GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Fellow thirdgenners!

after purchasing a basket case of a trans am in 2016, whose exhaust fell off on the journey home and that soon had a head gasket failure in 2017 on its second track day under my ownership, this car has (and still is) been a work in progress since, but after a fairly trouble free spring drive today with the t-tops off, I thought it enough of a benchmark to post on here. Firstly big thanks to the thirdgen board, its vast posts and those that keep the boards alive today and have answered my queries over the years; has been invaluable for a novice mechanic in the UK to help build and troubleshoot my car into what is now fun and reliable thirdgen

The Car as I bought it

91 305 T5 Trans Am WS6, R6P with t-tops and drum (!) rear brakes. Overall a well used TA with 110k miles or so on it but still fun. It never idled well and after lots of ill directed novice trouble shooting (various service items, injectors etc.) it finally went out in a plume of coolant smoke on the bedford autodrome GT circuit in mid 2017. I was actually happy with the performance of the 305 but with the unequivocal sentiment of a 350 being better in every way, plans started to brew after not touching it for about a year. I also managed a best of high 16s in the quarter mile when it was running which i appreciate was mostly due to a dying engine and unprepped surface (and yep, me)

The Car now

i'll save the intervening years of man maths rationalising ordering a crate L31 Goodwrench (remember when these could be had for around $1,900!), the various rookie mistakes for a first timer putting in a cam, springs (got pretty proficient with the rope trick) and an intake together. And the many months trouble shooting a high idle (TPI to LS1 IAC wired back to front!), a suspension knocking noise (that had a jack slip and ding the oil pan enough that I had to replace it -still shudder at that one), and various other teething issues that probably took about a year of fettling to work through. Luckily I have an amazing partner and v understanding parents (where the car is kept) and am delusional enough not to add up all the receipts...

So the spec is:
Powertrain

• New 350 vortec L31 GM Goodwrench crate purchased from jegs before COVID when these were built in Mexico and could be had for less than $2k USD - amazing
• LT4 Hot Cam, LS6 springs, keepers etc. to manage the extra lift. Stayed with 1.5 rockers. Running stock pressed in studs
• Edelbrock Pro Flo XT intake- unported (sidebar with my stock rubber engine mounts, this cleared the firebird hood just fine). Running an extra coolant line from the water pump (bypass mod)
• 30lb Bosch injectors from southbay-boy do these 'tick'. AEM or similar AFPR
• EBL P4 Flash and LC2 wideband - I'm running open loop currently fyi
• Stock LS1 TB and my 4" toilet pipe intake going to a K&N
• Same hedman headers and y-pipe but cut off the 2 1/2 merge and replaced with a 3 inch pipe. Frankenstein exhaust thereafter comprising a manga flow cat and back box, with a 2 3/4 intermediate pipe and 2 1/4 rear turn down pipes. Exhaust are stupid expensive to ship so this was cobbled over the years and as parts came up in the UK or shipping was exceptionally reasonable. At my power levels I don't think the exhaust is materially hurting me
• Stock WC T5! Managed to score a 95 Camaro T56 in the UK so that's on standby when the T5 grenades
• Innovate wideband and EBL supporting the tuning
• Fuel lines in engine bay to be redone soon
• Car idles solid at 750rpm

Suspension and Brakes

• Corvette C5 brakes. Ty to Scott of bigbrake upgrade
• Eibach pro kit but cut about 3/4
• Koni yellow shocks up front. aged KYBs on rear
• New from steering joints, sway bar bushes, etc. Mostly moog
• Astro steering shaft
• Stock wheels that I painted in the GTA gold! Were originally black and tired I? Running 225/55/16 tyres due no availability of the stock 245 size in the UK.

Misc.

• Earlier Firebird/ Fiero steering wheel
• 'trans am' script on rear bumper just about to be replaced with trans am written in Punjabi (I'm of north indian heritage) - having a bit of fun with that

Next steps?

• Enjoy it. During the spring and summer months - everything to friends and family socials, sunday pub lunches, car shows and dare I say, back to the quarter mile strip and trackdays!

Big thanks again to the thirdgen community for helping a TA come back from the dead with some enhancements. Excuse the poor pictures, missing GFX and various trim pieces- I'll try and update this post over the coming months with better pics of it in action. Have tickets to the concours of elegance in August; should be fun rocking up in the TA!

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Nice T/A! It's has to be no small challenge to build one of these cars outside of the U.S.

Firechicken82

This is a really cool car. It must have been difficult getting all these parts. I have that same cam and intake in my 82 ta/zz430 and it's great. It loves to rev! The intake didn't fit my hood as well but it's a turbo bulge TA hood w different cross bracing that I had to clearance a little. I had a t5 for a few years and then did a t56 swap. The t5 did pretty well w the power, I wasn't too abusive to it and when it came out it still shifted perfect. The stock clutch held up pretty well also.

I bet your car is fun on the track, it's a good setup for it.

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Thanks both. Yeah has been a process to get the parts together but overall the large US speed shops and rockauto do support their international customers which I’m grateful for

Nice to see another pro flo hotcam Firebird! Completely agree with the revy nature of the setup FireChicken and the T5 makes it that much more fun. Glad the stock clutch has held up for you as I’ve also gone that route and it’s survived a few l short full throttle bursts. Also great minds with the coil placement! Yeah tempted to get it back on the track once I’ve put a few hundred miles of street use on it. Really curious about the dyno and quarter mile numbers and again will post these here as and when

congrats on the ten years with your car dynodave. Something about a clean 85-90 TA (do prefer the ported fenders). Big fan of the red (body colour) centres on your wheels. If I get another set (for track day duty) I may well try and some green centres…

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Very nice looking car, and great work getting it back together. Especially in place where parts are more costly and harder to get.
definitely keep us updated!

blacksunshine'91

iTrader: (10)

Hard to tell from the pics, but is your intake made from PVC, or just painted white?

GTA1990

iTrader: (1)

Indeed it is. My partner is not impressed, mentioning the thermal qualities of PVC. I’ve got some aluminium and ss piping on order

blacksunshine'91

iTrader: (10)

PVC is not good with engine bay temps. I would highly suggest replacing that very soon. Other than that, you have done a very nice job with the build. Keep it up.

Buddy

Very nice work, hats off!!