Today was also the day I finally got the GTA out of storage…the winter that wouldn’t end may finally be over. I also wanted to showcase the paint repair I had done last fall, it was great to finally get a real touch up done on the car and eliminate what little rust it had.

Here are some pics I took today, I also got to use the front nose emblem I picked up awhile back, the only problem with the paint work was my guy messed up the old emblem removing it, it sucks but it wasn’t perfect and I had another. Just finding someone to do the work was a challenge as no shops really want to mess around with old cars in my area and the rest of the car turned out great.

In the end I had a fender touched up, both bumpers re-sprayed, body molding painted and a few other areas touched up. The car is not perfect but presents really well as a clean driver IMO.

 

I finally had enough of the Magnaflow tail pipes, they are just too much/doesn’t look right IMO so I decided to go back to stock style tail pipes.

Mitch Trewyn did a YT video a little while back where he did the same thing and listed the part numbers for the stainless steel Dynomax tail pipes and I saw an old thread on here where someone did the same. The part numbers are 53821 and 53822 and Rockauto had them available at a great price, many other places don’t have them in stock.

It was not a terrible job but took some time grinding the welds on the tail pipes where my buddy welded them during initial install. Getting the fit right was more challenging considering I had to use a harbor freight exhaust pipe expander that did a good job considering it wasn’t meant for stainless steel or an impact and it handled both. I’m lucky the pipes only needed to be expanded a hair( both were listed 2.5 inches but the Magnaflow muffler ends seemed a touch bigger) and what also helped was grinding 4 thin slots similar to the Magnaflow tail pipes to aid in stretching the stainless steel.

I also wanted to add the Walker 35475 will work to support the driver side tail pipe after expanding the bolt hole a bit on the Dynomax driver side tail pipe. Mitch mentioned the stock hanger won’t work and I can verify as I kept the OE one and there’s no way without welding something custom to make it work.

Now the car looks so much better IMO with the stock looking tail pipes and after a quick test drive everything seems good.



Had to peel the stickers.

That aftermarket Walker exhaust hanger I picked up last year makes this work, hopefully lasts.

For $29 it did the job.

Back to stock look.

 

nice work! the stock tailpipes look the best on these cars in my opinion - slight downturn peeking out, cant beat it!

 

It took me awhile to really miss that look but I have come to appreciate the stock look of the tail pipes much more, it showcases the car’s style better and I see why it’s worth going through the hassle of switching back.

 

I'm beginning a restore on a 1990 GTA. It's read and I'm hoping that one day it can be as nice as this car. Good job man.

 

Thanks! Mine didn’t start out that nice but it’s come a long way since when I got it.

Also ‘90 is a pretty rare year for GTA, low production numbers. Have you thought about starting a build thread for it?

 

Thanks for posting the part numbers for the DynoMax SS tailpipes. They came in yesterday.

So it needs the Walker 35475 driver side hanger to make it work?

Got them to go with this.

Ebay score - NOS Dynomax 17266 Ultra Flo Polished SS Muffler. - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

 

That is a score! I remember when Dynomax was the best around.

I replaced my stock hanger with that Walker one referenced last year in an attempt to better align the Magnaflow tail pipes as the stock 30 year old rubber was showing age (still holding up and kept it in the parts bin). I tried the stock hanger I had and it wasn’t close.

I was stunned when they worked to align the Dynomax tail pipes, I could only get 1 of the 2 rubber straps to connect to the tail pipe but I took it as a win seeing as how it’s supporting it now. Time will tell how it holds up but if it fails I will break out the welder and try to fabricate something. The hanger seemed to be the issue on others who have done this as well.

 

I haven't put much thought into thread. I may do that because I don't know where to start. I just pulled it out of the woods a couple days ago.

 

That is a project for sure but it looks mostly original from what I can see. If it was mine I’d start with a good wash on the exterior and give the inside a good vacuuming and cleaning to see where it stands. I highly recommend getting a look at the rockers and bottom quarters that are hidden by the ground effects. You might be able to cheat looking at the lower quarter ground effects by carefully removing the black plastic vents in the door jamb and looking down with a flash light. Making sure you have as solid as a base to begin with is important.

On the mechanical end I’d assume the fuel system is trashed, a lot of these got parked for bad fuel pumps as they are not exactly easy to change and after sitting that long it’s likely toast. I would bank on a new fuel tank, sending unit, fuel pump etc on the back end ( drop the axle and do it right because if the tank is bad it will need to come out anyway) and new injectors plus fuel pressure regulator diaphragm in the engine. Throw a battery in and see what comes to life and make sure nothing is smoking/catching fire.

Do that as long as the engine is free etc. and i would also try to hear it run before putting a ton of money into it. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself. I’m no expert but that’s where I would start with it.

This site has a wealth of knowledge on these cars and a lot of issues are common and have been solved over the years. A thread can be useful to get an idea where to start from other ppl who have been there before.

 

I washed it yesterday. It cleaned up decent and has a solid body from what I can tell. The door trim on both sides has a little surface rust around them. I want to make sure the motor is free and and get started on the fuel system work. I know the guy I got it from, he lives up the road from me. It wasn't a daily driver and the battery died. He just pushed it out of the way and left it with plans to one day do something with it. I think I will start a thread to document how things go.

 

Had a problem recently with on hot start up when the car sits about 5 minutes or so car will crank over fine but not start until the second try…only on a hot engine and never on a cold start up.

I tested fuel pressure which held great with only minimal pressure drop, ohmed the injectors hot and cold both within spec and my data scanner showed nothing off with MAF or coolant temp sensor. When checking spark it appeared as if it was good as well.

I swapped the ICM out with a known good back up I had kicking around which did nothing. On a hunch I swapped the 8 month old Genuine GM/AC Delco coil that I replaced last year after the 5 year old Delco coil failed with a Duralast I had, and the problem is gone.

Goes to show how crappy new aftermarket parts are getting for these cars and cars in general. On a side note the $25 Duralast coil looked better built with brass contacts as opposed to the “genuine GM” that cost twice as much for what it’s worth.

I also scooped up one of Airwolfe's NOS distributor assemblies he has for sale, I might just swap out the re-man Delco for that on a rainy day for extra piece of mind.

UPDATE:

It's been a week or 2 and it came back…I swapped in the NOS distributor from Airwolfe and the car now starts faster and seems to run a bit stronger…holding my breath on the hot start issue but I tested it a few times today and it’s been great.

 

You notice any power gains with the better Y? I'm thinking of going with Dyno Don's pipe that he makes that matches my Edelbrock shorties.

 

I did the whole exhaust at once, I didn’t notice much of a gain. I will say if you have subframe connectors you will need to best in the Y pipe to make it fit as it’s tight.

 

Yeah I saw you say that.

 

Hit a milestone with the GTA right before storage, it hit 100,000 miles on my way to top up the tank with non ethanol before storage.

I have just been enjoying the GTA this year and been focusing most of my attention on my ‘79 Trans Am and have been making solid progress on it. Now I am just looking forward to spring to get the GTA back out again

 

Sorry, please disregard.