My new 1988 T/A

[DynoDave]

And back to our dealership for dinner, desert, and a club meeting. We like to eat!

That's my neighbor's '39 parked behind me.

[DynoDave]

The 23rd was my birthday, and my wife surprised me with this. She had already gotten me some other things, so I wasn't really expecting anything else. It was a nice surprise.



The author posted in my thread on TGO...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ml#post6256861

...that only 611 cars came with Bright Red PW7 wheels across all years. Nice to know!

"Great photos! Makes me recall the beautiful autumns in Michigan. I liked that blurry tree photo, too. I immediately thought, SLOW DOWN!

Hey, I think you know that you have one of only 611 Trans Ams ever built with those RPO 81P Bright Red wheels?

Best,

Robert (author, All 1982-1992 Firebird Colors, Codes & Quantities)"

[farmington]

She is a keeper !!

[DynoDave]

Winter. Yuck. It was SO nice on Friday. But not the right weather for working on the car in an unheated garage this past weekend.

Attended the Detroit Swap Meet Saturday, and I found a nice looking '88 T/A 140mph cluster for a decent price. So add that to the list of items that need a little cleanup and installation.

Was tempted to buy a used intake (Edelbrock Torker II), but ultimately passed.

[farmington]

If you get serious about working this winter, I have a propane bullet heater you can use.

[DynoDave]

Thank you Don. I appreciate the offer.

[DynoDave]

I bought an aluminum car hauler for the T/A a few years ago...used it to take the car to the T/A Nationals in 2017, and a few other places since.

One of the few things I've wanted to improve is to get a cover for the spare tire. It's mounted on a nice carrier on the side of the bed, but it leaves the spare 100% exposed to UV on both sides most of the year. I can get a vinyl cover, but I wasn't sure it would stay on going down the road.

I've been watching for a good deal on a stainless or aluminum band-style cover, and stumbled across this one today. It even has ribs in it that match the deck of the trailer. Needs a little cleaning up, but for $10, I couldn't pass it up.



A couple of fiberglass discs for front and back, and the spare tire will be all protected. And I can get some nice Pontiac (or related) decals for the 'glass disc that faces out. Should clean-up and dress-up nice.

[farmington]

Nice find

[farmington]

https://bangshift.com/general-news/c...rs-of-sitting/

[DynoDave]

That's a nice story. Looks like a pretty solid old car.

[farmington]

Can?t beat the price

[DynoDave]

LOL...no, I'll take all of the running, driving $100 Firebirds I can get.

[farmington]

Why don?t deals like that ever fall into our laps?

[DynoDave]

You can see some of it in the first photo of the spare tire cover above, but there's a LOT of tar and industrial fallout on this thing. It's quite a mess. I went over it before that photo was taken with some shop towels and Mean Green. It removed a LOT of dirt, but did nothing for the other deposits.

I stopped today and bought a spray can of Lifter 1 citrus Bug and Tar remover. A little leery of the citrus part...I'm used to more powerful and noxious petroleum distillates....but I have to say for this application, where I could rub at it with a green Scotchbrite pad, it worked quite well.

Here you can start to see some of those specks up close.




Cleaned on the right, yet to be done on the left.




In this photo, the Lifter 1 has really started to dissolve the tar, maybe 30-60 seconds after application. I've already gone over the first couple of rows of ribs (top) with the Scotchbrite pad.



It's never going to be a show piece, but it's looks can certainly be improved on.




Being an anodized surface, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it much better looking than this. The hard anodized coating is cloudy to a degree, and I'm not sure if polishing will help. But we're going to find out. As soon as my right hand and fingers are talking to me again...I'm getting old!

Anyone know of a small shop that does anodizing and would take on a a small, hobbyist job like this? Most of the places I'm finding via Google are big commercial operations.

[farmington]

My hands hurt just thinking about this.