Well, I have been a member here for a few years and have not made any posts with any of my rides so here is the first. I picked this one because it has an interesting story as well as some mystery. It all began one day at work about three years ago I had a few extra minutes and decided to check my saved searches for 82-92 Firebirds. In the list was a 1990 Trans Am:

The exact bid details escape me now but I figured it was low enough it should go for a bit more and entered a bid fully expecting to be outbid, sometimes I just like to participate right? A few days later I was still the high bidder, I watched the time count down no new bids, no new bids and.....sold. Crap. I didn't really want it and had no plans to buy another car and now I had to drive to Ohio from Illinois to pick it up. Now, I broke many rules of buying a car online, there were no pics of the engine or undercarriage I didn't ask any questions which would come back to haunt me, I knew I could be in for a surprise when I arrived. So I hooked up the trailer and headed east first thing on a Saturday morning. One other thing that sucked was this was at a dealer so immediately I knew I was getting screwed, I basically dropped every ball possible on this one.

When I arrived I found somebody to help and they said they would bring the car around so I pulled the trailer around and got the ramps out. I looked around a bit and noticed one of the lot workers hooking a jump box up to it and trying to start it. When it finally started I heard it hunting for idle up and down over and over. So I knew I had some diagnosing to do when I got back. The guy drove it over by me, got out and left it running ruving up and down and to the point it would die. When I went to it and tried to get in the second issue popped up. It had these Procar seats that I'm sure are good somewhere but not in this car and not for my 6' frame, I didn't fit for ****. Now, that idle, the seating position and the fact that it is a 5 speed made it a bit of a chore to drive up the ramps in a smooth manner but I got it up there and tied it down. I didn't look it over since I was trying to get back at a decent hour and needed to get back on the road, there would be plenty of time for that at home.


Fast forward 5 hours and I'm back home and I am getting curious why this thing is idling all over the place so I decide to pop the hood and get a look see. I knew what I should see but when I open it up I was greeted with what appeared to be an 85-87 setup. As I looked it over I noticed a MAF sensor and was thinking it was interesting they put that MAF sensor in and the connector still in it. Looking closer I notice its not a cut off connector in it and is connected and now I'm baffled. Well further inspection finds a 1987 5.7 swapped in with everything, literally everything from the older car. Engine, intake, engine harness, ecm, everything. I had to think about this since I'm not sure of what I was going to do with it. I found a harness from a '90 and picked that up thinking I may need it later.


This pic is right after I started looking for the reason the fans were running without power to the relays. It didn't look much better before I started.

Exhaust was wrapped to to try to stop a leak. Another funny one was the starter heat shield. It was an Ohio license plate! Why not right?
I guess it did the job though. The outer ear of the starter mount on the block is broken. Seems like everywhere I looked there was a hidden turd.

I drove it into the shed and there it sat for the better part of the last three years.



Fast forward to this summer, I commit to make a decision if I will keep or sell so out it comes for a wash and a look (I finally looked at it). The paint is shoddy at best but its not horrible for a daily driver and it takes decent pictures.



The idle was the least of the issues when I dug into it. The fact that it was running at all is impressive when you see what condition the wiring is in. I **** you not, there were wire nuts in there. So I try to get the existing harness cleaned up but the more I find the worse it got. The fans were spliced in the ignition wire and overheating the ignition switch, there was some random phone wire going under the seat not connected to anything. There were things spliced all over and I think it took me 20 minutes to throw in the towel and swap in the harness I had purchased a few years earlier. Once I started I decided to get this thing back as close to its former glory as I could within reason. I went on a shopping spree to get all of the '90 underhood pieces that were missing and was surprised on the prices people are getting for brackets pulleys etc. but I managed to get everything I needed. I wasn't going to get a 305 to put in though, I figure Ill run the 350 until the trans gives up. I spent a few weekends getting everything corrected and running, last thing being the tune since I deleted the AIR and EGR. Once running, it was purring like a kitten. Whatever the idle issue was it was gone now so that was good.

I had some seats from a GTA i parted a few years back sitting on the shelf so I got rid of those Procar seats. The airbag was all warped and hanging out so I got the wheel from the same car as well as a standard Firebird horn button. The console was pulling away as they all do so I got some gorilla glue and got that looking decent. The shift plate was actually an automatic shift plate that was modified to fit a shift boot. Now I don't think this was an auto to begin with, it seems the PO had a donor car since it had a SPID in the console that was not matching.

The paint is marginal at best. There looks to be very poor prep done, you can see sanding marks and dust. The clear seems to be hazy and only gets so much gloss but it's good from afar but far from good.

While I don't have AC installed yet, it will be before next summer and the verdict? I have put quite a few miles on it in the last few weeks and it has been a blast. I don't have to worry about paint or finding 100 octane gas. It is a 5 speed so that makes it fun as well and it fires up every time and just works. I think I'm going to keep it. Its a great driver now and actually runs very good. I believe there is a rear main leak but that's not a big deal and would give me an excuse to detail the engine compartment a bit. It will probably get shocks and struts this winter and I definitely need to get some 30% on the rear window but for the most part I'm going to leave it basically stock and enjoy it as is. Is it a show car? Double hell no, not even close. But it is a great driver and that's a great thing.

This car show the difference between disrepair and misrepair. The poor thing was absolutely duct taped, chicken wired and wire nutted together and I am surprised it ran at all. I couldn't let it go the way it was, it had a very bad experience and deserved better. It now lives indoors and has a new family and will see plenty of use and if it breaks down, it will get proper attention.

 

I think it looks good, wheels are great with the color.

 

Nice save! Reminds me of the condition mine was in.

 

Very cool car. Great save!

 

Nice write up. I always find the stories of these cars interesting...If that Bird could talk, it would say Thank You!