Pontiac Trans Am

[F-Body International]

Last month, I sent my distributor out to PY member Sun Tuned for a rebuild/service. He said he's been busy with orders so it took him some time but these are some pictures he sent me today. I'm very glad I sent it to him after seeing that he's addressing a few issues with it.





Found a crack here...


Housing cleaned...




Shaft regreased and shimmed...




Looking pretty clean...



Also, the Global West lower control arms should be in tomorrow. I should be fairly well set up for front suspension pretty soon here.

[F-Body International]

Got some time in after work today to install my Lab-14 upper control arm reinforcement plates.

Started by wire wheeling the control arm area...


Got some weld-through primer from my local Oreilly auto parts...


Sprayed the area that's getting welded...


Sprayed back side of plates then used the Lab-14 supplied locating bolts for set up...


Lab-14 plates welded into place...

[F-Body International]

Did a little fitting with the new Global West control arms and finally got around to installing my Lab-14 lower control arm reinforcement plates. I must say, the control arm tool from Lab-14 was a big help in getting this done smoothly! Also if anyone else gets these plates, just FYI, you may need grind down the edges slightly so that they fit the frame better. Either way the fit is great and they really do appear to strengthen this area.

[F-Body International]

Since Photobucket has blocked all my pictures. I will stop posting on this thread until further notice. I'm not planning on paying them money but we'll see what happens.

Thank you for those who have followed, influenced and helped me with my project up until this point.

[JayinMI]

Yeah. That sucks. I just got hit the other day after seeing it happen to other people. I have build threads going back YEARS on SEVERAL sites I no longer frequent. I think I'm going to switch to Google photos and update a couple of recent threads, but leave the others how they are. I feel like they should have just done a "From now on" kinda thing. Kinda crappy.

Jay

[ryeguy2006a]

I have used Flickr for a long time with great luck. Very easy to use. Really too bad about that. All of my old build of my 1976 is essentially gone... I hope that you continue to post on another site, as I want to see more progress photos of your ride.

[F-Body International]

I have used Flickr for a long time with great luck. Very easy to use. Really too bad about that. All of my old build of my 1976 is essentially gone... I hope that you continue to post on another site, as I want to see more progress photos of your ride.

That sucks your '76 and the threads for it are pretty much done now. I'll probably do Flickr or something else eventually. It'll probably be easier for me to start new a build thread at that time. For now, I'm just going to lay low with posting about my car. Progress with my project has been slow for budget reasons lately anyways. I'm sure you know what I mean there.

I have a Facebook page called F-Body International if you want to check that out. It's not much but I have some of my build there still. I update it here and there but not as much as the forums. Much of my pictures are lost to Photobucket and old phones I don't have anymore.

[F-Body International]

After +6 months of my original pictures being disabled, I have finally went in and fixed my old posts.


Since I stopped posting on this thread, I've pretty much been cleaning out my inventory so I can start my build over again. Some people on here must think I'm crazy after so many ideas and parts being gone through. Over this past month, I've sold my PTFB subframe/suspension, BOP valley pan, Holley intake, SPR TBI, and some other things. Last month I decided to pull the trigger on going back to school to get a Master's degree so I'm pretty much back to being a broke college kid. On my daily driver '98 Trans Am, I've had issues with brakes developing a leak, engine overheated 1 day and check engine light just came on. Since that has been popping up, that car is getting a new set or brakes, full exhaust, wheels and some other maintenance related items over this upcoming month.

Amongst all the crazy expenditures (atleast for my budget) of school and repair/upgrades on the daily, I did pick up a couple parts for my '79 this week.
-On Craigslist, I found a good condition '78 iron intake manifold along with a good condition stock valley pan.
-On Facebook, I found a 454 TBI that came with a NOS nitrous plate.

Here's the story behind the TBI that I just picked up. The guy who had it got off a truck he bought from a lady. Apparently her son went to jail so she pretty much sold the truck to him for pennies. Since he had converted it to carburetor, I asked him about the TBI and he said he wasn't sure about the condition so he said he'd give it to me for free because he'd feel bad selling something with problems. For $22 shipping, I ended up giving him $25 total for his honesty and me taking a risk on an unknown item.

Since I got it on Friday, I've disassembled it, soaked some parts in CLR and reassembled hand tight. Once I get around to selling some more of my extra parts, I'll probably send this one off to SPR Performance so that it can get modified like the other one I had done.

New BBC TBI by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr

New BBC TBI by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr

Top view of the nitrous plate sitting on top of the GM quadrajet adapter...
New BBC TBI by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr

Cleaned up a slight amount...
New BBC TBI by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr


Terrible looking picture here but I have degreased and brushed a lot of grime off this this thing. I tried doing this with CLR and it didn't work too well. I pretty much just figured out that it's a great home cleaning product for calcium, lime and rust like the bottle says but it's not good for greasy car parts. Either way, I still made process with it. I may try it over again with Evapo Rust just to see how that works.
New BBC TBI by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr

[Josue]

I've been following along with all your for sale threads. I remembered all you did to this car, so I was shocked when I saw all this stuff being parted out! haha But, priorities are priorities....we've all been there.

I dropped a lifter on my '68 towards the end of the season, so I'm going to park it for a few years while I build up the knowledge and funds for the total drivetrain and suspension overhaul it desperately needs. lol Funny you mention your daily is a 4th gen though, cause I'm thinking about getting one so me and the family can tool around while the '68 is down for the count! lol A friend at work is selling his '99 Trans Am for around $3500....all it's worth with 145k mi. I figured that's cheap, t-top off, fun for the time being. Then if I choose, I can take what I need for my LS swap (decided on that route) in the '68, and part out the rest of the car. At least then I'll know what I'm getting in a used drivetrain, vs. buying an engine and trans sitting on the floor of some random guy's garage that he said "ran good before pulled".

[F-Body International]

I've been following along with all your for sale threads. I remembered all you did to this car, so I was shocked when I saw all this stuff being parted out! haha But, priorities are priorities....we've all been there.

I dropped a lifter on my '68 towards the end of the season, so I'm going to park it for a few years while I build up the knowledge and funds for the total drivetrain and suspension overhaul it desperately needs. lol Funny you mention your daily is a 4th gen though, cause I'm thinking about getting one so me and the family can tool around while the '68 is down for the count! lol A friend at work is selling his '99 Trans Am for around $3500....all it's worth with 145k mi. I figured that's cheap, t-top off, fun for the time being. Then if I choose, I can take what I need for my LS swap (decided on that route) in the '68, and part out the rest of the car. At least then I'll know what I'm getting in a used drivetrain, vs. buying an engine and trans sitting on the floor of some random guy's garage that he said "ran good before pulled".

Thanks Josh! I know you've always been one of the fans on this thread. Much appreciated to say the least! Sorry to hear about your bird. Get that '99 Trans Am if you can. Many people want '99-'02 for the later style computer.

At this point, I'm planning on using bolt-on GM parts for the most part but have some slight modifications here and there that I would like to do. I'll still make it a pretty fun project overall but it'll mostly be on an affordable budget. All the expensive hoopdy-doo stuff just started getting ridiculous in cost. Now that you bring up me selling stuff, I just sold the nitrous plate that came with this TBI. I would've like to play with the nitrous plate but atleast this took care of the cost for my getting my TBI. Nitrous would've just developed another cost on my end unfortunately.

[Josue]

Huge fan of using GM parts too. You were one of the people that helped me get my rear LS brake setup done!

Even though it's "just" a lifter at this point, a part of me wants to just get the whole engine rebuilt because I don't think it's ever been done, and it's certainly tired and leaky at this point. And, by the time I pull the cam to inspect for damage, half the engine is apart anyway. But, the trans has been leaking for a year, and spilled half the fluid on the floor after I parked it for the winter, so now would be a good time to upgrade to a 4sp OD. Then EFI for obvious benefits, and we're already at $5,000 or more. Might as well pull the subframe to clean and weld it up, then I might as well get the suspension done too while everything is apart......and things snowball quickly!

I've got a midnight shift at work again this spring, so it'll give me ample time to get some reading done on all this stuff. In the mean time, hopefully I wouldn't go too overboard modding the Trans Am! Typical car guy, I can't leave anything alone! Maybe a used exhaust off craigslist for the tone, drop springs for the look, intake, stereo....little things....hopefully. haha Again, it could spiral out of control quickly!

Got any pics of yours?

[F-Body International]

This is the daily driver.

[Josue]

Nice...love the color!!

[F-Body International]

Nice...love the color!!

1998 Bright Purple Metallic. 1 year color for LS1 cars and if I recall, they built about 125 total Trans Am’s with this paint code. It’s one of the rarest if not the rarest paint code out there.

[F-Body International]

Here's a fun little project I did earlier this year while I was down with regards to the photobucket issue.

-Started with some out-of-the-box PTFB body mounts.
-Disassembled
-Primered
-Painted OER brand chassis black
-Waterproof grease applied to the steel sleeve and inside of the pucks
-Reassembled

PTFB body mounts painted black by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr
PTFB body mounts painted black by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr
PTFB body mounts painted black by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr

[Josue]

I'll have to remember the grease part. I've had a set of BMR mounts for 2 years now, but haven't gotten around to installing them. Figured it'd be best to do it when I overhauled the drivetrain and suspension...no point in doing things twice. lol

[F-Body International]

I'll have to remember the grease part. I've had a set of BMR mounts for 2 years now, but haven't gotten around to installing them. Figured it'd be best to do it when I overhauled the drivetrain and suspension...no point in doing things twice. lol

Yes, applying grease will help keep things quiet and reduce the chance of corrosion. BMR makes body mounts out of Delrin if I recall. I'm not sure if I would trust Delrin for a body mount application but if it works, then I don't really have much to say against it. I think I heard about someone have a Delrin body mount crack but I haven't searched on the subject. I'm sure install error could've played a part of that story that was relayed to me one time.

[F-Body International]

A cool update with my '98 Trans Am daily driver is that I just bought a set of wheels.

18x9.5" wheels (38mm offset)
70.3 to 72.6 hub adapter rings
275/35-18 BFG Comp 2 All Season all around


New wheels on Trans Am by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr

New wheels on Trans Am by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr

This one is without the center caps installed but you get the idea...
New wheels on Trans Am by Jonathon Randolph, on Flickr

[Josue]

Damn man...you gotta drag that beautiful car through snow and salt like that? I thought when you said you had one as a DD, you were from a warmer place. lol

I saw a white 4th gen Trans Am with blue stripes just today when I dropped my daughter off for school. Single digit temps and snow/slush all over the roads....I wept a little inside.

[F-Body International]

Damn man...you gotta drag that beautiful car through snow and salt like that? I thought when you said you had one as a DD, you were from a warmer place. lol

I saw a white 4th gen Trans Am with blue stripes just today when I dropped my daughter off for school. Single digit temps and snow/slush all over the roads....I wept a little inside.

Sucks but is what is now. I tried selling it for a while but not one person ever came to look or even make an offer. For the price of me doing maintenance on this car, it’s stupid for me to sell for what people want to pay.