New project new forum 81 Trans Am

[avewhtboy]

Hello all I just wanted to formally say hello cause your gonna see me posting here. Short story is I purchased a 1981 Trans Am
with a factory 5.0 (chevy) 4 speed that will be receiving an LT1
which is being donated from my S10. My name is Rick

Here is a picture of a Trans Am I used to have when I was younger



Here is the S10 I have been working on that will be donating the motor



And heres the new car that I will be building up pro touring car spec

[O'Neall]

Excellent... always good to see another T/A getting some love! Are you going to keep the 4spd tied to LT1? IIRC the 305s in 81 still got the Borg Warner Super T10, and those things were pretty stout... it should be able to handle the torque of the LT1.

Keep us posted!

[avewhtboy]

Thanks for the Reply Jon, I am pretty sure I am going to swap in a 6 speed but it crossed my mind that I could keep the 4 speed, I think it will has 3.08 gears in the rear so would not be too bad on the highway.

[O'Neall]

Oh well, a the 6spd would be even better!

[avewhtboy]

I just realized I never updated this project thread so here are some updates.

Turned out the car was a Code 57 Burnt mettalic orange originally. I really liked the color so decided to go back stock rather than paint it black. I have a few friends that do body work and paint so we got at it.

[avewhtboy]

It took about a month working in the evenings and on the weekends and I don't know how much beer to get the body work done and ready for paint.

Once it was ready we hauled it over to a local Ford dealership with state of the art paint booth to spray it. He has two booths side by side so we put the car in one and the parts in the other, sprayed it on Saturday and pulled it out of the booth on Sunday.

[avewhtboy]

He did an awesome job on the paint, we used all PPG base and clear coat.
We also sprayed the interior floor pan and the trunk with 3M Body Shutz

[avewhtboy]

While I had it apart I put stainless headers and Pypes stainless exhaust on. I had bung welded in to install the factory O2 sensor, 1981 had a computer controlled distrbutor and carburetor. I also spent about 5 hours per wheel refurbishing them. I ordered a dash but it never came so I installed a full cap over the dash while I had it out.

[avewhtboy]

This is what it looks like now, So far this has been more of a restoration than a pro touring build lol. Once I got the car to this point I have been driving it and enjoying it. While building this I almost decided that this car is not the right platform for what I want to build because it has T-Tops.

I think I am more interested in a track oriented car so I am not convinced I want to go further on this car. So this is how it sits for now.

[78 Type-LT]

That thing looks good

[moparnate]

looks very nice, id keep it and cage it. T tops are a lot of fun

[CruizinKev]

looking good!

[zamora7]

The wheels look like new! Good job, hope mine looks as good one day, but in black and gold.

[1971CHEVELLE]

looking good

[79-TA]

Hey, it's great to see a nicely restore Trans Am. Thanks for the update!

[avewhtboy]

Cage it? its tempting and might be the thing to do since I have it. The fact that its a small block chevy already makes me want to stuff a 383 in there for fun, uprade brakes suspension frame connectors a posi etc.....

thanks for the compliments it turned out better than I had hoped so far

[twosaturns]

Cage it? its tempting and might be the thing to do since I have it. The fact that its a small block chevy already makes me want to stuff a 383 in there for fun, uprade brakes suspension frame connectors a posi etc.....

thanks for the compliments it turned out better than I had hoped so far

this is really cool, to see a last year 2nd gen, non-turbo car! IIRC, they were mainly a california thing, no? since the turbo cars weren't available there.
always loved the look of the '79-'81 cars, much better than the '77-'78 (esp the nose!)

[avewhtboy]

this is really cool, to see a last year 2nd gen, non-turbo car! IIRC, they were mainly a california thing, no? since the turbo cars weren't available there.
always loved the look of the '79-'81 cars, much better than the '77-'78 (esp the nose!)

Thanks for the response, this car is a four speed electronic carb car, I believe the only way they could sell the manual trans car in California was to put the "corporate" motor in so yes in a way.

I bought this car out of Boise Idaho, thats where it was originally sold too.

[twosaturns]

Thanks for the response, this car is a four speed electronic carb car, I believe the only way they could sell the manual trans car in California was to put the "corporate" motor in so yes in a way.

I bought this car out of Boise Idaho, thats where it was originally sold too.

and they didn't offer the turbo motor w/ a stick either (I bet the 305/4speed combo was cheaper too!)
I'd stick a ZZ4 in there w/ fuel injection and call it a day.

[Steve Firebird]

Your car looks great. I need some friends like you have. Good luck no matter what you do.