Picked up a new project a few weeks back. I've already put a ton of work and its in for paint. So far its been a long two weeks at the shop and I've gotten all the interior pieces cleaned up and ready for reinstall. Bought a nice dash pad from thirdgenranch and new ACC carpet and floor mats.

I've been looking for another project and its been almost 2 years since I sold my '87. Picked this up pretty cheap and its only got 62k miles!! I will post more pics when I get it back from paint, hoping for it to be only another two weeks but we will see.

 

Stopped by and took a few pics of the progress at the shop. Hoping for end of next week but who knows I just want it right.

 

And now I'm sitting here trying to decide if I want to put the moldings back on or keep them off...

 

Looks good! I'd put the moldings back on...but that's just me. I think they tie in the body lines on a GTA

 

Oh, and be sure to get the sail panel emblems in the correct location. I actually laughed out loud when I saw your sail panel picture.....you can clearly see where the emblem was, and yet somebody still thought they needed to be in the center of the sail panel for some reason lol.

Looks like you'll end up with a super nice, low mile car. I'm anxious to see more pics as it comes along!

 

Yeah I've been trying to get a template or something for the location of the emblems so I can put them back in the proper spot. Has been difficult to find at this point oddly. I did get an email response from Frankie @ the gtasourcepage yesterday and he is supposed to send me the template now.

I've spent way too much money on this this week alone lol. Its like a snowball effect. New carpet kit and floor mats, dash pad, paint. Bought headers last week, y-pipe and all tune up stuff today. I'm going to buy a borla s type adjustable cat back off a guy here locally that I know for suuuuper cheap.

When I bought the car the PO had new in box ring and pinion and master install kit for 3.70 gears. After reading on the forums that doesn't seem like a good idea to swap to so if anyone is interested in those for cheap PM me.

The more I look at the car the more I agree with leaving the moldings on. Will update with more pics as I move along.

 

Congrats on the purchase! Looks like a really solid car.

Painting it the factory color?

 

Yes sir! Wouldn't want it any other color. When I had my '87 it was black.. Could never keep it clean enough and always wanted a gunmetal one.

 

GTAsource.com has the measurements for all the emblems.

 

That web site doesn't seem to come up as anything for me. If you speaking of gtasourcepage.com they only have the ones for the side GTA embelm on the fender not the ones on the sail panels.

 

 

Oh the memories. I had a gunmetal metallic 1988 GTA with the digital dash back in high school. Found one locally a few weeks ago but the time just isn't right. Congrats on the purchase!

 

Picked up my headers today from Jegs! Deleted exhaust pics cause I didn't use it.

 

I've always loved that gunmetal grey!! Car looks like it will be a solid base. Get it done and out to TA Nats next August!

 

Also great choice on exhaust, can't go wrong with Borla. And you get the option to play with the sound as often as you wish too

 

I have the Borla exhaust on my car too, I love the sound. I plan on putting one of these on in the future with it https://loudvalves.com/

 

That is my goal to be at TA Nationals next year!!

 

You must be from Illinois? I really considered buying that car when I saw it pop up. It was listed for a great price! Glad to see it went to a good home

 

Should sound great! These Borla systems have an excellent reputation. I know a fellow who chose one of these too.

Interesting that the muffler is the "two on the left" design, with twin tailpipes out the drive side. I think I've only seen these with a 3" single out the driver side. Then of course, the 3" bypass on the passenger side, and twin tips for both.

Great minds think alike, scooter. Or at least along the same lines. I have a Quick Time Performance electric that I'm hoping to use with mine. With a momentary switch, I should be able to move the valve in rough "steps", and approximate the sound levels of the Borla factory diffusor plates.

 

I wanted one of those for the longest time, but they are expensive and you have to remember to open it. I like the idea of the vacuum actuated one, all you have to do to remember to open it is to push the loud pedal down more.

 

I'm from Indiana actually. i bought it from a "flipper" that didn't know how to fix the vats issue. Still feel like I got a super good deal on it and I'm not sure what he paid for it either. My issue is, my wife tends to forget that the initial purchase cost is only a small amount compared to the restoration lol.

 

Yeah I've been looking at some electric ones the last few days myself. I'd like one to be able to open up in stages like your describing. If not I'll be under the car changing the plate every time I take it out for a ride lol.

 

That was my thinking. There may be fall color tours, trips with the wife, etc., where I might want it a touch more civilized. Other times, not so much. A little 3 position, center off, momentary switch like this ought to do the trick (with a relay). I don't expect it to be infinitely adjustable, as there will be some lag with the relay. But if I can get 3 positions out of it (closed, open some, all the way open), I think I'll be happy.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/On-Off-on-M...V/282743248983

 

Well I stopped by the shop today and they told me they were done other than having to fix a spot that came off when they pulled the tape off the windshield. I must say it was looking pretty good until deeper inspection of the hood which I'm making them redo (still had a few dents that they couldn't see until it shined up again. Bad finish/block sanding work.. get what ya pay for i guess lol) So now I'm told it will be done Friday and brought most of the trim work home. A few updated pics from my stop. I know I suck at taking pictures.

 

On a side note.. What are these nuts called and where would be the best place to pick them up?

 

Speed nuts. McMaster may have them, or maybe clipsandfasteners.com I would just tap the studs to a machine thread and put regular nuts on them

 

Scooter beat me

 

COMPNINE FAILED ME

Nothing found for 1G2FW2187JL222614
It may be that we don't have it in the database yet, but be sure to check that you have typed it correctly.

 

 

I recovered my hard top headliner, it wasn't very difficult, and I wouldn't hesitate to do the sail panels. The reproduction sail panels and headliners don't have the mounting clips, so you have to get creative to install them

 

I had my headliner redone at an upholstery shop for $150. He also "tightened" the original material on the speaker covers. I took them out and reinstalled, he just had the recovering labor and the material. It was a perfect match to factory, too. I didn't do my thing with the sun visors and you cant even tell

 

 

Too much time on my hands today I guess. I been thinking about the pinstripe that was on the car when I bought it. I wasn't gonna put it back on knowing it wasn't like that from the factory but I really like how it breaks up all the gray. Thoughts? I was thinking instead of sweeping up the sail panels I'd just run it all the way down the quarters.

 

Pin strip is so hit or miss. I am not a fan, but it doesn't look terrible on the Firebirds because of the body line

 

 

 

 

Looking good! What a nice car.

 

 

Looks good man!

I am also not a fan of the pinstripe. I stripped the pinstripes off of my brothers GTA a while back, and had to sand and buff that entire area to get rid of the lines where the stripes were.....you could still see where they were. I guess I'm an originality nerd...

 

Hi guys, this may a bit off topic but I think it will fit. I have a 1987 gunmetal grey GTA, analog dash sadly, but it seems to have this very rare option. It has a factory gm alarm system. Anyone have any info on that. Was it actually a factory option. How many GTA have this system etc

 

Start your own thread, you'll get more info that way than clogging this guys build thread

 

I've never been a fan myself either lol. My black 89 s10 had them and I pulled them off and my 87 GTA had hand painted stripes I wet sanded and buffed off too. Not sure what I was thinking about with this one. Guess I was just bored and obsessing over it(which i'm bad about). I thought I was getting it back on Monday so I was up half the night planning out what I was gonna do first... That didn't happen and I was told it would be Tuesday so again, Monday night almost no sleep planning it out. Then last night I was up pissed about how far off I was on how much i would get done LOL.

I ended up taking the stickers off the radio bezel.... Looked way to cheap and I'm back to NO on the pin stripping. I have an obsession issue.. so I'm told

 

I don't know of any Factory Alarm Option but Frankie @ GTASOURCEPAGE.COM would know best. Hes a member on here also.

 

 

 

Lol yeah the only thing I've ever collected in my life were baseball cards when I was a kid (which i still have) and speeding tickets.

 

Looks good, but that is vibration damper, not sound deadener

 

Yeah I guess thats what I meant :P