Hi everyone, I am new to the board, didn't know where to put this, but this category seemed the most appropriate.

Last night my "retired" father bought a new project that I agreed to help him with it. It's a 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am. At first I had doubts that this was an actual T/A car (I had lots of misconceptions) as it is a non-T roof model that is running a 3 speed automatic and a Chevrolet 305 with a 4bbl carb. I assumed all the T/A's were Crossfire Injection that year. In addition the car has a large "S/E" emblem on the console. It was repainted at one time and the gold lower color is now black, but the fender "Trans Am" logos were put back on. The original turbine style wheels came with the car but it has slotted ralleye wheels on it now. I took the VIN off of the car and checked it against an online decoder and the VIN shows it is a 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am, not an S/E or Firebird, with the 305 4bbl motor that was built in Norwood. So the VIN is consistent with what the car is/has in it. It also has different seats than I have seen; they are open style headrests with "PMD" emblems on the backrest. The odometer shows 60K-ish, but the title has an odometer discrepency and the old owner stated that the car actually had about 125K on it.

I assume that this is not a big-buck or overly desirable T/A based on what I have read, but the price was right. The car is complete minus the headliner, it was driven home from the old owner's garage, and almost everything works with the exception of the headlight motors, cruise control, and factory tachometer. The power windows, locks, doors, and seat all function. The A/C compressor must have died at one time as it is removed and sitting in the back of the car. It is not smashed or rotted anywhere, but this car needs a total restoration to be nice. Could be cleaned up and driven tomorrow, but it is intended to become a sunday cruiser and local car show regular. Depending on how desirable this car is will determine if it gets restored back to factory or heavily modified. Between my father and I we have the ability to do either, this being the sixth car we've done together. But everything else we have done was pre-1979 and this car is quite different.

I am trying to learn as much about this car as possible, so any input/information would be really helpful, such as the best place for interior parts, body parts (if needed), electrical parts, and glass. Also, any input on how valuable or desirable this car would be when done would be appreciated; there's a chance that if it's not really desirable it could wind up being heavily modified with regards to the driveline.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

Welcome! Sound like a pretty standard Trans Am, except maybe the power lock and window option, not sure how common they came on an 82. Rare or not though, it sounds like a great project, the 82-84 Birds are my favorite. Post up some pics!

 

[quote=Thunder1973;4910604] I assumed all the T/A's were Crossfire Injection that year.

Nope, Crossfire was ALWAYS an option. The 4 bbl carb was standard, as well as the 14" "Turbo" wheels. The rear drum brakes were also std. I had a similar '82 Norwood, but it had a t-top.

 

So it sounds like this particular T/A is really nothing special. The 14" turbine wheels came with the car but one is cracked. Basically I am hearing that this car is not a "one in a million", but "one of a million".

Would it be a mortal sin to tear this car apart and make a ground pounder?

 

I can't even remember the last time I saw a 82-84 Firebird, much less a Trans Am driving down the street. Don't be stupid, just because they built a ton of them, doesn't mean there are a ton of them still out there. Clean it up, fix it up, give it a restoration, and you'll probably have the only one you'll ever see at a cruise night.

 

Yeah, it's been a long time since I've seen one. Even at a show. I see a lot more Camaros in that age group still around. Not sure why that is.

I figure that the body will be restored and repainted to the original specs with all the correct decals and interior. Dad and I talked about doing a different color scheme, but we finally decided that where it was a black and gold T/A originally, it should probably stay that way. At this point the only agreed upon modifications planned will be to the drivetrain and I'm not sure how we're going to go. I just can't live with a 145 hp powerplant.

 

Restoring the car back to factory appearance doesn't mean you have to leave the engine internals stock...if you're looking for a little more power on a budget, I'd go with a new crate 350. You can still get the basic "Targetmaster" (who came up with that name and what does it have to do with Target?) GM 350 long block that they rate at 290hp (with headers, no accessories, and an aluminum intake) from summit for $2k.

Only problem is, you'll need to swap the trans too if you go that route as the Chevette-sourced 3 spd auto definitely won't handle the torque of a 350. Probably something I'd swap anyway though, even a TH350 is a HUGE upgrade. Would recommend a 700R4 though if possible.

 

Thanks to everyone for the replies!

Summit seems to have great options for engines. It's all new to me, back in the day we used to send the block out to a machine shop for cleanup/hone/crosshatch/cam bearings and then we'd do our own builds. Seems that now you can buy an assembled motor with a warranty for the same money.

I'm learning more about the transmission. I didn't know what would be in it and I couldn't figure it out with the VIN, so I snuck under there and looked and assumed it would be a TH350 because I could have sworn the pan looked identical. Now I understand it's probably a TH200C? Am I wrong in thinking that a TH350 will bolt right in place? I'm not familiar with the TH200 but what I've read says it's a real light duty unit and prone to failure under even stock engines.

 

A TH350 will bolt right in. Many '82s have already had the swap since TH200Cs weren't known to last more than 30-60K miles before needing a rebuild. I believe B&M makes an adapter kit so the rear suspension toque arm can be attached to the tailshousing of the TH350.

 

The 200C/Chevette transmission will have the word "Metric" stamped somewhere on the pan... the classic warning sign !

 

I have another question; checking the VIN number revealed that the car is a Trans-Am (according to the numbers, an SE model had a different VIN designation), but the interior has a large "S/E' emblem on the console. The car has the turbo-style bubble hood and fender scoops, but the old owner said he put the hood on and when he bought the car it had a non-scoop hood. Plus the car has all power options including windows, seat, mirrors, etc..

Was there such a thing as a Trans-Am "S/E" combination package? The VIN shows it's a W87 car with the H engine code.

 

It's your car, do what you want with it. I have an '84 Anniversary that I am building into a "ground pounder" but I also plan on restoring it back to stock when I'm finished having fun with it. Again, it's your car, and you only live once, do what you want with it. By the way welcome aboard....

 

Thanks for the welcome. Even in the planning stages this car is fun. Not so much with some of the others I've worked on. Back when we did the 72 Chevelle SS we didn't go "restoration", but "modified stock" and you never heard the end of how you destroyed a perfectly good car. The body was restored to original, but the color was changed, the driveline was changed, and even though it looked like a (mostly) stock Chevelle SS, it wasn't.

It seems that this is different. More people customizing and making it theirs.

I like it.

 

The stock hood on a '82 T/A was flat. Ordering the WS6 or WS7 suspension option upgraded it to the turbo bulge hood along with 15x7 Turbocast rims, quicker steering, bigger sway bars, posi-traction, and rear discs with WS6. If your car has 14x7 rims it should be a standard Y99 suspension car and it originally having a flat hood makes sense.

The S/E emblem on the console is added by a previous owner. There were no emblems installed on the console by Pontiac. No power options were standard equipment on the '82 T/A so having them just means the original owner had a well paying job to afford them.

There was a Special Edition T/A in 1982 but it was in the form of a Recaro Edition. It came in the black/gold paint scheme with matching gold painted Turbocast rims and hubcaps with gold Pontiac arrowheads, choice of LG4 carb/M4 or LU5 CFI/A3 powertrains, T-Tops, WS6 suspension, charcoal cloth interior with factory installed Recaro front seats, and "Recaro T/A" emblems in the door handles. Production was limited to 2000 cars.

 

Here's a link showing you what I am currently doing to my "rarity" (see below) One of my good friend's has a Hemi Cuda in pieces, w/plenty of rust, over in Pennsylvania, and it's worth just as much the way that it is as one that it is already together. Collectors look for matching numbers because they know that any car can be returned back to stock, in any condition that they may currently be in. I've seen unibody's down to nothing but a title and a frame, yet brought back to numbers matching perfection. Whatever you do you can always undo, so enjoy the damn thing....

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/powe...ond-305-a.html

 

I read thru a lot of that thread, SL, and I have to say...nice job, nice work.

I'm thinking that this car will stay "old school" on the drivetrain build.

So much is undecided right now.

FWIW....this site has already helped and saved a ton of mistakes, and I haven't even spun a wrench yet.

I hope you guys can put up with my stupid questions. I'm probably going to be on here a lot asking them.

 

Okay, the work has begun. Tonight the car was taken to a local cruise night, and as somebody said, it was only one of two 3G Firebirds there. The other one was a pristine red GTA, I think an 88 or 89, I'm not sure.

So here's what I've done so far;

Replaced the steering box, pump, lines, and a new belt (old steering box poured fluid out of the pitman arm seal). Complete tune-up on the engine. New alternator (old one was noisy, believe it or not). New lift shocks for the hood and rear deck. New shocks in the rear. New valve cover gaskets. Fixed various vacuum leaks. Fixed oil leak at pan plug (just a gasket). Lined up the front end (local shop did it for me). Started stripping the roof and hood. Performed a compression test and got 120+ on all 8 cylinders. Probably going to look at the valve seals because it smokes a little on startup. The car runs very well, drives solid, and feels tight. I did not have to change any of the front end parts and it passed for an inspection sticker with flying colors.

The final decision was to keep this car low-key, meaning that the original motor will stay and may be freshened up a little bit, but most of the work will concentrate on restoring the body and interior, most likely repainting the car black and changing the interior from gold to a black/gold combination.

Which leads me to a question (may be a dumb one); Does this car have any sort of computer? I can't seem to find any air screw adjustments on the carb or any way to fiddle with it. If it does have some sort of computer, I would assume it only controls the carb in one way or another, so can it be bypassed easily or eliminated so I can change the carb out?

My other question is with regards to upholstery. This car has the PMD seats with the open center headrests and the covers are beat. Does anyone sell new covers for these seats that I can install? I can reupholster a seat no problem, I have the tools and ability, I just need a source for interior parts.

Thanks in advance, this site has been great in helping me out so far. Sorry if my questions are stupid, I'm learning on this one as I go.

 

YES, All '82 GM cars have a computer. In a Firebird it sits in the dash, on the passenger side, behind the "map pocket", and roughly occupies the space where the glove box should actually be (if it had one). The computer controls the carb's fuel/air ratio, via the O2 sensor, and coolant sensor inputs. It also contol the idle speed, as I recall. I owned one for seven years, and it made tune-ups obsolete, except for changing spark plugs & filters. The computer actually did pretty good job, and gave my '82 TA over 20 mpg on the highway, the type of mileage a MOPAR
Slant-6 used to get in the 70's. Not bad for a 3400# car with 165HP 4bbl V8, & a 3 spd slushbox (even if it was a 200C). If you bypass the computer, you may lose the transmission's torque converter lockup, and your highway mileage will suffer considerably. This will also happen w/a broken speedometer (from experiance).

 

Good information, Thanks!!!

I think I'm going to change the O2 sensor just to be safe for now.

The car runs really well, believe it or not. I was very surprised at just how peppy this little buggy was in stock form. Certainly not a dragstrip menace, but very fun to drive and reasonable power from a stock motor of this type/vintage.

Thanks for the information.

 

have you found your seat cover material?

Eric

 

Hawks thirdgen parts has seat covers. Might want to look them up and see if they have what your looking for. I'm pretty sure they are a sponser of tgo

 

Thunder, welcome too TGO and be sure to check out earlythirdgen.com.
As for the value of the car, well they are actually going up finally. Yours is yours to build as you wish, modify it and keep the stock parts like I did, or restore it for show. Parts are still fairly east to find and cheap.

Here's my thread that may hold some answers for you, https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ly-matter.html

Good luck with it.

Post up some pics!!

 

Thanks for all the information, it's been a while since I posted.

There is a new development. The 82 is probably going to go up for sale or become a donor car. In digging into this car further and further, the list of problems is getting bigger and bigger. The real issue is discovering that the car had been hit in the front. Wasn't disclosed by the old owner, maybe he didn't know, but one thing that bothered me was the funky gap on the driver's side between the hood and front fender. Upon closer inspection, I could see that the radiator support is tweaked and I don't know how easily I can get that side straightened out. The subframe appears to be okay, the car was put on a front end machine and it came up true and straight. After starting to strip paint in areas, the body is not nearly as nice as it first appeared. Guide coats in areas show a lot of dings, pucks, and "hail" type dents. Overall, this car is going to be a huge amount of work to bring back and probably not worth it. Not to mention the rear quarter that was put on at one time and isn't exactly straight.

So while at a car show last friday, I got talking to a guy there with a GTA. At this point I'm still thinking of doing this car and finding parts. I was looking to see if anyone had a new (used) dome hood because the existing one had one of the braces cut underneath (I assume for a big air cleaner), and this guy says he has a complete 83 Trans-Am "parts car" he's willing to break up. So I go to see it with my father to pick parts. What he has is a nice, straight, clean 83 with an almost showroom body and T-roofs. Good interior, not perfect, but not so much as even a puck in a door. One rust bubble on the edge of the front hood. Sitting in the car is a TPI 350 and 6 speed that were in it when he bought it (somebody's project at one time). Story is he has sold the motor and trans to a guy (he's pulling them in a week or so) and he was going to part out what's left. Other than engine and trans, the car is complete and really nice compared to this 82, somewhere along the line somebody installed the 87-ish style taillights, too. So he says he'll sell the complete car minus the drivetrain for $800. Done deal.

But I can't get the car for about 2-3 weeks while he finishes his deal on the motor/trans sale.

He is including the auto trans console with the car, he still has it.

I will get pictures up as soon as I can.

Not sure what to do with the 82 now, already have time and money invested.

At least this car has no motor and trans, so the problem of going "resto" or "mod" is now easily solved. And it's a much better starter than the 82 was.