Mustanger
Well-Known Member
good luck! Interesting car for sure....super nice condition! I guess the LS1 is a 350 cubes....is it all chevy interchangeable? I think it is so parts will never be a problem. Sweet car for your wife to have fun with!
2002 Trans Am Collector Edition
- Thread starter g36 monkey
- Start date
OP
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Well, it's not exactly a small-block chevy, but it has PLENTY of aftermarket. So far, it's been a bit of a maintenance hog but hopefully we get it caught up.
Looks great! Long live the Pontiac!!!!!
Dabbling in the LS world, like someone else I know
Ordered a set of rear Corvette O2 sensors that I plan to put on this week. Corvette sensors are supposed to be faster about switching and have a better heater in them. Still went with Denso because I guess that's all the AC Delco sensors are. The long tubes are just making it not read very well with stock style sensors.
Also ordered a new window motor on the driver side since it just decided to stop working. F-Bodies are known for that though. Luckily now both sides will be switched out with lifetime warranty motors so I shouldn't have to worry about it anymore from a cost perspective.
They are replaced with Dorman units as well, and several years ago Dorman released redesigned window motors that are much better. If they re-release though I should be able to upgrade to them at no cost under warranty
Magic
Well-Known Member
Congrats to the Mrs! Always had a soft spot for the 4thgen Fbodies. My favs are the Firehawk and the GMMG cars....and the other special editions like the Dick Harrell Camaros.
OP
OP
Thanks man! Interesting update. We've been hunting a diecast for it, but they are super expensive. We went to visit her mom this weekend and she found one that she bought years ago in her old bedroom! We are pretty excited about that. It's a convertible, but close enough for car show stuff. 1:18.
Managed to drive about 150 miles before the SES light came on this weekend with the new O2 sensors in. The old ones would get about 50 miles before. They do the slow switching thing which is irritating.
OP
OP
Alright so kind of a mini update on the Trans Am – as most people know, these cars came with sealed beam headlights – think old Jeeps, or old GMC trucks. Sealed beam lights are garbage and leave much to be desired. LMC Truck makes kits that allow the use of a normal 9006 headlight bulb in inner and outer (brights and regular). The kit also does away with the fluting which adds a lot more clarity.
Before anyone asks, we have not driven the car in the dark since doing them so I have no idea how much better output is yet, but it does seem much better in the driveway testing.
The nice thing is this should make it easy to switch to a higher quality bulb whenever we want to. Some people put HID bulbs in this kit but I am not about that life haha.
Anyhow, here are some pics:
Before
Also, see where we did the black decal on the bird? Also did black on the Trans Am lettering on the side and in the rear bumper, but those are not pictured.
Thanks for looking!
Before anyone asks, we have not driven the car in the dark since doing them so I have no idea how much better output is yet, but it does seem much better in the driveway testing.
The nice thing is this should make it easy to switch to a higher quality bulb whenever we want to. Some people put HID bulbs in this kit but I am not about that life haha.
Anyhow, here are some pics:
Before
Also, see where we did the black decal on the bird? Also did black on the Trans Am lettering on the side and in the rear bumper, but those are not pictured.
Thanks for looking!
Looking good mon frer.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
OP
OP
Thanks dude!
I've been doing some work for a fella that specializes in older T/A's, 2nd gens more than anything, and I've been begging him to find a nice WS6 car for us to take to lunch lol.
I've always like the looks of these cars, especially in the same trim as yours. There used to be one very similar around town when I was 14-15. It make me love those cars.
I've always like the looks of these cars, especially in the same trim as yours. There used to be one very similar around town when I was 14-15. It make me love those cars.
97stanger
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looks good man! Amazing how such little changes make a big difference
Burninriverdiver
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Those lights freshen up the front end a lot, nice work man
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Some dude worked at the local grocery store with one that was all decked out like a track car when I was a kid. Made me want one real bad! I will say, I think their reputation makes everyone think they are all ten second cars. Everyone wants a race. Realistically it's probably a low 13 high 12 lol.
I think she is more or less done aesthetically. There's not a whole lot you can do to these things outside of decals. Their selection of body panels is quite limited lol. Just trying to make it reliable
Thanks bud!
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Alright the new headlights came in – here is a shot of the defective one:
And here with the new one in place.
Yay, vision! Of course, after doing this installation, now the headlight on the driver side no longer pops up. Soooooo, we have that to figure out. I have to check the fuses inside because all of the underhood ones are good. But, for future proofing, she went ahead and ordered some brass gears for the headlight motors. I will hopefully be installing those shortly.
She also ordered some new visors. As you can see these get this floppy eared deal. It’s because they have basically cardboard inside them that has deteriorated. Luckily Hawks makes some really nice replacements:
We are trying to get everything sorted out with this because the plan is to take it to the F-Body beach bash in October, so it needs to be ready for a road trip. Which means I will probably be doing a catch can setup and re-redoing the vacuum setup to make it look pretty. I don’t think we will have time to lower it by then but we will see. We have struts to do since I already replaced the rear shocks. Woo GM!
And here with the new one in place.
Yay, vision! Of course, after doing this installation, now the headlight on the driver side no longer pops up. Soooooo, we have that to figure out. I have to check the fuses inside because all of the underhood ones are good. But, for future proofing, she went ahead and ordered some brass gears for the headlight motors. I will hopefully be installing those shortly.
She also ordered some new visors. As you can see these get this floppy eared deal. It’s because they have basically cardboard inside them that has deteriorated. Luckily Hawks makes some really nice replacements:
We are trying to get everything sorted out with this because the plan is to take it to the F-Body beach bash in October, so it needs to be ready for a road trip. Which means I will probably be doing a catch can setup and re-redoing the vacuum setup to make it look pretty. I don’t think we will have time to lower it by then but we will see. We have struts to do since I already replaced the rear shocks. Woo GM!
Sweet! Car is looking awesome bud
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Thanks! Hopefully I can get to the headlight motors soon. We need to make sure everything is squared up for the beach bash haha
01yellercobra
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Nice looking car. I used to really be into them. If the pewter T/A I had looked at was a manual I'd probably be on a different forum now.
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They are just tough to find in any sort of condition, and EVERYTHING breaks on them so it's kind of a pain. Definitely a lot of fun though. We were going to check out a Pewter one but bought this one first instead.
Not our fault lol, they were on there already when she bought the car. We've been hunting a set of stock CETA wheels but they are tough to come by.
One advantage to the bigger wheels though is the ability to put actual brakes on the car. The stock ones are terrible when compared to what a 2000's cobra had (the competitor for this). Albeit of course the T/A has a PHB and torque arm, T-56 and 300 or so RWHP, I guess that's the trade off
But we are working on something. Not interested in just tossing out these nice new tires
Dude, stock 17x9 wheels that come on WS6 should be plenty to take in C5 caliper and rotor, that's one of the brakes available from Baer. Honestly, the car doesn't need much more than that. Another option could be a set of C5 Z06 wheels, maybe powdercoated black or something, if you can't find the original gunmetal grey set. Much more available, and you get the size with that as well.
OP
OP
I must have had a brain fart in thinking they were 16" - with them being 17s it makes that fear go away. We were planning on upgrading to Corvette brakes. The stock brakes are less than confidence inspiring. Once we get some other stuff sorted out, we will look into that. Right now, we are just trying to get everything shaken down to drive it to the F-Body beach bash. I'll probably go over all the PCV stuff before then, probably do a catch can.
The CETA wheels are black.
And they are HARD to come by.
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