trim bezel. i might switch to 82-84 style bezel trim or paint the 85-92 style black

we shall see

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

here are some nice outside pictures.

winter is here now so i will let the paint set in and harden more and i will wet sand and buf the clear to smooth out the orange peel.

i also went with 82-84 style black window swtiches and mirror switch with a black shifter boot for the shifter plate

Bobby_80s

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ok guys let me know what you all think

this was 7months of my life. may 07 to nov. present.

i purchased the car in aug of 06, besides soem exhaust work and running it once a week i really didnt have the time or the facilities to reeally work on it till after winter then i went to town on the thing and here are my results thus far.

heres probably the best compliment i received yet:

i brought it back to the same garage i had teh ehaust and emmisions done. back when it looked like when i first bought it


i went to the owner a yr later after its painted and said "hey remember that piece of junk trans am i had and pointed to the car."

she said yea what did u do get rid of it and buy this one instead?

i laughed and smiled big and said no thats it right there teh same car.

she rushed out to take a look and said it looks much better than it did

but jsut the fact she didnt think it was the same car was teh best i heard yet

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

so heres my 1986 trans am with the 305 tpi fi engine, automatic transmission

with 1988 gta hood and trunk

1983-1984 door and rear ground effects

1982 front fender ground effects

knight rider style rear spoiler

82-84 style tailights

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

here's an earlier photo before paint that shows the earlier style tailights in installed.

here's a quick list of what i replaced or cleaned and fixed:

new distributor cap/rotor
new ignition module
new car battery
new spark plugs and wires
new throttle body
new fuel filter
new ignition slot and key installed into the steering columb
new iac valve
rebuilt MAF sensor
new maf relays
new coolent temp sensor(not for gauges)
new water pump
new belts
new radiatior
oil flush
new thermostat
new exhaust pipes from y-pipe to new cat converter to new muffler and tips
polished up plenum and runners
new cold air induction kit with k&n filter
new cold start valve
new ford fuel injectors
new throttly body gaskets and realted gaskets
new shocks for hood and trunk
new adjustable fuel pressure regulator
new valve cover gaskets

i cant remember if theres anything else engine related

i purchased a front end rebuild kit for sway bar links and tie rods etc... haven't installed them yet.

in spring i will get fresh tires and install shock n struts for the wheels

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

7 months for majority of all this work

Jason1313

iTrader: (3)

Great looking Bird, Damn nice work!!

kuulkatdadieo

iTrader: (1)

Nice restoration man. I was wondering if you could get a picture of those gauges in the daytime. So I could see the face of them. And who made them??

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the compliments, cant get any outside pcitures till spring sorry. the steering wheel is off and car is parked in teh garage for some other work.

the gauges were made by cyberdyne like in the terminator mvoies haha. but their number is 724 258 8440 let me know if that number still works or you can google them.

its not exaclty a restoration, its more of a custom job. restoration would keep it stock look of 1986 but i would like to think i saved it. i hate seeing these cars left to rot or left to be damaged.
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thanks jason 1313 if anyone had any question or opinions please keep them coming it took me 3 hrs to make this post so lets try to keep it alive

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

heres a picture of the gauges not lit in the car

Tmic87TPI

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very nice work. that sail panel speaker cover is awesome. where in CT are you?

Pontiackid

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thats some really nice a$$ work. i like to read threads like this when people do this. props to you! have fun with it

KenV

What he said, word for word. I'm bookmarking this for when I get bogged down fixing my Formula...which is often these days

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

im in torrington connecticut.

thanks guys for all your compliments not bad for a 22yr old right? haha

this was the first car i went all out on, before i've only dabbled with interior work.

never body and paint work i hope it lasts

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

kenv- dont feeel too bogged down, just keep at it. ebay was my bestest frined for parts and this site was the best for gathering ideas and suggestions, plus your own creativity comes into play. keep us posted when ur car is making some nice progress

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

tmic87tpi- nice cardomain site keep posting pics on it

KenV

Roger that man, thanks. You're dead on with the ebay ref, as I have saved serious cash on things for my other car. Come to think of it though, the best deals for this car were made in the TGO classifieds. Not to derail the thread, but here's what I have bought from TGO'ers in just the classifieds:

TPI lower
Pro Magnum rockers
Vigilante converter
Headers (Dyno Don's stuff rocks)
Heads
Cam
383 shortblock
Built 700R4
Spohn PHB
Spohn LCA relo brackets
and I bet I forgot a few things. Most of the above was used, and made this build possible.

The hard part is finding time. I'm 16 years older than you are and our first baby just arrived. Good that you're getting the car done now, while responsibilities are not as numerous. I'll get there, but it's good to see someone who already is. Absolutely awesome car you have built there.

K

Bobby_80s

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kenv-

thanks for the props, after all the horror stories my dad and his budies told eme about selling their chevelles,camaros,transam,gto's i was like screw taht im keeping mine.

i wanted to get the car tihng out of my system or majority of it now becuase your right pretty soon, house baby, whatever i wont have time or money for this.

that's cool about using this site's classifieds, i made a couple deals getting my hard to find 82-84 fenders on here. junk yards forget it haha

KenV

Damn right you have to keep it. So far I have kept a couple, including the Formy and a 1965 Skylark. If I sell either, I'll never stop kicking myself. I bet your Dad's friends do it all the time.

I showed the thread to my wife, and she suggested I just get it over with, once we get settled in with the baby. When I was single I was better at time management, lol.

Junk yards don't work for me either, at least not in my area. If I went to LA or SF, maybe. Fortunately, all I need is a right rear quarter fixed. Maybe I should look for that before leaving for Thanksgiving dinner. And btw, Happy Thanksgiving to you and TGO.

K

Bobby_80s

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thanks again, happy thanks giving to you as well and TGO

Tmic87TPI

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thanks man, since I'm re-priming it this weekend I should have more pics... if I can get the camera to work happy thanksgiving.

emory 4-4-2

i like the gauges without any cover over them, with all the guts exposed. is that the way it came, or did you set it up that way yourself? it reminds me of the old swatches (there i go showing my age, 37).

Bobby_80s

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i installed them but i havent had time yet to modify the dash to fit the 82-84 style gauge trim, i gotta totaly modify the headlight switch area otherwise its fits in like a glove

Bobby_80s

iTrader: (2)

here is just some more photos of before and after that i had to remove before because of lisence plates etc...

kuulkatdadieo

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Are there backfaces available for those gauges?? Or do like that raw look??

Bobby_80s

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im getting new smoked glass cut since the guy i bought them from didnt take care of the plastic an they are too scratched up for me to use. once they are cut and installed to cover up the raw look with the face plate i will post pictures. unfortunately these gauges r discontinued otherwise i would recommend these for everyone


keep in mind guys im still tweakingthings this post isn't finished yet once spring comes ill be able to get the suspension and tires upgraded and ready for the road and i still wana do alil knight rider/back to the future mixture with cool buttons installed replacing those ugly gray buttons in the dash and hopefully be able to put some with a custom switch plate retrofitted in the upper console

kuulkatdadieo

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Can't wait to see the backfaces. Good luck on the Knight Rider theme, also.