[buIf6yoW]

Figured I'd post pics of the progress.

Not included in this pic is my brand spankin new GM hood I got for a steal. Fits like a glove.

EDIT: looks like the comcast.net server went down, pics will be back up later I guess





I replaced the nose, fenders, front gfx peices, doors, and both rocker panel gfx peices.

We started friday, and finished early sunday doing all of the alignment peices. As well as fixing my floor boards from where they were pushed up from improperly jacking up the car by previous owners.

I filled all of the hollow spaces in the sub-frames with expanding foam after bending restoring them to factory positions so the car is even stiffer than before. I will be installing sub-frames as soon as the car is painted and I can have the interior out. Welding the sub frames to the floor can catch the carpet on fire, so for the moment I will hold off.

Next wednesday i am doing all of the body work on the car, there are several dents I'll be fixing in that process. My friends father was a professional body man for a very long time. So he'll be doing all of the major work while I watch, learn, and do the grunt work for him.

Once the body work is done it goes into the paint booth, and I get back a pretty, white car a week later.

[tLO0hFNy]

Once the body work is done it goes into the paint booth, and I get back a pretty, white car a week later.

So the car colour your picking is white? Your car your pick, but just making sure that's the final colour. lol.

[RastusuadegeFrimoum]

I don't mind the blue or black

[tLO0hFNy]

I don't mind the blue or black

Same. Black or the blue, with 2 tone silver.

http://www.73pontiacfirebirdtransam....ods/85ta-3.jpg

mmm

[Stivenslivakovishhhs]

Same. Black or the blue, with 2 tone silver.

http://www.73pontiacfirebirdtransam....ods/85ta-3.jpg

mmm

Nice progress! Look forward to seeing it painted!


That blue and silver two tone is awesome.
________
SUCK ****

[ingeneensueva]

Damnit !
Thanks alot Fruity, now i got that stupid Paula Abdul song in my head,..

[cursing]

[conurgenceDen]

Damnit !
Thanks alot Fruity, now i got that stupid Paula Abdul song in my head,..

[cursing]

I was thinking that [thumbdown]

[Dynasty]

Fruity, you're not allowed to fix the air dam at the bottom on the passenger side. I don't think I could get used to your car without it. It adds character to it!

[buIf6yoW]

Fruity, you're not allowed to fix the air dam at the bottom on the passenger side. I don't think I could get used to your car without it. It adds character to it!

What air dam?

Actually, that piece is out of production and its really hard to find one that isn't screwed up in some way to the point that it doesn't work. I may need to make one or something like that if i can't find it.

[tramadoldiscountes]

What song?

Fruity, what sort of white are you going for? More creamy or a really snow white - I prefer a real brilliant snow white, myself?

[Dynasty]

What air dam?

Actually, that piece is out of production and its really hard to find one that isn't screwed up in some way to the point that it doesn't work. I may need to make one or something like that if i can't find it.

Ok, some people call it ground effects or front end spoilers, I'm old school and call it an "Air Dam".

[tramadoldiscountes]

Air dam is the correct term - and he knows it
I'm surprised some of the specialist companies don't to repro' parts to replace them as they seem to be quite vulnerable to damage.

[buIf6yoW]

Air dam is the correct term - and he knows it
I'm surprised some of the specialist companies don't to repro' parts to replace them as they seem to be quite vulnerable to damage.

Only vulnerable with idiots driving. Thinking they can scrape the nose of the car over everything.

I haven't replaced the driver side piece because it doesn't impact the cooling of the car as its not the main dam. its a 3pc design, I have the passenger and center pieces, but the driver side was ripped off before I got the car. And I never replaced it before because the old ground effect on teh right side had its mounting tabs broken so I couldn't. The new GFX have intact mounting tabs so I'll be fixing it when I can find the driver side dam.

Basically these cars are bottom breathers. The air that runs under the car hits the air dam creating a high pressure area which is funneled into the radiator via ducting. If you lose the center dam thats it. Your car will overheat at all speeds above 30mph because there isn't enough airflow over the radiator and fans just aren't enough.

The factory fan wiring had the dual fans staged. One comes on at 225* and the other at 240* [shocked]

I've wired the fans in series so that they both activate at the same time (cools the car MUCH faster) and I also have a 180* thermostat with the fans set to run at 195*, and shutting down when the temp reaches 175*. On the highway the thermostat barely opens because the car cools itself so well. Especially in this weather we are having right now because its so cool outside the fans almost never operate unless I'm stuck in traffic for a long time.


In both pics I posted the air dam isn't visible. I'll see if I can find one where it is.



This is why the driver side doesn't have an air dam piece on it. See anything wrong?

[Dynasty]

Air dam is the correct term - and he knows it
I'm surprised some of the specialist companies don't to repro' parts to replace them as they seem to be quite vulnerable to damage.

I'm sure there are a few. I don't know as Firebird's and T/A's aren't my specialty. I'm much more into 1972 and earlier muscle cars, specificaly 1972 Chevelle SS's.

We didn't have fancy, smanshy Air Dam's.

[buIf6yoW]

I'm sure there are a few. I don't know as Firebird's and T/A's aren't my specialty. I'm much more into 1972 and earlier muscle cars, specificaly 1972 Chevelle SS's.

We didn't have fancy, smanshy Air Dam's.

One of the most popular questions on the 3rd gen forums is "why does my firebird overheat on the highway?" The most popular answer is check your air-dam! Cars need it.

Found a pic that shows the center air-dam piece. Yes, I've seen the rust, one of the things I'm doing shortly is putting it up on jack stands and taking a wire wheel to the underbody till its all shiny, sanding it and then coating it with underbody coating again. The car is also coated with power steering fluid spray from when the high pressure power steering line started to fail. And by fail, I mean leaking about 1qt of fluid in 20 miles. I have to fill a spray bottle with a dawn dish soap solution when I do the underbody and clean that up.


Picked up a Moroso cold-air intake, MAF sensor (my car was converted to speed density), wired it up. And now I need get the MAF tune loaded which will help quite a bit.

I'm developing a small exhaust leak at one of the ports. I'm gonna have to reseal the headers this weekend (not a fun job). But here is a clip last night from leaving the place I picked up the hood at.

Its a short clip because i started from about 30mph and let it go to almost the 3rd gear upshift. However I felt that was a tad faster than I wanted to go so I let off..
http://home.comcast.net/~thirdgen89g..._gear_pull.mp3

[Innockcroff]

I'm sure there are a few. I don't know as Firebird's and T/A's aren't my specialty. I'm much more into 1972 and earlier muscle cars, specificaly 1972 Chevelle SS's.

We didn't have fancy, smanshy Air Dam's.

We have spoilers though.




FRUITY_ONE, is your car going to be solid white or with some other color thrown in?

[buIf6yoW]

We have spoilers though.




FRUITY_ONE, is your car going to be solid white or with some other color thrown in?

Just plain old white. Wouldn't be a GTA otherwise. Not always a fan of the two tone birds. Some of the combo's look good, but others don't appeal to me.

[Innockcroff]

Just plain old white. Wouldn't be a GTA otherwise. Not always a fan of the two tone birds. Some of the combo's look good, but others don't appeal to me.

I've always loved the white/blue combo on TAs/Firebirds. That always looks good on them.

[tLO0hFNy]

I just think going all white doesn't do the car justice.

I know I know, it's your car; but going by the comments in this thread, I feel that people are implying you really should reconsider adding some colour.

[buIf6yoW]

I just think going all white doesn't do the car justice.

I know I know, it's your car; but going by the comments in this thread, I feel that people are implying you really should reconsider adding some colour.

Its a GTA. GTA's are monochromatic. Below is what it will look like. Aside from wheels the goal is to NEVER let anyone know that the car isn't stock when its parked somewhere. That and the truth is a monochromatic paint job will NEVER age style wise like a two tone car will. Its classy rather than flashy, was supposed to be a cruiser more than a on the edge racer.



If anyone wishes to ready about the History of the TransAm GTA model there is a crap load of info below.
http://gtasourcepage.com/