DomesticCheese

Figured I'd make a thread for my new acquisition as I'm more excited about it than I have been about anything in awhile for some reason haha.

So my 84 camaro is on track to being back on the road later this year but since I decided to go a bit more all out on stuff for it, and not bandaid its wiring issues just to be able to cruise it (I have an appointment for a full chassis re-wire as well as holley termi install/tune by a friend who is flying back in September for harvest and picking up side ls wiring/tune jobs). So while I have truckloads of parts showing up for it and I'm re-doing the interior/fuel system/etc I've committed to not being able to really enjoy it this summer and it has been down since last summer and I've been having an itch just to have a fun car to drive. Especially my fiancee who has never outgrown our favorite activity just cruising around the country/town whether beating on something fast or cruising something fun an slow. We also paid of all debts besides our house awhile ago so I figured I'd get back into a C6 but a more stock one as my last one I built with a TMS 370/A&A blower. I was all set two different times on stock one and then a cammed one around the $26-30k range and was in the process of financing when I got cold feet thinking about another car payment.

A few days later I caught this thing within an hour of being posted for sale and immediately told them I'd drive up on Saturday morning when they were first going to be available to show/sell the car and had to keep reconfirming that I was really coming as they had a ton of interest and had people waiting to head up if they heard I didn't take it.

Last title even showed it was a legit california car. They bought it for their sons to have as a project to restore. They worked through some things starting in 2013 but then went to college and the car continued to sit with little being done here and there. Overall the car really wasnt driven at all except about 50 minutes to their parents new house when they moved. I looked at another car on the way up, a 68k mile 87 Trans Am that was clean and nice underneath too but this car's underside is still 2x as clean especially the suspension components. I'm blown away by how nice the chassis is on this car. I test drove it and instantly could tell it was worth every penny of their asking price. Everything works minus a/c & cruise which the son said didn't work after he put the new stalk in which I plan to address both. Lots of new parts from upper gaskets, fuel pump, some suspension, and more.

I trailered it 5 hours back home to Iowa from Wisconsin and unloaded it and drove it for a bit. Then yesterday morning I drove it all morning through a half tank of gas. I got on it through 1st 2nd and a bit of 3rd twice with no issue then later yesterday evening I did it once and the car fell on its face like it had no fuel with no acceleration. I had to coast into a friends driveway that happened to be down the street while sitting with it idling I did notice it start heating up a bit. Besides that it stays super cool compared to my past TPI car. I then realized the fans weren't running and turned on the a/c to see if it'd start and it didn't. I was walking around the car while it was idling at this point and all of a sudden one of the fans started but with a horrible scraping so I'm guessing they're just seized/shot. After I shut the car off and started it about 5 minutes later I was able to drive it up the hill to another red light that when it went green I gave it gas and it bogged and wouldnt do anything again. It still would idle just fine. I pulled off the road and turned it off for about a minute and then started it and blasted down the road since i was only about a 1/4 mile from my house at that point.

I have no reason to doubt the seller they were super honest and I can tell the work they did was all to really try to make this thing nice so I'm not assuming fuel pump right away. My first thought/easiest part to throw at it would be fuel filter since I suddenly put about 100 miles on it in a 12-24 hour span when it had only been driven maybe 60 miles in the last 10 years so I figure I might of worked some debris free. I ordered a fuel pressure tester because I'm tired of renting them from parts stores throughout my life so if the fuel filter tonight doesn't fix it I'll check the pressure and go from there. I won't be too upset just replacing things that haven't been replaced for peace of mind as I want to have as much faith in possible driving this out of town. I can't get the stock fans to kick on now again at all so I ordered a new LS1 fan setup.

Besides that I'm going to put a couple of the missing decals on the car. Car was resprayed many years ago i believe in Cali due to clearcoat/fade but there is some peeling paint. I'll probably do some budget touch-ups for now but I doubt it's something I ever justify a high dollar repaint for but might do some prep work some day and have a buddy spray it that'd be far down the list though. For the fair-weather daily driver I want it to be its perfectly fine to me as it is now. Interior needs some new speakers that I already had bought for another car I never used. Interior is honestly about perfect to me. The digital dash is fully functioning and seems extremely accurate all around. heat works great. again A/C isn't functioning but I'm going to try to convert it and get it going and I'll fix cruise as I want to be driving it to work daily 60 miles on the highway until snow falls.

That's where I'm at with it but I'm really in love with this thing after only having my swapped camaro for years and before that always boosted 600hp+ stuff - for some reason I'm having the most fun now in ages rowing gears behind the old LB9 lol with the t-tops out (my 84 is a hard top). I'll do a few basic things along the way but I'm not looking to squeeze any power out of this thing unless the 305 gives up the ghost and I'll put a 350 in it (staying TPI). The most extreme I would get is swapping an LT1 T56 but that would only be only if I'm fully done with my long-term plans for the 84. Besides fans/fixing the bog issue I do want to pick up a set of SFC's for it and I'll probably do shocks as I noticed the rear are making some noise. I'm hoping to be able to put in a weekend or two worth of work and maybe ~$1000 of maintenance/upgrades and then be able to mostly just drive it for the summer but I'll tackle anything that comes up. So many of other usual annoying things from e-brake cables to window/headlight/hatch motors to heater core, and plenty more in the engine had already been taken care of the previous owners which I'm very thankful to not have to worry about.

Since I'm cautious at the moment about getting too far from home again until I sort the fuel issue the pictures from my driveway are all I have but here's how it sits.

knightfire

Reddragon88gta

Nice TA, I love the color and the car has some pretty cool options.

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

Beautiful car!

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Congrats on the purchase!

DomesticCheese

Thanks all!!

So I bought a fuel pressure tester and I drove around 50 miles or so with it hooked up and leaning against my wiper so I could watch it while driving. I forgot to ever unplug the vacuum line to the FPR but I'll do that tonight after work and check it. Otherwise it likes to idle at 34-35psi with the line on and when driving it mostly stayed around 33 the whole time maybe dropping to 32psi
I also ohm'd my injectors and all came in at 15-16 so I think they're decent still. Car holds pressure through the night only had leaked down to 20psi this morning. I did change the fuel filter already and the old one still looked new. So with all that I drove the car around town a bunch the last couple nights and not once did it bog out on me again like before. Maybe a couple very small stumbles when taking off from a stop but that might of been more me? I'm overthinking it at this point waiting for it to happen again haha. Today I decided to risk it for the first time and drive it to work which is 30 miles of highway and it made it here no problem, just need to get back home tonight before I call it a success haha. No issues though. I also don't know how old the fuel was that was in the tank and I had still been on it when it happened. I put in a full tank of fresh 93 so maybe that's all it was but I'm still going to be cautious for awhile until I get more miles on it.

Currently I have a new LS1 Fan/shroud setup coming as well as some touch-up paint to at least give a small band-aid to the flaked paint on the front and rear bumpers. I also decided I might as well while ordering a bunch of stuff from Rockauto pick up some new plugs and a coil. Don't think there's anything wrong with either but they're cheap and I'd rather just have them replaced as I start to drive this all the time.

Took a few new pictures last night

ksr

Great looking car. Ilve always liked that blue (had a Formula in that) and the two-tone.

I didn't know that the digital dash was an option on non-GTAs.

For me, the only bad thing is the steering wheel. GM made some ugly ones.

DomesticCheese

I also didn't know either until I saw this one. Then I saw the other one I mentioned in my first post, the 68k mile 87 Trans Am I looked at on my way up to see the one I ended up buying. It also was a non-gta digital dash Trans Am. From my understanding now 88 was the last year it was offered as an option on non-gta's.
Here's the ad for the one that I didnt buy that was also a non-gta TA, ironic they were only 45 minutes apart from each other on my 5 hour trip! The wheel in my car is definitely not my preference, I loved the 3 spoke in the 87 I looked at, in fact I was really hoping the car in the ad to end up being the better car even though it was $4000 more than I paid for mine, as I was originally told everything like a/c and whatnot worked and got there and found a lot of things inoperable including a standing puddle of coolant from the heatercore in the passenger carpet. And overall it just had more surface rust/oxidation/etc everywhere, pretty sure it just sat under a cover outside for years. I couldn't believe the difference at how nice the one I ended up buying was with 155k miles after seeing that one.

ksr

You made a great find.

1988 was the last year the digital dash could be had at all. It was discontinued. I'd always thought it was GTA-only, but maybe it was standard equipment on the GTA, optional on a Trans Am.

The three-spoke wheel is a lot nicer. I don't mind my wheel because that blank center section on yours has the radio control buttons in mine. If you don't have that radio in a Trans Am, I guess they just left that area open in some years. Not a good look, IMO.