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And those were only a couple. Next week there'll be more
This car show is hosted by a Mustang club and seems to lose some popularity year after year, so there were only few third gens around this time.
That Buick Riviera looks amazing...all look amazing but that simply stands out.Maybe its the way you took the photo that makes it look so good.Its also so big compared to the van...i never seen one in real life ,Id drool all over it
Somone has to get that orange/black firebird and fix it ...like get it a serious paint job.
btw what kind of license plate you have on your Trans AM.I know in germany you get only those long plates that dont fit most of the time not even on european cars and the bike ones are bigger.
Last edited by FirebirdUSX; 07-21-2014 at 12:17 PM.
That Buick Riviera looks amazing...all look amazing but that simply stands out.Maybe its the way you took the photo that makes it look so good.Its also so big compared to the van...i never seen one in real life ,Id drool all over it
Somone has to get that orange/black firebird and fix it ...like get it a serious paint job.
btw what kind of license plate you have on your Trans AM.I know in germany you get only those long plates that dont fit most of the time not even on european cars and the bike ones are bigger.
Originally Posted by dmccain
Great pics! I love that Buick Riviera also!
Thanks, guys
The Riviera has a very nice paint job and that makes it stand out against other Rivieras I've seen these last couple of years.
I'm surprised that you don't get to see them... at ALL.
Almost every show we go to has at least one of them
The sun was at a really great angle to catch the paint job properly.
Regarding my license plate:
We used to get a different type for our American cars, which came quite close to your plates' in their size, but the government has decided to no longer give them to us willingly, a few years ago.
Our equivalent of DMV handles this differently depending on location and clerk. Seriously. You can have luck and get a friendly guy give you the proper size plate or have a total a** which won't give you an inch.
What American cars need:
Same size on a modified Audi. German cars don't usually require this plate shape:
What we generally get for American cars nowadays (that's actually for motorcycles):
What US forces get:
They even tried to f*** me over and wanted to give me this type for the front end, unnecessarily large white spaces and all... and that with even one less letter on it!
Which they often enough also try for the rear end:
But I was able to beat them at their own game and managed to at least get the size you can see in my pics for both front and rear.
That only worked because clerk 1 was imprecise while filling the forms and clerks 2 and 3 were both unsure and accepted my arguments.
It's a lot about talking BS in our offices.
I forgot to mention how they said to me that I have the right to an appropriate plate format for my type of vehicle, meaning a car-plate for a car.
That's why I don't have the usual motorcycle plate size.
But why don't other offices say the same thing, even though everything's supposed to be "standardized", and why do US forces receive plates which are officially printed for scooters by current regulations?
No I am in europe thats why I asked how you got those license plates.That camaro has the plate mounted by the guy who invented that shape ...he probably showed the owner that his shape fits all cars
Seriously why they can't get the size your car needs aslong you keep the standard font .Most license plates in europe have really big letters and numbers compared to american ones ...guess thats a anti myopia tactic.A standardization in EU would be nice .The Audi has room for square license plates thou is made in germany where the standard is the long shape plates
Oh and I forgot , that Dodge Ram in the 6th pic is showing the middle finger to current trend in Europe ...small city cars
We're not even allowed to bend those darn things.
It gets very interesting when the cops see that and "order" you to get an appropriately sized plate though noone will give you one of the correct dimensions.
And so the party begins
Yeah, I don't get why the EU is incapable of standardizing their fonts.
At some point we all got these plates with the EU emblem and a country-specific letter, but the rest kinda remained the same.
You won't have trouble reading them, at least not like this
The Audi from those pics must be a reimport from the states or just got a reimported hatch, because the fitting normally houses the long plates.
This is how they usually appear:
I see a lot of those modifications on German cars, just to make them different than others.
Regarding the Dodge truck:
I'm still impressed by the actual size of those things.
I remember standing in front of Luis' truck, that grille directly on eyesight-level, having to get out my portable stepladder to get in and basking in the king size bed called a "seat".
I have not met anything of comparable size, interior or exterior, from a local manufacturer and there is no way I could fit one of them under my carport or into any single parking spot in this country
You'd probably be able to fit my girlfriend's car inside the loading area!
Here's the batch of pics from yesterday's annual show in Hannover.
Unfortunately, we didn't make it on Saturday, because my starter decided to quit on me, so we had to reschedule everything and then go without the Trans Am.
Saturday would have been the day to see much more cars, especially 3rd gens.
Last Thursday my starter decided to no longer retract after starting the engine.
We wanted to go for a cruise, so we decided to see whether it'll release when pulling the 3A circuit breaker -> no effect. The engine even started as usual.
What does that thing do, anyway? 3A is not enough for the power going through the starter while cranking and the wiring diagrams don't show a purpose IMO.
Next thing: Starter enable relay behind the driver's side kick panel.
Disconnected it -> no start.
Reconnected it, started the engine, disconnected it -> no difference. Well, fair enough, that thing's working as it should and doing nothing further than that.
So I ordered two ramps and a new starter.
Strangely Rockauto and FedEx managed to deliver the starter within four days, counting in the weekend days!
My ramps arrived after almost a full week... from our capital city to here.
Thankfully, my neighbors helped me get my car up those ramps and had some spare cement tiles and wood blocks to keep the nose from scrubbing over the ramps.
As we were going up the ramp, the starter began to work properly again and retracted.
Must have suddenly realized what was about to happen to it
Too late, my old friend. Time to go.
It's too cramped under the car to get any decent pics, so there's only this one.
After disconnecting the battery there's no problem in disconnecting the wires.
The top connector is the main power lead plus to other orange wires, slightly beneath it the purple control wire coming from the starter enable relay (I think), which closes the circuit and starts the motor.
There's another screw holding the starter in place, plus the two 47Nm bolts up front.
To geht the starter out of there, I had to remove the knock sensor plug to the right, then move and tilt the starter about until it came down in front of the exhaust tubing.
Removing the torque converter shield certainly also helps a bit with maneuvering here.
Well, by the looks of it, this thing has just seen too much grime over the years.
I'm going to take this thing apart and maybe I can restore it for later use.
For now there's a brand new original AC Delco "Made in China" starter in there.
I honestly HOPE this works out for the next 24 years...
The city had cut my power yesterday, so I decided to do some work that wouldn't require any electricity.
Wait... no, they didn't cut my power because I didn't pay my bills... come on guys
Our street got connected to a new power line and we were switched over yesterday.
Remember how I refurbished my turn signal housings?
The headlight bezels need some work, too, so I decided to first do the passenger side one.
This is what I had to work with.
I went through 400, 600, 1500 and 2500 grit sanding paper to remove any insects and old paint, then get a smooth surface.
This is how it looked after I polished the bezel and before applying the primer.
Quite something, actually, but it was still relatively gray.
And now for you paintjob experts...
How can I get a smooth finish?
I primered the object, then laid several layers of paint down on it and then several coats of clear.
My thought was to sand the paint to a smooth finish before adding the clear, but the paint looked kinda washed out in the testing area, so I threw that idea over board and sprayed a further layer back on to darken the area again.
Areas where the clear coat had a chance to flow into an even surface aren't that bad, but you can see what happened to the rest on the top right of the bezel.
Well, at least the front matches the new turn signal's look now.
I wonder when I'll get around to doing the other side including the emblem... but I will, sooner or later
Nice pics taken at the car show. Your new starter is a brand new one or a re-manufactured one? Good work on the headlight bezel... it looks surely better than before
Nice pics taken at the car show. Your new starter is a brand new one or a re-manufactured one? Good work on the headlight bezel... it looks surely better than before
Thanks!
The starter is brand new, not remanufactured. At least that's what I ordered.
It cost me the same as buying a reman one on the German market.
not very much going on right now, except for an investigation regarding my distributor.
I'm getting some kind of whirring sound and after removing the belt the sound is still there.
Listening to the underside of the car, it's hardly noticeable, but comes on very strong from the top rear of the engine and changes with engine speed.
I'll have an update once the replacement arrives and we'll see if it helps.
Really nice car
Glad to see so well-maintained thirdgen on the European roads.
Was it hard to pass the TUV and other tests in Germany?
Greeting from Bulgaria
I'm happy I didn't have to got through the initial approval process for newly imported cars, as this one was already on the roads here for a long time.
The tech part of the bi-annual checkups are not so bad, as long as your car is maintained well, so no problems there, gladly
The Emissions testing part on the other hand... different story.
That was a bit more difficult, but we got through in the end, so I can rest peacefully till next year when the next checkup is due.
Well, not much going on here, being so far away from home between weekends...
Next thing to replace would be the distributor, for it's clearly making some kind of noise.
I guess I overdid it chasing that BMW down the Autobahn after he flashed his lights tailgating me last summer as the weather was really hot.
Since there's no bearing in there, I suspect a deformation of the rotor or the housing... something like that.
We'll see when the time comes and brings me my tools to get at that distributor clamp bolt!
In the meantime I managed to get me a pulldown hatch brush insert.
It was missing from the beginning and I remembered how it annoyed me in my Firebird, so I HAD to get one
No, it's not new, but after some short weeks it would have looked like this anyway.
Quickly loosen ALL plastic screws around the hatch trim, plus the two metal ones, aaand it's done.
Whoo! Got myself a brand new owner's manual package.
I wonder at which stage the original one disappeared.
It came as part# 10167543 and contains
- VIP Pontiac plastic emergency key
- VIP Pontiac audio cassette
- detailed maintenance schedule booklet
- bumper to bumper plus information booklet
- 1990 Pontiac Firebird owner's manual
Since the wrapper was already damaged sufficiently to remove the contents, I went ahead and gave the contents a glance, afterwards carefully putting them back into the wrapper for storage.
It all still smells and feels new and everything was even sticking together from the tight fit and softeners in the materials.
There's loads of info in that manual. I don't know if you guys know how the export manuals look, but they contain only the very essentials of information.
This thing contains colored pictures, colored categories and info about all 1990 model variants of the Firebird. Awesome!
Why make such a fuss about a manual, you may ask?
These items give me that "new car smell" feeling which I will never be able to experience with a Firebird itself, because they're simply no longer in production.
I'm the kind of guy who would have instantly run into a dealership after seeing those 80's "we build excitement" commercials back in the days, so it's nice to come a bit closer to that
Edit:
I finally had the time to carefully unwrap the cassette and record its contents.
Here are the two sides of the cassette:
Nothing new here due to the snow, but I did find something rather nice to have.
I didn't know there was anything like it available, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.
Not so sure about those Firebird tail lights... there should be a blackout in their place.
This little dash detail gets me though. This is a what... 1/64 model? So that's pretty detailed in there.
Fun little model. Yeah, they got a little crazy with the tail light area.
That new owner's manual you got is pretty nice! Where did you get it from? Can you post a link? I am definitely interested even though I still have my original manual. I am especially interested in the audio cassette! lol. You would think they would transfer the information on the cassette over to a CD to make it more current.
Fun little model. Yeah, they got a little crazy with the tail light area.
That new owner's manual you got is pretty nice! Where did you get it from? Can you post a link? I am definitely interested even though I still have my original manual. I am especially interested in the audio cassette! lol. You would think they would transfer the information on the cassette over to a CD to make it more current.
Hey, Dave. Saw some very nice progress in your own thread. Nice read
I came by that manual during one of my random Pontiac-stuff searches on ebay.com.
At the time there were two similar listings and one still seems to be active:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1990-PONTIAC-FIREBIRD-NEW-OWNERS-MANUAL-PORTFOLIO-KIT-/170796226251?pt=Motors_Manuals_Literature&hash=item27c43f96cb&vxp=mtr
I'll have to transfer that cassette to my computer one of these days and I also believe they did begin handing out CDs instead of cassettes at some point... but not in 1990
I'll have to transfer that cassette to my computer one of these days and I also believe they did begin handing out CDs instead of cassettes at some point... but not in 1990
Thanks Antony. And thanks for the link. Unfortunately, the manual for 1989 is the same as what I already have and it doesn't come with all of the other items you received with yours. No cassette for me!
Thanks Antony. And thanks for the link. Unfortunately, the manual for 1989 is the same as what I already have and it doesn't come with all of the other items you received with yours. No cassette for me!
You'll find one some day. Now you know where to look
I finally got my screw covers from someone who didn't rip me off!
Though they are not relevant to anything special, their absence was always bugging me.
I immediately ordered a set of push pins for my tail lights to get rid of the pesky french clips I abused until they fit in the holes.
As a reminder: GM #16500308
Now that's how you do it right!
Thanks a lot to mantaguy for posting the part number in the aforementioned thread!
Now it's time for the weather to get better, so I can clean the car.
Can't go anywhere in this snowy weather.
Remember those vinyl cargo shades?
Remember how well they look in comparison to a faded cloth version of the shades?
Well, I do, so I didn't hesitate to get a vinyl one from my buddy as soon as I saw he was offering one.
And what a coincidence that I was just around the corner from his place... 300 kilometers/186 miles away from where I live.
The only issue with the cover was the missing trim pieces on the ends.
Ah well, I have the cloth version to gut at home, so why not give it a try?
As it turned out, I needed more parts than the trim, so I opted to remove one end of each cover and just swap out the tarp, retaining the mechanics of my original cover.
To get started, the stud on the end of the trim had to be drilled out and removed.
It is then possible to fix the locking mechanism in place and twist the trim until it comes loose.
The trim can only be twisted in one direction, which becomes apparent when looking at the nook the stud used to go through.
I used a screw driver to increase leverage on the locking mechanism.
Btw: Take care to make a mark on some parts in relation to the cloth/vinyl so you don't end up rebuilding it the wrong way round, if you want to do this yourself some day.
This part was broken on the vinyl cover, but is mandatory for the trim to hold on to.
There are four edges in the trim, which will lock it in place through the twisting motion.
You can also see the nook with the stud hole.
To get into the inner workings, there's this pin that needs to be punched out first.
Depending on the side of the cover, there may be some spring pressure behind the plastic parts, so take care or you'll have to begin recovering parts from around the room.
That sucker is tiny. Very tiny. And a real pain to get back in when you're done!
I had to use some wire to help thread it through the two holes of the pipe it goes into.
This is what you get in the old style.
I have noticed a difference between the old vinyl style and the newer cloth style workings.
Surprisingly, some plastic pieces are made of metal in the younger cloth model.
Usually they tend to start out with higher standards and then sacrifice quality for lower production costs and use more plastic, but this is truly an exception to that concept.
The material sheet slides into the slit on the left here.
You CAN pull it out with the end pieces and trim attached, but it would be very difficult to force it back in.
I'm sure there are methods to do so, but I needed to swap everything, so I stuck with this procedure.
I'll just leave this here...
The mechanism reminds me of how pens work.
Press the assembly together and it revolves when letting go.
And this is it. I just need to get two new studs to secure the trim pieces and it's ready to go!
Took me two hours to get this done and about another hour of cursing to get the remaining cover back together for storage purposes
Nice job on the cargo shade rebuild Antony! I have a few of them that will probably need to be done in the near future. Thanks for figuring it out for me!
My GTA's have the vinyl shades in them and I live in Florida (lots of sunshine). I have never had an issue with them getting loose and they get super hot in the summer. They must be made of some special vinyl or something.
Nice job on the cargo shade rebuild Antony! I have a few of them that will probably need to be done in the near future. Thanks for figuring it out for me!
My GTA's have the vinyl shades in them and I live in Florida (lots of sunshine). I have never had an issue with them getting loose and they get super hot in the summer. They must be made of some special vinyl or something.
Thanks, Dave! I'm glad to be of help!
Thanks for the info. I assume there's some kind of mesh inside the vinyl to keep it in form... the only way to find out would be to cut it open or x-ray it.
Not gonna happen
To all of you who have that issue of the cargo shades not rolling up anymore, read on to see how you can get them back to normal operation!
(Geez, this sounds like some advertising crap )
First, I need to revoke my statement about certain parts being made from metal instead of plastic in younger assemblies.
It just looked that way inside the casing.
Both my shades did not roll up anymore and I looked at getting a new spring, testing it and eventually getting more done for other people who are interested.
They wanted roughly €150/$160 for one, so I decided to take my stuff apart again and check whether I could shorten the spring and form new endings with my newly acquired blowtorch and some tools.
No chance. Wire too thick, no means of grabbing cut ends, and so on.
My friend then had the idea to preload the spring before installing it and after a short moment of mulling over the mechanism in my mind, I chose to give it a try.
And that's basically all you need to to. Here's how.
This is the spring in its complete awesomeness.
As you can see it's neither stiff nor loaded when removed from the assembly.
No need to remove it, though. This is just for reference purposes.
These are the interior works that matter.
One end of the big spring is hooked up to a stud on the center shaft somewhere near the center and the other is hooked into the white plastic piece seen here.
The red spring (red coating, not rust, keep in mind ) can be found on both ends and helps you install and remove the complete cover assembly from your car (remember the compression action for that).
Both the white and black pieces cannot rotate once inside the housing as they are formed to fit in there in only one position, meaning that when you pull on your cover the casing rotates, the shaft in the center remains stationary and the spring is being loaded due to the rotation of the white piece it's hooked up to.
Ok! See that splint in the black piece and how you can probably turn something in one-quarter turns?
That's the key to all of this!
Remember those ribbed plastic parts from the end of the assembly?
You can probably push them down with a screw driver, just need to do it on the right side.
It seems that the side in question sticks out of the casing a bit more than the other.
Now... I had the trim pieces off, but I guess you can do it with them attached, though you'll have to figure out your own way to get to the parts.
I had the entire shade in a vertical position, grabbed it tightly and pushed it down to the floor, then pushed the more visible ribbed part into the casing and twisted the outermost end against the direction I would normally pull the cover out (towards the vehicle's front if the cover were still attached).
I twisted the end several full revolutions, both ends turn simultaneously btw, and now everything rolls up nicely.
07-20-2014, 08:53 PM
