Rescue of 3 4th gen F-body cars for dirt cheap

[05GXPBeast]

I was at the local parts store the other day, and was offered a deal on some 4th gen cars that have been sitting for a while. That weekend I went to look at what i thought was only 2 cars, and ended up bringing 3 home. I managed to get everything for about $1400.

The first car was a 1996 trans am with 89k original miles. The guy bought it from a dealership back in 09, but it had title issues due the dealerships sketchy ownership. They took 2 loans out from different banks on the title for this car. After the bank seized most of the cars from the lot this was left in limbo for about 11 years. long story short the car was considered abandoned by the sheriffs office, and i now have a title for the car.
The next 2 cars are a wrecked 97 trans am WS6, and a 95 camaro. with the money i made from selling parts out of the 97 and the 95 I was able to keep the 96 trans am for free.
The interior on the 1996 is in amazing shape, but the paint/clear is faded and chipping away.

Interior of the 96

 

[05GXPBeast]

here is a link to the news article regarding the dealership in question.

Investigators: Probable fraud at dealership | Archives | record-eagle.com

 

[05GXPBeast]

More pics of the 96

 

[BrandonHall10]

Nice score! That thing looks mint inside! So what's the plan? (Besides growing a rad mullet)

'96... That would have been a LT1 car, right?

 

[mguzzo]

3800 turbo swap!

 

[05GXPBeast]

It is an LT1 car, but i plan on eventually doing an lsx build (similar to sketchyvert's build). For now im planning on buying some hooker lontubes and a comp cams 306 cam. Im currently re-painting the engine bay while the engine is out.

 

[BillBoost37]

Always loved that WS6 hood. Even though it looks like that got killed in the accident.

 

[05GXPBeast]

Always loved that WS6 hood. Even though it looks like that got killed in the accident.

Unfortunately so, along with the bumpers and fenders. Even one of the wheels got taken out. I'm trying to find another wheel and a hood to put on the 96. Might also swap the rear end since I think it has the lower 323 gears and a lsd.

 

[05GXPBeast]

Finally had some time to get more work done on the Trans am. Engine bay is painted and almost all back together.

The car finally has a full drivetrain for the first time in about 10 years. The only thing left now is hooking up all the little things to get it running and moving.

speed engineering longtube headers and ory are also on the way.

 

[05GXPBeast]

The car is now all back together, except the headers and y-pipe . I ordered everything from speed engineering in early august, and im still not expecting to get them until middle of november.
Everything has power now and I was able to get it to crank over for the first time the other night.

 

[05GXPBeast]

here are some before shots of the engine bay.

 

[05GXPBeast]

some more after shots

 

[05GXPBeast]

Trans am and grand prix waiting for a wash.

 

[FordMan77]

That T/A is coming together nicely.

I wrenched on my buddies old 95 T/A when it puked the HG's and thought about headers until I saw the space (or lack thereof). I absolutely HATED changing the plugs/wires on that car. Wonder if it would be easier to drop the motor in w/the headers already on it vs. fighting around/under/over everything? Just wondering since we never got around to it and I sold the car.

 

[05GXPBeast]

The headers and y-pipe finally showed up yesterday. The driver side header was pretty easy and only took about 30-45 minutes. The passenger side was a little challenging. I had to go in from the bottom, and pull the dipstick tube.
Most of the time i spent working on it was just trying to get the bolt back in to hold the dipstick tube in place.

 

[FordMan77]

Those looks good in there. That exhaust should wake the good ol' LT1 up a bit.

Looks like the A/C is still MIA. Going to delete it?

 

[05GXPBeast]

I have everything for the AC, but i need to take the hvac box out and clean it. I've just been dreading taking out the dash.

 

[05GXPBeast]

I finally got the car to fire up for the first time this weekend. I took all the injectors out and cleaned them, but it still idles low and it surges from 600-900RPM. I have a few more things to clean, and I need to replace the fuel filter.

Here is my rigged up fuel injector cleaner. I back flushed them first to clean out any debris that may have have been in the inlet. It actually worked surprisingly well.

Video of the car starting/running...VOLUME WARNING.

Abandoned Trans Am FIRST START in 10 years-62k original miles - YouTube

 

[SgtMarshal]

nice work. those things run good for their age. there are a few companies that do prom chips for those vehicles, and I think you can actually do it yourself if you buy the tuner. keep us posted, i'm very interested in how it ends up running.

 

[05GXPBeast]

Alot of work has been done since I posted the last update on the car. It wasnt running quite right, and it was popping and backfiring. I replaced a few things including; Opti cap & rotor, injectors, balancer, Water pump, plugs, fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter. I also cleaned some debris out of the return line. The car runs alot better now, and I actually got to drive it for the first time around the yard. After this I went through the brakes. I greased all the slides, and checked the pads/rotors. I also mounted the WS6 wheels on the car with some new tires. I put about 30-40 miles on the car so far, and everything seems to be alright.

I still need to go through and replace all the worn bushings and sway-bar end links. I also plan on repainting the car at some point this summer, and buying a ram air hood for it.

Here are some Pictures I have saved from some of the work I did.