I always thought trans ams had 15 inch and up wheels, my door sticker says 14 inch wheels so I though maybe the door was replaced at sometime, a couple weeks ago I found the original build sheet.

The build sheet has these rpo codes N89 (turbo alum. wheel) QYC (205/70/R14 LTR)

 

Nope. I had a 82 T/A with 14 inchers on it. The funny thing about it was, it was freakin loaded...except for the 15's. I don't know why they EVER put 14's on these cars, hell I can't even justify the 15's in my mind. They should have put 17's on them from the get go. I also see that you've got a 5-speed. Did you put that in there, or did the previous owner put it in? If it has a Hydraulic clutch, you'll have to tell parts stores that it is an 84 or better for clutch/tranny parts. I know, cuz I did exactly that to my 82. Then, just as I was getting ready to put the TPI 350 in, I decided to scrap the project and put the L98 in my wifes 260Z.

 

I did the 5 speed/hydraulic conversion, it originally had the turbo 200C trans.

do you know what the N89 rims are like

 

there's a 82 T/A around here me and my brother have been looking at picking up it has 14's on it.
Like these ones

 

..

 

yes those are the wheels used on the car KITT on knightrider, and are getting pretty hard to find nowadays

 

thanks guys

on black/gold cars were there rims gold with the black covers, or was that a reccaro option.

I have the correct rims and caps then for the car but currently I have 84 15 inch t/a rims on it which I think look better anyways

 

(quote) hell I can't even justify the 15's in my mind. They should have put 17's on them from the get go. (/quote)


You've got to remember that we're talking about 1982 cars which began production in 81 or 23 years ago. 14 inch wheels were the norm for midsized cars. Heck , some Mustangs in that era even had 13 inchers. The tires had higher aspect ratios of course.

When the 15" wheels and 60 series tires came out on the TA / Z28 they were cutting edge stuff. Ford was messing around with metric rims (390 mm if I remeber right which was a tad bigger than 15" called the TRX). The first 16" wheels to come out on a non exotic or extreemly high $ import car were seen on the 84 Vette which came out in early 83. These were 50 series Goodyear Gatorbacks developed specifically for the Vette. The were hella expensive back then too, in the neighborhood of $350 each in '83 dollars.

16" first appeared on the F-body on some limited edition 84 Trans Ams and became more common on 85 WS6 T/A's and of course the then new IROC Camaro.

Seems odd today since most econo-boxes have 16's.

As a side note....I've done a bit of autocrossing and it seems that there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to rim size / aspect ratio and the (real world) benefits to handling. The fastest third gen cars still run on 16's, even in calsses where they could go bigger. The giant rim sizes that are popular today are mostly for appearance.

 

It's funny you'd mention the "metric" Mustangs. I thought I'd never have to hear about one of those again. At the junkyard that I worked in, we had a set of those metrics come through, only we didn't realize it until the tires werer broken down. Some guy bought the wheels for his race car, and we were stuck with an almost new set of metric tires. They sat for about 6 years before we finally tossed them. Stupid Ford.
Those 15" turbo fin wheels are pretty tough to find. I had sold some taillights to a guy in Japan a while back (cost him $250 for shipping) and he asked if I had a set of those. I didn't so that was that. About 2 weeks later he contacts me to work as his middle man for a deal on eBay. The guy he bought them from sent them to me and I repacked them and sent them to him, for like $350. Not only are they tough to find, they actually seem to be getting desireable.
I find that my car handles the auto-cross better with 17's on it. It does ok with the 16's, but the 17' help lap times. The only reason why, is it feels like I can drive it in the corner a little bit deeper and get back to the pedal a bit earlier. that could be the fact that the 17" tires are wider and a better tire, but certain cars respond better on 17's. Since I don't have access to the 17's this year, I'm going to work on getting around the course with the 16's and see what I can do.

 

My 83 T/A has those wheels and it has the WS-6 wheels. I get a lot people asking where the moon disks are and I tell them it did not come with those good looking disks. I was looking at my original window sticker and they call them the Turbo Wheel.

 

Would you believe I have a complete set of 82 TA wheels 15x7 and the bowling ball caps from my old 82 TA?

I was thinking about mounting snows on them but hey if some Kight-Rider wannabe wants to buy them maybe I should e-bay those suckers......

 

that is a good idea if they are in good shape and have all the caps then a mint to buy they are

 

howcome thew wheels are not on the car ? i need ot find a set of just those wheels alone, i want them on my 82 t/a, some doofus put on aftermarket aluminum 14" directionals on the 82 and i hate aftermarket wheels,

hmm..



id love to have a set of 15" turbo cast/fin wheels on my t/a

some day i guess/hope

 

toooooo late.Thanks again (GFormula)dave for the wheels and caps.

 

You still owe me a picture! There's supposed to be a new knight rider movie comming out. Maybe I sold them too soon

Glad you're gettign some use out of them. If you can post up a picture here for everyone to see.

Later,

Dave

 

My 82 T/A is a black/gold car. camel toe interior, with 14" wheels. my bowling ball caps were missing before i got the car. They were gold, but the gold is all but faded/corroded off, and the aluminum shows through. I'm debating between 16 and 17 inch wheels. I'm trying to get as far away as possible from the Knight rider look.

 

Bet it stinks in there...nothing some vinager and water shouldn't fix though.

 

if you're being serious, explain. (I got the camel toe joke... ) it DOES stink... the t-tops were leaking before i replaced the surround seal. vinegar and water? if it really works, I'll do it. I'm tired of smelling the mold. I was going to replace the interior anyway.. (i like black/grey) but I'd like to get the smell out first. I'll be driving on the bad cloth for a couple o' months.

 

hey flyitlikustolit

I have an 82 trans am just like your's and was wondering if i can have first dibs on some int parts when you switch out,I just need the big plastic side cover that goes from the radio speaker to the back.Both passenger and driver side.And need the rear seats if there cloth and in nice shape.let me know thanks<<Dave

 

Yup will do i just haven't had time yet.I do have pics but they are to big to send by email or upload on here.If there's a way to post them on here ill do it.

p.s When the knight rider movie does comes out I'll have to find a way to stop people from asking me if its for sale.I have this problem now and i know it'll get worse.THIS IS MY KITT

 

consider them yours. they're a little rough, but as i start getting replacements ( i just bought a parts car 85 T/A WS6.) I'll start pulling out my old interior and boxing it up for you. you can have the kick panels and the sail pnaels and everything, if you'd like. I'd give you the back seat, but it's in terrible shape. it needs recovering badly. I'm going to recover my PMD seats in black vinyl, and the backseats also, but I don't HAVE to have 82 backseats. it's the solid back. you can have it as well, if you'd like. anything else you want? I'll even consider parting with the wheels, too.... just not the tires, i don't think. they're new.... never seen any road use. still have the **** on em. I'm gonna have them broekn down so i can hold onto em for my buddy's chevelle..... they're 245/60/14's. BFG radial T/A.

 

also, do you know where i can get a new 82 driveshaft? I really need one,as mine got screwed up when a mech pulled my u-joints (trying to teach me how). live and learn, but now i need a new shaft, and I don't wanna pay $160 if i don't need to. you don't happen to have a 3-spd shaft lying around, do ya? I'll pay for it and shipping, of course.

 

flyitlikustolit I'll send you a pm.thanks

 

3rdgen, you still looking for rear seats ? i have a set of mint shape 84 s/e separate buckets {cloth light tan sand color rear}, are liek brand new still got the new shine in the bristles of the fabric if you look real close they are so clean, the back is not a solid full width, the backs are narrow and sit on either side of the trans tunnel just liek the bucket bottoms do




sell em to ya cheap if ya want em
i need to find 82 dark blue cloth seats

 

i still have those wheels, too, 3rdgenparts. I broke the tires down and I'm gonna keep them if you don't want them. offer still stands.

 

how much the wheels going for if 3rdgen doesnt take them ?

i still need to find 15" fins for the 82 like it supposed to have on it


thanks

 

I haven't heard from you man

I still want them,but I'm not in a rush to get them if you want go ahead and sell them to fast68 i have never seen anyone so crazy for those wheels. :lala:

 

Send me a pic man.I might be interested.

 

3rdgen, if you still want em, I'll let you have em. i really need to get rid of them and I could use the cash to buy books for this semester. send me a PM if you're still interested.

 

Well i thought fast68 wanted them?.But if i sell my 94 t/a sometime this month ill send you the cash.