[Scarebird]

Not much on the trans Am front; paint guy is very busy - the TA is hiding in the corner. After reviewing the rims on Dale's car - I brought a spare rim to paint to see what it would look like - not really good according to Nick. Mmnh, perhaps paint the centers darker grey? no way sez Nick - paint doesn't stick to powder that well.

So I decided to get a set of these:



I was looking at running the Rally 2's but the Hurst's - yowzah!

[Scarebird]

Cameo white.

[Bob Rutledge]

That is going to look really good with those rims.

[wheelspin]

Great build thread on one of my favorite Pontiacs, Mark . I have always held the view that early second gen Birds look like race cars, but with a license plate . Being unable to afford a real one, particularly for race track use, I built one for my purpose & pleasure.

I built my TA tribute/clone beginning with a '72 base model 350/350 Bird as a platform to build a fun open track day ride. I switched out the drive train for a 550hp-462/3200 stall Continental/T-400/3.42 combo and collected the necessary front clip parts to make the body changeover. I removed the top and rear chrome window trims, the thick chrome bead window rubbers from below the side glass, and I have collected the parts to convert the wipers to the TA recessed style. I also converted the original idiot light dash to TA style using gauges and a dash harness that I obtained from Forum members. I run 10" wide Nitto 01s on 16" X 8" American TTs and added 4 wheel discs, CE welded sub frame connectors, Cal-Tracs, Konis, and a Hotchkis TVS setup which lowered the car 1 1/2". More than met my expectations and always a big hit at any track event that I enter .

For the final mod, I would like to install a beefy 5 or 6 speed stick OD trans to replace the automatic which isn't as much fun as shifting (as you know ).

[brut4s]

X2 those will look great!

[Scarebird]

That is really nice Les. When I first saw my painted shell in Cameo it was a little uninspiring - till the rest of it along with stripe comes onboard as in your car.

Should get it back in 2 weeks to assemble. Daughter doesn't like driving a stick as the 2001 Miata I bought her for graduation is, so we traded for the Trailblazer. The Mazda is quite a hoot to drive.

[Scarebird]

parts painted and going back together...

[Scarebird]

Went to get it today. Of course after they pushed it out to get ready for the flatbed a rain squall passed thru.



Weather cleared up for the ride home.



New garage mate not sure what to make of the new face...



now the work begins again.

[GTO68FXSTC98]

[The Mazda is quite a hoot to drive.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

You know they make a V8 conversion kit for the Miata (Stacie David from Gearz did one). Wink Wink nudge nudge

[Scarebird]

naw. Little Miata gets nice mileage. If I was to mod it it would be something like a MGB-GT...

[Scarebird]

Well, things were busy and sea changes are in order. Looking to move down to California in a year and a half; 33 years of drizzle and crappy weather is enough. If the T/A is going it must meet CARB regulations - the ones for 1979 are rather difficult to meet if you do not have an engine with all the smog stuff.

But there is another way. GM and CARB worked together to make 3 different crate motors that meet spec:

330hp 5.3 liter LC9
430hp 6.2 LS3
556hp 6.2 supercharged LSA

I bought a LC9 about a month ago from Summit. Still had not shown up. Went to SEMA last week and chatted with the GM crate engine guys, and found out that the LC9's mailbox shaped intake will not clear a lot of hoods! WTF!

When I got back I got a note from Summit noting that the motor was delayed more. Mnnnh. So I changed the order to a LS3 and it arrived at my friend's shop today.

When they say crate they mean crate!



Riding the hook till I get some metric bolts to old it to the stand.



What GM sends you...



Lotta stuff for $7,600 - light and very powerful. And Green too.

[brut4s]

Well since you're going this Route are You going to at least paint it Pontiac Blue?

[Scarebird]

no, leaving it natural aluminum. I will need to find out if I can mod or change oil pans for better clearance without voiding the CARB number.

[Ollie]

Are you going to use MegaSquirt for the ECM.

[Scarebird]

no, GM provided a PCM to run it, along with cats, cannister, etc to be CARB compliant.

[Ollie]

OH,yeah, looked closer at the above photo.
Sorry to hear about your decision to move south.

[Ben M.]

I'm impressed! I've still contemplated doing this in a car out here from time to time... Let us know how the install and hook up for it all goes.

[Scarebird]

Friday night is here. GF want to cuddle on sofa watching some mindless pap on the tube when there are Trans Ams to be made roadworthy.

Easy decision.



Nothing like tearing things apart again.

[Scarebird]

Fitment time. After reading up on LS1tech.com about fitting older style trans to LS block I ordered a clutch kit from Pace Performance. This comes with the items shown below:



Not bad for the price, and comes with a Ram clutch setup and LS to Muncie specific bellhousing. Once the kit arrived I could get going on fitment to the subframe. I marked the frame in line with the bellhousing/block interface for reference. Bolted up the bellhousing and trans and lowered into position. Several issues cropped up... imagine that.

First one was this one.




Note the ends of the manifold, then the ends of the Cat assy -
I called Summit and asked about if this was something they knew about - nope. Did some research, realized they sent Corvette manifolds attached to the motor and Camaro cats. Then noticed something weird - in a pic earlier in this thread showing the components of this kit I noticed that the motor has manifolds, and there are a pair of loose ones. I did not open all the boxes and sure enough two held Camaro manifolds. I contacted Summit and explained what happened to close out the issue with them.





But of course this created another issue - the 'vette manifolds cleared the Z bar just fine - the Camaro ones gleefully block any hope of using the stock bar. Arrggh.
So I spent an hour researching hydraulic throwout bearings. Hopefully I can sell the 'vette manifolds and recoup the cost and a bit more.





Of course the water pump had to get into the act too... cheerfully pointing right at the UCA, I will need to dope out a way to clear the UCA.

I am also fabbing up mounts to use the stock 77-81 Pontiac lower motor mounts as the Dirty Dingo mounts supposedly only use the Chevy lowers. Once sorted out will post diagrams and dimensions.

[Scarebird]

I have not posted in a while on this, but that does not mean that work was not proceeding. This car is taking more time and money than my most pessimistic forecast...

I was loathe to use an aftermarket heater core, but a quick test with a ginned up rig shows a big leak...



A 5/8" bolt smeared with sealant and clamped, 3/4" tube with a rubber tire stem assembly shoved in and clamped - run up to 15-20 psi and bubbles came out immediately. Rats.