Topic: Well I just pulled the trigger. The rebuild begins....LITTLE THINGS!

[Gunner]

Told him to go ahead and dig in and start fixing the car. So the game begins. I'll have before pics here in a little while

FOR THOSE OF YOU ASKING ABOUT MY VINTAGE AIR SYSTEM.

It advertises that the kit is for Camaro's or T/A's. Well it's more for Camaros. Right now it's about halfway installed, and I'm waiting on defroster vents that tie from the unit to the dash. WELL, I guess our TA's don't get a lot of love, because the guy thats doing my car (who's also installing my AC) had to send the dash control unit in so it could be modified to fit the kit, and now they're custom molding the defroster vents for Trans Am's. As I understand it, I'm the FIRST person to order one of their kits for a 2nd Gen Trans Am. Also, as I understand it, our AC/Heat system is vacume controled, and Camaros are cable controlled. Now all the underhood components look good, as well as the under dash unit itself. It's just that nobody thought that Camaro's and TA's were THAT much different from each other, and everybody assumed that they'd fit identically. So I would assume that, after the teething problems that I've encountered, that anybody ELSE going the Vintage Air route on their cars won't have the teething problems I've had.

That was another reason why I told him to go ahead and start on the car. It's only halfway in, and at this stage of the game, with the weather starting to close in, he might as well pull it apart with the weather still SEMI good for sandblasting, welding etc, then just put the whole damn thing together once and get it right.

I'll keep you guys posted as this progesses.

Gunner

[eroc022]

sounds great.... i asked year one about what system they put on the BRE car and they said they started with a gen IV system and custom made alot of stuff for the vents and whatnot..... wonder why you cant just get a camaro defroster vent assembly and put it in place of the T/As ?

[RainMan]

Wow this whole A/C install sounds alot tougher than I thought it would
be . I did not know the camaros controls were that much differant.
Do you think a factory setup would have been a better route?
Can you not get some factory duct from a donor T/A instead of
these guys making custom ones.
Anyways I am happy to hear you are bringing her back
to her former glory . Looking forward to seeing the pics

[RRR76TA]

Where are the pics ?

[80ws6ta]

Where are the pics ?

X2 We want pictures, not a belly itcher!

[Gunner]

Wow this whole A/C install sounds alot tougher than I thought it would
be . I did not know the camaros controls were that much differant.
Do you think a factory setup would have been a better route?
Can you not get some factory duct from a donor T/A instead of
these guys making custom ones.
Anyways I am happy to hear you are bringing her back
to her former glory . Looking forward to seeing the pics

Here's the deal. It's a complete replacement unit. Under the hood, other than a comprressor, my car looks like an AC delete car. The one thing about a 2nd gen Camaro is that the heater controls are next to the drivers side door, as opposed to the center like in our cars. Now the system itself is controlled by microswitches, hence the cable controls. They took the faceplate off my car, removed the vacume controls and installed cable controls. It'll look just like a stock unit if you're looking in the window.

In my situation a factory install wouldn't have done me much good as I would have had to have replaced EVERYTHING anyway. And I figured that with the added extra cost of converting it over to the new coolant, it wouldn't have been worth the time or trouble. As I said before, they're fabbing the parts as we speak, so I don't think MY problems are going to be everybody ELSES problems.

The factory ducting won't work because it has to tie into the ac unit and the ends on the unit under the dash aren't anywhere NEAR to stock, where it connects to the AC unit. Remember, the WHOLE unit goes under the dash, rather than haveing that condenser under the hood. But, as I said, anybody ELSE won't have the same problems that I'm having as I'm the first to try to put one of these in a 2nd Gen TA (God I love being the guena pig   )

I don't have pics yet. I told him to pull the trigger two weeks before the agreed on date, so he's still got some projects that he has to square away before he can get started on mine in full effect.

Will update as I know more

Gunner

[Nexus]

keep us posted because I was also thinking of installing the same unit in my car for the same reasons!!!

[Gunner]

Update: Car starts coming apart next week for sandblasting. No pics as of yet. BUT, since I've been good, I get a Christmas present. Engine and tranny rebuild to go along  with the rest of the rebuild. Also rewired, dash repaired, guages restored and recaliberated. Cometion date is guestimated to be around the Christmas-New Year time frame. Will post pics as they become available to me but I have to go out on a job next Wednsday but as soon as I get em they'll go up here

Gunner

[Gunner]

Got some pics yesterday and today, but I'm on my way out to a job I haven't been able to dump them from my phone to my computer as of yet. Will post them when I can. Floorpan was MUCH worse than I thought. No damn wonder I couldn't keep the mice out of it. Interestingly enough, though, was the places they did and DIDN'T find bondo. But where they did find it it was THICK. Will post pics when I can.

Gunner

[Sir english firebird]

Oooooooooh,

[Gunner]

Ok I FINALLY got time to upload my pics that I got before I left for this job


The above shot is more toward the back of the car. Not the HUGE gaping hole in the floor


More toward the middle. Once again notice the daylight streaming in though the floor


More toward the dash. Not QUITE as bad, but still pretty ugly

One of the reasons why I couldn't keep the rodents out of my car. The floor was in MUCH worse shape than I thought it was (or anybody else, for that matter). The back part is in pretty good shape, but the rest of it is ROTTEN. Suprised I didn't end up dragging my butt down the road.





The above pics show the trunk. There are little pinholes of light coming in there, too. Looking into the trunk was when I first suspected that the integrety of the floors and trunk MIGHT be questionable













These are shots of the outside. Not much done, but they'd just started that morning

Here's the one that got my attention. This is foreward of the passenger side door underneath where the fender flare was



OMFG! They riveted HOUSE FLASHING underneath all that bondo then just slathered it on. I didn't think to get a pic, but they laid it in there 1/4 INCH THICK. The chunks that fell off were big enough to KILL PEOPLE if you hit them with it. I hope she ain't ALL like that or this is going to be a long drawn out process.





Here are shots of the "PILE 'O DEBRIS" that they pulled out of her. Most of it will be reused, but some not. I think you guys can tell which is junk and which isn't

I'll post more pics as they're sent to me. I'm out on a job right now so I can't get any pics or info first hand. I'll put them up as they become available.

Gunner

[Justin]

Awe. The poor thing. I feel bad it's getting ripped apart. All just to be better right. Good luck on everything. Find anything else weird?

[Gunner]

Not so far, BUT I haven't talked to the guys doing my car in about 3 days, and haven't had any updates. I'll let everybody know when I find out some more.

Gunner

[Sir english firebird]

Hey whos that Geezer on your car, tell him to stop standing about and get busy !!

Well i still think youre onto a winner mate, great !

[T/A Kid]

I can't believe they used house flashing, no bigger than that hole was they could have used screen wire with some old newspapers stuffed behind it Its good to know that you are putting it back right and I'm sure it will look great when it's finished. Oh and I really have found holes patched like this it's amazing and shameful what people try to cover up with body filler the wrong way.