Well, for any of you who remember me, I've been a bit absent from the boards for a while now. No particular reason other than being straight out busy.

At any rate, last September I wrecked my 1984 Trans Am. A Russell braided steel brake hose blew out on the front and I hit 2 people, effectively ending her life.

She went from this:


To this, in a matter of seconds:



For a week or two I considered fixing that chassis, but then came to my senses and found this 1992 Firebird (WITH T-TOPS this time!!) with 81,000 miles on it and grabbed it for $800.


It had all the nice options (power everything, A/C, blah blah blah) and it even ran once I replaced the fuel line from the pump to sending unit in the tank (put down 137 RWHP and 190 RWTQ LOL)

She had plenty of rust in the floor, mostly in the high spots along where the floor meets the rocker, so I had plenty of patching to do, plus I POR-15'd the underside, installed sound deadener on the entire interior, welded in subframe connectors, converted her to a 6 speed, installed the entire driveline from the '84, and repainted her. I'll let some pictures speak for now...










A huge portion of this car came together in just the last 2 months thanks to TONS of help from friends, understanding of family, and Ed Miller doing an awesome job getting my brakes to me just in the nick of time!!!! A friend of mine in NY helped me paint it, and we prepped, painted, and started wetsanding/buffing all in 1 week's time! I still have to finish buffing it, and do a little more wetsanding I think, but man is it ever great to be behind the wheel of a thirdgen again. This one is 100 times better car than the '84 was. It's tighter, quieter, rides better, and heck, the engine even runs 20 degrees cooler (more airflow through the '92 bumper??)

Let me know what you think!

-Paul

P.S. For those of you who may wonder, the paint is Sunset Orange Metallic, and I LOVE IT!!! hehehe

 

And here are a few more pictures that exceeded the 10 picture limit on my first post hehe










(On the Blue Ridge Parkway in VA 2 days after we painted it)






There are still plenty of little things to finish up over the winter, but I'm just really glad to be able to enjoy the last few weeks of summer t-top-less in a thirdgen!!

-Paul

 

Very Nice!

I am not a big fan of the 91-92 styled cars, especially with a 4th Gen wing, but your car looks awsome

 

Thanks for the compliment! I've never liked the '91-'92 style either. In fact when I got this car my original plan was to change it all over to the '85-'90 bumpers and gfx. But then I got to thinking, well, I have all the '92 stuff, and you don't see ALL that many of them (compared to the '85-'90), so I figured I'd see what I could do with it. In my eyes that hood makes the whole nose work. With a stock flat hood it just looks goofy. So anyway, I know I'm a bit biased now since I own one, but I don't mind the "banshee" cars so much anymore

-Paul

 

So what engine did you go back with?

 

Same engine I had in the '84. It's a 350 bored .030 over with Holley aluminum heads, Lunati cam, Holley Stealth Ram intake and Commander 950 engine management system. It's got a T-56 behind it as well. I do need to get some pictures of the engine in the car, I'll throw 'em up as soon as I take 'em!

Oh yeah, the engine put down 295 RWHP and 310 RWTQ on 87 octane and gets about 20 MPG on the highway (or a little more depending on the road)

-Paul

 

what color is that? i think i'm running the same one on my 87 t/a

 

Sunset Orange Metalic. Quadgoat, did you buy the front GFX new? I thought they discontinued one of the sides?

 

one of the sexiest birds I have ever seen. the 91-92 are my favorite birds.

 

Pretty slick man. Not a fan of the wing either. But, slick none the less.

 

Oh my god dude, I've always hated the gfx that the 91-92 birds had, but your car makes them look awesome!

 

Sweet transformation.
We want some engine pictures.

 

nice transformation from an $800 wreck to a car of beauty. nice job.

 

awesome work man, looks really good!

 

do you still have any interior parts from the '84??

 

Thanks for the compliments guys

CharcoalBird Funny you mention the front GFX. Before I bought the car, all the GFX on the car were fine. I helped load the car on a trailer (not running, coasting it down a hill onto the trailer) and the left front GFX piece got smashed DOH! I searched for a used one, tried to buy one on eBay from a GM dealer and was told they didn't actually have it. Then I went to my local dealer and had them order one. I'd almost forgotten about it (probably 2 months went by) when I got a call from them saying it was in. I paid $150 for the darn thing, but by george I did get a brand new one! I know they're VERY scarce though!!

battmann Yeah, I still have the entire car and basically all the interior, except the console, because I had my LS1 style console in it. I have been toying with the idea of turning it into a drag car, but I think it's just too bent to be worth messing with....

-Paul

P.S. I will get some engine pics up tomorrow if I can!

 

Sorry about your EarlyBird, but god damn thats a wicked nice job you did with that $800 car, Very Nice! Too bad Pontiac didn't have someone spend a little bit more time fine-tuning that '91-92 body. Your version is the coolest I've ever seen in that last body style!

 

Wow guys, thanks for all the compliments, it's always great to hear one's work appreciated!!

Here are some engine pics...

before:



after:




That coolant jug cleaned up pretty well eh? The Washer tank did too, but not quite as drastically

Sorry the bay/engine are a bit dirty right now. I haven't cleaned it since the painting/wetsanding/buffing/trip to New York, Virginia and back :P

-Paul

P.S. Brother Al - Whereabouts in New England are you? I'm in Maine.

 

how did you clean up your coolant tank and such? mines so grimy that i think i may jsut buy a new one but why spend the money if i dont have to ya know?

 

not too bad, looks a little like mine, although my paint is nowhere near as nice. Good progress from the before pics.

 

that is ****ing awesome man. props to you for sticking with it. how much did it run you to build it all the way up?

 

racerx520 - I rinsed the coolant tank out with lots of clean water first, then I put degreaser inside it (POR-15 Marine Clean Degreaser for what it's worth). I shook it up like crazy, then rinsed it out. I did that a few times and was pretty happy with how it turned out. It's not brand new perfect, but darn good for a 15 year old plastic bottle! The washer jug I just cleaned the outside of, because the inside didn't seem stained.

Orinackra - Wow, it's deja-vu! I know I've seen your car on here before, but I never noticed that you had the front fender louvers too, great minds think alike, eh?

jaseman2134 Thanks man! I haven't actually tallied up everything yet, but I'm rough guestimating that I spent $5-$6k putting it together. Don't forget that I had the entire drivetrain from my old car, as well as my 4th gen T/A seats and some other things. So that doesn't include a lot of the cost of what's IN the car, just what it cost to put this particular car together. Big expenses were the wheels/tires, brakes, and paint, but there were LOTS of little things that added into it, so it may be more than my estimate...I can tell you though, that labor cost me exactly $0.00

-Paul

 

awesome work, but i keep getting a sense that something is missing.... maybe it needs to be lowered, or maybe the tires look to narrow for the wheels. im not ripping on it tho, i think its amazing. i just needs something to make it perfect

 

Omg thats one of the hottest thirdgens I ever seen. Lowered a little bit and different wheels and maybe some different exhaust tips and I give it a 10 out of 10.

 

Agreed, it needs to be lowered, but I live in the *hitty *** state of Maine where the roads are so bad I already bottom out on stuff, so unless I move, there's no way I can lower it and still be able to drive it, much as I'd love to. I don't like the way the exhaust tips look on this car either, but it's the Flowmaster system I had on the '84 so I'm going with it for now. They end up angled down WAY too far for my taste because of how low the bottom of the '92 rear bumper is. Something I'll fix in the next few years if all goes well The tires are a bit narrow for the wheels, They're only 245's and they're an 18x9" wheel. The only reason for that is that I bought them as a package and those are the tires they put on them. I will probably step up to 275's (at least on the rear) when I need new tires. I wanted those wheels for 5 years though so I finally decided that with the "new" car it was time to spring for the new wheels, especially since my brakes won't fit under anything smaller than 17" wheels (and won't fit in SOME 17's LOL).

Thanks for the props guys!!

-Paul

 

yeowza! That is one nice *** bird, my heart sunk when I saw the wrecked pics, but seing the new one really stood out for me.
btw don't lower it it looks fine.

 

you arent kidding, I have to admit I was kinda shocked at first..... I never expected to see a car SO similar to mine... with all the different things going on. The car in my sig is gone, floors rotted out, but my new one thats in progress is a hartop, so it'll at least be a tad different.

So whats next on the list?

 

The 91-92 Birds don't look all that bad. My favorite actually. With the right combo of things, they can look amazing.

 

Ugh, you don't have to tell me about rust in the floor...Mine had a lot more than I anticipated, hopefully my repairs hold up well though, since it was just the sheetmetal and the braces were all fine.

I didn't figure on seeing one as close to mine either, especially so soon after completing it! Good luck on the new project though, definitely look forward to seeing how it turns out!!

Next on the list is lots of little stuff over the winter...t-top weatherstripping, re-painting all the flat-black exterior trim, all kinds of that little piddly junk. I need to find some new t-tops too, either glass or good lexan, because my lexan ones are not very pretty (although they don't leak which is nice!!). Five year plan...well, I'm still thinking about a couple "snails" under the hood and some more displacement, but we'll see about that Oh yeah, and I need to work on making that RAI hood functional too!!

-Paul

 

i can believe how awsome that car came out, even better yet i got to see where some of the parts i sold you went, good luck with the car and i can wait to see it in person

 

That's just wicked. Awesome car man, really.

 

I've never been a fan of that paint color, but it looks fantastic on that car. Great job!

 

I agree that the car needs to be lowered to make it look "perfect", but if the roads are so bad out there, what you gonna do. Nice car man!

 

The more I looks at these pics the more I want to go buy a 91-92 TA. You have any pictures of the back end?

 

Thanks Demon! Yeah, the roads up here suck. Hopefully I'll live somewhere else someday though

Spdfrk - Here are a few of the back end...Some of the styling of this car I like, some of it not so much, but it all works together pretty well


(before LOL)






-Paul

 

Nice need to look for you some 91-92 TA tails tho.

 

Yeah, I was thinking that too...but then it seems like everyone is looking for them. Some of the cars I see them on I like them, others I really don't. These have grown on me since I got the car, but I'm always on the lookout for a set of the T/A units Actually...what I'd really like to do is: on the bottom of these tail lights where there's the clear backup light and the amber turn signal, somehow replace the lens there so it's all clear, and put amber bulbs in for the turn signal. I think that would be a unique (and maybe even cool?) look for them!

-Paul

 

Sex on wheels!!! Great color.

 

You can always just tint the taillights

 

That looks really nice Pocket! Sadly our inspections here in Maine kind of frown on it...I actually had them ask me a couple times if my stock '84 T/A tails were tinted or blacked out because they were pretty dark from the factory. This state is a pain in every way for the automotive enthusiast

-Paul

 

Where did you get the triple gauge pods at

 

 

Nice car, even though I'm not a fan of the "unfinished" (to me) look, of the 91/92 nose FX.

Gotta ask though...Why is the rear wing so far forward, instead at the rear edge, like the stock wing was?

 

Firebird896 I got the triple pillar from Summit. I don't really care for how it fits, and if I had it to do over again I would have spent more time trimming it so I could fit it in without having it press down and make a dimple in my dash pad. I was short on time though, so I ran with it. Other than that issue it fits nicely!

Kevman Thanks very much!!

Stephen Thanks, and I agree...the '91-'92 gfx are still growing on me, but I like them all right now (coming from a guy who HATED the "banshee" nose about a year ago LOL) As for the wing, it was already mounted to the hatch, and I bought the two together (also conveniently eliminating the 3rd brake light mounted in the original '92 hatch). I never really thought twice about how it was mounted, but I certainly don't feel it is forward, as the back of the spoiler actually hangs out beyond the hatch probably an inch or so. What looks too far forward to you? the mounting pylons?

-Paul

 

91-92 Banshee nose is the best. Then again, I am biased.

Very nice work, Q-goat! Keep the faith!

I'm looking for the 91-92 TA tail lights too and as you already know, these are super hard to find in good shape and expensive as hell. I opted to change the color on my center piece from red to gold. Matches my trim package.

 

What about the 85-90 TA lights? Then you can REALLY be like me lol. JK, they are alot easier to find than the 91-92 lights and still look real good.

http://home.comcast.net/~orinackra/SSPX0823.jpg

 

Your car is absolutely beautiful, Like most here (and you too I'm assuming) I wasn't at all a fan of the 91-92's but you fixed up that car in a way that really amplifies all the good aspects of the cars lines and so on. It just looks great now. You sure have a lot of GOOD friends to help you out, man when its me working on mine, I only have the radio announcer to keep me company

 

just buy taillight covers. Look at my garage for an idea how they look. I have a 92 bird. Nice job on the car!

 

Thanks for the compliment! Your taillight covers do look pretty good, and I'd consider them, if they weren't illegal here in Maine I already have enough on my car to attract attention, I don't need to give cops any more excuses to pull me over

-Paul

 

That is a BEAUTIFUL car. I think it's that crazy hood that really makes the 91-92 GFX really work. I first started thinking that on 91bird305's car.

You really did this one right and you sure have something to be proud of. I like the fact that you painted the underhood just like the outside. Very nice.

Great job!

Don't forget to vote out the communists in your state so that you can enjoy your car. It really DOES work, you know. Just look at us here in Florida. Our emissions standards used to be awful but that stuff got repealed. Same with motorcycle helmet laws.

Again, good job!