82 Trans Am 495 LSX

[Twin_Turbo]

Another one of my projects I figured I'd share. It's not a high end build like some of these cars here and I'm not going balls out on it like on my 82 corvette project (stranded for some time now LOL) but still, with the lack of 3rd gens here I'd figure I'd post a little as I think I have some neat stuff for it/planned.

This is how I got it





after a little cleaning



and cutting coils for giggles




Still, it's a 350 TBI, T5 slug. Something needs to be done. Also, all the grime and rust on some parts, can't stand that. The body is 100% solid when it comes to rust, did find some hack jobs here and there

My 87 camaro went from this



to this



airborne



old junk ripped out



Fresh powdercoated stuff











Some of this stuff won't be used, like the stock susp. parts. I'm going to swap those on another 88 camaro I have so it has clean parts on it too (it's a driver, not a show car)

Fresh plated bolts and nuts





I'm going to be using these baer brakes I have left, was going to use the 14" rotors but won't since I bought wheels that won't clear them. Will stick w/ a 13" setup front and rear



I bought a BMR k member and arms for it







Now looking for a powdercoater that can duplicate the hammertone finish on my other parts (sway bars, axle and such, the prev. black coated susp. parts are going on my 88 camaro so the ones that com off it will be done w/ the hammertone)

I got my heads in, these are pretty trick if I say so myself. Australian Duggan heads I'll go w/ the spider manifold if it fits under the hood, if not I'll have to get some ida webers right away, they bolt to the heads directly

[Twin_Turbo]

These are the wheels I got, old Jongbloed wheels that IMO fit the car style. Didn't want to go w 19s on it, I'm keeping it completely black and gold.. Determining if they even fit, so I tried them on the 92 GTA.

It's smooth with the fender, a little ******* but it'll have to do





I should be able to fit 13" rear brakes in there



Plenty room on the inside





13" fronts fit too.....pfew!! Just not with larger calipers





I also scored a 9 bolt posi 3.48 axle for the TA, only it's equipped w/ SSM lift bars that I'll have to cut off. With them on there's no space for a sway bar and I'm not a drag racer, I want it to corner. The thing is in the way of a watts linkage so I was thinking about maybe building something custom like a wishbone or triangulated 4 link typ deal but w/ a torque arm and no 4 forward links, just 2 arms. Will have to model it up and see if it works. The triangulated arms or wishbone could be attached to the cut off part of the SSM bars

Here's the 9 bolt I got, pretty clean, alu calipers (will swap for larger discs and the necessary brackets) and will have to cut off the SSM lift bars. I may use what's left of the weldd on sections to convert to a triangulated or wishbone type axle locator instead of a panhard bar.

I'm going to redo the axle, install studs on the caps and a girdle cover like I did on my red camaro. The axle will be powdercoated. I'm also going to shim & tune the posi.





Also got some bilstein HD shocks for it. They are not as stiff as the adjustable yellow konis on my red camaro. Not as stiff by a long shot. I hope they will be able to control some very stiff springs. I'm not going to use the lowering springs, I'm going with a ground control weight jacker setup and 5" springs
Th Bilsteins do have a very very thick shaft, at least double the thickness of the konis and the stockers.



Will be ordering some adjsutable strut mounts for it and I'll probably go w/ a 4xx SBC and a T101 tranny. This car came originally w/ a T10 so it would be "correct" LOL

[Twin_Turbo]

Got my stuff back from the anodizer, it was kind of a test to see if it would turn out nice, I think it did.
Th tank is a canton coolant reservoir, the other thing is a fuel filler cap. Both are done in matte gold and I think it looks awesome. I'm going to have more stuff done this way, specifically aluminum parts in the engine bay. I also added a pic of how the filler wil sit, that was on my red camaro but not using it on that one. Figured it'd look more "hardcore" on the TA









All it takes to mount is a custom ring w threads and 3 tabs to screw it in the original position. Also have to cut a section off the tank filler neck. Not an ussue.

[amcya]

I dare ya to throw a Knight Rider kit at it!

[Twin_Turbo]

For gods sake no. I hate those. All those poor butchered cars

[srh3trinity]

Great build. I love the black and gold and the jongblood wheels are cool too.

[monteboy84]

Looks great, love it!

-matt

[NJSPEEDER]

Looks like a lot of very cool projects. Loving the 82 TA and glad to hear you are keeping it the original style and colors. So many people ruin the early 3rd gen Birds by swapping on the later ground effects.

-Tim

[Twin_Turbo]

Yes, purposely keeping it looking somewhat stock without GFX and also not too large a set of wheels. these 17s should be spot on with the gold, slapping on som 315s possibly in the rear (will need to do some clearancing for that) kind of a sleeper look. The engine will be kind of crazy w a front drive distributor if I can mak that fit, coupled with the duggan heads and holden pattern exhaust it will be tough to spot what it really is.

This is what the gas cap is going to look like. Still have to fab the adapter ring and get some black anodized fasteners



Canton reservoir mountd

[Twin_Turbo]

Fabbed a washer tank for it, just like on the camaro. no canton or similar quality welds but it'll do. It will be anodized gold too but Ill bring a whole batch in to do at once so I end up with the same color (and hopefully a better price because it cost 100$ to do 1 reservoir and 1 fuel filler cap)







Decided to mock up the duggan heads. Something makes me think I'll have to spring for some IDA48s or IDA pattern EFI because this spider intake isn't going to clear man it's fricken tall.

[Andreasu]

Nice car!

I love the Spider intake :D

[scarface50]

Did you have those bolts plated or are they new? If they are new, you mind letting me know where from?

[280z]

What motor is that? Good looking project you have.

[srh3trinity]

I can probably find some info myself, but I am curious about the background on the heads and intake. What is the back story on them? Very unique look.

[jfreakofkorn]

Thats odd but radical setup. I like =)
The heads and intake are the eye catcher....

[Twin_Turbo]

The bolts are old bolts, blasted & plated.

The engine is a normal SBC with duggan heads and intake. Australian stuff and very rare. Weber IDAs bolt directly to them. The exhaust is Holden pattern, i have adapters to SBC pattern ut will build my own headers and use the holden pattern instead.

[John Wright]

Will a fuel injection setup fit under the hood? I saw some pics somewhere of fuel injection sitting on a duggan manifold.
edit*
here it is....

[Twin_Turbo]

That's for a regular SBC setup,a Duggan Injector much like a Crower/Kinsler/MacKay, part of a Lucas injector setup?? Got a couple of Crowers and some other IR intakes too (all for reg. 23deg. heads)... IDA style ITBs as part of EFI would fit.

[irregal83]

i like your build.. keep us updated? im subscribed

[BulldawgMusclecars]

Cool stuff as always Twin Turbo! Good to see you back around here, my Vette is on the backburner ( LSx longtube headers being built for it over at Heddman) and I don't make it over to Vette Mod much anymore.