1976 Trans Am SE sacrilege project

[opnwide]

Some people are going to hate me for what I'm doing to this car, but I am the one putting all the hours into it, so I'm going to build it the way I want to.



After 2.5 years of weekend work, my 455 Trans Am SE is finally going to the the body shop, Colvin Automotive in Austin, TX. These guys have done stuff for Foose, so I'm trusting they'll do me right.

The entire car was blasted, and most of the rear sheet metal replaced. Halfway through, I decided to cut out the inner fenders and mini tub it. Why not, right? I added 2" into the fender, bought speedtech's 2" offset hangers, and moved the front spring perch over 1.5". All this done WITHOUT DSEs help, thanks for nothing. I bet they wish they sold be those front spring perches now, heh?

I did buy DSEs subframe connectors and welded those in. DSE 3" drop springs hold up the rear. I also bought their minitub shocks, but they're too long for what I want to do. I'll be posting those for sale someday.

I'm a better rough carpenter than finish carpenter, if you get my drift. I've also just had shoulder surgery to repair a couple of torn ligaments so no more working on this thing for about 6 weeks. I figured this is as good a time as any to send it out.


Did I mention this was a one of 110 trans am. If you wanted a 455 with t-tops, only 110 out of 10 million came with this option. Cool, huh?

More details to come in future. That was a lot of one handed typing!

greg

[indyjps]

good looking project, I love the '76 front end and prefer it to the later and earlier cars. if it was a #'s car I would have sold the thing and started with another but its your car. what mods are you doing with the 455, brakes, front end mods, color etc.

[WS6]

nice car. I sure hope you can find parts for the Hurst hatches. I also hope it will be parked inside during the rain. I love my ttops but damn is it a poor design and the hurst hatches are much worse. Nice Viper too. Keep us updated on the progress, we can always use more second gens

[1971CHEVELLE]

good looking project

[NOT A TA]

Nice! Post some pics when you get it back!

[6'9"Witha69]

Good work, can't wait to see it back from paint.

nice car. I sure hope you can find parts for the Hurst hatches. I also hope it will be parked inside during the rain. I love my ttops but damn is it a poor design and the hurst hatches are much worse. Nice Viper too. Keep us updated on the progress, we can always use more second gens

No kidding. My buddy had a '76 Hurst TA. Those tops leaked no matter what we tried.

[opnwide]

This will be a very "stock" looking rotisserie restoration from the outside. I'm torn, though, on whether or not I should pinstripe it like original. Car will start life again mostly original. Stock brakes, stock trans, etc. This is a numbers matching car, except intake and carb.
I do plan to upgrade the fuel system. I've sumped the tank and narrowed it 2" per side for the minitubs. I'm running -12 line to an aeromotive pump and regulator that'll help fuel the two little puppies shown below. Those puppies are GT3040s and should be good for 1000hp, but I'll try to keep it around 700-800hp. My wife may have to drive this car, and she really doesn't need anything faster than a 10.0 car. Besides, traction with the 12" mickey thompsons will be marginal at best.

Now down the road it may be tough not to upgrade brakes or put in a new tranny, but I'll do my best to keep it "stock".

Yes, it'll be a garage queen, right next to my red GTS.

[ed1le]

Nice build and interesting fact about it being 1 of 110. I worked with a guy back in the day that had a '76 455 4-speed but it was a hardtop...even that I figured was probably on the rare side. '76 was the last year for that engine and the first year for t-tops, right?

[opnwide]

Yes, 1976 was the first year for the Hurst t-tops. And there were some supply/technical issues. All SE trans ams were supposed to come with t-tops, but Hurst finally gave up trying to deliver after the first 2 weeks in May. My car is one of those last May cars. Only about 700 Ttops were done in '76, 110 of them on the 455/4spd combo.
By the time Hurst got their act together, Pontiac was building '77s. In 1977, T-tops were an option on any trans-am, but when the MOVIE hit the big screen, most ttops did go on SEs.

Now you're ready for automotive Trivial Pursuit!

[BossaNova]

One of 110? Oh hell yeah! You'll fit right in here.

[jackfrost]

woah.

i would crap myself if I saw my car like this:

[Takid455]

Nice project. We need more 2nd gens here.

Where did you add 2" to the fenders? Was the whole rear of the body rusted or did you 'just' cut it out? That is a lot of rot, but these cars love to rot. do the front offset shackles raise the car at all or do they graft into the floor pans?

[opnwide]

The entire CAR was rotted out, not just the rear. This was an Ohio car, so you can imagine. I had no idea what I was getting into. Frame rails, pans, quarters, side sills, fenders, bumpers, hood, dash. What a mess. I bought the car through Ebay from Restore-A-Musclecar in Nebraska.
My plans were to faithfully restore, but after 2 1/2 yrs of rust repair and 2 20lb spools of mig wire, I decided that I earned a few "tweaks" with my restoration. The rear leafs actually fell into two pieces (actually 8 pieces) when I removed them. I had to custom make some hard to get to sheetmetal as I could not even salvage them off of donor cars. AMAZING.
Yes, this is my first frame off.

For the front spring pockets, I cut out a small section of the frame and redrilled some holes to relocate the u-nuts 1 1/2" inward. A few more pie shaped cuts and some fill-in 14 ga and she's good as new again. I had to do it this way, as DSE would not sell me their special "kit" to relocate the front spring pockets. I would've paid good money for them too, but they said no to both my requests. I even tried to get a local hotshot that sent three of his cars to DSE to get some for me---no luck. I built these for $0 so you don't need to spend big bucks to get the DSE "look".



For the wheelwells, I added 2" as shown in the last photo. My brother helped me. He has zero experience, and i agreed to teach him to weld in return for his man-hours donated. He has done pretty well overall, but teaching him has been frustrating at times. You weld it, you grind it Its been a great bonding experience, and I hope he goes we me on the Bandit Run in May to the Year One Experience.

[opnwide]

JackFrost,

What makes you think I didn't crap my pants?
I'm a dentist, not a mechanic. This is my first frame off! I'm hoping my Vette goes a little more smoothly, but I'm gonna take a break after this one.

[ProTouring442]

I think I'd weld in a set of Fisher tops... those Hurst Hatches leak like sieves!

Sweet project! Keep the pics coming!!!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

[cdoggy81]

Ah, I see you got one of Dave's eBay specials. Hope he told you about that rust. He can be an "interesting" person to deal with...
Excellent work though bring this bad boy back! Love seeing the TA's getting some attention I'm doing a 70 TA but it isn't as rare as your ride. Cool car for sure.

Can you post some pics of what you did for the front spring pockets? I am very interested in this.

I know you said 12" mickey thompsons but what size rear tires are you going to run?

Looking forward to seeing you & the car at the Bandit Run in May for the Year One Experience!!!

[Bow Tie 67]

Can you post some pics of what you did for the front spring pockets? I am very interested in this.

Look close at the pics on post #13 it shows what he did.

[opnwide]

The tires are MTs S/Rs 26" tall, 10" front (255s) and 12"rear (305s) and they're going on the factory honeycombs for a stealth look. The rears have been widened 2" on inside so that it'll appear as though fronts and rears are the same size to the casual observer. I was hoping to have some photos, but I'm having issues painting those rubber wheels. These tires are the only 130mph tire I could find in 15" size. Too bad they don't make a 26"X14" tire:( The wider sizes are all too tall (29") for the look I want.

Let me know if you need more info on those spring perches.

[cdoggy81]

Got ya on the spring perches. I see the pics now.

Real cool idea about the factory look & how you widened your rims by 2"! I like

[Throttle]

My father ordered a 1976 Trans Am with the 455 and 4 speed in 1975 and since the strike happened he got a 400 instead.. We had that car for many year and put 320,000+ miles on it without even taken the intake off.. We would probably still have the car to this day if some jackass wouldnt have been drunk and T-Boned my mother in the car to where it ripped the car in two..


Nice Project.
I live in the Austin Area, do you ever go out to the Car Meets??