New '78 T/A Project

[1977TRANSAM]

Fantastic Job.

[Torquedork]

While waiting for some new parts for the engine, we got the car painted so today we got the short block assembled.

NEW Rubber Rear Main Seal From Olds Performance Products replacing the crappy Rope Seal


Crank In


Pistons In


Stud Girdle: Also from Olds Performance Products


Edelbrock Cam

[Torquedork]

Well today we got more of the engine assembled.

Front Cover


OIL PUMP INSTALLATION


OIL PAN FROM OLDS PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS!!!!


HEADS INSTALLATION



INTAKE: JUST A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY.

[Torquedork]

Just received this photo from Legendary Auto Interiors that our interior pieces are on their way!

Legendary has recently expanded their product line to cover '67 to '81 Camaros and Firebirds. They have a full line of interiors for GM, Mopar, and AMC

[Doug1]

Just received this photo from Legendary Auto Interiors that our interior pieces are on their way!

Legendary has recently expanded their product line to cover '67 to '81 Camaros and Firebirds. They have a full line of interiors for GM, Mopar, and AMC

I had a set of those but had to send them back to NPD a few months back because I needed the camel hobnail cloth seats for a 79 SE I am restoring. I will have to see if Legendary carries them since NPD only carried the vinyl. I know classic industries makes them because sites like 78ta.com sell them.

You are making some good progress on this thing. I have several 2nd gen TA restorations going on at once and wish mine moved along as quickly as yours.

[Torquedork]

I'll email them and ask my guy.

[moran.223]

I like!

[Torquedork]

Yeah it ain't much to speak of thanks to Calif. emissions testing but getting closer on the engine.

ROCKERS

VALVE COVERS

SETTING THE EDELBROCK INTAKE

DONE AND TORQUED

[79-TA]

It's always good to see an Olds 403 in Oldsmobile blue.

Sorry if you already said this earlier in the thread, but how aggressive are you getting with cam and compression? Are those 350 heads or stock-ish 403 heads?


Your build thread makes me so nostalgic. Gold Trans Am . . . Olds 403 build . . . scraping off grime (actually, I never finished that one.) The car's looking great, keep up the good work!

[ccm399]

While waiting for some new parts for the engine, we got the car painted so today we got the short block assembled.

NEW Rubber Rear Main Seal From Olds Performance Products replacing the crappy Rope Seal

Hi there,

Lovin' the updates.

I can't tell 100% from the pic but based on the angle of the seal in this pic it seems to be in backwards to me. The angle seems to be pointed toward the rear (outside) of the engine. Typically the taper points toward the inside of the engine (unless you are running high crankcase vacuum). Maybe it's the pic but I thought I would mention it. When I worked in the machine shop (14+ years) I saw my fair share of people installing the rear mains backward. The Fords were the worse because like your Olds seal (which might be a reboxed Ford seal, maybe 390 if memory serves?) they have very little lip to distinguish the inner edge from the outer edge. For what it's worth the old rope seals work extremely well and once broken in they have very little drag (unlike when they are first installed!!!)

Chris

[Torquedork]

Hi there,

Lovin' the updates.

I can't tell 100% from the pic but based on the angle of the seal in this pic it seems to be in backwards to me. The angle seems to be pointed toward the rear (outside) of the engine. Typically the taper points toward the inside of the engine (unless you are running high crankcase vacuum). Maybe it's the pic but I thought I would mention it. When I worked in the machine shop (14+ years) I saw my fair share of people installing the rear mains backward. The Fords were the worse because like your Olds seal (which might be a reboxed Ford seal, maybe 390 if memory serves?) they have very little lip to distinguish the inner edge from the outer edge. For what it's worth the old rope seals work extremely well and once broken in they have very little drag (unlike when they are first installed!!!)

Chris

Thanks. I'm getting several different ideas regarding the proper placement of the rear main seal so we are researching it thoroughly before going any further!

[ccm399]

That's cool,

But trust me... The lip goes on the inside unless you are running a vacuum pump or sealed dry sump system (10+" of vacuum). Look at it this way, with the lip facing inward the pressure inside the crankcase and oil pushing against it will actually help (not hurt) the seal do it's job. The pressure gets behind the seal lip and it pushes harder on the crankshaft. If installed with the lip out (as it looks in the pic) the pressure and oil will be able to push the lip down and get right past it. Does that make sense?

In a vacuum condition the forces are opposite of the "norm"... plus now a days they make special seals for high vacuum engines. I know when I was building Pro Stock stuff for Pawuk we ran upwards of 22" of vacuum! That was back in '03 so they may be higher than that now.

Anyway, just trying to help. Car looks great. Nice work on the paint.

Chris

[Torquedork]

That's cool,

But trust me... The lip goes on the inside unless you are running a vacuum pump or sealed dry sump system (10+" of vacuum). Look at it this way, with the lip facing inward the pressure inside the crankcase and oil pushing against it will actually help (not hurt) the seal do it's job. The pressure gets behind the seal lip and it pushes harder on the crankshaft. If installed with the lip out (as it looks in the pic) the pressure and oil will be able to push the lip down and get right past it. Does that make sense?

In a vacuum condition the forces are opposite of the "norm"... plus now a days they make special seals for high vacuum engines. I know when I was building Pro Stock stuff for Pawuk we ran upwards of 22" of vacuum! That was back in '03 so they may be higher than that now.

Anyway, just trying to help. Car looks great. Nice work on the paint.

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for the help. It looked funky to me and maybe part of the confusion is when my friend was talking to an Olds guy about it, he was referring to the taper of the seal rather than the position of the lip!

We turned it around this morning to it's proper position!

[LeighP]

Loks like you've exceeded Photobucket's viewing limits.....guess you need to "go pro".
I've been waiting for the same thing to happen to me......lol.

[Torquedork]

Loks like you've exceeded Photobucket's viewing limits.....guess you need to "go pro".
I've been waiting for the same thing to happen to me......lol.

Yeah Leigh boy was I shocked when they started to dissappear!

Signed up for Pro and looks like they're coming back!

[Torquedork]

I had a set of those but had to send them back to NPD a few months back because I needed the camel hobnail cloth seats for a 79 SE I am restoring. I will have to see if Legendary carries them since NPD only carried the vinyl. I know classic industries makes them because sites like 78ta.com sell them.

You are making some good progress on this thing. I have several 2nd gen TA restorations going on at once and wish mine moved along as quickly as yours.

After SEMA, I heard back from my guy at Legendary and he said this:

We are not reproducing any right now, and what is available on the market is not the best material.

NOS would be the way to go for a quality job. Ball park about $1250.00 for front and rear.

[Torquedork]

BEFORE

AFTER
FINISHED ENGINE (Well Pretty much)! Won't exactly be a 600 HP Screamer but hope it passes Emissions!!!

[T_Raven]

Looks good man. The crazy thing about the Olds 403 is how big the bore is. After I bought my 79 TA with a 403 in it I started researching them. I have no idea how different the 403 and 455 are but if you could put a 455 crank in a 403 it makes some where around 500 ci! I guess almost all 403 blocks have open web mains though so it makes them a little weak. Anyone know of any stroker 403s?

[Torquedork]

A nice big box showed up yesterday!! Oh Boy!
Onward and upward!

[Torquedork]

We want to welcome Pertronix and Patriot Exhaust on board!

We received their non HEI Billet Distributor with their Ignitor III module which has a built in Rev Limiter.


We also received Patriot Exhaust Headers for the engine!