1984 Trans Am, Thermo Fans.

I had a thought to play around with my thermo fan.
now I have had a quick look at this in the past and I knew first time I saw it I would have to do some work to it, There is only one thermo and no fan shroud on either side of it.
I have been looking at wrecked cars and found that magnas have a 14" 4 blade and a 12" 6 blade the 14" is on when the engine gets warm and the 12" comes on when it is hotter, the 12" runs 2x the speed and flows like 1.5x the amount of the 14" one so I gutted two wrecked magnas and used the two 12" fans.
One is wired through the old wiring loom that the car had on the old fan but I hooked a small green LED light up to it and have it in the cab next to a switch, The switch is linked to a solenoid under the hood and is hooked up to the second fan.
Now the green light is there to tell me when the first fan is coming on and when it is going off so I know if I need the second fan.
170* normal, 220/230* real hot weather (45'C day) or when loaded up for a while (up hill on 38'C day)
Here is a little pic (wiring not complete here).

1984 Trans Am, Exhaust System.

The old exhaust (The factory one) was full of holes it now has coming of the 3" collector pipe a 3" to 2.5" high flow cat in to a 2.5" custom cat back exhaust with sports muffler and it sounds nice I have heard this exhaust with the Holley and the Q-Jet, the holley is a mid range note but very smooth the Q-Jet on the other hand is a mid to loud note and sounds mean and gets only 1/3 of the mpg the holley gets so I guess I will have to do some more things to get the holley / exhaust combo to sound meaner.

On that note in 2 weeks IM taking the heads off gona give em a full clean up and replace the valve stem seals and put thin mettle head gaskets see if it gets any improvement.

1984 Trans Am, Holley 600.

Ok I got the 305 to idle around 800 to 900 RPM ( got a dodgy tac so its hard to be specific on RPM) but when you pull up at an intersection put the car in neutral and take your foot off the pedal it dose not drop under 2,500RPM, when back in drive it sits around 1,400RPM, unless I get under the bonnet and turn the throttle back.
The thing is the Holley has 2 very strong return springs one going back to the plate that holds the cable in place and one going forward to the front rocker cover bolt.
Another problem solved, the arm on the base of the carbie that operaits the choke cam was catching on the adaptor plate so I took it off and cut a little bit away and now it operates nicely.

1984 Trans Am, Overheating Problem.

Got more problems :(.
Over the last weekend the temp got a little warm and the car really didn't like it, Sat: 34'C and Sun: 33'C. The car got to 260 in the red on the thermo 5 times, A 10 min drive and it was on the red as I pulled in to the driveway.
So last night I started to rip stuff off the front end to try find a way to get better air flow through the radiator. I took the front number plate off, removed the front grills and gutted the thermostat. I took the number plate (being the only piece of spare metal at my fiance's place) and screwed it in to the plastic thing under the radiator to direct air up. Well as for the drive on the way to work thismorning the mods must be working because the temp gauge didn't go over 160 , hopefully it will keep it cool on the 36'C drive home
(THESE MODS WORK VERY WELL!!!)
Going up hill going 100kmph in third gear on a 36'C day the car didn't go over 220, once on a flat road at 100kmph in forth gear the temp dropped to 160 to 170. Now that is a huge drop from my 260 over heating temp on a 34'C day on a flat road.
I have a sheet of 600x250x2.5mm stainles that in cutting and shaping to make a under car scoop to pull air up in to the radiator. cant wait to see how this will work over my (number plate) air deflector of 120x300.

Works Great! The car (Under load on a 34'C day) it never went over 180 and normal driving it sat on 160, IM very happy with this outcome.

1984 Trans Am, Not Shifting Back.

I have an issue with the trans now well it is to do with the new carbie, under load or when accelerating in 4th gear it is not shifting back to 3rd. Now it goes like hell when I manual shift back but it refuses to do it on its own, it also jumps from first goes in to second gear for like .8 of a second then jumps in to third and it makes it a bit sluggish off the line.
Ok I know what caused this little problem, Stupidity! Not researching before working on it.
There are two cables going to a third gens carbe one is throttle (normal) the other (what I thought to be a disconnected cruise controls) is a T.V (throttle Valve) cable. This cable is VERY important for a 700r4 trans, it tells the trans how mutch the throttle is open.
But now this cable is connected and set correctly it runs fine again.

1984 Trans Am, So Far So Good.

The holley is on and running sweet, I stuck with the stock intake with an adaptor plate for now.
give it a few weeks and let my finances grow and we will see how it goes with the manifold.

1984 Trans Am,Threaded.

I ran in to a little trouble with the Holley 600, 3 of the front bowl screws have no thread left in the carbie so I have found a place that will helicoil the holes with steal thread for only $4 eatch.
I will be getting this done tonight and i am picking up my intake manifold on Friday and installing them both on Saturday.

I will update the sight on Sunday and let you all know how it is going.

1984 Trans Am, Time For Some Upgrades.

IM getting some goodies for my ride, IM picking up a Edelbrock Performer intake manifold and putting a kit through my Holley 600 that has been sitting around for a while.

Hopefully these mods give the car a little more grunt and better fuel economy over the badly modded Quadrajet that spits raw fuel out the exhaust when the car is revved.

1984 Trans Am, Getting There.

Now the oil leak is solved, it was pissing out the back of the left rocker cover going down the back of the engine.

the wire for the temp got burnt on the exhaust and was shorting out. (replaced and now working).

1984 Trans Am, More Problems.

Ok got a few problems the thermo didn't start and car over heated to 260, found the wire that goes to the switch in the intake manifold was shorting out, that is fixed now.

Took it for a blast last night it was going great. On my way to work this morning the car had a strong oil smell, in the work car park for 5 min and it had 2 large puddles of oil under the sump. One at the front and one at the back. Now to find where it is coming from.

Oh and the temp gauge stopped working on the way to work.

1984 Trans Am, Under The Hood Again.

Hey all IM in the process of taking the front off my engine again, I stuffed up installing the timing chain. There are two marks on the crank gear, I picked the wrong one to line up with the cam gear.

All Done and it runns great.

1984 Trans Am, The Car.

Just some pics of my toy.
It has an 85 Trans Am hood, the solid inserts in the front bumper have been replaced with the alloy mesh that is used for one way screen doors but it looks wicked and has better air flow.

1984 Trtans Am, The Problems.

In the 6 months I have had this car I have had a few problems.
Exhaust was rusted out, replaced with New 2.5" high flow custom catback system $650
Rear welsh plug rusted out, car overheated (all replaced) $786.70
Break master cylinder developed a real bad leak (new master cylinder) $338.95
New Starter motor (break fluid leaked on old one and stuffed it) $295.98
Replaced the timing chain and gears (RollMaster CS1000) $145.00
New gearbox mount $30.00
New break pads all round. $94.00
Puting in new engine mounts. $80.00 OMFG! how the hell is this done? it looks like i got to drop the suspension arm just to get to the nuts.

1984 Trans Am, The Start.

Hi IM Steve and I want to share all my work that I have and will be doing to this great car,
the car is a 1984 Pontiac Trans Am.

to start with I got this car from a friend that had it sitting in a shed for the last 3 years, he wanted $10,000 for it and the second I saw it I was not going to let it go to anyone else.

A few stats on the car:
engine: L69 5L H.O.
color: Dark metallic Silver.
WS6 Performance Package.
Transmission: 700R4 4Spd auto, Stage 2 shift kit.
Right hand drive (full steering box conversion)
RollMaster CS1000 Double roller timing chain.
Quadrajet 4bbl (badly modded, only gets 10 miles to the gallon)
No emission control system (you can see an engine under the hood!)
No other mods that i know of, but i wouldn't doubt there are a few more there.
I get all my performance parts from Outlaw Speed Shop in Adelaide and all my stock replacement parts from www.usgmserviceparts.com
For Great tips and help from people that know the Third Gen Firebird/Camaro in and out go to www.Thirdgen.org