Rob, that looks SICK, and just in time to be tearing up the streets of CT. Spring is VERY CLOSE.

 

SO rob when am i dropping mine off? I need a ton of body work done.Mines been wrecked by the PO 3 times. He was a drunk driver in 2 of them. Haha.

 

Thanks Matt! Getting very close. I'm just picturing driving it, lol.

You don't want me doing bodywork, trust me! Mechanical work, that I can handle. And sounds like the PO of your car didn't deserve to own it, jeez!

 

Haha aw man!): I need a whole new driver side quarter for sure,the rest is just a ton of top coat and sanding! And yeah he was a *Insert every swear word in the book here*
Haha

 

It was GORGEOUS here in CT today...74 degrees to be exact. Got the trans am pushed outside and got some "warm weather" work done on it. I noticed the the inside bottoms of the doors had a very small amount of surface rust in one or two places. When they were soda blasted, they blasted the bottoms of the doors, but the painter couldn't get into them to paint them. I didn't even notice until recently so I decided to coat the doors inside with some rubberized undercoat. I would NOT want them rusting from the bottoms a year or so down the road! Made sure to mask every little hole off and gave them a good coating. Heres a couple pics..

Came out very nice and I got absolutely no unwanted overspray on anything thank god! Shouldn't rust now for a long time!




Also finally got the IAT sensor mounted since I didn't own a step drill bit to make the hole previously. Went to good old harbor freight to get a cheap one and it worked great.


And a few outside glory shots of the rear of the car together lol...sorry, sun was going down at this point!

 

Damn man, your almost ready to do MY car .... but seriously, looking great as usual.

 

You have to do something about that MAF sensor...

 

LOL, after this project, I'm looking very forward to taking a long break from doing anything to this level for a while!

It's not staying, don't worry. It's a temporary one I borrowed from my brother just to get the car running until I bought a brand new one. It'll be replaced before the tune.

 

Yeah - everything else under there looks so good, it kinda looks out of place.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Are you putting a spoiler on the back? That is such an awesome color!

 

Wow this car turn out very well great work.

 

Yes, it's gotta have a spoiler to be a trans am! LOL, I have a factory 91-92 style wrap around spoiler going on whenever the painter gets it done. Can't wait to see the back end once it's on!

 

Yes, that's true! Haha. I just wanted to make sure

 

Subscribed!

It took me over a week to read this entire thread, bit by bit, after work every day. The level of detail in this thread is wonderful. I got so many good ideas for the chassis and body for my own upcoming projects, I really appreciate that you shared the details with us all.

Great work, man!

 

Bit more progress done! PCV catch can setup is almost fully done, and I got the window sweep weatherstrips today so I got the drivers side on. Will be doing the pass side tomorrow. Couple pics...

Heres the RX performance catch can mounted in the drivers side battery tray.


Heres the lines for the catch can. One runs to the intake manifold, and the other runs to the back port on the drivers side valve cover. There will be one more running to the turbo intake once I make it. The catch can has check valves that close off with positive pressure, so that it will have a vacuum source regardless of the engine being in boost or not.


Window sweep on


And now with the mirror back on as well! Also got the lower side skirt on the door while I was at it. Looking like a car slowly but surely.

 

i have been watching this for quite some time.. its going to be hard seeing this come to an end.. she is just gorgeous by the way. i dont think any of us could say it enough on here.. so nice

 

Wow this is gorgeous..... .so impressed...... your doing an amazing job..... hopefully u get to drive it soon

 

If you plan on driving faster than 130-140mph your going to want the older rear wing on it but in fiberglass. The 91-2 wing creates lift at those and faster speeds..
If its going to be a cruiser, enjoy your fine looking machine !!!

 

I plan on taking it to 140 mph+ but not too often. For what I'm building it for, the 91-92 spoikler should be ok. With my suspension and tires it should be fine. Thanks for that info though! I'm not too up to date with how the different spoilers affect it.

 

You can have the best suspension in the world but if the rear wing is creating lift and unloading your suspension, it won't do you a bit of good. You will physically feel the rear of the car lift and begin to get loose. I had the 91-2 wing on my car and I'm putting the old one back on because my car CAN and HAS run 200mph but not with that wing. I'm fairly fearless when it comes to speed but the car made me very uncomfortable when it got to those speeds so I shut it down, no need to loose my car.
I also talked with Jim Mattison a few times at the T/A nats about the wings and he confirmed what I found and what I'm telling you.(his son raced 91-2 formulas, semi factory backed, they added a crude lip to the rear of the wing to create downforce). I have a pic of them, they also did it to the racecar Hawks and even Bonneville 3rdgens use the older wing.
I'm not trying to tell you you have to but if you wana drive fast keep it under 140mph unless you go with the older wing..
The 91-2 wing, looks nice but its functionality sucks.

 

Good information TTOP. What about the fourth gen rear spoiler? Do you have any info on that. Sorry, not trying to hi-jack your thread. I'm just curious.

 

I don't think the 4th gen is any better than the 91-2 wing but I dont know for sure.
Anytime the top side of the wing is longer than the bottom side your going to have lift.

 

TTop, I'll def keep that in mind. This car is mainly going to be a street/cruiser car so I'm not too worried about it at this point in time. If the car does start to feel loose when taking it up to speed once in a while, I will think about my options. I can't see myself going much above 130 or so any more than 2 times a year, if that. And it'll just be those "in the moment" times haha.

 

You have a bunch of time and money in your car and I don't want to see it (or any other cars) wadded up at all !

 

OBD 2 anyone? Finally got the diagnostic port wires extended today and mounted it right where the factory OBD 1 port use to be. Also played with my side windows a bit to try to get them adjusted a little better. Made some progress on them, but man I am getting ready to smash them! These windows have got to be by far the worst ones out of any other type of car to adjust!!

OBD 2 port

 

No more paperclip diagnostics? lol

 

Hahaha...believe me, I kept a paperclip in my glove box at all times before! Those days are over now.

 

Can I say... W O W! Cannot wait to see all the body bad together, looks seriously bad a$$ even just the way it is! I can't even express how jelous I am of the patience you must have had for all the details you've put into this beast. b-e-autiful! Exellent job!! Been following every step of the way, a huge inspiration, and all the rest! =D

 

was that ls1 brake mc a direct fit? how does your pedal feel? supposedly those help get rid of the spongy pedal.

 

Thanks a lot for the compliments. I'm glad you like it! It has taken me a long time and a ton of frustration at times, but now that it's getting down to the end, I just really CAN'T wait to finally drive it.

Yup, direct fit. Honestly, I didn't notice a very big difference, but then again, the car has been down for a while. The pedal is definately very firm, but my old one felt pretty good as well. I just really like the way this one looks over the stock setup!

 

It's been way too long without an update...

 

I know, I appologize haha. I just got a job which I start monday so I have had a week of hold time on the car. Between interviews and paperwork, I couldn't get much done. That and I just don't have the money yet to get the rest of the body parts from the painter, since it's going to be a bit more than I originally thought. I'm thinking in another week or so you'll see some big progress!

 

Man what a car i just spent the last 3 hres reading everything and al i got to say is i cant wait to do my 84 firebird im planing on a ls1 swap in mine?

 

I've been following this thread for awhile and I must say I'm totally impressed with the lengths you've gone to restore this beauty. Quick question what is required and how did you rebuild the insides of the doors, Mine rattle badly when the door closes and when i hit bumps in the road. Sounds like things are loose or the rails are deteriorated. Any advice would appreciated. Thanks, and once again great job.

 

Thanks man! And as far as the doors, all I really did when I rebuilt them was took them completely apart, cleaned/greased all the window tracks and door lock parts, and reassembled it all. The window motor and regulator assembly is held on with 4 large 1/4" rivets which could also come loose over time. I used a heavy duty rivet gun and put new ones in, but a bolt and lock nut works as well. The most common reason they rattle after time is due to the lock and latch rods getting loose. They should be held by a plastic clip from the factory but alot of times they pop out of it and rattle a ton over bumps or when closing the door. The other thing to check is the outer window sweep rubber. They always lose a few bolts over time which causes the strip itself to rattle, or the bolts that fell out being in the bottom of the door can rattle around. Best thing to do is take it apart and just shake things. See whats loose and then either tighten it up or add some adhesive backed foam around things that rattle. I like to use the foam thats about 1/8" thick that they use to seal a truck cap to the bed. You can buy it at any parts store in a roll. Good luck.

 

I'll hopefully have some pics for you guys this coming weekend. I have been working now (thank god!!) so obviously my time has been cut down quite a bit. Good news is that I just met up with the painter and left him a chunk of money towards the rest of the paintjob. He promises I should have the fenders and sideskirts by this coming friday, so MAYBE I'll have a few pics of it looking like a car! Not much left to do, and the tune date is scheduled for the 21'st. Hang in there guys...soon enough!

 

Awesome job Rob. That is a lot of time and money put into the car. I will definately refer back to this thread for any future restoration or swaps I may do.

 

I just read this entire thread and all I can say is WOW!!! Makes me wish I had a garage to tear mine apart and do a total rebuild.

 

Sorry for the extremely long down time, but it was well worth it. Here she is with fenders FINALLY!!

Couple sunlight beauty shots






Heres a shot with the side vent installed.


And the overall shot. Got the sideskirts as well so those should be going on tomorrow!


Also ordered my 80 lbs fuel injectors so when I get them, it's tune time. Have a date scheduled for April 21st. We'll see what the old 5.3 puts down finally! I'll get some more pics up tomorrow with the sideskirts installed.

 

that looks AMAZING!! congratulations on the entire car man! that looks awesome but i must ask you, i know you might have it else where in the thread but what kind of rims are they? they look absolutely gorgeous on your trans am

 

man you are really making me rethink my paint scheme for my ta.. looks amazing

 

ONLY problem--

It's not mine!! ..

Absolutely gorgeous!....

 

Rims are made by Ruff Racing and they are the "278 series" in 18x8.5 front and 18x9.5 rear. Unfortunately, they are discontinued but they were pretty popular so you should be able to find a few used sets for sale. And thank you for the compliments!

Haha...already have 1 guy painting his project truck this color after seeing mine in person. Don't you be taking my color too!! LOL, jk...you only get one chance to paint a car...make a good choice!

Thanks a lot...I really appreciate it guys. Means a lot to me when people can understand the time, money, and headaches into a project like this

.

 

WOW! Definitely worth the wait. But we need MOAR!!! Spoiler, side skirts and bumper. Hood....eh whatever about the hood. LOL. Looking forward to seeing the completed product.

 

nice paint match on the fenders. were they painted the same time as the body?

 

SWEET rob. It looks amazing. Part of me kinda likes the non spoiler look. only 2 weeks before you see what that beast puts down, im glad I will be there to witness it.

On the way back from the dyno, we should do a run. Ill ride the brake so its fair for you!

 

looking good dude

 

They are a labor of love, your car is looking great, I cannot wait to drop my motor in. I went the other direction with the Paxton SC

 

Fenders were actually just painted last week. The painter is AWESOME at matching paint. He remembers the exact amount of paint coats and clearcoat coats that he did to everything else so that it always matches. He also always paints parts in the orientation they will be mounted on the car so that the colors always "flow" from panel to panel.

It looks kind of cool without the spoiler, but only from certain angles. From other angles, it looks crappy (especially from the direct rear!). And as for a run, you may need to ride the brakes...I don't know if I can match that TPI torque, lol.

Superchargers are cool too. I would love to build a supercharged motor at some point too, but can't see changing this setup. I'm hoping my brother will do a roots blower on his 5.3 swap 91 bird project so that we can see what each feels like.

 

Beautiful job. I can't wait to see the rest of it bolted together and road worthy.

Truly inspiring!