Trans Am SacrilEdge is free!

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Car is getting photos taken for the insurance company. All the stripes aren't on yet, but I dimensioned this photo so you can use it for wallpaper
The hoodscoop is also the old blown up scoop. New scoop is in primer right now

[formula]

Love it. Great mix of factory style and custom touches.

[tazzz25906112]

Congratulations Greg we'll all have a blast this summer.....

[WS6]

Looks great.

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I can't believe it. The Trans Am developed an oil link somewhere behind the engine. Not the valve cover. Not the dist. gasket. Not the timing cover.
I pulled the Super T-10 and replaced all the seals. Not the transmission.

I finally decided it was the oil pan seal or the rear main seal. I ordered a 1-pc oil pan gasket from BOP engineering ($63 shipped) and started to pull the pan with the help of my bro. That pan would NOT come out. We had the motor mounts undone and the transmission dropped in back and nothing! We worked on it for 1.5 hrs and gave up. So we decided to pull the engine.

Surprisingly, we had it sitting on the ground in less than 3 hours. I feel like I'm going backwards, but I'm also ordering a new Viton rear main seal to replace the "graphite rope" seal just in case.... I don't want to pull this engine again. Anyways, I suppose this is a good time to get the headers and down pipes coated. Any ideas for a good ceramic guy in the Austin area? I heard good things about Carlos down there in Seguin (about 1 hr away).


That's not me in the photo. That's my brother, Kirk. He lives in downtown Austin and has been helping me put this thing back together. He's hoping to build a '65 fastback one day with a coyote 5.0. He needs a garage first, though. He may only get one parking space with his condo downtown, but he has a great view of Marti Gras on 6th!
(I'm much better looking
P.S. I was drunk on coconut rum when I wrote this. I'm glad I have spell checker.

[tazzz25906112]

Dam that's a kick in the butt.... I thought the "graphite ropes" were the Pontiac seal of choice??? Are you sure you didn't just get a back apple or something??? I sure hope it isn't crankcase pressure you're experiencing cause that'd suck...
Anyways good luck bud and I'll look forward to seeing you out at events this year....

[monteboy84]

Friendly Advice: Find a shop nearby that has a smoke machine for finding leaks, it will be well-worth the money to smoke-test the engine before you drop it back in. There really is no better way to make sure that everything is sealed up, or to find a sneaky leak.

-matt

[Ron.in.SoCal]

What exactly is a 'smoke machine'? Sorry for the rookie question, never heard of that before...

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smoke machine: Spicoli's van as seen in Fast Times at Ridgemont High

[WS6]

lol, almost. It just pumps smoke into the engine under pressure. Smoke leaks out from the location of any leaks.

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I know people have been wanting more info on this for quite some time.
Here is my car with the new YearOne Cast Honeycombs in a 17X9 size. I plan to eventually widen the rears to 12.5" (I've got almost 4" clearance to my inboard mounted leafs and homemade minitubs). My wife won't let me send off brand new rims to be cut off, so I've got to go through a set of tires first! (That shouldn't be too hard with 800+hp)






YearOne spaced the wheels so that the outer lip is right next to the fender edge. The Kumho XS tire in size 275-40-17 barely clears the rear fender lip, however, I do have S-10 brakes on the rear axle so my wheels will be 1/4" further out than a standard drum brake trans-am. I also have the inner lip of the rear fender "shaved" halfway down for extra tire clearance.






The front tires appear to fit slightly better, but I think they may rubber the INNER fender under full compression.

Again, my car has been lowered 2-3" all around. I'm sure YearOne did all their measurements on a stock firebird.

[LeighP]

Wow, car (and wife) look great....I've got my Honeycombs on the way from YO for my 71 project, love the of them on your car!

[4mul8ion]

Great project!! Love the 76 black and gold special edition T/As and especially yours with the YO honeycombs. Awesome car.

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Leigh,
Thanks
Sally Fields ain't got nothing on Cristy!


And by the way, the engine is back in the Trans Am. I forgot to take photos of the ceramic coated ex, but I went with satin black. Carlos Tirado Coatings (Sequin, TX) said the black was a little thicker and should insulate slightly better. Although not as cool as silver, it should do the job. I found out through the R&R process that I must tighten the turbo mounting nuts LAST and must have both front tires off for access. It only took me 6 hours to figure that one out!
The engine oil leak is fixed, it seems. I went with BOPs rear main seal. The BW T-10 still leaks a tad at the counter shaft (don't they all?) but that tranny will eventually be replaced so I'm not worried about it.
Currently, I've got a busted dist. cap, and I can't get the car out of the garage! Unbelievable. I have a new one on the way-might be here tomorrow.
I'll try to get some photos in the sun soon for all you auto-porn types out there:0

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

yeek!

go christy!... i mean.. the trans am!

[tazzz25906112]

The rims look great Greg congrats.... Look on the positive side those back tires should last about 15mins with that power bud and you'll be sending off the rims next week ;-) LOL...

That said with Chrissy looking that sweet you might not get out to those tires for a while bud.... Now be careful she's setting you up for long term ownership of tires...... It's a conspiracy between all our females,,,,, first they let you get something,, then they distract you and if you can imagine they even stoop as low as to look great and act sweet,,,,,,,, just a deadly combo against us helpless males ROFLMAO....

All kidding aside, drop me the info on who you were thinking of using to split the rims if you don't mind as I'm seriously considering buying a set of those wheels (I think year one did a Hell of a job on them).... what exact size are those Kumho's front and back BTW???

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Albert,
Those are Kumho XS 275-40 17s. They look like they're going to rub a bit on the inner fenderwell at full compression. My wheel guy is Weldcraft wheels. They widened my factory 15X7 honeycombs 2" to a 15X9. Very cool and stealthy. They do a great job on aluminum and steel wheels.

Honeycombs now for sale. Check the classifieds later.

[tazzz25906112]

Cool Greg they are deceptive on the front width in the photos bud.... I think I'll end up ordering a set of for one of my builds in the next few months all things equal...
Thanks for the Weldcraft info.

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I'm having fun tuning the carb. 1st gear is useless, but it would be that way without the turbos. 2nd gear- tires start spinning as soon as the boost comes on (which is pretty quick with these little turbos). I've seen 7psi around 3500rpm, at which point I let off. I don't want to put this thing into the ditch just yet.
3rd gear is where is starts getting interesting. At 50mph (3000rpm) I can go to WOT without tire spin. Boost comes up quick. 5, then 10psi (at 4000rpms). If I let off as the boost gauge swings around, I'm fine. If I let it hit 10psi, the tires break loose and it sounds like a 747 is landing on top of me! It scared the [ ] out of me so I let off. I was doing 90mph! I didn't think I had it floored but for a second or two. I need to be careful with this car or I'm going to jail!

My 335s showed up Thurs, and my wheels should be here next week.

My AFR is around 11.5 at 10psi, which I'm told is too lean. I don't have any fatter jets so I ordered some and they should be here next week. I'm also installing my MSD 6A this weekend to make sure I've got enough spark.



Initial timing is set at 12 degrees, plus 14 mech for a total of 26 degrees. The car likes more initial. I was going to "add a bushing" to the distributor, but I think I'm going to refile the advance plate in my distributor and add MSDs Boost Timing Master to pull 1 degree per lb boost and set total to 35, initial to 15. This should give me more responsiveness when not in boost.

[Six_Shooter]

11.5 AFR too lean? I'd be saying that either right on or too rich. I run between 12.0 and 11.5ish:1 in boost in my Datsun, and even that can be too rich at times.