1977 Trans Am Restoration, page 3.
The powerplant under the hood of this beast is really the reason I bought this car to begin with. If you aren't familiar with Lewis Boyd, he is a semi-famous racecar engine builder based in Norman, Oklahoma. He specializes in big block Chevy and Pontiac racing engines. OK, with that out of the way...
This Trans Am is powered by .060 over Pontiac 455 originally built, balanced and blueprinted by Lewis Boyd. I say originally, because it is being completely rebuilt as of this writing (June 25, 2005).
Here is an old photo of it from around 1995, after the first time I bought the Trans Am and I had cleaned it up a little and put some chrome on it:
Here are the original specs:
- 1975 Pontiac 455 block, 2 bolt mains, bored .030 over (462 C.I.D.)
- TRW L2394NF forged high dome (.476) pistons. (11.83:1 compression)
- 1977 6X heads from a Pontiac 400, 89cc combustion chambers, lightly ported.
- 233 (.520 lift) roller cam (Isky) w/hydraulic lifters.
- Stock crank, balanced.
- Erson 1.65 roller rocker arms.
- Edelbrock Pontiac Performer dual plane intake.
- Holley 750 3310-3 modified to flow 800+ CFM.
- Pro Comp High Energy HEI distributor.
- Hooker aluminum coated D port headers.
- TH400 transmission
When this motor was dyno tested, it produced 548HP and 667 ft/lbs torque at the flywheel, naturally aspirated. Not too shabby for a mild build!
It was absolutely a blast to drive, and actually a little scary to get on it hard because it would nearly lift the front wheels off the ground. One thing is for sure... It NEVER lost a street race! Not one! The take off from a dead stop was incredible. Thanks to the nice balance of 3.73 rear end gears, Lakewood pro traction bars, and 315 50R15 BFGoodrich T/A radials on the rear, it got traction pretty well and shot off like a bullet.
But the last time I actually drove it was over 8 years ago.
Fast forward to 2003. I had bought the car back in 2001 from the individual who let it sit outside in the weather with a broken passenger side window.
I had had it for 2 years sitting in my garage doing nothing with it besides paying off the $2000 loan that I bought it with.
I did fix little things here and there on the car. Mostly interior stuff...
By this time, the engine would barely run. I was sure it had probably been water damaged a bit, and the rings were shot. It was smoking and missing like hell.
Then, I decided to go ahead and remove the enging and transmission and tear the engine down to see if I could rebuild it.
I did get it all torn down after a few weeks, but I started doubting my ability to rebuild it properly. The blueprints were long gone, and I hadn't rebuilt an engine in over a decade! Well, here are a few shots of the engine disassembled:
So with me having doubts as to whether or not I could properly rebuild this beast, I decided it would be best to hire someone to do it.
I hired Ace at a local shop that specializes in domestic sports cars, called "The Corvette Shop" to do the engine build, and to install in back into the car.
I hired Bennie Gadsden to rebuild the TH400 transmission. Bennie was finished with the tranny rebuild in just one week. He did a beautiful job on the tranny too, with heavy duty clutches, and B&M Street/Strip shift kit. All this for $500. Now, that's a good deal brother!
I wish the engine rebuild would have been that damned quick, but with the machine shop taking more than 6 weeks to bore the block and install new crank bearings, it seems like it's taking FOREVER...
Page 4 - the NEW motor!