Topic: 1976 Trans Am 455 4spd...Finally...

[TxBandit911]

Ok, so I went out and worked on the T/A today. I got the glass removed, and removed just about everything on the rear portion of the car....here is what I found...

The driver side quarter is rotten on the bottom, not too bad if you ask me, upon inspection of the inside, it looks as if everything above the side marker is good...the passenger side is not as bad. This should be a simple fix...



Behind the bumper was rotted, of course...the inner piece at the bottom is completely gone...gotta replace both...





The trunk floor has some rust thru in a couple places, and the pieces that are on the sides that connect to the quarters are rotted, too...However, the channel where the trunk lid seal goes is in really good shape....





Now, here is the one I am not sure what to do with...on the drivers side of the filler panel between the back window and trunk lid, there was a small dent, after I removed the glass and panel, I found that the corner of the quarter panel, right next to the window was bent in slightly and the seam separated a little. When the window was in, you could tell because the channel where the window is setting didnt touch the glass in the corner next to the dent. Its just that little bit on the corner. You should be able to see it in the pic. Not sure how to fix it, any ideas?



I do have this car on it's way to looking good again....

[grubbano]

I wish I had more time to work on this car, but the Army keeps me pretty busy and the wife and kids take up almost all thats left. I believe I can get tho, all I gotta do is make the most of the time I have....wish me luck guys..


I feel your pain regarding time, I have 2 kids and work for myself.  You have made  a lot of progress tearing into your car and seem to be gung ho on getting her done.  I made the mistake of spending every spare minute last summer in the garage and the result was a decent looking car but an angry wife which gave her a sour taste regarding the car.  I think she's coming around now but it took a lot of work.  I had to lie to her and tell her I love her more than the car! jk but seriously I just wanted to give you a heads up and to help a fellow TA lover avoid the mistake of an angry wife.

By the way, that is one sweet 455 ta

As far as that dent by the window goes, maybe a stud gun would work if you have access to one.

[grubbano]

I forgot to say "Thank You"  for serving and putting your life on the line for me and our country!

Jared

[Burd Turd]

YES  ^^^^

[TxBandit911]

Ok, I worked on the car again today...I got pretty much everything in the dash area out as well as most of everything off the firewall in the engine bay. The Dash was so dry rotted that when I got it loose, it broke into about three pieces, it wasnt flexible or soft at all anymore. The firewall is pretty solid, I found a couple places I will have to patch up, but nothing huge...looks like the A/C had been dripping water inside the car for a long time so the toe board on that side is rusted out, floor pan, too. Soon I will be finishing up the tear down and pulling the front sub frame off, then I am off work for the week of the 19th so I am hoping to work extra hard to get this thing stripped down to the metal, cut the rust out and shoot some epoxy on it...my biggest concern right now is stopping the rust. Here are a couple pics...enjoy...





Also, under the dash in the speaker grill, I found this wooden mount someone carved out of wood with two little Kraco speakers in it...it was almost funny till I found out that instead of trimming the wood more to fit better, they cut a hole in the plastic A/C duct to make room ruining it....morons...



I cant wait to get the old paint off this car and get some good epoxy on it...

[TxBandit911]

I was bored today so I decided to disassemble the A/C controls and fix them up...

Before....




After...

[joe d]

well done

[TxBandit911]

sorry this pics are so big...I had the camera on the wrong setting and didnt notice till I posted them...my bad...

[NWW-79 T/A]

Any progress on this? Been a while since you updated. P.s I have a 76 hood and front bumper if you still need one

[TxBandit911]

Any progress on this? Been a while since you updated. P.s I have a 76 hood and front bumper if you still need one

I worked on it yesterday...taking stuff apart...working on the never ending parts list...
every time I take something new apart, I find some more rotted metal I am going to have to replace...
I'll have some new pics up soon...I fractured my wrist and am now in a brace for a while, so that will slow me down...
I will be needing a Hood and Front Bumper, not ready for it yet tho...I'm low on storage space. If you still have it later, I will need it tho, thanks...

[Schroeder]

That looks like a nice can of straight you have sitting there above the firewall.  Mind if I have a pinch?

[TxBandit911]

So, I worked on the car some today...still taking stuff apart...

Due to my lack of space, I have resorted to hanging stuff on the wall..



I have the front end just about apart...just the subframe left to pull out...



Here is a pic of the front floor...gotta some work to do in there...



I am collecting quite the pile of parts to reuse at a later date...



This is a piece of the front fender...look how much body filler was on it...made me laugh..






And one more pic, just for fun...



All in all, I'm getting there...but its going slow...I haven't found much that I have removed that I can reuse...I tossed the one fender it had today, when I removed it it had been patched and bondoed to death. Also, the radiator support was bent upward at the bottom rail, like from a crash, and I found more rot in the floor in some bad places, but I guess I will have to just roll up my sleeves and get it done, slowly...

[joe d]

sorry for your headaches TX looks like a tremendous amount of cancer

[TxBandit911]

Yeah, the floor pans I'm not too worried about, full length pans will cover whats rotted out on those with a little help from some new toe boards... But I do have some other issues to deal with,
when I cut some of the metal off the rear panel, the back half of the frame rails pretty much turned to dust and fell out, not to mention they were PACKED with dirt, this car looks like it spent its life on a dirt road,
so everything on the bottom of the car is packed with dirt and rotten....
So, this all just adds to the Parts list...good news is the roof, upper quarters, and A-Pillars are all in good condition...the Firewall and Cowl area arnt real bad, couple patches here and there...

I have found a reason this car must be finished...according to the cowl tag, this car was built 4th week,  April 1976, I was born May 3rd 1976
My wife refers to it as my "Birthday Car" and it was meant for me to find it...and fix it.

[joe d]

i am sure it will all work out especially since your wife named it your b-day car