I thought I'd just post some info and pics of my T/A. It's an 81, origonally a black/gold turbo 4.9. The 4.9 was taken out by the owner before me and a pontiac 350 took it's place. It has a 3 spd auto trans, 4 wheel disk, posi rear, a/c. Right now a rochester 2 jet is on the engine but I'm replacing that with a spreadbore intake manifold and a 4bbl Q-JET with a shakerhood/scoop. It has brown/camel tan deluxe interior with hobnail cloth seats. I'm changing the color of the interior to black and deluxe vinyl seats. I got a dash pad cap on and it looks great in person. It's a sollid car but it's got a nice 8 inch long 3-4 inch wide cancered spot on the driver side quater.

Very nice project! You can work wonders with her! Keep up the work and post pics when you can along the process. We'd love to see them! She's going to be a beautiful car when she's finished! Best wishes!

-Nate

Thanks. I'll be sure to post pics. Steve

Keep those pics coming man! It's always great to see another "bandit" being built.

Do you or anyone viewing have an experience with a quater panel skin?
I'd like to know what they are like how they look and what needs to be done to apply them. Thanks in advance. Steve

Haven't had any personal experience, but many people who have welding skills will cut a piece from a doner panel and use that as a template to cut out beyond the cancerous region and weld in the patch. Cheaper and easier than replacing the whole skin (if it's just a smallish area) and a good bodyman can do it so that you'd never be able to tell. No structural degradation, either, as the welded material is stronger than virgin metal.

See back issues of HPP or reruns of Musclecar TV to see how it's done and the types of welds/techniques to use.

Thanks for sharing your project! Looks like a great beginning.

there is a exact patch panel made for that spot, check the rear bumper while your at it clean,and seal it fast its rotted on most 79-81 models ,i dont know why,they just are
ames,classic industries,and year one are a few places to get parts

I 've decided the patch panel is the way I going to go with it. I am going to have more pics soon of the interior half disassembled.

Nice project, are the back light lenses really RED?

As for the qtr, i agree a patch panel makes more sense than to replace the whole qtr, id only recommend that if it was really required.
The less of the original bodywork you have to disturb the better!

Good luck.

Thanks.
Yeah the lights are really red. They are correct though. The hard core pontiac guys know. For 79-81 the red taillights were offered on the esrit, base firebird. The smoked lenses ( blackout lights ) were for the trans am, turbo trans am, daytona/nascar pace cars. Oddly, the formula package cars had the option the red OR smoked lenses.
There's a small peice of info to keep in the back of your mind.

Here's some pics of the floor pans without the carpet.

I was outside about 4 hours sanding using 80 grit paper on an eletric palm sander. Came out prett good. I only wanted to take off acouple layers of oxidation, that came off along with the clear and maybe half layer of paint. I needed to go down further to metal in some places because of deep ryst. Came out the way I wanted to. I may go out and spend another couple hours sanding. Not sure yet.

http://s565.photobucket.com/albums/ss99/transamfan1981/

Here's a link to the pics of after sanding.

Looking great! Nothing thrills me more than to see another bird saved!

I just picked up this hurst dual gate shifter off e-bay on friday. When I recieve the shifter I will be able to post better pics of it.

VERY nice addition to your project!