1979 Trans Am

Basement Paul · Post by **Basement Paul** » Sun May 11, 2008 8:20 pm

The painting idea sounds intriguing, but I would think if I'm going to take the time to make the body really nice, that I'll just paint it with paint the old fashioned way. I can see how the roll on way would have it's appeal though, and the cars you did, do look good. I just don't have that kind of time to paint, sand, paint, sand, 5x...

I think when I do eventuall paint the car, I will do it in white (the original color) and will put the sticker kit on it too. White paint will hide some of the many imperfections I'm sure it will have, and it will also be inexpensive to purchase.

Yesterday morning was the real test of the current combo when at 7:30am, 32v and I fired up the snarling beast with it's open headers, and made the 6-7 mile trek to drop it off at the muffler guy's shop. Although it took him til late in the day to finally get to the job done. He installed the x-pipe and Summit race mufflers that I purchased and boy does this car sound AWESOME! It's not quiet by any means, but really has that deep, big block tone that I wanted. Once I get the car back started (I'm waiting on a new radiator hose) I'll try to get a video of the noise off our new digital camera.

After driving it home, finally legal, I had a chance to really try it out and it's great! The trans barks into 2nd and 3rd both. It seems to really have good traction. It goes down the road straight and stops just fine. It rides like a rock in the rear, and the front bounces just like it should thanks to the adjustable shocks. It really feels fast too.

The upper hose started to rub on the alternator, so I ordered a new one of those today. I'm going to retighten the rear suspension this week too since all that stuff was fresh. I have several cosmetic items to attend too also, but otherwise, I think I should be ready to go within a week or two. I would like to do a little more driving just to feel a little more confident in everything.

By the way, my wife thinks it's the worst thing I've ever brought home. That's probably a good sign that it's cool.

-BP

Fred32v · Post by **Fred32v** » Sun May 11, 2008 8:29 pm

Also, no more "Dog tracking" down the road, all those new neoprene bushing really straightened things out.
Following that thing is down right frightening.

MostMint · Post by **MostMint** » Mon May 12, 2008 11:39 am

Basement Paul wrote:By the way, my wife thinks it's the worst thing I've ever brought home.

I have a hard time thinkin this tops the orange Pinto with those fancy orange an white checkered seats. But she apparently has other standards.

markss327 · Post by **markss327** » Mon May 12, 2008 11:51 am

What muffler shop did you go to?

ttamrettus · Post by **ttamrettus** » Mon May 12, 2008 12:29 pm

Which trans did you put in it?

Fred32v · Post by **Fred32v** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:27 pm

The trans is the Turbo 350 built by Jim Snyder, it was part of the package that
Basement repurchased from ttamrettus. Both gear changes are down right nasty.

ttamrettus · Post by **ttamrettus** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:31 pm

I don't recall, what was done with the crack?

Fred32v · Post by **Fred32v** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:34 pm

We repaired the broken governor gear and Gardner Automotive welded up the crack for us.

ttamrettus · Post by **ttamrettus** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:39 pm

Cool.

Basement Paul · Post by **Basement Paul** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:00 pm

Yeah the welding wasn't too cheap, but feeling this trans shift under power was worth every penny. Later in life I will get a looser torque converter as this one stalls somewhere in the 1600-1700 range. With all the torque though, it doesn't seem to matter much, especially with the better rearend gear.

I had a local guy, Paul Carson, who has his own bender and welder, do the work. He's done tons of cars for us in the past, and recently has done the y-pipe on the S-10, 442's supercharged Regal, and now the T/A. Call me and I'll give you his number. He works on weekends on the side and does great work. He really cares about flow.

-BP

AKROVER · Post by **AKROVER** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:49 am

This one seems right up my alley. It is just stupid enough to intrigue me. I can't wait to hear it. Stay safe, these old things have a habit of coming apart in funny ways under all that torque.

Tim

Basement Paul · Post by **Basement Paul** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:18 pm

I spent some time engineering how to make my shaker scoop work. With some flat steel stock, and few screws, some spongy weather seal tape, and a drill, I was able to come up with what you see here. And, to me at least, the height appears to be exactly what a stock scoop looks like. I also bought a set of OEM 4.9 TA decals awhile back and despite being over 20 years old, I was able to get them to stick well to the shaker.

I also took it for a drive again tonight for the first time in over a week. There was a question to whether the alternator belt would stay in the correct pulley slot on the crank, and after the new belt wore itself into the deep groove of the alternator pulley, it seems to be OK.

I also had to modify a new upper radiator hose as the old one wore against said alternator belt. So far so good with the new hose.

I also glued the rearview mirror back on this weekend. This week I will pick at the trim pieces a little, wash all the grease off the primer, and try to get the speedo working.

-BP

Fred32v · Post by **Fred32v** » Sun May 25, 2008 3:58 pm

More progress. Ain't it pretty! No more white nose and black deck lid.

Its' real beauty is still under the hood.

ttamrettus · Post by **ttamrettus** » Sun May 25, 2008 5:48 pm

Now that it's one color does Amy still think it's the worst thing you've brought home?

Basement Paul · Post by **Basement Paul** » Mon May 26, 2008 8:47 am

She did say that it looks "better", but I think it will take a few more weeks before she would consider riding in it. Don't worry though, that day will come...

Saturday morning after breakfast, MarkSS, tiresmoker, and I took a little trip down Tyler Blvd in Mentor for some Sat AM mayham. The Trans Am was able to hang with MarkSS' Nova pretty well, but when scrambling with the Chevelle, I shifted from 1st to 3rd and it screwed up my shot with him. Since then though, I've been practicing with the performance side of the shifter which has positive stops to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

I've also been struggling with the alternator belt jumping off. Turns out the power steering bracket, albeit with no pump attached, needs to be in place to keep the alternator bracket truly in line. Without it, the belt runs just slightly crooked and wears it out quickly and eventually jumps off (several times). With the "new" bracket in place, all seems to be OK. I put about 20 miles on it with a few runs to 5000rpms with no problems with the belt.

I have some distributor work to do still, and would like to get the battery moved to the trunk in the next couple weeks, but otherwise the car is ready to race.

Hopefully a trip to the track is in the works in the next couple weeks...

-BP

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1979 Trans Am

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