Probably going to be looking at this 87 GTA this weekend a few cities over from me. According to the guy that has it now, it's been sitting for about 7 years and there was gas in the tank so long story short the tank ended up getting thrown out, along with the pump, sending unit. He's well above your average mechanic but insists the car can't be run without those parts. It has roughly 120k, digital dash that's pretty much trash. All the correct GTA emblems, options, etc.

Now in my head I'm thinking, why not just shoot some ether in the intake?

He says the engine turns over just fine and the oil looks clean as well as the antifreeze is still green. Also the automatic transmission color is nice and red and not burn't. It was a project for him but all of a sudden he's given up after dropping the tank, etc. Claims it's a matter of time and not money. Is it possible he's trying to hide something with it, maybe he knows something I don't? It's odd to just walk away from something like that.

 

Nobody has any input? Am I being too optimistic here?

 

Its normal, I realized what I got myself into on my GTA, some people are just lazy. Might as well go check it out

 

Thanks. How did yours turn out? Was it worth it?

 

Well I asked the guy about starting it and this was his reply.

"The price aside, which is just a starting point anyway, how would you suggest doing this? Color me silly but my days of using a bucket of gas and a line to the carb are long past. Besides, how would I get the fp high enough to allow the injectors to cycle properly?"

 

How much is he asking? If it doesn't run just assume the motor is trash. If he is charging too much, walk away.

 

Mine isn't done yet(far from done lol), got any pics of the car?

 

Here are a few pics of it btw

 

The rust kind of scares me...particularly on the hood. I would definitely get a look at the floorboards before making a decision. Pretty rusty under the hood too, most importantly the driver's shock tower brace. I would be more concerned about the body than the engine at this point.

On the plus side, the interior looks like it's nice. However I'm assuming that the driver's seat entry bolster is worn out/torn because it looks like whoever was taking the photos purposely avoided the part that always shows the most wear. Keep in mind that no one makes cloth seat covers for these cars.

If the body is solid, I'd offer somewhere in the $4-500 range with its current lack of necessary-to-start mechanicals.

 

Nice eye. Hadn't really noticed that but I will be going over this car from top to bottom. Also, this used to be a White car but was repainted in the 1990's.
Ran a carfax and last reported mileage was 130k back in 1998. I can only imagine what it's at now.

He originally wanted $1800 and I told him I wouldn't go over $1k for it. But after doing tons more research and going over the car with the pics, I think it's going to be much lower than that. It's definitely going to need some work.
From the carfax though, looked like an original FL car. So far he's been straight forward and honest about everything. Also told me there was some blistering on the driver side A pillar down where it meets the fender-door.

 

I don't think you can go wrong at 1300. You'd get it back in parts easy if it came to that.

 

Just curious. Where'd 1300 come from?

 

When I first got my IROC I started it with a bucket of gas and line like you described. I jacked up the front end so the gas wouldn't roll out the front but it wasn't necessary. The suction keeps it going. Off the jack stands you can put it in gear to check out the tranny too.
When I did this to my car it started right up and the tranny lurched forward and back like it was brand new.

Keep the extinguisher handy....

 

A better explanation..

I just did this the other day to a 4th gen but it works well on third gens too. Most recently I just used an old shampoo bottle with the fold down squirt nozzle on top and filled it half full of gas.

Unhook the rubber air cleaner hose from the TPI and leave it open a crack leaving everything else in place like the MAF ect.. Have someone start cranking the engine and just squirt a little gas right into the throttle body as he cranks.
Either will work too of course but it runs better on gas. If it starts right up just give it some gas to keep it going.

If it's a good engine it should start running on it's own with just a tiny bit of gas coming from the bottle but you should be able to add more gas and hit the throttle to rev it up a bit.

Then hold the brake and put it in gear to see if the tranny works. On second thought put a brick in front of the wheels in case the brakes don't work.

You can't test drive it this way but you can test things like Oil pressure, radiator and temp, tranny, brakes, gauges, ect.

 

I got your message as well. I was thinking along the lines of this but just wasn't sure if there was another way you were referring to. I'm definitely going to give this a shot and hopefully see what's up with the engine and make sure all is decent with it.

On a side note, got some underbody pics and the car is SOLID. Really like what I saw. Hopefully going to look at it this weekend and I'll let you know how things turn out.

 

cool

 

Bought the car tonight. Got it for $700 bucks. Was a steal but I got away clean.

 

$700 that is a good deal.

 

keep us posted on getting it running. Maybe we'll see you at Old Town...

 

Pics or it didn't happen.....

 

makes me feel like I got a horrible deal on mine, Nice buy!

 

Sorry guys been away from the PC since I been tinkering on the car. Today before I did anything, I took some starter fluid to the intake and gave the key a turn, she started immediately! Not even a hiccup or anything. Sounds great!

I took the dash all apart and turns out some bulbs were blown, cleaned up the contacts and put it all back together. Now everything works as it should, how accurate it will be, no clue. Car only has 139k on the odo, got tons of receipts from when the original owner had it, even have the original title from 1988. Got both the owners manual and service book for 87, tons of stuff. The car is solid, needs some care but I seriously stole this from the guy. He original got it for $1600 btw. Will upload a few pics in a bit.

 

Anybody know where I could get replacement gauges and not the whole cluster? Also what's up with that rear view mirror?

 

That interior is in really good condition. You really did get a good deal on this car.