poomwah

I figured I'd make one thread with all the progress, and pitfalls, trials and tribulations of my project. It's goin to be a LONG time without many updates because I'm broke :P My wife calls it disability, I call it I'm a bum. Anyway...
On April 07, 2009 I picked up my new baby. An 87 GTA. It had no engine, no transmission, no battery, no radiator, no cooling fans, no radio, no recovery bottle for the cooling system. no TV cable. one headlight doesn't open. the only exhaust was a 3 inch cat back (dynomax). Broken windshield, broken tail light and center section. Gold 16 inch interlaced wheels with 245's on front, 255's on back. Camaro wing, nice interior (even though I don't like red) except for cracked dash pad). No rust, no dents. came with a fiberglass "ram air" hood, and the stock 4 vent.
Paid 700 dollars :]
On April 17, 2009, I put the 4 vent hood back on, some day I'll go cowl induction, and sold the fiberglass hood for 250. Then I bought a pair of hedman headers with O2 sensor, and hedman Y pipe from the guy I got the car from for 100 dollars. He also gave me the radiator, the panel that holds the radiator in, and the cooling fans.
Original purchase 700 minus 250 for hood, plus 100 for headers...... current investment 550
April 23, 2009 picked up part of an engine... good 76 block, bored .60 over, block freshly done, just needs to have cam bearings installed. good pistons and rods, crank needs to be polished. came with distributor, cast 4bbl intake with quadrajet, two water pumps, two oil pumps, brackets and pulleys, needs starter, fuel pump, thermostat housing, rings/gaskets/bearings heads were SHOT. paid 100 dollars plus a rifle that noone else wanted anyway :] current investment 650
today, may 1, 2009 I got something else from the guy I got the car from, the original transmission from my car for 100 dollars :] no torque converter though. He also gave me adapter that mounts to the block for the oil cooler AND the motor mounts that bolt to the engine :] (the ones that mount to the frame are still in the car)
current investment 750 :]
that's it right now. still desperately trying to find things to sell to get parts, LOL

poomwah

todays update, not much of one , but anyway... sold the ecm to a fellow forum member . and found another "engine" the bottom end is locked up from sitting, but it has some usable heads (unfortunately 882's, but for now, it will at least let me get it on the road), edelbrock performer intake (guess I won't be using the cast iron gm one) and it has other things that mine is missing... starter, fuel pump, oil filter adapter. So it will definitely get me closer to getting things together. its a 3970010 block and I have NO idea whats in it, I'll be curious to find out. My father in law is picking it up for me and dropping it off sunday. Not exactly excited about the heads, but they were already off the engine so I could inspect them and they looked good, fairily clean, couldn't find any cracks, we'll have to see when I get them pulled apart and cleaned better. But I can't complain, it cost me 100 bucks for the engine minus carb, water pump and disty.
total investment so far 850

Samdweezel05

iTrader: (1)

Your a better person than me. I tried this once and will never do it again. I don't have the mind set to be able to buy things one part at a time and build it. I have to be able to drive it as I work on it. When your all done you will have something that is only on the road and running because of you. Congrats for taking on such a project. Hope it turns out the way you want it.

Phil

poomwah

Thanks Phil,
but its more a matter of necessity than choice. I'm on disability, so I couldn't afford to get a decent project that was already running. It was either this or get a front wheel drive, LOL. I would MUCH rather have bought a runner, but I'll be lucky if I ever even get the money around to put this one together, LOL

Thirdgen Ranch

iTrader: (5)

Good luck with your project. If you need any parts keep us in mind.

poomwah

thanks.. and don't worry, not only will I keep you in mind, but I'm amassing quite a big wish list from browsing your site, LOL

3.1EyeCandy

iTrader: (3)

Check out the regional forums. Make some good friends in your area and you'll be surprised at what deals/freebies can be had

poomwah

thanks 3.1 :] friends are great to have :] but I didn't even see a regional forum for my region, LOL, NW ohio, about an hour west of toledo. I live out in the middle of NOWHERE :P
Not too many third gen bird owners around here, I've actually seen a whopping FIVE in the last month. There are a lot of thirg gen maros around here, but most of them are driven by guys who think they have the best car on the road and hate everybody else, its a shame.

Chase0224

nice restoration, i live in NE ohio, and i know what you mean about the maros. We have a lot of like 24 year old guys with horribly maintained and rusted to hell camaros running around that think their the **** (not hating on fellow third gen owners), but me and my friend and this guy i always see have our birds out. All the birds that ive seen have been in good shape.

poomwah

there are a couple dozen third gen maro's in town, five third gen birds I've seen in the last month, and one of those wasn't even in town. one is a GORGEOUS blue 350 5 speed with a cowl induction hood and cragar louvers. (decent guy), one is a red formula 350 that is in need of some love but still pretty decent (really nice guy), one is a bright red trans am with a "nostril" hood (never met the guy), the other one in town is a maroon GTA that looks pretty nice but I've never seen it moved. and the other is a black firebird with the front end torn all to hell (never met that guy either). there are a lot of fourth gens in town though :\

poomwah

todays update....May 10
it was a great day for the bird :] my father in law showed up with that engine i mentioned. got the parts I was expecting PLUS a distributor, so I have two of them :P spares are always good. also got a thermostat housing (my other intake didnt have one). So, I'm psyched about that. but what I'm REALLY stoked about .... he brought my car home!!!! So its no longer out at his place with his hillbilly grandkids climbing all over it. Its HOME!!!! Now I have to buy an engine hoist since I'll be doing it here (he had an A frame type hoist built into his garage) and I owe him 50 bucks for fuel... BUT she's HOME!!!! can you tell I'm excited, LOL
current total 900 dollars including spare bottom end, spare disty, spare intake, and cost for delivery of my car :]

poomwah

not much of an update... but I pulled that engine apart. it had supposedly been gone through with performance this and that, etc etc. the good news is, I don't think its ever been apart before, I particularly liked the "high performance" nylon cam sprocket... LOL
so I have an early seventies umolested engine. I forgot to figure in my tally that I sold my ecm, so after shipping, that brings me down to 870 total current investment.
1st of the month I'll be ordering parts and putting the engine together :]

Samdweezel05

iTrader: (1)

Well, you talked me into it. I told myself I would never do another project again but I think I lied. I just found an 87 IROC with a perfect body and subframe. I couldn't really turn it down at $500. Motor and tranny are missing so I will be building another one. It is all in the works and I hope to have it up and running in a couple of months. All depends on how fast the machine shop is with the block and heads.

Phil

poomwah

awesome score!!!! what are you putting in it???
lets see some pics :]

1Aauto

Great choice of car to restore.

Jekt

if i wasnt in the military and could have a car unrunning for a while id would love to od a project like this. best of luck man.

poomwah

this will probably be the last update. I've decided, under much stress and disappointment, that due to health reasons, and financial reasons, I'm not going to be able to put an engine in a car. So I put it in the for sale section, and put it on craigslist. So far I've got a whopping two emails about it. One told me from the description and pics, that the car, and all of my parts (complete engine minus gaskets/seals/rings, ready to assemble, 700r4 without converter, extra block, extra distributor, extra intake, hedman headers and Y pipe, radiator, cooling fans, drive shaft, crossmember, motor mounts, and a few more things I can't remember) anyway, I was told that the car and ALL that stuff is not worth a penny more than 700 dollars. So that guy didnt even come look at it.
The other guy told me from the pics and description that it wasn't worth anything and I may as well just sell it for parts. crazy, just crazy.
anyway, in case anyone was curious, here's what she looks like

more pics
http://s588.photobucket.com/albums/ss326/87transamgta/

blg0720

If she's a GTA, she's always worth it. The right buyer will come along if you can't do it yourself. Birds sometimes have to be put to sleep, but this one looks like a very nice roller. The rims alone are worth $700.

I see a piece that's a bit rough, but mostly intact and saveable. I'm not sure where you're at, but I would find a local community college with an Automotive program. Often you can let them work on your car and it's cheap or free because they get the experience. Check that out before you give up on her. She's just begging for someone to save her!

poomwah

thanks for the advice, we don't have ANY local colleges, LOL. But I'll see what I can find.
out of curiosity... when you said you saw a piece that's a bit rough... which piece were you referring to?

blg0720

When I said "piece", I was referring to the whole car. Yeah, it needs a fresh coat of paint, but the interior is mostly intact (not even faded...which for red is HARD to do!), and you need someone to drop an engine in. You didn't say where you were located, but I'd love to help you as much as I can. I hate to see a good GTA fall to the wayside. I'm kinda partial to the Flame Red ones...

blg0720

Besides...I think she looks kinda cool with the hi-rise 'maro spoiler.

80schild

iTrader: (5)

It doesn't look any worse than mine at the moment. The seats and door panels look very good actually, mine are ripped, faded, and need to be reupholstered.

poomwah

I'm in NW ohio. Yeah, the car is super solid, a LOT more solid than most of them I see on the roads around here.
I'm going nuts wanting to paint it, LOL. I could just see me wind up going out there and sanding it one of these days just for something to do :P

bradley23150

iTrader: (10)

And the dash pad doesnt even look cracked! :O

blg0720

So do it!! It's something that can only increase the value of the car. Find the closest community college (even if it's in So. MI!) and ask them if you can bring your car up in the fall for students to work on and rebuild. They'd probably jump at the chance and you would have a running, driving GTA at the end of a semester or year. You repaint it yourself, and *poof*...done. It may not be show-quality, but it would be YOURS. Your dream completed...for 1/4 of the cost!

I hope this works out for you, because I'd love to see you get to do this.

poomwah

thanks for all the support guys. I'm going to make some calls tomorrow to a few colleges and see what I can come up with.
700 dollars for a set of wheels? I should sell just the wheels :P Honestly I never was very thrilled with them, and there are other styles I'd rather have.
oh yeah, sorry about the deceptive picture, there are two cracks down the center of the dash pad. I forgot to move the gecko before I took the pic. LOL

poomwah

good thing I don't NEED to get rid of it. I just got asked if I'd sell it for 500 dollars.

poomwah

I wish I could change the title of this thread to "crazy offers I've had on my GTA"
keeping in that subject : tonights update... and probably the funniest offer yet......700 dollars for EVERYTHING, IF I deliver it!!! over 2 hours

80schild

iTrader: (5)

Just wait, somebody will ask you to finance it for them.

poomwah

just got an interesting one. got an offer to trade two old bikes for my car and parts :\ hmmm, could build a couple cafe racers, LOL

blg0720

I hope you laughed in their face. She's worth more than that.

poomwah

its better than the guy who offered me only one bike :P a 76 honda 750
anyway, I called a few colleges and noone will touch it since its not going to be stock, the removal of emissions equipment, and the carb conversion are things that violate their policies. They couldn't do it for liability reasons, or so they say.

blg0720

Rats.

Well, get going on the paint if you can. That will help. When I finish school, I'LL put her back together for you...and I mean it.

poomwah

thank you for that, I really appreciate it. I think she's leaving tomorrow though