In April i picked up an 86 ta for an grand. I've been wanted one for a few years and now that I'm sixteen my dad bought me one to be a project car with just a little work to be done. Over the summer I've been able to buy parts for it, this is what has been bought so far.

Windshield (old one was cracked)
New hood Struts
New hatch struts
door locks
fog light relay (fog lights still don't work!)
2 new front tires
Windshield wipers
sunvisors
seatbelts
seatbelt guides
brand new Dynomax exhaust sounds aswome
sony cd player radio
oil change
alternator belt
valve cover gaskets
shift boot
New Grant Challenger steering wheel
New Hurst Shift ****.

There are many thing still to be done like a headliner and I want to get 17'' vette Z06 rims from years 99-04 i think those would look sweet. i'll post some pics and tell me what you think, and give a couple suggestions of what can be done to make the car better, Thanks

 

These pics may make some of you firebird fans want to cry. The car seriously needs a paint job. I want to post some pics but i'm having trouble posting them, i don't know how to, please help, copy and paste doesn't work!

 

does anyone have something tosay???? please

 

sounds like its gonna be a good reliable car.

 

On your fog lights....If the high beams are on, they won't work, but there is a 5 min fix to keep them on...

ATGO-Pontiac Fog Lights: Regardless of High or Low Beam headlights

And to make them brighter for free...
ATGO-Pontiac Fog Light upgrade

 

go to photobucket.com and make an account you'll have to upload your pics on that site then copy and past the img code on here.

 

Buy a powerful amp, then you cant hear the car rattle when you drive down the road. And, you arent a true third driver without the feather roach clip hanging from the rear view window.

 

84transamdude thanks for the advice here are some pics.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...carpics004.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...carpics002.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...carpics001.jpg


i'll get it painted in the spring, it's gonna be a cold and hard winter for the car!!
Thanks

 

Looks good man, I wouldnt be worried about the paint part, it all comes with time.

 

looks great! looks like a steal for a grand. i bought mine from my cousin. he paid $3,600 for it. after about three months of having it he was changing the oil and told his girlfriend to shut the hood, she forgot to and it flew off going down the highway. the only thing messed up was the hood, somehow it blew off completely before hitting the windshield or roof. he was too lazy too fix it and was going to trade it in, the lot offered him $950 because of the damage so i gave him a cool grand for it. it cost a couple hundred for a new hood, but the hood is black. sounds like you got a good starting point to work from, excited to see what you do to it from here.

 

good luck on you project and also another tip if you copy the one that says img code your pic will load right in the post.

 

car looks nice so far and dont worry about the paint thing your not the only one ive been driving my car around half primer for almost a month now lol

 

I think the car looks pretty good especially for a grand, so what if it needs paint at least the body is straight and it runs good

 

In this area that car would be a super deal for a grand.
Here a TA for 1K would have at least a few bad body panels and I am not just talking faded or pealing paint.

 

just got the car back from the shop. spent $350 on a new master brake cylinder. Kind of o huge rip off but at least the car is drivable now. the old master cylinder had an internal leak which would prevent me from driving the car because call me old fashion but i like having brakes under the brake pedal.
thanks for all the replies, Matt

 

the car is running great but now for some reason the parking brake light comes on when i hit the brake pedal. I know these cars are the masters of electrical glitches, but this only started today??

 

just an update, installed the new struts so i don't need a pole for the hatch or hood and i installed the passenger side gasket so it doesn't leak oil anymore. unfortunatley the power steering is leaking like crazy. paint, rims and a headliner to come in the spring. I can't wait to have to stop looking at this ugly faded crappy paint

 

what dynomax system did you get, and how much was it?

 

i orderd it through summit for 185 bucks, it came with the super turbo muffler which makes it sound really rumbley. I don't have the product number now but i can research it when i get home

 

You did great for a first car... my first car was an 86 cavalier.... wait for it.... STATION WAGON! I actually fought and fought with my mom to let me get a Camaro, Firebird or Fiero. She fought me tooth and nail on it. I was so into the f-bodies since my dad had the 89 IROC that I now have and I loved the car so I wanted on too. The fiero was just cool IMO, this was in 1992 so they were a little cooler than today...

Drive the car, work on it as money permits, most of all just enjoy it, third gens are finally coming into their own since alot of the crappy ones have been weeded out. Now when you see them, it usually someone who wants the car for what it is, not just cheap transportation.

 

Just to make you feel better - your paint is a lot better than mine! All (or most) 86 cars have paint issues. That's the first year they switched to a water based solvent due to EPA regulations. They didn't have the process down at that point, and 22 years later, it's pretty obvious.

Keep up the good work! That car is going to be awesome!

 

just a quick question, when it rains really hard the lowest part on the trunck carpet gets saturated. it weird, only thet very bottom part is wet not the sides, not on the plastic just the very bottom, the hatch seal looks to be fairly new and i don't beleive the rain is coming in trough the tailights? does any one else have this problem
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i just rememberd i got a new heater core because the old one didn't work. if anyone has any hints or pics of how it hooksup or just any general instruction let me know,
thanks, Matt

 

about the wet trunk it could be that the floor is rusted out in the trunk or the seal between the hatch glass and the deck lid has dried up and water is getting in and about the heater core pay someone else to do it cuz it sucks

 

about the heater core pay someone else to do it cuz it sucks[/quote]
my dad did a heater core ina chevelle and he said it was a pain but it can be done, but in my car nothing is hooked up for the heater core at all so i want to know where to run the hoses and stuff like that

 

on the passenger side of the firewall you should see two holes about an inch in diameter and about an inch apart the piping on the heater core itself will stick out through those holes. i did mine last fall, took me all day

 

Sweet looking T/A. Looks like a fun project. Defiantly will look better after paint. Don't worry I need to get mine painted too.

 

just an update, my dad and i have been doing bodywork on the car for a few weeks after much sanding and priming have sent the car to maaco for a new bright red and new silver on the ground effects. I'm posting pics of the process and will definantly put up new pics when i get the car back. When it gets back i will put on the decal kit i got from phoenix graphix with the big hood bird, I can't wait.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...merta001-1.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...rimerta012.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...rimerta013.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...rimerta009.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...rimerta003.jpg

 

But you should wait...Until you pull the front license plate off & fix the holes left behind.

Then do this, if you hafta run a front plate in your state.....


Uses two of the already existing bolts under the nose....


Holds it away from the nose.....


I had a spare nose to use to build it, before putting it on my GTA....

 

It is looking good!

 

i got the car back from maaco and i put the phoenix graphix kit on it, blacked out the wheels and attempted to tint the faded taillights(didn't come out great), and i painted the rubber spoiler black- making the spoiler rubber was a stupid idea! i love the way the car looks, here are some pics!

I went to maaco to check the car out, it rained but it still looked good
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta001.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta002.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta003.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta004.jpg

Within the next week i did all the things mentioned above and today being the first sunny day took these pics
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta005.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta006.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta007.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta008.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta009.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...intedta010.jpg

let me know what you think of the redone car
Thanks, Matt

 

Looks great. The only thing I DO not like is the black spoiler. You should have had it painted red with the rest of the car. How much did the paint cost? I think it turned out very nicely.

Any plans for the engine? How many miles on the car?

 

please, please polish you tail light lenses. the car looks good. did you try and put some clear over the black on the wheels? that my help some too.

 

yeah I was gonna say you should have left the spoiler on for them to paint. The paint job looks good but they dont last. I had mine painted by maaco 3 years ago and the roof is peeling along with the front bumper.

 

Am i the only one that likes the contrast of the black spoiler, i prefer the black over the body colored spoiler. Also i didn't expect the paint to last forever because it didn't cost all that much

 

I'm thinking of painting my white body colored wing black, to match my black centered/polished lip wheels.

 

The reason the black wing does NOT work with the car is because your ground effects are silver. If you painted the whole car red then it would have worked better. And as someone mentioned, the wheels look good, but they would look much better if make them a gloss black. Other than that the car looks great.

 

Everything looks good. The only thing I would do is mask around the door handles and locks and paint them black like they're supposed to be. Painted door handles are a dead giveaway to a cheap paint job.

 

everyone's hatin on my car i kinda like the red door handles and red door locks, i think they look better now than they did black, and also the idea for the wheels was to do the paint in a semi flat black so putting a gloss on them would defeat the purpose of choosing a semi flat black, thanks, Matt

 

Actually I think the black spoiler looks okay, many of them came from the factory that way in '86 since the 3rd brake light was at the top of the hatch. I think that was the only year they made them w/ the black.

 

i got a new headliner and sunvisors from ebay a few months ago and after making all this progess on the exterior i figured i would finally do something new to the interior. it fits good and is held up by my center console, sunvisors and the seat belt cover peice, it looks really good because before this i just had a nasty green foam that crumbeled when u touched it, i'll have some pics up soon
Matt

 

people hate to much lol. i like the door handles being red. they blend in better. and im glad you stayed with the 2 tone paint. it looks great, people on this site are sometimes brutaly honest and very nit-picky lol.

 

Man..I have an 86 too..My first Trans am was a GTA (which I still have sittin in my driveway, and refuse to sell since its my 1st car) but I had no money to fix it.But then when I finally got some money I picked up an 86 for a grand also and im in the process of repairing it.(but it runs and drives lol)

 

Wow that is way nicer than my first car. Looks good so far I disagree with everyone that doesn't like the paint combo I love it.

 

i finally had decent weather to go outside and take some pics of the new headliner. In the pics the sunvisors look a totally different color but in reality they are pretty close to the gray of the headliner.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...adliner001.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...adliner002.jpg

P.S. some people finally like the color choices, thanks

 

i was wondering if anybody knew what type of exhaust tips would look good coming off of the duel exhaust- the Inside diameter is 2.25 inches. Also does anyone know where i could get decent wheel emblems with the bird on them, the ones i have know are a little beat up
Thanks, Matt

 

Looking good...I like the black spoiler. That's how is supposed to be for an '86 anyway. You definitely need to do something about the tail lights though, they really look bad compared to the rest of the car. A really nice set of tail lights would make the entire car look better.

 

so its been a while since ive done something to the car and i always wanted to make the windows darker so iwas wondering if any one had any pics of thier cars with window tint, im probably going to get a 35% on the doors and hatch glass. my dad said he had a 80's vette with tinted windows and he said that the steep rake of the rear glass and tint made it hard to see out of. does anyone have any ferther knowledge cause i don't want to hit something backing up. My dad also knows a guy who could do all 3 windows for $160 so iw was just wondering if you guys knew something i didn't
thanks, Matt

 

i got the windows tinted 35%on the 19th. My dad is good friends with a guy at the local mechanics shop. His brother has a local shop that does car cleanup and tint. So he gave a great price of $140 to do all 3 windows. he said the back was a huge pain, and i knew it would be but he still did an aswome job, here are some pics

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...dowtint001.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...dowtint002.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...dowtint005.jpg
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...dowtint004.jpg

 

Way to go kid. That thing is really looking nice. The progression is awesome. I like how you left the wing black.

You know what would set it off more, some tire shine and then hack the springs a coil in the front and back. It's free if you have the tools and a $20 rotary with a "REINFORCED 1-3/4 inch" cutting wheel. You won't sacrifice ride quality either.

 

Yeah looking good! Wish my first car looked as good!