Here is my new 89 trans am! I just bought it for $1172 and I think it was worth the money. I have been searching for a T/A for my sister for her graduation present and this one was my backup because it has been sitting in the same place for 5 years so I just said f*ck it and bought it. I am getting it trailered to my house on the 1st of april then I will start my resto.
Here are some pictures.






here is the rpo #s
AAA AH3 Am9 AR9 AU3 A31 A90 BC8 B20 B84 CC1 C60 DC4
DE4 DG7 D3W D42 D81 D9A E5Z E9Z F41 Gu2 G80 IPC J50
K34 K68 Lb9 MD8 MXO NA5 NP5 N24 N65 QNS R6A TR9 T93
T96 UB3 UF6 UM6 UQ1 UT1 U25 U29 U62 VAN W73 WS4 WW2
W62 Y99 1SB 1SZ 18P 24Q 6ZW 7ZW 8NL 82C 821 829 9NL
98U

Thanks for looking.

 

Looks about the same condition as mine did and I paid twice that much for it. But that was 10 years ago.

 

Nice T/A! I've never seen a Trans Am with GTA door panels before. That is pretty cool. That might be kind of rare. Love the two tone paint.

 

love it!

 

looks like a good start.

My 87 TA also has those same door panels..

 

I have a set of those door panels... new in GM box..

 

The blue/silver combo is my favorite on the T/A's. I'd be tempted to trade my GTA for one if I could find one.

 

After sitting for five years with Washington winters and weather to contend with, it looks good. I look forward to hearing how much work it will take to bring it back to life. Have you checked into DMV fees? I only ask because there have been a few cars down here in SoCal I've been interested in but they haven't been registered in years and I'm curious as to how much it costs to get them back into the system.

Your particular car is exactly what I have been looking for, but I haven't seen one down here. I'll keep looking. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

As far as I know there arent many fees getting it registered... it has a clear title so I just have to transfer the title and everything should be fine.
I get the car on the first of April then I will start getting to work.
Thanks for the compliments everyone.

 

*UPDATE*
Got the car today!
Its really late so I will post some pics of it cleaned up tomorrow!

 

Here are a couple of pics... its not cleaned up because I am more concerned about getting it running first lol.



There is alot more damage on this car then I thought there was originally as you can see here


going to need a new door...
The place behind the headlights (name is eluding me)
is smashed in a bit but it looks Ok from the outside so I am not
going to worry about it.

 

Car is giving me a **** load of problems... the dang thing just does not want to run. First there was no spark...Replaced the WHOLE ignition system...now it still wont start so the problem is somewhere in the fuel delivery. I did however get the interior cleaned up nice and I am glad to say the only thing it is going to need is a headliner and a instrument cluster plastic cover. I am going to try to sell the body kit and get a formula look going but I am still going to keep the blue and silver theme going somehow. just a small update.

 

I've owned two 1987 Trans Ams with the GTA door panels. A friend of mine has an 87 Trans Am with them also. They don't seem rare to me.

 

Test the injectors. My 1991 Trans Am was giving me similar problems once and it had bad fuel injectors. Apparently the older ones go bad if the car has been sitting for a while since mine was.

And nice T/A btw, you got a good deal on it and I personally love the color.

 

Yay I got it running half way decent today!
its running on all cylinders and does not die at idle anymore but
it lacks a lot of power and hesitates when its given gas.
It does however drive incredibly straight for having an insurance loss
on the car fax lol. Anyway work will start moving forward now that I
know I can fix it!

 

What did you do to get it running?

 

Its kinda embarrassing but I forgot to put in the fuse for one side of the injectors lol. Other than that just a whole ignition system and adjusting the timing

 

couple of recent pics.


Original 1982 T/A hood from junkyard $100

Front bumper from my 1982 Trans am... I really want to put on a 85-90 firebird style on though.



As its sitting now.

I am still trying to figure out my stuttering problem with the engine... but I have a horrible feeling its the injectors because it loses pressure fast even with the feed and return lines clamped off.... I am in the hole about $1600 now.

 

Nice hood. What a color though.

 

It will probably turn out to be the fuel pressure regulator, the fuel pump, the injectors, or a combination of all three. Hopefully, it doesn't turn out to be all of those. You're getting closer to pinning down the problem though. Keep us advised.

 

why did you change the bumper cover?? just to achieve the formula look with no foglights i assume since the original bumper doesnt look bad in the photos?? the power bulge hood looks good tho, glad to see youre making progress.

 

I changed the front bumper cover because I have already done a trans am with the GFX style on it and I want to do something a little different this time although I am really regretting it now because I dont know if I will be able to afford to get the thing painted in time for graduation.

 

Your pulling the rest of the ground effects off right? If not the thing will never look right.

 

Yeah I am pulling the rest of the ground effects I just need to find a rear bumper before I do that.

 

Ok update!
There are only...10 days left till my sisters graduation party so I am going to have to pull a serious "overhaulin" week to get this thing in shape. I have a completely new plan for the interior which I think will look utterly stunning when finished so look forward to pictures of that. The new plan for the exterior is to leave the body blue but I am going to put 1984 Trans am bumpers and white 84 GFX on the body. I made a To-do list and it goes as follows:
INTERIOR
Clean New Carpets
Paint Plastic Panels White
Paint Center Console White
Recover Steering wheel and Shifter In White Leather
Fix The Gauge Cluster Clear Plastic Bezel (if anyone has one PM me)
Fix Turn Signals
Recover Headliner And Sail Panels In White
Put New Carpet On Interior Panels
Scrape Off Gross Hatch Tint
Fix Drivers Side Door Lock That I screwed Up
Fix Speedo
Wire Subs And Amp

EXTERIOR
Transfer 84 Bumpers Over
Paint Unmatching Parts Blue
Put On Spoiler
Finish Re-Finishing Formula Rims
Replace Passenger Side Door
Fix Fender Dents
Adjust T-Tops
Transfer New Headlights
Adjust Drivers window
New Windshield Wipers

ENGINE
Replace Injectors
Replace Fuel Regulator
Replace TPS
Replace Coolant Sensor
Clean EGR
Replace Thermostat
Check Cat

If anyone has good suggestions or information regarding any of these things please share.
On another note some of you may know I bought a 15th Anniversary Trans Am to part out...and most of you did not like that idea but I found a place to keep it so it will not be sent to the crusher. I am going to take the parts I need off of it and I will start buying better conditioned parts to restore it so...yeah.

 

Teaser pic

 

I LOVE that color.

 

Thanks I am pretty proud of it

 

I'm confused by that last picture. Why are there 84 style ground effects on the nose now? change of plans? The bumper paint looks great though!

 

You should be... can't wait to see it back together!

 

Yeah the 84 GFX really grew on me so I decided to go with that instead.

Thanks for the compliments guys I hope to have the outside done before saturday.

 

Looks great! Always good to see another local 3rdgen!

 

Here are some crappy pics of what I got done over the weekend.





I still have A LOT! of things to do but ...its getting there.
The hood isnt latched because I still need to adjust it so it does
not hit the bumper. I did all of this in 2 days... *falls asleep while typing*

 

really looks terrific. I love the tail lights.

 

did you part out a 15th anniversary car for this project?

 

I used some parts off of the 15th but I still plan on restoring the 15th.
the parts on the car now arent in very good condition overall so I will start buying better conditioned ones to restore it.

 

The damage to the frame started bothering me a lot lately so I had a guy come to look at the damage... the cars uni-body is bent so it is a danger to be on the road... looks like a parts car now I am going to part out the 89 and restore the 15th anniversary the best I can over the winter.


R.I.P. 89 T/A 8/30/10

 

bummer! not practical to have the frame straightened out?

 

Not really lol. Its just a run of the mill 89 trans am so cost wise its not worth it compared to just fixing up the 15th anniversary. I am not feeling too bad about it, if anything I am glad I can start working on the 15th anniversary now! I need to put a for sale ad for my brand new injectors I wont be using though lol. BTW your car looks GREAT! I cant believe how far you have gotten in this short time man! be proud of it. Cant wait to see the screaming chicken too lol.

 

sorry to hear the 89 is toast, but I'm sure the 15th Anniversary car will be beautiful

 

Yeah me too. I saw the beautiful 15th in the for sale section of the site and I just kinda went "Wow I cant believe I have something that used to look like that". I cant wait to see it when I have it looking presentable again.