1980 Trans Am build thread....oh yeah its official

[philyphreak2127]

Alright so I bought my first car before I even had my license and still haven't driven it more than a mile. I know weird kid I was. Well sort of. I bought myself a 1980 Trans Am. I was into muscle cars way more then than I am now but I still love the car none the less. I didn't know much about cars then so really I bought myself a project car with absolutely no knowledge of how to start my project. Stupid choice at the time but it is starting to pan out now.

Here is a little background on the car. I am only the third owner. It has 78696 all original miles. The original owner bought it brand new back in 1980 and drove it like that for 14 years. Obviously very lightly if he only put 78696 miles on it in that time. Then one day he smacks a pole head on. Dents up the front bumper reinforcement, trashes the front bumper cover but has it checked out and absolutely no frame damage. He parks it in his garage, so begins another story of a restoration that never happened. It sat in this guy's garage for around 11 years under a car cover and was started every once in a while. He decides finally after 11 years he is going to sell it. So he sells it to the head mechanic at a dodge dealership in Littleton, Colorado. The mechanic buys it with the idea of restoring it for his wife to drive daily. When he buys the car the interior has been trashed, both passenger seats are torn, carpet has stains, and the back seat has a minor tear. So he guts the interior with the intention of putting a new interior into it. Leaves the seats in the car. He takes off all of the bumpers, lights, and spoilers, and the brake louvers. Sends it to the body shop to get reshot in the original color. After that it sits like this for a little while as he decides to open his own shop so he is busy spending time getting that ready, and his wife decides she doesn't want the car anymore so he sells it......to me. I get the car in pieces as it was and look at it and imagine how beautiful it will be when I am done with it. Needless to say I was a 16 year old kid working fast food, who didn't have a clue about working on cars so the car hardly got touched. I started it every once in a while, had it on jackstands to take off the rotted exhaust (which never ended up getting pulled off). It sits in my garage untouched for about a year until my dad decides he needs his garage back so I am forced to move it in the backyard next to my house. There it sat in the rain and sunshine being pretty much beaten by the weather. I start getting more into mechanics and take a few classes. I finally start to learn stuff actually applicable to the car. (Like the fact that the 301 non turbo motor my Trans Am has is a complete turd power wise but has a pretty big aftermarket base.) That is when the project took a slow start. First i took off the dented bumper reinforcement, second I replaced the battery, and leaking power steering pump. I quit my job and the project stalls. I have to buy a new car. I buy the civic and immediately turn my focus on that car neglecting the trans am for a couple months. Lately I have gotten the itch and the perfect job to give my project the spark it needed to get finished. Finally after around 2 years of owning the car.

[philyphreak2127]

So lately I have been working on the car around 3-4 times per week and have dropped almost $300 into the car in the past month. I replaced the:
-battery
-spark plugs
-alternator
-oil
-antifreeze

I decided after that, I wasn't happy with the power of the stock n/a 301. So I took a decent step towards adding a bit more power and bought a freshly rebuilt Holley 650 cfm double pumper.

And went camera happy and took a lot of pictures.

[philyphreak2127]

Just tonight I decided to tear back into the motor and pull off the intake manifold so here are some pictures of the progress on that so far. I take it slow with the work I do so I have stuff to do on my days off work. I forgot to mention that when I was taking my old carb. off I snapped the main fuel line that goes into the front of the carb. So I bought some more fuel line then decided bending it to fit the new carb wasn't working out as well as I had hoped. So I found a braided fuel line set on Jegs.com for $60.

[Luis998]

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on this gem.

[philyphreak2127]

give me a little time. so far I am pulling off the intake manifold to replace it, the head gaskets, and do a little minor port work on the heads, and port match the intake manifold and headers when I buy aftermarket headers.

[Calesta]

Add some red LEDs and make it look like a previous generation KITT with blue paint.

[philyphreak2127]

Although that would be sick...I am not one to put led's on a muscle car. Not my style. That is what I love about muscle cars. You can say so much with so little as far as flash. You don't need a detailed paint job or a loud exhaust, or anything like that. They just scream power.

[Luis998]

They also scream "Come on you Honda bastard, try to beat me!"

[philyphreak2127]

lol well not this Trans Am. It loves hondas. lol But the mechanic at my work has a 95 prelude with a jdm h22 a full exhaust an intake and some other goodies and that is my first challenge when I finish it. We're gonna take them to one of the local dragstrip test and tune nights and run them. As sad as this sounds I think he may take me.

[Luis998]

Eh, if he takes you it will just give you a reason to come back and make it even better.

[phyregod]

Intake on a honda ~5hp
Intake on a trans-am ~15hp

Cams on a honda ~10hp
Cams on a trans-am ~50hp

High flow head on a honda ~15hp
High flow heads on a Trans-am ~140hp


See a pattern here?

[fastacc]

I'd find a damn good set of heads and just do the top end, that would make an unbeleivable difference. I jst got thru doing a headswap from iron heads to aluminum on my 55 chev. Pontiac heads aren't the best breathing head.

[Luis998]

Originally Posted by phyregod

Intake on a honda ~5hp
Intake on a trans-am ~15hp

Cams on a honda ~10hp
Cams on a trans-am ~50hp

High flow head on a honda ~15hp
High flow heads on a Trans-am ~140hp


See a pattern here?

haha...yes. It kind of makes me cry and wish I had been able to buy that sweet '87 GTA back in the day.

[JermBizzle]

[Luis998]

haha Jerm! Nice insert.

[JermBizzle]

By god!

This thread is Burt Reynolds approved!

[newb]

<---In to watch. Good luck with it.

Id start with the bottom end. A high flowing top end is no good if theres no compression to pull the air into the motor.

[phyregod]

^^^ w t f ?

[newb]

Did you see that the motor is only a 301. Isnt exactly oozing with power or compression. Sure, you could throw a big ass cam in it and heads and an intake to match, but all hes gunna do is loose all the low end power if he does. So why not start with the bottom end?

[philyphreak2127]

Well lets see...if I start with the bottom end the car will take much longer to be able to drive. So for now it is bolt-ons. Then after that I plan on picking up a set of edelbrock performance heads. I figure those heads will help out the other mods as well. Then after that is done. I know people will probably laugh when I say this but a semi-custom homemade twin turbo setup will be thrown on here. I know a 301 isn't much but with some high flow heads, a new intake manifold, carb, and a twin turbo setup I hope to hit around the low 14 second range. That may be optomistic. But the setup will be interesting to say the least and a fun project. After that is said and done I plan on throwing 3 concealable 12 oz. nos bottles which are rated are a 30 shot a piece in there with a "cheater plate" which is the plate that makes sure the nos flow is even. For the people sitting here laughing to themselves at the fact that I plan on throwing a set of $600 heads, a twin turbo setup, and nos at a semi-stock 301 don't worry. I'm not retarded. I have this motor so I figure I will push it to the limits and in the meantime I will build a 383 stroker block. That will be a fun motor when all is said and done. I have heard they make massive torque.

[B]

Originally Posted by JermBizzle

This thread is Burt Reynolds approved!

hahaha nice

[Taco15]

I got a friend who built a 383 stroker in his camaro. It has less than 1k miles on it. ALL upgrades. cam,P&P, BBK throttle body,headers,valves,rocker assembly, all new forged bottom end EVERYTHING.

for sale cuz it couldnt haul the fat ass camaro fast enough. He got beat by a semi built 302 forxbody worth less than 3k.

interested? :LOL:

[philyphreak2127]

the motor is for sale? or the whole car? and the Trans Am I have is completely gutted. All it has right now is the door handles on the inside, the driver's seat, dash, and 8 track which will be taken out VERY CAREFULLY might I add when it is ready to take to the strip. I have no interior including the sound deadening crap, I don't have the hood scoop, brake louvers, rear spoiler, a/c condensor, power steering, right now the windows aren't even in the tracks but that will be changed soon enough. I am probably going to take out the center counsel as well I know it probably weighs like 1/2 a pound but still if I am gonna do it I may as well do it right.

[Calesta]

Originally Posted by newb

<---In to watch. Good luck with it.

Id start with the bottom end. A high flowing top end is no good if theres no compression to pull the air into the motor.

Ah, but there are HUGE gains to be made in just the heads of these old engines.

[philyphreak2127]

just like any motor a head or heads is probably the best way to gain power. Think about how much power a b20 or ls puts out before and after swapping in a vtec head.

stupid question I didn't notice it before but the heads I want say they fit anything between 302-400....Would it still fit my 301 or no?