zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Ok my third gen experience started back in 1991 (long winded story) with this car a 1987 Trans am LG4 as my "new" daily driver. This was the newest car I'd ever owned it had 44K on it was owned by an older woman that used to bring it into the Goodyear I worked at the time, she had just wanted a little red sports car and she decided to let it go because that damn trunk lid pull down it was on the fritz for the second time and she had to pay for the first replacement and wasn't going to shell out again. l liked the handling the dash and was getting over 20 mpg (had 2.73 drum rear) it was a WS6 car with the weakest 305 they had 160hp Ugh

I took care of it and it had some quirks like coolant that would disappear slowly when the temp gauge would start getting little higher than norm it was getting low - top off and was good till next time. well as the miles added up one night on the highway I was playing with a 71-2? Chevelle and I heard a faint knocking noise, so home it went - later found it spun a bearing dunno why as wasn't really that hard on it. When I tore down the 305 I found the reason I assume the block was cracked in lifter valley probably from when original over had it overheat and the quality pot metal fitting on intake which dealer fixed under warranty. and the cracked seeped coolant which mixed with oil and eroded the bearings causing the knocking.
I decided to fix the wimpy acceleration issue with more cubes better cam and E-heads about a decade later I found this board and started some updates were needed: weld in SFC, new PHB and control arms wonderbar and strut tower brace and this was a totally different car! absolutely amazed what this car would do on a cloverleaf! I also did a 1Le upgrade on the front and rear along with braided lines and added 3.42 gears and a Torsen posi. around 2004

I ended up trading a 69 Firebird for a 99 Firehawk and my son wanted this car and kept it in family, he had issues of overheating and cooked the motor, and we have been fighting to get it back %100 - lest my son gave up and wanted it gone and I decided I'd take it back, this was a year ago battery now dead, carb having issues of flooding then running fine well he finally got ahold of a trailer and brought it to me, the sun beating it up and an ant invasion last fall from the record rainfall we received its not the shiny hot rod I had




I had always wanted to add Injection to this and once had a Superram but never got around to it. I am going to fix up some of the neglect this car suffered. last fall I ended up buying a 90 Formula that I decided to build and I feel like I have to decide on one or the other, this leaves me with 5 yes 5 non DD vehicles and 2 that wife and I drive to work. and here's my quandary of which to keep....
thoughts appreciated

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

heres a older pic when I had it turning heads

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

I sure don't know how to answer that other than I have a super ram that could use a new home....

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

oh do you now? lol I have 2 now, so is this a sign? I'm contemplating selling another car and keeping both I need to stop listening to the little devil sitting on my shoulder

punkmaster98

iTrader: (5)

Not a fan of red but I love this. Tastefully done.

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

That car lookt great! Get her there again, awesome car and the right color 😁

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Ok going forward with this car I plan on putting a ZZ4 short block with some Vortec heads that I have at the machine shop (only been 2 years) and will keep this setup Carbed and I plan on having the CC Quadrajet rebuilt by SMI fixing the A/C and the seat that my son stuck his knee through the cushion - among other things. I want to get this back in daily driver condition

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Just ordered a ZZ4 shortblock from scummit and they have a 100 off if u use the promo code "always" during checkout. kind of handy

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

I bought this years ago right after I had the 383 built (bad timing) it was $500 I just couldnt say no

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Ok so this car has an old catback that's gotta go, Ifound this Magnaflow catback for the car with one T/pipe is little bit of damage and I dont like the baloney tips I got these nice Dynomax mandrel bent pipes for a more stock sleeper look



Anyone want Baloney tips?

Eric-86sc

iTrader: (18)

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

I haven't swapped it just yet, it's going back in parts room with rest of the exhaust. Dyno Don said he will be making me a Y-pipe for the headers I picked up since Mfr no longer supports third gens it will probably happen when engine is swapped. Unfortunately my 69 bird is going to get my attention soon, I want to get it to the point of running so I can get it off to the bodyman - this project has taken way to long! then while its gone I will have the time and the room to dig into my third gens

SnkSknrZ28

iTrader: (2)

Subscribing to see how this turns out. I’ll be in the same boat soon posting a full build of my formula

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Well not a big update on the 87 but when i bought all the parts off 90 formula I had to make space so I was going to pull both cars out cleanup the outside wall - was pretty much a junk catch all so when I got in and started cranking, and cranking and cranking.......
well it wouldn't start Rat farts , went and found spark tester and zero spark, WTH? distributor assembly was replaced < 100 miles ago ugh even sitting they break so I pushed it out some, got busy sweeping and trashing trash, moved the doors (Dayum they're heavy by yourself) and with all mine and wife's might we got it pushed it back in, ugh will diag ignition later! break time anyway.


Now back to 87 when my son owned it, one day he got in and put his knee down and well - you see

Yeah I know kills a decent interior well long story short my old 99 trans am seat back had an splitting issue and I found a good pass seat so I swapped that years ago so back to 87 I still have a usable seat bottom, so last night I disassembled both and made one good seat - well except the bolster if any upholstery shops were open I would of removed the cover and taken it in for repair but that will have to wait for life to get back to normal


Man sorry for the LARGE pics that really made the bolster look worse than it really is. Seat covers on these seats are easy to do. The worst time was getting power set track off the seat and I will finally hookup all power and air lines.
My wife couldn't drive it since seat wouldn't move up, really didn't matter since the car doesn't like her anyway

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

and now back in car
much much better IMO

drknow90rs_ss@y

iTrader: (3)

Much better! Honestly, I'm in the same boat; 3 Thirdgens, a Gbody(elky), and 2 project trucks. So what's the answer? "Live long enough to finish them all."
DR.K.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

so I worked on both last week this one got trunk lid off my 90 but not this spoiler. I plan and spending another $600 on one from Scummit racing(t-top350 knows) why them? they have local warehouse in DFW area so I can pickup and inspect and no shipping fees. For life of me I cannot find a discount code for them- WTH? I would think they would have them with the Covid stuff now
In the end this car will have the right spoiler on it then. I know lid paint is bad but it lines up better now.
The original spoiler was so loose it would of been a safety hazard had I left it on this lid- it could of flat blown off that's how badly rusted it was

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

So I decided to look at this cars CNS issue (crank no start) well I had to reacquaint myself with this ignition system - yes its been that long so I verified voltage at coil bit no spark signal ohmed pick up coil and was good so that leaves the ignition module, So I dug around and found a used distributor that I got from a 90 motor home 454 that I needed to store for a while popped it in and viola! cranked right up bad thing this was a Rock Auto new unit that probably doesn't have 100 miles on it
anyway I'm going to dig this out and drive it some next week

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Well tried to drive this today started it went inside for a minute and came back out and it had died
so no fuel getting in carb, Delphi pump was almost new -again been sitting probably 2 years slap another on and BLAMO! fired again criminy what else will go wrong?! So drove little close to home then car wash topped off tank and back home

I feel better now

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

this was a fun weekend in DFW was 106 (new record temp) saturday so we decided it was a good day to push my 90 off lift into garage and give this car some more love, about a month ago I had AC charged up - was about a pound low and was cooling good and about 2 weeks ago registration required inspection so to Firestone I go bad news no cold air - than I find system was now empty - WTH? it had 1lb in it for years and when filled I lose it all? so more diag needed no evidence of leaks oh well I had a good friend rebuild my CC Quadra junk and adjusted it and can tell its better now! when I left the marks in above pic I could tell my trans mount was separated - this was a 4th gen 6 speed interlocking mount- again WTH?? the interlocking is supposed to stop them from separating, anyway I installed a Energy suspension mount I hope I dont get any NVH than I did before



lately this car has been one step forward and 2 backwards, killin me Smalls!

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

OK next on the list is exhaust - has to go - getting rusty no more shiny, its loud and welds starting to leak, I have a Magnaflow to go on see post #10



the brakes are gonna need some love too rusty rotors from sitting so long

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

OK I cut off old system and added this MagnaFlow from a fourth gen and walker tailpipes. the tailpipes created Their own issues probably from non original muffler one was 3" longer than other and weren't centered well so I'm ready to put it down and see how it sounds





looking through my pics of old baloney tips and this may explain the not quite centered a bit

anyone care for baloney??

jkris53406

iTrader: (5)

Are you keeping the TOTL tail pipes?

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Yeah its going on my formula will need some work!
Well on a second note, today I took this car out and like it the MagnaFlow is quieter than the SLP I xid find my receipt for the system from 4/15/1994 $299.95 at Summit free shipping

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Took this one out for a longer drive and I'm Loving how much quieter the Magnaflow muffler is and with carb build and tune but wont get off high idle - well it did once but none of the rest of my stops. Trans definitely hits second with authority! Then there's brakes- well this has sat for so lone rotors were glazed from being rusted at first felt like no power asst - but there was so I did a few 60-30 hard stops and that's better but still not like the 1LE should be. It also seems like I'm getting a good bit of NVH being transferred to body from engine that has me thinking what may be causing it. its been a good 10-15 years since I drove this around much Tires feel like rubbers is a bit hard they're 8 years old

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

The poly trans mount can add a ton of vibration into the car.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

well I had a 4th gen interlocking mount 2nd one? IIRC that tore - I said second hits hard in trans
I think I was feeling this before I replaced mount guess I can try std mount with the old hose clamp trick?

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Will I did some under hood assembly - air cleaner install - very tight with STB on there wish I could find new flex ducts for this or some way to reskin them somehow, 80's GM quality!
its no longer a 5.0 but it is H/O

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

If you need a tad more clearance to those snorkels, I've seen folks add a plate of aluminum under the STB mounts near the struts, to space it up just a touch. Watch your hood clearance, but you should be able to buy yourself a touch more room there if you need it.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Thanks Dave for the suggestion, but if you look close on drivers side the brace has been in contact with hood bracing and wore powder coat through, that started rust and it grew like a disease all over the bar under the powder coat, short of re-powder coating not much can be done. The passengers side is where clearance is tight! the back or air cleaner hits STB and that snorkel doesn't tilt down either years ago I bent the bar going to cowl for little clearance which has gone away over time. If it didn't tighten the front end up so much I would remove it. guess its time do some Twerking - er I mean tweaking

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Ugh, sorry to hear that, as I have the same hood, STB, and have (but am not yet running) the same air cleaner.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Dave, I guess I would look at it real close and "adjust" the hood bracing to eliminate the contact or it may be contacts only when engine moving under accel-decel. I went out and drove it around some more yesterday found fast idle solenoid was my cause of staying on high idle unplugged it and was acting better but will need to see why it was on with AC off. replaced driver side mirror class as it was cracked. OK can we talk hood insulation? who makes a decent repro for this car? the original is starting to let go. I don't want universal fiberglass rag - anyone have pics of nice original or replacement that's molded right?

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

No properly molded replacements that I know of. Just flat stock cut to the proper perimeter shape. There are some aftermarket options of plastic and other materials, but they too are made of flat materials.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Well that's what I thought, no worries. Some day they will make the right parts. So been talking with my body shop looks like we have penciled in 10/19 to purdy up this turd- not doing 100% paint on this - that'd cost more than this is worth but it does need some love!

The trunk lid off my 90 was painted and peeling again- swapped them around so repop Aero spoiler went on 90 and this will get correct wraparound.





The gouge in hood and edge damage is what happens when your being careful it was safely against wall, car on lift, battery charger was hooked up so when car was lifted all the way up, charger cord caught hood and pulled it over - I was in house, son was working in shop. He was also the one who knelt on drivers seat caused cover to tear, and he also slipped when we had some ice and slapped the old Aero spoiler and broke it not saying I'm perfect but some of the reason I'm becoming folicly challenged. This is why we cant have nice things
the roof is really bad!


I'm also going to get windshield replaced as its delaminating so bad - they can also get paint on the edge better with it out - it is the original windshield 33 years old

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Can you save the Power Tour decal? A neat part of the cars history.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

well I could try? there is probably a second one on it too, in 2005 I drove late into the night, late Thursday to about 2 am made it to Conway Mo rest stop reclined my seat and slept till maybe 6 AM Ugh and drove to Chicago to pickup NY buddy and do Milwaukee to Kissimee Fl when leaving Kissimee we went to Daytona beach left Daytona beach 7 am and dropped NY buddy off in Jacksonville Fl and then all the way home in Dallas area made it to my bed about #3:30 the next morning car drove great but my rear end was hurting from sitting there so long 16hour day trip! I started doing HRPT in 1999

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Well feeling a little more adventurous this weekend- North Texas third gen had a monthly GTG in Arlington Tx near Jerry world so with full confidence, I rolled out on longest trip this car has been in several years ended up with 17 Third gens and about 10 "others" saw some nice car and as a plus mine didn't have the worst paint I think I got second to the worst LOL I'm on left of first pic


Nicely swapped LS

First LT swap I've seen complete with A/C

And this SBC with Stealth Ramed Camaro with 8 coil ignition and NOS

was good overcast day and not too hot, Boy I do miss being able to go hang out at more of these, Tuesday after work mine is going for some paint work sans spoiler - still waiting for that go arrive - should be another month or so or so they say!

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Well bored at work, so a little update I drove the car to work the other day - was going to body shop afterwards and when driving to work I noticed volt meter was @ 12V, headlights were on all the way and I thought I could make it to the body shop afterwards - should of gone home but NOOOO not this guy, So thinking with radio off all I need is Ignition power, right? Later when you can see your volt meter take a dip from hitting the brakes, well too late now! I did stop at a Firestone that I have a longtime friend worked there so I stopped and charged it a bit -not nearly long enough evidently Now getting closer to paint shop, gage was reading 9V - now I'm getting worried, cant stop now! hit red light at freeway exit Ahh! stopped looked both ways and ran it (breaking the law, breaking the law) now I can tell its running weird OMG timed my next couple of lights so I didn't have to stop (well done I might say) onward to shop -engine now was sputtering and popping (Crap!) to shop yes! made it by the skin of my teeth! Winning!? turned out to be a little bit of a white knuckled ride! maybe it quit charging when out for the car cruise days before cant believe they still don't have idiot lights to get your attention, only gage that I read regularly is the gas gage lol So this is second alternator I've put on this last was in 1992 guess I shouldn't be complaining too much about that.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Well this had been sitting at body shop since end of October as they had covid issues, I was in no rush and it was out of my way so I told them not to worry. Then yesterday got call from hawks that spoiler would be sent out today - YAY it was ordered in August! Was supposed to be 90 days anyway I updated the body shop that it would be here next week and they updated me, pleasantly surprised



it's shiny again! We also decided to strip it down and paint the whole car the right way.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Love it!

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

So I'm little bored working from home, no more pics but got my spoiler and got it to shop then find out shops has another round of infections then we got winter
weather hit 2/11 we got freezing temps and ice south of fort worth we had about 130 vehicles pileup 6 died and the videos were horrific the Fedex trailer was doing 50 or so when it piled into others cars - just horrible


that wreck had 35W closed down for over 24 hours to cleanup
then Sunday we get really cold - single digits which is rare and we got 4" of snow just to add to the fun then Monday morning DFW airport reported -2 degrees I know Minnesota was like -28 but this is Texas and we dont have thermal underwear down here
On top of that Texas has its own power grid and we didnt winterize the powerplants ;like were supposed to do and we have rolling blackouts and blackouts some haven't had power for 36 hours like my mother who lives on my same street I've had virtually no loss of electric and she had close to 35 hours without next comes water shortages due to pipes freezing and water mains breaking, as a matter of fact there's a water main break on my street like 5 doors away even Houston on the gulf coast got into the teens so well be digging out of this mess for a while


so far we've had 6" at my house. I actually miss snow being I grew up in sweet home Chicago! hope y'all are getting by out there

then and now

gone like a fart in the wind

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

So since no car update -stuck in body jail still my neighborhood is getting new water, sewer and sidewalks and streets oh fun! it will be for another year but I will be glad when done, the reason is this neighborhood has more water main breaks than the rest of the town and street in front of my house appears to be the epicenter as its broken 4-5 times since I've been here 12 years so there have been numerous patches so that will be a nice improvement. The bad is they took out all the nice big trees that used to cover the street, yesterday they cut 2 big trees across street the neighbor wanted to save I knew would be slim chance they would survive but they're gone! on the other hand my truck bed is full up with free oak firewood



so on another note I've ventured into GenV engines and bought a disassembled LT1 and have started learning about DI engines, Check out the oil pumps on them so much for being simple gear driven pumps!

SDPC Tech Tips: Gen V LT Oil Pump - YouTube

so much for easy cam swaps like SBC and LS!

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Well it finally came home with the doors apart - told shop i was going to re-seal them and was no sense and yes lots of little stuff is MIA - screw covers for arm rests antenna nut and wedge Deluxe door metal was torn away from panel about 50% on each door GRR! and the nuts that hold hood vents MIA and didn't know in until I was on highway and one started flappin! managed to get pulled over before lost it -Thank god removed them to get home. I had a lady on highway give me thumbs up too so I've got the drivers door lubed up new stopper from Drew in and weather-strip for door and window (upper and lower) in





I was really happy with upper weather strip fitting and old was so badly dry rotted. I'm not bitching to body shop as I've worked with them so long, they had almost shut a couple times from Covid I told them dont worry take care of the day to day work they do - they took off all the skirting stripped it down painted it and put new windshield glass in for under $3500
Oh, they also swapped my battery and alternator out the alt died on my way to shop and I brought them another alt it killed battery too but they got it warranted out
next up pass door and inner handle and seals door panels installed I will be glad when this is done !

1989karr

Hows the jamb around the hatch? Lookes like they didn;t remove the hatch, so im curious how that area looks

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

They painted that and inner fenders up front but not core support or hood support area up front - wish they would have suggested that

NoEmissions84TA

iTrader: (1)

It's amazing what a paint job will do!

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

they didn't remove hatch but did paint jamb the red had turned orange over the years



tell me! this third paint job I have done to this car about 10 years of being parked outside in Texas sun will pretty much do in a paint job
never been wrecked (other than shopping cart biting RF fender-minor)
its been one of the family been on 2 HRPT's to Green Bay Wi and to Kissimmee Florida although it has all the quality of a 80s car the car is great handing give me a cloverleaf anytime

1989karr

Nice!!


Would you be able to take a pic of what it looks like between the hatch hinges?

Im goign to paint mine ONE DAY but I dunno how that area would look since I can;t like....get to it haha

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

here's up top between the hinges

OK this car has deluxe door panels and the need some help one of the upper panel seals had seen better days and several of the holes where they attach were broken out I ended going to a craft store and got some 1/8" plywood I cut into strips and epoxied them to panels and marked and drilled new holes and years ago I had bought new upper panels well I got looking at them and they are NOS GM I dont remember ever buying them but glad I did! new felts and all


I would of bought thinner like 1/16" if I could of found it but I'm happy with the results

now the only thing that bothers me is where it's seperating grr trying to think what I can do to hide this

oh that and that little trim that surrounds upper arm rest attachment I know Hawks has them for $40 plus tax and shipping 50 bones and I need 1 double Grr!