F-Body Int

I just joined this forum not too long ago but thought I would share my car through this section rather than a wheel thread. It's '79 Trans Am WS6 400 4spd with t-tops. Started out as a stock car in 2009 but after the engine turned a rod the first day I bought it, modifications started to happen over the years. I drove it for about 3 years then tore it down while going back to college. Here is where it started...

F-Body Int

I got lucky on my local craigslist this past year and found a set of perfect condition GTA seats from an '87 Trans Am. In '79 and '87, Pontiac offered carmine red from the factory so this ended up being a perfect interior color match for me. The '87, however, offers recline, adjustable headrest, adjustable side bolsters, adjustable lower cushion, and rear cargo net. Here is a picture comparing both seats in the car.

Picture with the front seats roughly installed. I was going to make and adaptor for mounting on 2nd gen seat sliders but at this point I think I'm just going to build a solid seat mount in a position I prefer most.


Just a few weeks ago I ended up finding a set of matching rear seats from another '87 in a junkyard. These seats were pretty much in perfect condition. They look great but I will have to fabricate lower seat mounts and also make attachment for the seat back because is a folding seat. Here is picture of them loosely laid in the car...

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Wow, those seats look great in there. A nice improvement for the fronts for sure.

F-Body Int

Another 3rd gen styling point I'm trying to make work for me is replica '91-'92 SLP Firehawk wheels. They're 17x9.5 so a good amount of tire can fit on these. I might try and get the rears widened widened to fit a 315/35 17.

F-Body Int

Subframe has been removed and getting full preparation from Pro-Touring F-Body. Dave at the shop is doing all the welding, painting and modifications.

www.pro-touringf-body.com

-Pro-Touring F-Body coil-over install kit
-Pro-Touring F-Body upper control arms
-Pro-Touring F-Body lower control arms (built specifically for coil-over only)
-Pro-Touring F-Body adjustable sway bar
-Pro-Touring F-Body sway bar brace
-Pro-Touring F-Body modified solid body mounts
-Pro-Touring F-Body True Steer bump steer correction kit
-Pro-Touring F-Body HD steering rebuild kit
-Pro-Touring F-Body pro model adjustable g-braces
-Pro-Touring F-Body 12" A.X. (autocross) brake kit
-ViKing double-adjustable coil-over shocks
-Prothane polyurethane motor/trans mounts
-Turn One Performance Plus steering box (12:1 ratio with 235 T-bar)
-John Paige (NOT A TA) upper control arm adjustable supports
-John Paige (NOT A TA) lower control arm frame reinforcement kit
-John Paige (NOT A TA) body mount frame reinforcement kit
-John Paige (NOT A TA) sway bar mount upgrade
-John Paige (NOT A TA) cowl reinforcement kit for PTFB g-braces

F-Body Int

Still using the original 8.5 10 bolt rear end. This was finished up earlier this year. I'm experimenting with dialing back to 2.73 gearing because I plan on shorter tires than what came from the factory and I will also be making a lot more power.

-Moser 30 spline axles
-Detroit Truetrac carrier
-Strange 1350 pinion yoke
-Motive 2.73 ring and pinion
-Center section fully welded to the axle tubes

F-Body Int

I have a lot more that I've done to it recently but I will continue to post as things progress from here. The engine was rebuilt years ago but I'm now working on converting it to EFI while maintaining somewhat of a factory appearance. Here's some things I'm working on...

FAST XFI 2.0 efi
FAST 4500 dominator throttle body
FAST E6 ignition hidden inside the car
FAST dual sync distributor
Edelbrock Victor EFI intake

The_Punisher454

Nice, I'm a serial second gen owner here, and really like what you are doing. Especially running a real Pontiac engine with EFI.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

WOW! That's really low numerically. How tall will your tire be? like 24"?

F-Body Int

I have a bunch of reasoning for building it this way. You saw in the other thread about which tire sizes I'm looking at. 275/40 17 like you were recommending cuts tire height down nearly 2" when compared to stock height. I assume since you're correlating tire height and gear ratio that you know effective gear ratio equation. Stock gearing is 3.23 with 27.4" tire height. I'm now looking at 2.73 gearing with 25.7" tire height.

225/70 15 (Stock) - 27.4"
275/40 17 - 25.7"
285/40 17 - 26"
315/35 17 - 25.7"

I could've gone with 3.08 gearing and the shorter tire to pretty much achieve close to the same overall final drive ratio as compared to stock. I'm figuring that dialing back gearing to 2.73 will help with traction and the shorter tires. My engine is set up to make much more power than stock so I'm fighting off the gear "disadvantage" through tire height and power. It's also my poor mans approach to having an OD transmission.

Feel free to make fun of me on gearing choice Scooter. I know it's against the "rules" and what people typically do. I'm experimenting with it. Hopefully this doesn't grind your gears as much as the PTFB suspension haha.

BrutalGTA

iTrader: (2)

I'm I interested in the outcome! What's kinda power you think you'll have at the wheels?

r0t0rdr1ver

Wow, looking really good. I've had a few second gens myself, and appreciate what you're doing with this one. The chassis/ suspension upgrades will be killer, and the EFI setup will make this car that much more enjoyable/ reliable. Can't wait to see more.

scooter

iTrader: (11)

I wasn't makiong fun, I actually forgot about your tire choice. I understand what you're going for, but I think you may want to put all your numbers into a calculator. I don't know where your RPM range will be but it sounds too low, I am actually trying to make sure you're not making a wrong decision.

My cousin went from 4.11 to either a 2.73 or 3.08 (I forget now) in his Chevelle to get "overdrive" so he could drive on the highway and it helped him a lot, but I think he lost almost all of the low end acceleration that he liked about the tall numeric gears.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Pontiac engines have quite a bit more low end grunt and generally aren't a high rpm motor, unless a ton of work has been done. They tend to preform very well with "airplane" gearing.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

That's funny how you mention "Airplane Gearing" Tony. The 79 T/A I had with the 403 Olds I used to call the gearing the same. I think final gear was the size of a garbage can lid!! It just kept going and going!

F-Body Int

Not sure at all. Cliff Ruggle's (Quadrajet expert/Pontiac guru) estimated my engine to be around 375hp with the modifications I listed off a few years ago. I'm sure the power curve will pick up with port injection and high rise single plane now. I'll more than likely going to have it running on E85 as well.

F-Body Int

I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes with my gearing choice. I know it's a bit lazy (especially for manual trans) but I forgot to mention earlier that the car should be lighter this time around. PTFB suspension/brakes, fiberglass hood, aluminum engine parts and many other things are subtracting from where the weight started. I am, however, adding weight in some things like chassing bracing, wheels, tires, etc.

LiquidBlue

thanks for the post. love your machine!

F-Body Int

Sorry for no updates this past month. I have been really busy. Got a '98 T/A for my daily driver a few weeks ago. I've been doing a bunch of maintenance and fixing a bunch of odds/ends on this thing. I'm also getting married this weekend.

red rock

iTrader: (2)

Well there goes all the car projects. j/k congratulations on the car's and the wedding.

F-Body Int

No updates big updates lately but I'll make a post to keep the thread alive.

-I ordered the other three wheels this week besides just having 1 to see if I really liked it.

-Sold my complete FAST port injection efi setup.

-Bought a carb-to-efi from diyautotune.com so I'm now building my own Megasquirt computer. I've also been in contact with SPR Performance about putting together a 454 TBI for my engine. Even though the engine is taking a downgrade in performance parts, I think it's going in a pretty cool direction using factory parts. It's now becoming more "third gen" since trying to chase down a TBI setup. Here's a sum up of what parts I'm trying to put together in order to build my efi.
-Megasquirt MS2 carb-to-efi kit with Innovate LC-2 wideband.
-SPR Performance 454 TBI
-Pro-Touring F-Body drop base air cleaner
-Spectre EFI gas tank
-Holley Street Dominator intake manifold.
-1981 Pontiac 301 Turbo distributor. '81 301 turbo engines were the only true Pontiacs to ever receive a locked-out computer-controlled HEI.

F-Body Int

Hopefully should have a pleasant surprise coming on this build thread this upcoming weekend. Crossing my fingers on a special part.

F-Body Int

Bummer, hopefully next time. I'm trying get an 80-81 Firebird Turbo 301 hood. This hood is basically what was used for power bulge style hood on 3rd gens.

F-Body Int

Update...found an '81 Turbo hood. On delivery, I also have a '82-'84 cowl induction setup that I'm going to try grafting into my 2nd gen hood. I'm crossing my fingers about getting this setup to work. Hopefully the engine positioning and cowl will be a match with the 2nd-3rd gen mix of parts.

F-Body Int

Some more recent updates.

Suspension....I've bought a new frame locally to work on for my car after waiting and waiting for Dave at PTFB to supply my coilover suspension, lower control arms, g-braces, sway bar brace, etc. I paid him in full a year ago, have not received my parts and the business has moved to Tennessee. I've tried numerous times to get him to finish what I paid him for but every week there's a new story or excuse. It's just a shame because I know him as a friend and I've helped work in the shop a lot this past year but I just don't think he will finish my stuff at this point. I am now trying out Global West for suspension.

Engine...I recently acquired two 454 TBI's and a '81 301 Turbo HEI distributor. I am using the '81 301 turbo distributor because it's a 7-wire computer controlled HEI (no weights/spring/vacuum can). Currently, the distributor is being gone through by a specialist in that area. Once the distributor gets back, I plan on sending the 454 TBI to Sean at SPR Performance so he can bore out the throttle body and modify it so I can run an external fuel pressure regulator

F-Body Int

Made some progress on my new frame between yesterday and today.

Wire wheeled my new subframe just to clean off a majority of the undercoating and loose debris.


Welded in a set of Lab-14 sway bar reinforcement plates. I highly recommend these after my experience last year. Last year, I was tightening up a Hotchkis sway bar and ended up stripping the threads in the frame. These plates have a nut welded to them so it creates a very strong bolting point for the sway bar. Please excuse my welding if it doesn't look pretty. I've never had any professional teach me and I only have a couple jobs under my belt.



Also got around to installing a set of Lab-14 body mount reinforcement plates. These are pretty cool. I just noticed today that with a sleeved body mount like the PTFB mounts I have, they insure that the sleeve stays inside the bore. These plates should make for a nice clamp on the frame to keep it locked to the body and reinforce the metal in this area. I was speaking with John at Lab-14 recently to see if he has plans to make a similar plate for the rear body mount under the seat pan...hopefully that part becomes available soon.


I have the day off tomorrow so hopefully I can get around to installing my Lab-14 upper and lower control arm reinforcements. After that, I'm hoping this frame will be close to being ready for sandblasting.

F-Body Int

Just found out tonight that the 3rd gen cowl induction setup is not a direct bolt-in setup. I'm pretty bummed that the screen doesn't offer enough material height for trimming and plastic induction piece is also wider than the 2nd gen opening as well.



2nd gen scoop piece removed...


2nd gen scoop vs 3rd gen cowl induction...


2nd gen block off plate vs 3rd gen induction screen...


My hopes are not 100% lost yet. I'm hoping I can modify the cowl induction and build my own screen in order to make this work.

F-Body Int

Not much done to the car today but I was happy seeing my welds on the Lab-14 mounts look a little nicer after using a wire wheel to clean them up. I still have to grind down these areas a small amount so that the sway bar clamps and PTFB solid body mounts are able to flat and tight on the frame.

F-Body Int

Good news on the PTFB front. Dave finally got around to contacting me. He said he's broken a couple phones over the past couple months and was unable to communicate. Besides communication issues, he said he is getting the shelves stocked up with parts for his new location reopening.

On my car, me and Dave working out a deal to finish off the rear suspension and brakes because I bought the GW setup. For now, I'm holding off on doing the PTFB setup on my '79 subframe. He still has some designing to finish with his new lower control arms and by avoiding this, it gives him more time to work things out with that. The '78 subframe will be used for now with the Global West control arms, hybrid coil-over, stock ws6 sway bar, PTFB brake kit and Turn One steering box. Hopefully within the next 2 months, I will be making a lot of progress with getting my suspension/brakes sorted out.

F-Body Int

Last month, I sent my distributor out to PY member Sun Tuned for a rebuild/service. He said he's been busy with orders so it took him some time but these are some pictures he sent me today. I'm very glad I sent it to him after seeing that he's addressing a few issues with it.





Found a crack here...


Housing cleaned...




Shaft regreased and shimmed...




Looking pretty clean...



Also, the Global West lower control arms should be in tomorrow. I should be fairly well set up for front suspension pretty soon here.

Jbuchanan

I sure love the year one wheels in your first post. Very nice ride..... Subscribed

F-Body Int

Got some time in after work today to install my Lab-14 upper control arm reinforcement plates.

Started by wire wheeling the control arm area...


Got some weld-through primer from my local Oreilly auto parts...


Sprayed the area that's getting welded...


Sprayed back side of plates then used the Lab-14 supplied locating bolts for set up...


Lab-14 plates welded into place...

jharrison5

This makes me miss my '79 and '81 birds...

F-Body Int

Did a little fitting with the new Global West control arms and finally got around to installing my Lab-14 lower control arm reinforcement plates. I must say, the control arm tool from Lab-14 was a big help in getting this done smoothly! Also if anyone else gets these plates, just FYI, you may need grind down the edges slightly so that they fit the frame better. Either way the fit is great and they really do appear to strengthen this area.

F-Body Int

Since Photobucket has blocked all my pictures. I will stop posting on this thread until further notice. I'm not planning on paying them money but we'll see what happens.

Thank you for those who have followed, influenced and helped me with my project up until this point.

F-Body Int

It looks as though the pictures in this thread have been fixed and I have to continue. This hasn’t happened on other forums so I assume Thirdgen fixed my issue here.

Thank you Thirdgen!!!

scooter

iTrader: (11)

An observation, I would re-weld the factory welds for that mount. It looks like it is going to come off at any moment.

Why did you switch from port EFI to TBI? Couldn't you have done the port with teh Mega squirt? Or was it just for looks?


Also, I saw somewhere that someone makes the flap and solenoid for one of the induction systems, I think thing it was Year One that sells it. I would think you could adapt that to your "formula" hood to make it functional

F-Body Int

I switched to TBI because I’ve always thought they were cool. I also like the Megasquirt Nova build where they switched an old Nova to TBI and made the same power as a 650cfm-750cfm carb. They made a touch more power with when electronic timing was introduced. Kinda crazy considering 200-300 less cfm is made with the SBC TBI.

I will definitely consider welding the whole frame.

In regards to the hood, I’ve had various ideas.
-leaving it vented and using my caddy setup
-grafting in the 3rd gen cowl induction
-making the cowl vent the only form of induction through an open top air cleaner.

F-Body Int

Here's a fun little project I did earlier this year while I was down with regards to the photobucket issue.

-Started with some out-of-the-box PTFB body mounts.
-Disassembled
-Primered
-Painted OER brand chassis black
-Waterproof grease applied to the steel sleeve and inside of the pucks
-Reassembled

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156619454@N04/, on Flickr
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156619454@N04/, on Flickr
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156619454@N04/, on Flickr

F-Body Int

Hey guys,

Been a while since I've posted on this thread...once again. So many stories since last year.


LS1 story..........
This year I purchased an LS1 to have an engine shop build and set the 4.8 aside in the garage. After going through some big purchasing, the owner of the shop I was trying to work with ended up making a big fit with me on the phone about deciding to get the heads ported and purchasing a camshaft. The moment that happened, I decided to stop the process and pulled the LS1 out of the shop. I didn't want to do business with the guy anymore. Absolute rip-off. Paid $5,000 for assembly, machining and dyno time. Once I decided to pull out, they decided to order pistons/rods and overcharge me labor time for work they did not do. If anyone lives in Illinois area, stay away from Speed Performance Engineering in Wauconda, IL. Absolute rip-off artist. I'm now returning or selling off all the parts that were intended for that build. Shame as it was hovering $10,000 between everything at that point. Losing thousands on this failure but I just have to take it on the chin and move on.


4.8 story........
After getting ripped off bad by that shop with the LS1 I was trying to build, I decided to clean up the 4.8 that I had sitting in the garage. Before when I had found glass inside the piston cylinders, I was fairly not motivated and that I was why I coughed up coin to build and aluminum block instead. After cleaning the engine up and posting on Facebook, a friend of mine said he'd buy it. The engine is going to be featured in coming episodes for his YouTube channel and Facebook page. Foy's Automotive.


Pontiac 400........
I never really voiced this on the forums but my 400 engine was actually used by some close people I know to pay off someone's theft debt. I won't go into details over forum but my engine got ripped off by some very close people. I always knew who had the engine but I was on bad terms with this person and basically stayed out of the sour subjects of others. That's why I started working on putting together an LS engine. After all this stuff happened with the LS engines, the guy who had my 400 engine started going through an ugly divorce. I personally never wanted to pay money towards the guy for problems that I was not involved and, thus, never expected to see this engine again but I really didn't want to see anything bad happen to it so I called and asked if I could buy it. Couldn't believe I was paying money for an engine that was pretty much stolen from me but I really wanted to keep the original engine with the car. Here I am with a restart, yet again, on the original 400...
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156619454@N04/, on Flickr

Car Article Feature...........
This past month I was contacted by a writer named Tommy Parry from HotRodHotline about doing a feature on my car. I was a bit surprised because my car is currently not in the condition I was expecting to be asked for a feature but I reluctantly said yes. After sending him some information about myself, why I'm into the project and other questions, he developed a draft. I approved it but I also conveyed that I have a different direction I'm going with the car than what is currently posted online. With that discussion, he said he would be interested in doing another follow-up article in the future. Hopefully I can be ready fairly soon for that. I really have some neat ideas planned out for the car. For now though, please free to view the article here...
Jon's '79 Pontiac Trans Am
https://www.hotrodhotline.com/node/22112#.XY07yGZ7nIU


I hope this is a nice update for you guys!

More to come,

Jon

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

My gosh, that's a lot of crap to endure.

I'm guessing you are located in Illinois? If you want to be done with the engine hassle then look at the LS 427 I've got for sale. No messing around with dishonest people. No more rebuilds. No more lost money.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/lsx-...gine-very.html

F-Body Int

That is an awesome engine you have. I’m going to stick with the numbers matching engine block for my car though. Thank you for offering.

Yea, I have really been screwed around with by people in with my car this year. It’s quite sad. I can’t believe how many people out there portray themselves and their business as professional/experts but really shouldn’t be in the line of work. I’ve also learned that over the past 10 years by working in some shops. I’ve probably lost a good $10k on this build in the past couple years just dealing with lazy money-hungry people who portray themselves as hard workers. It’s taken me a few hard lessons to learn not to give your money up front. I’ve given people thousands upon thousands of dollars just for constant excuses as to why work doesn’t get done.

Ok, I’m stopping with the rant because I can keep on going with various individuals and situations.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

cool car and built, BUT i have to ask how come this thread is not locked yet??
this thread is not thirdgen related and i have seen other threads on the boards closed up for less.
why the inconsistency

F-Body Int

Why the problem?

I have much third gen influence on this car and I thought I stated that in the title of this thread.

-TBI like third gen
-1LE third gen brake upgrade
-third gen wheels
-GTA Trans Am seats (third gen)
-Factory Turbo hood. The style carried through the third gen all the way through ‘92

If someone wants to lock my build out, that’s fine. I have no problem leaving this forum.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

i don't have a problem at all with you or the build. it's a sweet car. i had a '72 Camaro for awhile and loved the 2nd gens.
my issue is more with how the moderators treat threads like this. there are a couple thirdgen parts on the car, but this really isn't a thirdgen related thread - you're building a '79 TA.

i view this thread as similar to the locked threads below. some of these were "related" to the f-body platform and some not:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...on-1996-a.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...d-gen-but.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ing-video.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...-vs-vette.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...ally-drop.html

F-Body Int

These are all Corvette and a Mustang thread. I understand that more...