sablemaniac

hey just thought i'd show off the trans am im picking up this saturday.

i've been searching for a third gen for a while and came upon this one on craigslist last week. at first i wanted a camaro but the more i looked at a firebird i wanted one. it also didn't help that my buddy has a 4th gen trans am ws6 and he's been egging me on to get one. so i did. well, eventually.

so the guy wanted $500/obo for it and after talking in emails i went and looked at it and test drove it. i didn't make an opffer right away cause i wanted to think about it first, but i made him an offer of $300 and a laptop i had through email and he went for it. i know it's gonna need some work to look good but that's why i wanted a project.

enough rambling for now. here's some pics that the guy sent me last week of it.

1Aauto

Welcome to the board.

radical82

Looks like a good car to start on!!!! Going to leave it stock or have some fun????

the_am_man

iTrader: (3)

Awesome find! From the looks of things it even has all the wheel spats in front of the rear wheels and in front of the front wheels!

Maybe I'm mistaken but I thought that all 82' trans ams got the powerbulge hood?

Welcome to thirdgen.org!

sablemaniac

i thought it would be a good car since there isn't much rust on the undercarrage.

im going to try to leave it stock for now. i do have a pick of 1 of 4 chevy 350's from a guy at work who has a buddy who wants to get rid of them.

there are some things i want to upgrade like the dash/gauges from '85 or '86 and up and maybe a different bumper from an '85 and up. but im not sure yet.

sablemaniac

thanks for the welcome! not all trans ams got the bulge hood, at least from what i read. some of them got the aluminum hood. i guess it was an option when buying.

89Formula50

Definatly a good start. any plans yet?

sablemaniac

yea enough to get it to drive better lol. tranny rebuild, new brakes, new exhaust, new hood, new bumper and new paint. the interior definitely needs work so it's gonna pretty much need new everything. (you can tell he was a smoker)

and for future plans i do have some things in mind but nothing definite.

89Formula50

Oh you got a smokers car to huh. lol. first thing i did when i got the car was clean and wipe from head to toe.

Well hope you get everything done for the spring would like to meet up and cruise to some shows.

The_Wraith

Being an 82 I would not update the bumpers at all. 85-90 style are a dime a dozen. You rarely see a nice 82 these days. I have seen those with or without powerbuldge hoods.

sablemaniac

yea the bumper on the car now is starting to grow on me a bit.

i'd definately like to meet up snd cruise to some shows.

sablemaniac

Well Saturday I did get the car and I drove it about 30mi to my house. It drove ok with the exception of not having second gear and a bad wheel bearing. I blew a brake line when some guy cut me off and I had to nail the brakes. I did take a couple pics on Sunday. I didn’t get the chance to on Saturday cause after I got the car I got busy with other things and by that time it was dark. Im gonna try to get more pics this week of it. Here's a couple i got on sunday.








I did find out that it has the 3 speed trans, which im guessing is the th200c? im looking to get a 4sp auto for it in the spring so what tranny would bolt up to the 305?

Where is the rpo list located?

radical82

Looks like a good solid project to get started on!!!! Have fun with it, waiting to see the upgrades and improvements!!!!!

sablemaniac

thanks! i thought it would be a good starter project. i went to my parents house today to take some more pics of it. im storing it there till spring. there are a couple rust holes which can be fixed. i'll let the pics do the talking.




drivers door next to front tire




left rear tire

sablemaniac

behind right rear wheel


pass door near rear tire

sablemaniac

i also think that i forgot to mention how the hood got the way it is. the guy i got it from was going to college at the time had a friend who went to alfred state and he let his buddy work on it (great school around here for that kind of thing) and while driving it, the hood flew open. his buddy told him that he was never under the hood(brake work or something under the car). but oh well. that gives me the chance to get the power bulge hood if i want it.

i know the interior is completely trashed so that will get replaced. my girlfriend saw the car and likes it and asked 'what are you gonna do with the interior?' o told her burn it lol. that made her sad lol cause she likes the car a lot.

can't wait till spring to start ripping into it!

the screwdriver on the pass seat is my ignition key.

The_Wraith

Good project! Nice to see another 82' saved. The yellow dust on the interior parts is NASTY! If she's solid underneath thats a bonus.

sablemaniac

thanks! and yea it is disgusting but thats what you get from a smoker. seems solid underneath other than the brake line i blew but that happens around here.

Thirdgen Ranch

iTrader: (5)

It definitely needs some work but it looks like a good project. Good luck with it!!!

FASTKNIGHT

congrats on the new ride... i know some of my freinds over @ knight rider online would kill for that car.

84transamdude

Looks like my car did only mine is an 84. Nice ride and have fun working on it.

maks10

Welcome to the club!!!
Very impressive bargin for $300 and a pc for a car that runs!!!

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

Bringin em back from the dead is extremely rewarding. My car was in danger of being a parts car when I bought it...

PureRockFury

$500 dollar deals must be in the air. I got my 84 TA in january for $500. Body is straight and pretty rust free. 350 crate motor, 700r4. Im just now getting started on it.

sablemaniac

thanks for all the compliments! i brought the car home from my parents yesterday (2 blocks away) and parked it cause it was kinda late when i got it home.

the reason why i couldn't work on it all winter and why i couldn't keep it at my house was this:



the garage full of stuff. that and the car is too big for it. my lumina and my g/f's malibu barely fit in there with the door closed.

before:



after:



so hopefully in this thread or someplace else appropriate for it i'll start a project thread.

musclecar70sfan

iTrader: (1)

I'd love to see work get done to that car. It's got good potential. I don't see many 82 TAs, especially where I live. If you start the project thread elsewhere make sure to post up a link here!

sablemaniac

i'll definitely post a link in here if i do.

it makes me feel better about the car that a lot of people are saying it has potential.

tomorrow, well today i guess since i haven't gone to bed yet, im gonna try to start cleaning the interior and i'll have more pics of it. it's supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow so i'll be doing something to it.

the_am_man

iTrader: (3)

I've also have an 82 that came with the th200c automatic which had to be rebuilt, which was money not well spent since I wanted and overdrive for highway cruising.
Recently I picked up a 200-4r from a late 80's olds cutlass that I think is a better choice than the 7004r when you are swapping from a 200c. the 200-4r and 200c are the same length so i can use my driveshaft, the 200-4r i picked up is a dual bolt pattern tranny, also the speedo hookup and trans to radiator lines are in the same place, shifter too. But i will either have to drop 350$ on a spohn torque arm setup, or go homemade. the 200-4r has no mounts for a torque arm. if you dont need the overdrive the th350 bolts in with a 100$ kit. Just some things to consider, hope you dont mind my rambling...

sablemaniac

actually that helps a lot, thanks. i've seen a few th350's but like you said i want the o/d for the highway.

sablemaniac

well i made a start on the t/a finally. i went to the local u-pull it last weekend and got a bumper and the metal plate, that goes between the bumper and radiator support, for $40 from what looked like an '84 t/a that was black and gold. im going to go back saturday and see if it's still there and grab the power bulge hood and fenders. there was no interior to the car at all. the car looked as if someone tried to restore it or had repainted it cause the paint didn't look too bad. no drive train either. i don't have pics of the new bumper yet but i will this weekend.

i had a hard time getting the bumper off and getting the headlights out to get the bolts behind the fender for the bumper. anyone know of an easy way to get the headlights out of the way to get where the fender and bumper meet? the only thing that sucked about going there was that this was the only t/a and there was one 91 camaro in the whole place. i did see a late model caprice with the lt1 in it and if i had my dads truck, the time and tools to get it i probably would have taken it.

what hood would look better power buldge or the later style with the vents? my buddy says the style with the vents but i like both.

a couple weekends ago i took a bunch of pics of the car. i cleaned what i could of the interior without taking a match to it. i should have taken before pics of it to show how bad it really was. i think the worst smell in the whole car was the oil that was spilled in the back seat before i bought it. i vacuumed that up with the shop vac. well on to the pics!

sablemaniac

sablemaniac

so after i get a trans my next thing will be to take the edlebrock carb off and probably get a stock quadrajet back on there. i can't even get the edelbrock air cleaner to fit on there right. oh i also got a power steering cap from a chevy 1500. i first grabbed one from a mid 90's dodge ram cause the pump looked just like a gm pump, then i wasn't sure so i grabbed one from a chevy. i later found out the it's pretty much the same pump on both vehicles. so hopefully saturday or sunday i will have pics of the new bumper pics and possibly have it on the car as long as the weather is good on sunday.

PureRockFury

Sounds like your haveing fun good luck... I dont need anybody parts, I just have alot of sanding to do... eeek I hate sanding

musclecar70sfan

iTrader: (1)

nice to see the car getting some TLC! As for the headlights in your way... try manually cranking them up about half way (the motors are supposed to have ***** on the top of em that you turn) to see if that will improve access to the bolts. That's what I did when I was removing the bumper off of my 91... although maybe yours might be different considering that you have the older nose.

sablemaniac

yea it's a blast so far. im not a big fan of body work at all, but i'll learn on this car. i like turning wrenches better than sanding and painting and all that body work fun.

on the j/y car i tried that and i still couldn't get my hands in there. maybe reaching up from the bottom would be easier?

i do have a pic of the new nose. it needs a bit of cleaning up but it isn't in bad shape.

bradley23150

iTrader: (10)

Cool T/A. I had an 84 T/A, but the frame cracked in 2 places, then the transmission went out, so I dont have her anymore, but it was my favorite car.

And as far as hood choices go, go with the powerbulge, of course.

sablemaniac

well i went to the j/y on saturday morning and got the power buldge hood. the fenders were still there but i had no help to carry things and i didn't want to spend all my money. the hood looks like crap on the outside from the j/y writing on it but underneath looks good. i think the original color of the t/a i pulled it from used to be brown.

i started on taking off the bumper saturday before it started to rain and i got as far as breaking the right side headlight bracket/housing thingie. one side was broke on it already and when i went to move the light to get to take out the light itself the rest broke off. so i might try some jb weld or something.

sablemaniac

well i was going to finish up the bumper but the crappy weather decided that i shouldn't. so i played on the computer instead searching craigslist when i came across a tranny for $75.

the 700r4 came out of an '87 iroc. the guy i bought it from said it had 40k miles on it, worked when pulled and had been rebuilt at one point. he said he got it off a friend when he bought a project which looked to be some type of car from the '40's. even if it needs a rebuild i don't think it's bad for $75.

Blackknight

iTrader: (1)

love the tan interior would try to keep if possible. Looks like you got your work cut out for you but also looks like a good project. keep us posted.

sablemaniac

well i have a bit of an update. i got the new bumper on last weekend but didn't put the air dam on yet.



i also snapped some pics of the trans and i have a question about it.



i guess this is where the dipstick tube goes on the right side:


is this where the tv cable goes?:


any help will be appreciated. thanks!

PureRockFury

Bumper looks good. I had to bump my project back about a month. Ive just been buying parts.

sablemaniac

mine's getting pushed back a bit too. i actually put in for a weeks vacation from work so me and the g/f can go someplace different for once.

Derth Deboblo

I would def. look into getting replacement doors. The stock ones are not worth the hassle of fixing. Remember, anything from 82-92 will work (Camaro/Firebird)

MTXaudioSYSTM

sucks theres rust. my formula leaked oil everywhere before i got it and fixed the leaks and weirdly it kept the body from any kind of rust even tho its a florida car.

nice find tho!

sablemaniac

thanks! that's what you get for living in the rust belt.

anyone have any info on the trans question i posted above about where the TV cable goes?

also, there's a chance that i might be able to get some parts from a '90 bird sunday when i go to the j/y. well im actually going to 2 of them cause i haven't seen my buddy in like 3 years but the one def has a '90 bird with auto and 305 tpi. would it be worth it to get the trans lines, dipstick tube and tv cable? im not sure if the trans lines in mine will line up or not. any thoughts?

bradley23150

iTrader: (10)

If its a 700r4, the lines will work, grab everything you can use.

You are correct about the dipstick, and detent cable.

sablemaniac

thats what i thought. i didn't make it to the yard this weekend. most likely next weekend.i only had time for 1 yard and went to a yard that would benefit my buddy a bit for his cutty.