I picked up an '87 Trans Am almost 3 years ago for $900. I have been slowly taking it apart since then in order to get rid of all the rusted areas and bring it back up to spec so that I can have a fun daily driver.



This is the car as I bought it. Looks pretty good until you take a look underneath...
----------
After I removed the interior, which took a long time, this is what I was faced with.

Driver Side

Passenger Side

Time to learn how to weld.

 

I have the driverside rear seat almost done. It took a while to fabricate the frame rail that runs underneath it.


I've also started to work on the ds floor pan. I've got the rusty metal pretty much all cut out and have welded in some braces and a set of mac sub frame connectors before I cut out the cross supports.

I'll be working on the car almost all week so I should have updates fairly regularly.

 

Good job!
Keep up with the pics, my 87 Formula is getting the same treatment and I sure want to follow your progress.

 

It's a nice looking T/A with the exeption of the rust.

 

whats with the passenger door to fender gap? and man Im glad my floors dont look like that! looks like you've got it all under control though, good luck and keep us posted

 

How hard is/was it to remove the interior

 

it isnt that hard to remove the interior. it takes a couple of days but no longer and it takes just as long to put it in some times trying to remember where everything goes. Depends on how much you take out also.

 

@firebird896
Yeah SonyMaster20 is right. Taking out the interior is mostly just time consuming. The worst part is the HVAC system under the dash.

@Tmic87TPI
The Passenger side door I think had sagged and bent the fender in.

I'll take some pics of the mac subframe connectors today. I don't think I've ever seen any on thridgen yet.

 

!!!



Is it really that hard to find a rust free car? That's incredible! I'd be scared of that car even if it was fixed. If you can see rust like that, I bet there is a bunch more rust you can't see in places. But, it seems like you know what you're up against.

Anyway, props to you for fixing it. I know It's more than I would attempt.

 

yeah looks like you got a lot on your hands. its not hard to take out the interior so much is it to put it back in with out coming up with extra parts just make sure everything is labeled and thread all the nuts bolts and screws back after you get the part off if you can that helps a lot

 

So did a bunch of work today.


Got the rest of the old floor pan out as well as the cross braces. Cleaned up and straightened the cross braces out (air chisel did a number on them). You can also see the mac sfc.

I think the next order of business is to patch up the rocker panel and the inner fender. He is an upside down pic of inside the rocker...

It looks passable for the most part...

 

I don't feel so bad about my floorboards now. My 92 Camaro had been sitting outside unused for 3 years, with dead window motors (drivers side stuck open about 4 inches). Began the process of gutting it recently, and decided I'd go ahead and pull the seats out to give me more room to move around. Started on the bolts for the driver seat..rusted tight; pulled the lever to slide the seat forward..seat mount pretty much disintigrated into chunks of rust. I was to scared to lift the carpet to see the extent of the damage..since the back of the seat pretty much lifted right off the floor. I just went inside and started pricing floorpans.../cry Guess this is what I get for ignoring my baby for so long.

 

Eewww...

 

Well, my weld broke. I think I toasted a relay or something because the wire feed no longer works.

 

You could of jammed up the wire feed.open the side of the welder stip the wire pull the old wire out of the hose and feed it threw again.Are you welding with gas? look like you quit some work ahead of you i thought my floor was bad nowhere near as bad as yours.good luck

 

Yeah it wasn't just a jam. I think one of the relays is burnt out. Its at welder repair shop now hopefully I'll get it back soon.
I think I'm going to start on some of the other things I need to do. My steering column need to be rebuilt and I still need to cut some rusted bolt out. That should be tomorrows job.

 

Are you going to leave it stock? I like the red/silver combo with the original wheels. I know many people here dislike the 15" wheels, but I think they look good with white letter tires. Just my .

 

I'm going to give it the $50 dollar paint job. And I think I've settled on yellow. The rims will stay until I can find/afford a set of the GTA/Trans Am mesh ones.

 

LOL, I guess I'm strange then , I like the directional T/A wheels better than my gold GTA wheels.

 

I guess I can show you this poorly photoshopped pic. I think blacked out mesh wheels will look pretty slick with the yellow paint.

*I took the original image from the TGO t-shirts.

I do like the wheels now. I just like the black mesh look a bit more.

 

Looks like you have a good size project.
I have to say, I am impressed since you are taking on a job that many would not dare too.

 

Wow ....

 

I was just looking at the original pictures again, and noticed the price on the windshield of $2299. Glad to see you got it for $900.00, if I was someone out there looking for a car to buy, and spent $2299 on the car only to discover that much rust on the floor pan, then I would be pissed off. For $900.00 I could accept it.

Any more progress pictures.

 

My welder is still in the shop so I have got nothing else done.

 

Okay. Got the welder back from the shop and got busy.

Crappy rusted rocker gone.

Nice new one.

I think I can get the back of the fender part done today. Then the floorpan goes in!

 

wow!!..you have more work than I do!!Maybe you can weld my SFC and LCARs when youre done

 

Sure thing Daz. As long as I can borrow that crane again.

 

So went out to get the floor pan trimmed and ready to put in and realized how shitty the inside of my frame rail is. So this need to be redone before the floor.

I had to chisel out the the tranny cross member bolts.

 

Is this the look you're going for?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-...=p4506.c0.m245

 

WOW!! The salt and moisture eats these cars alive!! We dont have rust here. MUCH RESPECT, for tackling a job I wouldnt!!! Thats dedication. Nice work too!

 

Yeah 80schild. That is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for except I want a bit more rake and a spoiler delete.

Should be able to get a lot done this week. I want to get the floor done on both sides and get on with the quarter panels.

 

Got my LT1 torn down today. Tomorrow its off to the machine shop. Also I'm hoping to have the driverside floor pan in tomorrow.

After all day.

 

So wat was the engine in the car before? 350?

You should have just ordered from classic industries(OEM). They have whole floor pans you can get. Just an idea

 

It was a 305 LG4. I have both driver and passenger full length floor pans. I have to get rid of the old ones and drill out a million holes for plug welds.

 

Ah must of misunderstood ya.

 

Wow damn good work man, I thought mine was a lot but that's crazy!!! and for keeping the beast alive and not giving up on it like many others would have.

 

Exactly what I am in the process of now...

Do you have any pics of how much floor you have removed? How much did you have to repair the front of the rockers? Are you removing all the old pan and welding in new or are you leaving the trans tunnel in place and welding up to it?

 

Got the floor pan in last night. Ill just be using the entire pans as it is probably easiest. You can see all the holes for the plug welds.

 

Any pics before and after the floor went in? I am getting pretty close to welding in my pans also.. Just need to finish up the passenger rocker and paint inside the frame rails - in fact, i am headed into the garage right now to go work on it

 

Yeah I have a ton of pics in my gallery.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v716/DanTheAngry/Car/

 

Are you replacing the passenger side too? Why did you decide to put in the DS first? I ask b/c there is a flange on the DS pan that goes over the top of the PS pan so I am electing to put in the passenger side first..

 

Originally I was only going to replace the DS so that's why I started there. But, it probably makes more sense to do the PS side first or both at the same time.

 

This is exactly what i need to do. Who much were the ds and ps pans. What company did u get them from

 

I got the pans from Carquest. They ran about $350 Canadian each before taxes.

 

oh ok thanks. Is the job really hard to do

 

I started this project knowing nothing about cars or how to weld. It's not very difficult but there is a learning curve. It is also extremely time consuming since you have to take apart most of the car and it takes up a lot of space since you have to take apart most of the car.

 

It's great to see soo much energy in the face of soooo much adversity!! Great job.....you'll feel pretty good about it when it's all done and you are driving around again..........make sure you seal it all up with some por 15 or equivalent to keep it from rusting agin.

 

Hey Dan,

Very impressive...I would have sent that car to the wreckers. You're welding looks pretty good...my only advice is to make sure you get enough penetration (heat) in the welds to the braces, and make sure everything sits flat before you weld. If you weld when the panel isn't sitting flat, it can 'pop-can' as you are driving. Also, another trick is to back the welds in thin places (eg. that buttweld at the back of the pan, and any of the spot-welds that you may have drilled out into the brace) with some alunimum so that you don't blow through. Makes me glad I kept my wreck...you guys fixing floors would freak if you saw how nice the floors were, especially for a car pulled out of the wreckers. Good luck!!!

 

Thanks for all the support guys. Also thanks for the welding advice 89junkradgta.

I have today and the weekend off so hopefully I can get the passenger side done.

 

Looks good. IT would have taken me along time to tackle that job.