Alright guys... here's my situation. I'm in the latter stages of my senior year in high school (dismiss serious post reading here) and I've been wanting a 3rd gen for a LONG time now, and have finally tracked one down that will be at a reasonable price, and it was under my nose the entire time. Allow me to explain; My aunt has an 86 or 87 blue on gray Trans Am (w/ adidas rims) sitting in her driveway. Its got a 4-barrel 305 and a 700-r4. It's been sitting there for quite some time, and she's willing to hand the title over to me for the price of a title change around here, which is like 70$. Unbeatable. The problem is that the poor T/A has been sitting in neglect for several years, and the T-tops leak horribly. The interior is moldy/mildew-ie and it all needs redone.

What kind of expenses am I looking at here to replace all the rubber seals on the t-tops and doors?
It also needs a new headliner, and I want to grab some 4th gen seats.
I'm sure this has been done 1000's of times, and I want to know if this is worth getting into (and getting the car)

My scheming with my lacking high school job funds have me at a budget of around 3,500$ for a build/resto (I have a ford f150 as my daily scoot)

4th gen seats/restored weatherstripping/seals
new Headliner
How much?


My dad is a serious gearhead and an auto/diesel mechanic for over two decades (and now works engineering tech, not that you guys are concerned with that) so experience is not an issue, and I've got plenty of contacts lined up for parts and specialty labor. I plan on having my first major learning/build experience with this vehicle.

the other goods:
355 or a 383 (depending on how cheap i can get my hands on a decent crank) putting down about 280-300 at the rear wheels
Mildly worked 700-r4 with a B&M Megashifter
Mildly worked rear.

any insight/encouragement/warnings/smacks on the head are welcome.
Thanks TGO!

 

Well, for $70 you really can't go wrong IMO, but I would give it a thorough look over first, check for rust is in the quarters above the wheels at the wheels arch, and the back under the rear GFX. Check the underside, and check the inner for on the bottom and see if/what kind of rust there is. If you're lucky (unlike me) you live in a southern state and this is not an issue. You didn't mention anything about paint, so I'll assume its in decent shape/can be buffed out.

Figure 250-200 for new (good) carpet, and depending on what kind of deal you can score some 4th gen seats.

Now to address the weatherstripping. If you get new GM parts (I don't recommend it, it's UBER expensive) it will cost a lot. I have heard a lot of good things about the Soffseal products, and they are MUCH MUCH less expensive that Genuine GM.

A new headliner will run about $200 I think, get one with the ABS backing. it is a lot stronger than the cardboard crap that came in our cars. I love mine, and no more sag, ever really.

Now if you want to rebuild your trans, give Dana @ ProBuilt a call. His stuff is top notch. I rebuilt my trans using his kit, and its standing up behind my 425+ HP engine no problems. He offers different kits, and if you have any questions he gives amazing tech support. Give him a call!

I don't think you could build a good 383 with your budget, but I think a good 355 would be perfect for what you're looking for. I used vortec heads, the GMPP hotcam, and a performer RPM intake and absolutely loved it. Was good for 350+ at the flywheel. If you can get your hands on a later model Vortec core, they have the powdered rods as well and have stood up to my abuse so far.

If you want to work the rear what are you talking about? Do you just want to change the gears? So you know what gears you have in it at the moment? The highest I would go for street only would be a 3.42's, and if you hit the track I would go with 3.73's, but you'll sacrifice some gas mileage... If you NEED to rebuild your rear end talk to the people at DTS...they were awesome. And if you are planning on hitting the track, you might want to get a girdle cover from them as well.

Personally I would not get a megashifter if you never plan on hitting the track., but if you do I would still shy away from the megashifter and look at these.

I don't know if all this can fit into your budget, but I would do the engine last, as it may eat a majority of you budget. Get everything else to handle the motor you plan on building someday, because broken parts are never fun.

 

also one quick thought, while your there checking out everything, check the floors because if the ttops leak, your going to have rotted floors.

 

dang... I KNEW I left something out! Thanks

 

Where do you live? There's a Trans Am that's exactly like the one you describe really close to where I live. Blue on gray, same wheels, and it's been sitting there for as long as I can remember...

 

Dude you can't go wrong at all for $70 smackers. I'd just try to get it running and learn how to work on her and have some fun, Make a few memories. Make sure the engine is freed up, change all your fluids, check your floorplans, fix the weatherstriping, clean the interior, rebiuld your Quad and drive it for a bit. Why was it parked in the first place? Find out and fix that also! Just making it drivable again will eat up some of your budget. Rock on!

 

Thanks for all the replies, guys! I'm in southeast PA, by the way.
The car was parked because it was my aunt's "I'm in my last year of college and I can afford it and its a sports car" Car... and then she got married, and the car went to her step-son, and he moved on, so there the car sits...

Tech Stuff: I'm not worried about the trans very much--I have a contact lined up for that, and I only really wanna rebuild + Shift kit.
As for the megashifter, my dad has one in his big block-ed '70 chevy c10 pickup and i really like the way it works, so I'm pretty sure i'm going to go with it--stubborn, I know. (and I do plan on hitting the track on friday nights in the summer)
And for the rear, I want to get the tubes welded all the way around, and 3.73s or 3.42s, and maybe another strengthening mod or two so I don't tear it apart when I hit the track.


Tmic87TPI: you bring up another major area of concern--the floorpans. I'm not sure what kind of condition they are in, but the car has been leaking, and I don't know the easiest way to check the problem out. Any suggestions?

also... where can I check out the soffseal stuff?
finally, any particular store you guys recommend?

And as for appearance... Once the car is bearable on the inside, the engine build starts, and I could care less what it looks like on the outside (until I can actually afford exterior beautification) vbmenu_register("postmenu_3600446", true);


thanks again for all the help

 

For the floorpans look under the car and see if you can see any holes. Also remove the interior trim and pull pack the carpet. I had the same problem but i didnt have the liberty of checking as the car was my birthday present and i just dealt with the problem now. If your looking for this car as a project car, depending on the condition of the floorpans you might need new ones altogether or you can weld in new metal. You cant really go wrong for 70$ though. Specifically with a t-top car check in the front left corner of the drivers side, water likes to sit there and rust out. Also check the inner fender in the bottom corner behind the wheel, my car has holes there also. You might sacrifice building an engine, to get the body back to good shape but its worth it trust me. I had the same plans as you and now im in college taking steps to gettin my body perfect but i cant build my engine until thats done. Hopefully its not too rusted though. Good luck

 

You can get Soffseal on ebay or directly from them at their website.

The car wouldn't happen to be in Joppatowne, MD, would it?

 

nah... its up here in Pennsylvania

 

Will do... the front left part of the driver's seat apparently was always getting damp from a drip... so i'm especially worried about that.

thanks again!


Sorry about the double post... I don't know how to delete them

 

For the price of a title transfer, you can't go wrong. I don't care what shape it's in. One thing though, I guarantee you it will run more than $70. PA passed a wonderful law in 97 that requires you to pay sales tax on what the car is blue-booked at, not what you paid. I guess our wonderful state legislature thought they were getting ripped off when cars were passed from one family member to another. One way to lessen the tax you pay is to tell them that the car needs restored adn is being sold to you as-is. Then tell them you only paid $100 for it or something like that. Had to do that when I transferred the title for mine. I live in the southwest end of PA. Also, don't forget about emissions testing over there. Check with a good mechanic about getting it to pass once your engine mods are done.As for checking for rust, definitely want to pull up the carpet one driver's front side and look. Mine has minimal rust/holes looking from under the car, but once I pulled up the carpet, I found the whole corner is rotted out. I'm welding new patches in now and its not fun. You might be better off right now just buying some old, ripped 3rd gen seats to get it back on the road and then upgrading to the 4th gen seats later on. That way you can put more $$ into the engine. You should have no problem getting that kind of power out of a 355, and with a 383 I would imagine that is the minimum you would get from it.If you need a set of T-top seals, I have a set that came with my car that I don't think I'll need. I'm almost positive that the guy who sold me the car said he replaced them not that long ago. If your interested, I'll double check with him when I see him this weekend and let you know. You can have them for $50+shipping. They are about 2-3 years old, but are still in the box and still soft. I believe they are the GM ones, but not 100% sure of that.Let us know how she looks. Pics are always appreciated.

 

I swapped my entire interior over from one color to another for under $1000, so $3500 is more than enough to do all the interior, weatherstripping, and some motor work if you do all the work yourself and buy some of the interior stuff in good used condition:new carpet and headliner, but recovered sail panels, good used seats, etc. I don't think I have $3500 in cosmetic repairs on my car yet and I painted it, swapped interior, rebuilt motor...I might be at about $3500 now...but still, you get the idea. That is a pretty good budget and since you don't have to buy the car, I agree with everyone else in the fatc that you can't go wrong. Like they said, just make sure there isn't terrible rot rust-wise before you start doing all the other work. Pull the seats and interior and yank the carpet before anything to see where you are with the floorpans and body. If the car looks alright from the outside and underneath, I would get it, then pull carpet and see if it worth going further into or not. If not, you're only out a few hundred bucks tops, and you can get that right back out of it selling it as a parts car worst case scenerio. Can't go wrong.

 

dude for $70 rip the interior out, put 2 seats in it, make it drivable and have fun. u wont regret buying it! even if it is rusty, u could drive this one till one in better shape comes along (what i did). i wish i had that chance, i miss driving mine and its only been in storage for 3 months.

 

For that cheap, you may as well pick it up. I would get it running and start driving it. Get the body done first then the interior, and then do the engine. Hold off of the engine as long as you can and get it done right the 1st time. As long as it runs, then do a rolling restoration.

 

Hey, sorry to steal your post. but a buddy of mine is thinking about selling his 87 camaro. no iroc package. it is in mint condition, and has t-tops and an 800 dollar stereo system in it. it is a five speed manual. he says he might sell it to me for $3500. is it worth it? it has approx. 120xxx miles on it. it will be my first one and i am looking into what these things are going for. i love this car and have been looking for one for a while now.