1973 Pontiac Grand Am LS7 Swap

[77tony]

I worked for Barberino Pontiac (now Barberino Nissan) as a "lot boy" back in the early 70's. First time I laid eyes on one of these Grand Am's thought...what a cool looking car. You really knocked it out of the park with this build T

[cornfedbill]

Wow. Great build. I like how you enhanced the beauty of a very rare and cool car. It still looks true to its original form, but much improved.

Excellent work!

[Later-A-body]

Well after speaking with Westech Performance a few weeks ago to schedule an appointment for a chassis dyno session, I was informed that the Walbro 255 liter pump I had in the tank would not be adequate to feed the LS7. I ordered a new Walbro 485 liter pump. The customer service at Walbro was excellent. There was some modification required to the cage which they informed me of, but minimal. After installing the pump I turned the key and I thought it had no power. It's so quiet you can't hear it. Started it up and drove it a few miles, runs great. So now I will be off to Westech on Monday morning for the dyno session. Fingers crossed no issues.

[Later-A-body]

I had a dyno day at Westech Performance to tune the GA and get some numbers on power. Car ran fantastic. The final numbers were 482 RWHP@6300 and 484 RWTQ @4600. I am very happy with the numbers. The torque curve is huge and flat. The technician said to figure a factor of 20% give or take for flywheel power. That equates to around 600 hp/tq. As far as the way it runs, it spins the tires in 3rd gear!!Put it in 6th gear and just climbs the hills on the freeway. Car is very easy to drive. I could have went for a bigger cam profile and got the hero HP numbers, but that would ruin the idea behind fitting catalytic converters on the car, and building huge torque to match the feeling I had with the Pontiac 455. The car was fast with the 455, but the LS7 pulls so hard from down low to 6500 it's amazing. I would like to take it to the track and see what it runs. I took the car to the scales right after the dyno session and weighed it. It weighs 3950. So I would like to see the car hit the 11's, but traction will be the deciding factor. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RzyMP0RraY

[Later-A-body]

My buddy took this picture when I was waiting to weigh the GA. He photo-shopped it to B&W, and I think it came out AWESOME!! I am going to turn this into a big poster size picture and hang it on my garage wall. Car weighs 3950.

[andrewb70]

Car looks amazing! I don't think you will get into the 11's but mid 12s should be pretty easy.

Andrew

[1965gp]

That pic is awesome

[Later-A-body]

I thought since I haven't posted here in a while I would add some pictures. I shut down the GA during Covid, but have had the chance to attend a few events this spring and summer. I was fortunate to receive a few trophies as well. Have more events planned including Goodguys Del Mar this fall to autocross.

[Later-A-body]

This was an interview I did at Cars and Coffee San Clemente in May 2021.


https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...00007745552047

[68Formula]

That thing looks amazing.

[PDC]

Absolutely, absolutely stunning. SO cool to do this type build with such a deserving and too often overlooked platform. I’m knocked out.

[968ls1]

Always loved this build, unique and very well done.

[Later-A-body]

I did make two changes to the motor during the pandemic. I decided to replace the factory LS7 intake with an MSD Airforce intake. I had it mildly ported and as with the factory one, painted it the proper Pontiac metallic blue. Also installed some nice Holley gloss black fuel rails. The other change was replacing the Hedman headers. They were hanging down too low and ground clearance was an issue. I brought the car to Chad's Custom Headers and he built a nice set of custom 1 7/8" headers with a ton of ground clearance, and the 3" cats are still in place.The combination feels more powerful than before, and I will plan to re-tune/dyno the car this fall.

[70Uglybird]

Wow I was just wondering what happened to this car!

Your old shortblock got a new cam, sdperformance kre heads and terminator FI. Getting ready to put back in next month!

[Later-A-body]

Grand Am at Quarantine Cruise.

[andrewb70]

Such a cool car. Definitely one of my favorite builds ever.

[qnitro]

What a great car.. nice seeing the non Camaro cars..

[Later-A-body]

Such a cool car. Definitely one of my favorite builds ever.

Thanks Andrew

[andrewb70]

Awesome!

Andrew

[thumper877]

awesome!

Andrew

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