Basket case 88 gta

[spudz]

Ok I have sold a few cars and have some play money. SO I have been looking for a nice drivable project for cheap for the past few weeks. I have came up with nothing.. SO I have decided to just fix something I had. I started to do my 81 z28 but I decided to do this 88 GTA instead. ONLY because I got a great deal on a complete TPI motor off of craigslist. So the z28 went back agian and the GTA got pulled out. FIRST the history on this car... A guy a know had this car while I was in high school. I ALWAYS wanted it. I just really liked it.. It had 305 TPI and a 5 speed. WELL the motor went to knocking and it sat. He wouldnt sell it for nothing. Then he decided to work on it some and pulled the motor and later threw it away and then used the trans in his 86 camaro. Leaving this car an incomplete roller. So I bought it to keep it out of the junk yard. I have had it about 6 years or so. I have been keeping an eye out for a wrecked tpi car for a while now but no luck until I found this engine. SO I dug it out the back today, cleaned the crap out of the interior and pressure washed everything and set the new engine in. I have a wrecked 87 trans am 305 tbi with a 5speed out in the country where I store junk cars. I am going to go get it and grab all the rest of the missing parts including the transmission. When I bought the wrecked 87 it ran great and the a/c blew cold. HOPEFULLY it still does. Its been out there about a year. ANYWAYS here are todays progress from where its been sitting for years. The pressure washer pulled alot of the paint off down to the primer lol.

[spudz]

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[spudz]

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[87 chevy silverado]

nice

[Jonboy]

Spudz, we seem to have the same taste in cars. My buddy and I buy/sell/part out cars as a hobby fairly frequently. We just picked up an '88 GTA notchback with a coolant vanishing problem, and just parted out an '89 Turbo Trans Am. We also have a '85 Regal T-type getting ready to go under the knife, too. And I drive an '87 Mustang GT convertible daily. I like seeing your posts over here, as my wife would kill me if all of these cars followed me home. Scott has a lot more room than I do.

[faribran]

i have a couple of these.......i can provide pics if anyone is interested..

[WIDESIDE72]

Like Eazy E said, "It's all about makin' that GTA." Exccept that he was talking about Grand Theft AUto, but anyway...

[spudz]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

Spudz, we seem to have the same taste in cars. My buddy and I buy/sell/part out cars as a hobby fairly frequently. We just picked up an '88 GTA notchback with a coolant vanishing problem, and just parted out an '89 Turbo Trans Am. We also have a '85 Regal T-type getting ready to go under the knife, too. And I drive an '87 Mustang GT convertible daily. I like seeing your posts over here, as my wife would kill me if all of these cars followed me home. Scott has a lot more room than I do.

I got a 84 regal t-type too lol. and I just sold my 88 GT convertible. Your right we do share same taste! As long as I dont loose interest I will be ok. I cut the drivers side battey tray out to replace because I coulda swore I saw em on ebay. As it turns out you can only buy the passenger side battery tray. SO looks like I will be cutting a battery tray out of a junk car! Atleast its the only rust the car has!. The only reason I am able to have as many cars as I do is I had em before I met my wife haha.. AND her dad lets me put my junk on his land. 88 notchback sounds like a cool car!

[spudz]

Originally Posted by faribran

i have a couple of these.......i can provide pics if anyone is interested..

THAT would be great.... AS I have no idea where everything goes as this is my first TPI car... Right now I am trying to track down the metal fuel lines that go from the fuel rail to the rubber lines on the firewall. I ordered a brand new GM fuel pump for when the time comes.

[Jonboy]

Those fuel lines should go down the left frameail, and will attach to 2 rubber fuel lines. You can see the fittings on the front of your intake. The metal lines will stop right about at the front of the engine.

[spudz]

I got the rusty battery tray cut out. Its the only rust in the whole car so I am not gonna complain too much. Still sucks tho. I have a little patching to do on the fender well and core suppor where the battery acid messed it up and then I have to find a solid battery tray to cut out of a donor car..

[dammitmitchell]

nice it cleaned up really well.

[2manyprojects]

Cool project, I have a 89 GTA convertible that I need to put back together.

[Tx Firefighter]

We must be nearly the same age. You quoted Eazy-E and lusted after a Trans Am GTA in high school. That's the story of my life. I did the 5 liter Mustang thing too pretty seriously back in the 90s also.

[Jonboy]

Same here. I graduated in '93. I was more of a Too $hort type, though.

Still working on getting a GN for a keeper. Driving my '87 GT daily lets me find alll kinds of little things to do to it, though. Stuff that wasn't such a big deal 15 years ago is a major PITA, like A/C and such.

[spudz]

Well im 25. This car was nice about 8 or 9 years ago. Still only has right at 100k on it
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[spudz]

Had a busy weekend But sadly none of it I spent on the GTA. Besides that it rained almost all weekend. I did line it up for me to tow the GTA to my friends body shop and he is going to sand blast the rusty area where the battery tray was for me.. THAT will save me alot of time. OH......and I ordered a gallon of clear, and a gallon of ARTIC WHITE.... MAN I cant wait to drive this car. I need to either go to where I got my junk cars stored and see if I can pull some fenders off a regular firebird parts car I got OR buy new fenders. GTAs take regular firebird fenders with no heat extractors. I have a few sets of T/A fenders but I really want it to look right.

[spudz]

ABOUT the only thing I want to do that is non stock is MAYBE lower it some. Mostly in the front as they ALWAYS seem to be sitting a little higher in the front. That and I will run two sets of wheels on this car, the original gold lace wheels and a set of weld prostarts with skinnys on the front. Here is some inspirating.

[Jonboy]

Spudz, Are you still needing any pics for this car. I have my '88 at the house, but hopefully it finds a new home soon. It is too nice to use as a daily on a 70+ mile a day commute, and I have enough toys already. It is a 58K mile car, and looks really original. Let me know if you need any specific pics.

[spudz]

Man.... maybe some random underhood pics?

[Jonboy]

Cool, no problem. I drove it to work today, so I will post them soon.

[Jonboy]

Engine pics!

[C-10 simplex]

i love it. But how did it end up being such a basket case? One wheel mismatched etc?

[Jonboy]

I think the wheels are right. The third gen cars have a different offset front and rear on the 16" wheels, I think that is what you are seeing.

[spudz]

Originally Posted by C-10 simplex

i love it. But how did it end up being such a basket case? One wheel mismatched etc?

I bought it like that and I have the other wheel that matches the rest. The tire just wont hold air.