1976 Trans Am Resto-Mod

[LeighP]

Lots of good work showing in those pics, Ryan...congrats, mate!

[ryeguy2006a]

I was finally able to get a good day here on a weekend in Upstate, NY to go for a cruise. My wife and I got in the car and just drove with no particular place in mine. We ended up driving to Montrose, PA and turning around and heading north on some roads that we picked at random. We ended up putting just over 75 miles on the odometer, and it felt great. The new exhaust pipes weren't contacting my axle over ever bump, and the ride was really smooth. I ended up picking some nice windy roads, and the PTFB GT springs and Koni shocks worked flawlessly. I am very happy with the performance of the car so far. I still need to fine tune my carb, but other than that it is great.

Once I got the car back to my house, I realize how dirty the car was. I decided to give my car it's first real bath, and the first coat of wax. I had to wait to wax it until all of the parts were fully cured, 90 days. Although the shell of the car was painted over a year ago. Any way the car really polished up, and I decided to take it out for a photo shoot. The pictures turned out much better than I thought from my cell phone. Here are the results.





















This is my favorite picture from the day.



Finally, here is a picture of my rims all cleaned up, with the C5 Brakes showing through.

[srh3trinity]

Great pictures, it is giving me some inspiration for the 74 I am working on. I didn't see any in the thread, but I have some PTFB G-braces that I bought here off of the forum that I am going to be putting up for sale. I only want to get back what I paid for them, I thought you might be interested.

[garickman]

Nice job on the build, car looks great. What do you think of the yearone package tray now that is installed? Was there alot of trimming and fitting required?

[ryeguy2006a]

Nice job on the build, car looks great. What do you think of the yearone package tray now that is installed? Was there alot of trimming and fitting required?

I love the way that the Year One package tray looks. The fitment is fantastic, I didn't have to trim anything. I currently don't have any speakers in the rear, but it is on my list of things to do. The only problem with the package tray is that the rear two screws are almost impossible to install with the rear glass installed. I found that out after my glass was in. So I currently only have the front two screws in, but haven't had any problems.

[ryeguy2006a]

I made the banner of the month of July on another forum!

http://transamcountry.com/community/index.php

[ryeguy2006a]

After a great summer filled with many trips in my car, I am getting ready for the winter. I made myself some car stands to put my car on just like the ones used by DSE, so I can work on the car up in the air at ride height. I haven't finished them all, but I will have them all done shortly. I build the ones shown out of treated lumber and will use them for the bottom stand, and the rest will be out of regular untreated lumber. They will put my car in the air about 12", which will give me some space in order to work under the car this winter.







And lastly, here is a picture of what I should be picking up this Sunday. I will let you guys guess why I got it. Let's just say I will have a busy winter.



Ryan

[srh3trinity]

Heart transplant? I need to build some of those wheel cribs too.

[yellow1098Greg]

Awesome.....what are u paying for the camero if u don't mind me asking.....I was thinking of a similar project

[ryeguy2006a]

I ended up swapping my engine and trans for the car, so there is no turning back now!

I bought some engine swap engine brackets from dirty dingo today. One more piece to the puzzle. Next is the big purchase and I will get some Dynamaxx 70-81 LS swap headers. Just have to save a little for those. No pictures yet, but I hope to have some this weekend once I get the engine tore out of the car.

[70Uglybird]

Document the hell out this Ryan, I have a roller motor, ported head 466 going in right now but I still think I might go with a LS1 variant at some point in the near future.

[ryeguy2006a]

Ok, made some big progress towards my engine swap. I had my buddy come over and we stripped the front end of the car off so that today I would be able to just pull the motor out. After a few hours I was able to get the motor down and pull the body off. It is the reverse of how I have ever done engine swaps, but is actually the proper way to remove the engine from the 4th gen cars. Here are some pictures of the process.









And the motor is gone...well from this car anyway.



Here is the mess that will be swapped over to my car. I need to strip off all of the emissions equiptment and remove the wires from the ECU that are not necessary, such as the rear O2 sensors.











I found this written on the bellhousing for the T-56. I think that it says Halcucca Motorsports JB Performed



This is what I ended up with once I stipped away the wiring.





Now that the engine is out, I need to get the engine cleaned up and figuring out my wiring right off first. I ordered some engine mounts from Dirty Dingo made for 74-81 F-body's and they should be here soon. The next thing to purchase is going to be Dynatech LSx engine swap headers. They are Ceramic coated and fit very nicely.

That is all for now.

[ryeguy2006a]

Document the hell out this Ryan, I have a roller motor, ported head 466 going in right now but I still think I might go with a LS1 variant at some point in the near future.

I will take a lot of pictures, don't you worry.

[68firebird]

I'm jealous, I'm wanting an LS more and more every day. Have fun! can't wait to see more pictures. Please post up any difficulties you have swapping this in, very interested.

[srh3trinity]

That is the way I have seen 4th gen engine pulls. Drop the subframe from underneath. Is that a 98? Looks like it has perimeter bolt valve covers.
BTW, I am a little jealous of the space you have in the shop.

[70Uglybird]

Been there and done that a few times. Actually really easy. If its a 98 I think the exhaust manifolds will work in a 2nd gen...it was either 98 or 99 that worked without modifications. That said the LS does like to breath.

[geberhard]

Ryan, Very sweet and beautiful bird!! s. I just did a similar engine removal and doing the transplant on a 68 vert bird. One suggestion for the future removals (I swore myself I will never want to do it again lol), is to leave the rear wheels on, and put a couple tires under the rear tires, so it will swivel easily up rather than jackstands in the rear.

One recommendation if you are planning to lower the car at all, is to go with somethng else rather than the Dynatech Musclemaxx setup. I have it on my 67 and it works great around the frame and PS box, but one thing that honestly sucks, is that it hangs way too low. For the 68 swap, I got a set of Sanderson Headers, and also found a company that sells some polishd ones for $150, however have not tried yet, but so far looks like they will need very light massaging around the PS box. Dougs LS swap headers also seem to be a better option as they are long tube\hugger style, so they will not hang too low.

I probably missed, what color is that? Looks very clean, an very similar to the color on my 67 400.

Good luck on the project!!

Gui

[Trans]

I worked on the car for a few hours on Saturday and I was able to get a few things done. I installed my new battery and that seemed to get rid of the problem I was having with the "Draw", just ended up being a bad battery. I was able to get the other headlight installed and wired up. I want to give a big thanks to richduty455, on TAC, he went above and beyond to get me a headlight retainer.



I also put on my door trim, which was the last piece of trim that I needed to install.



I won't be able to work on the car this coming weekend, but I am looking forward to getting a lot done for the following weekend. I sent in the request for registration for vintage plates yesterday. I hope to have that back soon and then I will be able to legally drive the car on the road.

Cheers,
Ryan

How comfortable are the seats?

[tlowe6]

I will be watching this closely.

I just purchased a 76 myself.......

[ryeguy2006a]

Ryan, Very sweet and beautiful bird!! s. I just did a similar engine removal and doing the transplant on a 68 vert bird. One suggestion for the future removals (I swore myself I will never want to do it again lol), is to leave the rear wheels on, and put a couple tires under the rear tires, so it will swivel easily up rather than jackstands in the rear.

One recommendation if you are planning to lower the car at all, is to go with somethng else rather than the Dynatech Musclemaxx setup. I have it on my 67 and it works great around the frame and PS box, but one thing that honestly sucks, is that it hangs way too low. For the 68 swap, I got a set of Sanderson Headers, and also found a company that sells some polishd ones for $150, however have not tried yet, but so far looks like they will need very light massaging around the PS box. Dougs LS swap headers also seem to be a better option as they are long tube\hugger style, so they will not hang too low.

I probably missed, what color is that? Looks very clean, an very similar to the color on my 67 400.

Good luck on the project!!

Gui

Thanks for the tips, I am still researching what headers I will be using.

And the color is Dark Shadow Gray, it is a Ford Color.