What's new
By:
TurboTransAm.com

Register today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Hello and Help

ttagoatman

ttagoatman

Active Member
Hi All
I have been lurking for a long time and finally got my wife's car home after sitting in her aunties' garage for almost a year. Hauled her 1700 miles from Kansas to Nevada. Her '89 tta (#705 or #706- have documents attesting to both) is now sitting on my lift receiving some overdue maintenance and reverse modification. T-top, leather with about 9950 on the odometer. My racing days are behind me, my go fast days are not. Our desire is to return 705/06 to as close to stock as we can. Although we have owned an '87 GN since '88, my experience level on this technology is minimal but I want to learn. We rescently finished a complete resto on a "68 GTO conv and that technology is much more familiar.

The tta appears to be solid but I do not know what I have. I received a box of parts with the car (as well as an almost complete owners' kit and other assorted info and receipts). In the box of parts is a "Pit Bull" chip, I dont know what's in the car- BTW it runs great, very fast and idles smoothly. Lots of chrome under the hood as well as a large cone-shaped K&N filter. To fit the bling-bling stuff in someone removed the EEC (plugged the lines which ahve all been located) and , of course, the original air filter. The MAF sensor was relocated but still quite functional and the air temp sensor screwed in to the K&N. I would like to return it to original. Does that make sense? Without proper documentation or experience I think I need help. I have attached a couple of pics of some of the hardware I have. I have the original piping, elbow, clamps..etc to connect the air filter to the turbo. Any suggestions as how to use the rest of the hardware. The GN has been some help but I need more. The Chilton manual is not that helpful. I will get a shop manual- can someone tell me if I need to the shop manual AND the supplement?

I have read just about everything on this amazing website and am in awe of the knowledge that exists here. We are really excited about adding the tta to our stable and we are sure it will become our #1 real soon (although the Goat is our own personal statement, driving the tta is a blast.) Is there a certain section to post this kind of "the newbie aint real bright and could become a pest" posting?

looking forward to hearing from anyone. Thanks.

Tom
 
Last edited:
Hi Tom,
Welcome to the board! First off you can post all the questions you want. No question is a dumb question. Your photos are very small. But I noticed a charcoal canister, that i believe goes in front of the K&N Cone Filter the other U shaped bracket holds the flex pipe/tube that goes from the mass air sensor to the turbo, so the belts and pulleys dont scrap it. Others will help and correct me if im wrong.
Bigger photos would help as well..
 
Welcome to the TTA community. So far it looked like Chris was right on the parts. In addition to that the big bracket fits down inside the battery box area behind the drivers side headlight. That's what the intake box and charcoal cannister connect to. The shiney bracket is a brace for somewhere around the alternator. I can't think of exactly where it goes but I'm sure someone on here will be able to tell you. I don't know what the other 2 brackets are though, I'm gunna guess they have something to do with the big bracket though.
 
Good morning Cgris and Jared

Thanks for your timely responses. They are helping to solve this puzzle. Sorry about the small pics. I am not very computer literate and when I originally looked at the pics they were almost 300kb each and were rejected by the attachment monitor. I guess I over compensated. The attachments here are larger and hopefully clearer. The canister is indeed the EEC canister which receives the vapors from the fuel tank and then is purged into the vacuum manifold when the car is started (I guess the Chilton was of some use). I have found and prepped the fuel tank line, the line going to the vacuum manifold and the wires to the attached solenoid. I have tried to fit the large bracket in the space behind the the left headlight at the same time trying to interface the bracket to both the canister and the air filter box- and I will continue trying.

Thanks for your time and trouble in helping to solve this puzzle.

Tom
 
Last edited:
The two smaler brackets (left and right versions) are for your front license plate bracket. These are the ones that screw into the front bumper cover then the license plate brackets attached to them.

The silver like bracket looks like the one used for the electrical antenna inside of the passanger side fender, kind of stabalise the motor assembly to the body of the car.
 
Hi Tom and welcome to the board! This is the only place just for the TTA's so any and all questions are good questions here! We have some folks who bought these cars new and know them in and out. I've learned a great deal in the few years I've had mine now and I love the car everytime I take it out. Just keep an eye on that Jan Larson guy he keeps cleaning out eBay of all the TTA goodies! :) :D I have a ton of high rez pictures of my car and engine bay on my site. http://turbobuicks.net/gallery2/v/Philly/TTA+349/ Have a look and you should be able to see where all that stuff goes. If you need any other pics of the engine bay just ask. All the guys who hang on this board are first class all the way! :)
 
Ha Jim your worse than me sniping all the stuff off e-bay the last second :-) Im sure this song was dedicated to you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCIp7eo4MvY

Tom, anything you need help with just post it and we all try to help out ... some of us got pretty good knowledge of these cars. I've presonaly got loads of documentation as I've taken mine a part to restore it completly and put it back together again myself.

For the service manual yes you defentily need the supplement as well as it contains all the TTA specific stuff like the complete engine, transmission, electrical etc so anything unique to our cars is in there. I've used mine a lot over the years so very valuble.
 
Now I understand why there is never any good tta stuff left on ebay .

Jim, the photos on your site are great and I now know the relationship betwee the EEC canister and the air filter box. Still fuzzy on exactly how the big bracket mounts into the driver side battery box area but I will go out and try again.

Jan. thanks for the heads-up on the manual supplement.

Tom
 
Tom,

If you reply with your VIN, I can verify whether either one of those numbers....705 or 706 are the correct PAS sequence number.

Rich
 
Jan Larsson said:
The silver like bracket looks like the one used for the electrical antenna inside of the passanger side fender, kind of stabalise the motor assembly to the body of the car.
Click to expand...

yup that's the bracket, I knew that I had taken it off before and from the small pictures it almost looked like the rear bracket on the alt.
 
Hi Rich

Thanks for the great offer of cross referencing the VIN to sequence number. That ia an offer I can not refuse

VIN= 1G5FW2173KL241818

Thanks again everyone for your assistance.


Tom
 
Puzzle solved. Thanks to the list- your advise, photos and experience- I got to within 5 minutes of the final piece which was the correct orientation of the base bracket upon which both the canister and air filter are mounted. As I gazed upon all the pieces and plumbing laid out with the bracket in my hand, my wife came out to the workshop, asked a couple of questions and asked me to hand her the base bracket and the air filter bottom. She promptly proceeded to slide the two pieces together- in the only way they could possibly go together I might add- handed them back to me and walked away with a smirk on her face. This WILL cost me. :-(

Thanks again and I will return shortly with more questions and with a lot bigger piece of humble pie then ever.

Tom
 
Hi Tom,
This is a little off topic but I see in your signature that you had your GN repainted.
How long ago and what did you pay? Did you have any parts removed?

Thanks
Chris
 
Hi Tom,
And welcome to the site!
I am one of the original owners of a new 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am.
However, I have not taken mine apart. No need too.
I like stock.
Although I have a boom box just sitting in the rear conpartment, and a Flowmaster muffler, I have not taken stuff off mine.
As an owner of other Pontiac Trans Ams, one of them a 1970 Trans Am with the Ram Air III motor, I am in the process of putting together a complete Ram Air IV motor for that one.
I am in Kingman, AZ.
What part of Nevada are you in?
And don't just believe Jim about Jan being the only one buying 20th TTA stuff.
All the people who outbid each other, have replyed to you here in this tread.
All of them!
Feel free to post photos of your cars, both the 20th TTA and the goat.

George :cool:
 
Chris

On the subject of GN repaint. I'm sure you know, as most GN owners know, that due to incompatible primer, color coat and clear coat at the factory the Gn suffered "checkering" which I believe is caused by the elements, mostly sun, which manifests itself by cracking under the clear coat. We have a local community college which has a great auto shop and body shop including a paint booth and I worked there for about 4 years. The only way to correct the problem permanently (so I'm told) is to take the car all the way down to metal (an all silver GN is a sight to behold). I stripped the car completely including the interior in order to address doors ,sills, trunk lid, hood...etc. Then I used quality PPG products for 3 prime coats, 3 color coats and 2 clear coats. I had a lot of help with students and co-workers- a lot of manual labor. If I had to pay to have all that done (it cost me about 5k just in removal, prep and paint materials) I'm guessing in the range of 12k-15k. The repaint is now about 3 years old and looks great. I didn't wax it for a year.

I've attached some pics for your perusal. Feel free to ask any questions.

Tom
 
Last edited:
Tom,

Given that the TTA was not a badged sequence vehicle (for example the 1987 Buick GNX), if the TTA were badge sequenced it would have been a PAS sequence, not a sequencial VIN. You are correct though, in that the VIN sequence for your vehicle is one of the two numbers you presented. There have been plenty of TTA owners with conflicting VIN sequence information. If folks would like only this accurate VIN sequence information, then I would be happy to provide that for a nominal fee. Not nearly as important as determining the powertrain component originality and getting a PAS sequence number, dealership of delivery, etc in my evaluation. Again, the TTA was never touted as being a 300 or 1550 vehicle, simply a 1 of 1550 production vehicles. Side note....for those folks visiting the Atlanta, Georgia area; you may desire to give me a call in order to see the two Prototypes, Pilot #3 Convertible, display engine and other TTA goodies. Contact phone information is provided below.

Best wishes,

Rich
678-427-0017
 
biggdoggtta said:
Tom,

Given that the TTA was not a badged sequence vehicle (for example the 1987 Buick GNX), if the TTA were badge sequenced it would have been a PAS sequence, not a sequencial VIN. You are correct though, in that the VIN sequence for your vehicle is one of the two numbers you presented. There have been plenty of TTA owners with conflicting VIN sequence information. If folks would like only this accurate VIN sequence information, then I would be happy to provide that for a nominal fee. Not nearly as important as determining the powertrain component originality and getting a PAS sequence number, dealership of delivery, etc in my evaluation. Again, the TTA was never touted as being a 300 or 1550 vehicle, simply a 1 of 1550 production vehicles. Side note....for those folks visiting the Atlanta, Georgia area; you may desire to give me a call in order to see the two Prototypes, Pilot #3 Convertible, display engine and other TTA goodies. Contact phone information is provided below.

Best wishes,

Rich
678-427-0017
Click to expand...


How about posting some Photos??? I would love to see these!
 
Hi there Chris!
I just noticed in your sig, you got a Grand National!
Congrads!
Now post some pictures of that bad boy!
And some with both your turbos together!
Who cares if there's snow all around them.

George :cool:
 
mr.turbota said:
Hi there Chris!
I just noticed in your sig, you got a Grand National!
Congrads!
Now post some pictures of that bad boy!
And some with both your turbos together!
Who cares if there's snow all around them.

George :cool:
Click to expand...


HAHAHA!!! Yes I did george! I got it saturday the 3rd. No chance any photos will be coming soon. Its actually snowing as i type this. Supposed to get 3+" :( I will try to take some of it in the garage. but they wont be great...
 
ChrisKober said:
HAHAHA!!! Yes I did george! I got it saturday the 3rd. No chance any photos will be coming soon. Its actually snowing as i type this. Supposed to get 3+" :( I will try to take some of it in the garage. but they wont be great...
Click to expand...
you must be getting the same storm we are, it's snowing pretty good and we have about 3" on the ground right now.
 
Ya,
I saw the temps you guys are getting too!
Today, it's almost 70 here, and sunny.
Nice day to go on the roof, and replace my shingles. I'm doing the whole roof of the house. Man, my old back just can't take this crap anymore! And to think I use to do this stuff as a living.
I'm surprised that you aren't a snowbird.
Tons of people coming here to Arizona from back east.
So, when are you coming out this way?

George :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top