Trans Am build

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84dragcutlass

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Figured I would throw up some pics and info on the Trans Am I'm building. First off its a 2001 Trans Am I bought at the beginning of the year. Thought I got a really good deal on it and as it turns out I may have been a little wrong on that one. It ran good, LS1 with the T56 and a few aftermarket things already on it (corvette wheels, headers, drilled and slotted rotors) but then I decided it needed a better cam.... What was going to be a fairly simple cam swap turned a little south. It always had a slight ticking noise and being it was cold and the LS1 seems to always be a little on the noisy side I figured it was cranky in the cold but as it came toward April of this year and the sound persisted even after a drive I figured one of the lifters was bad. Digging into the engine to swap the cam and lifters I looked down the cam bore to see that all the cam bearings were fairly shot. So I knew at that point the engine was coming out. Much to my surprise would be what I found after that. There will be pictures to follow but lets just say the rod bearings looked like they had been fed a lifetime of sand and 2 or 3 had to be pried off the crank because they had spun in the rods. So the engine sat for a while waiting for me to make up my mind as to what I wanted to do with it, finally I took the crank and had it polished, and the bottom end rebuilt. After that the heads were decked .030 and all new parts were put into the valvetrain. By this point most of the engine is new, when I bought the car I was told it had a "new clutch" well it was completely shot and by the look of the rear seal leak it was beginning to be oil cooled as well. The rear axle had basically no oil in it and the ride felt... eh... so so... almost bouncy... when I dropped the K member I found that the front struts were bad as well as the ball joints, tie rod ends, and the steering rack was badly leaking... wonderful..... so now that takes us to the pics!!!
 

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84dragcutlass

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engine going back together!
 

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84dragcutlass

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Final assembly of the engine. Mounted it on solid engine mounts. Ive wanted those on something like this for a long time and as always UMI delivered a great product with their lightweight solid engine mounts.
 

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84dragcutlass

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North Vernon IN
Okay more updates to come and I wont spoil it but there are a few more things from UMI :banana: I thankfully found a place called tuned by frost that can set my computer up with a good tune to start and break in the new engine before I take it to the dyno early next year. There is a place about an hr south of me in Louisville KY that does dyno work so that's probably where Ill take it to. With all the bad with this car, and I do mean bad it used to throw out of first gear so hard at random that one day the shift knob hit me in the had and bruised a knuckle, I hope its like a new car again. Plans are a street able car that I can take to the track if I want and just overall enjoy while I'm getting my Gbody projects ready (in a few of the pics in the background you can see one of the cutlass projects and under a mystery bag behind one of the LS1 pics you can spot the 455 on an engine stand
 
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Texas82GP

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Cool project. Should be a fun ride. Love the Pontiac blue on the LS1.
 
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