Hey ThirdGENNERs, Thanks for the site guys!!!

Last Sunday I purchased a 1984 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am for $800 dollars. A steal in my eyes my dad said it's a money pit that will just lead to trouble for me haha...oh well. Video's will be posted up tomorrow night when I get home from work and working on the car.
Well the last few days I have spent looking up numbers and getting the engine running. So here is the good the bad and the ugly. The car only has 75,000 miles on it and is in fairly good condition but needs a restore for sure. Supposedly, a southern car got to do further research but at least some body took care of it. All it needed as per original owners ex-gf was a slave cylinder.
The car has a small block 350 that is 5 speed in it and the original t-5 transmission. Also, it has has headers and dual exhausts. The bad we don't know exactly how many miles are on the engine and what it came out of. As per the engine block numbers etc. it is a 1974 t400 police which went in full size cars/impala/caprice. The engine is completely original on the outside and extremely dirty needs to be cleaned up and painted perty. The ugly is the only key was snapped off inside the ignition and I have no T-Top keys or hatch keys. If you guys could recommend the cheapest and easiest way to get replacement keys, I would really appreciate that. Also, it has a camaro hood with a hideous hood scoop someone put on it. It is for sale if you want it message me after I put up pics. (I'll deliver if you live within 50 miles.) It has cragers on it that need to be cleaned up probably get them powder coated. I feel this car has potential to be something special.

Bought a slave cylinder, new fuel pump and radiator cap so far and the car runs solidly. Found some missing and lose bolts today on the transmission after my dad felt it moving when he took it down the road. Tomorrow I will be getting a new bolt and we will be doing some test driving. Unfortunately, I will not be putting it on the road this year going to focus on restoring it as I can. In between college starting in a two weeks and work I will have Sundays probably to do what I can until next May.

A little back ground about me I am 24 years old and this is my first sporty car and first 5 speed. As a kid I loved the movie Smokey and the Bandit and dreamed of owning the Bandit Trans Am haha. So this car will be turned into my Bandit replica to the best of my ability and within my budget. Total exterior, interior and frame restore is on the docket for this ride possibly a new engine in the future. This year I plan to do the frame, paint the entire car, powder coat the rims and clean up the engine. Are my thinking to big help me out? I don't want to get ahead of myself. I have limited time and experience...Although I have a great dad that is very mechanically inclined and he has two buddies that have been mechanics for almost 35 years that are at his place every day. Also, I have my younger brother that has far more mechanical knowledge then myself that will be helping because he wants the car lol. All in all I am so pumped to have this car and can't wait to put my time and effort into it. I couldn't pass over this car I felt it to be a great deal. I will post more info as I continue to do research about the vehicle.

Any input much appreciated

 

As a fellow owner of a '84 T/A I think you picked a good year for the 3rd gen T/A. My suggestion is to do some research on parts because they're not cheap and getting harder to find. The best thing to do is buy what you can and store it until you're ready to do the work. I bought my T/A new in '84 and then did a resto like 8 years ago. I did everything myself. The carpet cost $300 dollars, new seat covers were $350 and door panels were $120. The prices are probably more now. The dash pad and center console was used only '82-'84 and are extremely hard to find in good condition if you need them. As for the exterior. The ground effects were only used from '83 to '84 and are also hard to find in good shape.

I painted the car myself also. The biggest thing is prep work and using quality paint. Again do research on painting, buy a book and read it if you have to. I spent about $300 for paint, I used Dupont. There are a ton of things I can go over, but the biggest thing is not to rush it. Take your time doing the resto and good luck.

 

thanks for the reply and the advice I appreciate it. Can u post up some pics or did you have a thread? Looks like no video's for a few days...my cat ate my usb cord. I will take some pics tomorrow and post those though. Me and my bro took the car down the road a few times today. Man talk about a riot haha. This car is awesome and can't wait to get it on the road next May.

Here's pics of the hood forgot i took these more to come!!!


theres my sonoma in the background .....You wouldn't know it from my cars, but I am a Ford guy lol.

 

Well we started taking off all the exterior parts that need to come off when its time to paint it after sanding it. Anybody know if the front fenders are attached to the front bumper ....it seems like it is but not 100% sure. Also, got the rear bumper detached almost but don't know where that is attached exactly. Wanted to get an expert opinion?

Started ripping apart the interior as well. Got the trunk carpet ripped out it surprisingly looks brand new haha...I am thinking of keeping it and cleaning it and reupholstering the seats because the driver seat is power. Under the carpet is super clean still...the only bad rust/rot that will need to be repaired in the rear is the passenger side rear wheel well.

I am looking for front fenders that have the vents...mine are rusted underneath pretty good. Thinking it would be cheaper to buy two fenders instead of fixing those.
This week we will be getting my dads garage cleaned up so we can work on this car during the winter

 

Today, still cleaning up the garage...ready to poor concrete friday after work and then I will have a nice clean space to work on this car all winter. I got the hood and fenders off recently and my dad's friend offered to repair the fenders for me. Which really saves me about 300 bucks at least. I broke the Tranny mount and torque arm mount about a week ago f*#*#ing around with the car. So no more joy rides until next May lol when its all set to go. Not going to repair that until we take the engine out and drop the tranny. Going to post a pic of my progress when I am on next.

 

here's the progress so far...started sanding here and there. The first thing to do when we get the garage complete next week will be taking the engine out degreasing it and cleaning it up. Painting and buying some worn out parts.

 

Hey all, I guess I should say this is going to be a Restifaction not a total Restoration. I had seen what a true restoration is and that will not be going down on this car. I will not be taking this car back to its original state...there will be some modern up grades and some restoration of other things. Since I am not rich, everything that I will be doing will be on the cheaper DIY type of level.
So finally the garage is set and I pulled the car in last Sunday and did a little more sanding I would say about a 1/3 of the way done. My brother repaired the fenders in his auto body class this week so that saves me about 300 bucks from the looks of it.
We borrowed a engine lift from a family member so the engine is coming out this Sunday to get cleaned up and painted. Probably going to tear it down everybody wants to know whats it got in it as far as performance parts. With two engine professionals (not me) should be fairly simple putting it back together without a hitch. My brother is taking the headers into his auto class and hes going to re-chrome them.
That's about it right now...since the vid camera is still outta commish I will take some pics this weekend to give a visual update. I am excited to finally get my hands dirty it was hard going a few weeks getting the garage ready and not messing with the car.

 

Hey yall I got a few pics from the other night went to my dads after work to do a little sanding and mess with the carb. My brother was over so we decided to take the engine out when my dads buddies showed up. Took us 3 hours not bad for two kids that never done anything like that before. My dads buddy goes ahh fastest i've tore one down is 45 minutes lol. We had a good time and tomorrow I'm going to start to degrease it and tear it down to see what kind of cam is in it and what not. Got a few pics to attach.

 

a few more pics and a pic of what I would like the car to look like when I am all done lol

 

Figured I would do a quick little update...Well in the past few weeks have got a lot accomplished. The engine has been torn down to the bare block tomorrow the block, heads and manifold are getting hot tanked. Trying to decide what kind of Cam to buy. I have been doing a lot of sanding and painting of various parts. The car is up on jack stands probably until it's time to paint because we figured out the clunking noise turned out to be 6 shattered teeth on the ring in the rear end.
In addition, to having to buy a rear end I will need to buy a new clutch/spacer plate because that is pretty shot as well. The rear end was something I had hoped not to have to replace. I am looking at maybe buying 2 parts car close to my house for the rear end for a few other parts I need. When I get the engine tanked an painted I will throw up some more pics.

 

Wow it's March thought I would do an update it's been forever very busy with school lately. I will post some pics soon to show progress don't know if any1 is following, but I like to see the progress. Currently, the engine is still torn down and I am slowly but surely buying all the parts. I have new dart iron eagle heads, new mild comp cam, rebuilt rochester quadra-jet, new comp rockers 1.5's and comp springs. As far as parts I just need a clutch kit, pads/rotors, torque arm bushing, trans mount, pushrods, intake and some new head and intake bolts. Maybe new pistons if I don't run out of cash.
Besides buying parts I have painted all sorts of parts and interior pieces. The exterior is completely sanded and having some bondo work done and will be ready in the next few weeks to go and get painted jet black by my brother. I painted the underbody and rubberized it. A lot of progress had been made over the past few months, but a lot of work remains. I am still hopeful for a late may to june launch God willing.

 

Here's some pics of the progress.
I don't know how many hours me and my bro have spent sanding the hood, it's been our waterloo, but we won't retreat. My fenders were totally restored by my brother he did an excellent job. Just a lil more sanding on the hood, some bondo work and sanding of ground effects and bumpers. We pieced the engine together to see how tall it would be for clearance, it's going to be close we are thinking.
This weekend depending on how warm it is, we will be sanding a lil and I got some more painting to do on the underbody. My dad's buddies may be honing the cylinders and removing and replacing the cam bearings. A lot to do and many parts and pieces to buy.

 

Nice posts man, I'm also in process of restoring my 84 15th anniversary trans am, everything in mine will be replaced to original except I'm putting a 355 vortec cause my original 305 is trashed. Good luck, just remember all that really matters is u enjoy the car

 

thanks dude. hell ya its been fun working on it matter fact going to spend the day on it today it's a nice day in upstate,ny. Do you got a thread going for your 84.

 

No no thread on my trans am, it's been sitting for about a year waiting for funds to come in to get the engine replaced and to replace my worn interior pieces, now it just a matter of time now, all the parts are in

 

Nice progress. The key to a good paint is the prep work.

 

thanks burnout. ya it's been a lot of work prepping. My brother takes auto body so he's really being a perfectionist with the poly putty bondo for small scratches and dents. He is shaving the door handles off in his class when he paints the car in April. Pretty sure I want it Jet Black like it was originally however Orange and Maroon would look sharp when done right. This weekend I will be pressure washing the engine bay and wet sanding the bumpers and ground efx. My brother will be poly puttying until his heart is content. I will probably take some pics tomorrow. The engine is going in for cam bearing replacement this week. Classes starts again next week for a grueling 7 more weeks. Between work and school it leaves me with just sundays to work on the car. But my brother has been spending a lot more time on it because he wants it done for his HS prom in May. So still hopeful for a May launch barring any set backs.

 

So long as the block isn't cracked, consider buying a cheap engine stand and keeping the original motor. A 15th is a keeper, and while you may not want to use it, if you ever go to sell it someday, having the original numbers-matching engine is huge for the prospective buyer...

 

quick little update with some pics...Got my spread bore rpm edelbrock intake back from jegs. Pieced the engine together just for a visual representation of how it will look eventually. I rubberized the front wheel wells and cleaned up the engine bay. I disassembled the front bumper and am thinking of replacing the plastic grille inserts with some type of gold painted mesh. This weekend probably going to rubberize the rear wheels wells and touch up the under body. Hopefully, I get around to wet sanding the bumpers as well. I painted the intake black as well forgot about that? You guys think I should paint the chrome air filter gold to match or does the chrome look better?

 

One more pic from the front, I forgot I painted the heads black as well. When the engine is back from the shop I am going to paint it black again because the paint was worn when we had it hot tanked. My dad's buddies are lazy haha so we haven't honed the cylinders yet. All I got left to buy really is plugs & wires, pistons, pushrods, clutch kit, slave cylinder, hoses, shaved door lock kit, fluids, paint and mb rotors and pads. Once I sell the other firebird I should be good to get all my remaining parts.
Added a pic of what the car looked like when I brought it home.

 

i have a 1984 trans am with no moter or trans in it i live in sault ste marie ontario canada the body is in good shap and wondering if any one needs parts for the 1984 trans am as i am thinking about selling it and just woundering how rare they are thanks haveing trouble trying to put a pic on it wont let me so if you want pic of it let me know a email to send to

 

hey dude you are going to want to put that up in the classifieds section...maybe a mod can put it there for you. Depending on your build sheet it could be rare. Recaro seats 5 speed ttops? It would be a rarer car for 1984. My T/A is like 1 of 5000 or so with the 5 speed and t-tops. Good Luck

 

yea it is standered and t top i have had it for 5 years and thinking about selling it but dont no what i should do so i thought i would ask on here lol thanks for the reply

 

np gud luck dude.

 

wow a shaker hood on a 3rd gen is pretty cool

 

yah it would be... be even cooler to drop a big block pontiac in one of these with a shaker. If someone out there knows someone on this site who has done that send me a link haha.

 

Engine went into the local engine shop to get bored .30 over, new forged pistons and rings and cam bearing replacement. Didn't plan on putting this much into the engine, probably could have bought a crate 350 or I'm getting very close to that price. I will def feel more confident in the overall strength of the engine though. The only old part of the engine will be the crank, pulley system and the harmonic balancer. Body work for two more weeks then my brother takes it in to get some perty jet black paint. Can't wait to hear the roar of the engine and the shine of some new paint. Breathing some new life into this car has been awesome.

 

Had a productive weekend wet sanding the bumpers and cleaned one of my headers through electrolysis. It took about 8 hours for the process to work. Then I cleaned it thoroughly with warm water and soap. It begin to oxidize very quick even after a soapy bath. So as soon as it completely dried I high heat primed them and then painted it with header paint after that. I feel that they came out pretty nice. I cleaned up my torque arm as well and primed it. I am going to paint it next weekend a golden yellow. That and rear end housing will be that color.

 

Got to give my weekly sunday update. Didn't do too much being easter and all and I changed my oil. I painted my torque arm, but didn't take a pic, but I will get one in a week or so. Also, I used electrolisis to clean up my other header and it came out pretty good like the other one. Probably going to bake them next weekend to get them cured up. We got both doors off now and they have been prepped. Just got some final prep things to do b4 it goes into my brothers body shop class at school. We had to wait a few more weeks becuz of his teacher having to take time off for an illness. It' alright though it's been kind of crummy weather out, which stopped me from finishing up the wet sanding of bumpers and gfx.

 

I am sore and tired haha worked real hard today getting the car sanded down to bare metal so it can go in this week for paint. I wish I could be in my brothers class and help do the painting. I'd like to learn how to do it, I have really enjoyed learning how to do things during this rebuild. I cured the paint on my headers today they turned out good. Cleaned up one of the pulleys with electroylisis and primed it. Need to throw up some new pics. Coming towards the final stretch gettting pumped.

 

a few pics of headers and the car all torn down ready to go in for paint just a few little things to take care of this week. old mans ash trays full of smokes 2 lol...

 

Took the weekend off and spent time down at the family cabin. Glad I did because it ended up snowing here anyways. The engine is ready at the shop to be picked up, so probably pick that up friday after work. The car should go in this week for paint, but we got to secure a trailer, so it may be another wk.

 

It looks like it's coming along nicely. Keep up the good work!

 

thanks man appreciate it. Spent a lot of time working on it so far, it's been fun. Your car looks very nice, love the color. That, 2002 t/a yellow and a red garnett were on my short list. Jet Black won out though. How long have you had your car?

 

Thanks. I've had mine almost 9 years now. I put in a ton of work and it looks like you're doing the same. But now I have it almost where I want it appearance wise and I'm happy enough with the drivetrain. What were your drivetrain plans? Sorry if i missed it earlier in the thread.

 

completely rebuilt 355 chevy, t-5 transmission, 10 bolt with 3.42 gears non posi. After I update the suspension and interior next winter, I will look to upgrade the transmission and rear end probably. Some day I would love to drop a 455 pontiac engine in it. What do you run in the quarter mile and how's the t56 transmission.
Love the rims you chose as well looks nicer then chrome.

 

i haven't run it at a 1/4 mile track with the LT1/T56 combo. I did 14.04 with a 350 TPI/700r4 and horrible old street tires. I absolutely LOVE the T56 though! I knew i wanted a manual transmission since I bought the car and it was a great moment to cut that hole in the trans tunnel :-) I'll try to get it out to the 1/4 mile track after getting some 4:10s in there. My current 3.27s aren't enough with the 6 speed.

 

very nice. this is my first manual as well. 4.10's should be interesting shouldn't you get a 12 bolt for that though. What's an LT1 got for hp to rear wheels?

 

It should be around 300 at the crank with the stock LT1 and the exhaust system I have on it. I don't know what that works out to at the wheels. The 10 bolt has aftermarket axle shafts and an aluminum girdle and I will only occasionally take it to the track with street tires, so I think it'll hold up.

 

Oh true so it's kind of beefed up then. I have had so many people tell me my 10 bolt won't last very long with a hi-performance 350. I think as long as your not pounding on it every day it should last at least 5 to 10 years.

Update: Well got some disappointing news the other day when I was supposed to pick up my engine block from the shop. I guess one of the cylinders was so pitted that even .60 over boring wouldn't clean it up. He recommended to my dads buddy that we get a new block. Luckly, the guy had another block laying around with only 40,000 miles on it that he said he could sell to me for 70 bucks. One of the piston rings was broke, so that must have been the cylinder that was damaged. The piston had a lot of carbon deposits on it compared to the rest as well. The new block should be all set and ready to go sometime this week. It's been a slow couple weeks between waiting for the block and my brother's teacher to get back to allow the car to go in for paint. Getting it on the road by June maybe a stretch.

 

Soo its been real slow lately between finally getting my block back tomorrow and waiting for the car to go in for paint. Haven't done much the last few weeks besides paint my drive shaft wet sand the bumpers. Finally finished school so I can spend more time working on the car. Putting up a few pics of what the car looks like hopefully it does go in for paint this week. I don't know how long I have been talking about that for lol.

 

FINNNAAALLLY the car is going in for paint tomorrow morning. Stoked!!!!!! Got my engine back last wk and will be putting it together this week. I will take a few pictures. We also made a nice little mod for the plastic wheel well pcs that attach to the fenders that I will get some pics of. Got a few little things to do while the car is getting painted over the next 2-3 wks.

 

Your car is coming along pretty good.

 

Thanks Amythyst,

Started putting the engine back together yesterday and everything was going along smoothly until we had to check pushrod length. The length ended up being standard so I called parts stores and speed shops in 4 counties lol nobody carries push rods. I ordered them though. I have pics to sure, have the heads on and the lifters and the cam is in but we covered the engine up for a few days until I get the rods. Cars getting primed, a few wks and I will be cruising hopefully.

 

more pics ones blurry

 

Car is primed and ready for paint tomorrow. Should be in my garage tuesday evening if all goes well. The engine 90 percent complete need a new sleeve for the harmonic balancer. Going to Ohio next week so it will be a week b4 we start to put the car back together.

 

a few more pics

 

primed up

 

looking good!

 

thanks dude... well i got a few pics really been just busy working on the car...almost too busy to take pics or do updates. Car is painted there is some orange peel and some runs in the clear. It was my younger brothers first time ever painting a car with all the right paint and equipment. So we got a little bit of work to do making it perfect, but all in all I am pretty stoked with it's looks.
Ran into a problem with the transmission after I just bought my clutch kit for the t-5. I realized I have a v6 t5 with the 14 spline shaft, so I am most likely going to find a t-5 made for the v8's. I would love a retrofitted t56 but at this point I just can't blow any more of my savings on this car until after I drive it a bit. Once we get the trans we can drop the engine in and start the girl up and bolt on the gfx, fenders, lights and hood. Then we will work on the orange peel, imperfections and runs. Unfortunately, we went on vacation the day my brother finished up painting, so he wasn't able to sand out the runs n **** within 24 hrs.