Winter is here!

Car show season is over. The plan was to update the suspension over the winter, but that is put to the side, because I brought home this beautiful Pontiac:

2001 Pontiac Trans Am WS6!

Currently working on putting a console in the GTO. I took apart the console, sanded it down, and repainted.

Paint used: Duplicolor Satin Black (on both metal and plastic)

Console before resto

Sand and strip the main top

Painted

Painted body

Glove box door

Sanded glove box (felt was dirty and ragged)

To use the B&M shifter, I had to create a stand, placed under the console.

To enclose the top, we have 2 options -
1. A solid sheet of black plexiglass
2. A curved sheet of plastic, heated and curved to the shape of the B&M shifter enclosure. I will report on which we use.

Custom mirrors

Installed 71-81 GM sport side mirrors on the car. It looks good and fitting. They also don't move when the cover is put on the car (since the mirror is inside the shell and not outside on a swivel).

Too much power!

1. The engine torqued itself so hard the transmission crossmember ripped out of the frame.
Installed:
G-Force reinforced crossmember that bolts to the frame
Energy Suspension transmission mount

2. Sanded the hood to remove the cancer. Paint matches pretty well.

From:

To:




3. New wheels - 15x7 Rally II's with 235/60R15 Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s

On the road

Got out to 2 car shows last week.

On the way back from Rahway, then power went out. Seems like the ignition terminal was look and we lost the circuit. Today:
- fixed that
- ended up taping 2 unrelated wires
- installed RobbMc mini-starter
- tuned the choke
- installed Optima battery

Engine is installed in the car

The engine is now back in the car!

Tomorrow is final prep, wiring, piping, fluids... then I *should* be turning the key.

Pic of assembly before going in the car:

She's Ready!

Today, finished putting the engine today. It is ready, intake to pan.

Things in the mail that are crucial:
1. Motor mounts
2. Exhaust manifold bolts
3. AN Fuel fittings

Once I have these parts, the engine will be able to go back in the car.

Engine is back in my garage

Block came back from the shop



Crank - polished


Pistons pressed onto rods


Cleaned with a wire brush


Cleaned with soap & water + New brass freeze plugs




Painted Pontiac Engine Blue



And that's where we stand.

New Engine Specs

Block

• 1974 Pontiac 455 + .030
• Balanced assembly
• Stock rods
• Stock crank (cut & polished)
• Heads: Butler - Edelbrock 72cc aluminum heads w/ Ferrea valves (bored to 76cc, polished)
• Cam: Comp Cams XE274 (Duration @ .050" Lift: 230/236)
• Pistons: KB Forged 15cc dished
• Rockers: TRW 1.5 roller rockers
• Intake: Edelbrock Performer RPM intake (port matched)
• Carb: Holley 750cfm with vacuum secondaries
• Exhaust: RARE OS Exhaust Manifolds
• ARP head bolts
• Cloyes True Roller timing chain
• Carter fuel pump
• Melling 60psi oil pump w/ collector & hardened drive shaft
• Fel-Pro gaskets
• GM Pontiac aluminum valve covers
• Hughes GM25 torque converter

Ignition

• MSD Blaster 2 coil
• Accel Distributor with Pertronix ignitor II
• Taylor spark plug wires
• AC Delco spark plugs

The block was sent to Weston Machine where it was cleaned and bored .030 over. The pistons were pressed onto the new rods and the rotating assembly was balanced. This should be coming back very soon.



Today, I fit the modern radio into the space meant for an old radio. Also, took out the old 3-gauge pod and installed a new SunPro.






Added dice to the locks and valve stems to have a similar theme with my dice in the mirror.

Mega Update

After pulling the engine, I looked at the codes. Turns out the block is a 1974 350, not a 1973 400. After a search, found a 1974 455 longblock and brought it home. Taken apart, we see that the block is pretty good, so it is being sent off for cleaning, then boring .030 over.

Because the Edelbrock 72cc heads will create over 11.5 compression, we are going for dished pistons as well.

While this turned into another roadbump, this will turn out to be something much better in the end.

Ordered a few things for the Mistress:

From Butler Performance

• Custom Edelbrock 72cc aluminum heads
• Custom Edelbrock Performer RPM intake
• Comp Cams XE274 cam & lifters
• Push Rods
• PRW 1.5 full roller rockers
• bolts & gaskets
• Butler Street Performance harmonic balancer

From Ram Air Restorations

• Oversized Ram Air Exhaust Manifolds
• Silver ceramic coating
• 2.5" Downpipes

From Summit Racing

• Hughes GM25-BPO 10" 2500-stall torque converter
• Oil pan plug
• gaskets

As soon as this all comes in, the GTO's motor is being pulled, cleaned, painted and all this will be installed.