Quick Trans Am Projects...

Mileage: 87,551

I started to tackle a couple little projects with the Trans Am over the last couple weeks. The first couple involved jacking the car up so I could get under it. With the Trans Am sitting so low to the ground, I needed to use a set of ramps (that the car had to be jacked up onto, not driven onto) and a set of jack stands.

Once the car was up in the air, the first thing I needed to inspect was the exhaust. Last fall when I bought the Trans Am, I needed to get it appraised for my insurance company. The place I brought it to is in the older part of Minneapolis and required me to drive into the building (garage) since there was no parking lot. As I drove up the concrete ramp, I heard a terrible scraping noise on the bottom of the car. I had bottomed out the exhaust on the sloped driveway (ramp). Of course, it did the same thing coming out. Anyway, after this incident, the exhaust system had an obvious leak in it.

Upon inspecting the exhaust, it turns out the pipe between the catylitic convertor and the muffler had some rust on the seem and split about 6 inches. I'm not sure if I caused the split, but either way the exhaust needs to be replaced. I don't know if this is the original exhaust system or not. I'm assuming it is, since the car was never driven in winter, but I guess 29 years out of the original exhaust system isn't bad!

Another task I had while the car was up in the air was finding and fixing a squeek. This squeek had been making noise since I bought the car and was kind of annoying. Every minor bump in the road would make it squeek, but it was more noticable outside the car than inside. After Dad and I "bounced" the car to simulate road conditions while driving, we found the squeek. The front right (passenger) side upper shock nut had loosened up and the squeek was coming from the rubber bushing rubbing on the shock tower! We tryed to tighten the shock the best we could and lubricated the bushing with silicone spray. The squeek went away and once I replace the shocks later this year, it will be solved for good!

The last project came later that day when it got a little darker out. Last year, I noticed one of the head lights was aimed a little high. After digging into the head light assembly, it turns out the headlight shifted in the assembly and was pointing too high! After removing the lamp. I found that it had a huge chip/hole in the glass and needed to be replaced anyway. It look a little work finding an older glass style headlamp at the gas station/repair shop, but the mechanic found one in the depths of the back storage room and $7 later, I had a new headlamp and it was aimed pointing down! While it was darker out I did a exterior lamp check and replaced one other burnt out marker light.

Now that I have some basic projects done (and speant 6 hours detailing it), the Trans Am is ready for it's (and mine) first car show! My next post should have the details!