I cleaned up the GTA today and took it out for some pictures. I think she still looks pretty good for being nearly 20 years old

 

Beautiful car, I love the color, what is it?

 

looks good

 

Nice!!

I love that color on GTA's, I will own one myself one day.

 

That's Flame Red Metallic isn't it? Very sharp car.

 

Veeerrrrrryyy nice clean GTA

I always thought that color looked more a rusty/burgandy then anything.

350 and T-tops for the win, did it come stock like that?

 

Very nice looking car.

 

Looks great

 

Thanks guys!
Yep, 74U Flame Red Metallic

It really depends on the lighting. In direct sunlight like that, it has that kind of orangy rust color to it. If it's overcast, or at night, it has an almost purplish tint to it. It's a really cool color.

It came with the L98 and T-tops from the factory too.

I took some pics of the interior and engine bay today too: I need some new floor mats, and the engine could probably use a bit of detailing, but here they are anyway:

 

Ah man engine bay looks good, gota detail mine soon too

What did you use to detail it at first? With all the grease and **** in there...

 

Simple Green, some different sized brushes, a hose, and a good part of an afternoon. It's an easy job, just very tedious. But now I REALLY need to give my engine a good cleaning because my radiator sprung a leak last night and spewed coolant everywhere. Damn plastic end tanks

 

Looks very nice, I love your clean cross lace GTA wheels :P Mine are plagued with brake dust, damaged clear coat and unshininess :P

 

That car is in excellent condition.

9 of 10!

I want your interior. The engine would be nice too.

 

that is exactly how i want my t/a to look when im done, its already the same color, just need some gta's (which im working on), and to get rid of the horrible red interior(cant stand it!)

 

Very nice man! Love the color and it looks very clean and original!

 

Very clean Mike. Nice job!

-Schultzy

 

that car is spotless

 

Beautiful car inside and out, great job on it. I assume it is not your daily driver. If it is, you get extra kudos from me.

 

Actually, it's been my daily driver for nearly two years now. Hopefully I'll make enough money this summer to be able to buy a beater car by winter.

 

nice ride man
i really like that color

yrs is in better shape then mine is


how much miles is on it

 

Just turned 73,000 a few days ago.

 

You've got over 100,000miles less than mine. I hope to have as clean of a car as you do when i'm done building mine.

 

Since this thread is over 3 years old now, I figured I'd update with a few current pictures. Besides, I haven't whored it out in a while lol. The car now has 98,000 miles on it and I think it still looks pretty good for the most part. It's since been retired from daily driver status, but I still drive it every chance I get.

 

Tranny swap i see, what type of upper strut bar is that? Nice simple mods...niiice

 

Thanks! It's a Kenny Brown strut bar

 

clean gta!!! Like the strut bar too

 

Is that a summit hide away front plate?

 

It sure is. Good eye!

 

Do you have the part #? I cant seem to find it?

 

i also spy SLP exhaust?

 

Was the trans swap easy?

 

Nice car man.

 

Beautiful car! I have the same car - same year - same color. Although, I'm hoping to be going gunmetal grey later this summer.

 

Thats one clean bird! Nice!

 

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/APR-400EU/
Oh yeah! not many people are a fan of the two on the left setup, but I really like it. And with full-length headers it sounds amazing.
It wasn't too bad. Took me a few weeks, but I would only fool with it an hour or two here and there after school/work. Cramming those headers in there was harder then the trans swap lol.
Can't go wrong with gunmetal man, that's an awesome color on these.

 

Thanx for the link, as for the trans swap is it a T56?

 

Nah, I wish it was a T56...it's just a T5 in there. I got a deal on it that I couldn't pass on at the time. Swapping in a T56 shouldn't be any more difficult than a T5 though.

 

Do you have a soundclip of the exhaust?

 

I don't unfortunately. I need to borrow a camera so I can take a video if it. It definitely has a unique sound to it.

 

Refinished the lips on my wheels not too long ago. I think they turned out pretty nice.

 

How'd you go about refinishing the lip? Amazing looking GTA by the way! So clean. How hard were the headers to install? I saw you said difficult, did you lift the motor at all?

 

Thanks! I used 200 grit sandpaper to strip the clear, then proceeded to uses 400, then 1000, then I wet sanded with 2000. Then I polished the hell out of it with Mother's aluminum polish. I didn't re-clearcoat them so they have to be polished about every other time I wash the car. Not too bad of a job though.

As for the headers, I just undid the engine mount on the side I was working on and jacked up the engine. I replaced the mounts at the same time, so it wasn't that big of a deal. If you're doing headers and still have the original mounts, this is a VERY good idea. The worst part of the install was re-routing a lot of wiring and protecting it from the heat of the headers. I thought I had everything tucked away and protected, only to start the car and smell burning plastic within a few seconds. This must have happened about 3 times lol.

 

Mike I'm about to do the T5 swap on a L98 on my 92 convertible t/a have you had any problems with it? Btw nice gta!

 

The wheels really turned out amazing! I was thinking of doing the same to my wheels but two of the rims are extremly pitted, I wonder if sandpaper could fix it. Either way, I suppose it couldn't hurt to try.

The reason I ask about headers is because it's the next step on my GTA. Looking for a good type to go with. What kind are yours and would you reccomend them?
Lmfao @ the burning wiring. That's a quick sign that something is wrong. lol.
I also noticed you deleted the smog pump when you got the headers. Did you completley remove all of the equipment? How did you get to the AIR line bolt that runs to the cat and shares a bolt with the ground on the back of the pass side cylinder head? Also, do you remember the part # of the belt you went with to compensate for the smog delete? Sorry for all the questions, they're all things I want to do to mine and I figured it'd be best to ask someone who's already done it.

Amazing looking car man!

 

The only issue that I ran into was the flexplate to crankshaft bolts were beyond seized. They wouldn't budge with hand tools and only 3 of them came out with an impact. The other 3 became rounded so I had to cut a new head into them using an angle grinder. Not fun. They went from a 14mm head to a 12 or 13. I don't really remember. Either way, it worked like a charm.

Cutting the hole in the firewall for the slave and in the trans tunnel for the shifter also require a lot of patience and precision. Measure twice, cut once certainly applies here! Besides that, no real issues. It's a pretty straightforward swap. Good luck with yours!

I'm running Doug's Longtubes. They're pretty much a copy of Hooker 2210 headers for a lot less. I'd recommend them for sure. All the smog equipment on my car is gone. And I don't remember how exactly I got to the AIR line bolt your talking about. I guess it didn't really give me any trouble since I don't remember much about it. I don't remember the # of the belt off the top of my head either, but next time I see the car, I'll let you know. (I'm out of town at the moment)

 

looks great!!! What size tires are on? And it's stock or lowered?

 

I'm running 255/50/16 all around. It's lowered a little bit. The pictures at the top from 2008 are before it was lowered and the more recent pics from this year are after. It's not a huge drop and I'd love to go lower, but my collectors are kinda close to the ground as it is.

 

Hey Mike I did it now my 92 base model firebird convertible V6 is now a 92 "GTA" L98 w/ a WC T5 convertible I'll post pics soon

 

Very cool! I'd definitely like to see that.

 

My 1st car was an '87 GTA. Same color but with flame red interior to match. God that was a beautiful car. I tear up when I see a flame red GTA cause I really miss it.

I vowed to own another GTA someday. Though I ended up getting a formula. Maybe someday I'll get one, lol. Nice ride.