79 Y84 Trans Am Project
 

About two years ago, we picked up a 79 Trans Am to work on with my son who was 17 at the time. A previous owner started a restoration, but it stalled, and a friend bought it. It sat in his trailer for a couple years until I mentioned to him that we were looking for a project. Here it is in his trailer.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...1&d=1701892255

It's a true Y84 car sans the original 403 and automatic transmission. It's completely rust free and no sign of any collision damage, so nice starting point. It's also a non t-top car, which my son prefers because he plans to do autocross and other track activities with it. Our original plan was to restore it on a budget with updated engine, driveline, suspension, brakes, etc. We're mostly holding to the plan, except for the budget part.

It will take a few posts to catch up to where we are on the project now. Here's the car, and everything that came with it, at home in our shop.

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Oh cool project pops...what you going to do for power

I would have loved for him to run something like the aluminum 535 that's in my '70 Formula. But given the budget and the fact that my son doesn't have the same brand loyalty sensibilities as me, the answer seemed obvious...

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I found this cheap high milage LQ4 locally. It ran great, so I had planned to clean it up and drop it in. But I just couldn't leave well enough alone and had it rebuilt with quality parts...forged bottom end, 4" stroke, healthy cam, etc. Should be a blast to drive.

Prolly lighter for autocross at least...

That LQ4 is gonna rip in that car. I just dynoed a cam only LQ4 in my 78 Vette, and it made 372 to the wheels, and that's with a smallish camshaft, stock heads, and mid length headers.

Looks like an awesome project!

The car came with the Custom Cloth Interior in Camel. We're going back to Camel Custom Interior, but torn on whether to go with the cloth or vinyl for the seats.

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My son's first project on the car involved welding up the holes where the body side moldings were attached.

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His first major project involved installing the mini-tubs (so he can run 335 30 18s). It probably took him 30 or so hours.

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The Camel Lombardy cloth & hobnail (trim 62X) interior is cooler to the touch in the hot summer than vinyl buckets. Special ordered my '80 SE w the 62X camel hobnail interior after driving my Dads '79 403 T/A Solar gold/62X interior.

During the late 70's, i also drove over a dozen '77-79 Birds & Camaro Z28's as GMAC repo's. Most of the latter had all vinyl interiors, not very comfortable in shorts in the Summer.

Thank you...something for us to consider given that it can get really hot here in Arizona.

After the mini tubs were installed, we hauled the car to a friend's place. He volunteered to help us prep and paint it. The original plan was to get it done quickly (in a couple weekends), but he convinced us that given how nice the body is, it would be worth taking our time and doing it right. It ended up taking 9 full months. Lots of weekends spent sanding, but it was a great experience for us...my son now knows what it takes to do this type of work. It did turn out really nice. We used single stage so the black is really deep.

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We had the subframe powder coated. When it came back we installed solid full height subframe bushings from Speedtech, and Ridetech's full coilover front suspension.

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We started to install the Ridetech 4-link coilover suspension. But after seeing what this involved, we decided to run the fuel and brake lines first. We had custom sized hard lines made which we flared and installed tube nuts (3/8 fuel, 3/8 return, 3/16 brake).

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Went with a 9", Richmond 3rd member, 3.25 gears, Powertrax Grip Pro differential. Had the differential housing made with Torino ends, and factory width so that we could run rear wheels without a deep dish.

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The tank is from Tanks Inc. We went with a Walbro 340lph turbine style pump, which is compatible with the PWM fuel controller which we plan to use.

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We went with 14" Wildwood AERO6 front brakes. Can also see the Ridetech TruTurn and Borgeson 12.7:1 steering box installed. We're going with custom front sway bar to accommodate 295 front tires.

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In the rear, 13" Superlite with electronic parking brake.

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Test fitted the 408. Used Holley engine swap mounts.

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Nice!

I like the powdercoated black rotors, much cleaner, no dust... :)

The park brake is neat, would Americans bother with it being used?! I wonder if it can wired into the security system, like an over ride if triggered and not just a simple release and roll away.

Wildwood e-coats their rotors for corrosion resistance. It will wear off as the pads bed in.

We went with the electronic parking brake primarily to avoid having to deal with cable routing challenges (tucked up exhaust, suspension modifications, subframe connectors, etc.). However, there is a lot of wiring and a controller, so not sure whether this will simplify things.

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Beautiful build! Love the attention to detail

We went with a TKX 5 speed with the .68 fifth gear. Should work well with the 3.25 gears (about 2100rpm at 75mph).

Installed the manual transmission hump. The Silver Sport offset shifter ended up right where it needed to be.

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Alignment/runout on the bellhousing was within spec, so no need for offset dowels. The Silver Sport hydraulic release bearing is designed differently than the Tilton unit I've used previously, but it went on without issue. The only trick was catching the ear of the loose hydraulic release bearing with the alignment pin installed above the TKX's input shaft.

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Everything ended up where it should be.

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All caught up now! My son is home from school on winter break so we have another week or so to make more progress.

Installed the brake and clutch master cylinders, as well as the pedals. Bled the hydraulic release bearing. Clutch is now functional.

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Next up....vintage air.

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We mocked up the A/C unit. Considering whether to run the lines as per instructions through the kick panel and blower motor hole or use bulkhead ports. The former set-up is more straightforward and leaves more room on the firewall, but servicing the lines down the road is much more difficult.

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Pulled the unit to install Dynamat. Will add 1/8 inch Dynaliner as well.

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Mocked up the GM (C6) drive by wire accelerator pedal using the bracket from Holley.

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We ended up spending quite a bit of time trying different options to route the A/C hoses. The only way I could get the lines in a position to work with a 4 port bulkhead connector was to move the evaporator unit towards the driver side of the car a few inches. I bought and two 2-port bulkhead connectors to give me more degrees of freedom, and made some short lines with vintage air e-z clip fittings to connect the evaporator unit to the bulkheads, but still couldn't get the lines positioned in a way that work well enough. The lines would have come out a weird places on firewall. I talked to vintage air a couple times to ask about other options, including the IIMuch pass through bulkhead. But they suggested that the best option by far is to run it per the instructions through the kick panel and blower motor hole. That's where we ended up.

I did use the Vintage Air e-z clip lines because they're smaller in diameter and more flexible than their regular lines, which I thought would give me more wiggle room and make the install easier. I think it did. However, I noticed that after the clamps are set, the fittings can turn on the hose with a little pressure. So, although I know that this system has been in use for quite while, I'm a little nervous about leaks and whether they will hold up as well as a regular crimped line. Does anyone have experience with these fittings, and if so, how well do they work?

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Started to install components on 408 so we can make decisions about how to route wires and other components. Trying to keep things simple with our parts selection...LS3 coils, LS3 throttle body, 42lb injectors...hoping that it will be easy to tune and service.

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