Topic: 1978 Trans Am restoration

[marx3]

I got my Trans Am today. It is a project car. It is kind of rough and needs paint, interiorwork and i havent had the engine fired up yet.
luckily it is in good shape bodywise. It has had the rear quarterpanels replaced with ones from a donorcar at some point, plus the passengerside floorboards have replaced with the ones from same donorcar. The quality of the work is good, not done the way I would have done it, but its nice enough that I wont bother redoing it.
The seats are in good condition, they just have the wrong color. the plastic panels are not so good. I will propably need to source some of these plastic trim parts from ebay or from a Camaro ( is this even possible?). The door panels, are okay, and the dash only has a small crack. Car has the original radio, pretty cool.
The car comes with 4 7" snowflakes for restauration, new flares, a new nose, new doorhandles and new door sill plates. weatherstripping look okay for now.

The car was originally Platinum silver with blue lombardy interior. 
The plan is to build an SE clone. Not to fake the value of a true SE, but because I want a black and gold Trans Am.
I can do all but the painting myself.
I am going to try and paint or dye the interior black to the possible extend. ( I know were to buy new doorpanels and seatcovers if it does not work out and get to look decent, right  )
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what is missing oin this area of the bezel next to the cigarettelighter?
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[pancho400cid]

Looks like a good start.

Keep posting your progress!

[Squirrel]

optional rear defrost.

[gilbertsta]

~Trans ams rule....others drool~

[marx3]

Ohh allright. This means the car is lacking the rear defroster :-/  I had hoped it would have this feature. This is the first disappointment with the car. Not a big deal:-)

[marx3]

The inlet needle and seat in the carb was seized, so it wouldn't start. I took it apart and fixed some of the appearant bugs. Now it runs and drives. It handles a little rough, but it wont need much to feel nice to drive.
Here in Denmark it is typical that all the old classic cars have wiring thats been tampered with. Since this car is freshly imported it is completely original. yaay! I only had to replace 6 bulbs to get the complete lighting to work like it shoud. Got started on sanding down the rear end to prepare for the painter.

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[hada76]

what is missing oin this area of the bezel next to the cigarettelighter?
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some years had the power door locks in that spot

[marx3]

oh yeah ? where else would the switch sit? I havent noticed one in my car yet... it's not by the switch for the powerwindows anyways...

[hada76]

they moved to the door panels in '77 I think...BTW that 3rd pic looks like the floor got pretty wet a one time

[Flounder55]

there is a company that sells rear windows with the defogger Element already in them. I bought one and had my builder install it. The only difference is the originals had a green element and the aftermarket windows have a "rust" colored element in them.

[marx3]

ohh well, actually, now that I think of it, I think they are in the doorpanels. I think the heaterelement had been leaking for some time. The floors have been changed from firewall and back to the backseat wells, but only in the passengerside. The element is also bypassed in the enginebay.
The car has also gotten new quarterpanels. All the sheets are brown, so they must have come from the same donorcar. The swap is not the quality I would have done, but its allright so I am not going to re-do it.

Regarding rearwindows with defog: do you have a companyname or a link?

[marx3]

apart from removing the windowtrim ( still waiting for my reomval tool ) rear half of the body is ready for the painter...
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the right side of the car was damaged at some point during unloading at the docks somewhere in Europe. The fender is hurt the most. It is pretty bend out shape. The door is not so bad. It's going to take some effort to get it back in shape

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Nose needs to be replaced. I am taking the fenders off before it goes to the painter. it also makes it easier to clean up the enginebay.

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The doorpanels are a little rough. I am not sure I can use them. The cardboard is very uneven and bulgy at places.

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The rear seats are pretty ok. The foam holds the shape, and the upholstery has a few flaws. I will remove the covers and try and dye them black. That way I can keep the car low budget for now. Down the road I am getting horsecollar foam and covers.

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[Flounder55]

This is where I got my window.

http://www.autometaldirect.com/

[marx3]

nice partspage. thanks

[Flounder55]

good luck with your project! Glad I could help