With all the work that I am doing to the trans am i figured I should go ahead and make a restoration thread. A lot of pictures if not all of these are somewhere on this forum but here they are together. In the next coupld weeks and months the drivetrain should be done (for now) and the interior will start to get reworked. Than I can work on the paint and body.
I figured I should just start from the beginning so here it is ...
Well last summer I was lucky enough to pick up a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. I drove it throughout the summer and the fall as the car drives, but it needs a lot of work. The body is good as far as rust issues (the only rust is on the drivers fender) but the car has some dents, a lot of scratches, and the body panels need to be lined up again.
As for the engine, I got it with 53,7xx original miles on it and it now has just over 54,000. The engine is pretty much stock with a performer intake and an edelbrock carb. The engine left a lot to be desired for so starting over the winter break (I am a senior in college) I started to tear the car down.
The first part of this restoration is going to be the engine and drivetrain so that is pretty much all that is being worked on now. I am working on the interior a little bit and the last step will be the paint and body which I am hoping will be sometime this summer.
This whole thing started as what I wanted to be a simple header install... No luck. I broke bolts in both heads, so they came off and got freshened up. Here are some pictures of my escapades so far. These are all in the period of a week)
engine before
the beginning of the tear down
why I needed to have the heads cleaned, milled, painted, valve job, new guides installed
The new and improved heads back from the shop
intake manifold before
intake manifold after being glass beaded, painted, new chrome water neck
What this whole thing started for
putting it back together
and last, my workspace
I also freshedned up the air cleaner housing and a bunch of brackets with high temp black paint to continue the clean up. I will take more pictures in the coming weeks as the engine gets completed.
The car is not up and running yet as I am back in school but I have spring break coming up in 2 weeks. I plan on having the exhaust completely done and the engine back together during that break so it will be up and running.
