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Very nice car man and when I think of a GTA that is the car that comes to mind. That color, T-tops and nice looking.

 

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Yeah super nice car-wish mine was that nice, but amybe someday if I decide to restore her. Right now mine is a nice 20 footer, but hey it's 25 years old and original.

 

Welcome back!!!!! Nice ride!!!!!

 

It's SO nice to be back man ha. Haven't talked to you for awhile!

Anyone have ideas for a build? I want to keep the engine pretty much stock, and reliable. It'll be going on a long road trip, and I'm not sure what I want to do with it.

 

LS1 T56 swap.....lol or a Super Ram intake & exhaust with a mild cam, thats what Im going with on my Formula.

 

Checkout Calsnipers GTA, its pretty much stock with some nice mods.

 

Looked his car up and that's exactly what I want this build to be. I really just want to compliment that the core of the car is. (Sfc's, lca's, phb etc). Then brakes and consider looking for a t56

 

Well, the weather is getting cooler, and I definitely need a working heater lol. Did about one minute of investigating and couldn't help but notice the heater core was totally unhooked from the cooling system. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume its bad. At least they aren't awful to change...

I hate stupid things like this!!

 

Gotta love Hawaii...lol

 

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Lovr the color combo, theirs a house here that has the same color GTA with the beige interior, they also have blue 82 Trans Am, both cars have been sitting for years. I wanna findout what are they gonna do with them.

 

Take a couple pics! I like finding cars that haven't been touched in a long time too.

 

I will next time im out that way.....also found a red 91/92 formula, looks like its been sitting awhile. Maybe a Firehawk clone if the price is right!!!!!

 

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Sfc's, drop & rotate rims back to front with a spacer. SLP 2 to the left exhaust, headers, super ram intake, cam & mild head work :-D... Just a suggestion.....lmal

 

I'll definitely be beefing up the suspension/chassis before touching the drivetrain. I'm not sure where I want that part of the build to go yet. It'll be what you suggested, or a higher revving ls/t56 swap. Think modern cmc car.

 

With a title like that, I was expecting a white GTA.

 

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Well wouldn't you know. I'd say we just about have twins, minus the porno red interior and T-Tops of course.

Feel free to get ahold of me if you have any questions on part selection and the like. My GTA is the second one of these that I've built in the direction that you're looking at going. The first one was an '87 Formula. The powertrain on that one was a 305 with a CompCams XR258 Cam and supporting gear with 1.6:1 RR, reworked Corvette 113 heads, a Weiand Street Warrior Intake, and backed up by a T56 trans and a 9-bolt 3.27. Hardest running 305 I've ever been in. It had all of the UMI suspension pieces, Corvette Brakes, Konis, Bimmer rims, and various other pieces that eventually got swapped over to the GTA that I have now.

If you want some info on my build, here's some of the threads that I did:

The 87 Formula (I've got a lot more pictures and parts specs if you want to see them, I eventually got too busy working and quit updating my build thread)
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...engineers.html

Finished product (There's a really good write-up I did on reliability at the end of this thread. Might be applicable to that trip you were talking about taking)
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...-write-up.html

GTA Thread #1 of 2
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...third-gen.html

GTA Thread #2 of 2 (Spring update)
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ta-update.html

Anyways, I think you're headed the right direction for the car. I've tried to keep all of my modifications under the skin. The lines (and color) on these cars are just too good to mess up with anything more than a tasteful wheel/tire combo and a slight lowering job. I used the Hotchkis Lowering Springs, and highly recommend them. A bit more expensive than the alternatives, but an amazing stance that rides very well and is still completely driveable. I went so far as to keep the interior stock appearing as well, while adding the modern amenities such as a CD player/aux jack and good speakers. I've saved the drivetrain for last, but I've slowly been gathering up parts to do that too. I'll be putting in headers, y-pipe, and cat-back this month, as well as finishing the A.I.R. delete. In the "Parts Shed" is a Vortec 350, T56 trans, and all the goodies to put them in. I've also got a complete RamJet intake setup on the way for that engine. I won't have the time or place to put them in until the next year or so, but that's where I'm headed. Again, just trying to update it as much as possible while sticking to the original theme, and keeping it 100% daily driveable. In my opinion, that's what owning a GTA is all about.

Hit me up if you've got any Q's. I'd be more than glad to help.

-cal30sniper

 

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So, we have heat... The previous owner broke the tab off the bottom of the blend door though... I strongly dislike doing work like this lol.

I'll rig something up to make it fully functional again though!

 

I thought the blend door tab might have been part of the problem. The same thing had happened to my '87 Formula. Typical GM potmetal. I fixed mine by knocking the old broken tab off the shaft and putting a spare tab off of another blend door back on its place. They are a bear to get on and off the shaft though. Be careful, it's very easy to break the plastic part of the housing while you're trying to do that.

Did you make sure you had the vacuum controlled cutoff valve in the heater hose between the intake and heater core? This valve helps keep hot air out of the passenger compartment unless the heater is actually on. Having a functioning block-off helps your A/C help you stay cool. Not always an easy thing to do in these cars, haha.

 

Hmm, I'll see if I can source a local parts car. They are pretty rare around here in yards'. If not, I'll probably just get creative.

I really hate doing things half *** though. It'll bug me if I just rig something up lol

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that probably any 80s GM car is going to have that little arm on the hot/cold blend door under the dash. They use different plastic boxes to match up to the firewall, but I bet they use the same shaft diameter and fitting design.

 

Just a proof of concept. I'll take more than an hour to put a good video together of a real car next time if this is watchable. Would you like to see more clips like this with serious cars featured? Please give feedback!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAxG9...ature=youtu.be

 

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Funny name for the car. I was thinking it had special talents like Peter North. Like touching the shifter and getting a bath over and over and over again and again. LOL

 

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Adjustable Caster/Camber Strut Mounts. I went with the J&M Hotparts ones. You can find them on sale at Colorado Speed quite frequently. It really stiffened up the slop in the front end (it would be even better with a strut tower brace, but my Ramjet won't clear it, so I don't think its worth getting one for the year that I'll have TPI still).

I would also suggest a complete front end rebuild. I used Moog Problem Solver ball joints, idler arm, center link, tie rod ends, inner and outer tie rods, UMI Performance tie rod links, and P-S-T polygraphite bushings in the control arms. If I was to do it again, I'd skip the ball joints and P-S-T bushings and just put that money towards some of the UMI tubular A-arms. Unless you have a press and can do them yourself, a shop will charge you nearly the cost of tubular arms just to take out the old ones and install new ones.

Even on an 80k mile car, you won't believe the difference in handling a complete rebuild will make. Steering is very crisp and sharp, and she points exactly where you want her to exactly when you want it.

Also, I run my Koni Yellows at 0% stiffness up front and 20% stiffness in the rear. I've found this to work pretty well. I may drop to 0% stiffness in the rear the next time I pull them out. I get a little bit of rear end hop in a hard corner with uneven surface.

If you want, PM me your email address, and I'll send you the Word file that I keep track of all my upgrades in. I keep and very detailed list of everything I do to the car.

-cal30sniper

 

Also, next on my list is greasable front and rear Polyurethane Sway Bar mounts. I already have the Polyurethane end links, but I'm still running the rubber mounts as of now.

Think of your wheels and brakes as a package. I picked the wheel size I wanted, and then the biggest brakes I could put inside them (and still afford). Then grab the tallest series tire you can still run inside the wheel well. If you go with 18" rims, get 40-series rubber, or at least a 295 width 35 series tire. The extra sidewall height really smooths out the ride. Ideally, I would suggest picking out a 17" rim and 13" brakes that will fit inside. I think 17's would have a lot smoother road manners than the 18's that I have now. Rear brakes aren't nearly as crucial as the fronts. I still haven't changed to the 1LE prop valve, so my rear brakes are doing virtually nothing. I honestly can't notice a difference from when I had the 1LE prop valve on my Formula with the same brake setup. Grab good pads though. Pad quality is just important as the brakes themselves. If you require the use of an emergency brakes, I would suggest PBR calipers on the rear. I grabbed my complete setup off of a low-miles LT1 car for cheap. My parts list has the part number for the E-brake cables you will need. With the right backing plates, they're pretty much a bolt in deal, and a much better design than the Delco-Moraine iron calipers you have now.

I spent several hours on a backroads cruise with my local car club this afternoon. We did some serious corner carving, with pretty regular triple digit blasts. The only person gaining any ground on me in the curves was a professional driving instructor in a CTS-V. Even he wasn't gaining much. I don't know how it would go around an autocross course, but for the street, this is about as good as it gets while still remaining comfortable. The roads today were fairly rough county roads too. Several of the guys bottomed out and drug stuff on uneven spots in the road. I never even had a scrape.

-cal30sniper