Hey, new guy here. Just as an intro, I used to own a few G-body cars. I have owned two 78 Grand Prix, and a 79 Grand Am. I am going to look at a 1978 Grand Am this weekend and hope to pick it up at the same time. I have a few plans for it, one of which is to take out the 301 and put in a nice stroked Pontiac 400. I would also like to put a Trans Am shaker on it, along with a few other tacky Trans Am mods. Sorry if I offend any Trans Am lovers, but I am a Trans Am lover myself, and even though I love Trans Ams, I know tacky. Anyway, just wanted to say hi, and I will be lurking around to check things out.
New guy
- Thread starter bob rutledge
- Start date
- Status
Great welcome aboard and looking forward to seeing & reading about it. Maybe some pics in your photos album here of your GA, mods, and info build pics of your stroked Pontiac 400. Are you planing like a 4.25 crank pump gas 467?
Thanks for the welcome. I am looking at Jim Butler's rotating assembly to go 487-501. I would have to have my block looked at and see how far out it can go safely. It is a 73 block out of an old Bonne that was running great when pulled. Hopefully it can go .060 over, I want as many cubes as I can get. I don't intend to spin it higher than 5500-6000, it will be mostly street, with a few trips to the strip. I can't decide if I want to go 17-9 Year One Rally II's or go with the 17x9 Snowflakes. Either will look great. I think it would look killer with the TA Special Edition type stripes and screaming chicken. Add in the shaker hood, and try to find a rear spoiler, along with TA split exhaust tips and I believe it will be an awesome looking car. I have seen a few cars with the shaker and spoilers, but I haven't seen them with a TA style paint and decals. Anyway, that is the plan, hopefully the car I look at is in decent shape.
If you are looking for a shaker hood scoop, here's one that has been listed for a while on the PY forum:
http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/showthread.php?t=689051
I think a T/A shaker looks great on the GA.
http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/showthread.php?t=689051
I think a T/A shaker looks great on the GA.
Very cool plan. Either set of wheels would be a great choice. While its always a good idea to have the block checked for thin spots you can almost always do 60 over and still have plenty of meat around all your cylinders or at least so I have read. Especially since its a streeter and you are not spinning it to the moon. You might also check Kauffman's rotating assemblies and heads.
You may have noticed I built a 509ci and put it in my 442 so I am a fan of big cubes for a pump gas driver. Mine had a factory 4.300 stroke and was ideally shifted wot at 5,200 which worked out great as it was the factory wot shift point for the 200-4R that came out of an 84 Buick Ttype. The only thing I don't like about the kit you are referring to is that is uses the 3.25 mains instead of the 3.00 mains which tend to take rpms better and the bearings tend to live longer because of less heat. But if you are not regularly spinning it past 5,500 or 6,000 it really doesn't matter. Its not like its a tow rig where you are going to put on crazy miles under load either. Keep us posted.
You may have noticed I built a 509ci and put it in my 442 so I am a fan of big cubes for a pump gas driver. Mine had a factory 4.300 stroke and was ideally shifted wot at 5,200 which worked out great as it was the factory wot shift point for the 200-4R that came out of an 84 Buick Ttype. The only thing I don't like about the kit you are referring to is that is uses the 3.25 mains instead of the 3.00 mains which tend to take rpms better and the bearings tend to live longer because of less heat. But if you are not regularly spinning it past 5,500 or 6,000 it really doesn't matter. Its not like its a tow rig where you are going to put on crazy miles under load either. Keep us posted.
- Status
