WOW the stuff I did today was a PITA!!

I thought that removing these accessory brackets and water pump wouldn't take anymore than 30 minutes for both... boy was I wrong. Removing the water pump was very easy though.

2 hours later and I still have the driver's side one left on. It actually won't budge, I can swear that I removed all the screws/bolts. What can be holding it in? Maybe the PS pump? But that looks to be attached just to the bracket not counting the hoses.

And why did GM use annoying torx (spelling?) screws on the brackets? I'm gonna go to a fastener shop tomorrow and see if I can find the regular hex-head replacements because I hate working with torx screws.

Well here's a couple pictures:





My plan is to clean and paint the water pump black and the aluminum brackets silver. I might remove and paint the rocker covers as well since I'm in this deep anyway and they have some rust on them too.

Once I get the driver's side off, I'd like to take the car outside again and pressure wash the engine bay again with these parts off. Get it nice and clean!

 

You need to remove the power steering pump first, to get at the bolts behind it. No other way. That means removing the pulley on the P/S pump, which requires the specific puller.

 

Dang you ^^^, guess mines staying on.

 

It can be a bear to get it off, but if you're gonna clean it up, might as well you know!? Makes a huge difference having clean stuff on there. Prime example. this was before I opted to get a whole new engine

 

Mmm, again, dang you. Going to check tomorrow if my puller is an installer (pretty sure it is), I want to paint them so bad now...

Yup...Power Steering Puller/Installer...it is. Doing this tomorrow.

P.S. Might take them into work and have them sand blasted. Otherwise how did you prep them for paint, especially the deep little cracks and crevices? Thanks.

 

Alright got some more crap done today...

Decided to trim the new fenders to fit the convertible:
Now the duct tape on my wrists was there to keep my sleeves from sliding up and letting sparks shower my bare arms. I was using an old jacket that's a little too small that I don't care about anymore. The reason I was cutting from the inside was that there was a bracket that was actually right on the line that the convertible company used to trim them.



Test fitting them on the car:
I love these older T/A fenders with the vents.



They fit decently, they just need to get bent into shape slightly in some areas.
They're just dusty.


Annnndd I got my driver's side bracket off! yay! Turns out there were a couple of annoying torx screws that I missed (gonna be replaced with regular hex bolts).



Just got my PS pump off of the bracket too, as you can see it was a war zone:



^^^ that was probably my least favorite part of this whole "project." Decided to call it quits for the day after I finished that since I became pretty sore from wrestling with it. With all the crap that this required, I think I might get a new PS pump to save me the trouble in the future... and this one seems to have a small leak.

 

I did sandblast them and paint them

 

Nice. I actually dropped off my accessory brackets, belt tensioner, and water pump for blasting today. I'm gonna have everything powder coated too (brackets are gonna be silver and tensioner is gonna be black) with the exception of the pump for obvious reasons. I'll just hit that with engine enamel. I plan on having the power steering box blasted as well, hopefully I'll be able to drop that off soon.

 

Oh and the new antenna came today... I thought I'd try this little concealed one instead of the power antenna (which is broken anyway). The black antenna box is only about 4 inches long. I think I might mount it on top of the windshield on the passenger side. I'll let you guys know how it works!

 

Awsome work man, Keep it up, Love seeing the Trans am Convertibles.

 

Thanks! And I have a little update too. I decided against getting the belt brackets blasted/coated for now because of funds getting strained. I reassembled most of the stuff under the hood, mechanically, all I have left is reconnecting the radiator and a few other small things. I got a new water pump too. Then I'll have the front hood, nose, and fenders to reinstall. I hit a rusty part of the frame by the battery with some rust converter paint and some green touch up paint. That alone made the engine bay look much better.



I didn't do all of it since I still need to take the car to a shop to have a new battery tray welded in.

 

Just got my engine compartment finished and painted the same color green to. And installed the new power steering pump. It is like looking at my car when I see your engine compartment pics. Except my battery is on the passenger side! Looks good man!

 

looks awesome man cant wait to see the end product! you should pull the motor, rebuild it, and get the whole car, including the engine bay, painted

 

Well I'd like to swap it one day for a 350 TPI, since it looks stock but its a lot faster and has tons more potential... but the 305 works fine for now... maybe I'll try to wake it up with a full exhaust (hopefully that'll be done soon) and maybe a cam or something. I wonder if my A/C delete will make a noticeable difference. During that swap I'd most likely gut the engine bay and get it painted nicely like you're suggesting. I can't wait to see the car "finished" in a month or so, but don't count on a show car... at least under the hood. It'll still look 100x better than before all around though. This project will probably span the life of the car but this thread is for the stuff I'm doing to it right now.

 

well I took the Trans Am out for its first drive in over 2 months today! It was a short one nonetheless but at least I know she runs. I just had to finish hooking up the radiator, attach the taillights, and front turn-signals. I filled the rad with just water since I wanted to flush out the old coolant anyway. The car ran fine; started on just a bump of the key and ran with little drama.

Although I gotta recheck all the radiator hoses/connections since I think I have a leak. I saw some water in an indent on the engine by the thermostat housing after the drive and the temperature was kinda funky during. At first she ran pretty cool, with the needle remaining consistently in between the cold and 220 mark (probably 170-180). That was for about 6-7 minutes. However after some more driving, the needle fairly suddenly rose to a little over 220. Before I started this project, the engine would only hit 220 after a few minutes standing still. This time the car was moving the whole time. The whole trip was probably just over 10 minutes. The overflow tank was almost dry too. I filled it to the "cold" line before going out and upon return, it was almost empty. Should be no big deal though.

My fans and rad spoiler weren't installed yet, but considering the car looked like this, I'm sure the rad was getting plenty of airflow. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Excuse the shotty cell phone picture. And that's my DD right next to the TA.

 

It's been a little while but I got some more little stuff done during the past couple days. Sorry about the cell phone pics.

I got a can of duplicolor primer and touch up paint that matched my car and I painted the upper part of the front sub-frame (proper vocab?) since I thought it would look better. Especially considering that part is still visible after the car is reassembled.
It was coated with Chassis Saver, so I just sanded it lightly to let the primer claw into it better.
Primed:


Painted:


I also painted a bunch of random rusty parts, like the air filter housing, the thing that it mounts to, and that plate that attaches to the sub frame (with the hood latch... what's it called?). You can see the TA sticking its nose out of the garage with the freshly painted sub frame part (wanted to let the sun bake the paint in better).



Ew:


Well I didn't go crazy with fixing those. I just took a wire brush/sand paper and knocked off the loose flaky rust. Then I washed them with simple green and coated them with Rustoleum Rust Converter paint. That stuff seems to work decently, I haven't used it much but it hasn't given me problems so far. I didn't get a picture of those last two parts painted but its basically a flat-black paint. Probably soon I'm gonna coat the thing that holds the air filter glossy black and the plate the factory green color to make it all look finished.

Hopefully tomorrow I can finish painting the wheel wells and the other parts that get covered by the fenders with Chassis Saver and start preparing the body for reassembly.

 

More stuff done!

I painted a few random parts:
(notice the "before" pictures in my last post)

This thing is still a bit pitted from the rust as you can see but it looks A LOT better being a nice glossy black.



Some rust was forming on the tray holding the airfilter mount and that black plastic cylinder thing (what is that thing anyway?).



So I fixed that. I painted it the factory green since then, no picture of that yet sorry.



Got this thing primed:


And painted:



Looks soooo much better than before. And this paint is a very close match to the original paint on the car. All it needs is some clear coat to be a perfect match but I'm not gonna bother clear-coating any parts under the hood.

.......

 

The factory seam sealer is a breeding ground for rust. I had to sand a lot of it off by the wheel wells and then coat it with Chassis Saver.
Man this stuff turns into silly string when you hit it with a wire wheel haha.



Overall shot:



You can see random black spots in and around the wheel wells. Those are the places that I coated with Chassis Saver to kill the rust. I didn't bother making it nice and uniform since it's all gonna get covered by the fenders/inner fenders anyway.

And whoa what's wrong with this picture?



That probably at least partially explains the erratic handling, especially on bumpy roads! Oh well, more reason to overhaul the suspension anyway.

And another overall shot for good measure lol:



Some of the pictures were still with my cellphone. I remembered to take my digital camera with me but I forgot the damn memory card at home from uploading earlier pictures! d'oh

 

And I meant to ask, what do you guys think of Summit Racing brand suspension components, particularly sway bar links?

 

I hope you guys are reading this hahaha.

I got around to replacing both front sway bar links with a set of heavy-duty Moogs today:





Although it seems as if that one is a little crooked, my passenger side one feels to be a little straighter. I hope my sway bar isn't bent.

The back needed new ones too!



It didn't feel right putting on new links onto those disgusting flaky mounts so I took em out for sanding and paint.



And I put some Chassis Saver on the frame where they mount to.



......

 

Just showing how the rust formed. Of course I had to cut them out with a saws-all.


And a random overall pic of her... you can see how I ghetto-rigged the license plate onto the rear bumper for that joyride I went on a couple weeks ago.



Man this looks so much better now, just gotta clean the dust/pollen off:

What is that plastic cylinder for anyway?

Hopefully I'll have the rear links on soon, since I ran out of time today and the rust-converter paint I put on the rear mounts apparently requires 24 hours to dry anyway.

And I also would like to put in fresh front struts and clean up the spindle since the brand new links in the front look kinda weird with all that rust around them. Maybe even blast/coat the control arms as well. I mainly did that so the car is drivable at least for now. And I'll put new shocks in the rear once I get a disc 3.23/3.42 rear end for it.

So tell me, for this car, would you recommend a 3.23 or 3.42?

 

And I wanna get these shocks:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/KY...model|TRANS+AM
The price isn't bad at all and I don't need anything too fancy. This car is gonna be a daily driver (except for bad weather) during the warm months. And I'd like something that's good at cruising and spirited drives on curvy roads. So are these KYBs gonna work out for me you think?

 

Your making good progress on your car. Everything is looking good. The good thing about yours is you got to drive it before you started on it. You should be able to tell a big difference replacing the worn suspension parts.

 

Yah, nice job - Its good to see what someone else has done, and what steps to take when I get a little farther into my car . . .

 

Cool, call me crazy but I like thoes jimmys lol.

 

That's how I'm learning!

Haha nah they're good trucks. Mine isn't great on gas but it's never left me stranded and can take a beating. The 4.3 in it is actually based off of the Chevy 350 V8 with just 2 cylinders removed. It's a good engine.

 

Yeah I got a 1999 Jimmy with the 4.3 as a DD for winter. And its a good truck. But I honestly like the 1994's beter lol. Got any pics of it?

 

Do I?!



And after my dad's Tundra pulled it out:



Stupid open diffs. lol
I'll see if I can find some more. If I do I'll post em up.

Oh and I like the 1st gens too, but they usually rust really badly up here. At least GM improved the rust protection on the 2nd gens since I hardly see any of those get rotten.

 

Geez man you beat the hell out of that thing. Yeah Im in Michigan where they salt the crap out of everything. 1st gen Jimmys and Blazers are ALL rusted out here. Like really badly rusted. And I dont see them much any more.

 

lol I do sometimes but this picture is pretty unusual. I don't totally beat on it but when I do subject it to abuse it always comes back for more. Pretty much the only thing that broke was the driver's rear leaf spring. It cracked where it mounts to the frame.

OH and I ordered a pair of KYB GR-2 struts for the Trans Am last night! And I plan on getting balljoints and other various front end parts soon.

 

The round canister you asked about is the EVAP canister. The system helps trap fuel vapor from the fuel tank to burn in the engine. It also helps regulate the fuel tank pressure. It's a "passive" system, so it doesn't cost you anything but space. Removal of the device could reduce fuel mileage.

 

Thanks! That explains why it smells a little like gas.

And a little update!

I replace a section of my main fuel line and return line today due to heavy rust. This was the section under the hood just inches away from a manifold. It was a little scary lol. But this was probably the most aggravating thing I've done so far... it took me almost all day! I had to bend, re-bend, and bend some more to get the new sections to fit.

replaced this crap:



where it's attached to the original lines:



and what it looks like now:



I know, I gotta clean it up a little since it looks pretty bad. I painted the lines black for some extra rust protection, but it all got scratched up from me wrestling them in. Oh well, this is temporary at best anyway, since my plan is to replace all of the fuel lines with nice stainless steel stuff when I find a new rear end. To drop the tank, you have to remove the rear end so I thought I might as well do that all together when I find a good 3.42.

AND I'm pleased to announce that I just ordered a bunch of parts to rebuild my front end! Ball joints, inner/outer tie rods, center link, and idler arm. All Moog parts too. All of this should be here in a couple weeks. Hopefully now I can stop that floaty feeling once and for all. Once I start that I also want to remove and paint my springs, control arms, and sway bar. That k-bar looks gross too. Do you think I can drop that while keeping the engine in the car? There's no way I could pull the engine right now.

I ordered new struts, and I'm torn as to whether or not I should order new mounting plates for those as well. What do you think?

And here's another random picture of my DD, since Curtisyz asked.
I like whoring out pictures of my cars.
Action shot! weeeeeee




And RIP Lech Kaczyński

 

Your making me feel bad now, my rust (in the same section) on my fuel line is more severe than yours. I plan on replacing all my fuel and brake lines when I get my floor pans done, but your rust doesn't look half as bad as mine does. Carry on.

 

Goodies started coming in today.


Yes the lower strut arrived poking through the box like that. The strap that was compressing it fell off. But the threads and shaft seems fine so I'm relieved.

But I'm kinda disappointed that the center link didn't come with some sort of coating. Oh well, I guess I'll spray it with black Rustoleum enamel to prevent rust.

 

you will get a a alignment problem with your doors. need to put a jack or a stand under the center of the rear axle then you will not have a problem opening your doors. swing into my site and see how the under carrage has been painted. your into alot of fun

enjoy

 

got some stuff done!

Got the rear bumper removed. That was hell since only 2 bolts unscrewed on their own... the rest I had to cut out. Took a looooong time and I broke 2 sawzall blades in the process.

You can see the surface rust on the unibody:

Some Chassis Saver took care of that!



^^I also got the area around the trunk since there were a few spots here and there.... and I wanted a uniform look.

And I got the rear spoilers removed:
Its amazing how all that crap gets caught under them... wow!



And most of my front-end parts have come in, all I'm waiting for are the tie-rod holders.

 

More crap!

Got pretty much everything mechanical put back together today, that meant replacing the TB coolant hose, and attaching the fans and upper rad mount. I topped off the rad with plain water to flush it and I ran the car for about 20 minutes in the driveway. Everything held up; no leaks and temp was within spec. Although only 1 fan would kick in... I'll have to check the connections I guess.

But most of the day today was spent fixing up the rust on the rear quarters and wheel wells.

A couple of before pics:




^^The gray primer was from a weak attempt to stop the rust a few months ago. Fixing it the right way now.

And this is what I found after poking around with a screwdriver


yuck... so much crud. And a lot of crap was stuck in the convertible rocker panel reinforcement. So I went to town:



^^Even though it was fine, I cut the little lip off of the rocker panel thing since it was in my way and all it would do was trap dirt and stuff that would promote rust in there. It wasn't even secured to anything.

I ended up doing the same thing to the other side, except i didn't have to cut as much out.



As you can see I sanded and threw chassis saver on the lips of the wheel wells since there was some surface rust. I'm gonna throw a few coats on and then sand it smooth. As for the holes I cut out, I think I might just grab a couple pieces of sheet metal, screw them on, smooth the edges with seam sealer, and then coat them to match everything else for a finished look. The purists might want to crucify me for that, but I can't weld it and its not like this is an important structural piece.

I'll also fiberglass the two holes that opened up in the passenger side wheel well, then I'll re-coat both wheel wheels with truck bed-liner or undercoating so they look uniform. I'm not feeling the random chassis saver spots lol

This should never rust again:


Annnd this week is spring break for me! I plan on getting lots done.

And here's a link to my photobucket account since I take a lot of pictures, a bunch which I never post up on here.

http://s751.photobucket.com/albums/x...sclecar70sfan/

 

Here's a couple cell phone pics of the car I took yesterday.





It's been a while since I posted here but I've been doing a lot to the TA in the meantime! I'm pretty much done fixing all of the dents and surface rust spots on the body. I'm almost done sanding the car for paint in hopes of at least laying down the primer this weekend. I removed almost anything that should get removed for paint, ie trim, mirrors, door locks, exposed weather stripping, etc.

I also had the old convertible-specific fender brackets welded onto the new fenders and I threw Chassis Saver on the inside of em. The fenders are almost ready, I just gotta finish bondo'ing the vents. Reason being is because the fit and finish of the plastic vents in the fenders was absolutely terrible so I trimmed them down and bondo'ed them onto the fenders to give a unique one-piece look. No pictures yet but I will post those up soon to show what I'm talking about.

I also finally replaced that busted driver's window motor! Just had to drill 3 holes and the old thing just popped out. Took about 30 minutes. The purists might hate it but I really don't mind drilling extra holes into something you can't normally see.



I also did some other stuff as well, just can't remember it right now lol.

 

Everybody's really quiet... but here's another update anyway lol.

Spent this entire evening prepping and spraying primer onto all of the gfx (except the front sections) and the insides of the fenders and hood. I started at around 5-5:30 pm and started heading home at around 10:30 pm. Mainly because this was my first time using a spray gun rather than just a rattle can.

Parts all prepped and sanded:



Primer!



closeup of the hood and fenders:






For my very first time doing this, I think I did pretty decently. Very few runs, and small ones at that. I plan on throwing the base coat on the insides of the fenders and hood and putting them back on the car very soon then basecoat/clearcoat on the gfx. And hopefully sometime next week or next weekend I'll primer/paint the whole car.

Memorial Day weekend is coming up very fast, and that's when I'd like the car to be ready to hit the road. If I get lucky, I might even get it in a parade since we go camping with our RV club that weekend every year and we join the parade that goes through that

 

Threw a few coats of base coat on the insides of the hood and fenders today!



paint mist hasn't even settled yet:





I might throw a coat or two of clear on those parts... not sure yet. The paint looks a little dull after it dried; almost looks black in dim lighting.

 

Dont worry man im still watchin!

Im pretty sure you have to spray the clear before the base is completely dry so they stick? So I dont think youll be able to go back and clear the underside of the hood...but Im not 100% sure so double check that haha

looks awesome man cant wait to see it! looks like its comin along really well.

btw, lovin the custom paint shop

 

Haha thanks. As for the clear, yeah I know that, if I do, I'll lightly sand the hood and throw a coat of base on first.

 

Still watching too. Wish I had as much free time to work on my own stuff. Your making great progress. Looks good. Your base coat will look dull,the clearcoat will make it pop.

 

looking like a car again!







The engine bay is just dusty now, but with a quick wash it'll look a lot better... it already looks 100x better than how it looked when I just got the car.

And I dunno if you noticed, but I'm blending the fender vents in to make a 1 piece look. The fit and finish was so terrible originally that it inspired me to trim the vents down and bondo them to the fender and smooth them out. I still have a little left to do but here's a picture of how one of them look:



Anybody else try that? I think it's gonna look really cool, it'll be a neat custom touch without going overboard.

 

Lookin good man.

I've heard of people smoothing the vents, but cant recall seeing them before.

When are you going to finish painting?

 

Probably in about a week. I have a little more body work left which involves finishing the vents, fixing the dents in the hood, fixing the cracks on the front gfx, finishing panel alignment, and sanding. Not a whole lot left.

 

Looking good - it's really starting to come together. Nice Work! I have all of the stuff to redo my front suspension, now I just need to plan a time that I can get the 'vert into my friend's shop and onto his lift . . .

 

Thanks! Yeah I gotta get to my suspension too, I have the parts but I've been concentrating on the body lately.

Oh and today I finished aligning the panels (not flawless but good enough) and threw filler on the hood dents... didn't sand em yet though.

 

Very nice!!! Great work.

 

hey man nice looking project, looks like you have got some serious work done. im currently doing a project on my 89 firebird. i picked up a 355 cammed tpi for free just by helping a guy with an ls1 swap on his 87 gta.

anything new with your project? havent seen anything posted in a while man

oh yeah and this project is what motivated me to do one on my 89. best of luck. she looks real good nice and clean compared to mine lol
keep us updated man