I just got a new car this week, for free. Its a 1988 GTA shell, missing pretty much everything :P I am going to swap parts from my 83 firebird into this, and build it up. The car was bought by a friend of mine and parted out. I'm not concerned with originality, this car will just be a weekend toy. A/C, heater, power stuff, etc is of no concern. There are a few things I am not exactly sure about though, and I was hoping someone on here has done something like this before. Probably my biggest concern is wiring. The car had the digital dash setup, but the entire dashboard is out of it. We actually still have the digital dash, but I dont want to use it, I'd rather just have the 86-92 firebird gauges. I already have a mint 87 GTA 140mph cluster. Has anyone ever changed the dash wiring like this before? Is is separate from the chassis wiring, or will that need to come out too? I know the engine wiring is separate, in face the engine wiring harness and ECM are not in this car, they were sold with the TPI stuff. I'm not worried about that, because I'm going to put a simple carbed 350 in it. I'll also be using a standard transmission, probably a T-5, so that should make things simpler as well. To me the swap is worth it, because I was already going to tear my firebird down this much to rebuild it, and this way I'll get T-tops, ground effects, and a title that says trans am. Basically, I need any information I can get on this.

 

How long has the car been sitting without glass? If its gotten wet you might want to think about rewireing the entire car. The worst electrical problems are from a car thats been wet.

 

I've done just about what you're aiming to do...and the BEST tip I can give you is this...

Get a Helms manual for your Firebird and one for the GTA. You can score 'em on Ebay pretty cheap, and they are not that bad when new.

They have the COMPLETE wiring setup in that year / model, for every option, sub-system etc.

You can then compare the two, and figure out only what you need to wire up, since you plan on no AC, etc...makes for a cleaner installation in my opinion too..on a weekend warrior.

 

It's been sitting for about a year with no glass. It did have a cover on it, but it still got alot of water in the hatch area. I spent about 10 minutes straight bailing water out of the hatch. I was planning on changing the wiring anyway, since I dont want to use the digital dash. I will definitely buy a good manual for it though. What is a helms manual, is it like a shop manual?

 

Yup...A "Helms" manual is the GM SHOP Manual that we used as dealer techs back before they put everything on the PC.....


http://www.helminc.com/


Surf Ebay too, you can pick up cheap and there is a few online used manual places too...