94 trans am gt m6

[itsatreefiddy]

Ok, got referred to this site from slow-v6 at a meet a few days ago, so im copying what little build thread i have to this site with a few changes.

Around 5 years ago when looking for my first car, i asked my uncle if he would sell me his trans am, it was definite no, so i ended up buying a 87 monte carlo ss, new paintjob, vortec 350 and a built trans, spent alot of money on it. But it wasnt the best daily, the t-tops leaked even with new weatherstripping, horrible wind noise, it screamed on the highway even with stock gearing and the mileage was terrible. Around a year ago he tried to sell me the car, i was very interested, took a ride down to Marlboro Maryland (where the cigarettes come from, he actually lives across the street from the ranch that had the horse used in the commercials) But anyway, the car was looking beat, needed alot. He was asking like 2 grand, and i had just put a bunch of money into the monte, and i was adding up things it needed and they were adding up quick. So i passed on it, and about 3 months ago he was going to donate it to charity but decided to give it to me.

This was not the menacing batmobile that i saw when i was a kid, it VERY rough. We went about 2 and 1/2 hours from nj to maryland to pick it up, it didnt run, needed a battery atleast, had been sitting for about 5 years. So a 500 dollar flatbed charge later and it was at the dealer where my dad worked. Interior has some rips, but mainly just stitching was split in some areas. But the body was rough, paint coming off the drivers fender (thank god its plastic) and some paint starting to go on the DS mirror. Dirty, filthy, in the jams and everywhere with dirt.

I was on disability when this all took place, So while i was getting surgeries and resting dad kept me updated, needed a fuel pump mainly, and my uncle kept cranking it which then killed the battery, so a cash for clunkers battery went in along with the pump, started right up. Then changed the oil, ran it for a bit and changed it again just to make sure it was clean. The tires were some nice michelin pilots on the swirled 16x8 wheels but were over 10 years old and fell apart when put on the tire machine, they were swapped with some gently used firehawks my dad managed to get off a firebird that was getting new tires at the dealership. Next, new brake pads and rotors went all around. We really just needed to find a day to take it home carefully with no legit tags, regi or insurance. Butttttt, the dealership had problems with guys going in a cutting out cats and guess whos cat got picked after the 3rd or 4th hit on the building, mine! So a magnalflow cat was ordered and installed and then carefully driven home so it wouldnt be vandalized again. The car sat while i recovered, then when washing my daily (87 monte ss) i washed and surveyed what the TA had to offer.

took this very horrible picture of the washed t/a and monte
http://i48.tinypic.com/2vjd84h.jpg

WARNING TRANS AM/FBODY JOKES BELOW
So i was at a cross between the two cars, couldnt keep both really, trans am had 150k on it in rough shape, but i couldnt keep driving the monte, like i said the A/C was horrible, the t tops leaked and i got horrible wind noise, all which were impossible to fix completely. The trans am had everything a new car was, 4 wheel disc, fuel injection, doors that actually seal, t tops that didnt leak, and an actual air conditioner and not a mouse breathing on you for a high fan setting. But like i said i didnt like the trans am at first, while recovering from surgery i was bored, my car was in the dealer for a new trans so i hopped in my transgender (what i call it) i got in, it was small, im 6ft 270lbs and im used to the fit 4 adults interior of my gbody. The powersteering was heavy, not the 1-fingered steering i got with my gbody. Also as i put something down on the passenger seat im like looking at the floor at the ugly engineering flaw that is the catalitic converter hump. So im like, who cares, i wanna drive, just around the block, I had minimal time driving stick but the t56 was gentle, didnt get out of 3rd or a bit over 35mph but i liked it. Pulled the car back in the driveway, fiddled with the flip up lights, one which made a nails-on-a-chalkboard noise for about 15 seconds before it realized that the lights were indeed flipped down, and there was no need to run the motor anymore. I popped the hood, ive seen pictures but this was indeed a horror story of an engine bay. 150k on it and i was going to stick my hands in that and work on it? I closed the hood, went inside and then convinced my dad with number white trash jokes and facts why we should sell it and possibly turn a profit.

My dad picks up cars like stray dogs and just wanted to throw more money into it, the plug that clears the code so you can bypass the skip shift for the t56, a new compressor so the car could actually hold freon, i just wanted it gone. A few days ago my dad is taking the plates off of his car and putting them on the TA. "lets take a ride into philly"(20 minutes away) so i get into the transgender and we set out, we take turns driving, hitting exit ramps way better than my monte ever did, even with aftermarket suspension. No more lame 200R4 with no clue what gear it should be in, no windnoise on the highway, and if it rained that day not a drop inside, also 1900 RPM AT 80 MPH!!not mention just the fan blowing on me with no freon was better than my monte AC with freon. Suddenly i wanted the transgender, i wanted to drive the trans am with the t tops off, own a meth lab, impregnate my girlfriend of 2 weeks and just move away because i had a transgender.

So thats the story, I insured it, got i inspected and have been driving it every day since. Eventually the monte will be sold to fund the parts the transam will inevitably need.
http://i48.tinypic.com/28amjxc.jpg

[itsatreefiddy]

Another small update, changed the rear fluid, changed the trans fluid, new window motor, window button, door lock actuator, plugs and wires coming soon when we do the a/c compressor. Also picked up these ws6 wheels to replace the swirlies, going with some sort of 275/40 allseason and painting the wheels silver or something.
http://i47.tinypic.com/2zgf90g.jpg
Oh and a hurst shift knob woohoo
http://i48.tinypic.com/14obnm1.jpg

[Mike]

wait... are those 17's?

if they are. DO NOT PAINT THEM SILVER they are from an 02 ce trans am... you can sell them and get silver ones if that is your desire, but dont paint those

[itsatreefiddy]

i thought they were from an anniversary, but the paint seems to be a homemade job

[Jersey Mike]

If you want to trade from some chrome versions of those, I have them in a 16" set.

[sweetbmxrider]

Nice story, good luck with the car. There's a couple resident lt1 lovers here, should be able to help you with any issues you run into.

[itsatreefiddy]

If you want to trade from some chrome versions of those, I have them in a 16" set.

Gonna have to pass on that, trying to get away from any kind of 16x8

[Jersey Mike]

Totally fine. Congrats on the acquisition. Glad to hear that you dig it, and despite what the internet says, a LT1 F-body can be a fun car, especially with a 6-speed!

Welcome aboard, and hope to see some progress and updates on this thing!

[townsend]

welcome and congrats....i love the lt1, its still a small block! mines alot of fun, even with 204,xxx miles

[itsatreefiddy]

yeah im hoping the motor lasts me, ill have decent money for a nice motor but me and my dad are tired of fooling around with the monte, put a 350 in, then did heads and cam on it because the heads were machine improperly, then it blew a ring and ended up putting a second 350 in. (bad engine builder)

[itsatreefiddy]

Little update with no pics sadly, i painted the rims, got them stripped and did 2 coats aluminum etch, 2 coats duplicolor silver rim paint and 2 coats duplicolor clear for rims, they're rough to the touch, but i suppose thats what you get when you strip them and dont powdercoat. Still waiting on my 275/40 cooper zeon rs3-a's from tirerack, should be here this week. Also waiting on my rear center decal from ws6store. Also i cant post in the classifieds yet due to my post count im assuming, but i need the exhaust hanger that goes from the t56 (not sure if auto/manual makes a difference) to the exhaust, I lost it when my cat got stolen and i cant find new ones anywhere. Actually I did manage to get one picture of them.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2ez319l.jpg

[WayFast84]

Shouldn't have painted those wheels man.

[itsatreefiddy]

the wheels were not the collectors edition rims if thats what you were worried about, the black paint was cracked and poorly masked around the lip, the person i send my wheels to be stripped said there was just alot of paint ontop of poorly prepped surface.

[itsatreefiddy]

got the rims on, and snapped a few pictures with my crappy digital camera.

http://i45.tinypic.com/30t6tr7.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/w89j5f.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/2ai31ix.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/2wdveci.jpg

[deadtrend1]

Much better with thise rims on it ..

[itsatreefiddy]

yup you really cant go wrong with them, might like the silver over the chrome even. Traction has improved slightly, cant really tell with such cold weather.

[itsatreefiddy]

Well alot of work went into the trans am today. Did sparkplugs, wires, a new a/c compressor and dryer, new PS pump and a new serpentine belt went on. Possibly the most horrific tune up ive been through. We did everything at the dealership with a lift and it still took forever. Had everything back together and forgot to plug in the AC compressor. So out went the alternator again and when the alternator went back in the plug is half broken so I need to put a bit of tape or something to keep it together for now. Also rockauto gave us the wrong ac delco wires and we had to go find some autolites. Also had to travel out of my way to get the PS pump because it was kind of heat of the moment decision. But at the end of the day the car started again. Had a huge vacuum leak initally but we found out the intake elbow is kinda eaten up and bent outa shape. Might look into getting a 1le or something.

[itsatreefiddy]

woohoo gotta love a unexpected optispark failure! Last few days getting a missfire, today it got really bad and scanned the car. DFT 16 or whatever which is the low pulse from opti. Wanted to buy car parts for christmas but not these parts I had in mind. New delphi opti and waterpump is going to be around 450. Parts should be here friday hopefully.

[WildBillyT]

Check the opti harness, too. Especially since you were messing around near the alternator and AC compressor...

[itsatreefiddy]

what would i be looking for? burnt wires or unplugged things?

[itsatreefiddy]

well the opti should be here anyday now, going to put it in this saturday. also pulled the trigger on the TSP rumbler and 4" corsa clones. those should arrive after the new year. and hopefully everything gets done before i go back to school. Going to look just like this hopefully.

http://i45.tinypic.com/vqqe5i.jpg

Still a little bit confused on installation. I know since im a 94 i have the single cat, if it were say a 97 the cat ends the same as an ls1 car, making the catback a direct bolt on. But since its a single cat system ive heard you need either a s-bend or extra length of the tubing. Im taking it to an exhaust shop anyway and im sure they can do it. Just wondering what really needs to be done for my exact year.

[Mike]

I Have taillights for sale if you want the car to look just like that picture

[sweetbmxrider]

SLP sells the s-bend pipe. The ls1 catback will bolt right up to this. Just google some pics, I'm sure there are some around. A competent exhaust shop can easily handle the install.

[itsatreefiddy]

could never find it on the site even with the part # some say they were discontinued. But i can just get a 3" U-shaped bend. But on the other hand if i get the kit i could save myself the cash of taking it to a shop. Actually ive found it on one site, 125 bucks yikes, like half what i paid for the tsp rumbler. Going to get a few estimates on how much this would cost.

[1320B4U]

Thats a sexy exhaust!

[itsatreefiddy]

put the optispark in last weekend, did it in under 3 hours wasnt expecting that. But what a surprise it still misfires under load. Maybe it was a little better, but not much, replaced the 4 sparkplug wires on the drivers side since maybe it was a bad wire or a badly placed wire that got burned. Well nothing was wrong externally with the wire but i feel like it misfires less, definitely harder to get it to misfire now, but its still there. Going to do the passenger side 4 wires i guess and see where that leads. it had to be when we touched it to do a tuneup. Anyway my tsp rumbler came in along with my ebay corsas, just waiting on a U-bend to adapt my ls1 exhaust to the lt1.

[Italian Stallion]

those tips are badass.. you found them on ebay?

[itsatreefiddy]

yup stainless steel, nice welds, doesnt have an ebay price though, 130 plus shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-STAINLESS-STEEL-DUAL-EXHAUST-TIPS-PAIR-4-0-3-0-Camaro-Trans-Am-4-3-Staggered-/350563389092?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item519f34cea4&vxp=mtr

[grazi]

Fwiw. I cut the bend from the factory I-pipe and it fit perfectly into my Slp lm1. It already had the flare and fitting to mount to the catalytic cinverter. I just mounted the new exhaust. Cut the s-pipe longer than I needed and bolted it to the cat and marked where a-pipe meets new exhaust.

[grazi]

All I had to do was de-burr the cut and it slipped right in. Threw on a band-clamp and done.

[itsatreefiddy]

yeah i realized i needed to use the 2 bolt flange that connects the cat to the rest of the exhaust. Oh well im just taking it to an exhaust shop to make it fit. I messed up on the tips by getting 3", when the exhaust is indeed 3", but goes down to 2.5" at the tailpipes.

[grazi]

Do you have the factory exhaust on it still???

[grazi]

If your going to scrap the existing exhaust, maybe you should try what I said. If it doesn't work. You'll be in the same boat anyway

[itsatreefiddy]

yeah stock exhaust but the cat was replaced with a magnaflow so some things are new. But oem specs.

[itsatreefiddy]

well tomorrow we're doing plugs and wires, all over again! to find my misfire. We pulled out platinum plugs and put in conventional plugs the first time, so this time we're going platinum. Who knows, id like my car to stop feeling like im in a earthquake.

[itsatreefiddy]

misfire is gone! the 1st set of plugs were just conventional ac delco, this time they were platinum and they did the trick, maybe it wasnt the platinum but rather that we just had a bad plug, they all looked good externally. Well im glad to finally get the car back to its full potential, pics of exhaust coming soon.

[itsatreefiddy]

Well was cruising craigslist and found a black ws6 hood about 50 minutes away from me, what are the chances? There's some scratches on the hood, but hey my stock hood has been blasted with rock chips anyway. Picked it up for about 400 and had it installed today, definitely a reproduction and we aligned it our best, i just found out you can adjust the headlight buckets and fenders so maybe that will help. The hood had been sitting outside for quite a while so i hit it with a power washer real quick but after returning home its still filthy and needs a real wash. So more pics tomorrow when its clean, also a pic of the exhaust i never got around to doing.

http://i45.tinypic.com/29c1ism.jpg

http://i46.tinypic.com/29moe36.jpg

[RyanDestroysWorlds]

Very nice ride man. I have a 93, Good to see another LT come into the group.

[maroman88]

lookin good

[richduty455]

Funny I saw this thread today.....I saw parked next to your car at the sewell post office yesterday.....guess you're in the area?

http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x374/richduty455/ta_zps6e840654.jpg

[itsatreefiddy]

yup that was me i live in grey fox circle literally right around the corner from there, i didnt remember seeing a black one as i was pulling in or leaving though.

[itsatreefiddy]

http://i45.tinypic.com/69i63q.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/2hxvuig.jpg

Washed and waxed the hood today, ideally I should have gone over it with some light rubbing/polishing compound before i waxed it but i guess ill have to save it for another day.

[richduty455]

yea i pulled in quick, dropped a letter and left....I'm in rosewood, so I'm pretty close too. Car looks pretty good..looks alot like my 97 ws6

http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x374/richduty455/photo_zps90814acc.jpg

[itsatreefiddy]

yeah come to think of it i might have seen your ws6 at blaze's deli one night, i had to double take because its strange seeing an actual lt1 ws6.

[richduty455]

if it was anytime after october it wasn't me :( mine is sitting outfront needing a headgasket job :( hopefully now that the weather is breaking I'll be able to tackle it.

[itsatreefiddy]

Got a WS6 airbox this passed saturday for 225 bucks about 1 hour and 40 minutes in Delaware. Took my dads 00' DTS for ultimate road tripping with 3 of my friends. Found out its legal to have an open container and have passengers drinking in DE so we hit a liquor store up and they had all the fun while i drove. Pics coming soon, it needs a new filter and i wanna paint the "PONTIAC" and "RAM AIR" back in its original silver.

[itsatreefiddy]

Ok another update, finally got a filter for the air box, my silver ram air decals came in but I've had yet to put them on. I ordered a pro 5.0 shifter, I absolutely love it, not much shorter than the stock one in length which I love, shifting is a breeze and the 2-3 shift is no longer a pain in the ass.
http://i37.tinypic.com/11gt2e9.jpg

The buried treasure i found in the console 2 dollar bills and some old postit notes and receipts.
http://i34.tinypic.com/vijfix.jpg
Installed on a test run. Only took about an hour and a half surprisingly just me with no experience doing it, set up the 2 little bolts, i guess they adjust how far the throw is and it works great.
http://i33.tinypic.com/oe6u9.jpg

So yeah still need to put on those decals, and i ordered a gloss black wheel kit (plastidip) to do the wheels over again. Like i said before i had good experience with duplicolor but with these ws6 wheels they just didn't hold up. So its a cheap solution, for 50 bucks I cant complain. There's some who love and some who hate plastidip but for some trim and wheels it does the job, whole cars always seem to look bleh.

[ThoR294]

I went with MGW. Such a sexy shifter, much better than the pro 5.0 :)

Trans AM GTs were pretty much just trans ams right?

Nice exhaust and car looks good!

[coolmanvette75]

I went with MGW. Such a sexy shifter, much better than the pro 5.0 :)

X2. Pro 5.0 is much better than stock but the MGW is the best out there IMO

[itsatreefiddy]

I know but i liked my stock shifter height mgw is a little too short for me. And a trans am gt is just a 1 year car where they threw in a bunch of options like driver and passenger power lumbar/bolsters leather and blue tinted side mirrors, the dotted array on the t-tops, buncha other stuff.

[WildBillyT]

I know but i liked my stock shifter height mgw is a little too short for me. And a trans am gt is just a 1 year car where they threw in a bunch of options like driver and passenger power lumbar/bolsters leather and blue tinted side mirrors, the dotted array on the t-tops, buncha other stuff.

GT is the fully loaded T/A for 1994. Supposedly the T/A was too expensive in 1993 so they used stuff like cloth seats instead of leather and some other downgrades in the base T/As in 1994. It didn't really do much so they changed it back in 1995.

[ThoR294]

You can adjust the height on the MGW shifter :D

I noticed that about the trans ams in 94

[itsatreefiddy]

whoops, didn't know that, I kinda just bought the shifter just searching on the internet, Im pretty much the only f body person i know so its hard to jump into someones car to try out their shifter, I hang around a lot of foxbody and import people. The pro 5.0 was the best shifter before mgw came out, probably why i saw so many people saying it was the best shifter in like the early/mid 2000s before mgw was even a thing. I'm still happy with my purchase.

[WildBillyT]

I have a Pro 5.0 and I like it a lot. :shrug:

[richduty455]

trans am gt for 3.23 gear, 160mph speedo, trans am rear wing

[itsatreefiddy]

i thought all 6speeds after 93 came with 3.42? Or is 2.73 the "base gear" for the auto and 3.23 is the optional performance gear.

[Dudbird113]

My gt auto had 3.42s in it

[itsatreefiddy]

Did the wheels today and yesterday, for my first time using plastidip I think it came out good. I used a trigger attachment to the spraycan the second day saving my fingers and encouraging me to go a little heavy. I didn't use alot of dip strangely. It came with 4 cans of black and 3 gloss and I honestly ended up using half that, all my friends who plastidip say they've done more with less, who knows. They look good, you can kinda see that on the hard to reach spaces its not as black and is actually a bit transparent but hopefully the glossifier is covering where I missed in black. My rim paint was trash anyway so Im not too worried. Starting to be a true believer of plastidip, between the 2 cars Ive owned I had to refinish 3 sets of wheels, usually I would get the wheels stripped or blasted, then aluminum etch primer, then duplicolor rim paint (color) then rim paint clear. Worked good until my ws6 rims, used the wrong wheel cleaner or perhaps using cleaner too soon after painted and they were pretty much ruined. Lets see how plastidip holds up Im going to just use soap and water on them.
http://i40.tinypic.com/5tt3rp.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/35cist3.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/11boys5.jpg

[itsatreefiddy]

did some basic maintenance today, polyurethane trans mount, tailshaft seal and an oil change, just hit 160k a few days ago.

[itsatreefiddy]

Well today I finally sold my first car, my 87 monte carlo SS, sad to see it go but its a bit foolish for a 21 year old managing two cars. Got a 500 dollar deposit and ill be hand delivering it to Princeton on monday for the rest. New interior for the t/a and possibly taking care of the paintwork is in order.

[itsatreefiddy]

Well finally got around to fixing up my interior somewhat for only a couple hundred dollars i got back a half-decent interior, sewed the split seams as best as possible (leather was really dry and brittle even with moisturizing) cut and replaced the typical wear on the drivers bolster and the typical rips on the top of the backseat. Beats paying 500 for new upholstery plus labor.

http://i42.tinypic.com/r8wap3.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/2h69gu0.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/296jg2e.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/j60sv9.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/2ak9rw9.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/ab486.jpg

[NJ Torque]

Likin the interior work... Good job!

[itsatreefiddy]

Yeah I think for the price it was worth it, i like how he did the backseat, literally looks factory perfect putting that piece on there. I would have liked to do all new leather on the fronts but, I need to save my money for paint.

[itsatreefiddy]

Finally pulling the trigger on some paintwork, going to drop the car off monday, be without a car for a week but then the second week ill be on vacation anyway, so hopefully in two weeks time it should be done. Going with the budget theme Im going to address what parts need paint rather than the entire car. Although not some maaco job I'm taking to Accurate Collision in Woodbury who did my Monte SS. He's a perfectionist and his work shows in what he charged me. So that's another part why I'm only painting what needs to be addressed now. The front and rear bumpers are totally faded, I've got paint flaking off one fender severely and the other is on its way. And my ws6 hood i purchased had a crack in the paint as well as some oxidation of the paint starting. So that's whats being addressed. After shelling out a bunch of money for the paint on my monte i swore id never do paint on a car again, but here I am, its an addiction.

[itsatreefiddy]

Well a bit of an update, paint never went through, guy is just too busy with insurance work he doesn't have the time for my car, to be fair he's had one of his guys quit on him. He says january, also me and my dad are going to be removing and installing the panels to save myself about 350 bucks so I can't complain too much. Oh and I'm ditching my WS6 wheels for something a whole lot nicer...

http://i41.tinypic.com/4q33w4.jpg
That's right Firehawk wheels, in Chevy drag! Story is the guy bought these for his C4 vette new from American Racing 9 Years ago, I research a bit and AR either made these wheels for SLP or got the rights to reproduce them or something? Correct me if I'm wrong. So yeah they still look great after 9 years no pitting or curb rash anywhere barrels need to be cleaned up but thats it. I'm guessing these are chrome? I know real firehawk wheels came painted, polished or chrome and these look pretty shiny so Im guessing chrome. Oh and the real kicker is I picked these up for 375 bucks, Craiglist is a love-hate relationship but after this I made out great for once. WS6 wheels will be dismounted and sold if anyone is interested.

[greenformula92]

any updates?