i still have a disabled wife and 2 adult children so my limitations are deep.

 

you like in socal?

 

i feel you you man. But at least you can enjoy cruising your pontiac for your personal therapy, and share your time with your family and your car family.. Doesnt get much better than that...

 

yes im in Norco

 

agreed,thanks now i feel better.if it would stop raining i could get a few more drives before Canada decides to make the weather turn into crap(snow)
whats it like living were you can drive all year in a hot rod,muscle car ? we are lucky to get 6 months

 

Yeah we are pretty spoiled with sunny weather here in so cal. It doesnt get the nasty humidity like texas on east. But with so many people living here our drives arent measured by miles, we measure them by hours. And the roads are getting worse as time goes by. So many cars make small cracks in the roads into giant pot holes, and we dont have good enough road maintenance to keep up with it. Are freeways are in a constant construction weather its repair or upgrading. And we get a few week a year when its over 100 degrees and i wish i had a car with AC. But for the most part its pretty Nice. But a lot of the hot rodders here are pansies. If it looks like it might sprinkle they won't take there cars out, i guess they are affraid their expensive paint jobs will melt off? Back east if there's a monsoon rain the show goes on. I applaud those people. They know how to have constant fun in their cars.

 

i drive my trans am may through October rain or shine , daily(i work 3 miles away from were i live)
I used to have an 84 berlinneta with the 305 and i drove that car for 10 years,rain,snow
whatever.

best car i ever owned and i drove it into the dirt.it was loaded,air,power windows,tilt cruise etc.i loved it.
then kids happened,lol.in hindsight i shoulda kept it,i went out to buy a winter car to put it away and
came home with a 72 chevelle 2 door hardtop,$2700 certified.how the hell could i resist that,i was weak....

picked this up remembrance day 1996 for $2700 cert.350/turbo 350,drum brakes all around,no options.

 

I love it man. I had a couple 72 El Camino's myself. They are in my opinion the best looking chevelle.

 

New rear getting tubes welded in at Currie
Getting brackets welded on next

 

Monday the hubs will be put on to fit the calipers to know where to weld the caliper brackets

 

So housing got its final welding done and went off to the powder coater. Im told its about a 2 week wait there. So i guess i have to be patient now.

 

are you planning on throwing some serious power into this beast? are you thinking ls power or big block?

 

for now im leaving the engine and trans as purchased. Problem is California's smog laws with keeping the car streetable, limits my options. The easiest option would be the completely self reliant GM CARB legal crate E-rod engine. But i dont have the money for that at this time. I could do something else but its either not going to pass smog laws and not be registerable legally. Or i can register it out of state at a buddies house and do anything i want at a much more affordable price.
im still weighing out my options.
But for now i want to get the chassis set up and running good and get used to the car at the track before i look at an engine swap.
Question for you. Do you have rear disc brakes on your Pontiac?

 

YES I DO!! i was lucky and the previous owner swapped in a 3.07 positrac/disc brake rear and an adjustable proportioning valve.

it does have stock gm discs all around,ive been thinking of trying to upgrade the size of the rotors/calipers to a 1LE type setup
using stock parts,Ive got to do my research then gather parts.i still have to do my umi sfc's,torque arm and mount,adj.panhard
and put on the new headers and y-pipe i have after i ceramic high heat paint them.

i also have a roller cam LB9 305 out of a 91/92 5 speed trans am clean.low miles,sitting on an engine stand.
the best 305's there were at around 230 horsepower and with a 5 speed were actually quicker than the l98 5.7 auto cars
.i will be running it carbed though(that's how my car is stock so its staying carbed)unless i get aftermarket efi(big bucks)
so it might be slightly less or more depending,i already scored an edlebrock intake for it to match the center bolt heads,ive got my holley
650 ultra double pumper,headers a b/n new flywheel and other stuff from my current engine when i swap them over.its just my current
engine is fine and pretty ballsy itself so i will hold off till i need more power.i would love to go LS1-2 but thats really big money and a lot of time.

 

Made my front wear strip. Wish the race car body companies still made them. That was a several hour job. Also put my side ground effects on. Cant wait to see it back on the ground again.

 

Your car sounds like a pretty good build so far with some good parts already. You should love the sub frame connectors and the new torque arm. Just doing that to mine helped it feel more stable and plant the rear harder. Do you have a build thread on yours?

 

no,i do things so sporadically and unorganized if i tried to document it all i would never get anything done.
im kind of learning it all as i go along and as i can afford to do things but it sure is fun when you look at
your car and go"damned,thats sweeeet"is it really mine,lol.

your car is definitely aces and something very special,some day you need one of those smokey yunick small blocks
or a nascar sbc with the straight cut gear 4 speeds for authenticity(it would get annoying in cali traffic though im sure)

its great the way it is though definitely,something to think about down the road when you have the craving for more powa!!!

 

Gave my lightened gear case and pinion support to Currie to set up with a true trac diff.

 

This is an awesome build. It's amazing some of these body kits are still out there. Well done!

 

Got a bit of a tease today. Got to see the housing i thought done, but the powder coater messed up and coated the seal surfaces. Oh well back it goes to get redone. Hope it doesnt take another 2 weeks.😳

 

 

Back from powder coat. Getting partially assembled. Waiting on axles to be made from Speedway Eng. But i know with SEMA this week ill have a little bit of a delay on getting them. Excited to get it in the car.

 

Rear is finally finished. Will try to pick it up tomorrow.

 

Got the 9" in the car. Measured for a new drive shaft. Inland Empire Driveline should have it done in about a week.

 

Love your build. I'm going completely gutted interior for my build and I was wondering where you got your door panels or did you make them on a brake? Would love to get rid of my stock door panels as the grip handles are bent in cause they get in the way of my roll bar.

 

Yeah its coming but im gutting interior on mine too. It will look like a IROC racing series-ish / *** car when its done.
Door panels i was going to make but then i found Bigwigracecars.com. i couldnt make them for the price. And the time saved.
he takes a while as its a hobby for him but well worth it. However if you dont want the door handles where they are make sure to tell him uo front so he doesn't cut the holes as he does that standard.

Got any pics of yours? I always love to see other peoples ideas too. No real wrong way to do it. And it helps refresh your own ideas.

 

I just picked mine up. It came with a roll bar, 4.56 lsd rear gear, built th350, spohn adjustable torsion bar, a 350 engine, and a couple other goodies. Body needs a little attention, but the goal is to get it making passes in the mid 12's for as little money as possible while getting it street legal again. Most of the original wiring has been pulled out of the car, so that is my major hurdle right now along with pulling the engine and doing a rebuild. From what we have discovered I have dart iron eagle heads with roller rockers. The previous owner also said it has domed pistons. Looking to dump a grand or two to make the engine work, about 500 in electrical as I have a complete parts car, another 500 or so on body and roll cage mods, and another 500 on gauges. Plus some odds and ends like a racing seat, racing seat belts, and lots of black primer for the pait job my first season. Basic dragster for a guys mid life crisis. Then I can make upgrades every winter.

 

Awesome! Sounds like you found the perfect project for what you want to do. Sounds like its got some good parts to work with. On the wiring if you're not going for stock or worried about making it have all the factory amenities, you might check out American autowire's highway series kits. Fairly inexpensive and super easy to work with. Better than most on the market in my opinion.

 

Got my new aluminum drive shaft. Thanks to Jeff Gilroy at Inland Empire driveline i know i wont have to worry about that. The white was my idea for the old school nascar styling.

 

I just couldnt stand looking into the huge wheel wells and seeing the ugly firewall/cowl.

So i made inner fender well panels out of plastic sheet.


Just wanted it to look cleaner

 

Got time to install my UMI Performance bump steer correction kit. Very nice parts! And very straight forward install. Also got word the UMI rear weight jacks are in and shipping. Cant wait to get those along with their rear sway bar. If you get a chance check their parts out. Once i get mine ill take photos.

 

Love this thread Travis! Thanks for including UMI in your build.

ramey

 

Thanks Ramey. And thank you for the great products!

 

Modifying the brake pedal assembly for a manual wilwood master. It gets mounted higher and a new pivot pin has to be put into the pedal lever. Getting close but with putting in custom stuff its never just bolt on.

 

Very cool build! Love the color scheme...

 

thanks man. Reds not really my favorite color. But i do like red and black together and decided to give it a try.

 

Got my new UMI rear weight jacks. This week or next ill show putting them in. Got a lot going on or id do it right now. Cant wait!

 

Finally got time to do more to the car. Got my UMI rear weight jacks and rear sway bar installed. Fit like they should without any mods.

 

Also got the brake pedal assembly back in car. Got the Wlwood master installed, i made a firewall support that goes to frame to keep it ridgid. Ran the brake lines. Also fitting the seats so i can see where to mount the proportioning valve.

 

I also had to take the steering column apart and make a bushing for the pivot for the tilt. Apparently the previous owner used the steering wheel to lift themselves out of the car and stretched the pot metal. Had to drill it out and make a bushing for it. Sorry no photos of that.

 

a white floor jack?? thats wild! any reason for that?

 

Ha ha... No its just harbor freight cast aluminum glistening in the light.

 

ahh, gotcha. i see the underside of the car white and it look like you had made the floor jack match it color scheme wise. I was like, woah... he takes his color scheme wayyy to the next level!


awesome car always glad to see the updates

 

LOL... Id like to say im not that crazy. But when i had off time before getting the Camaro i did paint the tool box for my jeep tools to match my jeep. I was bored... Ha ha.

I should be showing more updates soon. Starting the rollcage after i finish my shifter mounting box. And fuel tank protector bar.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

Got my shifter box made and welded in. Brake proportioning valve in and hooked up. Need to bleed the brakes next.

 

looking incredible as expected!!! man ,i just love this car.

 

Thanks man. Its been fun doing all the details, but im itching to drive it again. As of now i should only need to bleed the brakes and make sure the shifter is going thru all the gears properly. Then seat belts/harnesses. Which means main roll cage bars need to go in. So still have a bit of work. Wish i had more time to dedicate to it.
Thanks again Bandit

 

they say the devil's in the details and your details are hellishly good.don't worry about rushing,
your pace is producing some world class unique results that pull all other third gens up with it.

my hats off to you for making something personal,unique and awesome to boot.you usually don't tick all three boxes!!!

 

if you can build something like your sig pic people will flock to the car,awesomeness on 4 wheels...

 

Time to install my new UMI camber/caster plates i got last week.