DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

Doob, still awaiting those pictures. Hurry up, man. I'd like to nominate the car for COTM. It has come a long way and I'm hoping it looks just as beautiful as I imagine it. Awesome work so far!

Doobie52

I'm a little reluctant to post because the car needs some tweaking, but I'll put this one picture up for now. I was working on putting the car back together until 9:00 on Thursday night, and hit the road with it at 10:00. It poured most of the way from Las Vegas to Camarillo, and by the time I got up to Morro Bay the car was trashed. When I get back home I'm going to fix the headlight gaps, adjust the ground effects, put all the decals on, give the car a good cleaning and then do a little photo shoot.

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

Niiiice! Love it.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

slick!

scooter

iTrader: (11)

I wish mine looked that good. Too bad the paint doesn't match, I didn't think it was going to, this is what I am afraid of with mine.

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

You must mean the front bumper.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

Yeah and the front fender ground effect pieces. My car is JY also and one of my fender pieces broke off, and I have been reluctant to replace it because I know the paint is not going to match. I also need to fix the quarter from where a school bus scraped me and I am going to put a TA hood on it since my flat hood is full of weird dents from the previous owner. I am going to wind up painting the whole thing because I know it isn't all going to blend well.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

I am learning this too. I just painted my body Arctic white- which is the same color that I painted my other Camaro 8 years ago. The new paint is a brighter white even though I used the exact same DuPont series paint... Could be UV fade, just sprayed heavier or mixed differently.

At any rate Doobie's bird looks great and I think he'll win car of the month this June.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

My other car is/will be Arctic. The original paint was tri-coat, did they mix it for singe coat of base?

Doobie52

After five months off, it was time for an update. The trip to Morro Bay was awesome, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year. I kinda missed the anti-tour part of the trip because the main group left while a smaller group was still touring the Wilwood facility. In true hot rodding fashion, we just banded together and headed up to the show on our own. We had a great time, and the weather couldn't have been better. My car got a ton of action at the show, mostly because John McGann, the editor of Car Craft Magazine, parked his Hellcat next to my Trans Am for the show on Saturday. I kept telling him they came by for the Hellcat, but they stayed for the Trans Am. He was a super nice guy and I enjoyed talking with him at the show. Here's a shot of our cars together at the show.



Shortly after getting home from the show I put all the graphics and emblems on the car. A perfect photo opportunity presented itself one Sunday afternoon as I was going to the grocery store. I passed a replica of the trailer from "Smokey and the Bandit" parked in a vacant lot around the corner from my house. I think I went back about three times during the day so that I could get shots of the car in different light. A few of the shots came out killer, but I think this is my favorite.



At the end of June I put the car up on the Race Ramps and effectively killed it for the rest of the summer. The only parts I hadn't replaced during the suspension upgrade were the steering box and the pump. I pulled them out and sent them to Turn One to be rebuilt. When I got them back, I also added a remote power steering cooler and replaced all the power steering hoses. I also switched over to AMSOIL power steering fluid. I got the car back down on it's wheels right around the beginning of September and the weather is beautiful now, so I've had the car out every weekend. I reset the ride height of the car, and I'm just about ready to now stiffen the shocks by one click from the softest setting.

And now for the biggest update since the suspension overhaul. About a month ago a friend of mine called me to ask my opinion of the eBay turbo kits for SBCs. After an hour long conversation, I got off the phone with him and started messing with my Formula, and making a list of exactly what I needed to get my turbo car going again. That night, while looking up parts, I got the urge to search for something I've been looking for since I purchased my Trans Am about 4 years ago. This particular part hasn't been in production for some time, but they do come up for sale from time to time. I started by checking Google, and then eBay, but I had no luck on either site. I then searched thirdgen.org and found exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, it was listed for sale back in March of 2015. After some more looking around, I noticed that the thread had never been replied to, and it was never bumped. I decided the send the seller a PM around 1 in the morning, and he responded by the time I woke up the next day. He had sold the part I was interested in about 6 months before, but the buyer backed out, so he still had it sitting boxed up at his house. We worked out a deal on price and it finally arrived last Tuesday. Like a little kid at Christmas, I had to assemble it on an engine, and it's everything I dreamed it would be. The next time the Trans Am goes under the knife, it's getting a heart transplant and a little something extra.







For those of you who don't know, that is a true BBS single turbo kit and it's basically brand new. While it had been bolted to an engine, it was never run. I bought the complete hot side along with the Turbonetics Evolution Wastegate. I actually have a lot of the parts needed to put it in, but I've decided that I want at least one of my cars running at all times, so I'm not going to install it until my Formula is back together. As I start collecting parts, I'll keep the thread updated. Just having the kit to look at on an engine stand is going to keep me happy for months!

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

I love these photos. I'm glad you were able to enjoy the car this summer.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Angle and distance probably have a bit to do with it, but the Trans Am looks to be the size of a Miata next to the Hellcat.
Can't blame you for not driving the car in the desert heat, my RS was barely driven too.
Any updated interior shots?

PurelyPMD

iTrader: (3)

Place a 70's Challenger next to a new one & it too will look like a Miata! Amazing how big these cars have become. I've got a picture somewhere of our 2005 Mustang GT convertible next to the 71 & 72 GTOs I had at the time and the mustang looks huge!

Doobie52

I don't have any updated interior shots. I should take some now that the stereo's in, and I have the manual shifter plate installed. I'll try and take some this weekend.

Thanks Dave. They're some of my favorite pictures too.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Just so you know, when you put up the interior shots I'll be nominating you for cotm next time I can.

Doobie52

Thanks man. I'll keep you posted.