<Project> 1998 Trans Am Upgrades

[meissen]

Damn man - sorry to hear about the issues. I can't help but laugh at the q-tip part, though... good thinking with the straw on the vacuum to create more suction!

[Lucky SOB]

Yup we forgot the same plug when we switched to 243s on Kolin's car

[Schuby87]

Damn man - sorry to hear about the issues. I can't help but laugh at the q-tip part, though... good thinking with the straw on the vacuum to create more suction!

You know, for the magnitude of this project, having never done this before, and doing it by myself, I expected little things like this. The Q-tip though, FML that was a one in a million shot. It didn't bounce around or anything, just a straight shot down the coolant hole. lol I'm glad I can laugh about that now...

Yup we forgot the same plug when we switched to 243s on Kolin's car

That was something I absolutely never even thought of. I will next time though! You live and you learn...


I was able to sneak out to the garage and finish putting the air box on and recorded a start before the wife got home from work.

[BP_Z28]

LMk how those 243's perform So I can buy another set

[Schuby87]

Oh Yeah!

[meissen]

[Schuby87]

I took it out for a spin around the block last night to do some data logging. I didn't get over 20 mph but it was nice to have it on the road. Lol

I need to bleed the brakes again after cycling the ABS last night and pull the pinion yoke out again and add some sealant to the yoke splines.

[Schuby87]

RTV #2 did the trick on the differential yoke. No leaks in 2 days and a spin around the block.

Brakes are still weak. I did a few hard stops and it was tough to get the ABS to turn on. I will have to bleed the brakes again now that ABS was engaged.

There is STILL a little coolant leak on the passenger side coolant crossover tube! I put some UV die in the coolant to trace the leak because I didn't think it could be leaking after the amount of RTV I used.

[Schuby87]

I was able to get all these little issues sorted out, get the car tuned, and I put about 400 miles on it before putting it away for the winter.

There were two more issue that I noticed during this break in period. The first was the rear end - I knew it has been on it's way out for a while but now with the new converter and extra power it's laying down one strip of rubber all the time. The second is that I used a new front cover from Summit but it looks like it wasn't exactly an exact replacement because it is interfering with the water pump and not allowing it to be tight to the block. I get a few drops of coolant when the car is warming up/cooling down.

I've started accumulating parts for this year:

Ported throttle body


Head plate and intake manifold plate


I also took advantage of the nice weather today and started pulling some stuff off for some appearance modifications.

[Schuby87]

I picked up a 3.42 Auburn posi rear end from a low miles Y87 V6 car today. Hopefully it was taken easy on since it was behind a V6. It has a crappy paint job on it, but that will be an easy fix.

[Schuby87]

&lt;Project&gt; 1998 Trans Am Upgrades

I wanted to do something different with the AC accumulator than the typical polishing. I didn't get it powder coated because I didn't know what the heat would do to the desiccant. So I decided to go with a brushed look with a decal on top. It was hard to get a pic of the brushed look, it looks better in person.

[BP_Z28]

Thats pretty cool! I like that!

[Schuby87]

Thats pretty cool! I like that!

Thanks man. Just trying to do something different.

Speaking of something different, I got my parts back from Darren & Jon's powder and shafts garage tonight. I went with the satin black and everything came out awesome. The satin looks just like the color I had them previously painted. I think I'm going to like the anti .

[c0ncEpT]

That looks awesome.

[Boost Addict]

Looks good but how do you have the accumulator sealed up?