End of an Era...
 

I am hopping on here to write a short farewell to this sub-forum along with HUGE thanks to all the members knowledge and experience over the years. Anytime I posted a specific issue or question, I always got solid advice. And I probably learned even more form just read along on all the questions posted by others. It means a great deal to me.

I owned my 2 1973 Trans Ams for 10 and 8 years respectively and in that time brought them from basic weekend driver quality cars to solid, no apology resto-mods. Both had full Hotchkis suspensions with subframe connectors and both had very nice FT / Aluminum head / carbureted engines. Green had a TKO-600 and Red had the original 4-speed.

I am no mechanic - I figured out as much simple stuff and maintenance stuff as I could and farmed out the heavier lifting to a fantastic local mechanic who I now consider a true friend.

At my age, I was ready for a different car ownership and driving experience. I was looking for something with more power, better handling, and ‘new car’ reliability. I had looked at recent Z06 Vettes, GT500 Shelbys, and Hellcats. But I just could never see myself behind the wheel of a new(er) performance car...

Instead, I just snagged a 1973 TA with DSE front and rear subframes, Q-link rear, LS9 power and a 6-speed. Build is all done except paint. I decided on Black with Platinum hood bird. Many on this forum will say that’s complete sacrilege, and I get that. No offense taken. And I know there is another sub-forum here for cross-bred power plants. But both my TAs were pure Pontiac - they gave me nothing but pride in ownership and I know they will find great homes. It was bittersweet watching them loaded on the enclosed transport this morning!

Now the wait for the finished product begins! Oh well - with winter rapidly setting in here in the heartland, I wouldn’t be doing too much cruising for the next few months anyway! I will post a few pics of the new beast once she arrives - but I respect that’s not what this sub forum is for.

Whats an LS9?

Its an upside down 6 :D

New direct injection?

Dude, you sound like your Gramma died. It's okay. You can still visit and contribute any time.

Sounds like bought yourself a little piece of heaven to me. Enjoy it!

That was a good read.
Forged Titanium Connecting Rods

it told everything except dyno results , and cost

Sounds like a Bionic Car {music starts , the theme from 6million dollar man ...stronger, faster, screws farrah fawcette, etc ..etc ..}

Congrats on the New Ride :D

Pretty sure it’s a 638 hp engine.

Not bad for a 376 cube production engine with a factory warranty.

More engine specs:https://paceperformance.com/i-625555...bs-torque.html

Unfortunately the GM crate LS9 has been discontinued. Back in 2009 they were selling for $21K.

Hilarious! Nope - just looking for a different ‘experience’ after a decade with zero regrets. Yes, some serious frustration along the way! But hands down a helluva lot more pure joy. I’ve always said that without Jay Leno’s money or his garage space, the only way to have (and hopefully enjoy) a new or different car experience is to be willing to let go of something that I’ve already had.

I also get frustrated with my lack of mechanical ability. I have such huge respect - and a bit of jealousy - for the guys on this forum who can dig right in and do all the mechanical work on their own cars. I will be 54 here soon and driving myself crazy in the garage digging 1-2 steps beyond my mechanical ability into a project is losing its appeal! Someone who knows what they are doing could probably swap a roller cam into each of my cars in a weekend and get disc brakes up and running in another weekend. That’s really what they need to take the next step.

There is a guy where I live who is probably in his mid-60s, just retiring. He is a life-long gear head and drives a jaw-dropper 69 Camaro that’s been Mini-Tubbed, 4-link DSE suspension, supercharged LS, 4L80E. And from the outside, only the width of the rear tires really gives the secret away. Same with the interior - Houndstooth buckets - just looks like a super clean ‘stock’ 69. He has always been very complimentary of my cars, but he warned me that the day would come when I would want to try to grab the next rung on the ladder.

FWIW - stars aligned and I was able to make this move essentially ‘laterally’ selling both of my cars for this one. I’m sure the stack of receipts over 8 and 10 years respectively on my cars would stand up to this build. I try not to think about that!

You wont catch any crap from me. Sounds like you got yourself a badass ride!

I love the LS platform, especially forced induction ones!

PDC,

Congrats!!!! That will be one nice car. Remember, you made this move for yourself and for no one else! You wanted something more than you had and I applaud you.

Sounds like one heck of a machine. Enjoy it to the hilt.

I remember when my Dad had the Pontiac dealership there was a 1977 Grand Prix that had the two-tone color of black and silver. The top was silver and the bottom was black. A very striking combination. The car also had a red interior and a red accent stripe that went along the split of the two exterior colors. Your car should look great with that color combo.

Also, I don't know where you live, but if you want that ride in my '73 it is an open invite you had asked about a while back.

Congrats. If I have any more issues with this pure poncho engine of mine, I am going LS3 for sure. Are you going to be hanging out on the pro-touring forum?

Absolutely - I learned from this forum that the best way to avoid repeating mistakes is the search function!

Lame
Makes me sick to my stomach. I guess some people can not figure out how to modernize their old PONTIAC and make a truly cool car.
Any Pontiac with a LS or Chevy under the hood IMO is not a real PONTIAC.

Ding! Ding! Ding! No more calls, please ladies and gentlemen... we do have a winner!!!

Understand your frustration, specially if you don’t have the mechanical ability do it all yourself. Allot of Pontiac’s out there with BBC and now LS motors. Enjoy

Keep both of them!:D LS are great engines, i have an LS1 in my 98 formula. :p
I took out an ls9 with my 70 it took a 462 with 15 psi. :D

GOD if I could have kept every car I’ve ever owned! ...

Strange, my car in HS (1985) was a ‘base’ firebird with a 301 and a 2.81 single leg rear end. I sourced a complete 389 form the local salvage yard along with a 3.42 ring gear and posi carrier and worked my ass off at the local K-Mart to pay for a ‘basic’ rebuild of the 389 and installation of the posi and gears. Back then ‘state of the art’ was the Edelbrock Performer Cam and Intake package and BlackJack 3-tube headers. Compared to where that car started life, I thought it was the fastest damn thing in the world. In the past 6 months, I have had countless vivid dreams about finding that car and buying it back. Not sure how or why the mind works the way it does when it does.

Old muscle cars are more about the actual engine than the car itself. Even my wife knows if a Pontiac is taking off at the drags by the sound of the engine. Its very important.
The high end engine builder who balanced my engine hates LS engines. Ugly and anyone can just drop them in and make power. They are for the unskilled.
Ruins the car. Its no longer a Pontiac.
I even hate it when they stick LS engines in old Chevies. If you can not take the correct engine and put a nice FI system on it, modern hyd roller and nice exhaust get out of the hobby. Because at that point you are a unimaginative check writer.
All those guys at the track who just drive up in a Hellcat do not get any real respect. They just think they do.

I guess we know why PDC is saying "bye Felica" to this forum :rolleyes:

Good luck to you PDC, I have learned a lot from you sharing your experience with your cars on this forum. Particularly your thoughts on trans/rear gear ratios and tire/wheel fit.

I guess if I listened to certain people I should sell my 1,300 mile 1979 10th Anniversary with the 403 and auto combination for a song and a dance since it is not a Pontiac.

No. I don't think I will.

Hey, it's all good. I really hesitated starting this thread and alluded to that in the original post. I said I would take no offense to those who don't dig the new car and now its up to me to stand by that. But I have learned over the years that how someone treats you / talks to you has a lot more to do with how that person feels about him or her self than how they feel about you. It's worth a few jabs (from people I've never met and never communicated with?) to hear genuine enthusiasm from the folks that I've really enjoyed getting to know on this forum.

I readily own that I am not mechanically inclined. I've got no formal training, limited experience, and no shop with the kind of tools necessary to do engine-out work - even if I knew how. I have mad respect for the many excellent mechanics on this site and genuine appreciation for the knowledge they share.

I'm 53 and have been a Pontiac guy since my very first car at age 15. I even mentioned that in a comment below - stocking the shelves at the local K-Mart to afford a simple re-build of a boneyard 389 and installation of a 3.42 posi. My older brother and his buddies were all Pontiac guys - and in the 80s that was big deal. When life forced me to sell my first Firebird for something more practical, I swore that if I ever earned enough dough for a weekend car, it would be a Trans Am - and my favorite year has always been the 73.

Did I 'write a check' for my cars? Yup. And several more along the way. I owned them for 10 years - kept them both 'traditionally' Pontiac - and loved every mile and every smile. I tried to turn every bolt I could teach myself how to turn and did as much of my own maintenance as I could, with a lot of guidance from this forum.

Thank God building a car is not a requirement of owning or enjoying one, or I'd be walking everywhere I go. Thank God building a house is not a requirement of owning one of those, either, or I'd be living under a bridge. I totally get belittling 'check-writers' - but who knows, maybe it takes a certain number of 'check writers' out there to make some really valuable Pontiac products financially viable for the aftermarket?

Dont worry about it. Someone will always have a problem with whatever you do. If you kept it Pontiac powered there would be guys complaining about what heads you used, what rotating assembly etc etc.

I love my LS. I love driving it, modifying it, tuning it, and even enjoy the butthurt it causes.

Unless those guys are paying the bills, their opinion means less than chit.

PDC - Give us an update when the new '73 is finished. I'd be especially interested in your impressions of the DSE stuff. I've been on the resto-mod road with my '78 T/A since I started auto-crossing.

Thank You! I absolutely will. It is mechanically finished and running - just getting started on paint. Timing might have it finished right when we see the worst of our winter weather in my neck of the woods - in which case I might not have it in my garage til March. Current owner says the DSE suspension (and low profile 18s) are 'firm' but not at all 'unpleasant' around town. He said he took a 35 mph ramp getting on the freeway at just over 60 and the car was flat and rock solid - felt like he could have rounded it with ease at 70+

I would love to hear about it as well when you are finished. Have had my GTO since 76 but always seemed to love the early 70's birds. What you have, drive and have fun in is what it is really all about. Kept mine at least corporate pontiac for along time and finally with the 6 speed T56, 9" rear and coil over suspension I really do have alot more fun just going out driving it and having fun more than before. Drives alot nicer than before altho I still run a pontiac bullit..who knows.. may swap that someday..

The muscle car hobby is built around engine swaps. I am personally not a huge LS fan, but I know its a good platform, the block is a good durable design, heads work well. I will keep mine Pontiac powered for as long as I own it but thats my choice. I also dont understand the "hate " for so called checkwriters. Not everybody has the mechanical appitude or the facility to do it themselves. I am more of a do it myself guy, but know a few that are not. They are great guys and are really into their cars.
Good Luck with your new build. PDC.

I myself couldn't bring myself to run anything in my gto but a Pontiac engine but I don't slam people for doing whatever they want to their cars. I never thought Id ever change from my original Muncie 4 speed but if anything were to ever happen to it I would definetly install one one of those tremec 5 speeds that someone put a link to recently. Smaller case.handle 600 trq,no cutting and has the option to move things around so the shifter location is through the original doghouse. Better 1st gear and O.D ? Yeah Id love it.

Being that Chevrolet has been sticking Chevrolet V8's in Pontiacs since 71, and Pontiac engines completely died after 81, I really don't see the big deal. You would think people would get over themselves by now.

I've owned Pontiacs that came factory equipped with Chevrolets, still great cars. I've owned several LS powered vehicles and they are great engines. I also like the Pontiac engine for what it is. So it really doesn't matter to me either way what engine is in it. It's still another classic car that is still on the road and that's all I care about.