GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Hey Guys, was a nice today and thought I'd upload a few pics of my GTA here in London.

The car was originally from Germany (well originally California US) 'till about 2000 when it was imported to the UK. Spent its life in Scotland (!) from where I picked it up July last year. Was a pretty cool road trip bringing it down to central but unforunately not without its surprises

Anyway - more on the car

Original Black 1990 GTA (Y84) Hardtop with the L98, 700R4 and 3:23 rearend. Pretty stock drivetrain wise but for some headers and custom 3" exhaust. 174,000 ish KM on the clock. Feels like a good example of a used 20 year old car.

In my ownership I've done the usual maintenance, upgrading where I can (blazer spard plug leads etc.) but not really a mech. kinda guy so I've got a guy who looks after it - Richard from American Technique (Watford) - I've done the impossible here and managed to find a decent, honest mechanic who actually has a real interest in thirdgen's.

Under his watchful eye I've bespoke added subframe connectors, had some rust protection done and steering work. I've also added some 4th gen neutral leather seats - I think they suit the black interior well and put in my trusty becker sat nav system and an amp and sub. Pretty cool having the satnav integrated into the stereo - my little 'hat-tip' to Knight Rider

Longer term plans include:
full body re-spray incl. some general body work - contemplating adding t-tops but the few enthusiasts over here had adviced (quite strongly) against it;
Chase out all the creeks and rattles;
Upgrade the suspension, drop her (inch or so) - scrapes my driveway as it is;
and maybe get a little more from the L98

Anyway - thought I'd share a little about a GTA thats living it up on the otherside of the world>>

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

few more pics

captainspikey

Thats awesome i love hearing from third-gen enthusiasts on the other side of the world.

BigBadGTA

Very nice car! I always wondered what it would be like to drive one my black GTA through Europe.. I am sure it gets a whole lot of looks over there! Mine does in the US! Good luck!

jlarsson

iTrader: (5)

Looking good there, can't go wrong with Rich looking after and helping you out :-) He's done some trick stuff to my 89 TTA over the years .... I'm west of you over in Maidenhead

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

thanks guys appreciate the kind words

yeah its quite an event driving the gta around here. i remember late last year polishing her up and driving down to my university in islington > total all eyes on me situation lol

jan: yeah not too far from me at all - ive read about your tta on POC - you sir, have an amazing car! Richard is a cool guy - had an off road experience some time ago resulting in a bent panhard bar - he shot me a replacement and gave the car a once over safety wise, upgrading some perished bushes in the process. lol part of me doesnt want him to make it big as the inevitable big firm inefficiencies ensue > just messin' Rich - hope you go all the way

thanks again guys ill endeavour to keep this post updated i do plan on keeping her forever and turning her into the car she shouldve been from the factory>

ZZ42Fast

iTrader: (2)

Looking good mate! I agree on Rich at American Technique. He is the best in the business and I take my car there too

GTA is looking sweet! Welcome.

CaliChevyLover

if i ever go to london i'll hit you up and check out your car

maks10

^ditto....im still suprised to hear these cars are still running in europe...sweet GTA

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Just an update guys after a fine sunny bank holiday monday comes to an end (and back to work tomorrow boo)

have been quite busy with the GTA - changing out alot of the suspension

Managed to source some Koni yellows for a reasonable price as well as some poly-bushed a-arms, sway bar end links and bushes, adjustable bearing panhard, lca's and lcarbs.

Also got some '92 ws6 front springs and cut a full coil off of the fronts and half a coil from the rear MOOG cargo coils - took out the rear spring isolator and put on the front. This was on the initiatve of 83 Crossfire TA - who was also really cool in giving me install tips via PM - thanks mate - I'll post some better pics but see attached

stance is quite good - desperately needs alignment which I'll sort in the next few days (see the negative camber on left front wheel!). Also the rear could do with another half a coil cut off I think but I am exhausted! something for the coming months.

All this coupled with my recently purchased UMI bearing top mounts and MAC front strut brace she is driving quite well - thought the ride may be too harsh with the cut springs and polyrethene bushes but whilst firm, is not too uncomfortable (certainly no worse than before!). Koni's still have to be set (currently on softest setting) but overall I'm happy with how she rides - and certainly how she looks>>

anyway, check the pics (some country roads in epping and parked up in the docklands) and feel welcome to post your comments - next is some bodywork and the maybe warm the L98 a bit with some porting and maybe a cam.

I'll get some better pics next weekend - royal wedding so another four day weekend! Good times

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

also a weirdo pic of some cows giving me heat

nm the bonnet alignment - strut brace seems to hit the left side slightly

Base91

iTrader: (1)

I lived near Clapham Common in the early 80's and had a '67 Firebird conv. with the drive train from a 74 455 HO. There was quite a crowd of American cars owners back then when we had the monthly cruising nights along the King's Road and across the river. Last I heard it had been shut down. A huge pity if it was because it was the best gtg around. I moved to California in '85 and they started shutting down a lot of the big cruise nights here too. Oh well. Hope you enjoy the cars, they're always great fun and do attract attention. Now for some cheaper gas!

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Hi sorry for the late reply - yeah there's actually quite a good american scene over here. Plenty of shows throughout the year aswell as cruises. The former often has a good selection of f-bodies and some are truely excellent examples.

We also have a dedicated pontiac owners club here in the UK - google search will fnd it - great friendly bunch of people

Anyway, realised those pictures were a bit crappy so thought I'd update this with some better ones - thought it apt to go back to the carpark I took the original pics to show the difference in ride height - a bit of rake but it I can live with it

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Apologies about the grubby engine bay - just to show the top mounts and mac strut brace

Base91

iTrader: (1)

Glad to hear there's still stuff going on. At it's height the big monthly cruise was a circuit from Sloane Square down the King's Road across the Albert Bridge round Battersea park and back across Chelsea Bridge. Every pub and restaurant on the route was packed and there were crowds lining the King's road, the west end of the park and all over Chelsea Bridge. Plus there was a car show in the park. The King's Road really looked like a scene from American Graffiti and there were monster burn outs all over the place. One game was to try and black out the white stripes on the zebra crossings. Then some of the Chelsea-ites started complaining and the police were pretty much forced to harass it out of existence. I think they'd enjoyed it themselves up to that point but you know how some people don't like other peoples fun.
But on a brighter note I know petrol is crazy expensive but I hear everyone if the UK makes huge amounts of money so it doesn't matter!

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

wow that sounds pretty awesome

TBH - haven't really been into the whole cruisin'/ car meet scene much. Only really got a taste of it last year when I went to pickup some car parts at an american car show.

You do get some chav hot-hatch stuff down southend and more organised shows (Park Royal springs to mind) - cruises are def. smale scale nearer to central london though

Lot's of appreciation generally though for well kept American Cars. I work in central (5 mins from St. Paul's) and am a graduate of City Uni (Angel/ Barbican - islington). Love taking the GTA there on Fridays and gauranteed to get a few thumbs up and horns and random (albeit drunkards by closing time) people talking about it

lol - really turning into a trip down mem. lane but when I got the car I remember coming out of a small jazz bar in Islington and firing her up to all these cheers from people waiting outside another bar.

Great that these inanimate objects can bring out the better side of people

oh and petrol is ridiculous price wise - near £1.40 a litre. Glad I take the train to work and the GTA is light social use only - other wise, painfully, they'd be a for sale sign on her

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

Nice car, much nicer than my current TA... I'm glad that I could help with the springs.

I hate to say it but the price of gas here is catching up to yours much faster then we'd hope... we're at about half that now, and they're predicting another $1/gallon by summer...

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

yeah - as discussed I went in with a 'cut it once and hope' approach given how much of a pain it is removing/ replacing springs. Front ride height really is perfect - looks great and the car is still useable - so top banana!

Yeah feel for you guys in the states - especially the more rural areas where public transport isn't really a viable alternative - I remember when £1 a litre was such a big deal - all sorts of protests and panic buying. I think £1.50 is the next psychological barrier

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

You know, I remember when $.90/gallon was a lot, and we'd shop around and keep track of what station was the lowest when it started getting close to $1, and I'm not that old. when I in high school/college it was around $1.20/gallon and there were times that I debated how many times I was going to drive to class so I had beer money on the weekend...

It hovered in the mid $1.xx range for a long while, then a few years ago it jumped to around $3/gallon all at once. At the time I worked at a speed shop and we knew a few people that owned stations that warned us a day or so before. I went and filled up the truck, every gas can that I had, and even grabbed the race gas cans from the shop and filled them up. That weekend prices went nuts, people went crazy and stations ran out of gas and closed for a few days. I actually didn't need to buy gas for months and missed the worst of it.

We've been hovering around that area for the last few years, the last few months, where we've gone from somewhere in the low $3/gallon range to about $4.15/gallon... We're starting to see long lines at whatever the cheapest station is in town...

Funny, my 4 ton cummins dodge truck (2500) is actually the cheapest thing I own to drive, even with diesel prices going through the roof faster than gas, but of course, filling a 36gallon tank of diesel is a shocker (>$140 the last time).

I guess that's not as bad as you guys have it, but it's coming. OTOH, you hit the nail on the head with the alternatives, but it's worse than you think. I live less than 12miles from the Washington DC beltway, almost exactly between DC and Baltimore, near a major airport... not exactly the rural location that you'd expect it to be a problem at, but there is no public transportation at all where I live or work. Even if I was going to DC or Baltimore, I'd have to drive to someplace to get a bus or light rail, neither are close enough to walk or even ride a bike to (well, you can ride a bike to anywhere, but not in a reasonable time period)

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

hey guys - a quick update I took her on an airfield track day recently

what an absolute blast! a mix of weather (downpours and sunny clear skies ) - so much fun taking the GTA through its paces

Just thought it useful to mention two things

-standard brakes, EBC pads and discs. Braking was good. Very little observable fade and were reasonably strong. It was a mix of highspeed straights and tight corners. I was taking her upto around 115-120 and braking hard down to 50 for one particular corner. Brakes held up fine. I drove home 100 miles thereafter and again absolutely fine. Food for thought

-cut springs. Neutral handling. i was afraid with the cut springs I may have screwed up the balance of the car. Well I'm not sure what it was like before but with cut springs there was no oversteer (unless throttle provoked) - just mild, safe, understeer (very mild, even more like four wheel drifting) which was very controllable. Car didn't want to snap or any other unusual handling characteristics + all the benefits of stiffer, lower springs. There was some nose diving following hard accelleration and heavy breaking; though I have a slight rake in the ride height and I actually think cutting the rear springs would solve this

also as a side note handled really compliantly in the wet also. You hear so many things about american cars in the wet. I experienced much the same neutral handling, just less grip (obviously!)

Anyway some pics from raceday. Let me know what you guys think!

Base91

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like fun fun fun. What track was it? Did you have any tech or safety issues with the car? Was this your first track experience and will it be your last? I'm betting no. Start saving. It can be an expensive addiction!

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

Looks like fun...

I just noticed the later wing on it, do you have any pics of the car from the back where you can see how well it works with the rest of the body lines? I've always thought it might be a good solution for the earlier wing falling apart but been concerned that it has lines that fit the '91-92 bumpers better... I'm sure it's better than a 4th gen wing...

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

thanks guys - yep was a great day. Track is a decomissioned airfied - RAF Cottesmore. It was a cone marked circuit of 3.5 miles. A great mix long straights (enough to hit 115-120), sweeping turns and high speed chicanes to much tighter stuff. A real all rounder

Yep was the first time I took the GTA to the track (have been on two track days prior to this one). Certainly hooked! It's also made me more confident about the GTAs limits for street driving.

Sure I'll snap some pics of the spoiler/ rear-end this coming weekend. I think you nailed it in terms of aesthetically where it stands. It suits the car better than a forth gen wing but its just a bit too curved for the 85-90 GFX. I also don't think the profile is tall enough. I can see me biting the bullet and going for a hawks aero wing (killer shipping charges for us foreign folk)

anyway cheers for the comments guys - more developments to come!

EDIT - do actually have some rear pics from race day of the rear showing the wing. See what I mean about it being a bit short on the side/ profile?

lb9 GTA

Those tail lights look interesting. Do you have any pics of them with all lights lit? I've never seen them modified like that.

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

Yep, kind of what I suspected, it looks better than a 4th gen, not as good as the stock or just the base wing (I have a spare base model/early TA style wing, but I don't have the matching hatch, so I would have to weld the wrap around wing holes shut and drill new ones for the other style wing)

Guest

No offense, but I can't help wondering what Jeremy, James and Richard would say if they could drive your excellent 'bird.

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

lb9 - sure I'll snap some pics over the weekend. I think it's a pretty popular modification for Trans Am's in the UK to be road legal and preferrable to stick on indicators!!

83 Cross - yeah, I think it looks most out of place looking over the car from the rear. Hawks it is

ronnjonn - I was much the same about its handling. And whilst not as sharp or communicative as my previous 330ci sport nor even my old man's merc CD220 estate (!), the GTA has little body roll and a netral feel to it should you push it past its limits. Certainly no elise, but quite impressive for its size

SpeedDemon91

very beautiful

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

I hope I didn't make you decide to get rid of something that you were happy or at least OK with before I said something... seems like I I have a way of doing that. I tend to go the other way... just sort of have crap all the time because I can't bring myself to do it if it's not perfect so often it takes forever to get done if at all...

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Just an update guys

quite a bit has changed since last summer

Corvette C6 wheels
LS1 Fron Brakes
Some paintwork to the front

and another track day! - pics attached. These were high quality pics by a professional on the day. I have loads but thought these stood out.

Location was Woodbridge RAF Airfield (Ipswich). Smaller, tighter and rougher surface. Still pretty fun. Was topping 110 mph in the longest straight to 60mph chicane. LS1 brakes worked well but would lock at highspeed if provoked enough!

Lots of fun again. But got an annoying scraping noise from the rear. The 295/30/19 wheels are just too big! I'll need to massage the inner arches more. See pics, I think you'll agree the tyre width looks great - don't want to go 285 if I can help it

I've got a question which I'll most probably post in the tech sections. After a few spirited runs, I've noticed the car starts squeeling all over the place and with pronounced less traction. I originally thought this was due to the massive tyre wall standard 245/50/16 wheels and semi-cheapo tyres - ballooning when heated and thus less of a contact patch.

But this time around, I was running much smaller profiles, wider and better makes (pirelli rear, dunlop front) but suffered from the same fate! Just a big car that is overheating the tyres?

thoughts welcome

oh yeah - ordered some aluminium heads, 268xfi cam and ported TPI stuff in anticipation of running her again in the summer. Never going to be an Elise in the corners - but I'll make up for in the straights!

stay tuned...

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Sweet looking bird! Awesome wheel choice.

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

thanks! Yeah needed some bigger wheels after fitting the front brakes and originally was on the look out for BMW BBS wheels in 17/18" - keeping that GTA look only bigger.

But after poking around the wheel thread on TGO I was sold on the C6 rims.

Your burgandy GTA is a real looker BTW. Have always fancied a sand/ burgandy GTA or a Gunmetal one. Really brings out the exotic flare that the GTA was marketed as.

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Yep, I ran into the same situation with the wheels on mine. I just put in Hotchkis lowering springs all the way around with C5 vette brakes on the front, and I went with 18" BMW M-parallel wheels to fit them. I originally was going to go with Ronals to keep it all period correct, but they're just too hard to source, and the M-Parallels look real good on our cars. I'll have some pictures up soon hopefully, gotta get the rear shocks in and the front end aligned first.

I like the flame red, but I also really like the black cars. I had a black '87 before this one, and it's definitely a very, very sharp color. I think most of the GTAs looked real good with the monochromatic scheme, but Black, Flame Red, and Gunmetal definitely go the best with the luxury theme.

-cal30sniper

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Kudos with the wheel spacing there by the way. That's one of the best fender to wheel flushings that I've seen, especially with those wheels.

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

thanks man - just following the tried and tested 2" front and 2.25" rear. Adjustable panhard to centre it!

been reading more about my traction issues. I think I was just driving like a complete amateur, going in the corners far too fast - causing the tyres to overheat.

had a serious knocking noise coming from the left front major vibration through the pedal after the track day.

Check out the attached pics - two clean cracks in the disc

got some EBC plain discs on order!

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

WOW!

And that right there is why I'm still running solid rotors on mine. I've heard of stuff like that happening, but never seen it before. What do your pads look like now?

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

user requested pics of prop valve

The Project

iTrader: (6)

Nice to see a bird flying on the track back home

Starbug

I have never seen or heard of vented rotors cracking like that. Aren't the vents supposed to prevent stuff like this (as well as gasses building up between pad and rotor)? Why would solid rotors not crack like this too?

This has me suddenly concerned about my choice of future rotors when I do a brake upgrade.

Richboll

That's a good looking ride for either side of the pond!

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Thanks all!

Yes the cracked rotor is a bit of a mystery. I'll chalk it down to a rotor on unknown history (got it 2nd hand with the calipers).

I've gone for plain discs this time around. Fitted them yesterday and all seems well

we'll see what happens next track day...

forgot to add the pads were quite broken up - as if someone had taken a pocket knife and dug bits out < replaced these aswell...