82 Trans Am 495 LSX

[Johnny Blaze]

Bilstiens? I thought you were a Koni man? ;)

[Twin_Turbo]

I like the yellow konis better, I have a set of reds too (NIB) but these bilsteins have a much thicker shaft on the struts. I'm going to give them a try. Under slow compression and extension they sure are a lot softer than the yellows and reds even. I they suck I can always get some konis. I'm hoping they will work well. I have bilsteins under my C3 corvettes and C4 corvettes and they are fine. I had koni reds under my 82 corvette when it was still a drivable car and they were excellent. No yellows available for those cars.

[neki67]

I like the yellow konis better, I have a set of reds too (NIB) but these bilsteins have a much thicker shaft on the struts. I'm going to give them a try. Under slow compression and extension they sure are a lot softer than the yellows and reds even. I they suck I can always get some konis. I'm hoping they will work well. I have bilsteins under my C3 corvettes and C4 corvettes and they are fine. I had koni reds under my 82 corvette when it was still a drivable car and they were excellent. No yellows available for those cars.

Marc, you do realize the Bilsteins are digressively valved? Don't know 'bout the yellow Koni's but the Red's most certainly are not.

[Twin_Turbo]

The Koni fronts are twin turbes gas charged, both the reds (8040) and the yellows (8741, both are adjustable, the reds special/classic however only rebound and they need to be off the car and completely compressed to engage the adjuster mechanism), the special-d/classic rears (8040) are twin tube low press gas too, the sport yellows are monotube 30 series in the rear (4thgens are twin tube low press gas and adjustable for the rear too, 8241 series). The bilsteins are montubes. As far as I know all of them are digressive, the reds too.

[neki67]

As far as I know the classics are linear valved. Like I said: I don't know 'bout the Yellow Koni's. Only thing I can find concerning identification: http://www.koni.com/234+M562074dcec6.html.

I was mixing up things slightly, you did say the Bilsteins felt softer under slow compression and extension than the Koni's. Given their digressive valving they should give a more comfortable ride obviously all depending on the spring(rate)s used.

[Twin_Turbo]

Digressive means that the rate of dampening force increases slower with piston speed going up, not that the damping becomes less but I think you know that. The difference in feel is from testing when compressing by hand, the diff may very well be because of the monotube vs twin turbo hydraulic design. From 0 as piston speed goes up the digressive valving rapidly gains in the bilsteins and then the gain rate drops off. I have seen that there is a difference between US made ITT Konis and Dutch and German made. I ordered yellows for a 3rd gen in Germany but they were the same ITT Koni US ones so they probably don't make them here. However the koni reds for Corvettes were available as made in NL and US. Seems like the euro spec stuff is taylored towards the smoother roads here.

[Twin_Turbo]

Major problem here...the wheels don't fit with my C5 brakes :( bolts that hold the 3 pieces together hit the caliper and I'd need a serious spacer to clear. Not going to do that. I ahve 2 options, swap to 1LE hubs w/ C4 Corvette J55 (13") rotors and use a set of baer PBR calipers (I have a spare set and a set of grand sport corvette calipers) but I'd like to retain the eradispeed plus rotors and C5 calipers so that means new wheels.

I just bought a set of deep concave wheels for my camaro and shopped the same wheels under the TA and changed the color to gold. The Camaro has matte black wheels, these are shopped off a set of silver ones (internet pic)



What do you say?? Mind you, I absolutely have to have gold wheels LOL

[neki67]

MHO; I would like to see it with a little more tire and just a bit of dish. As pictured it's looking a little too much "Donk" for my taste.

[WS6]

It doesn't look bad but I think you could go with a better design. Sorry your original plan didn't work out.

[Twin_Turbo]

Keep in mind, I photoshopped the wheels and they came from a bimmer pic. Those bimmer guys love their rubber band tires, I hate those. I may have the scale off, I have 19s for the camaro and will do a test fit on the TA when I get them next week or so. They are matte black, maybe that's a neat look too. I like the jongbloed wheels better too so I may just swap the brakes for the 13" baer track kit I have lying around. Same as on my Camaro. With those the jongbloed wheels DO fit. Like I posted on pg1:

[Twin_Turbo]

Decided to get another tank so I could weld in a sump, would be a shame to cut up the already powdercoated one. This one, being from a TPI car has an internal plastic baffle that caught fire when I welded the tank. Took some grief getting it out completely since one can't reach in there with a hand to pull it out.

Had to mod the sump to angle the back side so it would fit the tank





Tomorrow it's off to the powdercoater.

Hopefully I'll have my Fays2 watts linkage tomorrow too. Then I will send the bolts that come with it (zinc plated blue) to the platers (so they will be gold too) along with a bunch of other misc bolts and hardware that I had left. Some of it was hardware from new parts like J&M strut mounts. Should be the last batch. Also got my Vogtland dropsprings in.

Also got my LS T56 in, swapped it with a guy in the UK who needed an LT unit. Along with my mockup LS I'll be able to get a good bit of stuff done soon





The hubs for the C5 brake conversion were bare, I hate bare metal so...I had it plated While I was at it, I installed longer ARP studs. I thought I had ordered dog/quick start ends... I got these. Oh well...



now I'm not feeling the rough finish on the calipers. They have dents and scratches.... and "corvette". I'm leaning towards painting them

[Martin71RS]

Nice job (as always)

[deadman]

what a cool build! im new to the site so my opinion dont count for anything but i dont like the photo shopped wheels...imo. lol how bout some new camaro wheels?

[Twin_Turbo]

the new camaro wheels are 20s, way too large

More progress got the tank back from the coater and a bunch of bolts and misc parts back from the platers.

I stuck some heavy duty foam rubber to the tank, much better than the paper like factory stuff



Welded the unused lines on the sender unit closed, the hose is for the pressure valve.



front suspension all together. Had to shim 3 of the 4 a arm munt pockets because of play on the bushing. Also used washers on the bolts and nuts, I hate to scratch the coating with bare bolts and nuts







Fays2 watts linkage for the rear, still need that 9 bolt girdle cover and some caliper brackets to complete it. I did install the arp studs on the axles now too.





and the tank in place The sump isn't even visible from behind the car

[Twin_Turbo]

Got the tires mounted on the rims for my camaro, this weekend I'm going to test fit them on the trans am and see if I like them on there or not

265 30s front and 295 30s rear (Vredestein Sessanta Ultrac)
Wheels are a little greasy from the tire mounting

[neki67]

Can't wait to see the pics of them on the car!

[sokoloka]

The 77 or this one??

Do you have any more pictures or a build thread of the above vette?
Hot damn!

[Twin_Turbo]

https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ere-w-TT-vette

[Twin_Turbo]

OK more progress. I was going to install the mockup LS1 and T56. Didn't quite get it done.

First I installed a remote bleeder setup on the T56. This is from speedwaymotors. Also plugged the reverse lockout hole and the cags solenoid hole. Don't need that stuff



Then I found out that some of the bolt holes on the T56 bell are stripped and the others aren't perfect either. I may have to get a quicktime 8020 bell. Crap!

Well, let's install the motor first then... OK, trans dapt 1" offset mount plates. They come with bolts and nuts, the nuts are for on the back of the plates to provide more "support". What a load of hoohah.... they only fit in 1 of the locations. In the bolts bin with that stuff then. Also had to notch the dr. side a little or it wouldn't even fit the motor because of a casting bulge with a machined flat (most likely for maching track system)
So, the plates are mounted...time to stick it in. Batwing pan won't fit, next to impossible to install. Need new pan too then. Crap!
So let's just lower the engine in place... Pass side bolt goes in, nice...over to drivers side.. CRAP!!! again!!!!! This stuff doesn't fit. The motor mount adapter plates are probably made incorrect with the mounts sitting too high, spreading them apart. The engine also sits pretty close to the center link. I couldn't even get a thinner bolt in there properly. Crap crap crap...more problems, last thing I need is more probs. I'll have to do some grinding on the moroso solid mounts, I had to modify the 3 holes on them already to be able to bolt them to the trans dapt plates. Should have been worried with these plates since they came with a cheap rattle can paint job. I had them plated. Next time I'm using a different brand, that's for sure.







I installed some 14" rear discs, I'm not 100% sure I like having larger rear rotors than fronts.... hmmm....


The black wheels from my iroc fit with a small spacer for added clearance



front



rear



The rear springs I got from Vogtland are probably wrong... they have pigtails on both ends, are pretty short and don't sit tight around the puck on the axle. Something is not right. Haven't gotten confirmation off the part # yet. I do know that my old set that I put on my buddies car because mine was up on the lift and his needed work anyway...they were different. They were pigtailed on one end.

the front now has me worried too, the others didn't have so many progressive coils up top and on these the upper 4 coils almost touch and the springs are now very stiff. I had to really squeeze them to get 'em in. Let's install wheels then and see where it settles. There's no engine or trans in the car but it sits ridiculously high. I don't see it coming down all that way. I stuck the LS long block in and it only dropped a little. CRAP!!! Looks like even more trouble. :(

Yuck!!!



Something must be wrong about these springs. I can probably cut 2 coils off the top. I'll check w/ all the weight on the car and will determine what to do then.



This is the rear with some cut stock springs, the same that were on there in this pic



compared...the rear will settje like it did with the black springs.. The vogtlands are shorter and because of the 2 pigtails can not use the isolator. Ugh...







I think I will have some bolts left over when done LOL



Now a photoshop of the wheels with a low car..

This is how it should look, not the gasser look above

[Twin_Turbo]

photshop gold...sure looks better than my other attempt at gold