Wifes 78 Solar gold TA

[Brad Zeidler]

Hi, it's been a while since I've been on here. I sold my Lesabre a couple years ago. Still working on the 81 Olds Sport Omega but I've been focusing on her Trans am. It's a Y88 Solar gold edition. The original 400 is gone so I'm using an 07 aluminum block 5.3 lc9. I'm sticking with the T10 4speed which I swapped the 2.43 1st gear set for the 2.88s. It has 3.23 gears so cruising rpm's should be ok. I'm on vacation this week so we'll see how much I get done.

 

[Brad Zeidler]

Getting ready to finish up the back of the car. I'm waiting on a steel midplate for the T10. Want to make sure it can handle the horsepower. That's a new tank from spectra with the efi pump assembly, just bolt in no modification. Waiting for the new leaf springs.

 

[TurboSkunk15]

Awesome project, the 5.3 will go nice and great drivability. I'd like to do an lq9 swap in my dd

 

[BEATAV8]

cool. I like the "pontiac style" motor mounts. Are they off the shelf or custom made?

 

[79transam]

awesome looking build.. I have a 79 TA matching numbers I would love to get on the road again.. miss it

 

[BEATAV8]

Me too. 79 400 4spd black on black hard top

 

[Brad Zeidler]

I bought the jegs ls swap adapter plates and used original gm small block chevy clamshell mounts. The adapter plates need a little grinding to get the mounts to sit flush against the plate. Not hard, but the bolt holes will have to be elongated a bit and a little massaging to get them to sit properly on the tabs of the chassis mounts. With the plates of course that makes them just that much wider between the mounts so that's why you need to do a little bit to make it fit. Going for that "factory" look.

 

[Brad Zeidler]

I mean the bolt holes for the big through bolt is the holes you need to massage.

 

[Brad Zeidler]

This is one of my favorite pictures. Look closely at the hood which was media blasted. You can see the outline of the bird on the hood. Kinda like it was fossilized. I knew it was gonna be tough to sand of which is why I had it blasted. It's kinda cool. Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes it will live again

 

[79transam]

I had the same thing on my bird. looked awesome. too bad mine is the 403 olds auto. still love the car.. heres a pic of her fresh o0ut of the body shop. black on red interior

 

[Brad Zeidler]

Some more cleaning, scrubbing, sanding, paint / undercoating. Still have the passenger side front of the floor to cut out and repair. Have to do that before I put the transmission in. Speaking of the transmission, the shifter was missing the pivot pin and plate which was why it was so sloppy. I searched the Internet high and low but no luck so I figured I'd make something work myself. The threaded rod was just for mock up. I'll get to the hardware store to get a hardened bolt.

 

[joon]

Awesome work!

 

[Brad Zeidler]

Dropped off 2 of the wheels at Keystone. We'll see how they turn out in a couple of days.

 

[Brad Zeidler]

Well, it's been a while since I last posted again. Getting closer. The exhaust system buttoned up. Yep, I even installed catalytic converters. Hopefully it'll keep it toned down for the wife.

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[Brad Zeidler]

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[Brad Zeidler]

Getting closer

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