I've been stalking the forums for a bit now, and seeing every one's posts have inspired me to finally work on finishing my 1982 Trans Am.
A bit of history (I'll try to shorten it, I can be long-winded):
I bought my T/A in 2014 as my first ever project car. I knew NOTHING about cars - I didn't even know how to do an oil change, let alone the difference between a v6 or a v8! Lol. I just knew I wanted to learn. So, what better way than to buy a rusty, unreliable third gen? So, I overpaid for my 82, with a worn out 305 and 700r4. Had a lot of ******* engineering on it too, but I didn't know what I was looking at at the time.

Car was wrecked from a hit and run during the GA "blizzard" - a bit of the rear got caved in but I bought a donor third gen formula and swapped booties on them. Front end also had damage - my headlight was literally taped to a piece of cardboard for months! Another 305 was swapped in a few months later (the first engine swap I ever did by myself) along with a th350, which didn't last too long.
At this point, I went to my first Fbody Gathering. If anyone went to g18, you probably remember that beat up third gen with a horrible paint job. I could have cared less about looks though, I was proud of it.

Year or so later! Lots of skimming here. Finally got a 350 vortec swapped in with a t56 from a friend's 97 SS Camaro that got totaled (sad sight). Car also got a paint job - black with a flat clear coat because of all the previous body damage. Carpet and seats from the Camaro were also swapped in.
Around this time I went to g19. My car won best in class! Which I was so proud of because of all the hard work that went into that car just days before the gathering to get it running. I was proud, but I ignored the fact my car was the only one in it's class. Still counts, right?

Well, I also started going through a divorce at the time. My then husband was very spiteful, and drained oil out of the engine without my knowledge. Ended up spinning a bearing on Christmas day. It's been down ever since, over 2 years now. So currently, I'm going to upgrade everything I wish my car had before, and do it right (as "right" as I can lol) this time.
For now, another 350 vortec is getting put together, since the rod got damaged in the old block. The old block is going to be made into a 383 stroker over the next year or two. The new 350 has a mild cam (the most radical I can go without having to do machine work to the heads), a small little shot of nitrous. The 4th gen ten bolt is getting taken out and replaced by a spooled Strange 12 bolt. Stock springs are being replaced with Hotchkiss, Viking adjustable shocks and QA1 adjustable struts.

My boyfriend and I are expecting a baby in May (just a couple of months) so I'm in a rush to get as far as I can since I'll be forced to take 6 weeks non-paid maternity leave. My 3 year old daughter (who you may see pop up in pictures working on my car) is also rushing me, she wants her Trans Am running!

I'm still learning so please correct me if you see me doing something that makes absolutely no sense. I'm pretty excited about this build, I'm absolutely in love with this car!


This is how the car has been sitting the last couple of months. My boyfriend is thankfully fixing my wiring issues since I know absolutely nothing about electrical work! He gets a migraine just looking at it...pretty rough having to try to fix it.



Yes...that is dirt and grass in my tailpipe. New exhaust coming in soon! Lol.



Thankfully I got some help tearing the new 350 apart!

**Please note - at this point I'm mostly focusing on getting the car running! The exterior will be fixed and repainted, and then I'll be working on fixing the interior. I'm not the type that is focused on how a car looks, but instead how it performs. Everything will eventually look *hopefully* decent.

 

Yesterday's project was taking out the carpet. I knew I had rust, just had to see how bad. Also had some help with that. Having kids ain't so bad! Lol



This was the worst spot there was, in the passenger side back seat - where I put my daughter's car seat. So I'm going to make sure to patch that today or tomorrow if I feel up to trying to deal with the welder. I'm going to hope that 16g metal will work fine. There's a few pinholes here and there on the driver side - I'll get it all patched. I just need to go over it with a wire cup brush just to make sure it's not worse than I think.

Once the floorpans are patched, I'll be installing the new ACC carpet I have. I've seen a few threads on how much of a PITA it is so I'm definitely looking forward to it.

 

Wow, that's quite a project. Love that your daughter is excited to have it running, and pitching in to help!

 

I think I follow you on Instagram! Haven't seen it for awhile. That rust looks like it's probably from your t tops leaking over time, pretty common. Theres quite a few other areas you may want to check for rust so you can prevent it from getting worse. I'm from Illinois so pretty much everyyyyy 3rd gen I have has needed some rust repair. Ospho is your friend for stopping surface rust! The bottom of the radiator support tends to get some rust. The front strut towers are super common, especially where the self tapping screws go for for the inner fender liner, you may not be able to tell unless you flake some undercoat off. The area about where you left foot rests on the floor pan is another that I've ran into on almost all of mine. Which you'll want to also check on the bottom side of the pan from the inside where the front fenders mount. That corner and area gets abused! The rear wheel wells are pretty common also even on fairly clean cars. Especially the drivers side, which you may have to flake off seam sealer or undercoat to find it. The spare tire well on the passenger side tends to rot out on most also. Just figured I'd give you some spots to check since you found a little. It seems like if you find some, chances are its lurking in other places. Good luck with your project!

 

That's what this was. Looked good at first, then I noticed the undercoat wasn't as flat there as in the rest of the well. Flaked it back, and there's a little rust starting.

 

Nice!!! Get it running and take it to TA Nats in Dayton Ohio late August. The ultimate place to go to get Firebird blood flowing in your veins.

 

Yeah, it's quite a lot unfortunately lol. Would be easier to just buy a clean car and start from there but I can't part with this car! Lol. And I was surprised she took up to the car like she did but I'm not complaining!

I'm sure you do! What's your IG? I follow just about any fbody owner I find! Lol. And thank you for all the info! Giving me more things to fix, lol! I'll be sure to look at it as soon as I get these floor pans situated, I don't want to get overwhelmed with rust. I'm pretty sure it'll be every where you pointed out, this car was abused pretty badly before I got it

That's crazy, I just wouldn't have suspected rust to be so hidden like that. I'm sure my car has plenty, I really need to check.

Thank you! I'll try to for sure! I've always wanted to go. I was going to try to make it to the Beach Bash last year, but I just hated rushing the project again for another car meet and regretting it later. But hopefully by August I'll have everything perfect!

 

No need to worry about being perfect, the Nats is about getting out and meeting like minded people and just enjoying the whole atmosphere. Everyone's car is respected and appreciated period. Such a great weekend.

 

Agreed. Lots of nice folks. Held right at the host hotel, which is a better deal than it may sound. Seminars if you like, show and shine, drag racing night before the event IIRC, excellent cruise night in a local town, vendors, Pontiac Oakland Club International (POCI) and Pontiac Oakland Museum and Resouce Center (POMARC) had a presence there in '17 too.

 

Its crazy how a couple little screws can cause so many issues!

My IG is camaron_1988, I haven't posted a ton in awhile but I'm trying to post a little more stuff. I dont mean to overwhelm you Haha! It can all be fixed if needed, it's not as hard as some people make it out to be, but you may luck out. I have 2 cars (T top cars) with rust issues on the floor pans but everywhere else is solid.

 

Car currently as it sits after I started to clean up my work area a bit.

Not too much progress has been made due to this Georgia weather. Cold and rain isn't a good mix when you're not in a heated garage. We got lucky enough to have a good couple of decent days so I was able to get down in the garage while my boyfriend worked on his Speed3 in the garage bay next to me.



Ignore all the mess, the tires still haven't gotten mounted on my Mazda and we are using the ACC box my carpet came in as a place to throw random stuff while we work Our neighbors LOVE us.

First step was working on the rusty spots in the floor pans. I got some replacement sheet metal and started with the rustiest spot, which was in the back seat area of the passenger side. I cut my hole, grabbed the welder, and went to work.
There will be no progress pictures of that. Why? Apparently, I was so used to welding with .030 wire (which I haven't welded in 3 years), that I didn't think to prep the welds. So the thin wire I was using wasn't happy with what it was having to work with. Let's just say it looks like tiny burnt popcorn everywhere. I was horrified and had to stop It was pretty rough.

So, I decided to find something else to get into while I tried to work up the courage to embarrass myself with that again (I had just got done telling my boyfriend how pretty my welds were going to be and he was glancing over my shoulder trying not to laugh...I can't have that). Decided to start a bit on the Tick's Adjustable Slave Cylinder. I got my old one out and put the new one in, just not bolted up yet. Why did GM have to make the brake boosters for these cars so dang huge?

Good part about a project car is that there's plenty to work on, so I went on to the next thing since I didn't feel like dealing with that. Don't judge me. I got the old 4th gen rear end out and am ready to swap in the new Hotchkiss springs, Viking shocks and the 12 bolt rear. Unfortunately, the 12 bolt is in front of the Mazda3, and until the car has the new clutch in and everything put back together, there's no way for me to get my rear end to my side of the garage So, I got my rear end out, stared at the Mazda completely torn apart, looked at my inconveniently placed rear end...and what did I do? You guessed it - onto the next thing.



Engine time! My last set of piston rings came with one broken ring, so I got a replacement box with (hopefully) good rings. Spent the next few minutes singing, "Single Ladies" and "Ring of Fire" while putting them on and was pretty much done at that point due to it getting dark out (the garage isn't well lit for night time work).



That's the ideal workspace, right? The leaves make a nice touch.



Hopefully the weather picks back up later this week, as of right now we're getting another cold spell. My baby is due to be here in 2 1/2 months so I'm on a major time crunch, but working in tight spaces on the car with a big belly and all the pregnancy symptoms has put quite a hold on things. Hopefully, I can get my t56 rebuilt in time to put the trans in and have the car running before the baby comes in late May, but at this point, I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

I can't believe there isn't a single picture on the internet, but use this to hold your assembled pistons and rods.
Am I the only one who knows about this?



I found 1 picture.

 

Trust me, if I knew about that, I'd be doing it! Lol that's actually pretty genius! I had to scour the garage just to find my 7 pistons (one was already in the engine). Now I gotta go find a crate

 

Wait until you actually try it. You will think those crates were designed for pistons & rods better than soda bottles.

 

Ha! Workspace is where you find it.

I've not seen that crate trick before. Good to know.