98 Trans Am Resto

[goof4080]

Just thought since I'm documenting my project for myself I might share with y'all too.

Ill be doing a bit of a resto, and suspension reworking on my 98 ta m6

After months of spreadsheets and brow furrowing, I've got her opened up, cleaned up and inspected and now I'm ready to pull the trigger n order all the parts and fully commit.

Oh and she's being built for autox n solo events.

So here's a photo update.
I've gutted the interior and started to clean up the underside.
Have some rust that will need some cutting and patching on the rear floorpan.
Most spot welds have started to rust
I knew i had a weaping pinion
some leakage at the rear of the t56
rusted suspension parts, but mostly decent condition underneath.

It has 57 k miles and 14 chicago winters under it's belt so not too bad.

















(found somebody put subs in it at one point....lol. Go figure)

[goof4080]

Here's some more pics

[goof4080]

So what's in store?

Por 15
Duplicolor Bed Armor
Double Adj Rod End Chromoly panhard and lca
relocation brackets
stranos
slp bilsteins
strano sways hollow/adj
full length chromoly torque arm and reloc bracket
SFCs
and a bunch of lil stuff.

But that'll have to wait until i finish moving the rest of the 14 yards of nice black midwest topsoil....


Sorry I'm so picture happy, but holy crap does technology make things easy now?!

[goof4080]

Ok, I'm out of town for work, so i've got nothing better to do but drink and dream!...Beautiful Kent Ohio! Ha.

Anyways, I'm about to order the parts (kinda hard to part with 3grand in a click or two) but now i'm wondering about camber adjustment. What do you guys think about adjustable control arms? I've been thinking about camber and alignment options and i'm wondering what my camber options will be with just the strano springs... And if I got adjustables I'd like the boxed lowers, but I was thinking the uppers are cheaper and might offer a bigger range of adjustment?

And while i'm at it... I'll probably put 1000 miles on the car a year, so should i got with roto-joints or just straight up spherical rod ends....noise is not an issue for me.

And with the new strano's and bilsteins. I figure i should just order some Moog strut mounts as I read they're usually stuck on the old stuff and my rubber is 14 years old anyways....

What do you think?

If I can figure out how to post my spreadsheet I can show you what I've got planned...First track day is 4-29...it's go time!!!! please help

[pajeff02]

Subscribed. Sounds like you have a good plan of attack and are doing it right.

[goof4080]

So what's in store?


But that'll have to wait until i finish moving the rest of the 14 yards of nice black midwest topsoil....


Sorry I'm so picture happy, but holy crap does technology make things easy now?!

Apparently my brother is so classy he needs to work in a Polo!!!

(and boy does the t/a look like crap without the shaker...It's best side is the rear anyways)

[goof4080]

Well it's been a couple months since i put her up on stands and started tearing her apart. Unfortunately I've been quite busy traveling for work, taking a much needed vacation, and getting some work done around the house. Despite all of those unfortunate requirements of life i've been able to get a lil work in on her and have some photos to share ( although i haven't been keeping up with the photos as much as I wanted to)

But first here's a few highlights from my vacation. My bro and I drove down to Charlotte to visit my uncle, his mustang, 'the speedway', and then headed out for a week in Destin and Pensacola FL.


Charlotte AutoFair

My uncle's 66 with a T5 and a roush built 5.0. purty fun to drive!



Pensacola Naval Air Museum




The actual Me-262 the allies confiscated from the germans...and my lil bro

[goof4080]

OK, but back to the project. I've cleaned the entire underside of the car. (was covered in fluids n grime) I've now wire wheeled and ground out all surface rust and coated 70% of it in POR15. I'll finish the rest of it when I can reach it after pulling the rear, ds, t/a, etc.. unfortunately I didn't grab a pic of that yet.

I've also exposed all my serious rust issues and would like to post for all to see. It seems these areas are all prone to rust due to design of the car. Most have areas where water can get it, but only can get out the same way. The rear wheel wells also have varying degrees of rust I would account to the undercoated retaining moisture. I've cut out most of the metal and begun welding in patches. Unfortunately I've had to relearn my patience when working with sheet metal (so fickle!!) but my welds are getting back to acceptable again So be finished patching up by the end of the weekend so I can install my SFC's then put the car back up and remove the rest of the parts. Then it should just be plug in play from there!!! Enjoy.



Driver's side subframe to floorpan mounting point (passenger side had almost identical damage)


Driver's side rear wheel well and filler neck area (need to get it down and out to clean the well and recoat this when done...soooo dirty)

passenger side rear well had identical damage to the drivers side, and also had some rust at the top (12 o'clock) but no holes

I'll snap some more progress photos when I get back to it and remember before it gets dark. Looks so much better patched and coated!

[jimmi7769]

Apparently my brother is so classy he needs to work in a Polo!!!

Not just a Polo but a SOLID WHITE one at that!! I bet it looked real good after you were done.

[goof4080]

Well I'm back again with more photos (they're really for me, but I figure I'll share for anyone thinking about doing this)

Well a couple weeks ago I finally dug in and cut and welded all my holes except for the Driver's wheel well which I hoped I could just fill with the welder, but the metal proved to week so I was getting lazy and hoped I could just weld a patch over it. Well turns out that was the worst area and when I tried to weld the original sheet metal just shrank away and I had to go cut in and I think it ended up being my biggest patch. Then i cleaned up the welds ( not perfectly, but this is a driver not a queen ) and por 15'd the rest of the remaining areas and got to installing my bolt-in 3 pt subframes from UMI. Everything was going well til the 3rd PT doesn't seem to line up perfectly. I'm gonna have to grind the one set of holes wider and the other i might need to modify the mount itself. I'm gonna check with UMI in the morning and ask the board if anyone else has run into this. I'm sure not every part will need zero modification, but i was hoping my first one would be plug n play








This was my first patch and I ended up having to cut it out and try again.




My attempt to plug that failed.

[goof4080]

on to the 3pt sfc


Passenger side. See how it doesn't line up right...off a touch and the mount is angled...

missed a spot...but i'll be getting these when I drop the rest of the running gear to get at everything else.
Just wanted the SFC's in first...


Driver's side sits flush, just off a touch.

[jiveass]

ya know, im starting to see more and more 4th gen restos starting up.....im very glad that these cars are starting to be seen as worth
the money and hassle.....good work so far.

[goof4080]

Well I know it's been awhile, but I've been busy....busy finishing. Putting 8+ hours in the garage every night after work in 100 degree temps has paid off ( in dehydration and heat rash!!!) I'm pretty sure my neighbors think i'm nuts now....but anyways, I'll keep this post short n sweet.

Basically I spent the time getting the underside finished and painted, removed the rear, disassembled it, painted and reinstalled, same with the rear brakes, installed my sways, torque arm, subframes connectors, strano springs and koni shocks, put a couple seats in and presto change-o... no real change up top where anyone else can see


Rear End Clean up (some parts looked so good it almost hurt to paint it)


Torque Arm, Trans Crossmember & Mounts, and SFC's



Front and Rear suspension

[goof4080]

and the payoff!!!




As soon as i get them I'll post the before and after track photos to see the results!