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Congratulations, Jupiter, you and your car are TGO's September 2020 Car of the Month!
This month's lineup had a fantastic list of cars rarely seen. Specialty cars, pace cars, and a factory tuner car from back in the day. But the one car that took the spotlight was the '82 Trans Am built by Jupiter. This car was put together on a shoe-string budget with every part wisely chosen to produce an impressively well-balanced street machine with all the right boxes checked: Restoration, powerful 383 stroker, 6-speed manual, chassis & handling, some modern touches, and a super sharp interior. It's no wonder this car grabbed so many's people attention and respect!
This $300 car was given to me as junk and became my daily driver from 1996-2001 after a little bit of work. It then sat in storage till 2010. It has taken me the past 3 years to do all this on a VERY thin shoe string budget.
4 bolt 383 all forged lower end full roller lunati cam kit trick flo 2.02 aluminum heads performer rpm manifold + 1" spacer demon 750 RobbMc fuel pump k&n air filter msd dizzy+6al hooker shorties to 3" with no cat to flowmaster with 2.5" tips serpentine conversion electric cooling fan conversion 4th gen coolant bottle conversion 1996 t56 hurst competition plus shifter ram clutch spec billet steel flywheel 3" coleman aluminum driveshaft 10 bolt 4th gen disc rear with aftermarket auburn posi 3.42 with moser axles, c-clip eliminators and perfect launch girdle iroc wonder bar 36MM hollow front sway bar 24mm rear sway bar energy suspension motor mounts and bushings everywhere custom moog springs with 1" drop kyb agx adjustable struts/shocks pbr brakes granatelli lca's founders lcarb spohn panhard spohn torque arm/trans mount south side machine shop frame rails edlbrock strut tower brace j&m strut mounts ram air fiberglass hood 89 gta 140mph/8k rpm dash console and converted interior from grey to black but kept the factory electric pmd seats 'recovered' added power locks, mirrors, hatch, vanity mirror, cargo door daytime running lights module dakota digital sgi-5c vss converter c5 wheels
Recently i did the t56 conversion and while i was at it i stripped the undercarriage. With the car on jack stands and me laying on the ground turning my back into hamaburger meet i scraped, sanded and, scrubbed it bare. Re-sprayed it with undercoating and painted all the bolts and brackets. I cleaned up the fuel and brake lines with a wire brush on my drill then rubbed them down with steel wool to make them shinny again. Painted the tranny and exhaust with vht flame proof header paint.
Next on the list to be done is to get some new seat belts and nicer shifter boot and **** so as to finish the interior, ls1 brakes then finally getting it painted again
So after getting it painted and cleaning it up back when it was a daily driver in the 90's
Thank you everybody. This project has been amazing over the years. My son learned how to wrench on a car when we took it apart over summer break a long time ago! I've almost finished the interior. The seat belt mechanisms have been rebuilt and new belts installed. The stick shift is done but i haven't installed the brand new shifter plate with 6 speed logo. Last thing not done is the exhaust. I've had to scale down my projects recently. We'll see what life throws at me next.
To be honest, I've never been a fan of the big nostril, ram air hoods, but that just my own preference, Your build story is just great, turning an original '82 into a great machine. I love that interior. Congratulations.
Jupiter hasn't posted in years since this thread. Anybody know his status and if he survived the cancer? This story was a heart breaker and I haven't forgotten.
Jupiter hasn't posted in years since this thread. Anybody know his status and if he survived the cancer? This story was a heart breaker and I haven't forgotten.
I don't know him but it looks like he is still with us.
