So I've been hanging around here for a little while, thought I'd share my car.

I picked it up about 3 months ago. As far as I know I am the 3rd owner. The guy I bought it from said he imported it from California around 1990. It has only done 55000 miles but unfortunately I think the guy was of the opinion if he didn't drive it often meant he didn't have to take as much care of it. It is still in pretty good condition though but I am a planning a complete restoration down the track. Just going to drive it and enjoy it till then.

Thanks for looking! Chris.

 

That is a really nice GTA

 

Hey swamp thing thanks! Its not actually a GTA though!

 

Installed new sway bar endlinks and bushes, no more jingling and jangling as I drive! Handles a little better too!

 

....

 

Looks immaculate!!! Nice find good luck with it....i would say to swap the whole rear instead of just drum to disc in case u were contemplating...but then again not sure how hard parts come by there

 

Thanks man. The photo's do it justice but even in person it does still look v.good. Some parts can be had quite easily over here but the interior parts are what's hard to come by, not many to none of these being wrecked over here. Postage kills me getting little bits and pieces shipped from the states.
What do you mean by getting the whole rear done as apposed to just swapping drums to discs ?

 

Nice score there Chris! It's funny to see one of these as a right hand driver.

I believe Maks10 is talking about swapping out the entire drum brake differential for a disc brake differential (the entire rear axle assembly). Since you're in Australia, you could probably find an M78 (Borg Warner 9 bolt is what we call them) real easily I would think. Good luck with it.

 

Hey dprest68, thanks for the clarification. Its something to think about. Getting to that part of what I'm sure will be a long restoration is bit further down the track. Got big plans for this car.

I'd imagine it would be strange seeing a rhd when you're used to only seeing them as lhd. My conversion was done by the guy I bought it from and seems to be done quite well. It is a shame though as I would have loved to have had an original lhd but seeing as I knew mechanically I wouldn't be doing much for probably a few years I wanted something with a bit more power so I opted for a later model 3rd gen as aposed to my favourite model, the 82 and this one came at the right time at the right price. In Australia, or New South Wales to be exact, a car must be over 30yrs old to be exempt from a rhd conversion. Stupid! Don't ask me why!

 

sorry didn't see this yes....thanks deprest

 

I don't think it was imported from California, we don't run right hand drive stuff around here. It wasn't originally purchased in the states. Good lookin car! Enjoy it!

 

100% American Import. RHD conversion. I do enjoy it!

 

Hey guys, few new photos. Tinted the rear lights. I'm loving them and the lights are still clearly visible in direct sunlight.







I also made some adjustments to the rear glove box, it was pretty crappy and open to the rear fender etc and full of dust so I extended the sides to make it more enclosed and lined it with black velour.






New vs Old sway bar links and bushes.



Engine bay needs a good detail. Those with a good eye will notice a lot of things on the wrong side lol. Even keener eye with notice the right fender slightly pushed in preventing my light from going down all the way



Oh yeah, I was at a pop culture expo and met the Hoff haha, nice guy.



So it's away this weekend getting front discs machined, new pads, balance, alignment. Also going down a tire size at the front, sick to death of the front wheels rubbing. Can't believe they came from the factory like that. That's it for now. I'm sorting out all the little bits first before I get to more major things like engine and transmission rebuild etc as it runs very well atm, having such low k's. Going to re upholster the head lining and rear speaker covers and do a bit of vinyl wrapping when I get it back.
Thanks for looking!

P.S I have the performance suspension badge on the dash. Does that mean it came with ws6 set up ?

 

Nice car, Congratulations!

The tires rubbing, probably comes from the rhd conversion. Could try a spacer.

It should have the WS6 package, you could mesure the sway bars, 36mm front and 24mm rear.

 

Thanks man. No idea with the rubbing , mechanic couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. Thanks for the tip, ill measure them when I get it back.

 

New tires! To combat the problem of the front wheels rubbing, I went down a bit in tire size on advice from the place I take my car to. New size on the front is 215/55ZR16. Also had the brakes completely rebuilt.



Tried a bit of vinyl wrap.



T-Top plastic edge got some too, I'm very pleased with how it forms around everything after hitting it with the heat gun.









Also picked up a Pontiac headlight badge as I was missing mine. These don't come by very often on eBay!

 

It is not a thirdgen firebird decal

 

I know

I will eventually get the car re sprayed so this was just a test to see what it looked like. Didn't want to spend too much on a decal and the cheap 3rd gen non genuine ones are very obviously non genuine. This one wasn't genuine but looks it. I like the second gen bird too, used to draw it all the time in school lol.

 

nevermind

 

Thank you sunroofdoctor.com/ for my new c&c seals!!

 

Hi guys, Thought I'd dust the cobwebs off my thread here as I'm starting to do things with the car again.
I've managed to acquire a donor car, a 1984 Trans Am. (a donor car like this is incredibly rare here in Australia) Among other useful parts it has a T5 which I'll put in mine, and a rear end with discs and limited slip diff. The issue now is I've done some searching here on the forum and come to realise the disc/lsd rear ends aren't that great. I know all about the park brake and the recall for the 82 -88's, and now read that the 'gov-lock' diff is rubbish.
What I'd like to know is:

Are these diffs really rubbish or is it they don't stand up to too much abuse? I don't thrash my car, I don't race it, I don't do burnouts, I just cruise.. however I may occasionally hit the gas at a set of lights. Will the diff hold up to the driving style described ?

The discs, does the rebuild kit solve all the issues permanently ? Will swapping on new callipers solve it ? Are they really any better than drums?

Basically is this 84 rear end worth it at all ?

 

Welcome back Chris! Congrats on your donor car find.

I am no expert and I don't see on this thread if you car is making more power than stock or not, but I would think that the '84 differential would hold up just fine behind your 305 based on your driving style you described. My friend had an '84 with the same diff and a 305 and he had no problems at all with it. Not sure how the T5 would factor into the equation, but I think you should be fine. I would probably be more concerned about the T5 actually from what I have heard about them. But again, the T5 might be just fine behind a stock 305.

As far as the recall goes, I'd be willing to bet that issue has already been addressed. It would be easy enough though to put new calipers on it if there was a problem with it.

Having had a drum brake cars and disc brake cars, I'd take the disc brakes any day over the drums, but I doubt it will make a huge difference just on the rear of the car.

Does the diff under your car now have 10 bolts on the cover or 9 bolts?

 

Thanks mate!
What have you heard about them ? I've heard they can't handle great amounts of hp. I will have it fully rebuilt before it goes in.

I'm not sure about the diff, the car is away atm so I'll get back to you.

 

You're welcome.

Pretty much the same as what you've heard; they can't handle lots of power. If you are going to have it rebuilt before you install it though you should be fine.

 

Hi guys. Long time since I've been on here so I thought I'd add to my old post. In the last 4 years I have made some changes to the car but unfortunately it has been off the road and in storage for most of that time due to engine issues and not having the time or money to get it back in the road.
In my previous posts I mentioned a donor car, I ended up with lots of pieces I needed and some hard to find spares. Biggest change was the hood and flat spoiler from the 84 donor, I always loved the turbo hood and flat spoiler and love it on the 88 with the ground effects. That's it as far as I've gone with the exterior.
Interior I swapped the steering wheel out for the 84 one, much nicer wheel imo. Added a small sub in the spare tyre well and an amp, came up very tidy looking. I've also bought a full leather package from the UK for the dash, arm rests, gear stick **** and boot, hand brake, radio pod and centre console. Still need to re wrap the steering wheel. Next interior projects will be reupholstering the seats, installing all the leather, and attempting to install a double din stereo. Also picked up a new rear hatch motor and installed since the original died.
Priority now is getting it fixed up mechanically and have it back on the road!






Thanks for looking!

 

Blowing the cobwebs off this thread again!
So I finally got it back on the road and registered.

First up was suspension. Koni sports adjustables and Eibach springs 1" lowered. Funny thing was the old gear was sagging so much the car was barely any lower with the new gear. Installing went smoothly, first time ever doing it so I had done a fair bit of research here and YouTube. Managed to get a few rides in to test it out before other things starting screwing me around again but the improvement was night and day!

 

Also thought it'd be a good time to finally replace the fuel pump and sender. Instant improvement, the old one had to have been on its last legs.
Bit difficult to get the tank out cause of the filler neck but with a bit of wiggling and some swear words I got it out. It was surprisingly clean inside, I'd expected 32 years of crap but it was like new.

 

My '88 T/A is the same...at least in the rear. I had always wondered if replacing the springs would have it sitting too high in the air. Glad these worked out for you.

 

Thanks man, I'm really happy with the outcome. The Koni's go really well with these springs, and even on the softest setting, still way firmer than stock. If your still running 32yr old stock gear, and mines only done 60k miles, you probably won't see a great difference. Added a pic for you of my before and after heights (in millimetres and measured from the underside of the wheel arch to the ground), barely a change. My old shocks were also garbage, could compress with one finger and they wouldn't even open out again.

 

Nice day for a photo shoot!

 

Thanks for this.

Yes, my '88 has all of it's factory WS6 components still in place. Factory shock s were never known for their long service life, so at 32 years on and 60k miles (give or take), I'm sure the shocks and struts are well past their prime.

 

No problem man! You won't think it's the same car with new springs and shocks!