Hello all!

I'm finally starting the turbo part of this project and wanted to share it. This will be a slow build but hopefully running and driving by spring of 2023. A realistic goal I think.

The car... an original black t-top 1979 Trans Am. My dad bought the roller for $200 and it was rough. We threw together a basic 350 and saginaw 4-speed and had it painted in 2005 and I drove it like this for a long time. The interior was absolute trash but it was fun for a first car and a high school kid to do shenanigans in haha.

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Aside from a borrowed set of wheels and tires it was unchanged until 2017. It rarely got driven and was in storage most of the time. With other stuff going on and no money to spend on it well ya know...

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2017-Now:

The goal for this phase of the "rebuild" was to make the car look better, handle better, and generally be more pleasant to drive.

All rubber parts were replaced, the interior redone as much as a budget would allow, and the brakes upgraded to LS1 camaro / C5 corvette brakes.

I have hundreds of pictures of this if anyone is curious: https://www.flickr.com/photos/193779222@N08/albums/72157719750988060/

I've put maybe 2000 miles on it since getting to this point. The stance is good, it's comfortable to drive and pretty fun but soooo slow.

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So that brings us up to today.

The transmission, clutch, bellhousing, shifter, etc. has all been sold. The 355 is listed for sale as well. Anybody in the Ann Arbor area need one?

The plan is to get a Microsquirt and modify the gas tank for a fuel pump. The 4.8 with 7875 and Th400 are going to be swapped over from my 1970 Cutlass. I'll swap the 4.10 gears out for something in the low 3s. With a decent muffler I think it will be a lot of fun

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I am excited to build a nicer hot side when I swap the motor over. I found LS1 exhaust flange dims and from that modeling up a full manifold didn't take very long.

I'm thinking about making up a fixture so the weld ells and log can be CNC cut.

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So yah, burnouts and ice cream.

 

A little progress late at night but the motor is out and supposedly sold! On to better things.

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Well that went better than expected. Three guys with a rush project stopped by and took the small block and lots of extra parts!

Time to order some new stuff

 

I'm slowly gathering a few things for this project. I'm super excited to get started on it but it will probably end up taking all winter.

I helped a friend with a cam swap on an LS2 and in return got his old cam. Should be an excellent fit for the 5.3 ->I found a hot rod article comparing OE cams and the LS2 is near the top surprisingly.

Found it => https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/factory-gm-ls-engine-dyno-comparison/

I also went on a quick junkyard run to a U-Pull to gather missing parts and pick up some spares. A full set of injectors, fails, IAC, starter, alternator, power steering, yea a lot.

Everything I needed except three important bolts I sat down somewhere and forgot

A friend is an EE and wants to build an injector test stand so I'm hoping I can test my own (decapped) injectors.

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I was able to sneak away for a few minutes and finally take a look at this crusty 5.3

The Trailblazer pan is off and everything looks decent enough. I'm not planning to tear it down any further. The rockers are all pulled in prep for springs and the cam swapped for a low mileage LS2 takeout from a friend.

If I can get the springs, oil pan, and oil drain done I may drop it in the car just to start roughing out some turbo stuff. I flexed my credit card a bit and have a bunch of parts on the way

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That thing sure does look crusty lol. Keep at it man before you know it you're gonna have two really sweet turbo cars and hopefully enough cash left to be able to gas them up lol

 

Some water, simple green and scrubbing and it will look brand dang new again!

 

I did some scrubbing and it definitely looks better! I'm going to seal it all up and power wash it before it goes in the car. I want to leave it a little dirty just to show my perfectionist coworkers not everything has to be a restoration haha

The cam is in and the windage tray cut to fit the F-body pan. I cleaned the timing cover at work in an ultrasonic cleaner and made a 12an return fitting that was tig'd in. I made a plug for the pan for the low oil sensor but haven't welded that yet.

Once I get the BTR double valve springs in it will be ready to drop in the car. And a T6 S400 showed up the will either go in this or I'll switch around with the 7875 in the Cutlass.

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A few tidbits of progress. I got a microsquirt plug and play off eBay (open box but unused) for about the cost of just the ECU. I was leaning towards a terminator X but this will end up being about 1/2 the cost.

I pulled a couple measurements off the frame and oil pan and was able to layout a solid motor mount. This should set the bottom of the pan even with the bottom of the frame. I can always shim it up if I have any clearance issues.

The mounts were plasma cut from some 3/16" remnants at work. My other car is solid mounted and I haven't noticed any issues so I plan to do the same on this one.

I'm itching to get the motor dropped in so I can hang the turbo.

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Constantly browsing eBay is paying off. A innovate LC2 is on its way for about half price. My other one is an LC1 and it seems to work well.

At some point I will have to get off my ass and actually do something haha

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I know about deals, I'm doing a project on a budjet also, I found a Greddy Profec boost controller the other day and bid on it, 1/4 price of new, and got it. It wasn't the one I'd like to of had but for the price I'll live with it. Real nice build you are doing.

 

The budget is what it is, so might as well enjoy the challenge eh? Good job on the boost controller.

And thanks! I think it's going to be fun when finished.

 

Cool project, I like those cars a lot! The wheels have a perfect look

 

Thanks! The wheels are sharp and fit in my budget! I would love forged wheels but live with a cast wheel budget ha

 

I've made the smallest of progress on this project but with the new year I'm ready to get back on it. Almost. A little work to get the shop ready but this thing is getting all the attention soon.

I want to get the motor in largely as a motivator but I'm not ready to pull the TH400 from the other car. I had no luck finding a empty case either so a 4l60e bellhousing was purchased instead.

The mounting face was probed at work using our HAAS mill and a quick design made up and sent to www.sendcutsend.com to get laser cut. The first one didn't fit due to a math error on my part... I had to manually type in the work coordinate values to an excel sheet and fat fingered two values... so reorder and wait.

With the tab and slot design it fell together easily and welded up pretty nice. It's ready to bolt up once I get the rest of the parts on the 5.3

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That hood scoop and rims really make it so cool

 

Thanks! Some people don't care for the "chevy" scoop but I've wanted that hood since I was a kid. I can't wait to drive it again