1974 Trans Am Clone Build

[Ccd]

Finally making some more progress. Things are very busy for us again at the shop and the T/A got plopped onto the back burner, but now we've got things rolling again. Bought a rotisserie and got the shell mounted up:



That got it off the hoist and mobile so I could get it out to my father in laws to get the body work going.








Stripping things down to see what's what, there is a little "extra history" under the paint but mostly she's solid! A couple patches at the rear and a bit of unforeseen cancer up at the drivers a pillar and that's about the extent of it.
Sand blasting the underside soon, and once the mini tubs and subframe connectors are complete we will give it sealer and coating.

[Interceptor5588]

Subscribed. Where are you in Alberta?

[Ccd]

Near Camrose. Are you in Alberta too?

[Ccd]

Haven't updated in over a year but things have been moving along. Finally have some time with the Christmas break here to bring the thread up to speed.

So with the body work under way I had to decide what I wanted to do for the suspension, brakes, and drivetrain. After extensive research I finally decided to go with a Schwartz G-Machine Chassis. A few calls and emails with Dale and things were under way. They must be doing something right over there, we had to be scheduled in for the frame build, it was weeks before they could even roll on it. All told it was nearly three months before it landed in my shop here:















All in all very happy with what I see. A little intimidated too... does NOT come with assembly instructions lol.

I am trying to keep the scope creep under control with this project, I don't want to end up having so much invested that I won't enjoy the car... So tried to be realistic with the way the car will be used, and only went with the more basic Wilwood brake package instead of the all out Baer units, but splurged for the aluminum carrier for the diff, trying to spend where it fits the philosophy of what I am trying to achieve.

I mentioned much earlier in this post about the Canadian dollar exchange, that really tacks on a significant premium to everything a guy does. Right now your basically 30 percent more for everything, then the freight is a challenge and super expensive to get it out here! Boo Hoo I know... first world problems! But to keep my marriage intact I am trying to keep costs under control. One of the hold backs was power coating. Mistake. Huge pain in the ass to get this thing painted!

Knowing that this won't be some trailer queen I opted for good old Tremclad Semi-gloss, looks just fine and tough as nails! I think it turned out great. Disassembled everything, masked it up, degreased and shot 'er with the rattle can:

[syborg tt]

Very cool project.

Keep the paint and body simple and you will be able to enjoy it.

Trust me my 3rd project car is my favorite so far as we did a descent satin blue paint and it's not perfect and it's more fun as I don't have to worry about it. Heck I even lean on the fenders and I love when kids come up to it and cruise nights an I can tell them go ahead you can touch i and even sit in it if you want.

[ed1le]

Awesome build and looking forward to more updates!

[Ccd]

Thanks guys! Couple more pics of the shell getting done, sandblasted and coated underneath, spoiler installed, and into primer. There was some minor rust repair that had to be performed in a couple of areas, I don't have those pics it was done while I was away. I'll just show the up to date pics. We had the wheels propped in there to see if there was going to be any clearance issues. We trimmed the wheel opening lip back by more than a half inch for maximum clearance, I can't stand tires rubbing!















It's amazing how bad the rear spoilers were for fitment, there were a lot of hours spent getting the 3 pieces fitting well.
I'm particularly happy with the underside, really turned out nice.

Spent some time pulling parts that have been in storage for quite a while, feels good to get things moving again. Got the engine and transmission together:







Used a TCI Streetfighter torque converter, I am told this is a good match for the cam we used.

[69Goat]

Subscribed.

[Schwartz Performance]

Happy to see it coming along!

-Dale

[Ccd]

So, progress is fairly slow these days. Trying to get the details done so I can get the body on to the chassis. Took the heater cover and box apart to replace the heater core and to get the cover prepped and painted. Of course that turned into more hassle than I thought it would, once I started sanding the cover I kept finding more and more surface corrosion, and finally just ended up taking the whole thing down to metal:





Had to grind the spot welds and fold this little deflector piece back to clean up the corrosion I found behind it:



Final product:




Side note: Made the unfortunate discovery that the wheels I got won't work... these Forgeline Center Lock units were off a former SEMA show car for Karbon Kustoms, and I love them, but the Wilwood hubs on the Schwartz chassis are just too deep and no amount of machining and modification will make the centre hubs fit. So I'm abandoning them, and will have to figure out a new plan! Going to advertise these over in the parts for sale forum.





Let me know if this is something that is of interest to anyone!!

[Ccd]

So as I've said before I'm not building a show car, I'm putting together a driver. I'm not spending the time and money under the hood because I won't be looking under there when I'm driving it! I do admire the smooth and detailed under hood appearance if some of the higher end builds though. Anyhow, all that being said I still don't want it to look like a piece of crap when the hood is inevitably opened at track events so still going to spend some time and elbow grease on the firewall before dropping the car on the chassis. Going more for a refresh and neatening of what Pontiac deemed acceptable when the car left the factory. Here's the current state of affairs:

No specific before pictures, although you can see the firewall in previous posts. Here it is going back together. New heater core of course. Original one was brass and surprisingly heavy compared to the new aluminum one.



And here it is pretty much assembled







I have to say it's hard to believe the way things were done back in the day... throw 'er in the press and whatever it's shaped like when done was A-OK haha!! No ones really looking anyways right?



So now that these tasks are complete, next I'm going to roll,the chassis over to the hoist room for a little test fit! When I can find some time...