1976 Trans Am Resto-Mod

[ryeguy2006a]

How comfortable are the seats?

The seats are really comfortable actually. They are original untouched 1973 Deluxe seats.

[Karls73]

Nice looking ride. That's a lot of work in a short time.

[ryeguy2006a]

Got a little cleaning up done around my garage and the motor and trans. I also got some of my swap parts ready to install into my car. Here are the Dirty Dingo engine mounts, DSE hydraulic clutch bracket and a new Hurst shifter knob.







Here are some before and after pictures of the engine clean up.





And after a little Purple Power.







Not a bunch of updates, but I was busy parting out the Camaro, and didn't have a ton of time for the TA.

All for this weekend.

[ryeguy2006a]

I got all of this from a company called Waytek, and they specialize in wiring, and since it is a bulk company you can get some tremendous deals. I highly recommend the company. If you look I got two spools of wiring. I bought one red and one black 18 gauge automotive grade wiring reels 250 ft. for 18 each!! That is cheap. I also got a Bussmann fuse/relay box that is sealed and uses micro relays and micro blade style fuses. I also bought all of the necessary pieces to wire it up.





I also bought a brand new in the box Baer adjustable proportioning valve for my LS1 rear disk swap. That is the final piece that I needed. Now, I just need to actually do the swap!



That is all for today, but I should have some pictures from tomorrow of the first test fit of my new Engine!! I have to pick up my motor mounts from the post office first thing tomorrow and while the wife is away at an event I will be busy trying to get my engine in.

Cheers,
Ryan

[ryeguy2006a]

I got my motor and transmission in for a first test fit. Overall I was very happy with the fitment. I will have to take the motor in and out a few more times, but it fits really great for a first test. Here are some pictures.

Here is a picture of the Dirty Dingo engine mounts. They fit great and they are a very great company to work with. I ended up buying the wrong engine mounts, and needed to exchange them for the right ones. They were great and I was able to ship mine to them and get the new ones in less than a week. Excuse the oil on the engine.



Here is one of many times the motor will be on the engine hoist, but this is the first test fit.



And here it is in with the Corvette Fuel Rail Covers. I like what I am seeing. And for those of you that may ask, the motor is tilted towards the rear because the shifter won't fit into the interior...yet. So for now it is tilted towards down in the rear.







Here are some pictures of the ground clearance.





Now, the big debate I have been having is which headers to buy. But since I had the engine in there, I thought why not check and see how the stock manifolds will fit. And to my surprise they fit great! I have at least a fingers width around everything. So, for now I am just going to use the stock manifolds and save some money.









And now it was time to see if we can get that shifter into the car, so I got out the sawzall and started cutting a little at a time. And I ended up with this.



I know that the cuts aren't that clean, but I will make some panels and weld them in to make it look good. The reason that I cut through the factory 4 speed hump is because it was already shot. You can't see it, but before I ever got the car someone tried to change the shifter and decided to crudely cut a hole in the side of the hump. So, for now I am just cutting it up, and will probably drill out the spot welds and patch in a new panel.



Now, a test fit of the console. Another surprise to me is that the shifter is very close to the stock location. Not sure what an auto console will fit like, but I may end up making an adapter for the shifter to have it come out in the factory 4 speed location.



As you can see it is only about 2-3 inches back from the stock location.



That is all for now. Won't be long and I will be uploading a video of the first start up!

Ryan

[72blackbird]

Ryan,
Nice work so far- at least now you can keep your 76 TA and not sell it. You put alot of good, hard work into it.

Geno

[LeighP]

Nice work, mate.
So, the slots in the engine brackets????/ So you can adjust the fore/aft setting of the engine, I assume?

[ryeguy2006a]

Ryan,
Nice work so far- at least now you can keep your 76 TA and not sell it. You put a lot of good, hard work into it.

Geno

Geno, I have put a lot of work into the car, and I never really wanted to sell. But I had other obligations in my life. But, I rethought my decision and decided to try and put my 400/4 speed out for sale and just do the LSx swap that I really wanted. I came across this deal and couldn't pass it up. I can't wait to get the motor in and running!

[ryeguy2006a]

Nice work, mate.
So, the slots in the engine brackets????/ So you can adjust the fore/aft setting of the engine, I assume?

Leigh, you are exactly right, the brackets are adjustable to allow for the perfect placement of the motor. They are made by Dirty Dingo Motorsports, and they are a great company to work with.

[70Uglybird]

Nice work man!!! Moving right along! So just in case I ever do this what year are those exhaust manifolds that seem to fit with no problems?

Crazy how for this car has come......

[LUV2XLR8]

nice job so far... let me know if you run into any snaggs... i'm doing the same thing with mine

[ryeguy2006a]

The stock F-body manifolds are 98-99. I am going to remove the EGR ports from the manifolds in order to clean up the look.

nice job so far... let me know if you run into any snaggs... i'm doing the same thing with mine

Thanks man. I appreciate it. Do you have a build thread here?

[LUV2XLR8]

The stock F-body manifolds are 98-99. I am going to remove the EGR ports from the manifolds in order to clean up the look.



Thanks man. I appreciate it. Do you have a build thread here?

ya... it's called H8R-AID

https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...?93786-H8r-aid

[Takid455]

for your shifter handle mod, look at viper and kit car cobra shifters for ideas. none will work for you build, but give you ideas on how/ what can be done and still be functional.

[ryeguy2006a]

Larry, I am still up in the air on what I am going to do. I am probably just going to buy an auto console and run the shifter in the position that it is currently in. I did look into making a remote shifter, but not sure I like the idea.

[70Uglybird]

While its only my opinion I have the T56 shifter with the auto console placement and it seems perfect.

[ryeguy2006a]

I did like the position of the shifter more with the shifter located 5-6 inches rearward. I will probably end up getting the auto console.

[Chadman27]

Nice work as always Ryan. Your thoughts on the shifter?... I'm shorter and have "shorter" arms (5'8" ish, on a good day) do you like the location, as in its a comfortable spot? Just trying to weigh opinions, I'm about to pull the trigger on my tranny setup. ...been factoring in a lot of opinions. I almost feel like wherever I end up, I l'll just make it work... but you know...

[ryeguy2006a]

Chad, Thanks for the compliments. I think that having the shifter location a few inches back actually makes a large difference. I prefer it much more than factory. If you have any questions, just shoot me a pm and I will be happy to help if I can.

[ryeguy2006a]

It doesn't look like a lot was accomplished, but it was certainly a lot of work. Pulled the motor out again, that was temporarily in the engine bay in order to mount my new engine mounts. With the mounts in the stock 350 location on the subframe, the mounts didn't quite fit. So what I did was got the engine exactly where I wanted it, and drilled my own holes.





Here is the motor in the permanent location.



The Dirty Dingo mounts with new Anchor engine mounts for 1980-81 Camaro with 350 Chevy Engine.

Now, I would like to ask for everyone's opinion. The shifter is located farther forward than I was thinking, so using an automatic console would put the shifter too far forward. So my question to everyone, is what do you guys think of moving the stock 4 speed console rearward about 2-3 inches? Here is the console complete as it would look in the car. I was going to flip the upper mounting locations on the front 180 degrees, and it should give me enough room to still mount in the stock location. I plan to bend the shifter to fit more towards the center, as currently it is a straight shifter that is bent slightly towards the driver. Here are the pictures in 1st gear, neutral and 6th gear. Which are all the most extreme shifter positions.







Here are a few pictures of how the console looks in the proposed position.





Here is what the difference is between the mount and where I plan to flip it 180 degrees and mount it in the stock location. Don't mind the wiring mess.