killer777

Just going to track my progress on this thread, and would love to hear advice and comments on products before/ after install and before/ after buying them. Any advice given will be considered. This is again a 1989 Firebird Trans Am 5.0L TPI.

Hopeful additions coming soon
-350 cid engine rebuilt and stroked into a 383
-roll cage
-sub frame connectors
-koni shocks
-battery moved to rear and sealed off
-wire tuck
-custom fab dash
-tan interior to black/charcoal grey
-racing seats
-custom hood scoop and hood
-etc

Much later additions
-manual transmission
-sway bar rebuild/replace kit
-paint job
-possible power adder
-heavy weight reduction

DISCLAIMER-Some of these things could be in a different order depending on the person, for me they are in no particular order whatsoever. I will try and supply as many pictures as I can, and I hope you fellow 3rd gen members will give me advice as to modifications and other fabrications that can be made to existing parts or ordered bolt on parts. Thank you for your time. -Alex

CharcoalBird

iTrader: (4)

What use are you hoping to get out of this car? Street, strip, autocross, road racing?

killer777

Street and strip. I want it be street legal. But to be able to have decent track times.

killer777

I ported my Slp runners a few weeks ago.

killer777

Doug's headers. 3 inch collector. 1-3/4 inch pipes. These run into 3 inch stainless steel dual pipes, that currently take a 90 degree bend and go out the side before the rear wheel, but will eventually be changed to drop off or turn down, at the ground. The mufflers are dynomax bullets.

killer777

A little more on the exhaust. Some more will come later once I condense the pictures down. The second picture are the bolts for the Fuel pressure regulator, my stainless steal ones were worn out and rotten, so I replaced them along with the regulator. I bought an adjustable one from South Bay Fuel injectors.

killer777

These are the Dougs headers. They were really heavy construction, although, because of being larger and full length the engine had to be lifted up before the headers we installed. An aftermart K member would work better with these than the factory one, but they turned out good performance wise and as far as quality, top notch.

killer777

Shock tower brace by BMR and a wander bar from UMI. The shock tower brace was a 5 minute install. Centered it up, marked where the holes would go, hit the mark with a tap so the drill would track and drilled the holes. The wander bar took much longer than expected. I got the car up on jacks evenly so it wouldn't flex one way or another, removed the sway bar, and attempted to reattach everything together which proved to be relatively difficult alone. The holes didn't line up well, a lot of adjusting, but from experience suspension is always difficult.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

So the difficulty, aside from holes that did not line up well, is just in trying to juggle all of these pieces back into place, and hold them there while you get bolts started?

killer777

Yes. I had a neighbor help me. She held one side while I pressed the wander bar and the sway bar up together an started two of the bolts. After that it was just a lot of adjusting before they would... accept each other and mount. I'm buying sub frame connectors right now, they are BMR also because I had really good luck with my first purchase from them. I am also buying a Competition Engineering 8 Point roll cage because I eventually want this car to be able to hit 9-10's on a track, and this will make those times NHRA legal, keep me safer on the street and tighten the body up even more. I would post more pictures but I cannot seem to get them to upload to the site. Frustrating.

killer777

This picture is after I put a fabricated fuel rail, new injectors, fuel pressure regulator that was adjustable, ported slp runners, manifold and plenum, and polished and cleaned throttle body on. The allen head bolts were much easier to install and torque to the correct specs than the previous HEX head.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Thanks killer777.

killer777

Of course DynoDave43. Anyway I can help, I will.

killer777

Currently I am adding LED lighting strips (RED) along the sides of the hood on the inside(12 inch), and then two small 4 inch strips under the tpi manifold so it emanates red light. I had an extra toggle switch from my cousins Chevelle when he ran Nitrious, so I wired everything up tonight. I will post pictures when I figure out how to get the ones from my Iphone to fit on here. I am also currently trying to cut 1/4 inch tinted Plexiglas to go over my cold air box to seal in the air from the outside... however I need to get some sort of rubber sealer or seal/trim to put on top of the air box before I bolt things together. Any suggestions?

killer777

Okay, first picture is the BMR shock tower brace I bought to go in conjunction with the UMI wander bar. Overall, this was a really solid piece as stated before and was a quick 5 or so minute install. Really happy with this company so far.

Next is the hood that I started fabricating. My transportation's instructor had some 3rd gen parts and let me buy them for really cheap. This hood was one of those parts. I have a friend that works for a metals fabrication company who took my dimensions, cut out and blueprints to have the hood scoop cut, and bend. I weld things up and now I'm just fixing a few imperfections in the metal and welds before I prime and paint it.

Third is a picture of the exhaust tip protruding out of the side before the rear wheel. I thought this would be a great setup, but it has two problems that I don't necessarily like. 1.) Its extremely loud, which is more or less what I wanted, but the sound waves actually bounce off the houses in town when driving because of the angle 2.) because of the route out the side it leaves me with little ground clearance at the end. I am currently considering taking the 90 degree bends off and shooting it out the back.

killer777

These are the led lights. I have to make small brackets to mount them and hide them on the sides still. I'm going to remove my windshield wiper motor, and the fluid reservoir, and add a smaller overflow tank for my coolant, and fabricate a Plexiglas top to my air box for my air intake. I also bought a Chevy 350 from a local junkyard that I'm going to make a 383 stroker eventually. Do any of you guys have any ideas as far as weight reduction on the front end of the car? I still have to buy a battery relocation kit and aluminum water pump, but other than that I cannot think of a lot more to remove/ fabricate for lower weight.

killer777

I got my 8 point roll cage today. It's from competition engineering. Its a good piece. It's around 110 lbs which I hate to put in my car, but I know it'll tighten the car up and keep me safe and legal eventually. At least the weight will be mostly distributed to the middle and back, and not the front end.

killer777

Here is the roll cage progress. Had a few free hours today to start tack welding in the cage. Ready to finish it already but I gotta go to work. Tell me what you guys think.

killer777

Whoops. Forgot to upload them. Here they are.

killer777

I fitted this edelbrock breather today on the original valve covers, and started work on my cold air box with a breather hole at the bottom to suck air from below the car. I want to put a Plexiglas shield over the top of it eventually. I installed one of the door brace bars to the roll cage today, but I'll wait until I have more done to post any of the pictures of it.

killer777

I need to move a bar on the roll cage down to meet NHRA race requirements( seat brace bar). My instructor told me it needs to be at my shoulder blades. Its sitting right on top of my shoulders now, which NHRA says isn't okay. This is my first roll cage, so I suspected I would run into issues. My BMR Red powder coated sub-frame connectors came in the mail yesterday. They are the second model meant for people who have long tube headers. I also need to reroute my exhaust. I don't like it going out the side as I previously said. So that's on the list of things to do.

My little improvement today was a Plexiglas cover over my metal insulated air box for my cold air intake. Its screwed down. I need to remove it and put the weather stripping I have under it before leaving it like that. I also am going to cut a square hole from the bottom up to the filter through the EVAP can floor. I will run aluminum duct material to vent the air into my box from under the vehicle.

killer777

Cut out the crossmember and the frame brace bars to the roll cage. Prepared to renotch them and fit them for the required place.

Put weatherstripping on the air box to seal it up. I also cut a square hole for the aluminum duct, screwed it down, and ran it to the bottom. I am going to cut a flower pot water catcher in half on the saw, and place it top up, with long bolts securing it directly below my aluminum duct to act as a lightweight air scoop, funneling air into my air box from the ground. This should keep things much cooler. And yes, I will paint it so it doesn't look like a girls trans am that doesn't know how to plant flowers lol Will post more pictures soon. Any advice or comments are welcome.