1988 Pontiac Firebird Coupe Black RWD Manual TRANS AM
1988 Pontiac Firebird TRANS AM
Vehicle DetailsSelling my 1988 Pontiac Firebird Trans-AM GTA. The car is a black hard top car with black leather interior with a digital dash. This is fully optioned minus t-tops.
The car has 220,000+ miles on it’s original 5.7L TPI V8, features a T5 World Class 5 speed manual and a torsion limited slip rear end.
The car runs well, and feels great!
***Clutch is slipping and will need to be replaced to be driven daily. Can be driven but would not recommend until clutch is replaced.
Body needs some repairs and maintenance to be perfect.
This is a great car to restore or keep as an investment.
The GTA's are becoming very hard to find and are continuously increasing in value.
Here is a list of all it’s details, modifications, and recent new parts.
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- I have the original invoice listing all installed factory equipment. The car was a fully optioned example of the flagship trim from Pontiac Trans Am GTA. Seemed to have every option except T-tops. Here are the highlights:
- Hardtop car
- Power Windows, Locks, Mirrors.
- Black leather power seats and leather steering wheel.
- Black interior in very good shape
- Digital Dash (Factory option on GTAs)
- 5.7L 350 C.I. TPI V8 (numbers matching, confirm-able by VIN stamp)
- Factory 700R4 automatic.
- WS6 factory performance suspension option
- 3.27 9-bolt posi-trac rear.
- Aluminum driveshaft (factory performance option on 1LE cars, GTAs, IROC Camaros, and sometimes found on lesser optioned cars)
******Modifications, current configuration******
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- T-5 World Class five speed swap. Id tag on transmission confirms this.(originally a factory automatic car, converted to T-5 manual 5 speed transmission)
- Pro 5.0 “Power Tower†shifter (prevents overshifting known to be an issue on T-5s)
- Speed Dawg shifter knob.
- 3.42:1 10-bolt w/torsion Limited Slip Differential, aluminium bearing cap bracing differential cover.
- SLP shorty headers and Y-pipe
- Hooker catback system
- Jacob’s ultracoil ignition coil (purchased before the Mr. Gasket takeover, back when they came with a lifetime guarantee)
- Custom chip, (not a mail-order, tuned after data logging on the dyno with a wide-band o2. There is room for improvement) there is dyno sheets as well after the tune.
- 1992 “1LE†baffled fuel tank. Additional solder around filler neck to prevent future cracking
- Taylor 10MM sparkplug wires w/heatboots to prevent heat damage
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- 1998+ 4th generation center console (You get cupholders now!).
- Overhead console.
- Wired for an amplifier in the “trunk†area with a 6 guage power wire.
- Radio antenna has been removed from fender and is hidden under dash pad.
- Non-defrost rear hatch glass
- Rear power-pull-down converted to a “slammer†by welding the slider tracks
- 1998+ Firebird front seats, excellent condition, power drivers side, manual passenger side (lower cushion has crude repaired cigarette burns and missing the pump for the lumbar support).
- Rear seats are the original factory split folding rear bench and in excellent shape.
- Black leather steering wheel with “GTA†horn button installed in place of the factory radio control steering wheel, column also swapped out.
- The car originally came with the “Performance Sound†option that included a tape deck, steering wheel radio controls, and adjustable 6†sub woofers. All of that has been removed (except the GAIN switch on the dash, and factory Amp, which is unplugged but still present), and instead standard size 6X9s are mounted in the rear, and standard 4†factory front speakers are present. The car has no head unit, but the original factory harness is present.
- Factory sunvisors
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- “1LE†rear disc brakes offered on high performance optioned cars 1989-92
- 1998+ Fbody front disc brakes, sometimes called “LS1†brakes
- Wilwood adjustable brake proportioning valve
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- TDS Wonderbar front frame brace
- Founder Performance tubular rear lower control arms with spherical polyurethane bushings.
- Adjustable panhard bar
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- Full A/C delete, including interior non-AC vent box.
- 3-brake light modification - Rewired rear tail lights so that all three bulbs are brake light/tail light instead of just the outside two.
- All fusible links relocated from starter to battery (no more melting)
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- Catalytic converter - 2005
- Recovered headliner - 2005 (also strengthened the weak points with fiberglass)
- Heater core - 2006
- Rear shocks - 2006
- Wheel bearings - 2006
- 170* thermostat - 2006
- MAF sensor - 2007
- Distributor - 2008
- Springs (Factory height replacements from TRW, not lowering springs) Sometime around 2009.
- Fuel pump - 2009 (Metal geared Corvette pump, a slight durability upgrade over the plastic-geared F-body one)
- Engine mounts - 2014
- Rear main seal - 2014
- Oil pan - 2014
- Oil pan gasket - 2014
- Timing chain, gears, cover - 2014
- Water pump - 2014
- Distributor o-ring seal - 2014
- Rag joint (part of the steering column that isolates vibration) - 2015
- Universal Joint - 2016
- Full steering setup (Tie rods, center link, idler arm, pitman arm, everything that moves except the steering box itself) - 2017
- Founders Performance Camber/Caster plates - 2017
- Front shocks - 2017
- Turn signal switch - 2018
- Starter - 2018
†Founders Performance rear lower control arms and hardware - 2020 Replaced by me.
- Battery - 2020
- New Tires - 2020
4- Federal Super Steel 595 245/50R16
- New exhaust hanger. Hooker Aero Chamber muffler.
***Parts replaced
- New 2 row aluminum radiator with dual fan - 2022
-Polyurethane torsion arm bushing - 2022
- Most of the parts above are still like new as the car wasn't driven much.
***Broken stuff/Problems***
- Paint - The paint has the clear coat peeling. It was repainted, just a poor clear coat job some years ago.
- Body damage - There are some dents and scratches, the worst of which is on the drivers door and mirror.
- Wheels - The wheels have less than the expected amount of curb rash for 33 year old factory wheels, but are not perfect.
- Engine - The engine has 220,000+ original miles, it needs some maintenance. It does burn some oil (about half a quart every tank of gas). Hardened/leaking valve seals. This causes the puff of oil smoke on startup that is so characteristic of GM engines of the era. It burns enough oil to foul the spark plugs every 10,000 miles or so. Oil smoke is visible in the exhaust under heavy acceleration, but not at idle.
- Transmission - T5 World Class swapped in this car. The transmission has an unknown amount of mileage on it. It grinds a little bit downshifting into third every once in a while. As mentioned needs new clutch.
- Electrical - A battery-draining issue for a while that causes a no-start condition. As long as the battery is charged the car starts great. But if you leave it sitting for a few weeks the battery will drain.
- Brakes - the rear parking brake does not hold very well. I have heard this is normal for the disc brake cars. I suspect something is wrong with the rear calipers, they may need to be rebuilt. They seem to have low stopping force. That said, the front brakes are so much bigger than the factory brakes that this car stops WAY better than it did with working factory brakes. This car will go slower faster than any other 3rd generation F Body you are likely to encounter.
- Digital LCD Odometer screen has crack and cannot be read.
- Windshield washer - Relocated the Washer fluid and coolant bottles from the fender to the hood latch plate. This looks real good, and opens up the engine bay; but unfortunately means that unless the reservoir is 75% full or more the washer fluid pump does not have enough power to push the fluid all the way forward. This could be resolved by switching back to a factory washer fluid bottle, swapping in an earlier model wiper motor with a second pump on it, or installing a pump part way through the line.
- Oil pressure sensor - the sending unit has failed, and needs to be replaced.
- Car was modified at some point to use a 3-wire 1990+ sensor instead of a two-wire sensor. This allows the fan and gauge to share one sensor instead of requiring two so fans always on while running.
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- Factory service manual
- Haynes manual
- Radio pod bezel - This car came factory with push-button climate controls. I still have the control panel for this, and the bezel that has a slightly smaller hole to accommodate this panel.
- ECM - I have a spare engine control computer.
- Original factory ECM chip - Saved when the custom one was burned.
- Extra gold GTA rear wheel some curb rash.
- Various electrical sensors.
- New in the box fuel filter.
- New in the box fuel pressure regulator.
- Founders Performance full adjustable rear lower control arms with hardware.
- Factory style manual console
- Full Pontiac Historical Society documentation on the car, including original invoice and build.
- Condition: Used
- Make: Pontiac
- Model: Firebird
- Type: Coupe
- Trim: TRANS AM
- Year: 1988
- Mileage: 220000
- VIN: 1G2FW2183JL238342
- Color: Black
- Engine size: 5.7L Gas V8
- Number of cylinders: 8
- Fuel: Gasoline
- Transmission: Manual
- Drive type: RWD
- Vehicle Title: Clean Want to buy? Contact seller!
