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Meet The BEAST, 1973 Trans Am turbo pro-touring build
This car has been in the works since I bought it from Mark L. last spring. I did get to drive it last year, but I blew a head gasket last fall and decided to make major changes. Here is an introduction with material posted on another forum. Hope you guys enjoy it. I know I am :)
Meet The BEAST... Ok, I am going to try working a continuous thread here on the BEAST, even though I know I suck at things like this...lol. The BEAST is more interested in satisfying my need to go fast and corner hard right now than it is in looking pretty...so pretty will have to wait (except maybe for wheels which also add to the GO factor). The car came to me with the engine already built and turbocharged by our very own Mark L. I saw the car on PY for sale initially last fall, and after my usual thinking period I spoke with Mark and we came to an agreement in Jan. I sold my numbers matching 72 trans am (1 of 886 w/auto out of just under 1300 total) and Frank from Allpontiac trailered the car to me (well, to VA) from AZ after the Pontiac Heaven event in April. Mark had set it up for drag racing, but it was street legal still. Roll cage designed for 8.50, Garrett 77mm turbo, BMR alum rods, ported iron heads, CSU carb, Hughes trans w/4600 stall, 3.73 rear, no real interior to speak of. But I had a vision for it...and that included going around corners fast...not forgetting a straight line of course. WITH modern comforts like A/C. I've owned a lot of cars, including newer vettes, but old cars have personality. Often the old muscle cars cant hang with newer technology. But we know that isnt the whole story....hehehe. So its headed down the Pro-Touring route and may eventually see some road racing. Problem was that as delivered it wouldnt pass inspection in DE. So almost as soon as I got it it came off the road for too much noise, a bad rear brake cylinder, and a couple of other minor items. In addition, Mark had plumbed the pipes from the headers to the turbo on the passenger firewall in such a way that they would only allow shallow turns to the right before the right skinny tire came in contact with the Y collector before the turbo...and the wastegate too. Not a great setup for a street car...or one that may see some roadracing duty I hope. So since the car needed a few things I dove in with... -changing the rear from 3.73 to 3.08 for better street manners and to load the turbo harder -restalling the hughes 11" converter from 4600 to 3000 TIGHT....again to load the turbo hard -adding disc brakes to the rear...ALA 1981 T/A components and S10 calipers -18" Goerlich Xelerator 3" mufflers -reworking the turbo piping and wastegate to clear the 285/18" tires that will eventually reside on the FRONT of the car. Yep....the front. This was the hardest part of the job, and required multiple trial and error fittings, and rewelding with my limited welding skill, the help of a friend much better at it, and also a paid professional. -methanol injection system with boost switch at 40% -consolidated and cleaned up wiring -12 volt fan added to turbo oil cooler It took over 2 months to get it all done and pass inspection here, but the car is now legal. Here is a list of other items purchased for the car, but will wait...I want to enjoy the car for whats left of the fall first. -Oil accumulator to back up oiling system under hard right turns -March Performance Style Track Serpentine System with polished A/C compressor, steering pump and alternator -Vintage Air heat/air/defrost -1987 WS6 steering gearbox 12.7:1 -new burnt orange cut pile carpet w/insulation -RSX leather race seats -new door sills -Kenwood stereo & speakers -new door hinge pins -radiator dropped/tilted forward with intercooler -glasstek early style tall TA hood scoop with piping reroute to put stock hood back on -Complete fiberglass front end purchased. Will tilt forward. Not going on for a while...when the body gets reworked and repainted. ***-Vette Brake Products transverse LEAF spring FRONT suspension. Here is an article in 2001 Super Chevy about it http://www.superchevy.com/technical/...ion/index.html It was also featured in Hot Rod Mag. March 1989, and with 16" corvette wheels, 50 series tires, and very little adjusting time it hit .96g on the skidpad. They were confident that with better wheels/tires it could attain 1.00g or better. I'm aiming for 1.03g with 335/35/18s on the rear, 285/35/18's on the front, a 4 link triangulated rear or maybe the new 5 link morrison rear Doug1 is installing if I can afford it at the time. Hoping the tilt front end should weigh in around 25 lbs and help even out front to rear weight distribution while reducing overall weight around 150 lbs. The VBP suspension drops 40lbs of weight too. The VBP kit comes with the composite transverse monoleaf that replaces your coil springs up front (same setup the C5/C6 vettes use), swaybar, tubular upper and lower A-arms and bilstein shocks. Wheels are not purchased yet, but they need to be big enough to house the Kore3 Z06 brakes that will be added to the car later...so definitely 18's, though I might add a set of cheapie 17's or 18's to get the car off the 15" rubber until the rear is decided on 100% later........anybody have inexpensive 17's or 18's? The car with some more pics and info can be seen here including a few short vids while Mark owned it...including the dyno vid where they posted the wrong #'s. I have the dyno sheets from Mark....886rwhp at 15 psi. http://www.americantorque.com/page/1/62/ Oh........I'm not going to take Bill Miller's advice on his own aluminum rods...he suggests that for winter you untorque the rod cap bolts to prevent the possibility of breaking the shoulder of a rod. Lots of folks insist they dont do it and they've been fine. Instead I got an engine oil heater....installs down the dipstick tube. Should add enough protection. Its in an unheated detached garage. Here I am with the car the day I passed inspection, and a pic without me, since you could really care less what I look like...lol. I'll try to add more pics and info as I go along. Thanks to all who have helped get me this far...its a long list already! LOL. http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...422_edited.jpg |
That was the introduction I used on the other forum, and I didnt feel I needed to reinvent the wheel.....lol. But there are serious changes of course.
Here are some pics of the hand polished heads and intake and the freshly prepped block that I smoothed the casting flash from the front. Casting flash has been smoothed from that horrible original timing cover too in prep for paint. Block, valley pan, and timing cover will soon receive House of Kolors Galaxy Grey paint. The rest of the car is soon to follow I hope. http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/CIMG2025.jpg http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/CIMG1916.jpg http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...0815111024.jpg http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...815111032a.jpg http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...815111915a.jpg |
Very nice - a lot of attention to detail .
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The wheels........Ronal 2 piece wheels. Got an excellent price on them, and they are 18x9.5 all the way around. At first I think I'll be running 285/35/18 on the front, 295/35/18 on the rear. Later on if I like these wheels I'm going to get a pair widened at the rear and go to 335's. 295mm really isnt enough to hold what the motor will deliver.
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/CIMG1619.jpg |
Thanks wareagle! Biggerisbetter and Roger Bolliger with his 70 TA clone are big inspirations for me.
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A picture of the March serpentine TRACK system going on the front of the motor (not my motor, thats the one it came off), as well as the nascar style radiator and oil cooler I picked up off ebay. Still some polishing to be done as you can see.....lol
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...t/IMG_8912.jpg http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/CIMG1572.jpg http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/CIMG1571.jpg |
Aron,
Have you considered using E-85 (if available in your area) and forgo the methanol injection? |
How hard is it to polish the intake and the heads. They looked real nice. I like to do a turbo but don't have a clue on where to begin. I had a pretty fast Eagle Talon AWD with a PTE61 turbo and I know what they can do. I no longer have that talon due to a headon collision to the wall at around 70 to 85 mph from someone cutting me off.
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Johnny.......only fleeting thoughts. Its mostly a street car I want to drive everywhere and anywhere. I dont want to have to wonder if fuel will be available where I'm headed next :)
73 TRANSAM.......between the two heads and the intake The first part of the project....sanding....took about 80-90 hrs. Yep, that long. You have to sand away all the sand casting roughness, starting with 60 or 80 frit, and progressively working your way to at least 400-500 grit. In every crack and crevice. Over and over. Honestly it seems never ending and I doubted my sanity at points. The second part is the polishing....again, in every nook and cranny. Many more hrs invested there, but for the heads and intake it was another guy who helped me. Now I have my own serious buffer, so I can takle stuff completely myself. If you dont have the time or patience theres a company that does it....think its like $300 per head and $250 for the intake I believe? Rolled or stamped aluminum like the radiator tanks and turbo piping though is easier. Without the sand casting flash to deal with those parts can be sanded with 400 grit and polished in 2 stages. For anyone interested in polishing here's a really good video of a guy doing an aluminum tank. Keep in mind this is NOT cast aluminum.....those require much more prep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyOodLNI4BQ |
Thats going to be nice Aron. The 88 is going to wake it up over the 77. Especially with the ported E heads vs the street port 6x's. Its not going to be as sensitive to detonation either. Not only compression drop but aluminum takes away heat better than iron and with better flow you'll have less restriction.(Lower boost psi and inlet temps for at least same power, and a lot more power at old boost levels).
Wish I was as far along as you. Enjoy it! |
Hey Bruce! Good to see you again! You are right on all points. My only potential problem is running TOO cool. I am going to have that huge radiator, and on top of that a 13 qt oil system with an oil cooler. The oil cooler will have a flow diverter I can set manually, but still, there is the potential in cool weather for me to have to block the radiator inlet, and its definitely going to need LOTS of warmup time.
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The 84 GP that my motor will be going in, needed a radiator last year. So I went ahead and upgraded to a big aluminum radiator. If ambient is below 70 degrees it is now extremely difficult to even get beyond 140 with a 160 tstat! A few weeks ago 100+ in the shade, AC on, stuck in traffic over 1/2 hour for less than 1/4 mile, it briefly hit 190. I'm even running over 50/50 antifreeze mix which usually runs notably hotter than when diluted to 20% or less. I doubt I'll have issues once my Pontiac motor is in place but hopefully it should run a little bit warmer.
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Well, for normal driving I can leave the valve off on the oil accumulator after I use it to pre-oil for start up. And I could completely shut off the diverter to the oil cooler. Especially if my oil temps dont stay up. As far as the water side...I could like I said use something to interrupt air flow over the radiator.....like the truckers do when necessary. We shall see. I have plans to modify airflow under the hood anyway for high speeds. Belly pan an inch to two inches higher than a lowered front spoiler, radiator air flow routed to the Z06 6 piston 14" brakes that will be residing behind the new wheels, and likely opening up the firewall by the windshield wipers to allow air from under hood to be sucked out over the windshield. Belly pan will be the toughest to design.
Oh, that radiator you see above is a nascar type. In addition to it being huge and having the rear mounted oil cooler, its meant to be used with a pressurized system as they do in nascar. Notice no filler cap? I will however be replacing it with a filler neck and 30lb cap. The increased pressure of course helps prevent any boiling that might occur at hot spots in the motor under sever conditions. |
That's impressive Aron, are you going to have provisions for carrying spare tire(s) as you fry them up and down the freeway?
On a serious note, are you going to stay with the alum rods? |
Yes, definitely staying with the BME alum rods. I have yet to see any real indication of a shortened lifespan from my research, even with regular street use.
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He Aron. That polishing is really nice. It's going to be a hell of an engine compartment. I'm curious to see the finished product. Wished I were closer so I could get some rides. Nice, nice, nice. Mark L
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Thanks Mark! Good to see you resurface. Was hoping you were ok and not kidnapped by the Soap Opera Mafia. lol. But I hope that it looks good and pulls hard too. Hey, ya never know........we may get time to spend in person someday. I want a ride in the Catalina too ya know.
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Tilt front end coming along. Not too far from completion now. The shaker hole and extractors had to be cut in, the fender flares and front spoiler, tabs for the grills, turn signals and marker lights..........not to mention TONS of casting flash removed and the front end itself smoothed.....it was very rough and uneven. Made by USbody.com and runs like $1700. Sorry about the mediocre cell phone pics.
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...0815-00247.jpg Front spoiler being bonded. http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...0816-00263.jpg Shaker being held in place by a friend crouching underneath...lol http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...0816-00258.jpg |
A one piece fiberglass front end, something I always wanted to do to the old girl. But never had the funds. Looking good Aron. Yup. One Day at a Time has me totally in its grip. I'm sitting in front of the T&V as we speak. Soda bottle in one hand, chips in the other, bed pan in the appropriate location, and the remote tied to the dog (gotta figure out how to stop the dog from waggin' her tail, everytime she does, it changes the damn channel, very annoying) waiting for tomorrows show. They took Maggie off the resperator and she's still breathing, the old fart!!!. OK, to much information, heh!!! Mark L
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Hehehe Mark. Too funny. Yeah, I cant wait til the day that I can put her on a set of scales and find out what I have done to the weight distribution. She lost weight getting rid of the core support initially & inner and outer fenders/hood/nose going to glass should be a weight savings, about 40 lbs saved getting rid of the coil springs and going to aftermarket A-arms, unknown (wish I knew what the weight diff was....thought I figured it out at one point but cant remember) weight savings switching to aluminum heads.
Really wish I knew how much the original nose & supports, inner & outer fenders and hood weighed. I still have the fenders and one inner fender and could weigh them. Anyone know what a shaker hood and 73 nose with all mounting brackets weighs? Core support? Of course theres the added weight of the turbo, intercooler, extra fluids and a/c stuff. Battery is in the trunk. Still, I wonder. |
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