I haven't been on the forum in many years, since I sold my 88 IROC with LS1 swap back in 2005. Since then, I've had a few vettes, and some other odds and ends along the way. I got an incredible opportunity to pick up an 88 GTA today, and couldn't resist it. Gunmetal Gray, light gray cloth interior, 305TPI/700R4... not the ideal drivetrain, but that's OK. Had the same in my 89 Formula back in 1996 and it sure felt fast at the time Having owned a '91 ZR-1 since then may have made me jaded, though.

The GTA needs a lot of TLC, it sat in a garage for the last 6 years basically untouched. Paint and body are in very presentable condition, and should clean up nicely. PO stated that there was some coolant loss, no smoke, no coolant in oil, so I'm going to swap out the intake manifold gaskets and hope that resolves the issue. Going to drain the fuel tank, install a new pump, new filter, go through the whole cooling system (water pump, thermostat, hoses), and of course a few oil changes at frequent intervals to clean things out.

I snapped a few pics today at the time of picking up the car. It needs some love but is a pretty good base for a project.

 

Do you have one of these? http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Ca...006_0361181638

It could save you some time in case it's the head gaskets.

 

Good point. I did a head gasket job on my IROC, a few years before the LS1 swap... had the same symptoms.

Perhaps I'll just flush the cooling system, before I go throwing maintenance parts at it, change the oil, fresh fuel, and see if there's combustion leakage.

 

NICE!

 

Really nice find. Great color, probably rare too.. I don't recall seeing any in that color myself. Take care!

 

That is a rare and desired color in GTAs. how many miles on her?
sweet find.

 

Yep, not a common color and I like it too. Great find, keep us posted on your progress with it.

 

Cooling system has rusty scale, and apparently plain water was used.

 

Oil is a bit sludgy, but not milky.



Drained the fuel tank:



Couple more pre-cleanup pics:

 

Very clean gun metal grey gta wish mine was that color

 

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new battery, got some fresh fuel, cranks but doesn't fire.

Check fuel pressure - 0, zero, nada.
Jumpered orange wire to tan/white wire at relay, there's a click in what I think is the ESC module on the firewall but no fuel pump activity or pressure.
Starting fluid in the plenum, motor fires right up and dies.

Sounds like it needs a fuel pump.

 

Are you in the "Blue Man" group? Either way, it's going to take more then one flush to clean all that rust that out. Water pump might leak after cleaning.

 

To be sure, hot wire the fuel pump directly. After sitting that long you should probably change the pump anyway, even if you do get it running.

 

Killer find man! Hope you get her running!

 

Not part of Blue Man, but if they're hiring, I have some free time...

Couple more pictures:

fuel tank on the ground, also note the rear quarter and sail panel that I clay barred and followed with 3-stage Meguiar's products


The culprit:


Inside of tank:


Fuel level sender, after attempted cleaning of windings:


I disassembled the pump, the armature and windings all looked fine and spun smoothly, but the actual pumping assembly that the motor turns, was seized.

Here's the side of the pump that was not rusted - you can see the rollers that pressurize the fuel.


And here's the side of the pump that rusted / seized:

 

very nice find indeed. i would be worried about that oil....thats bad news. bet if you pull the pan, you may be able to scoop up that sludge with your hand. i think several oil changes back to back may clear most of that up. but an engine running that crud for luberication is bound to have made considerable wear on your bearings and rings.

 

Yes, it's going to take a few consecutive oil changes to clean that up. After you get it started, it might not run that nice. But the more you drive it, and the more wear parts you replace (ignition, fluids, rubber) the better it will run.

Nice you can pull a fuel tank outdoors on Jan 8th. I'm still 3 months away from being able to pull a stunt like that.

 

I love the color on those cars. They just look flatout mean, heh. Build it into a monster and run it!

 

That oil is worrisome, I agree... it was sitting in the pan for 6 years, though, so it's not surprising.

I'm probably going to do some very frequent oil changes initially. Oil is a whole lot cheaper than a motor.

 

Yeah, I'm expecting it to run like poop for a while. I expect I'll probably need to replace the injectors too.

The last fuel pump swap I did in a third-gen was in a garage in NY in 30-degree temps. I like this way much better.

 

Really nice find.

 

Very nice. That color looks great on the gta too.

 

SO, idiot that I am, I didn't pay close enough attention when ordering the fuel pump (and Rockauto's catalog sucks too - 5.0 was the only engine information specified), I wound up with a pump for a TBI motor instead of TPI. Got it all buttoned back up today and had 15psi on the fuel pressure gauge.

Ordered correct TPI pump, should be here next week.

Rear diff cover was RTV'd all to hell, so I took that apart, cleaned it up, and did the job properly. I can't understand why some folks would rather glob RTV all over the place instead of just removing a few bolts and spending an hour to do it right.

 

Great car. Good luck on your continued progress.

 

I had an 84 camaro that someone put a 327 Crank in, without replacing the pistons, etc. The engine was 100% RTVd back together (not one gasket except Head gasket). Eventually, the oil pick up tube fell off into the oil pan and the motor grenaded. Tore it down, had to take EVERYTHING to a machine shop to get cleaned out (water jackets, oil passages, everything had RTV in it). The rest of the story is a thread all its own. What some people do to save a buck.

 

Previous owner of my IROC did that too. Only he removed the diff cover to paint it red.

Apparently spending 5 bucks on the gasket was too much for him. My brother has the gasket on and diff bolted up in like 15 minutes.

 

Ironic that you are back on a thirdgen and I am about to get rid of mine. Got a buyer coming out for my convertible this weekend. Hope all is well my friend. Looks like we are back where we started. You in a firebird and me in a monte carlo. History begins to repeat itself!

 

Update: car has been sold, I found evidence of a combustion gas leak, so either a headgasket problem, or worse. Given that it's a 305/A4 car, I was not interested in going further so it has been sold to someone with more willingness to work on it.