I've known about this car for at least 23 years, it was a good friend of mines car. He started this project, but as with most projects life gets in the way. The car ended up sitting in a shed. A deal was struck and it came home with me. I am starting this as a way to document and share my adventure.
It needs TLC and refreshing.

The engine is a 383 stroker,
GM fast burn heads
edelbrock lower intake, SLP runners and stock upper.
42lb FORD racing injectors
edlebrock complete exhaust
Accel DFI ECU
4th gen T56 trans and 4th gen rear end.


loaded on the trailer for the journey home.

 

The car has a hotchkis suspension/ and eibach 1.5" lowering springs, unknown subframe connectors.
List of parts that it will be getting:
TDS wonderbar
Hawk restoration parts, replace door seals, t-top seals
Walbro 470 lph fuel pump to get away from the procharger helper pump and FMU
Holley Terminator X

I am looking at the billet hinges for the hatch,
trying to decide on carpet color from Hawk, either black or Mocha.




all washed up.

 

Looks fun. Any engine pics? Are you going to replace the spoiler as well?

 

The best picture i currently have, I need to grab some recent ones. I will be changing out the rear spoiler as it is in bad shape.

 

Looks like it has a ton of potential. Look forward to seeing the progress.

 

Looks like a great car, nice mods too. Those Edelbrock exhausts were really nice, they had a muffler called RPM that sounded really sweet. don't make them anymore, so you know you will never run into anyone that has it and sounds like you.

 

subscribed!

 

Looks like a great project! With those mods it will be a runner.

 

The mice had a nice home for who knows how many years, they had nest under the back seats, in the rear quarters. I found corn and grain in places i can't believe. The only place I haven't found evidence is the airbox. I pulled the blower motor expecting it to be full of grain and insulation, but it was clean.

 

I have not found any rust yet. The car has 130k on it and the underside needs a really good cleaning. Waiting on a friend that has a hotsy pressure washer to come over so I can do a good cleaning.
With warmer weather on the way, my goal is to remove the wires I don't need and prep for the Holley install. I am going with the TPI wiring harness and a dual sync distributor. I also need to fit the radiator in the car. The previous owner bought a 3 core griffin for it, but never got around to installing it. Course it doesn't fit with the procharger's 12 rib pulley setup. I ordered a 90 degree outlet that I will get tig'd onto the radiator to hopefully solve the issue.

 

Very cool project. Car is badass

 

Welcome aboard 17RamGTA!

383, ProCharger and a T56....sounds like too much fun!

 

those floors are so clean for a t top!

 

Thats a bad *** GTA, your buddy really liked that car at one point.

 

Yeah, He did and still does, but he has other things that require attention, so who knows how long the car would have sat.

 

We had some nice weather, so I spent some time working on the car. Using info from this site, I stripped out the wiring I hopefully didn't need, and kept what I needed. we'll see.. I know I have a connector that i am not sure what it goes to. I have a fan relay from a vovlo that I am thinking of using, otherwise I will go back to the factory relays. I am also going to reuse the fuel pump relay from the procharger kit and use the Holley to turn it on.

I really need to figure out a radiator for this car, I found a 98 firebird radiator on Jegs, that I think will work.
I also pulled the tank (that was more difficult than I thought it needed to be.) I installed a 470lph wablro pump, and it was nice to see that everything was in pretty good shape, no rust in the tank.

 

I think the 4th gen radiator is a bit more narrow than a 3rd gen so you might have to fab something for the support to keep it in place.

 

The 4th gen radiator sits on an angle. I do not believe it will fit.

 

The 3rd gen radiator doesn't clear the 12 rib setup on the procharger. I need a radiator with the drivers side outlet lower, or change out the pulley setup to a 8 rib setup. I found a picture with someone using the 4th gen radiator just to clear the procharger.

 

Fourth gen radiators fit... but theres a little massaging it in and the whole mouinting thing.



What about a 2.8 V6 radiator? It is a bit shorter, the outlet is on the top passenger side and the lower outlet is on the driver side bottom i think. it will bolt right in with no mods.

 

I don't have clearance on the passenger side due to intercooler piping. I have pulled the condensor for now, to figure out the radiator issue. Once I know I can get a radiator to fit and keep the car cool, I'll work at installing the AC condensor.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmm pics when you get it done! !


My thought is......... the condenser sits kinda ahead of the radiator....newer cars like i think the 09 Impala etc... have the rad sitting under the radiator supprt metal vs how it sits behind it in third gens.... maybe you can find a radiator out of a newer car that would fit under the support where the radiator top shroud bolts to.

 

been working on the car about 1 day a week, Ordered a collection of parts from the research I have done from this site. Found a complete set of LS1 drilled and slotted rotors w/calipers from the fb marketplace, than ordered brackets from Bigbrakeupgrade, sent my rotors off to the machine shop to be made into hubs. Carpet came in and started installing that, what a nightmare. I ended up using the radiator that came with the car and had it modifed with a different upper radiator inlet.

 

I should receive my Holley terminator X today, than I will work on wiring. After a few calls with Procharger, I am going to swap out the 3.70" pulley to a 3.40" and see what kind of numbers I can get. I will be below the 62,000 rpm limit of the P1S-C.

 

Wow this is great! that was one hell of a find. Good luck with rebuilding, cleaning and reviving that beast. Looking forward to seeing more on this car.

 

I pretty much have the wiring complete, minus some sensors that I need to order for the Holley. I wired in a volvo fan relay to power the Spal 16" fan. I will see if 2050 CFM are enough to keep the car cool. I can step up the fan to the next CFM rating, but I can't move the fan from where it is at. tolerances are tight.

 

more pictures of the wiring.

 

What if you add a pusher fan in front on the driver side?


I added an 11 inch SPAL pusher fan (I don;t think a 12 would fit). Its my emergency back up fan... its actually strong enough to cool the car down by itself.. .granted Im running only stock stuff. but it would definetley help. and would probably take some load off that single fan.

 

Originally this radiator came from a camaro and had dual 12" pushers, but wanted to run a puller instead. If I run into issues than I will try to fit one of those in. I removed the condensor to run this radiator so I have a little room to spare.

 

Im running the 11 and fabed up some brackets. So they actually sit away from the condenser like half an inch or so....I know not the best placement but I didn't want it to touch.....but I have to say it works excellent...with the SPAL the stock fans wouldn;t come on at all so I had to reconfigure where / how the switch was located.

If you have no condenser you can probably fit a 12 - maybe 13 depending if you mount it direct to the radiator etc..

 

Been slowly working on bits and pieces, hoping to finish up the wiring that wasn't done for the T56. I will have to see if I can find a connector for the back up lights. The interior is mostly back together, I need to order a new headliner and visors/speaker covers. Thinking of going with Hawks kit. The list is getting shorter of things that need to be done.

 

I am looking at replacing the steering wheel. I need to look around and see what works and would look correct. The factory one is in pretty rough shape and I really don't like all the buttons on the center.

 

if you want the same one but without the buttons, older Pontiacs like the RWD Grand Prix, Grand Am, 6000s and I think the Sunbird up to around 86 -87? had the same steering wheel but without the buttons and had just the horn pad.

You could swap to the 3 spoke wheel or the newer 4 spoke corporate looking wheel no problem as well.

 

It is finally running and I was able to drive it around the block. I still need a few little things, but going to make an appointment to get it fully tuned for the first time in it's modified life. The exhaust has some leaks, but I feel the solution will be new headers and y-pipe.

 

A tune will do wonders on that car I bet, it’s such a critical step on a highly modded car. Good work on bringing that project back together.

 

Still tinkering and cleaning up/ replacing components. I ordered a set of 60lb injectors from SouthBay and finally got them installed. Also ordered a smaller pulley for the Procharger and new belt. I have been back and forth between wheels. I was pretty sure I was going to go with Hawks reproduction 17x9's, but came across a set of 2nd gen snowflakes, and was searching for images of a 3rd gen with those wheels. I kind of dig the look.

tearing down for new injectors

1.5 roller rockers

All back together.

 

So this shop is kind of local to me, they have 17x9 2nd gen snowflakes. They have a 5 1/8 back spacing, which the calculations come in around 3 mm offset. I have LS1 brakes in the front and 4th gen rear axle in the rear. I have been searching the site for pictures and found a few. It is a different look and that is something that I want to set my car apart. Worst case I put them on and don't like them. I sell them and buy Hawks 17x9 GTA wheels.



17x9 with a roughly +3mm offset.

 

My next stages that I am looking at doing is the suspension. I am going to pull the rear axle and clean it up. Wire brush all the rust off and give it a nice coat of gloss black. I really want to install the UMI K member and control arms. My plans for this car are car shows and sunday cruises. It is not going to be used for drag racing or road racing, I want a nice car to hit the shows. So I am good with wasting my money on the tubular k member. I have thought about pulling the sway bars and sending them off to be powder coated or just buy new.

 

Picked up a set of wheels and tires today, couldn't wait to bolt them up and see how the car looked. I am debating on installing 1/4 spacers on the front to move the wheels out some.

 

I like it and personally wouldn't get spacers for the front as they look even with the fender, little hard to tell in the pic though. What size tires did you go with on the front and out back?
FWIW when the 4th Gens came out I use to run my 3rd Gen Gold GTA wheels on a '98 and liked it. They stuck out a bit on the back as well since the fronts went on the back and vice versa because of offset. Got a lot of comments on it. Was a love it or hate it thing for most but since 4th Gens where new it was fairly unique at the time, plus never really liked the 4th Gen TA wheels.

 

This is awesome. The interior looks awesome. 17 inch snowflakes are really cool. I'm sure this will be a ton of fun to drive.

do you have any pics of how the intercooler sits? I'm doing a really similar setup in mine.

 

I am running 275/40 front and rear. I need to change the rear bumpstops out so that the tires won't rub on the fenders. definitely an upgrade vs the 16's that were on it.

 

I'll grab a few when I get a chance. It is mounted horizontally in the front,

 

Looks good!. Were the seats redone when you bought it? If not, where did you get the new upholstery?

 

The seats were done shortly before the car was parked. The previous owner took them to an upholstery shop to have them redone.

 

I am looking at changing out the torque arm. I have a T56 from a 95 TA, I am assuming that the following torque arm is what I need.

 

My appointment has been made to get the car fully tuned. I am so looking forward to it. I have about a month to get everything buttoned up to hit the dyno.

 

I finally got some pictures of the intercooler.


air scoop,

Drivers side

Passenger side

 

Thanks, those are great. That's exactly what I'm planning to do w mine. Curious to see that you dyno at when your done.

i have a 16 ram mega cab on 37s and looks just like the ones in your picks but all black.

 

Mine is a 17', 4" BDS lift with King adjustable shocks and 35s. I still pull a camper, otherwise it would have a 6" and 37s. I think it really needs to be regeared to 3.73s. It has 50k on it, and I only put 4500 miles on it last year. It has a 50 gallon tank and King shocks, rides pretty good for a 2500.