I have a question that maybe someone could help me with. I have a chance to pick up an '89 GTA that needs a computer, an egr valve and a fuel pump (according to the owner). I can more or less take the car for nothing. The body is straight and everything else looks decent. What would I be looking at cost -wise for this? My concern is that there is a deeper problem with the engine. Are the computers easly to obtain? I'm fairly new to tinkering with the third gen cars. I lucked out with finding (for $800) an '87 TransAm with 57k orig miles and needed 4 tires, paint and an alternator to be in decent running shape. Now I'm hooked on saving cars from the crusher!

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks

 

Welcome aboard thirdgen.org.

Computer failure is pretty rare. Doing something to fry a computer is more common.

Regardless, as long as you don't just put in another computer and fire it up, but figure out why the one in there failed (might add verifying that the computer really is bad before getting another one), you're only looking at a few hundred dollars worth of parts with what you described, so it would be pretty hard to go wrong.

 

Yeah, thats what has me concerned. I have this feeling that there is something more wrong with it. The computer isn't even there. The guy trying to sell it says got it as part of a trade and doesn't really know much about it (yaddayaddayadda). I'm sure he's trying to bullshit me to some degree. Oh well, I may just grab it and put it in the garage and go from there. He did say that it has a performance chip in it and that it was running 13s in the 1/4 mile. So, I'm sure that there's more that he knows that he's not sharing with the rest of the class!. I'll work him over a little more.. Thanks

 

If the computer isn't in the car, then the car certainly doesn't have a "performance" chip in it now.

How much "nothing" is he asking for it?

 

He's asking 1000, but I haven't even started to pick it apart for him. I don't expect to pay more than $500 if I decide to take it. I thik it's one of those deals where he has to get it out of his driveway (mom/dad/wife??) It's just a matter of whether this is the project that I want in my garage.. That means my Transam might be left out for the winter.

Also, he said that he has a chip for it, not that it's actually in the car.