Finally Finished! 1980 Trans Am Bandit, Pro-Touring style

[Custom Muscle Cars]

Just wanted to post one of our latest creations that we finished, a 1980 Trans Am Bandit, with 21st century parts and looks. Yes we used alot of parts from Year One, but this customer wanted the 1979-80 bodystyle, so it has a different look, with our own style.
If anyone has any questions, comments or suggestions on this build, feel free to contact me. This thing was a real beast to restore as they dont reproduce alot of thebody panels and plastic parts needed to make a Trans Am look new. Lots of adapting, improvising, and overcoming obstacles. So far she has about 400 miles with no problems, and we may hit the last leg of the Power Tour with it next month.
Shane
http://www.custom-musclecars.com/index_Page816.htm

[AM.MSCL]

Login requested?

[LSx_88_Ciera]

just cancel it and you will be fine it asked me too

[Custom Muscle Cars]

Sorry, the website still has issues with Firefox. IE isnt the greatest browser, but it works on our site fine.

[JEFFTATE]

Those black Trans-Am's always look so good .
The larger wheels in the classic pattern really set it off..
Thanks for posting.

[Rybar]

I think you have done an outstanding job! Well done.

[srh3trinity]

The car looks great. Nice and clean. How much room is there for more tire and what size are you running in the back?

[ErikLS2]

Beautiful car, nice job. The shoulder harness should not attach that low though, could caues injury. Otherwise it's awesome.

[DaviRotten]

My son wants this as his first car.

[T_Raven]

Holy crap that thing is nice. I hope my 79 is 1/2 that nice some day.

[Custom Muscle Cars]

Thanks for the comments.
On the wheels, they were a real PIA to deal with year one. They want to send you crazy backspacing, but the wheels that will fit without any mini-tubbing or suspension mods are 18X9" on a 5.25" backspacing all the way around. We are running 265/35 18 Nitto 555 tires, you can probably go with 275/40s out back, but the customer didnt want rubbing issues, and wanted the possiblity to rotate them. The car is lowered about 2 inches and we have no rubbing issues. I spoke with the manufacturer of the wheels (US Wheel in Ca) and he verified this is what fits on the second gen F bodies. He says if you modify the seatbelt pockets in the wheel house and cut the fender lips you can squeeze an 18X10, but everything must be perfect or it will rub. Our car has a big cam, and doesnt pull hard until 2800+ RPM, so we arent spinning the tires and tweaking the body.
The shoulder harnesses are actually floor mount Y types, so i dont see how you can be injured with them mounted on the low cross bar. We arent racing it, just street driving, and the tiger cage eliminated the overhead seatbelt retractors, so we had to do something. No one is riding in the back, usually just 1 or 2 people. Anything is better than nothing or lapbelts! lol

[Josh69]

What happens is that when you have a collision, the belts want to pull your body down to the floor, so there is potential to break your collar bones or spinal compression. Your momentum is forward and up with your hips as a fulcrum, the belts want to keep you down and back.

Hope that helps clarify what guys are getting at. I have Corbeau retractable harnesses, and had to go between the rear seat cushions to get the angle I needed...kinda rendered the back seat worthless, but I don't use it for anything else.

Cool car BTW, I like the wheels and screamin' chicken, reminds me of the Burt Reynolds cars. Looks sharp!

[Doug1]

Just wanted to post one of our latest creations that we finished, a 1980 Trans Am Bandit, with 21st century parts and looks. Yes we used alot of parts from Year One, but this customer wanted the 1979-80 bodystyle, so it has a different look, with our own style.
If anyone has any questions, comments or suggestions on this build, feel free to contact me. This thing was a real beast to restore as they dont reproduce alot of thebody panels and plastic parts needed to make a Trans Am look new. Lots of adapting, improvising, and overcoming obstacles. So far she has about 400 miles with no problems, and we may hit the last leg of the Power Tour with it next month.
Shane
http://www.custom-musclecars.com/index_Page816.htm

Is there any way to just scroll through the pics individually? I'd like to look closer at some of the shots.

[1BAGTO]

I want one!

[Custom Muscle Cars]

Yes you can look at each pic individually on the flash slide show. Just make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash and IE, and you should have a control panel at the bottom of the slide show, allowing you to view the pics one at a time. I dont have all the pics posted on the site individually for bandwidth/sharing problems.

[garner67]

Great job. I love the black paint and the one off screaming chicken. It must feel good having that beauty on the road. Congrats!

The only negative I see is the low mounted shoulder harnesses. In the unfortunate event of a crash, spinal compression is a seriously dangerous issue. Is there any way you could move the cross bar up to shoulder height?

Check this out:
Harness Install Spec (http://www.gforce.com/pdf/Harness_Install_Info.pdf)

[formula]

looks like a real nice show car--great work.