BOOSTED AFR

I have a 1997 Trans Am M6 I bought the over the summer and the car came with a 396 LT1 built by Motorsports Technologies of Houston, Tx.

The car also has Eibach springs, Hotchkis control arms, weld-in subframe connectors, 3.73s, headers, and a full 3" exhaust and all the workmanship looks second to none.

My curiosity is if MTI did more work than just assembling engines. Is it possible that MTI assembled the entire car?

I'm interested in learning all the history that I can on the car because it seems pretty special. Unfortunately the seller didn't know much about it and considering that I was only 5 years old when this particular car was modified I'm not real sure what MTI was up to back then.

Thanks!

VinR1

iTrader: (17)

They were a parts vendor, engine builder(all in-house), and installations. Had a dyno too

For a while they were probably one of the top LT1 shops in the country... then refused to work on them anymore. Over promising, under delivering, and horrible management led to lots of people getting f-ed over. Coates and Cohen were great guys to deal with until the cashflow ran dry... then so did their willingness to help the people that supported them

I wouldnt say they 'built' entire cars... you could get their 440 heads/cam and a suspension 'package' and they'd give you a cute little 'WS-7' sticker

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

The beginning of the end happened when Craig left. Friend of mine who paid for splayed caps on a MTI built motor found out the hard way he had a stock LT4 block.

BizZzatch350

iTrader: (33)

They were a big race shop, major parts seller and also had an in house machine shop. Many cars came to them dead stock and got turn key full builds others were bits and pieces at a time if they were a local car. I grew up about 5 minutes from them, they built a ton of LT1s, I would say that for a majority of the years they were open that was a good share of their business. It was how ever not uncommon to see cars coming in from all over the country for builds, they didn't do a lot of custom fabrication though. A lot of it was installing off the shelf stuff, for the LT1s, most their cams were a CC series cam for example. They did a couple a solid rollers or multiple power adder LT1s but those weren't to common. They stopped working on LT1s towards the end, but most big race shops in Houston followed that a few years after. But they weren't cheap, so chances are some one spent a lot of money on your car to have them build it. Being it was 5, that would make it one of the last LT1s they built.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

You and Tony hang out I take it? Trying to remember if I've met you? I was down there years ago with Shawn and we met up with Tony and a few of his friends and went to a monster truck show. Were you in that group?

BOOSTED AFR

Wow thanks for all the info guys, it sounds like a car worthy of saving, I think I'll continue to work on it!!

But the car wasn't 5 years old when it was built, I would've been 5 years old. Of the limited knowledge the seller had of the car he thinks that his uncle, the original owner, purchased the car and basically drove it straight to MTI to be built. So in 1997 or 1998 was when it was worked on.

As far as bolt ons that is exactly what the car has besides the engine and weld-in subframe connectors.

The car suffered an underhood fire a few years back that supposedly ruined some badge that was glued to the throttle body top plate that said MTI and maybe had a serial number or something. Anyone know if this could be true? I'd really love to locate another one of those, though probably impossible now!

djjab57

iTrader: (17)

Yes he knows Tony, Tony sold this site and moved way up on the world LOL.Always has a nice collection of cars. I dont know him that well but a
have talked to him on a few occasions. Nice guy

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Sorry for the loss of your father. I lost mine in Oct. of 2009. Still very hard to deal with.
Other than that, Tony is a cool guy. I remember him still making a lot of members mad during the ls1.com days when the Texas section had more activity than the entire board.

djjab57

iTrader: (17)

Thanks Its always a struggle. I met him when he rented me his fender roller, He didn't live to far from me until he sold the site. Then he moved to the rich part of town LOL

BizZzatch350

iTrader: (33)

We know one another and we know a lot of the same people but that's the extent of it.

SS RRR,

I don't think so, who knows though. I knew who Saladbar was because he was on CZ28.com, he seemed to have a really great relationship with Combo Motor Sports in Vegas, Didn't his Z28 have like CMS LT1 plates?

They were fairly local because it was a core based deal, they ported your stocker. They did have a plate that looked similar to what was on the AS&M, just said Motor Sport Technologies. They also made their own Cold Air. None of the cars had serial numbers. The guy who did heads for them later, Robert Maeza still ports his head last I heard, he did the Dart pro 1s on my 93, the intake on manifold on my 93 was also done by then way back when.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

He did a lot of business with them and was on a first name basis with all of them. Not sure about the plates. I was already in VA when he started using CMS.

BOOSTED AFR

I figured as much! When I actually measured the throttle body, it was the stock bore of 48mm so I think the whole engine harness, PCM, MAF, intake tube, ram air box, and throttle body were all replaced with stock units after the fire.

I think long tubes, a TPIS 58mm throttle body, a custom cam, and a couple hours on the dyno and this car will be a whole different animal.