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My first post of my car other than looking for parts. I picked up my GTA August of 2021. Immediately I tore into the car to make it they way I want it. The first thing I found was a massive no no for me. A previous owner had butchered the trunk floor to get to the fuel pump. That is were my idea of keeping the car original went out the window.
I have fixed the hole, upgraded suspension, went with c5 brakes and a 02 Camaro ss brake booster and master cylinder, auto to manual swap, new carpet, refreshed the interior, and now working on the engine and transmission. Unfortunately I have had to put the car in storage for now as I’m trying to sell my house.
Fuel tank back in Heat shields wire wheeled and painted Rear end back in the car BMR lowering springs. Rear c5 conversion I had custom made e brake cables made to work with the c5 upgrade
Test fitting dyno dons headers. I also have his custom y pipes that wil flow into a 3” cat back exhaust. Getting ready to pull the motor. Going with afr 195 heads, super l98 cam, 1.6 rocker arms, ASM runners, and accel high flow intake. Slp cold air intake will also be installed. Astro steering shaft installed Headliner from a 92 firebird. I’m going to reinforce it with fiber glass then recover it. Nasty looking clutch pedals 🤮 Cleaned up, painted, and new pads Clutch master cylinder hole drilled Reinforcement plate Pedals some what installed. Plate welded to the firewall
New t-top bag I found from a 88 Camaro. The owner of the Camaro removed it when he bought the car new. It had been stored away all these years New floor mats Taking the car to storage last month. I’m trying to sell my house before getting married in march.
I have not done that yet. I have a section of the tunnel from a manual car that I will use as template to cut out my tunnel. I will also use the piece that I cut out of the firewall for the clutch master cylinder to plug the hole where the automatic shift cable went trough the floor. I hope to get back to work on the car this summer. It all depends on how fast my house sells.
I sold my house and moved into the new one! Car is still in storage for now. In the meantime I’ve managed to get the k-member powder coated and I personally rebuilt the WC T5. Back from powder coat How it looked
New cluster gear, syncros, bearings, races, 2nd gear, reverse idler gear, shift fork pads, 1-2 and 3-4 selector. Also replaced the stamped steel cluster gear bearing race retainer with a solid steel retainer from 5speed.com.
Anyone that would cut a hole like that into a 3rd gen should be shot in the back of the head and kicked into a ditch to rot. Just plum laziness. It's not that hard to do it the right way.
Car is out of storage and in our new home. Test fitting factory louvers to see what needs to be customized on the wing, louvers, or both for them to fit up against the glass.
After a year of being in the new house I am finally able to start working on the car again. I’ve gotten all the pieces together for the uq7 stereo upgrade I want to do. New speakers came from a fiero website, wiring, switches, and amps from two different optioned uq7 cars. The boxes I got from Brett Thomas. Wiring sitting on the back glass. Also I found two original headliners. I’m going to use the one that is in the best shape and reinforce it with fiberglass before recovering it. I was not a fan of the plastic aftermarket headliner I got from hawks.
I also tore down the 350 in preparation to have it bored to a 355. I’ll be running the little chubbs cam from tpis, afr 195 heads, accel intake, AS&M runners, 52mm tb, and 0411 ecm upgrade with harness from efi connections.
Here are a few pics of the intake setup. I’m going with the first tpi fuel rails as it will be easier to run rear feed and return lines with a remote mounted fpr. Had to clearance the front of the fuel rails to fit the plenum. Also had to clearance the rail for the pcv tube to fit without rubbing. Had to make .4” spaces under the fuel rails as recommended by first tpi. The 355 Jim Hall built last October Hoping to get similar results as I’m basically building this exact motor.
I didn’t die today from flying springs! Got the k-member and a-arms out. Have some cleaning up of the engine bay before the powder coated k-member goes in.
I also got a set of 3:45 gears out of an 87 GTA at the local junk yard to replace my 3:27 gears. Out with the old rusty stuff Don’t mind my kiddie pool I use to catch the dirty water when I clean the underside and engine bay. Had to call it a day as we got over 14 inches of snow in two days. Shiny refreshed k-member ready to go in. 3:45’s
Very nice progress, that kmember looks incredible, I am assuming they media blasted it? what did you roughly pay for that job if you dont mind me asking? I am currently debating if I want to paint mine with chassis paint or take it to get it powder coated
I used a combination of rattle can bed liner in areas that would see the most debris strikes and satin black rattle can from autozone. I first cleaned everything with simple green and a green scotch pad then went to town.
I forgot to post this back in sep of 22. I rebuilt my automatic steering column to a manual column using a few parts from an 85 f-body. No modifications were needed to put the key release lever, push rod, and plastic collar on my column. I did however have to slightly grind down a plastic tab on the inside of the automatic collar to get it to fit on the 85 column that I later sold.
On a side note a piece of pool noodle from the dollar tree works great for the foam spacer that disintegrates at the bottom of the steering shaft just before the bearing.
I’ll have to get a pic of the functioning key release when I put the column back in the car.
Before and after pics of power steering box. I had it rebuilt and detailed by powersteering.com. Was $438 plus shipping to get it there. Took about a week and a half to get it back.
No clue as my motor is out and torn apart. The tax man took all of my engine building funds so I'll have to wait a little longer to see how it works out.
12-24-2022, 01:09 AM
