Anyone with a Pontiac-powered manuel-trans G-body?

[Kennybill]

One of my "future" projects is a 83 GP that I have had for 17 years. It is a Florida car and clean, never any rust. I am into Oldsmobiles and it was my Olds-powered racecar. It is caged but not hacked up, still has all the AC and wipers etc. I transfered the drivetrain to a Cutlass racecar 10 years ago. My plan is to make a 400 Pontiac-powered stick-shift street car out of it. I have a Pontiac 400 2V and 400 turbo from a 73 Lemans I scrapped out years ago. It was 80 K miled rusted out car but ran good. So, I have the car, engine, G-body 301 engine frame mounts, BOP bellhousing, clutch pedals/rods/z-bar/clutch-fork, tunnel shifter area. I only need a 300 HP fun to drive street car. I hope a fresh rebuild with a RV cam and a stock 4-barrel intake and dual exhaust will put me into the ballpark. I have a 10000808 bellhousing(uni-bell?), not sure which trans to look for. So I am looking for someone who has done this already for info and what problems I am facing. I am slowly gathering all the parts before I start this project. Intake & exhaust manifolds info needed also. Stock the best? Thanks, Ken

 

[SafariWagon]

Doing swap right at this moment. I took everything out of a factory original 79 grand am that had a stick. Biggest problem is the transmission for me. Original used a 4 speed saginaw, allowed the shifter to be located approx. 6 inchr\es further forward than a muncie or Super t-10 that I am using. With 300 hp the saginaw would probably be OK, but if you decide to go to a muncie or super t-10 you'll have shifter location problems. I am going to poke a hurst v-gate shifter through the console coin tray and make a custom top for it. Other thing people forget about is the steering column with the manual key release, to make the swap safe and correct.

 

[pontiacgp]

you might want to introduce yourself to bonnewagon...I'm sure he can help you out

 

[grandamninja]

GrandAmMan had a couple 4 speed Grand Ams in Iowa last year.

http://www.grandamman.com/

 

[Bonnewagon]

What you want to do is easy. I have an 83' Bonneville wagon with 301 and Saginaw 4 speed. I also had an 81' Malibu wagon with Pontiac 400 and Saginaw 4 speed. The Pontiac body was the easy one to work on, like they were expecting there to be a Pontiac motor used with a manual trans.

 

[pontiacgp]

maybe he changed his mind...

 

[grandamman]

GrandAmMan had a couple 4 speed Grand Ams in Iowa last year.

http://www.grandamman.com/

I have 4 1/2, but they are factory set ups. 1 may be headed to a new home in Tennessee in a couple of weeks.