RICHRAD

Over the past few months I've been doing the project a little at a time. I did the search for a long time, but there is no solid step by step info out there. So I thought I'd share some photos and info I've learned along the way. Some of the search info has helped, but the pics out there are only of hoods closed which makes you think that the scoops are just attached to the hoods. Well, not mine..you'll see. Pics and instruction to come

RICHRAD

The shaker assembly I chose was taken from a 301 non turbo Trans am. The shaker's metal frame was a near fit on my 86 T/A carbed air cleaner base. This assembly may have been designed around the small block chevy engines that went into some 2nd gen T/A's. That might account for the good fitment.

RICHRAD

Though a good fit on the third gen air cleaner base, the stock specs of the shaker put it in a location that almost made me give up and call it quits right now

RICHRAD

Well, having already bought a standard v6 firebird hood to hack up, I felt I was up for the massive task. I read in a search that the correct way involved completed disassembly and reconfiguring of the shaker. So a tear down was in order. I began by removing the rivets and hood-to-shaker seal so that I could separate the fiberglass from the steel base.

RICHRAD

It took more than drilling back rivets to separate the scoop. They used some serious epoxy back then to seal the two parts together. My first attempt was with guitar string and a sawing motion. That only worked in areas that the glue was thin and it cut somewhat into the fiberglass. So I grabbed an old putty knive and propane/butane bottle and fired it up. A good bit of heat to the edge of the putty knive and a slicing into the seam it went with ease.. then separation.

loud_mouth22

im thinking about doing the same thing i would like to see how it comes out also are the other hood scoops for the 2nd gen the same size

ncneeds

So do you have more hints and tips? I want to do it as well but I would like a good walkthrough. I have looked here for pics with hood down too but I can't get any to load up. Any help would be nice or some really sweet pics with hood down.

RICHRAD

The 400 pontiac and 403 olds set-ups have very large air cleaners, but I've heard of them being used before with carb spacers for clearance over the dist. and water neck

RICHRAD

Yes, I 'm adding a few post nightly. I plan on covering the entire process it takes me to finish the mod. ....After I separated the steel frame from the scoop, I refered back to some measurements I took from the original mounting location. The shaker was back to firewall 2 1/2" to far and off center 5/8" towards pass. side. So to put the shaker where it looks best I had to remove some metal and relocate a few holes. This left a large area under the scoop open which will require a filler panel to be welded later.

RICHRAD

Next came the refit to check the results and everything seemed to end up as planned. At this point the shaker scoop was only attached to the metal frame with 2 screws at rear. Why?.. Well I will use this shaker location to get my hood cutout dead center and where it needs to be from the back edge of hood. I know the shaker isn't perfect yet because it rotates on the air cleaner and it's hard to get an open hood distance of center. Once the hood is cut and on the car I can square up the shaker and tweak the two shaker parts(scoop and frame).

82firebird

Very cool. I can't wait to see it finished.

j dezzy

iTrader: (12)

Awesome. Keep up the good work. I might try this on my 89 TA.

RICHRAD

thanks for the encouraging feedback! ....Now it was time to tackle the hood. Like I said earlier I had a standard v6 firebird hood to replace my original. I picked up one at a auto salvage for $60. Paint wasn't perfect but the color was indentical. So now came the task of deciding where to cut the hood and how I was to come up with my shape. I didn't have access to a 2nd gen T/A. But I thought it was possible to use the shape of the shaker and transfer the dimensions. I have never owned a 2nd gen T/A ,but owning a 77 Pontiac Can Am years ago gave me some knowledge of how the pattern should look. I began with a thick sheet of cardboard. I traced the outline of the entire scoop and cut the pattern out. From this pattern I could measure and get my inner cutout pattern. I took increments of measurement around the shaker to the shaker bulge and transfered them to the cardboard. The 4 corner radius I just freehanded. Once the inner pattern was cut , I folded it into and evened up both sides to match.

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

it looks like you're doing a good job with it, and I'm sure anyone wanting to do this in the future will appreciate the many pictures you're taking along the way. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks after you cut the hole and mock it up

RICHRAD

thanks... I am starting to see problems on the horizon. I've actually got to this point in the mod. First, the slope of my hood is a few degrees away from how the shaker currently mounts. Second, once I do achieve the correct angle, the whole assembly will have to be raised or lowered to seal with the hood. But not to skip anything, next came the step of cutting the hood. I located the center of my hood and marked it with a nonpermanent marker. I centered my pattern and taped it about 6 1/2" to 7" from the back of the hood. I then traced around my pattern with permanent ink because I didn't want my outline to smear away. Next I put doubled wide masking tape near my traced line to protect the hood from what tools I would use. I knew the hood would leave a nasty burr no matter how I got the section removed so I went lookin for some sheet metal edging. I ended up finding some at an auto trim shop that done sunroofs. Not only did i get the edging, but got great advice on cutting the hood. As instructed, I would use a hand held jigsaw with fine tooth blades. I drilled 5 to 6 holes 3/4" inside the traced outline to get the jigsaw started. I used very little pressure on the saw and kept the jigsaw slightly tilted towards the center off hood as it cut. The slight pressure and angle kept the saw from grabbing and rippling the edge as I cut. About every 6 to 8 inches I changed my blades due to dullness or breaking them. It seems the underhood support structure was helll on'em. Also as I made my away around the hood I would secure the cut areas with more tape to keep the cutout from falling through and bending the hood. Took awhile and alot of patience but got'er done

blk89 5.7liter

iTrader: (1)

Looks good so far, cant wait to see it finished...

Zonda Man

same, i want to see how well it looks once you finish, i too am making a shaker hood, but im fabbing mine instead of just throwing on a 2nd gen one. I am curious as to what it will look like once u finish it so hurry up. lol

RICHRAD

LOL ... Now that my hood is cut I wish I could just throw the thing on there To keep in step with this thread, next was the task of cutting the underhood support structure. This had to be done in order for the shaker to mount flush and seal out the stuff. I turned the hood around and placed the scoop up in the opening. I centered and shimmed correctly, then traced my outline about a 1/2" out from the edges. This time when I cut I used an air die grinder with a cut-off wheel attached. Was not concerned with the heat penetrating. I cut around the outline ,but not all the way through. Next I used a pair of sheet metal snips and cut out sections of the steel, careful not to make contact with the outer hood. I would snip over to the grinded outline then do some bending action on the pieces. After all cutting was done I deburred the edges and put some edging strips over the cuts. more pics..

RICHRAD

And a pic of the hood on my car... Had to do some adjusting on that standard 'bird hood. I think the T/A hood varies a bit. I've yet to put edging around the shaker opening. Going to try and find it in an off white color or maybe paintable. Notice how much the carb is off center

dr1

thats coming along real nice, your making me want one and ive always been quite fond of my formula hood

RICHRAD

yeah I almost done the 83-84 cowl induction set-up, but I could never find the parts. Almost bought a whole 83 T/A to get them. But I couldn't imagine swiping parts off a black/gold bandit III car. So I let it go and focused on the shaker mod.

RICHRAD

Here's the mock up photos... The hood actually closed, but the air cleaner was not secured. A few inches before the hood shuts, contact is made at the front of the shaker and the whole assembly tilts forward on the carb. Now I'll have to make an angled adapter plate to put between the carb and air cleaner.

RICHRAD

A few more pics. Two pics are looking out through the windshield..This is how far I've gotten in the mod. Left to do is get the angle and it still needs centering a bit. Got to get my lid for the air cleaner filter. Have had a tough time finding one that is only as large as the filter. And get some all thread for the carb air cleaner stud. Then finally cut out the shaker for fresh air.

j dezzy

iTrader: (12)

looks awesome. I've always wanted to do this mod. I've seen non functional shaker hood assemblies before, glad to see someone that has made a functional one. I'm prolly gonna look into doing it to my 89 TA.

RICHRAD

Thanks.. was hoping to push others in that direction of doing this mod. I'm sure this is not the only way to accomplish a functional shaker. But I hope to give those trying some ideas to help them along. ...In this post are pics of what I done to take care of the angle problem. I used a magnetic base angle gauge/protractor to compare the top of carburator(which was actually level-0-) with the hood-closed angle. I found that I needed an adjustment of 6 degrees to the air cleaner. What I then needed to do was find some large aluminum pipe to make an angled air cleaner mounting plate. After some careful measurement of the carb's air cleaner seating area, I took my dimensions to work with me. Being employed in the machine shop field helped out greatly and I turned out the required adapter shown in the pics..

bingo

iTrader: (2)

With all the planning and work you are putting into this project it is going to look really good.

gcarter_22

I have always wondered if there were any thirdgens out there with a shaker hood , and now I see that there are. Are you going to put a hood bird on to complete the 2nd gen look? Congratulations on an awesome mod!

89_ho_rs

I was trying to see how the shaker hooks up to the carb. I just got a 78 trans am with the shaker hood. but the parts are missing for the air cleaner. I don't know how it hooks up. Do you have any more pics?

gpbtt

What are you doing about a trim ring for the cut out in the hood?

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

extremely cool!

one question; you said the hood was hitting the air cleaner, forcing it to tilt forward, so now you made that ring, which puts the shaker at the correct angle *but also raises it*. Won't that cause it to hit the hood still, just sooner? or...?

That's a gorgeous carb, you re-do that yourself? Bronze paint or an electroplating?

Now you just need enough cam to make the engine SHAKE

Tricked-Out-Toy

iTrader: (1)

About time someone did this! good job!

RICHRAD

To answer some ?'s posted... I don't plan on a large hood bird decal, but maybe a black tapered stripe down the hood as a throwback to the early 70 71 T/A. ....The shaker scoop attaches via the air cleaner. A clamping ring brings them together when tightened. Will get some pics of that up as I finish up the little details. The whole assembly is held on by the carb stud wingnut. Will show that pic as soon as I get this air cleaner lid fabbed up. ...The cut out trim for the hood will just be press-on trim edging that I will paint to match the hood...

RICHRAD

yes the ring did raise the air cleaner although i corrected the angle. When I close the hood, the whole thing is a little too high. Previously, the air cleaner tilted forward and the hood shut allowing still some clearance under the hood. Now I need to tweak the aluminum ring or get rid of that thick carb gasket, or both. Really I'll probably have to cut a section out of the shaker metal round frame. .. I painted that carb a few years ago with brass spray paint in a can. I think it has turned bronze over time...as far as a cam, I'm currently running a compcam 268High Energy..A little shaky a low idle...Good ?'s

gpbtt

I am building a 85 T/A with (for) my son and we are going to do this mod. We are bidding on ebay now for a scoop

RICHRAD

If you can do so , try to get a shaker scoop from a 79-81 t/a 4.9 or 5.0 liter car. Those are the ones that fit the 3rd gen carb /tbi air cleaners. I never did try the others on my car, but I know for fact that the 400 and 403 shakers fit their air cleaner only. Those air cleaners are large and have offsets from the carb opening. good luck with it and PM me any questions you might have ...

wilyk9

iTrader: (13)

Just found this thread and thought I would chime in with some thoughts as I am well into this conversion as well. I started last fall, but now I am waiting for the car to get painted and back together before I get to finish it. Our approaches are quite similiar and I have come across some of the same problems. My shaker was off the 403 Olds motor so there was more work involved in getting it to fit the 3rd gen air cleaner base. I separated the fiberglass and metal parts as well, but ended up scraping the metal section since it was way to big to fit the third gen air cleaner.

I ran into exactly the same issue. Since I did not use the 2nd gen metal ring, I just took a second 3rd gen air cleaner base, fipped it over, and cut the bottom center out leaving a lip to attach to sheet metal which in turn will attach to the fiberglass scoop. Then I sectioned it to lower it. I cut the section in a pie shape so that I could correct the angle to match the hood. This allowed me to gain a little more clearance since I could make this piece as short as I wanted.


For this, look no further than your stock air cleaner lid. If you flip it upside down and lay the filter element on it, you will see that there is a ridge line that is just a bit larger than the filter element. I makes a perfect place to cut using a grinder with a cutoff wheel. Then a little smoothing of the edge and you will have your lid. It will look like it came from the factory that way.

One thing I did not like was how high the leading edge of the scoop is, where the seal attaches. The 2nd gen hoods have a higher ridge down the center and that leading edge is built up to allow the seal to fit that ridge area. By the time I lowered the scoop enough to give clearance in the front, I thought it set too low. RICHRAD, did you see any issues with that on yours? Hard to tell from your one picture, but it looks like you have quite a bit of gap at the front of your scoop. My solution was to cut that forward edge off the shaker where the seal attaches, then rebuild it in fiberglass with a lower ridge that better fits the 3rd gen hood lines.

Ditto that.

RICHRAD, since you plan on cutting out the opening to make the scoop functional, you might want to check out this link. They sell a kit that will install a functional flapper door to any TA shaker that works similar to the early 2nd gen TAs. It's a little pricey, but it should go far in keeping junk out of the air cleaner. I have the kit, but have not installed it yet. Here is a link to a site that has a write up of an install with some videos showing how it functions.

Great job on your fabrication so far, looking forward to seeing the finished pics.

RICHRAD

wilyk9, Good to hear from some one who's got the mod in progress. I made a angled alum ring adapter as mentioned in a previous post. I had to go back and turn (lathe) some of that material off to add clearance for my shaker seal. Also going to install a thin gasket under the carb in the days ahead. That will allow a little room to shake around. My hood closes fine, but I think the seal will get pinched more at those center ridges you metioned. I thought about shaving those down a bit too. The last details have gone better that I thought they would. Left to do is: trim out the sharp edge on the hood.. fill in the void on the underside of shaker from the reposition... reattach the shaker to the framing( sealant and rivits).. and cut out the scoop. Don't think I'm going with an actuated door, but did think of it in the past. look forward to seeing yours when completed

RICHRAD

another update for this thread... In the past few days I have been working on getting the air cleaner base and lid, etc in order. Not wanting to modify my original lid, I located one at a salvage yard this past weekend. It was larger than my air filter, but had the correct recess for the filter to drop in. Also liked the way it was shaped to flow some air. I would have to cut it down to allow the air to flow in from atop the shaker scoop. When cutting(with jigsaw) I allowed an extra 3/16" to 1/4" to fold an edge over the air filter. Just need to get some paint on it...Pic's below..

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

Rather than mess with the carb ring, why not modify the shaker itself? You've already made big changes to it, so why not tilt the top piece with respect to the bottom piece? This way you still get the OEM carb fitment, and you get the proper height & hood angle. Obviously this will take some work to get just right, but seems like it will offer a cleaner result when finished.

Overall though, it looks great.

nelapse

iTrader: (17)

I like to fabricate things for people, and i think you did a great job.

RICHRAD

yeah, I'm doing everything possible to not have to cut and weld my only shaker housing. That would be a one or two shot deal that I won't have to tackle. I swapped out my Q-Jet 1/4" carb base gasket today for a Mr. Gasket 56C. A fairly thin gasket and it gave me the extra clearance I was hoping for. Also took care of the bare edge where the hood is cut out . I used some chrome forming edge. It took on the contours alot better that I thought. Now to decide whether to scuff and paint it or leave it chrome.. ..more pics!

j dezzy

iTrader: (12)

lookin good. keep it up.

r0nin89

Wonder how that would look on a camaro...

Very nice though!

Zonda Man

u got ne more pics of that things, like from the front of the car or from the side or somethin? I wanna see how good the car looks with that thing on there ! :-D

j dezzy

iTrader: (12)

87CIZ

iTrader: (8)

wouldn't be bad to leave it chrome if you have other chrome things on the car. If not I'd paint it.

j dezzy

iTrader: (12)

yeah. as I'm sure you know, you can pick those strips up in all kinds of colors. black and chrome are the popular ones. I'm not partial to chrome.

wilyk9

iTrader: (13)

Hopefully RICHRAD doesn't mind, thought I'd post some pics that I took of mine before I tore the car apart for paint. My approach was very similiar to his with the exceptions noted in my post above to deal with my edelbrock intake which sets much higher than stock. One other difference is I fabbed in the opening from a 2nd gen hood to gain a stock appearing lip around the shaker opening.

And before anyone comments on the ride height, the car is stripped in those pics except for the engine, and I had just rebuilt the suspension with all new parts, including new springs. When it goes back together it will set where it is supposed to.

RICHRAD

naw, post what you'd like... Just let me have first chance at that Le Mans GT you probably don't really want or need .. Was hoping this thread would bring out some of the other shaker projects that are surely under way. Good pics..looks like another one done right.

wilyk9

iTrader: (13)

To late on the GT, going in trade to get my car painted. It had been setting for several years before I got it, so it has some rust mostly under the vinyl top and the front fenders so it needed some work. Suprisingly the floors and frame were still solid. It is pretty much original (except for wear items like tires/exhaust) and complete right down to still having the bias ply spare. I really wanted to keep it but just have too many projects right now and as you can see in the pics, my car really needs new paint.

Be sure to get some finished pics of yours up, I'm anxious to see how it is going to turn out.