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OK, I’ve had this a couple of weeks, and they are being fairly eventful weeks so I reckon it’s time for a jolly ol’ reader’s ride thread on the beast. Oh, and “The Beast” is its rather predictable nickname amongst Mrs Ku’s workmates. Yes, she commutes in my Trans Am... I acquired the Trans Am in a swap for my ’65 Oldsmobile. Much as I was sad to see that car go it had become a mojo thief and once a car gets like that you really need to move it on. The Trans Am is up and running and raring to go. Job done. Most Firebirds and Camaros with the V8 got a 305 of some variety. There are plenty of engine options with the 305 and while some are better than others none are as good as a 350. My Trans Am is a GTA which came as stock with the L98 350 which was a direct lift from the Corvette C4. What the Pontiac didn’t get was the Corvette’s manual box, the only option in the GTA is the 4 speed auto. I suspect the A in GTA stands for Automatic (as it does for the Mustang GTA). The L98 has tuned port injection (TPI) and is a great engine for its era. As stock it’s good for 235 BHP and 345 lbs torque. Not shocking numbers these days but back in the 80s those numbers were “a return to real muscle cars”. And its enough to make the car lively. Very lively. The GTA also gets the WS6 performance suspension option. This was good enough to get the Trans Am WS6 listed on the top ten best handling new cars in USA back in 1987. Before you say “that’s not saying much compared to an Eldorado or a Fifth Avenue” remember BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Nissan, Acura/Honda etc. were all importing/building cars in the US market by then. I can vouch for the fact that its pretty tight. You also get a natty “Performance Suspension” badge on the dash... Other GTA specific features are the full digital dash and special front bucket seats where the bolsters can be inflated or deflated as well as full lumbar adjustment. All GTA’s also came with the aero package and special 16” alloys. Mine has lost its rear spoiler and the alloys have been replaced by Cragar chromies. Other “previous mods” include free flowing side exit exhausts, cone air filter and cold air feed, HEI distributor and such. The previous owner also had the car painted from dark red to black. The black totally suits it, gives it a nice sinister look with the blacked out glass. It’s all together and a nice car but it has some faults and areas for improvement. I’m not going to go mad on this one as I need to keep it on the road to keep my mojo flowing. Also my wife has REALLY taken to the car, it’s the first of my American cars she’d really liked and she’s out in it as much as I am. My little daughter loves it, although it does make one of her friends cry. I feel terrible about this as you may imagine. Its not nice to laugh at a crying three year old as she runs away. Sometimes I wonder if I am a nice person. Ho ho ho. Anyway, the snagging list is: • Headliner has drooped and rests on my head. Annoying and common with yanktanks of this era. Who thought cardboard backing was a good idea? • Some vibration/wheel wobble at speed. Actually quite violent at motorway speeds. Ouch. • Side exit exhausts cause fumes to come into car when stationary and windows are down. Ideally need full length pipes on it. • Interior squeaks and rattles due to several broken clips on load bay trim and other areas • Electric mirrors do not work • Rubbing strip missing from driver’s door • Tinted window film is peeling in places and probably not legal • No interior rear view mirror (although not technically needed with 2x door mirrors) • Rear spoiler missing. • Interior filthy and smells like an ashtray. I already have some updates on these... UPDATES:Headliner was doing my nut in so I have temporarily sliced it and stuck it back up with tape. I used brown parcel tape as it was a better match to the tan cloth LOL. I have located a couple of options for new headliner, just checking out costs and which one will give me the best results. Mean time the tape-up has worked well enough. The wheel wobble seems to have been simply down to three wheel nuts being loose. I’d be more embarrassed if I’d had the car longer. However when the car went into the shop to have the balance and alignment done they managed to scrape the front corner of the car on the wall. I was not pleased but they did the right thing by immediately confessing and having a body shop lined up to do the repair. This is happening later this month, I’ll have some feedback on Hallam Auto Body who are doing the job as well then... ;D I have thoroughly cleaned inside. I vacuumed it out and then vacuumed it again. After this I got a compressed air line and blew the dust out of the carpets, seats, dash, etc. It was like a sandstorm. Then I vacuumed it out again. After this I just wiped up the hard plastics with a Postman Pat flushable baby wipe and cleaned some of the hard surfaces like the load bay trims with hot soapy water. Its come up nice and smells like an 80s American car should. I think it could do with some more “detailing” to clean it up and present it as nice as it should be but I’ll deal with that as and when now. I didn’t get around to polishing the paint up but then the next day it got scraped anyway. I’ll have a proper go at that once its back from the body shop. Interior pics later.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,263
Club RR Member Number: 170
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1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTAChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Good to see you are enjoying your new yanktank Al . I'm looking forward to seeing (or should it be hearing?) this one day.
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Trans Am GTA (Gran Turismo Americano), apparently
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Trans Am GTA (Gran Turismo Americano), apparently Not Grand Theft Auto then... ;D
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,253
Club RR Member Number: 204
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1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA10mpg
@10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member 204
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I actually like the look of the rear without the spoiler, looks smooth..
Gotta change those wheels though they look about 10/15 years out of place, get some alloys on there..... 80's style!
let's have some interior shots! I wanna see that digi dash and those seats I'm so jealous of, (mine give me back ache after an hour..)
When you say the handling's really good I'm wondering how the steering feels on yours, mine has superb grip you can lob it into a medium sized roundabout at over 60 and it goes straight round no drama bar a little tyre wail and a slight bit of oversteer if you drop a gear and nail it, but even after adjusting the steering box doing the front wheel bearings and the front suspension links it's still got about an inch of play at the wheel, which makes fast b road stuff a bit buttock clenching when something big comes the other way.. Over 100 it seems to be stable as anything but you have very little clue what the front wheels are doing, I pushed it to about 125 (on a private road) had to use the sat nav mph as the speedo is the typical federal 'if we don't put the top speed on it people wont go that fast' at which point I totally chickened out even though the car was still pulling it just felt to vague to feel safe..
Sorry to hear about the scrape, I take it the damage was just paint? no panel 'issues?
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Last Edit: Aug 5, 2010 23:08:40 GMT by 10mpg
The Internet, like all tools, if used improperly, can make a complete bo**cks of even the simplest jobs...
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i'm loving the wheels actually - they look fantastic!
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,929
Club RR Member Number: 174
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1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTAstealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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This NEEEEEEEEDS some 17x10 or 18x10 Azev A's all round. Should be pretty easy to get in 5x120 too.
Matt
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This is random but in Aldi they had some 'febreeze' style stuff in a light-blue spray bottle, quite cheap - and it works a treat. Just spray it on and let it dry off and it freshens things up a treat. Worked well on my BMW anyway (not smoke, mind, just age). Worth a try and plenty to go around plenty of cars in one bottle
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Felix
Part of things
Posts: 324
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This is so perfect! As for the Febreze, why not chuck one in?
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stefan
Posted a lot
If it isn't broken fix it till it is
Posts: 1,598
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Nice looking car, I like the wheels alot
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POWER IS EVERYTHING WITHOUT CONTROL
1985 Honda jazz 1997 Saab 93 convertible 2010 transit 280
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smells fine. I doubt Fabrize will polish dull plastics or reattach disconnected switches. If it does, sign me up. photo of the damage, not sure how well it shows it. Its been blacked over with rattle can now. if/when I sell the wheels I shall make sure to put them on here since they have so many fans!
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Last Edit: Aug 6, 2010 16:26:56 GMT by akku
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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What wheels do you think would replace the current ones?
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I like: I like the standard ones (for the GTA) Autodrags... The chrome really sets off against the black. But I reckon a black centre wheel on a black car looks mean...
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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OK, headliner was sagging so I sliced it... taped it up sliced it again More tape... And ta-da the headliner stays off my head. yes, I know this is a botch. I'm still investigating the options to put the thing right properly.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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and interior cleaning... dirty stained Dusty mouldy Just plain mucky so mucho cleaning, as described above... ^^^ note the laughable load space A much nicer place to be.
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Last Edit: Aug 6, 2010 18:19:44 GMT by akku
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTABenzBoy
@benzboy
Club Retro Rides Member 7
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Good work! Looks a much nicer place to be now. Personally I think those wheels look great, although I know what you mean about black centred ones looking meaner.
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10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,253
Club RR Member Number: 204
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1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA10mpg
@10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member 204
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AWESOMES!
that interior is superb.. I love the dash and and the steering wheel whilst completely hideous is lovely in it's own way! can we see it all lit up?
Do you have a parcel shelf? mine was broken but I found one from scorpio estate had the right fittings ect, I made two out of one so it looks factory but it wouldn't be hard to just adapt it to fit would still work fine, hides the joke of a boot, (mines laughably small when you put the T-tops in it...)
Do you still have the electric boot release? trying to work out the switches in yours, mostly seems the same as mine but i cant see that..
With the headlining if the backing's still sound you can remove it, scrape it clean and fit new headlining cloth that costs about £35 for enough to do a large saloon car, I've done it a couple of times for Saab 900 turbo's where a good fast drive with the windows down leaves you wearing the headliner as a sort of gritty poncho..
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Last Edit: Aug 6, 2010 20:05:04 GMT by 10mpg
The Internet, like all tools, if used improperly, can make a complete bo**cks of even the simplest jobs...
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a lit-up photo is called for. Yes, I have the electric tailgate release and no it doesn't work, although the self opener and the cut-your-fingers-off self closing action are operational.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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ak ,wher your slices are in the headlining remove the tape let it hang and spray in carpet tak or spray adhesive into the void ,leave it hanging until dry [not tacky ] then pish back up working out from the corners, if you are feely creative you could 'roll 'a hem where your cuts are , btw i love this car!!
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yes ,it started badly ,petered off in the middle and the least said about the end the better!!!
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