New car is done...

[95 TA - The Beast]

Well, as some of you have noticed from a few posts, the new car is as done as she is going to be for this year...

Specs:

Car: White '94 Trans-Am, T-Tops, light grey leather interior
Motor: 350ci, LT1
Tranny: 4L60E Automatic
Rear-end: 3.42 Posi

Mods:
Motor was built with Speed-Pro rings/bearings, Melling oil pump(modified for anti-cavitation) w/hardened driveshaft , fully ported/polished cylinder heads, larger valves, Comp Cams valvesprings, Crane cam (234/242 with .575/.595 lift, yeah it's a pretty big cam), Edelbrock shorty headers, 95+ Optispark conversion, SLP dual filter cold air intake, Comp Cams 1.6 Pro-mag rocker arms, Comp Cams pushrods, 10.4:1 CR, Ford SVO 24# injectors, adjustable fuel pressure regulator, MSD 6A ignition box, MSD GM Blaster coil, new lifters, new optispark, new waterpump, 160degree thrmostat...

Tranny was originally an M6, but was swapped for a new 4L60E with a Trans-Go shift kit, along with a 3500 stall Pro-Yank torque converter with a 1.8 stator(ie, it is quite loose)... I also installed a HUGE tranny cooler without using the cooler in the radiator...

The swap involved completely re-wiring the engine wiring harness (repinnig the PCM connectors and properly removing all manual selenoid wiring and wiring in the automatic wiring), reppinning the dash-to-engine harness as well as wiring in the performance mode switch and shifter interlock switch along with the start interlock switch for the key-tumbler... Also required fab of shifter mount plate (so I could go back to a 6-speed if I wanted by just unbolting the auto mount), installation of an automatic center console and full factory shifter/lighting... Pedals were replaced with automatic pedals... In other words you could never tell it didn't come with an auto from the factory...

Continued...

[95 TA - The Beast]

The stereo upgrades consisted of an Alpine CDA-7940 Ai-Net headunit (high-end competition unit), with an Alpine MRV-F450 5-channel amplifier, MB Quart speakers in front along with stock speakers in teh back for rear fill... Sub-bass is handled by a pair of JL Audio 8IB4 subs custom mounted in the rear sidepanels (where the stock 6-3/4" subs where) and fit behind the stock grills... The entire sound system is totally hidden besides the headunit, with teh amp custom mounted on the back wall of the t-top well (which is mounted in such a way that I can still put my t-tops back there), and with only 2 8" subs it has an amazing amount of bass, as well as great definition, clarity and punch, but still gets amazingly low (I enabled a subsonic filter on the amp as to not destroy the subs as they move quite a bit of air)...

The entire interior was stripped and redone during this buildup, and all details attended to, such as polishing the instrument cluster lens, replacing all the lighting in the dash, removing all panels and cleaning them by hand in the house (yeah the wife loved that), etc...

The engine compartment was thoroughly scrubbed and partially repainted... New power/ground mounts were put in, as well as redoing other hardware that looked like it needed to be replaced... A clutch pdel cover plate was fabbed, painted and sealed into place... Again removable if I wanted to go back to a 6-speed in the future...

About the only things needing to be done is to get a set of sunvisors as well as a set of new floormats, as the original carpet looks great after taking it out and cleaning it in the house with a steam-cleaner (yeah the wife just loved that too), as well as recovering the drivers seat (wear on the side bolster)... The passenger seat and rear seats are all still in excellent condition... I have a set of new seat belts to put in when I get around to it...

I reprogrammed the PCM for the modifications, and the tranny shifts at 6400rpm with a 6800 rpm rev-limit... The car pulls strong and hard all the way up and shifts beautifully... The performance mode switch works like a charm (so I can have two different shifting modes with complete control over the shift points/firmness as well)... The car idles great with a definite lope, but is VERY smooth at a 1000rpm in-park idle and a 800rpm in-drive idle... It sounds great, moves out awesome and in general in quite fun to drive, even with such a high stall converter... The car pulls very hard, shifts strong and is extremely smooth at any rpm...

Continued...

[95 TA - The Beast]

So after quite a bit of parts and a TON of time (well over 200 hours as I did all of the work myself, with assistance from Kory), I would say this project is a great success... Thanks goes out to Kory for all the help he has put in on it...

The wife actually enjoys driving the car (even though the high-stall she hasn't warmed up to just yet), so I am sure she will be driving it to some shows next year...

For next year the plans are to lower it a little (not as far as the Beast), put on some new wheels/tires (I have a line on a set of chrome 17"x9.5" 5-stars) and getting those little things I mented done...

Later...

Dennis

[Silver350]

Congradulations Dennis on completing your car. It sure didnt take you long at all. Have fun with your new toy and I will have to go with you on a ride next summer.

[Prince Valiant]

And the hardwork shows. Got to get the that thing to the track and find out what she'll do :thumbsup

[jbiscuit]

he ran it at the track? What ET's did it show?:3gears:

[Max 93]

now you'll need to take me for a ride in both your cars:D

[Kory 88Iroc lt1]

He hasn't run it yet. Hopefully we can get to the track with the white car and my Iroc before they close.
Kory

[rsscoty]

Good job guys!!! knowing dennis the way I do I'm sure it looks more factory than redone...has something to do with those little deatails things LOL
Look forward to seeing and riding in it

Scoty

[Scales]

I just heard from Max 93 it was quite impressive!!! Makes me want a ride in both your cars too!!!:thumbsup

[BAD LS1]

Yeah it left a pretty good impression with me about LT1's. The car is a pretty good representation of their potential. The car was a blast to drive with the big stall and being the first F body auto and first LT1 ive ever driven. I really want to drive the beast when it returns from winter slumber.

Tom B

[Crawlin]

automatics with high stall converters rule! now put a REAL converter in it ;)

cars is pretty cool. the rims gotta go though :)

although, funny how brandon's trans/converter work great now in your car. any reasons/ideas as to why it wasn't working in his car? always hitting the limiter, was that a tuning issue?

[Cryptic]

you gots too much monies

[MoreTorque]

Originally posted by z28kid98
[B
although, funny how brandon's trans/converter work great now in your car. any reasons/ideas as to why it wasn't working in his car? always hitting the limiter, was that a tuning issue? [/B]

Tuning issue... since the new trans still did the same thing...