Topic: Just picked up my TA!

[kyledyr]

I have finally joined the handful of people with old 'Birds.
I drove to Redding (350 miles both ways) with my friend to pick up a '81 305 Trans Am with the WS6, Hurst 4-Speed, and T-Tops (that don't leak.....yet! Knock on wood).  It is fantastic, but I have a few semi-serious problems that need to be taken care of QUICKLY.

1-  The Parking Brake does NOT hold. Don't know if it cable tension or pad problems.  Help!  How do I check for those?

2-The idle speed is way way low (in the 500 RPM range!).  When it starts up, the Check Engine Light comes on.  Around town, at stops, it often dies unless I blip the throttle.  How does one adjust the idle speed?

3- No surprise, but the A/C is dead.  I'm probably going to convert it from R12 to R134a. It needs a new compressor as well.

4- The fuel gauge does not work.  It just stays at empty.  Maybe it's God's way of telling me to not buy a big a** muscle car in California while gas is above $3 a gallon.

Some other minor things:
The dashboard has some BIG cracks in it.  I guess thats just a cosmetic flaw, but it highly detracts from the beauty.

There is no stereo!  Or rear speakers!

The windows go up slooooow.  I'm not sure if its just the motors are going out, the tracks need to be lubed up, or if thats just "how it is" (I drove an 89 Honda Civic before this and they went up decently fast with good motors).


Any tips or help on ANY of these topics would be FANTASTIC!

[eroc022]

1.) parking brake might not be holding because the return springs may not be hooked up or the entire parking brake may not be hooked up.... youll have to get under the car to find out....
2.)to adjust the idle there is a flat head screw on the carb. linkage idle should be around 5-600 i think, not 100% sure.might be a timing issue (may not be advanced enough)
3.)cheaper to convert to R134A anyways, plus i doubt you have a liscence to buy the R-12 or even want to start pricing....EXPENSIVE
4.)fuel gauge could be a number of things...bad ground, the gauge isnt hooked up, where the ground is supposed to be mounted is actually rusted away ? just because the tail panels rust so badly....

as for your dash, if you are going to find a replacement look to spend a pretty penny, as no one makes an aftermarket one yet...so prices are high....its gonna cost around the same price to send yours to justdashes.com and get them to completely redo yours....

stereos are easy....factory units are always on ebay.

as for your window motors....probablly about to go out....your local autozone should carry them maybe a junkyard...i think you can get them through www.performanceyears.com

[ta78w72]

kyledyr, where do you live?

[kyledyr]

I live in Sacramento. Why?

[ta78w72]

I asked where you lived because I live in the San Jose area.  There is a salvage yard that has tons of third and fourth gen birds...tons.  Mostly fourth gens...all lined up like little ducks.  You might be able to find a nice dash there.

GM Sports Salvage
http://www.gmsports.com/

You can kind of see the cars in their web picture.  The area to the left is the parking lot.  The area to the right is Mecca!  I've gotten lots of hard to find stuff for my second gen bird there.

It might be worth the two hour drive to check it out.  They're open till 1:00 pm on Saturday.

My favorite area is by the palm trees.  That's where the second gen birds are kept.

[Eagle 1]

To a man a good quality salvage yard is like Walmart to a woman.
The favorite one I used was in Alabama.  This place had been around since the 40's.  Cars parked all in the pines.  I swear everytime I went in there I found something different.   All types of muscle cars too.
Man I miss that place. :cry:

BTW, congratulations on your new addiction, I mean car.
Enjoy.

[kyledyr]

Today, my buddy Chris came over and we spent all day working on our cars. Sometimes both on one, sometimes on our own, sometimes on each other's.  My task for the day was cleaning up my gauges thoroughly (getting rid of that  "old dusty car" look), as well as replace all the bulbs behind the gauges.

Well, I pulled off the metal bezel fairly easily, and started collecting (not even pulling) all the falling gauge rings.  I gave the metal a liberal covering of Meguiar's Interior Detailer, but it didn't remove many of the problem areas, even with some agitation.

It's somewhat difficult to get a good picture of it, but I can't tell if its just scratched off metal, or if its some gunk left from something. Does anyone have any tips for cleaning this?



After unbolting all the gauge overlays, I cleaned them very well. The gauges look brand new.

Unfortunately, I could NOT for the life of me figure out how to remove the speedo-needle/ take off the whole gauge face to get to the light bulb behind it. Does anyone know how?


The overlay for the volmeter and fuel gauge, on the other hand, was stained a rusty-orange color.  I cleaned it as well as I could, even soaking it in ammonia, but it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.  Does anyone know of anything that can be used as a very strong plastic/glass cleaner?(something to glass/plastic as bleach is to white t shirts)



My next project to come is fixing the dashboard.  It is cracked and warped, and even bent. I'm planning on being a cheap-o and getting a DashCap.com cover.  What's the best way to realign the original dash, so it is not so bent and warped, or am I s.o.l.?




My headlights are strange.  2 out of 4 of them (both on the left) are foggy and dull. Compare the first with the second (both low-beams):


Is there any easy way to open the light cases?

Thanks for your help!

[Eagle 1]

You can remove the dash bezel to give it a good cleaning.   There are srews along the top, and under the bottom of the dash.  You will also have to unscrew the cig lighter ring, and you should be able remove the dash bezel.
 Also while you have it out, you can remove the instrument cluster to include the speedometer, tach, and temp/oil gage as one whole unit.
Just take your time when removing this.  You will have to remove 4 screws, unhook the speedometer, single wire to tach, wiring harness plug.  There is also a clear plastic piece that aluminates your wiper switch that is located on the bottom left side of the instrument cluster.  Just be careful not to break it.  Some cars may have a fiber optic tube that runs from the back of the cluter to light up the ashtray.  

Here is a link on cleaning the dash bezel that might be helpful.
http://www.taspecialties.com/php/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=739&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

As far as the headlights, just replace them with new ones.  They are a sealed unit.

[ta78w72]

Hey Eagle1,
Notice the clock and the word "Quartz" above it.  That started in 1979.  

kyledyr, as far as the lenses, they get scratched and yellowed.  You can buy replacements.  I think they're expensive though.  Do all your gauges work?

I have a work in progress on how to test the temp and oil gauge.  I'm in the middle of rewriting it...but the part about taking out the gauge cluster is pretty well done.  If you send me your email address I'd be happy to send it to you.

Those black rings always come off...just put them back in...I don't even glue them.  Once the bezel is put on, the rings stay in place.

[transam151]

If you haven't gotten the fuel gauge working yet, double check the connection at the back of the car...sometimes the harness to the tank (one of the wires at the back of the car, underneath, will come loose and lose connection). I had the same problem with the guage not working, and checked the connection at the rear of the car and found it was undone....I snapped it back together and now the guage works perfectly....if not...try ebay...there's always someone offering a set of guages fairly cheaply...

[Blackbird Trans Am]

The headlights are sealed beams.... The only thing to do is replace them. When you go to get new ones, take them out of the box, and look around the front of the headlights to see if they are sealed evenly(I have experiance in this.... Believe me!). If they are not sealed properly, they will fill with water whenever it rains, or in like your case, get foggy inside.

[kyledyr]

in case anyone cares, i have done some work to my 81. ive been fitting in my wrenching with school, homework, and a job.

i ran an OBD test and the CEL code ended up being.... i think it was a 21. throttle position sensor. darn.  bought the part (Niehoff FE1014) for almost $40!!! its the smallest little piece ever but i guess its a really complex potentiometer.... i guess?

rebuilt the carburetor with my auto professor's help. quadrajets are complex little buggers with lots of little sensors and springs and silly pieces.

put it all back together and its running pretty well. the timing and idle need to still be fine tuned, but are mostly up to snuff. while the intake was apart, i put in a new air filter and crankcase filter (the new one doesnt fit quite right and the metal connection doesnt fit well and sometimes comes off. any tips?).

after the carb rebuild i noticed my brakes SUCKED. and i heard a small vacuum leak. i didnt have time to check it out so i just drove home (without any power brake assistance   ). later that day i figured it must have been a bad hose connection to the back of the carb. after a few seconds of fiddling with it, SNAP went the connection off the master cylinder check valve. oh boy. i drove to kragen (this time in my other car....whew) and bought a new check valve and replaced it. brakes are awesome now.

tomorrow after class i'm doing a coolant flush (my coolant in the overflow bottle is brown. never a good thing). i got the prestone radiator cleaner. im also doing an oil change. i didnt get synthetic because of differing opinions on it around here. plus im adding some of the stuff to free up stuck lifters, whatever it's called.

the next important thing: SMOG TEST. any hints/tips on 1- things to check for in preparing for a smog test and 2- good way to get ready for it (ive heard running the engine for an hour before hand helps out)

thanks guys.

[ta78w72]

Good job on what you've done so far!  On the smog test, make sure your vacuum lines are configured per the sticker on the radiator support.  Check your timing and make sure it's dead on to your emmissins sticker.  Then, right before the test, drive the car hard in some hills to get the operating temp up.

And, do a tune up and oil change....and all filters...fuel, air and oil.

Biggest factor........engine needs to be HOT!   HOT!  HOT!

It's always scary going into the test.  I've never failed a test but I always worry.

EDIT:  Take the overflow bottle off and wash it out.  A lot of stuff goes in their.  Also, let me know if your water pump goes out after flushing the radiator.  Nice thought isn't it?  I usually drain and refill.  It seems like everytime I flush, the pump goes out.  It could be just my bad luck though.

[kyledyr]

As I said in my last post, today I was taking my car to the school autoshop to do some work on it after school. Well, half way to my school the car died at a stop. Think of Star Wars and that sound it makes when they power down shields or whatever. It was like that. It was so depressing and heart breaking.  I was blocking traffic for a minute or two before I could jump out and push all 3800 pounds of car up a slight grade. I just about had a hernia (keep in mind I'm 17) trying to do it.  Corporate women were driving by in their SUV's scoffing and flipping me the bird. After I got it as far as I possibly could on my own, I said "F&#^ THIS!" and just got back in the car and put on the brake.  A few seconds later I see two 20-something kids jump out of their van and walk over and ask if I need a push. I said yes please! and they helped me get it out of the street. I thanked them and they were on their way.

Well, an hour later the AAA tow truck comes.  I get towed home and I take my motorcycle to school, 2 hours late.  

After school I come home and decide to diagnose the problem.  It seems that something electrical is going wrong because after it stalled, it would crank really slowly, and then after I tried 3 or 4 times it would just click.  I think maybe the battery or alternator.  So I pull the alternator and try to get the battery but I can't do it on my own. It's too heavy and in an incredibly awkward position. I take the alternator to Kragen and they test it. It passes all three. So now I need to find the another possible source of the problem. I don't know how old the battery is. And now I can't get the alternator back in. The part that's giving me trouble is getting the lower bolt (the one that goes into the engine block) lined up and to thread.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is: What are some possible causes? and If you see someone stalled out on the road, get out and help them. It just might make their day a whole lot easier.

That's MY sob story for the day.

[ta78w72]

So let me get this straight.  You're 17 and you have two cars and a motorcycle?  When I was your age....a long, long time ago....I had nothing.  If I was lucky, I got to drive my fathers 1960 Chevrolet Impala.

Now for your problem.....You wasted your time with the alternator.  I have never had one of those go out on a second gen car.....My bronco...Oh yeah!

Put in a new battery.  Chances are you've got a short.  They can be very difficult to get out.  I'm not sure exactly what set up you have, but mine takes a compact battery.  If you put a full size one in...it's really tough to get it out.  Buy one with a handle...it helps when you install or take it out.  You have to take the fender support brace off.

Don't you just love those fat old ladies in their SUV's.....talking on the telephone and driving like maniacs?

I'm assuming you don't have any courtesy lights.....

You should have picked up your OBD codes.  That would have told you if your alternator went bad.  I forgot that you had a 1981 and it has On Board Diagnostics.  You won't get much OBD talk on this forum.