Project "Eastbound" 1978 Trans Am
 

I am descently new to the site, but I have been getting PM's about my avatar pic wanting to see more pics of my build, so I figured I would go ahead and post it.

I have wanted to build an older car for a few years now, but had a hard time making my mind up on what to do. Always loved Smokey and the Bandit when I was a kid and love the Year One Bandit cars, so I figured it would be a pretty cool project.

417 Motorsports out of Springfield Mo is doing all the fab work, he is building the front subframe, torque arm rear suspension, 10 point cage, DSE mini tub kit, and the twin turbo kit. Car is a California car with ZERO rust and only 1 or 2 dings, so body if pretty much perfect.

Front subframe uses C5 corvette a arms, spindles and brakes. It uses a 03 Cobra power steering rack and we will be building splined sway bars for front and rear. It will also be using strange coilovers on all four corners. Rear suspension will be a torque arm setup with a wattslink kit, Fab 9” rear, and 98 Trans Am rear brakes. Wheels will be ADV 1 18x10 with 285/35’s and 18x12 with 335/30’s. I will be using my Forged iron block 370 LS1 out of my old 98 Trans Am and a 6 speed out of a 05 GTO

Here are some pictures including the rendering for how the finished product should look. I will be getting some good quality pics once I get the wheels mocked up on the car, so please ignore the iphone pics.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...leastbound.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...1101544341.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/a25e0223.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/ec631315.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/85d3b04e.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...itz98/sub4.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...itz98/sub3.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/e1768f57.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/4cc826cf.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/adaa097b.jpg

cool project, its going to be nice!

I was just thinking about doing one of these the other day. Good luck, rendering looks great.

Nice rendering, should be a nice project.

Great Rendering! Man I miss mine!

Looks good - good luck :thumbsup:

That is the same color scheme I want to go with on my 74. I love the front subframe. Looks like 417 does some nice work.

very cool, always nice to see another badass 78 on its way

We have been working with ADV 1 for a while now as they have been wanting to get into the muscle car scene, they mainly do exotics, vipers, vettes, etc. This was our first of many deals, if anyone is interested in their line let me know.

The fronts have a VERY slight concave and the rears have more of their standard concave design to them. I think they are going to look killer on the car.

Here are some pics.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...z98/PO1771.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...98/PO17715.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/683d1834.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/05187f5b.jpg

Very nice. Should be a killer project. Definitely keep us posted.
Those ADV1 wheels are killer. They do make a killer wheel.:yes:

Wheels look nice!

Good to see you posting it up Jason. Gonna be killer to have another classic P/T car to cruise with us.



PS you need to send that trans off and get the treatment done to it!

Thanks buddy, can't wait to have a driver again.

Here are some pics of the torque arm. Many hours laying under the car for this trying to figure out the best way to make it fully adjustable, symetrical, and for an all around car. The bottom straight bar has a double adjuster on it for pinion angle, top brackets are still waiting to be cut at the waterjet now.

Here are a couple pics.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/34102c04.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/f89bc14b.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/76e2e9cd.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/46237415.jpg

Very cool project! This is going to look great. Is that a JRS front sub?

No, Blake that owns 417 Motorsports built it. We got the bends from art morrison though.

The rendering looks sick! I love the ADV 1 wheels, nice choice!

sick lookin build. those wheels look killer.

Here are some pics of the wheels mocked up, just got the tires on them today. please excuse the crappy pictures, my camera crapped out on me tonight. Plus a few light bulbs are out that haven't been fixed yet. Also a couple pics of the mock up motor and cut tranny tunnel. We will be measuring for the rear end and control arms tomorrow night.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...tz98/side2.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a.../rearangle.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...itz98/side.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...z98/motor2.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/012d3d94.jpg

Dang dude this gonna be a sweet 2nd gen. I love the rendering.

Looking good fitz. Can't wait to see more progress.

This this looks sweet as hell!!! Sub'd :rockin:

Thanks,

Things have been moving a little slow on it, but we have been cracking again. Blake (owner of 417) got the firewall mostly done and a lot of the new tranny tunnel. We worked on the rear end the other night and started to get the control arms built and fab 9 cut to length. Here are a few more pics of the work so far.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/33dbdb41.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/de8c0306.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/75e9f844.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/003f1d5a.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/ff86c6e7.jpg

Here are my 35 spline axles and Moser aluminum through bolt center with Wavetrack posi unit. I'm really curious to see how well the wavetrack works.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/57ea1e49.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/42a1ff21.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/4da25421.jpg

ITS ON THE GROUND!!!! 417 Motorsports still has to do the shock mounts (bars are installed instead of shocks), front and rear, and the watts link. This at least lets us see how the car will set and to make sure the suspension design is correct, so far I don't see how it could get any better. Rear wheels will be about another 1/2" out, no rear rotors on the car yet.

here are some more crappy cell pics, but you get the idea, I couldn't be happier on the stance.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...9671f9dd-1.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/2598163a.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/bee214f5.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/e9ad5c5a.jpg

you guys nailed the stance, i love it..

I'm diggin the cool little Pontiac crest detail in the rear link mount :thumbsup:

Any updates? You dont see too many trans ams done up really, really well, yours is going to be awesome. Love the wheels, i have been looking for wheelslike that and have struck out until now.

actually yes, rear shock mounts are done along with the watts link cross member. Still need to machine the watts link and get the tabs on the rear housing, but once that is done the rear suspension will be done.

Motor mounts are also complete, we were able to use factory C5 corvette mounts, so we have plenty of room around the motor. Tranny crossmember is figured out, so once the car gets back on the lift that will be easy to knock out also. I ordered all the stuff for the sway bars yesterday as well (thanks for the help coolwelder).

Blake with 417 figured out a pretty cool idea for the twin turbo kit, so I hope to order the turbos and waste gates Monday.

I will get some good pictures when it goes back up on the lift. As of now I hope to have the car out of fab by the end of the year

The stance is spot on, perfect for the 2nd gens to be low and mean! Any updates on the build?

Man that thing sits Right.

BTW is that a single tubro camaro I see in the back ground

Love that stance!

Thanks for the kind words guys.


Yep, LSX 427 (I believe is the CI) with a single 106mm on it. Car is still getting lined out, but thing is pretty wicked. Can't remember what his 1/8 time is off the top of my head.

Some progress has been made, been collecting parts as well.

Shaved steering column and steering shaft is done, rear seat, and package tray is done, but still waiting on the watts link. Been collecting parts as I now have my speedway swaybars, Precision 6262 turbo's, and some Anvil carbon parts.

Here are a few new pics

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/a8863aab.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/055c85eb.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/8ab1ce81.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/da6408b0.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/9f960c0f.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/299216a3.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/b864fb33.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/92ae0319.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/b24df377.jpg

Looking really good, I like the stance as well. :thumbsup:

417 got some more work done to the car. Through the floor subframe connectors are done along with the sway bars. The watts link is started, hopefully it will be done soon.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/277016b1.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/6796f4b3.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/50e1cba7.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/2fb39587.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/961d90da.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/0db3abe6.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/1660235c.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/af3f4089.jpg

here is the start of the twin turbo kit. We are keeping it low and as far back as we can for functionality.

Stock 6.0 truck manifolds.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/ad844a0f.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/ee72160c.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/9d75da97.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/64f8b268.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/e1597831.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/02e6ece7.jpg

Turbo's are precision 6262 billet wheel with v-band inlet and outlet on the exhaust side.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/df9d5e9f.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/43427cd5.jpg
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/b1e6b024.jpg

Any updates on this build?

X2...this car looks awesome in the rendering. Curious on updates:question:

Progress had been a little bit slow, but the chassis is done now and I brought the car home middle of last week. Car will go off for body work next then start the wiring and assembling!

here are a couple pics of tranny crossmember and watts link and the car finally at home.

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/9c96ec91.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/35e2165c.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/d0c8d3a9.jpg

http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/a...8/41029bc6.jpg

That stance is perfection, love the work and fabrication so far.