1978 Trans Am mild custom

[takid455]

After


some parts






Kore3 porn

[takid455]

I had to modify the spindles to work with this setup. A cut-off wheel, sawzall, sander and file got the job done.

[takid455]

1/16/2007
Finally bugged the powder coating guy to finish my parts and they magically appeared. I had to custom order some bushings for the VSE/Rancho components even though they (prothane) listed them. I don’t get it, but whatever. I had to send the shocks back to Aldan to be remade as they shipped me the wrong ones 1.5 years ago. They send me ones that fit no questions asked. A stand up company. I’ll get to finish the suspension this weekend hopefully. In the mean time, after looking through books of color chips, I picked a color for my engine. I is a 1971 AMC blue. Looks nice and I feel it will set the chrome items off well and stand out in the gold/black engine bay. I left the heads aluminum and took some recommendations from other members to use Alumiprep33 and Alodine 1001 to prevent corrosion. We’ll see how this works. I friend of mine mentioned that he had a lathe so I made new Watt’s Link bars. They came out decent after some buffing. I also scored so Recaro seats from a nearby fellow for 250. . I may redye them to match the rears or vise versa. These will sever well in the meantime before I redo the interior if I ever decide to do so. Even if I don’t use them, I always wanted a set of Recaro classic N seats. Some pics:

Seats




Rear suspension




Engine
Block

[takid455]

Bottom


Top



High build primer for a semi smooth look. I could make it look like glass if I felt like sanding for hours which I don’t.


Color, no head


w/ heads

[takid455]

w/ stock not so nice chrome valve covers




Next on the list is
1) making the tranny x-member,
2) Measuring for the required driveshaft length and farming that out
3) Running the brake and fuel plumbing
4) Measuring for location of ‘X’ pipe and ordering the RARE oval system
5) Install in tank fuel pump setup from 99-up t/a or camaro
6) Finalize hydroboost setup
7) Decide on either Mcleoad twin disk clutch or a centerforce unit
8) Decide on rims. 17’s or 18’s. 17’s look nice, but 18’s allow room for bigger brakes....hummm those Forgeline WCP3 wheels look nice w/ a gun metal center.
A photo edit to see have the 18" forgeline WC3 wheels would look. Look pretty good to me.

[brownz]

how much was it to get all the bolts coated? as for the wheel have the same set coming for my 79z can wait to get them. car look great.

[takid455]

what size wheels did you go with?, back spacing?

the bolts were $60 for about 25 -30 lbs of bolts, hardware and parts. they delivered and picked up. turn around was about 2 days. i felt it was a good way to prevent rust. they can be done in white cad as well which looks like stainless. If I were to do it again , I'd go that route as teh gold scratches easily. the colors white or gold are just astetic, the rust preventative is under the color and takes a lot to remove.

[Speedster]

Nice job. Thanks for the running pictorial and documentary. Should be a fun ride when complete.

[Bowtieracing]

Awsome documentation and great project Thank you for posting!!!!

[brownz]

Originally Posted by takid455

what size wheels did you go with?, back spacing?

the bolts were $60 for about 25 -30 lbs of bolts, hardware and parts. they delivered and picked up. turn around was about 2 days. i felt it was a good way to prevent rust. they can be done in white cad as well which looks like stainless. If I were to do it again , I'd go that route as teh gold scratches easily. the colors white or gold are just astetic, the rust preventative is under the color and takes a lot to remove.

went with 18*8 4.5 bs on the front and 18*9.5 5.5 bs on the rear and for the tire size 255/40 front and 285/40 on the rear BFG KDW2 should look o.k with the c6 zo6 brakes.