Autocross Icons now available for your Macintosh! [preview image]
6-27-06 » In the news... I'm the very lucky winner of a trip to Toronto to see the Champ Car race!
I will have an interview and some pictures up on the Champ Car website after my weekend is done. It seems like I am going to get: A ride in the pace cars, a tour around race control, meeting with some of the drivers, VIP seating, pit access up close and personal to the drivers and the cars, and a new set of Bridgestone tires for my car! Wow this is gonna be was great!
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At left is a pic of the EPS drawing of the 1977 "Firechicken" as seen on the hoods of those TA's and Smokey & The Bandit. I have included the file here to download for your TA pleasure, and if you scale it up to 400% (in the actual file) then it will be full size (as in the size to paint onto the hood). I was going to have it painted on my '77, but I sold the car without ever getting it repainted. |
Here is my 1977 Trans Am with pics and a description of the best anti-theft car stereo upgrade ever! ('77 Lot 1 at FirebirdGallery.com). This link is to my 1993 TA at the FirebirdGallery.com site ('93 Lot 1).
Ah yes, conversion of a Gen 4 early to a Gen 4 late Firebird/Trans Am front end IS possible! From what I have just learned it is a simple bolt-up procedure with no major hang ups. See this page for more!
Upgrades to my 1993 Trans Am (now sold):
Stereo
Eclipse 6x9 (sub) woofer speakers and Rockford Fosgate 2.6i amp. After a first failed attempt (engine noise) I successfully installed them with more than acceptable results! Read the whole story on my Stereo Tweaks page.
Driving Lights
If you are looking for better driving lights to fill in the "fangs" on your 4th Gen TA, I suggest PIAA 510 series (either white or yellow tint -fog). The only ones that are about 4 inches diameter. The original OE units are 4.5 inches, but mounted right you won't see a difference. For the amount of light projected from a small bulb, WOW what a great improvement! Almost too much actually (lots of people are beaming me back)! These are 20 times brighter than the old 27w units. Officially they are rated at 55w but PIAA says they put out the equivalent of 85w. I completely recommend them for anyone who does any amount of night driving! The install was easy and did not have to use the included wiring harness, except for re-splicing the connectors. Check Project TA for a light install guide. I did not need to use any of the supplied PIAA lighting harness, you can splice them into the existing lighting harness in the car. Also the fog light-cutout (highbeam) work around works well also (see Install University link).
Short Throw Shifter
6.09.01- I installed an SLP short throw shifter. WOW what a difference. If you don't have one of these in your F-body, you NEED to get one. I Recommend it as the best upgrade for the money in your car! Also I added the strut tower brace from SLP. I had to push the AC lines a good bit to fit them under the bar, but it works. You may want to machine a lip on yours if it doesn't sit flat on the strut towers, depending on your metal overlaps on the tower. Also a great improvement for few $$$. Better suspension feel, it feels more planted, takes bumps better actually. A little quicker turn in, too. For $100 how can you go wrong?. Both these mods only took me about 2.5 hours.
17x9 Wheels and Tires
I highly recommend the Dunlop SP 9000 series. They may cost a little more, but are some of the BEST high performance tires made. I just put on a set of Bridgestone RE 730 tires, at a bigger size (got me some 17x9 wheels now). They don't seem to have the pure grip the SP 9000s did. I am not sure what the step up in tire size is doing for performance, but I feel so far (about 500 miles in) that they don't have as much grip or gentle at-limit characteristics of the 9000s. More likely to break out on small quick manuevers, but rather even tempered in solid sweepers.
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Trans Am: The Trans Am is my shepherd; |
www.Firebirdgallery.com
"The Premiere Firebird Gallery", All models with HUGE gallery and LOTS of extras!
www.Firebirdmania.com
Newer site with monthly contests on best TA of the submissions
www.projecttransam.com
A truckload of info for all TA's, plus lots of install guides, message board
www.transamclub.org
Club HQ in the Philly area, Memorial Wkend TA get together
www.installuniversity.com
how-to pages for upgrading your car
www.thirdgen.org
Well just only focussing on the 80's Firebirds
SLP On-Line Catalog
get the highest quality parts here... watch for specials
High Performance Pontiac
The name says it all.. you gotta subscribe
PontiacMall.com
Buy cool Firebird and Pontiac wear, gear, trinkets
