Been a Long Time
 

So quite a while ago, I parlayed my 2 ‘resto mod’ 1973 Trans Ams into a single, ‘step up’ build: DSE Front Hydro Sub-Frame, DSE Rear Q-Link, Ford 9”, Coilovers, LS9, T-56. I got this car from Rick Deiters at Trans Am Specialties in FL, where I got both of my 73 cars. He had started this build for an overseas client who backed out of the build more than halfway through. Previous owner took a bath after backing out of his project, and Rick really treated me right on this transaction.

Fast Forward - as many of you know, Rick suffered a catastrophic fire at his main shop in March of this year. The week before the fire, Rick had transported my car to the body and paint shop 2-3 blocks down the road (he had grown tired of the dust and fumes from body and paint in the main shop). My car was safe, but it was the worst nightmare for a true friend and business owner. Work on my ‘73 slowed dramatically, but I just didn’t care. My timeline immediately turned into ‘first world problems.’

Car is damn near ready to ship. Rick’s team could not have done a better job or paid more attention to detail. Time for final ‘shake down’ drive, then check all fittings: fuel; oil; hydraulic clutch; brakes; etc. Car should be shipped next week. I’m praying for a cool, dry November.

This has turned out better than I ever dared dream. I wish the previous owner had commissioned a Butler IA 535 for this build, but only so many stars align at any one time. In any event, 638 hp out of the crate - 710 hp is a pulley and tune away… (LS Haters, please feel free to pm me rather than litter this thread with negativity. I will be more than happy to delete your messages directly from my inbox.)

Wow! Car looks great!!! More info on the build specs and pics please. Personally I like either an LS or old school Pontiac power. I think long and hard about an LS swap. Probably will do one down the road.

Sorry to hear about your buddies shop. That sounds horrible.

Beautiful. more pics please. Dam shame about the fire in there shop.

Beautiful car! More pics please...

I'm converting my '64 GTO to LS. I'm getting the snide comments (Even from friends). But I couldn't care less. I've owned my current GTO since 1985. Had another before that. Owned a '64 GTO ever since I was 16 with exception of about one month. So I've paid my "true Pontiac dues".

Enjoy the car!

Thank you so much! Yes, I will be blowing a ton of media storage on my phone with pics once she is here! The last thing is a good shake-down drive, get everything up to temp, some highway, some in-town, then give her a good once-over on the lift. She should ship next week, depending on transport availability.

I would have loved a no expense spared roller cam, EFI Poncho mill under the hood, but the previous owner went LS9, and when I came into the build, she was mechanically up and running. Just didn't make sense to undo and redo that much time consuming work. Eager to take her for a drive and post a few more pics.

Glad this is working out for you, there have been a few LS motor builds that hid the coil packs with Pontiac valve covers and painted the motor Pontiac blue. I think I could live with that, maybe a future update for this car?

Should be a fun car, enjoy.

Sharp looking car there and hard to beat a turn key ass kicker like that.

Thank you very much. Yes, I have seen 2 Trans Ams online with really tastefully done LS cosmetics: one is (of course) the DSE Brewster Green car and then I ran into a comparably built car with the 70-72 While / Blue Stripe scheme. It also had an LS with coil covers built into the valve covers, throttle body FI that sat under the shaker, all powder coated light Pontiac Blue. It can be done.

This car is definitely more 'function' than 'form' under the hood. I will need to see how much slack I have in the wiring harness and plumbing to possible route some of it up underneath the fenders. It might be kind of fun to learn a whole new platform.

A few more pics…

That TA is drop dead gorgeous!

You wont hear me complaining about the LS that's for sure!

I dunno. I come to the street section to read about Pontiac cars with Pontiac engines. There is another forum section for cars with non-Pontiac engines. It’s not that this thread bothers me individually, but if the street section got taken over with threads like this I would stop reading and posting here, and I assume there are others like me. I don’t hate LS engines - I own one and love it, but I have no particular interest in reading about LS engines on a Pontiac forum.

2X 182.Tom

Would love to see more pics once it arrives!

Yeah, let's see some pics of that LS9! :) I would LOVE to have one of those! This will likely be going into my car eventually: https://www.chevrolet.com/performanc...s/ls/ls427-570

Thread moved to the most appropriate sub-forum.

Great car by the way. :)

Very nice car. A shame your thread was moved to a low traffic area. At least the appropriate people will be the ones to miss out... I remain curious if our goal here is to bring more people in to our community, or push them away.

Why do you feel "Non Pontiac Motors in Pontiacs" is the wrong section for a Pontiac with a non-Pontiac engine?

I simply always display "new posts" and read whatever I want. I enjoy oem type restorations, but those cars that are fully re-engineered blow my mind.

X2, but I guess they need to please the sensitive types.

I'm not saying it's "wrong". But I personally disagree with the philosophy that a "Pontiac" with an aftermarket everything is ok, and the folks that post with very nice cars that have a corporate engine are usually met with the "we don't wanna read about that on a Pontiac forum". Sometimes it's with civility, and sometimes with hostility. My car has very little left thats factory Pontiac, the block is, and the timing cover. It has efi, coil on plug, electric fans etc. In my opinion, the street section should embody hot rodding. We have dedicated sections for all the body styles, that are geared towards stock representations. I can't even get an administrator to answer a PM about a dedicated efi section, even though we have an ever increasing demand for that knowledge, that is now scattered about in at least 3 different forums. My general take away is that we are not as a group embracing the technology of the day. People don't have to choose Pontiac, why would we discourage them from making something great out of the old iron that we love?
To the OP, sorry for mucking your thread, even in defense of what you're doing.

It seems to make sense to put a "Pontiac with a non Pontiac Motor" in this section. If they didn't have "sections" it would be awfully hard to weed through what one is interested in discussing or reading about.... JMO

If you had an EFI section would you think it would be logical to put carb threads in that section.... No need to answer.

we need a section for threads that are about arguing about what section different threads should go in.

LMAO! I'll subscribe! :)

Your Pontiac isn't as real as mine!!! :) Mine still has original antifreeze!

"not as a group embracing the technology of the day" technology of what day ? The last 400 V8 was in 1978 and had a carb. (79 TA got left over 78's why they were only available with a manual transmission) The fastest T/A had a Buick engine.

Built my Judge in the '80s to autocross. Suspension is mostly Oldsmobile or delrin. Has Firebird wheels (15x8 road and Formula steering). A/C std 3.23 replaced by a 3.55 4 pinion. 808 steering box. That is the " technology of the day". Stock stuff is in big baggies.

Often beat Z-28s. Had more trouble with Corvairs on short courses but is nothing like a V8 on a road course.

Cool car...interesting follow up discussions...

Exhaust Done!
 

Between the width of the mini-tubs and the width of the stick style EFI Fuel Tank, there just wasn’t any room to run the tailpipes over the rear axle. But I actually really did the turn downs after the mufflers! Pypes 3” with X and Race Pros.

Beautiful car PDC!
I would like to hear & see more! If you are in FL I would love to go cruise with you as mine is about done 😎

Thank You!!! Wow! That engine bay in your car is absolutely spectacular. LS engines can look so clean and sharp when you take the time to route the plumbing and wiring harness. The engine bay of my car is not as 'show ready' as yours, but that might be something I can tackle one project at a time once I take delivery.

I'm not in FL - but the car is! Rick Deiters at Trans Am Specialties did this build. I could not be more pleased with how everything turned out.

That looks great! Feel free to share more pics! :) You know, since we're in a non-offensive section of the forum now. :)

Thanks PDC :) My goal was to keep it “looking original” by making the coil packs look like a distributor, painting it Pontiac blue & using a single plane intake. 95% of the people think it’s original & the other 5% think it is a BBC because of the headers. Only 1 person so far knew it was an LS. Too bad you are not down here as I would love to see your car & compare setups. Yours is a rocket ship on wheels!

Thanks Jschmitz! I’ll post more later in my own thread as I don’t want to muddy up this one.

Sounds good

To be clear - I'd love a dedicated thread on your build - it is VERY cleanly done! But that said, I sure don't mind having you post info and pics here, either. This is my first LS platform vehicle and I am all ears.

Here She Is...

Very cool!

Better pic of the engine 😎

Super clean man! I need to get to work! Lol!

This just looks fantastic. I know the added plumbing for the SC on the LS9 will impose a limit on how far I can de-clutter the engine bay. But this is a perfect example of how clean an LS can look when you take the time to route the plumbing and wiring. Absolutely beautiful.

Thanks guys as I really appreciate the kind words 😃
One of the key components for this build was a functional shaker & original looking engine. I was able to succeed with both I think. I wanted to do a SC but it caused a lot of hurdles to overcome. For the next one I want to do a TT formula & somehow incorporate the intakes into the scoops 😎

The Eagle Has Landed
 

Finally at home in the garage. That LS9 is brutally powerful. And with a 6-speed and 3.73s out back, the entire tach is the ‘sweet spot.’

Just a couple more
 

Just a couple more…

Wowowow car looks amazing! Killer garage setup too

Beautiful! Top notch!!!

PDC,

I finally found the thread for the new '73. In a word "WOW"! Great car. I'm happy you finally got it. Looks awesome.

Don't let the LS comments get you down. They wish they had a car as nice as yours. Hopefully, maybe one day I will get to see this car in person.

Something tells me since winter time is upon us, you will be spending a lot of time in the garage just looking at this beauty.

Love the car and enjoy it.

Jim

Jim, thank you so much! Yes, she turned out better than I had imagined. The black with the Platinum SE style graphics just look incredible. Both of my previous 73s had full Hotchkis pieces: shocks, springs, sway bars, SF connectors and handled extremely well. But moving up to the DSE front subframe and rear Q-link is just night and day. This thing corners dead flat at any speed I’ve been daring enough to try. And the big Baer brakes haul her down like you dropped an anchor.

The power this car puts out is ridiculous. And she is going in Monday for an LPE snout, 2.6 pulley, reinforced bricks and a tune. Stock is 638 and the snout and pulley from LPE should be worth 710 at the crank. With headers and 3” catless exhaust, she should hit 725 (hard to improve on the factory manifolds and exhaust on this engine.)

Very few folks had negative things to say about this build - but (of course) they just couldn’t help themselves. Oh well. I look at this car sitting in the garage and I hear the sound it makes on cold start, and I could not be happier.

Very eager to get her in and out of the local shop with a full clean bill of health. We’re seeing high 50*s and low 60* all week next week. Praying for a few more days like that before old man winter officially settles in here in the heartland!

Thank you again - you were very supportive of this move last year when I started this journey. I appreciate it very much.

Wow, need a drool cup now!! :oogle: Really beautiful car, I'm sure that you will really enjoy her.

Thank You! She’s at House of Boost this week getting the Lingenfelter 710 package installed with a dyno tune. We are doing baseline #s first, so we’ll know how close the crate Motor really is to GM’s reported 638 hp, then we’ll know exactly what the LPE snout and pulley was worth.

I still can’t believe it when I step out into the garage. Super, super pleased.

HOB ironed out a few wrinkles in the initial install and set up. Overall, they gave the car a solid clean bill of health. The crate engine is rated at 638 hp at the crank. Baseline number is 560 at the tires. Factoring in 15% driveline drag for a manual trans, that means the engine is putting out around 660 - which makes sense considering this build has shorty headers and catless 3” exhaust. That should easily be worth the extra 22 hp. Next week, she’s getting a Lingenfelter ported snout and 2.6 pulley (LPE 710 package). With the headers and de-catted exhaust, she should be pushing 640 at the rollers.

Pleaseeeeeeee post videos of the dyno pulls!

I’m pretty sure HOB will shoot a vid of the ‘after’ dyno pull. I was at their shop Saturday for a big Toy Drive - bring a Toy and roll your car on the dyno! It was a blast. I saw a pair of C7 Vettes that made 900’ish and just over 1000 hp on the rollers. These guys absolutely know their way around a boosted LS.

Here are pics of today’s progress!

Hard not to be thrilled with this: