Stan's 76 Pontiac Trans Am Restoration

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TransAm_Stan

Thought I would start a basic thread of my restoration of a 76 Trans AM. I will be restoring back to stock for the most part. A few upgrades here & there but nothing major.

400 manual
White exterior
White & blue interior

Bringing her home from Long Island, NY January, 2011



In the garage. I have to make room somehow...



Building a "Tent" to keep the dust off my other toys.



After I tore it apart, I found some major boo boo's from the PO. It will need Both full quarters, tail pan inner, tail light pan, both rockers, both outer wheel houses and who knows what else on the front end. I have not got that far yet. I am concentrating on the shell at the moment. Here is how it looks today...



I was so depressed after disassembly that I went and bought a 79 TA driver just so i could have something to drive around in in the mean time. That purchase is another story in its self. The 79 will be redone the winter of '12.

The hardest part is finding NOS parts for this car. Full quarters are not being repoped. NOS is the only choice. Fortunately as of yesterday I have all NOS sheet metal (except the tail light panel is repoped) to put the shell back together. I just have to pull the rockers off & start rebuilding from there.

Incidentally, I have never replaced sheet metal before. Needless to say I do alot of reading on the web on this subject!

Remember the old saying "I am treading water with my head just above the water"? I think right now my head is below water & I am using a 4' Pixie stick straw to breathe with. I freely admit to being in too deep. Although its too late to turn back now. With the help of a couple forums, 78ta.com, 101autobody.com and this one, I hope to pull through to one day see color on the car.

My goal is to be able to drive to the Trans Am Nationals this summer. As of now, unless something major happens, I intend to keep that goal!

Thanks for reading. I will try to update when I have something major accomplished. For more detailed, up to the moment updates I have a thread going on here:

http://www.78ta.com/HTAF/index.php?topic=29006.0

Questions, comments & general chit chat are always welcomed.

Stan
WV
 
Nice Stan, I have always like these TA's, in 78 I bought my wife a new one with money I won bowling, think is cost around $6000 loaded up and it was silver with red interior.
It was one of her favorite cars.

It will be nice when you are done with it.
 
Thanks Barry. I hope it turns out as nice as I picture it in my mind.

BTW: You must be a pretty good bowler to take home that kind of prize money!

Stan
 
Barryk;14645 said:
Nice Stan, I have always like these TA's, in 78 I bought my wife a new one with money I won bowling, think is cost around $6000 loaded up and it was silver with red interior.
It was one of her favorite cars.

It will be nice when you are done with it.
Click to expand...

I could win money like that bowling, IF I could ever get the other guys to believe it is scored like golf, ROFLOL
 
Stan, make sure you fit up them new panels well before you do any welding! Take your time during that stage as it will save you time later on and the finished product will be better.
 
I've got a cure for the hinges on these cars-making the bushings last. If I can find my pics I'll post them. Damn heavy long doors they are....
 
I will do a complete test fit. Some panels, like the quarters, can only go one place it seems, but I get what you say. The welding of the first panel will be a nervous time until the last panel is done.

Those doors are real long & real heavy. I believe its going to take 3 people to fit them up & adjust them. That concerns me as there is only one person here, me! I am sure I will think of something when the time comes.

Thanks for the advice.

Stan
 
I do them doors by myself but yeah they are heavy! There is some adjustment in the quarters-for absolutely sure!
 
Bob Hollinshead;14655 said:
I've got a cure for the hinges on these cars-making the bushings last. If I can find my pics I'll post them. Damn heavy long doors they are....
Click to expand...
pictures please!
 
The bushings and pins are small for the amount of weight they support on these cars, any amount of grit/dirt/dust just causes them to wear more and lubing them with oil just attracts dirt...so I thought the best way to deal with this is to make them greasable like a balljoint where you can push fresh lube into the bushing and out goes any dirt. I lost my pics but picture a steel tube with a grease hole in it that is fit well and welded in place between top and bottom of the hinge, the tubing needs to be a little larger diameter than the bushings so the bushings press into the tube. Now during a grease/oil/filter job just open the door and give each one a couple of pumps and wipe off the excess that pushes out. you can go with a 1/8" hole in the tube and use a needle tip on the grease gun or I've also used a self threading grease fitting on the tube but you need to make sure it doesn't protrude enough to hit the pin. I remember the doors sagging on these cars when they were almost new, make sure the bushings fit the pins well and are tight in the hinge, also make sure the verticle clearance on the hinge halves are tight-any excess movement will cause wear as the body flexes during use. And these cars flex! ALOT
 
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