My 1984 T/A- Before, during and after repaint

[blg0720]

That's the same reason I love my paint job!

That looks great and I can't wait to see how the finished CAR looks!! It's great to see this part, isn't it?

Yes it is great. I'm sooo looking forward to the main body being painted and having everything nicely reassembled and aligned. I'm going to have the biggest grin on my face when it's all ready to go.

You haven't the foggiest idea. I was actually crying because she was so breathtaking.

[jeremynyr]

I'm now having a last minute crisis where I can't decide which rims I should go with. First here is a picture of the car that inspired me to go with the Platinum color so you can picture each rim on it:
WARNING: THIS IS NOT MY CAR! mine will look very similar though

The new option I'm considering is these snowflake style rims made by Year One. They are a cast 17x9" rim and very reasonably priced. They would allow me to run 275s or possibly 285s and I would have the same offset in the front and rear. I like that they have the polished look along with the black accent color to match my paint scheme.



My plan was to go with my crosslace rims with a polished lip and the center section painted platinum to match the body. I like this because the fit is no problem and they're good looking rims, but they also look kinda small compared to modern rims... and even smaller than most 16" rims because of the step in the lip. It would look somewhat like this pewter T/A to give you an idea:





So everyone please share your opinions! If I go with the Snowflake ones, I might decide to paint the center sections of my crosslace rims black instead of platinum to make it easier to sell them.

[TAdan]

I really like the crosslaces... But there is something about those snowflakes... I like them! I didnt know anyone was making them for thirdgens. (I knew about the 2nd gens...)

Can anyone photoshop it for you?

Crosslaces are a safe bet. They always will look good, but those aftermarket snowflakes would ad a nice custom touch.

[jeremynyr]

They are for 2nd gens, but I was crunching the numbers and they don't work out all that bad. They're 17x9 with a 4 7/8" backspace. The fronts work out very well. Compared to the crosslaces, they will go 3/8" deeper into the wheel well and stick out 5/8" futher. For the rear it gets a little iffy. The inside edge of the rim will be 3/8" further out than the crosslace rims and the outside edge will be 1 3/8" further out.

That last number is the one that scares me. But people have but pretty wide rims under a 3rd gen without having it stick out obnoxiously far so I'm hoping it wouldn't stick out too far.

[brother al]

I do like the "New" Snowflakes, but not on your car. They are expensive & if you lose one in 10 years, where do you get another? Personally, I think the Crosslace rims are one of the best designs GM ever used, next to the original Honeycombs.
They "should" fit, but even so, I don't think they would look quite right, especially w/ the meat overhang... then again, its not my car to decide upon, but since you asked, my vote is for you to keep you're 16" Crosslace rims.

[jeremynyr]

I do like the "New" Snowflakes, but not on your car. They are expensive & if you lose one in 10 years, where do you get another? Personally, I think the Crosslace rims are one of the best designs GM ever used, next to the original Honeycombs.
They "should" fit, but even so, I don't think they would look quite right, especially w/ the meat overhang... then again, its not my car to decide upon, but since you asked, my vote is for you to keep you're 16" Crosslace rims.

These aren't their expensive CNC machined rims that are like $600 each. These are $750 for a set of 4 and are cast so the price is pretty reasonable. That said, I definitely appreciate your opinion. The reason I'm struggling with this decision is that I love both styles. I like the crosslaces but their biggest downside to me is that they look very small compared to even other 16" rims and they wouldn't give me as many big brake options in the future. I also am worried that having them painted body color will look to plain. I don't want to do black though because then they disappear.

[blg0720]

One thing that I should mention to you, as the owner of a car with crosslace GTA rims, the offsets are different on the fronts and rears. The fronts have a deeper dish than the rears. The rears may require you to run spacers.

I like the snowflakes quite a bit...and I'm betting they'll make them as long as Trans Ams are around. They both would look good on the car, so I can see your dilemma. I just wanted you to be aware of the GTA wheelspacing if you weren't already.

[jeremynyr]

Well I finally have some pictures of the body painted! It isn't all assembled yet, but damn am I loving it! The hood bird makes me grin and drool I'm so happy with the design I chose for it. To me, it's just perfect!
The rims are obviously just an extra set thrown on for its time in the paint shop.
























It should be fully assembled and in my garage in the next week

[blg0720]

Damn!!! ...and I thought Emma looked good!!!

Nice work!!

[jeremynyr]

Thank you! And believe me, your bird is lookin pretty damn good too. I just got a call and it'll be ready for delivery tomorrow.... I can't wait to post pictures in its home!

[jeremynyr]

I saw a GTA the color of your car and he had GTA wheels that were Chrome/Nickel in the middle with a polished lip. The center cap was 80-81 chrome with red bird in middle. Looked awesome

I was thinking about doing something like that. Either painting the center a bright silver or maybe polishing the front face of the crosslaces and then taping them off and painted the recesses black to get a similar look to the snowflake rims I posted earlier.

[jeremynyr]

My heart jumped when I saw it parked out front...




















The "TRANS AM" on the fenders is painted rather than a vinyl decal. It's coming home later this afternoon pictures in my garage to follow

[TAdan]

I have a huge grin on my face looking at those pictures. I can't imagine how you looked!

The car looks AWSOME! I was unsure about the car being one color, but it really pulls it off perfectly.

[Raptor]

She's gorgeous ! Makes me want to paint mine in the same color (but I'd stand with the two tone scheme).

I don't know if I asked you already, but are you keeping the air induction unit and the air cleaner ?

[jeremynyr]

Thanks guys! Believe me, I did fall in love with the two-tone look after owning it that way for 5 years... but this color and look was just perfect to me. I have the mesh grill in the hood but just for heat extraction purposes. With the LT1, there was no good way I could come up with to retain the stock cowl induction. I sold the lid and the part that mounts to the hood a couple years back. Here are a couples pictures in its new home. I'm just spending a lot of time out there staring at it and grinning ear to ear right now ... kinda like this

[blg0720]

Darn it...wish we had a jaw-dropping icon. This one will have to do....


GORGEOUS!

(Where are your front outside blinkers??)

[Agent83]

Car looks great!

I can't believe how straight the front and rear ground effects are. Did you have any work done to them besides the new brackets? I'm thinking of taking the warped ones from my Daytona to a bumper shop and hopefully they can be straightened.

One suggestion I have is to paint or polish the headlight bezels and front turn signals.

[jeremynyr]

I didn't bring the front marker lights to the shop because I plan to buy some aftermarket smoked ones. The ground effects were just good used condition ones I found that I used my stronger brackets on. There is some waviness and unevenness, but it's under control. There's only so much you can do with the tolerances of parts made 25 years ago! The headlight bezels and front blinkers actually are repainted, but a flat/satin trim black rather than gloss. They look kinda dull compared to the incredibly glossy front bumper inserts, but I can live with it.

Thank you all so much for the kind words. It's been one hell of a day! I've made a lot of phone calls and my friend that has a 91 Camaro RS just came over to check it out. It's time to go to bed now so I can wake up tomorrow morning, remember that it's back home and have another big grin come across my face. Maybe even run out to the garage like it's Christmas morning

[bdbowti]

Looking really good!!! under the hood looks awesome with the whole car done. Looks factory man. Nice job!!

[blg0720]

Now you know how I felt when I got the GTA back. I spent the first week just opening the door to make sure she was really there!! Now I'm getting ready to put in a new trans so I'll be able to take her out and show her off PROPERLY.