SETHIRDGEN's Featured Ride: January 2001
This months feature ride is Bernard Tripp's 1987 Pontiac Trans Am. I chose my own car to show members that you don't need a super fast car, or even alot of money sunk into the car for it to be cool. The largest modification done to this car was the conversion from carburation to fuel injection, but since these cars came with the Tuned Port Injection, this really doesn't set it out from any other LB9 equipped T/A.
What does set it apart is that several of the mods I did do, didn't really cost alot, but did make a difference. Here is a list of all the mods:
Speed Density TPI Retrofit
Functional Passkey anti-theft, including start inhibit relay, and fuel injector disable.
Ported Plenum w/ gasket matched runners (free)
JET Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator (cheap)
Custom built Cold Air Induction w/ relocated MAT sensor (cheap)
Boxed Trailing Arms (free)
KYB GR-2 rear shocks (cheap)
GM Wonderbar steering brace (cheap)
16" GTA Rims, 255/50/16 rear, 235/60/16 front
Southside Machine Subframe connectors (cheap)
TB Coolant Bypass (free)
Accell 8mm plug wires (cheap)
Flowmaster muffler (cheap)
Corvette servo/ pressure regulator valve and spring (cheap)
Summit 1 5/8" Headers (cheap)
3.73 rear gears w/ posi and 4WDB (bargin shopped, got a great deal!)
Dual IROC fans (cheap)
Items marked (cheap) cost less than $150.
As you can see, this is a semi-large list of mods, all relatively cheap but effective. It was even cheaper, since all of the labor was done by me.
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Here is a picture of the Tuned Port with the custom cold air. The TPI was off of an '85, but with a cold start valve plug and fuel rail plug, it was converted to Speed Density using a MAP sensor instead of MAF. This required a 1227730 ECM and a Speed Density Wiring harness. I used Painless Wiring #60103, but a stock harness would also have worked. The custom cold air is 3" exhaust with a 45* bend, painted black w/ a cone filter. |
The filter is sealed off from the engine bay once the hood is shut. |
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Here is a picture of the boxed LCA. This was also done myself, using the stock LCA and some flat bar stock. It was cut to length, bent to meet the contours of the stock unit, and welded into place. Very beefy, but heavy. |
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The best time that I could get out of it was:
9.519 @ 72.74 MPH 1/8mile.
If you would like your car to be next months Featured Ride, please contact SETHIRDGEN's Admin.
