1976 Trans Am Pro-Touring Build

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Typically solid body mounts are required when installing sub frame connectors. This is because poly or rubber mounts allow too much flex which can result in the welds between that of your sub frame to connector to sub frame weakening/or breaking completely.


I was going to order a set of body mounts from Detroit Speed but they only produce them for 2nd gen Camaros and not Firebirds. This is because the core support mounts are taller on the Firebird versus that of the Camaro (to make space for the shaker scoop on the T/A) so I went with the only other option which are from pro-touring f body (http://www.pro-touringf-body.com/cha...omponents.html).


They're pretty cool. They can be mounted at factory height to maintain stock appearance, adjusted to lower the body by a full inch or flipped to lower the body by a full 2 inches...essentially wedging the body. This will cause clearance issues with the inner fender walls and shaker scoop clearance (but I'm going EFI LS7 eventually so I'll have to rig something up when the time comes anyway) so I will likely go factory height or only lower the body by an inch. I am going to call D.S.E. before I decide. They are made of aluminum but I'll likely paint them black.


They were $99 shipped, with the bolts included:

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In order to lower my expenses as much as possible I removed the hood, fenders, inner fenders, core support, bumper, bumper braces, upper headlight/grille assembly, wheel spoilers and lower spoiler myself. I've been storing the parts in a spare bedroom for safe keeping.

My girlfriend loves this:



These are the factory seats. They have never been re-upholstered.

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Last night I got around to removing the seats, the center console and lower back seats. I still have to remove the kick panels, carpet, seat belts and rear deck/speakers (I think).

I may be able to keep the upper back seats in place. That would allow me to keep the speakers and rear deck in place too. However I was never happy with the way the rear deck came out. I know it must have been a pain with the roll cage there but I'm just not happy with it. I may look in to getting that replaced/re-done down the road.

To clarify, I'm removing the carpet because the sub frame connectors from Detroit Speed are welded in to the floor pans, from both the bottom and inside of the car; so the carpet needs to come out. I'm also getting a t56 tunnel cut so the carpet has to be removed for that as well.

I plan on keeping the interior out for a while even after I get the car back. I'd like to prep and paint the inside of those pans myself before the carpet gets laid back in. I'd also like to find another interior guy to lay the carpet again. As you can see from the photos below; the carpet was a custom job the last time the carpet was done. It was glued down so I'm assuming it's going to get trashed when I get around to removing it this weekend.





So much room for activities now:

[76TA]

Spoke with D.S.E. today and was notified that my frame is in mid assembly at the moment. They will be calling me one week before it is shipped to my builder. It ships freight so it will likely take 4 business days to get from N.C. to N.Y. It's being shipped with the sub frame connectors too.

I'm planning on getting the car to the builder one week before the frame gets there so the shop can drop the factory frame, motor, trans, driveshaft, rear suspension, all brakes, tank, and everything else under there, sand blast and/or wire brush what they can reach, prep, paint and POR15 the entire under side of the car.

They can then hopefully get the tank mounted and have everything ready for the new frame.

With that I have from now until mid April to get everything else off of the firewall, all wires labeled and accounted for, remove the rest of the interior and that's pretty much it.

It's still pretty crappy outside in N.Y. so it's a pretty miserable experience doing anything in the garage.

I was able to talk to a buddy's father who has a heated and de-humidified garage. Once I get the carcass back from the shop I'll be storing it there. Pretty excited about that.