Thanks! I wanted to add something special to it and since it seems everyone clear coats their aluminum engines I would paint mine. Have had people that loved and hated it but I think it adds a nice look.
Trans Am build
- Thread starter 84dragcutlass
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Pontiac Blue does look cool. I would own the much better in the rear !ights and back end WS6 except GM crippled those cars with the awesome 7 5/8" rear end, just plain stupid for a car that came with 275 hp from the get go.
Yeah some rear end work is in the plans, this one is a WS6. Ive seen guys running in excess of 600hp though the stock rear and it handling it though at least for a while so I should be safe for now. Although previous owners of this car really didn't know what "minimum fluid level" means even on gear oil since there really was none
My understanding is the housing is even thinner than the G body 7.5". Auto cars can last but stick cars die quicker. Either way good luck with the rest of it. My BIL had a 95 Camaro Z28, nice car but he found out the oil pick up had fallen off the motor, a common problem on the LT motors. He made the dealer adjust the valves due to a tick and found out this happened to the previous owner. Then of course the mighty 4L60E gave up the ghost, it got rebuilt with a bunch of upgrades. It does suck dealing with previous owners abuse and GM's penny pinching on these cars. Andnother reason I avoid them, most were bagged to hell and unlike most G bodies had enough power to break every piece of the drive train. Good luck and drive Pontiac's last kick at the 🐈.
Thanks much appreciated, hopefully it turns out like I want. Almost everything is new and as you said GM penny pinching is everywhere. I made sure to add little things like an aftermarket clip that goes on the oil pick up tube connection to the oil pump so it doesn't fall off... which is helpful. Its something at least to get me back in a quick car until I get my cutlass shorted which I'm still gathering parts for
Okay so quite some time later the engine is fully installed, pulled the rear axle for a rebuild and to de-rust the thing. Used POR-15 on the underside after i got all the oil off and inside the wheel houses wherever it needed it. Really starting to come together now. Currently working on finishing the paint and reassembly on the parking breaks and then the rear can be buttoned up and finished off. Only parts i am currently waiting for are a steering rack, engine belts, and brake pads. I have a company im going to send the computer off to so it can get setup to the new specs before i fire it up. Only real part that i have found now that needs addressed is the horrible chinesium stainless exhaust. I had to cut a piece off one of the pipes just to get it back together for the Y pipe to the headers. What i found was the Y pipe shrinks down from 3 inch to probably 2.25 to go into the rest of the exhaust from about the end of the trans back. That section is still 3 inch but its gotta be suffering from that huge reduction at the connection so im going to cut that off and expand the pipe on the Y pipe side and the catback side and slide a piece of 3 inch pipe in and use the stainless band clamps to bring it all together. Should be able to keep the nice flow and a solid 3 inch flowing pipe. Ill put up some pictures of some of the work. I also made a patch to go over where a previous owner had cut the floor to change the fuel pump.
So next thing i tackled the bubbles on the roof. Which initially i thought were just paint bubbles, because its a plastic roof what else could it be right? Well body filler thats what. As i put an exacto knife into it i realized it was way too thick to be paint and up popped a layer of bondo. So after doing this same thing to three or four more bubbles i got out the sander and some 150 grit and started stripping it down. The roof itself is really wavy underneath the crap so i did what any sensible human being would and consulted Donovan on the proper steps from here. So now tonight i will be completely stripping down the roof to get all the old filler out then i can rough up the surface and lay a new skim coat down. I will be doing a vinyl wrap on this section of the car until i fully paint it so at least that will be a help. After talking with Donovan and looking at the car it seems to me like that roof section may have been replaced before and they didnt rough the surface of the plastic roof panel up at all and that lead to now the filler starting to crack and pop away from the surface creating the bubbles.
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