So I've had my 86' Trans Am 305 V8 for a while now, and I've just recently decoded the vin on my car.

It says I have the 305 V8 LG4 w/AT

Automatic??

When I got the car it was a manual 5 speed and the owner said everything was stock on the car. I don't mind that it has been swapped out but I'd still like to know.

Any way I can check under the car or take a look at the transmission to figure out if this was the original 5 Speed that came out of the factory?

Thanks,

 

The VIN Does Not Show What Tranny The Car Shipped From The Factory With,It's Located On The Service Parts Indentification Tag.

 

Idk about vin decoding but the RPO codes will tell you if you have them.

 

As I was typing this someone else had the same idea, haha

 

Check this link out guys, this is how I found my TA to be listed as the 305 V8 w/AT

http://transamworld.com/3genvins.php

 

AT = Automatic Transmission

RPO codes will tell you:

{drum roll please}

{hold that drum roll another 30 seconds or so}

{hold it a little more}

that your car came with an automatic transmission.

{cymbal crash}

{canned laugh track}

{canned applause}

OK, now that that's out of the way...

Pop the trim plate off of your center console. (about 6 Torx screws) If the hole in the tunnel under there looks like a giant titanium cockroach or some such gnawed it out, it's not factory, and the car came with an auto. If the shifter is all sitting there nice and pretty with the nice clean square hole that has the metal frame around the underside and the stock thick rubber boot is there, it came with the 5-spd.

More immediately important would be, why do you care? that is, what would you do differently, depending on what you find out about what came there? I mean, not to be too ... commonsensical .... or anything like that, but, you already bought it, and it is what it is, cockroach or no, so .... ??? maybe there's some better way of answering whatever the REAL question is, (something along the lines of "what do I do now") than looking up a bunch of "codes" that only tell you what you already know?

Meanwhile, I can't BELIEVE that a used car PO told you something that was blatantly untrue. I mean, that's like the Internet, right? You can't post anything on the Internet that's not true? so isn't a used car seller the same way? I hope he didn't pump you all full of sunshine about "Vette" this and "HO" that and "rare" something else? That would just kill my soul if I heard that someone would do such a thing as that. Even if it WAS on the Internet.

Seriously though, it's a USED CAR. A chunk of metal. A whole bunch of people have probably owned it, and probably each one has done something - AT LEAST ONE something - that left a mark. But, as with ANY used car, it IS what it IS, and now it's up to you to discover WHAT that is. Since the PO probably wasn't the original owner, (could be but the odds are pretty slim) s/he might have told you in complete sincerity what they "thought" they "knew", or what the PPO told THEM, and could have been just as wrong as if they had been deliberately lying. But the money's already changed hands, so for better or worse, whatever you got, original or not, is what you got. Putting an eyeball on the parts that matter to you, is about 50000000 times more useful, than fiddling around with "codes".

 

damn dude, i just wanted some advice

 

Well, yeah.

So... what does the hole look like?

Why do you want to know this? that is, what would you do differently, depending on what the answer turned out to be? Maybe we can help with that, even if we can't help with the "what did my car come with" angle.

 

just was curious to find out, was all. like i said in my question, I didn't mind if it had been swapped out.

 

Well your SPID sheet there, has MD8; that's auto trans. That's pretty much definitive. So yeah; if there's a T-5 there now, definitely some swappage in its history. Whether the PO knew it, or wanted to admit it, or not. Wouldn't be the first time a PO has been known to pass wrong info to a buyer.

 

He may not have any comebacks against POs or anything, but I can think of a couple good reasons to find out if it's original or not. I would want to know if it's swapped, did they use the correct pedal bracing and did they swap a 5 speed ECU? But you don't need to look up the RPOs for that, I would just take a look and see.