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UTSAChris

Active Member
Greetings!

I'm Chris. I live in the San Antonio area, and I'm a big fan of third gen F-bodies. I was introduced when I was eleven years old when my folks bought a '90 firebird. That car was the first car I ever drove, and I now own the car (it has about 300k miles on it, and multiple rebuilds). In addition, I have owned an 86 Z28, an 88 GTA, and a second '90 firebird that is my current daily driver.

My primary car goal right now is to join the TTA club. The TTA is the Holy Grail of Third Gen F-body, in my opinion, and my current goal is to get the money together to buy one. I just picked up my electrical engineering degree this May and landed a nice job as an automation engineer, so hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later.

Right now, my goal on the forum is to get as much information on the quirks and techniques that are unique to the car as possible. I've played with TPI 350's for a while, but I've never touched GN's, TTA's, or any turbo car for that matter, so getting turbo related expertise from the forum is my first goal.

My second goal, which will probably come into play within a year or so, is to find a good car. Depending on how much I can learn about the car and how to work on it, I will either be looking for a "project" type car, or perhaps spending the extra money to pick up a car that's in good shape ahead of time.

One piece of info I'm looking for now is what I can expect to spend for a TTA at different levels of condition. I've seen the classifieds forum here, and seen a range of prices. What can I expect to pay for a car with a clean body that needs some mechanical work (or vise versa), and what can I expect to pay for a complete car in good condition? I'll be looking for a car to keep for ever, so I'm not as concerned about resale value (although I know how collectible the cars are), because the TTA is basically my end game for my car collection.

Best Regards,
 
Welcome aboard. Lots of great info & help on here.
If you "lurk" here in the cars for sale section and watch e-bay - you'll get a pretty good idea of the prices.
There are a bunch of informational threads on here, too.
Ask away with specific questions, someone(s) will most likely have answers.
Good luck with your new job and your "car goals", too!
 
Welcome to the forum Chris,i am glad that you are looking for one of these cars,they are pretty cool and rare cars.They were the fastest thing out there in 1989,just take your time and you will find one.Do a lot of reading on these cars,also go on turbo buick.com you will find some good stuff to read on ,also that would get you a little more familiar with these cars.There are some good people here that are willing to help you with any questions you might have on these cars.Good luck on your search that's have the fun and then it get's better....:burnrubber:
 
Hi Chris, welcome on the forum. As stated above have a look at the car for sale section there are some for sale and the owners are reliable as well as true passionate of this car.

I'm sure you will find here what you are looking for
 
Welcome Chris, feel free to ask any questions you might have and we will do our best to help out and hopefully one of the days you will find a TTA that suits you !
 
I found a car with some potential that may actually be within my price range now. If the eBay price stays relatively low, I might actually be able to snag it.

The only thing is it isn't badged. It is advertized as Festival car #149, and it is posted by a guy with connections to this forum, so I trust that it is legit, but the badges (except for the rear "turbo" insert between the taillights) are not on the car, apparently because of paint and body work.

I have seen reproduction badge sets on eBay for $300, but I was curious as to whether they were accurate. I am not really concerned about it decreasing resale value because I'm buying one to keep it, but I am concerned about the overall accuracy and quality of the reproduction badges. Are they a good option to get a repainted car back in uniform, or do they end up looking cheap and crappy?

Thanks for the warm welcome!
 
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Here's another question: How well would suspension parts from an '88 GTA move over to a TTA?

I have put a ton of work into my first firebird. It was originally a '90 base model, but when my friend wrecked his '88 GTA, I bought it and pulled the out the drive train, suspension, etc., and threw it into my '90. In particular, I put a ton of time and energy into the suspension. I rebuilt it from the ground up with polyurethane bushings.

The GTA had the Australian posi unit in it with 327's and rear disc brakes, but I hear the TTA uses different brakes than the stock GTA's, and possibly a different rear end. Does anyone have any info on how much of my rebuilt suspension from my '88 GTA will transfer over to a TTA?

Thanks again.
 
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The repro badges are better than the originals I hear, especially since I've never seen an original that still has all the gold on it. They were done by Carmotorsports, top notch quality.
I think most all of the suspension parts should work fine, there may be a few things that don't but can't think of any that should be an issue.
 
2Quik6,

That is amazing news! The car I spotted has had all the paint and body work done, but needs some love on the interior and suspension. My main project car has fantastic mechanicals, but the body looks like I dug it out of my back yard for the zombie apocalypse. If the mechanicals can cross over, I could actually turn it into a hell of a car with almost zero additional investment.

Here is another question. As collectible as the TTA is in the stock configuration, is it looked down on to do a lot of custom stuff to the car? I have the digital dash in my current car, and I had thought about using my electrical engineering and programming skills to convert the dash into a modern glass cockpit by replacing the old LCD's with modern OLED screens. I know enough about everything from embedded systems programming to graphic design to take a decent stab at a prototype, but I don't want to get shanked at the TTA reunion if I go there with a car that is heavily modified like that. What is the general attitude towards modding this car?
 
Emblems:

Two sources carmotorsports.com and PW Distribution (see 1989 Turbo Trans Am, PW Distribution)

I prefer the rear bird emblem (fit/size/curvature) from PW Distribution.

The front nose emblems is the one that no-one have managed to produce with the correct curvature (and the carmotorsports.com one even have the 20th Anniversary text on there in black instead of gold) ... PW Distribution is the best of the two.
 
Suspension; front springs would be different.

Also the centre brackets for the front sway bar are unique to the TTA so it sits slightly lower to clear tine intercooler duct/scoop.

Struts/shocks might be different but not 100% sure without looking it up.

Front spindles and rotor/calliper is the 1LE setup and not the regular GTA setup.
 
Fantastic info. It looks like some of what I have may work, but it might be better to try to sell my old car whole to get money to put into the original equipment. Too bad the interior of my project car is grey because it is actually in really good shape for the most part.
 
Here's another option:

Buick Turbo V6 Trans AM 20th Anniversery | eBay

What is a good price to pay for a motor like this? My first thought is that it would need to at least be gone through, and my second thought is, "How hard will it be to convert my GTA into a TTA if I buy this motor?"

I've done a drive train swap before, but it was a PITA even when the complete drive train was going straight from one car to another. Given that I have never worked with a turbo motor before, I'm a little hesitant to take this step. Any insights?
 
The guy has 0 feedback. Not sure if I would trust his word on the mileage and condition. It has also been sitting a long time.
 
Yeah I was thinking I would try to talk him down to 1k or maybe 1500 if he could send a video clip of it at least turning over by hand, just to get me started if it isn't very hard to turn a GTA into a TTA as a general rule.

But if it is a tough conversion, like if there are super rare parts or anything like that, and it would be better just to save up and get a whole car, that would be the way I would go.

I think I just have turbo fever. I have wanted a turbo car ever since I heard about the motor as a teenager. Now that I am getting closer to having the means to make it happen, I am getting excited.
 
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UTSAChris said:
Yrah I was thinking I would try to talk him down to 1k or maybe 1500 if he could send a video clip of it at least turning over by hand, just to get me started if it isn't very hard to turn a GTA into a TTA as a general rule.

But if it is a tough conversion, like if there are super rare parts or anything like that, and it would be better just to save up and get a whole car, that would be the way I would go.

I think I just have turbo fever. I have wanted a turbo car ever since I heard about the motor as a teenager. Now that I am getting closer to having the means to make it happen, I am getting excited.
Click to expand...

If you have all the parts swapping the engine and other bits over is not hard; expensive part will be when something is missing that you need.

My advice would be to save up and get a TTA rather than building a clone.
 
Jan Larsson said:
expensive part will be when something is missing that you need.
Click to expand...

Like specific fitment parts like and especially the crossover pipe, The headers and the downpipe. Unless you get a aftermarket downpipe which are as rare and pricey as the original downpipe.
 
Jan Larsson said:
If you have all the parts swapping the engine and other bits over is not hard; expensive part will be when something is missing that you need.

My advice would be to save up and get a TTA rather than building a clone.
Click to expand...

I would agree. With a swap project - "at the end of the day" you don't actually have a TTA - just another hybrid car with an LC2...
 
Thanks for the advice guys! I took a hard look at my budget, and I decided to take the leap. I'm working out the final details on buying Jarred's daily driver #733. Looks like a great car at a great price, from a great guy.

Now all I need to buy is a tool to suck my eyeballs off of the back of my skull after driving her, looking at what Jarred's put into the drivetrain.
 
Congrats on the purchase. Awesome car from a great guy. You will love it.

Welcome to the club.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
Good luck with your puchase and welcome to the forum. You will love your TTA. I waited 20 years to buy my car from a friend of mine who was the orginal owner. I finally got her about a month ago with 8,200 original miles. I have a smile on my face each time I take her out for a ride. Truly an amazing car to drive.
 
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