December 2019 COTM **Winner**
12-02-2019, 07:31 PM
#1
COTM Editor (Retired)
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December 2019 COTM **Winner**
Congratulations, Rainmaster! Your LS swapped '85 Trans Am is our December 2019 COTM Winner. You've won what is probably the toughest month, with the most competition, and made it look pretty easy. Personally, I love a stealthy sleeper with improved technology (not just increased power) under the hood. Your TA pulls this off beautifully.
I am the second owner of my 1985 Trans Am and got it during my senior year of high school back in 2013. It was completely stock with around 33k miles and was very well kept by the couple who previously owned it since new. The paint is original and the color is Russet Metallic with Gold ground effects. Despite the odd color, the car pretty much came with very few options from the factory. The SPID label is one of the smallest ones I've seen on these cars and to be completely honest I'm still surprised it did not come with manual windows. Anyways, the car started with the "economical" 305 option, the LG4, which I soon started to tinker around with after owning it for a few months. I started with the basics by getting a factory L69 dual snorkel intake, then I moved on to a set of short tube hooker headers and a GMMG catback. The previous owner had put on some Amercian Racing wheels and some Radial T/As which looked decent enough, but I've always like how the crosslace wheels looked so I ended up getting some factory gold GTA wheels which I eventually upgraded to the 17x9 units made by Hawks. The last big thing I did with the 305 was installing a Comp cam in the middle of January in my cramped garage. It was quite the learning experience for me despite the not so ideal work space conditions. After that I got it set up with a complete MSD ignition system and it dyno'd with a whopping 185 rwhp and 230 rwtq. Shortly after I upgraded the peg leg 3.08 drum brake rear to a 3.70 posi with disc brakes. I took my first ever trip to a track that summer (2015 I think) and ran mid 15s I believe. That seemed alright enough for me considering it was my first time. I later gave it another go a the Fall ****** Militia meet at Cecil County Dragway where I ran the 305's best time of a 14.9 despite having some sort of WOT fuel issue that I was never able to figure out. The following year (2016) the 305 started to knock towards the end of the summer and that's when I decided to undertake my biggest project with the car yet, an LS swap. My good friend punkmaster98 was very helpful with getting me on the right path. First I picked up a 6.0l LQ4 out of a farm truck that only had around 50k miles on it. The guy I bought it from was a parts manager at a Chevy dealer and said they replaced the engine in the truck under warranty even though all that was wrong were some cracked heads, so he scooped it up to put in a drag car. He put on some 823 rectangle port heads that came off of an LS9 and had it all mounted in his drag car when he decided to get a crate engine that dyno'd around 750hp. He sold the LQ4 with the 823 heads on it for only $750 which was a hell of a deal. I got myself a custom cam kit from Martin Smallwood which came with a Straub trunnion kit and a high pressure melling oil pump. I also ordered a FTI 3600 lockup converter through Martin. After grabbing the 60e that I had rebuilt and upgraded, I pulled out the 305/700r4 and dropped in the 6.0l/60e. I spent the next couple of months collecting the rest of the parts I needed like the harness, intake, fuel system components etc and finally got it running at the end of January 2017 and tuned a month later. This time the dyno results were much more impressive, 392 rwhp and 362 rwtq. This thing was a completely different beast compared to the old drivetrain and I could not be happier with the results. After more than two years, the LS is still going strong with no hiccups. I also swapped out the 60e for a T56 back in May which significantly improved the car's ability to cruise on the highway.
Here's an album with a bunch of pictures of the general history of my car since I've owned it: https://imgur.com/a/XIJ5Od5
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12-03-2019, 01:07 PM
#8
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Philadelphia, PA
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Car: 1987 GTA
Engine: LB9
Transmission: 700r4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt 3.23
Re: December 2019 COTM **Winner**
I would like to say thanks to all who voted and thanks to all my friends who helped me get my car to where it is today. It is an honor to be December's COTM and every car that was in the running was equally deserving. Hope everyone here has a nice holiday season.
The following 3 users liked this post by Rainmaster:
12-03-2019, 08:02 PM
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12-05-2019, 08:30 PM
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12-10-2019, 01:26 PM
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12-26-2019, 02:02 AM
#14
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Location: Philadelphia, Pa.
Posts: 214
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Car: 1984 Camaro Z28 H.O.
Engine: 5.0. L69
Transmission: Automatic
Axle/Gears: 9 bolt disc 3.27 Posi
Re: December 2019 COTM **Winner**
Love that car, you deserve it! Congratulations, you're the man!!
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